Posts by OnTheWayOut

9

What do you think?

by JRK in

jw
friends

if a decades-long apostate decides that they should marry a semi-active jw, what odds would you put on the viability of the marriage?

if not viable, how long before the shit would hit the fan?

jk.

OnTheWayOut

You're luckier than you know. Love ya, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

Ain't that the truth.

27

CO asked for everyone 20 years old & younger for a group photo

by LevelThePlayingField in

there was a co visit in ohio a couple weeks ago.

when he was finishing up his sunday talk he said that he would like if "all the children that are from this congregation, not if you're just visiting, but from this congregation to come on up on the stage right after the meeting because i want to get a picture of you.".

i thought to myself, why?

OnTheWayOut

I imagine they show that to the child after s/he is an adult when they are thinking of leaving the Borg.
"Look at that young person ready to serve, surrounded by friends. What happened to that person?"

9

What do you think?

by JRK in

jw
friends

if a decades-long apostate decides that they should marry a semi-active jw, what odds would you put on the viability of the marriage?

if not viable, how long before the shit would hit the fan?

jk.

OnTheWayOut

I would say that both parties are not thinking it all through- the semi-active one might have elders crawling up their ass with questions and the apostate will suddenly be declared as "fellowshipping" with active ones so that maybe they need to be "dis-fellowshipped." (If they are already disfellowshipped, then the semi-active one has much more to answer about.)

The shit hits the fan in short order- within 4 weeks of telling the elders about being married.

Of course, you could just not tell them. I don't know that there's a rule that they gotta know everything.

38

How far will they go?

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

imagine: you have inside information that could destroy the watchtower corporations.. how far would they go to protect the assets?.

would they kill?

no strange question in blackwater etc days.. g..

OnTheWayOut

People have dirt on Scientology. The religion spends money to bring THE PERSON down, not to pay them off.
In the long run, they continue onward and the "dirt" doesn't destroy them. Leah Remini seems untouchable, yet the church continues onward.

The ancient texts of Mormonism in THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM have been proven to be false once Egyptian hieroglyphics were translated. Yet the church exists.

I imagine Watchtower would know all that and not offer money, not pay a hired killer, maybe hire a lawyer and certainly hire a private investigator to discredit the person, discovering their internet porn history or involvement in bankruptcy or anything apostate-seeming to say their information is false.

46

Paranormal stuff: is it a cultural thing? Rant ahead

by Whynot in

paranormal stuff is common where my family is from it's almost expected.

native american background, my great grandmother was a witch doctor a damn good one too, my non witness relatives dabble in it.

so i have seen stuff and experienced stuff.

OnTheWayOut

I am willing to take on the thoughts on "the God of the Bible" and certainky will argue against an omnibenevolent and or all-knowing god out there.

From research, I believe weird things exist and have existed. And we don't know all there is to know on so much. But I already butt heads with god-believers who insist the burden of proving a negative is on me. (You can't prove the invisible unicorn DOESN'T exist.)

So I bow out of the direction this tgread is going in, but add that "oh yes, JW's freak out at anything with spiritism, magic, demons, dead people."

17

How does mankind know what happen before we were created??

by James Mixon in

for example, "and god said, let there be light: and there was light.

"a personal and vocal god said, "let there be light.

"so god saw the light, and thought it good, but how did the priestly scribe know that he did?

OnTheWayOut

It is clearly alleged that God inspired Moses to write that, word-for-word.

So, when the narrative gets weird- like God-approved raping, murduring, pillaging, and long lists of silly rules like it is okay to beat your slave but only nearly to death- then that's all on God. Not on the men who actuallly wrote it all.

24

I Went To My Brother’s Memorial Service at the Kingdom Hall

by minimus in

jw
friends

i have to say that the talk was very good.

instead of just repeating a jw manual , the speaker actually spoke about my brother!

there were a few scriptures with the jw hope but 80 % of the talk was actually about the life of my brother.

OnTheWayOut

80 % of the talk was actually about the life of my brother.

I am glad you got to hear that. But I will assume your brother was at least a fairly big fish in the pond (locally important and/or well known). They might violate the rules for an elder or certainly a male elder pioneer.

66

Overlapping Generations

by JRK in

jw
friends

i remember when that came out, my mother didn't catch it in the original article in the wt.

it was in one of the review "do you remember" thingies that she caught it.

she asked me if it means what she thought it meant.

OnTheWayOut

What I don't understand is why there wasn't a mass exodus from the religion when they came up with that bullshit. I would have thought half would have left.

Yes. Had I not already woke up or if I were awake but "physically in, mentally out," I am quite confident that I would have stood up during the coverage of that "overlapping generation" in the Watchtower study and loudly stated "Overlapping generation? Did the pull that out of [either "thin air" or "their asses" ?] F$#k this, I am outta here."

Edited to add:

dropoffyourkeylee
I think the 1995 generation change had more significance than the overlapping generation change. Before '95 most people really did believe in the 1914 generation thing. After '95 I think the average JW, if they didn't leave then, just took it as 'whatever', so the overlapping change didn't mean a lot because they were not committed to the generation teaching post '95.

7

JW "rules" and ex fellow shipping somebody..

by Canadian Sunshine in

i searched up jw rules, and things that can get them into trouble with the congregation.

if i remember correctly there is 100 rules.

i already assume these rules are taught regularly or "preached" and stating why they are against god therefore followers obey, or try to obey.

OnTheWayOut

While attending a sporting event is not forbidden, JWs are told not to favour any particular team as that is considered a form of nationalism.

Well, see how you will get varying answers. I never heard of "not favour[ing] any particular team."
GO CUBS!!!

As far as "celebrating" Christmas or birthdays with family, it all depends on what you did and who knows what you did and what you say about it. JW's are against anything that is considered "interfaith" which includes stepping inside any church/temple and certainly includes putting up any holiday decorations on your home. But if you went on a tour that included the Vatican and weren't there for services, most JW elders would not care. I regularly went to family funerals and some weddings at churches, but did not mention it to other elders. I doubt they would have a big problem with that if they knew, but I figured I would not take that chance. I went to some birthday gatherings of family with the excuse of "time with family" but again did not tell others. But if a member was accused of "stumbling" another member by their attending or participating in any "interfaith" stuff, they could be brought before a judicial committee. And some local congregations could do this just from the very knowledge that a member attended, regardless of the fact that no other JW's were even aware of it, let alone crying that they were stumbled.

Pagan and magic stuff, mediums and psychics- absolute wrongs according to the rules. Any knowledge of any involvement for any reason would get a member investigated and probably in front of a judicial committee. If a member participated to any degree even as small as curiosity for fun, they better keep it to themselves.

Christian music- I suppose it all depends. JINGLE BELLS has absolutely nothing Christian or even Santa Claus related. It's about winter. But playing it in the car with a bunch of JW's will get you in hot water. Many Christian songs say nothing wrong, so maybe not so much of a problem as anything that people relate to Christmas. But certainly, JW's will get in trouble for sharing religion-laden songs with other JW's. I find that most people (myself included) would not recognize "Christian rock" if it was not obvious, and JW's could probably listen to it among others and nobody would care.

7

JW "rules" and ex fellow shipping somebody..

by Canadian Sunshine in

i searched up jw rules, and things that can get them into trouble with the congregation.

if i remember correctly there is 100 rules.

i already assume these rules are taught regularly or "preached" and stating why they are against god therefore followers obey, or try to obey.

OnTheWayOut

If enough people give enough detaled answers, this could get confusing. Much depends on the local congregation and how they decide to uphold the "rules."

First off, people get called to a judicial committee for some violation of the rules. It is usually only for serious accusations of violations, not for getting a tattoo or telling another member to BLANK off. But some congregations will go after a member for any small rules violations too. There is only one thing you can be "disfellowshipped" for- being unrepentant when they decide your guilt. They can decide that you are only sorry because you were caught or that multiple violations before the committee meets are clear signs that your repentance is not genuine. So typically, you have to kiss their asses and only confess to a one-time violation if that is all they know about.

Gotta run now. I will give more thoughts on your "interfaith" questions later.