Posts by neverendingjourney

69

What Happened to the Religion I Left in 1995?

by JoshJeffries in

jw
friends

josh here, new to the board.

glad to know this site is here.. i would not be writing this if it were not 2014. i was a ministerial servant and regular pioneer who left the jehovahs witnesses back in 1995/96, around that time.

i left suddenly, didnt fade away, just left when something clicked one day in my head during the morning shower and made me realize this religion wasnt true.

neverendingjourney

Welcome, Josh. Great first post. Very well written.

The sad thing is that you can take your basic template, adjust the facts slightly and and apply it to just about any year in Watchtower history. I can't believe it's 1915! I can't believe it's 1945! I can't believe it's 1980! I' can't believe it's 2000! During each of those years there were "old timers" who never thought they'd see that year come.

Russell had promised that god's work would be wrapped up by 1914. In 1940/1941 Rutherford was teaching that only months remained before Armageddon. We all know about the 1975 fiasco. At one point the Watchtower said Armageddon would come during the 20th century, but they later scrubbed that reference in the bound volume edition. I was told I would never graduate high school. My 20 year anniversary is fast approaching.

Sadly, when it comes to the Watchtower and failed predictions, there is nothing new under the sun.

38

Are Congregation Picnics still forbidden? If so, Why???

by NAVYTOWN in

jw
friends

neverendingjourney

In my area, witnesses would throw large parties for every conceivable reason. Lots of graduation parties, wedding anniversaries, goodbye parties, welcome so-and-so parties. I'm not talking small get togethers in someone's backyard. I'm talking rented ballrooms, bands, catered food, etc.

A few hardass elders would crack down in their congregations, but there were so many of them being thrown in neighboring congregations that it was a losing battle. You'd see the same group of JW youth at virtually every one of them. It was a social thing. Word would get out (this was before social media) and some of the local JW youth would use these parties as a substitute for going to your local bar/nightclub.

As I began to drift away from the religion, I discovered that some did not use them simply as a substitute. They would simply head over to the club afterwards. Hell, I would even see groups of JWs at some nightclubs in suits and ties who'd just gotten out of that particular weekend's graduation party, elders kids puffing on cigarettes drinking gin and tonics. That sort of thing.

6

PUTTING LOYALTY to the Governing Body ahead of common sense

by Terry in

(thanks to marvin schilmer for the image).

the above is from the governing body of jehovah's witnesses.

the image below is from the mormon church.. .

neverendingjourney

However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond the good news we declared to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, I now say again, Whoever is declaring to you as good news something beyond what you accepted, let him be accursed.

16

Any recent wack-a-doodle elder comments in your congo lately?

by sir82 in

jw
friends

our go-to wack-a-doodle elder moved to a new congregation a few years back.

the position has been vacant since then.. we had an elder move in a few months back.

he appears to be angling for the position of resident wack-a-doodle.. at last night's service meeting, he said (paraphrased): "as a congregation, we've been busier than ever before with our special campaign.

neverendingjourney

There was one goofball elder in particular that sticks out in my mind. I don't exaggerate when I say his IQ was most likely below 80. Soon after he was appointed we were out in service and a pioneer sister handed me a stack of excess magazines since I was running short. He told her she could count them as placements. Even if you place them with a brother or sister, they still count. He wasn't kidding. We were out in service once just over an hour and he told me to put down 3 hours because after all we were regular pioneers. Another time he showed me his elders book and insisted that I read through it on the theory that it would encourage me to reach out for appointment. It made me very uncomfortable.

I've been inactive going on 10 years now. Recently I went to visit my mother and took her to a restaurant. This elder was there and approached our table to chit chat. Turns out he recently moved to a neighboring town to "serve where the need is great." He invited me to join him since they needed capable brothers to serve. I honestly don't think he remembered that I've been MIA for a decade. The guy would say all manner of ridiculous things from the platform, but I've mostly forgotten them. I don't miss having to spend time with that guy.

32

Is new light coming again?

by justme67 in

i just turned in my resignation letter to my congregation a few weeks ago.

last week, 2 elders called me to say they received my letter and would like to meet with me to discuss my concerns.

in my letter, i said i had found out about all the child abuse cases that were going on and that i didnt agree with their policy of disfellowshipping.

neverendingjourney

Probably a new tract being released exclusively on jw.org

41

HULK HOGAN will he convert to Jehovah's Witnesses?

by Watchtower-Free in

.from jw instagram .

http://instagram.com/jw_witnesses.

caption:" a few sisters were out in the tract campaign in clearwater, florida this morning and placed a tract with wrestling personality hulk hogan.

neverendingjourney

When I was a child, I was not allowed to watch wrestling. It was against my relgion even though my brothers and I would watch it whenever we got the chance and Hulk Hogan was by far my favorite wrestler. Fast forward 25 years and JWs are now posting fanpics of him on their instagram accounts. Odd.

20

JW.org to be regarded as fulfillment of the signs of the last days.

by jwfacts in

i struggled as a jw to accept that the good news of the kingdom was ever going to be preached in all the inhabited world by jws, as there were many parts of the world with few to no jws.

there are not enough to cover the 3 billion plus people in asia to allow everyone to get a chance to hear the message.

it also was offensive to me that jehovah would kill those billions that had never had a chance to accept the watchtower message.

neverendingjourney

Dont' the Witnesses claim Matthew 24:14 has already been fulfilled?

Seven or eight years ago I was copied on an email that was making the rounds in the JW world. The Witnesses were all excited because some Bethel speaker at an assembly had said Matthew 24:14 had been fulfillied. I had only been inactive a few year then and I went online to see if I could verify it. That's what first brought me to this website. If I remember correctly, the consensus here was that the Bethel speaker was saying nothing new.

27

jw.org madness

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

more and more jw.org special campain pictures made by the r&f flush over the internet.. it's crazy how this jw.org madness becomes a phallus inside the witness world.. observing it from some distance, it is clear: jw.org is the central theme of the current witness beliefs.

every step they make, is for promoting jw.org.

when they speak, they only speak about jw.org.

neverendingjourney

It's weird they're all gaga over a website. I mean, big wup, everyone has a website

It speaks to the boredom of the average JW and the monotony of their lives. The same applies to the ridiculous reactions at the international assemblies. These people are bored and repressed. A reaction to something new or any opportunity to express themselves gets overdone.

21

Black cop kills unarmed white male DillonTaylor in Utah

by moomanchu in

golly gee wiz only local media cover for this.. i like the way the media describes it.. mr. taylor wasnt black hes been described as white and hispanic and the .

officer who shot him aug. 11 outside a 7-eleven in south salt lake wasnt white.. race bias ???.

naaaaaah can't be !!!!!.

neverendingjourney

37

Do you know your neighbors? Is it just me?

by neverendingjourney in

i'm a single hispanic guy in my mid 30s living by myself in suburban america.

i own a home in the kind of neighborhood where you have to get hoa permission to do just about anything, including chopping down a tree.

i'm a white collar worker and lead a pretty boring life.

neverendingjourney

TD,

You may not remember but we exchanged PMs probably around two years ago. The first home I owned, the one with mostly older neighbors, was in your neck of the woods. I found that the people out there generally liked to be left alone, though, at least more so than the people from my home state.