Posts by flipper

9

Time Gained by Leaving JW World

by Farmer Jim1 in

jw
friends

does anyone else wonder at the amount of time a person immediately gains when they leave the jws?.

just today, a sunday, i would have woken up at 7, frantically taken a highlighter pen to my wt to make it look like i had made a deep study of it.

packed my stuff for meeting and ministry, cycled to the kh, joined the pre meeting ministry arrangement, rushed back for the meeting, sat through a sometimes interesting public talk, sometimes mind-numbingly dull one, strained through a wt study to which i usually had more questions than answers.

flipper

Great thread Farmer Jim , thanks for posting it . Very well put. I was born into and raised a JW until I finally escaped over 15 years ago in 2003. Left at age 44 .Hoser's statement, " Over an average lifetime attending assemblies and conventions will cost you more than one year of your time. " I disagree with that, way too short of an estimate of how much time a person loses.

Because EVERYTHING we did as JW's, waking up in the morning being forced from elder fathers to listen to the daily text, attending meetings constantly, field service several times a week, pioneering every day, doing the " personal study " or actually WT indoctrination study daily in our own homes - that took up ( aside from sleeping 8 hours a night ) virtually ALL of our time when we were not working on our jobs. I would venture to say a minimum of 30 % to 50% or 60 % of our waking hours were spent with our minds and activities being clogged up with WT cult activities.

Some on the board over the years dwell on how much time we lost being trapped in the mind control cult Jehovah's Witnesses, yet it's nice to see a thread where the glass is looked at as half full, not half empty where we actually look at it as GAINING time by leaving the cult and being able to experience a vast variety of experiences in furthering our education, job opportunities, hobbies, playing music, doing sports activities, having closer unconditional friendships and relationships without being judged, the gains have far outweighed the disadvantages as far as I'm concerned. Kind of how I see it. Good thread, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

40

After leaving the JWs - Has anyone stayed with Christianity?

by rulehayl in

i recently made the decision to stop studying with my study conductor, due to a situation i found myself in that led to a high possibility of my unbaptized publisher "rights" being taken away from me.

i have since told my study conductor i have joined a new church (to which she dropped me like a hot rock, of course).... last time i posted on here, i was progressing nicely towards baptism, and was well into it.anyhoo, i like my new church, very hillsong-esqe.

so just wondering if anyone else has stayed the course of christianity after leaving the jws, and if so - where did you go?

flipper

Here's another link dealing with secular humanism :

https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/13.

40

After leaving the JWs - Has anyone stayed with Christianity?

by rulehayl in

i recently made the decision to stop studying with my study conductor, due to a situation i found myself in that led to a high possibility of my unbaptized publisher "rights" being taken away from me.

i have since told my study conductor i have joined a new church (to which she dropped me like a hot rock, of course).... last time i posted on here, i was progressing nicely towards baptism, and was well into it.anyhoo, i like my new church, very hillsong-esqe.

so just wondering if anyone else has stayed the course of christianity after leaving the jws, and if so - where did you go?

flipper

I guess I consider myself kind of a secular humanist from the aspect that I feel people do not need religion to make them a better person. I believe that real truth lies within each human being to find out in time through life experiences, school of hard knocks, and just being decent from a humanistic, empathetic, and ethical view of the world and other people in it.

Here's a wikipedia link concerning humanism : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism.

I respect others rights to pursue religion if they feel it will help them ; however I feel the teaching that all humans are sinners that need to be redeemed is totally false. We aren't " born sinners " or " born evil " in my opinion- evil is a taught and learned trait in humans by the environment they are raised in. Little children are not born with prejudices either racially, politically, religiously, or otherwise - not until they are taught these things from the people around them who then shape these children's world view.

If you don't believe me - then ask yourself ( especially those of us who were born into the Jehovah's Witness beliefs ) WHY it took some of us born-in JW's so long to exit the JW cult and religion ? It's because we were " taught " or " programmed " to believe the WT Society world view as minor children without being allowed any other information to have any other viewpoints !

The one difference I have with secular humanism is that I think there may be such a thing as the " supernatural " . Not necessarily a " God " , but perhaps invisible entities of people who have died that may come back through some electrical energy to visit us occasionally like deceased relatives, etc. to assist us or possibly watch over us. I've experienced these connections with deceased loved ones & friends attempting to contact me through electronic media, ie. cell phones, computers, voices through such things and in dreams I have. So I'm not dogmatic on this point- but I'm open to the possibility that something lives on in humans after they die- in the invisible hereafter.

But I don't believe that has any connection with " God " or " Jesus " or any need for the saving of souls due to " sinfulness " . I feel more spiritual now these last 15 years without religion than I ever did in my 40 plus years as a JW. I'm much more balanced, reasoning, ethical, and empathetic in my views now than I was as a JW and have love for all of mankind no matter what race, gender, sexual leaning , or whatever. All humans are important

9

Trey is still on top of it!

by cha ching in

there is still a chance that the watchtower files zalkin received, will surface again in the future!

.

https://www.revealnews.org/blog/jehovahs-witness-abuse-files-remain-secret-after-court-settlements/.

flipper

So let me get this straight. Zalkin IS in possession of the WT documents naming thousands of potentially dangerous child molesters that were never reported to police authorities and these documents are under a " protective order " from the courts so these offenses cannot be discussed or shared with law enforcement agencies, reporters or the public. ??????

And this is beneficial in what way ? If these documents are under a protective order - then just HOW will these documents be finally made public for the FBI or police authorities to bring the hammer of justice down on the WT Society ? Who determines when and how that happens ? Or is this protective order an indefinite amount of time ?

And was the keeping of these documents under the "protective order " a condition Zalkin had to agree on in order to get his two San Diego clients ( the victims ) their settlement for their abuse that happened to them ? Or is it a separate issue aside from the victims settlements ?

Seems strange to me that thousands of Catholic molestation victims came out naming hundreds of Catholic priests, fathers, church leaders who were child molesters back in 2005 with police authorities involved in arresting them ; and here we have a much smaller organization ( WT Society ) bringing the courts / and/or Zalkin to their knees.

I don't get it. Breaking the law, is breaking the law . And thousands of JW appointed men in positions of oversight have broken the law molesting minor children over these last 20 years in the United States with verification on record in the hands of an attorney. It seems to me that it shouldn't be that difficult to get court orders from U.S. marshals, get the FBI involved in order to protect children and bring forth justice. What kind of threats did the WT Society make if these thousands of names get exposed to media and law enforcement ? The Catholic church pays the piper, but WT Society gets a free ride or a mulligan in being exposed ?

I think it's time to call WT leaders bluff and play hardball. Screw what THEY want. It's time to expose their crimes in detail. Just supplying another view here. All of these thousands of abused children deserve justice now. They've waited too long already

50

How long is a generation?

by LevelThePlayingField in

what splain does in his talk and chart illustration is make the leap that a generation can have two groups.

and in this case the two groups span more than 108 years.

but no where in scripture is there ever a notion that a generation has two groups.

flipper

" J-dubs say this " , " WT says that " , " Jesus says this " - Arghhhhh ! It doesn't matter !

Makes me want to set my hair on fire ! It doesn't MATTER what these people say or teach or think- a REAL generation's length is about 30 years like most any dictionary states.

Remember- WT Society makes money on alternate views of reality and changing the meanings of words. I feel like I'm sniffing crazy glue trying to get my point across here

50

How long is a generation?

by LevelThePlayingField in

what splain does in his talk and chart illustration is make the leap that a generation can have two groups.

and in this case the two groups span more than 108 years.

but no where in scripture is there ever a notion that a generation has two groups.

flipper

At the risk of sounding redundant ( as I've posted this quote so many times before from Websters New World College Dictionary ) :

Generation Definition : " The average period ( about 30 years ) between the birth of one generation and that of the next . A single stage or degree in the succession of natural descent ( father and son are two generations ) "

Hope this is helpful

P.S. All the gibberish about the Bible's interpretation or JW interpretation of " generation " doesn't mean a thing. What matters is the actual English language definition.

10

My take upon reading CoC for the 1st time

by nowwhat? in

wow!

the gb.

1.0 demanded absolute loyalty back then too.

flipper

NOWHAT ? - " The GB could have easily said required political card was really just a citizen id card instead, and save the brutality the brothers and sisters endured " .

This is one reason ( among many reasons including JW's dying from refusing blood transfusions ) that I continue to say and claim that leaders of the WT Society need to be indicted and brought up on criminal charges of murder, crimes against humanity, and need to be shut down by the governments for being subversive as thousands of JW members have died, committed suicide from being shunned, been killed needlessly by giving their lives for this money grubbing corporate cult the WT Society - so that it's 139 year existence can keep going.

It's time for karma to come around and bite WT leaders in the ass

26

JW's make the big time news

by eyeuse2badub in

lifestyle.

ex-jehovah's witnesses break silence on shunning: 'my mother treats me like i'm dead'.

detroit free press 3 hours ago .

flipper

Wow. Excellent article explaining the damage that shunning does to families in breaking them up. WT Society is totally guilty of splitting families apart and destroying human beings souls, destroying ex-JW's self worth and any sense of self esteem.

I could really relate to all these experiences of shunned EX-JW's. My two JW adult daughters still shun me after almost 15 years out of the JW cult. I'm not allowed to see my only grandchild a 2 year old boy. Even though I'm not DFed ; I'm treated like I am . If I stop by unannounced as a surprise, my JW daughter will let me see my grandson, but it's almost 2 hours away , so it's a roll of the dice if they're home - or not. My phone calls are ignored to both daughters - so I can never " make arrangements " to visit as any communication I attempt is ignored- like I don't exist.

I swear to god- if I had bouts with depression who knows ? I would possibly lose my shit and do something I'd regret. But fortunately I am a very stable person emotionally and would never do something to hurt others or myself- but that doesn't make the pain any less - or go away. It's like a nagging sore deep within my heart that will never heal until my relationship is restored with my JW daughters.

I totally understand the pain and feel very deeply in a real way the pain these people express in this article. One of the people in this article I even know, is a friend of mine. It's a small world in which many of us as EX-JW's suffer in the dungeon of despair- even in our dreams at times

26

JW's make the big time news

by eyeuse2badub in

lifestyle.

ex-jehovah's witnesses break silence on shunning: 'my mother treats me like i'm dead'.

detroit free press 3 hours ago .

flipper

Thanks TTDTT, appreciate it

26

JW's make the big time news

by eyeuse2badub in

lifestyle.

ex-jehovah's witnesses break silence on shunning: 'my mother treats me like i'm dead'.

detroit free press 3 hours ago .

flipper

Thanks for posting this EYES- Is there a clickable link you can post here so we can read the article as well ? I'm excited to read it. Thanks, Peace out, Mr. Flipper