i have been fading for years now.
i give less and less a shit about what the jw's want or say or do.
i love my family and since my wife is still in although also inactive her rabid family is making the fade tough since i love and respect her dad.
Depends on what you want.
As you know- you have 2 choices:
1- let them have it or
2- say that the rumor you heard was just speculation- might have been 3 weeks ago, maybe 3 months ago, cant remember, really not important. Oh and been missing all those meetings because of stress, illness, large tumor growing in your big toe, etc, etc. Really love the brothers, appreciate their concern, oh and what was the real deal with that Dateline thing about the child molesters on bodies of elders???
who knows the best stuff to use?
my daughter gave me two pouches of poison..i put one down - all gone the next morning,!!!.
the next night i put another pouch down, all gone!!
For a mouse- get a cat.
If its a rat, use a giant rat trap (looks like a mouse trap, only huge)
it took a long time, but i can finally say i'm out and i took my family with me.. this is my first post but i have been reading here for a while.
i was brought up a witness, in a family that was very 'strong' (or so everyone thought).
i didnt have a relationship with my perents at all other than the 'family study'.
Damn!!!
You should write a book on how to do it.
I'm happy for you. I'm working on the same thing.
when i first heard the book study rumor, i figured there was a great chance it was just someone's speculation, and everyone running with it.
i told my wife, and given the huge news, i was skeptical, and really hoped it wasn't all a lie.
then i hear of people who have talked to po's, elders, and even saw a letter (which i hoped wasn't fabricated).
We apostates don't speculate, we rationally analyze the movements of the birds of heaven and the tea leaves in the cup. Our dartboards are absolutely circular and properly divided into logarithmic domains. Our darts are aerodynamic, balanced, and sharp. Therefore our conclusions are always reliable. We apostates don't speculate.
This success makes up for the:
-demonic hand in the Revelation book
-Russell was a mason
-Knorr/Franz secret lovers connection
-Ted Jaracz is an alien
-2012 will see the end of the world
and other such rationally analyzed, non-speculative things that one can find on this board.
when i first heard the book study rumor, i figured there was a great chance it was just someone's speculation, and everyone running with it.
i told my wife, and given the huge news, i was skeptical, and really hoped it wasn't all a lie.
then i hear of people who have talked to po's, elders, and even saw a letter (which i hoped wasn't fabricated).
it is a standard answer that i get from the few jw's that i speak with.. "the organization has it's flaws, but where else would we go to be among.
people who strive to do [jehovah's/god's] will?".
"i don't understand all the doctrine, nor take it as seriously as you do, but .
This idea that every religious person who is not a JW is evil is one of the key ways the borg holds onto power. It was also a key to my eye opening. I remember thinking about Mother Theresa and thinking- wow- JWs believe that she is part of "Babylon the Great" and not worthy of resurrection or any consideration by God- Despite her obvious sincerity, religious devotion and faith. How can she be written off so easily??? When that crack appeared, I began to wonder about others- what about the Dalai Lama?? Not a christian- but he is really trying to do the right thing. WTs answer is "he dies- a false religious leader".
It started to appear to me that most people who pursue religious devotion as a calling have honest motives. Sure there are the occasional deviants- but all in all, you have to have some kind of faith to pursue a life in a religious order.
But thats all a side note- your question- "Where else would we go?" demonstrates the dependant personality that develops inside the org. You have to "belong" to something. How about this- I belong to my family and to my community. And if I disagree with them- thats ok too. Why the need to "go" somewhere???
that's an 'ever so slightly' adapted quote from tophat on another thread; http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/108341/2880755/post.ashx#2880755.
i've been really dismissive of god/s, religion, faith and the abandoning of reason but when it comes to the 'argument from design', well you just have to give it a bit more .
respect?
Agree that elegant, complex systems require design. Why does design require a designer???
Evolution designs systems. Through a never ending cycle of survival of the better mutation, a constant asking of "is this better, or that" through hundreds of millions of years, very complex, energy saving mechanisms are developed.
official speculation thread.... even if a reason is given for the meeting rearrangement when it is announced on 4/27, we all know how the society spins things (e.g., awake magazine being reduced to one issue per month to "put more emphasis on the bible" real reason.. .
so why is the society doing this?
on the surface, it seems to be a loosening of control.
If lack of qualified men was the issue- they would quit doing everything. No more assemblies, no more public talks, no more "shepherding" etc, etc.
Sorry guys, they don't really care about financial issues- so I don't think thats it either.
Plain and simple- control the message. Less individuality. More control. 30 minute public talks with outlines that take 30 minutes just to read them. No original CO talks (all scripted now.). Specific instructions in the WT regarding which scriptures to read. More manuscripts at assemblies. Control, control, control.
Although I have not heard any stories of apostates highjacking book studies, I bet they're scared of that possibility.
(Oh that and the service meeting is boring as he11 so it could use shortning.)
official speculation thread.... even if a reason is given for the meeting rearrangement when it is announced on 4/27, we all know how the society spins things (e.g., awake magazine being reduced to one issue per month to "put more emphasis on the bible" real reason.. .
so why is the society doing this?
on the surface, it seems to be a loosening of control.
See my post on another thread:
More centralized control of the message. Less chance for apostate thinking to arise at small group studies.
.
old timers on the board may remember that i was the first to mention the november 06 blood insert in the km.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/121104/1.ashx.
the same very, very reliable source has confirmed that the book study will be amalgamated with the tms and sm.. this same source recently had a long and private conversation with a gb member.
Does anyone else see this as an anti-apostate, more centralized control of the message move. Small group studies where everyone has a chance to participate and people can go off on tangents are the perfect opportunity for "apostate" thinking to arise. In the 70's and 80's when they were fighting "apostasy" the first move was to eliminate the small group Watchtower studies at Bethel.
This matches the 30 minute public talk move. More centralized control- less opportunity for individual expression. The borg continues its path to becoming a corporate, centrally controlled religion.
