Posts by Disillusioned JW

i'm out, there is no coming back.. second, i'm on their " do not call list" .. so why now all of a sudden my mailbox is getting bombed 💣 by their memorial invites and letters?.

don't they follow their do not call list?

Today I received in the postal mail an envelope addressed to "Neighbor" with the return address of the local kingdom hall. I suspect it includes an invitation to the Memorial (which takes place tomorrow). I am surprised I received it since I thought the congregations now know not to send such to me. Apparently there is no way to keep all JWs from sending evangelizing mail to my address. I am thinking of writing facts on the back of envelope (as suggested by truth_b_known in post that was made 14 days ago) and returning it to the sender. If I do so maybe an elder will read what I write on the back.

Update: I later opened the envelope and read the enclosed memorial invitation (which is nicely worded, printed from a computer in a cursive style, and signed by hand) which the sender included with a JW.org published invitation to the memorial. I thus won't write "Retun to Sender" on the envelope.

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Is Bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding the prelude to the great tribulation?

by Disillusioned JW in

is bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding a prelude to the great tribulation?.

full disclosure: i still don't believe in the bible's claims about the existence of the supernatural, even of jehovah god (i'm an atheist and a scientific/philosophical naturalist), but i am asking this question because recent events are starting to seem (to me) to fit well the description of some prophecies in the bible.

consider the following.. several hours ago (on 11-26-2021) as i was about to enter a local fred meyer store of my city (in suburb or small city in the metro area of a large city) a person i know told me that a moment earlier a person left the store in a hurry with a cart load up with unpaid merchandise (i think i was told it was groceries but i don't remember that for sure).

Disillusioned JW

Yes the Bible is fiction (mostly), especially regarding claims of the existence of the supernature), but to me it is still interesting to analyze.

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Is Bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding the prelude to the great tribulation?

by Disillusioned JW in

is bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding a prelude to the great tribulation?.

full disclosure: i still don't believe in the bible's claims about the existence of the supernatural, even of jehovah god (i'm an atheist and a scientific/philosophical naturalist), but i am asking this question because recent events are starting to seem (to me) to fit well the description of some prophecies in the bible.

consider the following.. several hours ago (on 11-26-2021) as i was about to enter a local fred meyer store of my city (in suburb or small city in the metro area of a large city) a person i know told me that a moment earlier a person left the store in a hurry with a cart load up with unpaid merchandise (i think i was told it was groceries but i don't remember that for sure).

Disillusioned JW

The video depicts Jesus and the 144,000 as being visible while coming in (or upon) the clouds, with the JW's and some of Gog's forces looking up at them. Does that mean that the WT now teaches that Jesus and his forces will be visible when coming in judgment, as the Gospel of Matthew describes regarding the sign of the Son of Man? Or, does the image simply represent seeing them in the sense of with figurative "eyes of understanding.", as the WT has taught for decades?

Perhaps the image only shows the JWs and some of Gog's forces seeing a brilliant light through the clouds (at nighttime) and also having an idea of what that means, while also indicating that visually obscured (to human eyes) by the clouds are Christ and the 144,000.

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Owe Raymond Franz my life anyone else??

by Witness 007 in

so imagine a governining body member faithful slave who's uncle wrote the new world translalation bible and predicted 1975 would be armagedon writes a book in 1980 that changed my whole life...thank you raymond franz for setting me and my wife free love this man forever.

true pioneer!

👍 love ❤️ .

Disillusioned JW

During the past several days I have been reading the Crisis of Conscience book. For me one of the most interesting types of contents in the book is the evidence of WT literature being dishonest (including making dishonest claims of what its older literature said). Another one of the most interesting types of contents in the book is in chapter 7 -10. Those chapters pertain to false predictions and/or false presumptions in reference to specific dates, such 607 B.C.E., 1799, 1874, 1878, 1881, 1914, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1925, 1935, and 1975.

The book also describes what goes on in meetings of the governing body, but I currently have much less interest in such. However, if other people read that content they might greatly appreciate that content.

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Saving "mark" on forehead: A CROSS?

by Terry in

ezekiel 9:4.

“go throughout the city of jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

in the script used during old testament times it was either in x shape or a + shape.

Disillusioned JW

Update: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Tomb_of_Jesus makes claims which refute many of the claims of the documentary.

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Saving "mark" on forehead: A CROSS?

by Terry in

ezekiel 9:4.

“go throughout the city of jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

in the script used during old testament times it was either in x shape or a + shape.

Disillusioned JW

"The Lost Tomb of Jesus, A Simcha Jacobovici Film" can be watched for free at this location . Besides what I wrote previously it makes other amazing statements. For example in it an expert/authority says something which agrees with a statement of the WT that most people don't likely believe. Consider the following.

At about the 1:01:00 mark Father Jerome Murphy-O'Conner says regarding crucifixion type of crosses that early Christians (ones in the first century) were not using them . He said that for any of them to wear one around their neck "would be like someone today wearing a little electric chair. It was disgusting. It was a symbol of torture and it was only when crucifixion was stopped that the human imagination was able to move from the reality to the symbol." That first part of what he said agrees with the WT says about wearing crosses.

A scientific test was done of the patina of the ossuary which is inscribed "James son of Joseph brother of Jesus". That ossuary was sold by an antiquities dealer and thus archaeologists don't know where it came from. Experts say the " brother of Jesus" part of the inscription is possibly a forgery but not the "James son of Joseph" portion. The scientific analysis was done on the patina of the "James son of Joseph ..." ossuary and compared with a scientific analysis of the patina of the "Jesus son of Joseph" ossuary and the Mary Magdalene ossuary, those two being from the same tomb. The patina of the "James son of Joseph ..." matches the others, but random samples of patina from other ossuaries (not ones from the same tomb as the Joseph and Mary ossuaries) does not match the ones from the same tomb as the Joseph and Mary ossuaries. That means the James ossuary came from the same tomb as the ossuaries of Joseph, Jesus, Jose, and Mariamne (Mary Magdalene), and Matthew (the one from the family line of the Mary who was the mother of Jesus) came from. That is strong evidence that those 4 ossuaries are of the family of the biblical Jesus (later called the Christ) and that their tomb is tomb of the family of Jesus! Wow!

In the family tomb was also found an ossuary of the child that ossuary bore the inscription of "son of Jesus". the video mentions that in the Gospel of John refers to a beloved disciple (without mentioning his name) and that John 19:26 says Jesus asks the beloved disciple at the base of the cross to behold his mother. The verse than quotes Jesus as saying "woman behold your son". The show is saying that instead of that Mary in the verse being the mother of Jesus, it could be Mariamne (Mary Magdalene) and that Mariamne (Mary Magdalene) could be the wife Jesus ,and that the son could be son of both Mary Magdalene and Jesus! WOW!!!

As a result the scientific evidence of this video I now have much weaker belief in the Christ myth theory. I now strongly believe that the Jesus the Nazarene of the gospels was a real historical person (but I don't believe in everything that is ascribed to him) and that his family tomb and his remains have been found!

Just as Herod the Great, Pontius Pilate, and High Priest Caiaphas have been shown by archaeological discoveries to be have historical persons, I now strongly believe that John the Baptist/Baptizer, Mary Magdalene (Mariamne), Jesus the Nazarene (the son of Joseph), and James (the son of Joseph) the brother of Jesus were also historical persons! I now strongly believe they were all real! Wow! I am stunned!

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Saving "mark" on forehead: A CROSS?

by Terry in

ezekiel 9:4.

“go throughout the city of jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

in the script used during old testament times it was either in x shape or a + shape.

Disillusioned JW

Terry, a number of times I wondered why Paul put so much emphasis on the idea that Christ died specifically on a cross, rather than on something else. But, after watching the first hour of the "Tomb of Jesus" show I now have an idea. Maybe to the Apostle Paul the cross of Christ was the apocalyptic meaning of Tav having the meanings of:"last", "finished", "end", and "sealed up", and "brought to life" ("raised up" and "resurrected"). According to a least one of the gospels Jesus right before death on the cross said "It is Finished"! If these ideas were what Paul was thinking the cross meant, I get it now! Wow!

If such is the case then more puzzle pieces are coming together. It is of a puzzle which is a great mystery (perhaps even what can be called a sacred secret) which is now becoming revealed (as by a revelation).

Interestingly, for two years prior to ceasing to believe in Jehovah God and the Christ, I privately partook of Memorial emblems (Matzo unleavened bread and juice I freshly squeezed from unfermented red grapes ["the fruit of the vine" the gospels call it, instead of calling it wine]) in my home (with me conducting the Memorial ceremony with myself). Maybe there was more significance to those actions of mine than I realized.

All is interconnected. All is part of the One, the one universe (though some people think of the One as being God, such as in Hinduism). Thinking of that I am reminded a gospel which credits Jesus as saying his disciples are to be one (or in union), just as Jesus and the Father are one (or in union). Wow. All is one. All is interconnected.

Speaking about oneness, about a week ago I watched an episode of the TV series called "Sliders" in which one of the characters experienced her consciousness leaving her body and joining (or accessing) what she called the "universal consciousness". In a different episode a different character's consciousness was linked up with those of other human consciousnesses and they thought they were getting close to linking their minds with God.

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Saving "mark" on forehead: A CROSS?

by Terry in

ezekiel 9:4.

“go throughout the city of jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

in the script used during old testament times it was either in x shape or a + shape.

Disillusioned JW

Terry I now think you are on to something in regards to the cross shaped "mark" referred to in Ezekiel, but not exactly the way that you think. That is because a moment ago I heard mention of the mark of the book of Ezekiel in the DVD of the documentary film called "The Lost Tomb of Jesus", a "A Simcha Jacobovici Film". Such a mark was found as part of the inscription on one of the ossuaries discovered by Simcha (and Simcha thinks some of them belongs to the Jesus family and ones in nearby tomb to very early followers of Jesus). The show mentions the mark (the Tav) it is the last letter of the Aramaic alphabet and that though it is cross shaped it does not signify a crucifixion type cross. Instead since it is of the last letter of the Aramaic alphabet it has an apocalyptic symbolic meaning of "final" and "end", "sealed up", finished, and OK. Notice the show (with James Tabr making the comments about the mark) said "sealed up". In my prior post in this topic thread I mentioned Revelation saying the "seal of God" and it being used of those who Revelation says would be protected by God. The show ties it in with the book of Revelation calling Jesus the "The First and the Last" ("Alpha and Omega" in Greek, which is "The Aleph and the Tav" in Aramaic)! That is mentioned at about the one hour mark of the show. The show is amazing! I checked out the DVD from the library three days ago but I didn't begin watching it til tonight.

The figurative "pieces of a puzzle" are "coming together" for me.

More and more I am seeing that so many things (and even statement made by various people) are connected together, in ways that most people don't usually notice. For example, I had no idea that this show would mention the mark in the sense of being sealed instead of being a crucifixion cross, yet two days ago you mentioned the mark as a crucifixion cross and I contrasted it with "the seal of God"! I think that is more than mere coincidence, I think it is many of many evidences of interconnections of the universe! I'm starting to think that minds are interconnected in a metaphysical quantum physics kind of way and that parts of the universe are also interconnected (in ways we don't see), perhaps by means of the"fabric of space-time".

Maybe in some sense I am starting to become a mystic (maybe even 'spiritual' in sense, but in a non-supernaturalistic way)!