Posts by MrMonroe

19

Did having children make you a better or worse JW

by journey-on in

jw
friends

after i had children, i changed gradually in the way i thought about the religion i was raised in.

one day, it dawned on me that if my child was injured in an accident and needed blood to survive, there was no way in the world i would say "no" to a blood transfusion.

why continue the charade?

MrMonroe

Having the kids quiet at the meetings actually taught them a lot about obedience and respect. People have always said how good our kids are when we're at meals, restaurants, etc etc.

But having little kids gave us a good cover story to avoid meetings and it made us determined they wouldn't be freaks who would stand out among their friends because of what they couldn't do.

After we left, a friend said tearfully, "But what about the girls? Haven't you thought about them?" Answer: Yes, and that's one of the big reasons we did leave.

84

Being honest with yourself, could you have reasonably adjusted your attitude and continued on as a JW?

by miseryloveselders in

jw
friends

i ask this question in harmony with deedub's swan song thread which i linked below.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/members/private/205902/1/time-to-say-good-bye.

to some degree, i think i understand where she's coming from.

just speaking from my own experiences since stepping into the world of anonymous apostacy, i went through a few different phases of personal outlooks.

I hated the place so much I wanted to leave. The only reason I remained so long was the belief that it was God's org and maintaining some contact with it was necessary to keep myself in God's favor, because I didn't want to die at Armageddon. Then I read Franz's Crisis of Conscience and I realised God didn't have an organization, there would probably be no Armageddon and there was no reason for me to maintain contact at all. They no longer had control over me.

So, no, I would never go back. And, as with NewChapter, I could never ever ever ever return to witnessing, knowing how much I hate it, how futile and fraudulent it is and the (remote) possibility that it could lure others to join this cult.

But as always, MLE, a wonderful post. Thank you for your thoughts.

24

Latest Big Love reaction at the undercover house...

by undercover in

jw
friends

so i dvrd the last couple of episodes of big love.

wasn't able to watch them at first broadcast the last couple of weeks.. we've watched this series from it's start and haven't missed an episode.

as the cultishness of the compound and even bill's family became more central to the story...and the off-hand criticisms of the 'real' mormon church are leveled, i sense mild anxiety at times while watching the show.

MrMonroe

My wife used to watch it while I was at work. We were edging out of the JWs at the time and she'd tell me after each episode about how struck she was with the similarities between that cult and our .... religion.

"The Truth" = "The Principle."

The disfellowshipping.

The judicial committee, at which no recording devices were permitted.

The prayers that began, "Heavenly Father".

The lifelong control.

The belief that only they had the one truth.

And perhaps most telling, the secrecy with which they carried on their lives, not daring to reveal their secret life ... like so many JWs (including us at the time) who would rather act normal and not tell people they're part of a cult unless they're really forced to.

53

2011 Yearbook - "Tracing All Things with Accuracy"

by pirata in

2011 yearbook - "tracing all things with accuracy", p.9-13.

jesus said that the faithful slave would be discreet in giving the domestics "their food at the proper time.

" christ thus indicated that those who dispense this "food" would be conscientious, prudent, and discerning in providing spiritual food for the household of faith.-matt.

MrMonroe

The Writing Department follows the pattern of 'tracing all things with accuracy'.

That means you don't need to read any books other than ours. In fact, please don't read any books other than ours. You're likely to start having independent thoughts.

For example, Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, warns that some articles on its own site "contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism," adding that "users need to be aware of this."

Er, except when it comes to articles about Jehovah's Witnesses. You'll read far more accurate information at Wikipedia about the "Faithful and discreet slave", the Governing Body, the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, Ray Franz, that messy business when Rutherford sacked the majority of the Governing Body, the history of our doctrinal flip-flops and the things people most hate about us than we'll ever tell you!

20

Who are the Pharisees today?

by dothemath in

i find many similiarities between the pharisees and witnesses today......... both used disfellowshipping as a weapon (john 12: 42........"because of the pharisees they would not confess.

him, in order not to be expelled from the synagogue").

both add endless rules, yet forget about the important ones, such as love, etc.

MrMonroe

They are haters. They hate religion, hate politics, hate "the world", hate "immorality", hate "materialism", hate criticism, hate success, hate fun, hate sentimentality, hate celebrations, and they particularly hate anyone who quits the religion because they're sick of the hatred.

82

3/15 WT " Do Not Deceive Yourself "- WT's Excuses for No Armageddon

by flipper in

jw
friends

with the new " overlap generation " theory that the wt society is pushing onto rank and file jehovah's witnesses since last year this article i found really heavy hitting in the jw version of the wt.

the wt society is leaking oil in that confidence is low among jw's in not really buying into the " generation overlap " theory as many younger jw's are exiting the organization.

so what better way to try reeling members back in by giving them an article entitled " do not deceive yourself with false reasoning " !

MrMonroe

In this case it was good ol' Charlie Russell who used a form of numerology (later confirmed by pyramidiology) to determine when the guest was going to come. He sent the invitations, set the places, lit the candles ... and for some strange reason the guest never arrived. Then Charlie died, Joe Rutherford stood there waiting by the door and he died, Nathan Knorr took over looking through the peephole and he died, then Fred and Milt took a turn and they died, and gradually the room starts filling with cobwebs and the other guests are just starting to get restless. They're just waiting for maybe a phonecall from this guest. And now, yeah, they're still sitting there, but a few are thinking about looking at where Charlie got his information.

20

Who are the Pharisees today?

by dothemath in

i find many similiarities between the pharisees and witnesses today......... both used disfellowshipping as a weapon (john 12: 42........"because of the pharisees they would not confess.

him, in order not to be expelled from the synagogue").

both add endless rules, yet forget about the important ones, such as love, etc.

MrMonroe

At Matthew 12:1-8 the Pharisees condemned Jesus' disciples for plucking and eating grain on the Sabbath. Jesus referred them back to the account in 1 Samuel 21 about David eating the showbread and said, "I want mercy, and not sacrifice." The sacrifices contained in the Jewish law were symbols of their debt to God and his provision for them, yet when it came to common sense and survival, God said, "Hey, forget the symbol, man, just eat! Don't die because of a symbolic ritual!"

Today the Governing Body says blood is a sacred symbol of life. They say it is better to die than to break what they see is God's "law" regarding a symbol, and accept a blood transfusion. What do you think Jesus would say when he saw medical science offering a provision to save a life, but the GB says, "Nope, there's a symbol involved here."

49

A rhetorical analysis of the Sept. KM Question Box

by Leolaia in

some have pursued an independent group study of biblical hebrew and greek so as to analyze the accuracy of the new world translation.

they have also held conferences and produced publications to present their findings and to supplement what is provided at our christian meetings and through our literature.. throughout the earth, jehovah's people are receiving ample spiritual instruction and encouragement at congregation meetings, assemblies, and conventions, as well as through the publications of jehovah's organization.

rather, the claim is implicit.

MrMonroe

By 2007 I was missing a lot of the Tuesday night meetings. Those I did attend I left during the halftime song, so I wouldn't have heard this part discussed anyway. I'd always figure, the service meeting is for people who go witnessing. I didn't go witnessing. I pretended to do RVs on Saturdays and put in a monthly report with a made-up figure. Which means, dammit, the figure they put in the 2007 annual report of "total hours spent in field" (1,488,658,249) was somewhat wrong. Should I tell them?

49

A rhetorical analysis of the Sept. KM Question Box

by Leolaia in

some have pursued an independent group study of biblical hebrew and greek so as to analyze the accuracy of the new world translation.

they have also held conferences and produced publications to present their findings and to supplement what is provided at our christian meetings and through our literature.. throughout the earth, jehovah's people are receiving ample spiritual instruction and encouragement at congregation meetings, assemblies, and conventions, as well as through the publications of jehovah's organization.

rather, the claim is implicit.

MrMonroe

3Mozzies, I threw most of my WTS literature out when I left. The sickening KMs were the first to go. Don't you do the same!

46

The Governing Body wants JWs to really, really understand this one point

by cattails in

if you had to guess what point of their teaching.

the governing body wants jws to really, really understand,.

24:45.. the comment highlights that because jesus "did not say that there would be a multitude of slaves scattered throughout the various sects of christendom.

MrMonroe

Still to be determined, though, is the function of the FDS. Their number is growing by the year (11,200 now)and yet what do they do ... have conventions? Web forums? Newsletters? Video conferences? Do the female members of the FDS exercising their teaching authority and how? What translation services are provided to allow those people of "all languages" to communicate with one another? Since the GB describes itself as the "spokesman" and "representative" of the FDS, does it meet with those 11,200 to seek their guidance on how best to represent or speak for it?

The weird thing is that the FDS is one of the most central, core beliefs of JWs. And yet if one was to ask a JW calling at your door to explain what it is and how it works in providing that "divine direction" to the entire membership, what would they say?