it's ok.... to post here on the internet, on jwn, and other jw related forums.. first of all, as we all know, the governing body doesn't provide a forum for jw's to "associate" with their brothers and sisters.
i'm just guessing, and i could be wrong, that its harder to control the flock when they have free access to information and each other.
damn electricity and the technology it brings..... anyway, i realize that for anyone leaving, or for practicing jw's, to post is a nervous thing.
Im a good lurker too. Am enjoying reading what everyones got to say.
I pretty much live life below the radar & keep giving JWs the sob story every month as they come round with the latest mags and study articles .... - Wish they would frigg off but not much I can do about that a moment as it keeps the peace with the rest of the family... :0
i sent a random jw on the jw c@fe page on facebook a copy of this link:.
http://freeminds.org/images/articles/generationjw.jpg.
i got the following reply:.
I sent a random JW on the JW C@fe page on facebook a copy of this link:
http://freeminds.org/images/articles/generationjw.jpg
I got the following reply:
Ex Jehovahs Witness???why sorry of bit late answer iam in traveling
I'd kind of like to give him in simple English a brief message as why Im an Ex JW. Something that would be effective in making him ask himself some more questions, but Ive never been good with words so how would you reply....
I am suprised he replied at all with the link I sent him but something else must be making him ask why !
i'm just beating the bush for snakes... (sabre rattling).
when reformers grow tired of shaking away their tree of snakes, scum and rotten fruit, they'll be surprised to see that beaconed and sheltered jws & ex-jw numbers have grown more than the number of wt loyal members; just because they kept ignoring their members' real welfare.
.
and to raise awareness that there are more Exjw's than actual JW's we should have a Special Day Every Year to commemorate. We could centralise events country by country, state by stae and all meet up... Lovely publicity, and the reality that JW's leave in such great numbers could be an eye opener for those still in.....
ok this is the biggest problem i have ...well one of...and that's the governing body's stance on "new light".
to me its like a dimmer light , whatever subject you have the light on, starting with the lowest setting you can make out the basics.
when the dial is turned up slowly to the brightest setting, you then have the whole, complete,picture...but you don't have a whole new subject matter in front of you.. so i can understand them starting with the basics then later on slowly revealing more and more as it is revealed to them...but i dont understand starting with one idea and completely changing that idea over and over again.. and if the light is not that bright on a subject, isnt it common sense to keep your big trap shut until your sure or the light is brighter, so you don't stumble millions of people in the process??.
New Light & Old light covered on 1 x A4 sheet.... The ever changing Truth.... (Im a newbie so if you cant click on this link, then insert into your browser!) :)
the other day i was talking to a jw in her 30's and mentioned jonestown and she had no idea what i was talking about.
she had never heard of it.
with all their harping about the dangers of 'false' religion, you would think that jonestown, heaven's gate, and the like would be right up their alley and would be brought up often as examples of why one should never leave the safety of the one true religion.
If anyones interested in this book (because it was a very good read) it is called ' NOT WITHO
The website is: http://www.notwithoutmysister.co.uk/
the other day i was talking to a jw in her 30's and mentioned jonestown and she had no idea what i was talking about.
she had never heard of it.
with all their harping about the dangers of 'false' religion, you would think that jonestown, heaven's gate, and the like would be right up their alley and would be brought up often as examples of why one should never leave the safety of the one true religion.
Never ones to want bad publicity they changed their name again from The Children of God to 'The Family International'.... I also stand corrected the man wasnt David Blane but Jim Jones - Im sure there was a David Bloke involved in this somehow too ??!! lol
the other day i was talking to a jw in her 30's and mentioned jonestown and she had no idea what i was talking about.
she had never heard of it.
with all their harping about the dangers of 'false' religion, you would think that jonestown, heaven's gate, and the like would be right up their alley and would be brought up often as examples of why one should never leave the safety of the one true religion.
Just visited their website myself.... Erk they are very much like JW's and just as SICK<<<< - The similarities are painful....
the other day i was talking to a jw in her 30's and mentioned jonestown and she had no idea what i was talking about.
she had never heard of it.
with all their harping about the dangers of 'false' religion, you would think that jonestown, heaven's gate, and the like would be right up their alley and would be brought up often as examples of why one should never leave the safety of the one true religion.
Sad thing is that religion still exists. They are known as the Children of God. Click this link or insert into your browser to their website: http://www.thefamily.org/en/ - (Im new here so Im not sure if this will be clickable when I post this reply :)
It was when I read a book by a former Children of God escapee & how she escaped the cult. (She spoke about David Blane (I think that was his name)... I was a JW at the time of its read, & what really bothered me was that SO many of their teachings were the same as JW's, in the way they kept recieving new light etc, and devils crafty acts etc. The book really bothered me, not because of her terribly recovery but the uncanny similarities with their religion, but the penny still didnt drop until other things pricked my unconscious mind too.... Things like:
Well one day I thumbed the internet & came across something that made the penny drop & then I recalled the Jonestown story to my mind.
It was the WTBS' love of figures that finally did it. In their earliest publications they printed that lets say 10,000 had died during the War then as the decades past their own figures within the Year Books & WT's became inflated to such a degree that 10's of thousands had died. The trouble here was that not even that many JW's (bible students) existed in the beginning to have died, so their figures were inflated & it proved to me they were extreme liars capable of deluding us of anything....
Thats when I re-searched more, became shocked, more shocked & freed my mind totally by reading the book : Crisis of Conscience - Thank 'whoever' for waking me up & saving my whole family from even more years of mental abuse....
We had a great Christmas, have celebrated 40th & 16th Birthdays.... Were not disfellowshipped, just faded & living under the radar so as to not upset the rest of the JW family Clan !
it is incredible the amount of scaremongering that jw's carry out.. this was one that always plagued me when i was still trying to grasp onto my beliefs as a jw.. either in wt study or in private discussion, this topic would come up.. what a horendous outlook of the future.
to be in absolute fear that the authorities might take your children away from you.
that you might suffer torture.
I agree with you Cult Classic. AT 17 my mind was very vulnerable & very child like so everything they told me I believed & totally sucked in with fear. I feared being imprisioned. I even thought at some point I could face the death penalty because of my faith. (I think I felt in the back of my mind that I would relinquish my faith so as to regain my freedom, knowing I would say a few hell marys & reurn tale between my legs hoping Jehovah would forgive me...)
Not the best way to live finishing your teen years & walking into your young adult life...
20 years later, both me, hubby (43 years a JW) & kids escaped October 2009....
Nothing Tastes as Good As Freedom....
i think we can all gather that given the major doctrinal changes over the past few decades, a lot of books are now defunct for one reason or another whether that be doctrinal changes or simply that they are now inaccurate in line with todays teachings.. so which book convinced you that it was the 'truth' and brought you into the organisation and is it now defunct?.
mine was the knowledge that leads to everlasting life published in 2000. i don't know for sure, but i can't imagine that this book is completely accurate given the changes recently regarding generation..
The book I studied was the 'You Can Live On Paradise on Earth'.... My cousin gave it to me when I was 17 yrs old. I read it, & was hooked. My aunts, uncles & just about everyone else around me had been JW's for 40 plus years, so my dad was always open minded & believed I had the right to decide for myself, so nobody tried to stop me. Consequently I brought my mom in a year later :( -
Thankfully my mom never got baptised & due to ill health didnt make many meetings over the last few years, so I have been able to undo all their poision & she has seen the real light .... Trouble is busy body sisters keep turning up at her house randomly, telling her that she cant sit on the fence & she needs to get back to the meetings. My non JW dad keeps butting in & they are getting really ratty with him as though he is some raving loony who doesnt know what he's talking about.. My mom cant tell the sisters to butt out either because if she does them my JW aunt will get to know & it will cause more divisions. So life is all about living under the radar.... What nobody knows nobodys gonna miss...
When studying this book I got told the Society had had new light on certain items, such as Hitler getting a resurrection.... The book said he would, but they decided he wouldnt....
As far as I can reason now, using their own crappy logic, is that the Wages of Sin is Death. Therefore whether he would deserve a resurrection is a different story, but for them to suddenly say he wasnt entitled to a resurrection doesnt match the rest of their teachings.. It is not as though he was divinely put to death is it!
It would have been more appropriate for them to have said from the beginning that we can not say for certain what his hope is likely to be & we leave it in the hands of Jehovah. They did the same flip flopping with those who died at Sodom & Gormorrah....
Why I let myself get sucked in is beyond me..... But if I hadnt I wouldnt have the great hubby I do now or the 4 kids.... :) (All out of the so called truth now & young enough to not be too damaged...)
