jst2laws

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Posts by jst2laws

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  26

  Former Elders and Friendly Fire

  by jst2laws in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i fought many years from inside as an independent spirit trying to change or at least mitigate damage done by the wtbts.

  i met ted jaracz, in the early 1970s when he was called into bethel to serve on the gb.

  this mans control of the service department and the gb is what i have fought for 3 decades but recently conceded this system is beyond reforming.

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  jst2laws

  SixofNine.

  Having decided to not even read the negative posts or work of the posters I have failed to consider the posiblity you have proposed.

  I am open to being convinced if it is that simple.

  Jst2laws
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  26

  Former Elders and Friendly Fire

  by jst2laws in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i fought many years from inside as an independent spirit trying to change or at least mitigate damage done by the wtbts.

  i met ted jaracz, in the early 1970s when he was called into bethel to serve on the gb.

  this mans control of the service department and the gb is what i have fought for 3 decades but recently conceded this system is beyond reforming.

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  jst2laws

  I fought many years from inside as an independent spirit trying to change or at least mitigate damage done by the WTBTS. I met Ted Jaracz, in the early 1970’s when he was called into Bethel to serve on the GB. This man’s control of the Service department and the GB is what I have fought for 3 decades but recently conceded this system is beyond reforming. I failed. I resigned as an appointed servant less than one year ago and have begun my exit from the org.

  I learned from those many years not to waste time on systems nor people who are more concern with being RIGHT than understanding the perspective of others. I have left destructive associations that thrive on harsh and judgmental views.

  There has been a series of negative threads where in those who remain on the inside as appointed servants have been harshly criticized. To defend myself in the blanket condemnation of any man who continues to serve in the WT society is as fruitless as my decades of fighting the WT society. Even if those who criticize are right in their condemnation of us who have tried, the fruitage of the battle is only dead bodies left behind. The bodies are those whom you should have recognized as allies.

  While I have ended my affiliation with the WT society because it is hopelessly in control of judgmental and unreasonable men, I feel the people here are different so I will not leave with a profound “Good Bye”. While I do not plan to leave altogether, I will not try to change nor contend with the Ted Jaracz's on this board.

  But we have suffered casualties recently, seeming to “friendly fire”. What has been accomplished by these battles that could justify the losses?

  Jst2laws
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  72

  Is Ray Franz still living?

  by hungry4life in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a friend of mine has been sharing her doubts about the organization with me for the last year.

  she read both of ray franz's books and found that they were interesting and dealt with many of the questions she had.

  she then wrote to the society anonymously and explained why she could not in good conscience preach regarding 1914 ( she used my p.o.

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  jst2laws

  Thank you Celia,

  Quoting Ray: “My reason for not wanting book material to be run on certain web sites is purely because of finding their approach out of harmony with my own principles and standards, so many are engaged in Watch Tower trashing and extremely negative. Some sites present material that promotes agnosticism and distrust of the Scriptures, even atheism (one such site being in Scandanavia). The financial aspect never entered the picture.”

  And: “I forget to mention that we will begin running chapters of the book on the Commentary Press web site, as soon as my friend , XXXXX, can get them set up. We will try to run chapters from both Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom, perhaps doing so in several languages…..As of now I believe the entire Russian translation is available on the Internet, free.”

  THIS is from an 80 year old man who packs heavy boxes of books from his garage to the worn out (15 year old) Ranger pickup and drives it to the post office once a week to keep food on the table. He does this while trying to keep up with letters and e-mail that overwhelm him. He has given the entire book up to the internet where it truly cannot be purchased. This is not a man driven by guilt for who he was or what he did but driven at his age by love for people and the dictates of his conscience. These facts make me not a “worshipper” but one who loves and respects Ray Franz.

  Jst2laws
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  29

  Reading C of C

  by startingover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read crisis of conscience some time ago and it had a profound effect on me.

  i just gave it to my ex-bethelite friend to read (he had already discovered the "truth" about the truth on his own).

  he's about halfway through it and is in the anger stage.

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  jst2laws

  Latte,
  >>"I am just getting ready to read it through.
  Interesting comments......but what do you do with all the anger/frustration it may bring?"

  The anger will take care of itself, especially if you have others to talk to. Its a natural process of letting go and moving on.

  You will find Ray's books do not attack nor paint a needlessly negative picture. He includes encouraging reasoning on the scriptures that will help you.

  Personally, I believe it is best for a person to have faith and a personal relationship with God before reading C of C because you will not have faith in men when you are finished. But thats the way it should be.

  Enjoy it, Latte

  Jst2laws
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  19

  lurker first post

  by Magog in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first post.

  not df, so a bit nervous.

  thought i would check in from lurking.

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  jst2laws

  Magog,

  You have already recieved the best advise. Just keep reading. Lay low in the congregation if you still attend. Many of us still do. You will be save if you do not say too much to others locally at this point.

  Hope you already have a personal relationship with God at this point. Loss in faith in men does not have to mean loss of faith in God. Ray's second book may also help in this regard.

  Jst2laws

  BTW, I was about where you are one year ago. You will be OK!
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  16

  Suicide and other Fluff part1

  by unclebruce in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my younger sister ran up to me in the yard, tears running down her cheeks.

  "it's mum .. come quick" she pleaded.

  i ran inside and there was mum spread out on the bed, pills and empty tablet bottles all around her.

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  jst2laws

  >>"Oh dear I've drifted away from suicide a bit but that's the background to what i have to say tommorrow in part2. No you all go off and don't do anything silly."

  Damn. Don't do this to us!

  Jst2laws
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  25

  PET OWNERS! New BAN from the Watchtower?!

  by Focus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  [for the full articles that were posted here, please now see:.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=18803.

  thank you, brothers (sisters even)].

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  jst2laws

  Hello Focus,

  >>"While we would not wish to express an opinion on what must remain a matter of personal preference"

  Did they ever miss on that. Did anyone else detect a hint of an opinion in the wt 31 article?

  Focus, this was so ridiculous, is this for real? Could you or someone else put up a PDF of this article. I have Cat Loving JW friends who will refuse to believe this without a visual from the magazine.

  Jst2laws
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  12

  Difficulty of serving on Judicial Committee

  by Masterji in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for me?

  the other two.. more on that later.. your thoughts?.

  m

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  jst2laws

  Masterji,

  Are you saying the greatist difficulty of serving on a judicial committee was dealing with the "other two" elders on the committee?

  Jst2laws
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  56

  What is EVIL? Who Defines?

  by D wiltshire in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what is evil?.

  who defines what is truly evil?.

  if someone lived a trillion x longer than you, and had a billion x more reasoning ability would he come to the same conclusions as you?.

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  jst2laws

  How about we get back to EVIL. This is not such a mysterious issue is it? Am I still a fundamentalist or something? I hope not but Evil and Sin are two different things.

  As with civil laws most of God’s laws have a purpose that can be discerned and that is usually to avoid harm to others or encroachment on their freedom. To fail to conform to his laws by mistake are even a moment of weakness is SIN. This fails to live up to the “mark” or standard God wants of us for a peaceful coexistence.

  Most of what is considered evil in the Bible is HARMFUL to others but done purposely. That’s why in a previous post on this thread I said ‘there is a deliberateness to evil’ and gave the Greek word definitions to support this.

  WHO DEFINES EVIL

  Let me postulate a third possibility: The outcome defines evil. Does God always make the rules? NO! The rules of the Hebrew scriptures were part of a system that was given the Jews that God knew would not work from the start but would lead to what does work.

  A new approach to life, a new covenant with man, a contract with stipulations was to be written in the hearts of man and they would ‘through use have their perceptive powers trained to distinguish right from wrong’ (HEB 5:14) MAN would be able to make these judgments without extensive definitions of what was evil. Our decisions would be trained and improved upon as we ‘through use’ learned to make choices that do not HARM others.

  Those who choose not to train these powers and go on hurting others would be EVIL. Their actions would be evil. The evil would be defined as evil by the harmful outcome. God is not intervening nor defining here. This sums up the objective of God writing the ‘new law into hearts’ so man can live by this law of LOVE, choose not to harm others and therefore avoid evil. This is done today by many of us who are still SINNERS but not EVIL people.

  I guess I sound like an evangelist or fundy here, but by Bible definition we are all ‘sinners’ but we are not all ‘evil doers’.

  Jst2laws
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  21

  Disfellowshipping: A protection in the end?

  by Esmeralda in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, the year is nearly out, and as the new one approaches i'm thinking back on 2 years of being in the online exjw community and, in june 2002, my four year anniversary of my df'ing.. when first i came to h2o seeking comfort and support in january 2000, i had been df'd for a year and a half and online nearly 4 years but never had the guts to type "jehovah's witnesses" into a search engine.

  that search led me to freeminds (thanks, randy *hug*) and then, to h2o.. what a journey its been.

  i've gone from devastation at losing my family, to anger, through the anger to numbness, back through sadness, and now after much soul searching and a chance change of circumstances last summer, come to look at my disfellowshipping in an entirely new light.. those who know my history know that i was born into the borg, baptized at 12, married at 19, and was a very loyal, unquestioning dub until the age of 24 when the elders told me that my miscarried babies had no status with god.

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  jst2laws

  Wow Esmeralda,

  I just read your history on your site and realized I know your story. After having to cover the awful 99 KM insert in the service meeting I started an intense search of the internet for JW and XJW sites to see what the paranoia was about. Your site and your story was one I came across sometime in that period. I felt like Colombus sailing unchartered water and your site was one of the islands I discovered. THANKS.

  I would like to think Justin is the man you married but its not that important. You have a great husband now and a new life.

  Jst2laws