I am more generous towards those in need and I am less judgemental even when I don't approve other people's choices. Still I don't lie, cheat or steal and I am respectful of all my engagements including my marriage.
Posts by NVR2L8
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22Are Your Morals The Same As When You Were A Witness?
by minimus ineven if you consider yourself a moral person, would you say that you are as honest, faithful, or any different than you were as a jw?.
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186
Questions From Thinkers
by Perry inhow do you explain david's graphic portrayal of jesus' death by crucifixion (psalm 22) 1000 years before christ lived?.
how do you account for the odds (1 in 10 to the 157th power) that even just 48 (of 300) old testament prophecies were fulfilled in jesus christ?.
in what sense was jesus a "good man" if he was lying in his claim to be god?.
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NVR2L8
Hind sight is 100%....
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45
Introduction Bio
by JakeM2012 inhi everyone, i would like to introduce myself and tell my story.
from the standpoint of being one of jehovahs witnesses, my whole family is deeply involved as i was the 5th generation of witness and any children that my brothers or sister have will be the sixth generation.
as some of my brothers and sisters are grandparents, i guess that makes their grandchildren a potential 7th generation.
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NVR2L8
Welcome JakeM,
I too served as a MS and stepped down because my frequent business trips kept me away from the meetings and I felt I no longer served as an example in the congregation. Then after DC in 2010 I never returned to a single meeting. Like you my wife still attends meetings and when she is asked about me by the elders she tells them to talk to me. At their only attempt I told them they needed to leave me alone and that I would call them when needed. Since then I can live free of the WT...if only my wife would see that she is wasting her life. Looking forward to hear more from you in your future posts.
NVR2L8
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114
What exactly is a relasionship with God?
by tootired2care ingrowing up and jw and being around them all my life i constantly heard the expression "a relasionship with god".
this always confused me, because how do you have a relasionship with someone that doesn't talk back to you after praying?
this was always rationalized as god talks back to you when you read the bible.
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NVR2L8
Most JWs don't know what a relationship with God is because there is an organization between them and God. The WT dictates what God likes or dislikes, approves or rejects. They even have the power to alienate you from God by disfellowshipping you...They qualify those who are in line for survival or destruction and they also claim eventhought they don't know the exact day, that the end is sooooon to arrive. It's like me claiming that I have a relationship with the president of the company I work for because I follow the rules dictated by the human resources dept. Some of the rules I follow may not have their origin from the president and he may actually disaprove some of the actions taken by the HR manager...The president may not even know that I exist...but in the case of the company I work for I know for sure that he exists because I see him once in a while....
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7
Question to those who are still JW's.....
by XPeterX inhave you done a "sin" that you didn't confess to the elders?.
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NVR2L8
It all depends on the definition of the word sin. For JWs wishing someone happy birthday or merry christmas could be considered a sin...raising a glass and toasting, watching R rated movies or not going out in service when you could also have been equated to sins...These are not the sins elders are much concerned about. They are much more interested in the "dirty sins" such as fornication or even pornography as highlighted in the latest letters to the BoE. In my case I was raised as a JW from age 4 and religiously followed what I learned at the KHall so I was never involved in illicit sex, drugs or alcohol abuse. Over 50 years later, I still have nothing to confess to unqualified men who have no clue if the sinner is repentent or a good actor. I never felt any guilt ignoring the petty rules that are not backed in the scriptures because I saw them as the rules made by the pharisees to control people. And today I am free of the WT slavery and I don't have the smallest guilt.
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12
it just blows me away!
by stillin ina friendly group of young people came in the drive yesterday.
they all got out with smiles and said that they were looking to put canned food into the "food bank," i assumed for people who need to eat.
i wasn't sure what my wife could part with from the pantry but surely we could gather something for somebody who has much less!
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NVR2L8
Funny how leaving the cult changes the way I see charity...Saturday there was a lady at the door of Canadian Tire asking for support for people in wheelchairs...and I gave her $5...then next day a girl walked up my driveway while I was fixing my motorcycle and she was selling chocolate to finance group activities for underpriviledge kids in our town...I gave her $5 too...I mentioned this to my wife and she got all defensive about making gifts to "worldly" organisations...Now I occasionally give small change to homeless and beggars...what is happening to me!!!
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NVR2L8
Never - once I came out I realized that the "brothers" are conditional friends so I haven't lost anything worth going back to. Being free from the man-made rules and the WT's interpretation of the Bible is priceless.
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Identifying marks of the true religion
by ex360shipper insaw this on jwtalk they were putting down apostates and posted this quote:.
watchtower 1982 3/1 p. 8. .
identifying marks of true religion .
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NVR2L8
You wouldn't expect the WT to provide criterias that would identify another religion....?
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39
Are the JWs were you are getting worked up over having a to go bag (Armageddon bag) ready?
by life is to short inok where i live in the pacific northwest in january of this year this elder from the hall called a special meeting and gave everyone some papers that he had gotten from some government place on what to put in an emergency bag to grab in case you have to flee your home in seconds.
i thought it was just my husbands hall being all strange and stupid over this.
one older sister said that the elder told everyone they needed three bottles of water for 14 days that is 42 bottles of water plus whatever other stuff they put in there not sure if she got that right because 42 bottles of water is a lot of weight.
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NVR2L8
Several years back when I lived in Montreal, several members of a church called the Mission of the Holy Spirit were lured into the "truth"...some influent members of the cult said that their "leader" approved their studying with the JWs...and several did and quickly joined our congregation. Anyways, these people had stockpiled huge amounts of unperishable foods and water because they were expecting the end of the world. Some families had their basement full of cans and drums of grain that they started to get rid of when they became JWs...Some of us made fun of them for being so gullible because their stocked goods would be pillaged as soon as starving neighbours would find out they had something to eat!
Following a terrible ice storm in 1998 some households were without power for a full month during the coldest days of winter and following this event, brothers were told that it would be safe to keep candles, water and basic food to sustain them for a few days....
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A new member of the thinking class
by Captain Obvious inthis is my first post on this forum, though it feels like i already know some of you here.
i have been lurking for a couple of months now, and i must say, there honestly seems to be more love and respect here than any forum i have ever seen on any forum of any kind.
i am 25 years old, married 3 years to my wonderful wife who is 22. we had a somewhat classic jw upbringing... which i now know has been our biggest problem.
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NVR2L8
Welcome C-O,
About 2 years ago I figured out that I had spent 50 years of my life in a CULT...and like you I had taken everything the GB said at face value - never questioning even when I did not agree. I went from being a MS giving public talks and conducting a book study to being inactive within a few months. On a Sunday on our way back from the DC I told my wife that I just had attended my last meeting...Of course she started crying and then told me that she did not want to be married to a "pagan". I told her I understood her pain and that I would forgive her for saying that...but this would be the only time. The next time she would have to face life on her own. I attempted to explain why I no longer could continue living a lie and I even showed her the July 2009 Awake that states that no one should have to choose between faith and family nor being forced to worship in a way they find inapropriate...She read it and still couldn't understand it the way I did...Like your wife, my wife does the strict minimum and she can't debate or explain any of the basic WT doctrines...but to her this his the "truth". Two years have passed by and we are coping as best as we can. I don't talk to her about my views and she doesn't talk to me about what goes on in the congregation... All I can do is to love her the best I can in hope that one day she figures it out by herself...but I am not holding my breath because I estimate the odds of that happening to be slim to none.