Posts by stillstuckcruz

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

stillstuckcruz

LOL! Ironically. but i dont own porn. But I do know how to hide things well. Years of avoiding detection by the parentals. :)

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

Wow thankx for all the great advice guys! :) I have so much to work with. In answer to many questions, I am still living at home. I work a part time 3x a week at 8.50 an hour. Still looking for better work.

I have absolutely no plans of talking to my parents about anything right now. Cult relief or otherwise. My main goal for this thread was in case the situation ever arose when I least expected it...and yes next weeks WT(which I have the "privelege" of reading at the Sunday meeting BTW) helps absolutely NOTHING.

With regards to telling my brother, I am still going to do it. Now its just the matter of how I can get him to look for himself. I change the 95% to 100%. I'm sure no matter what, he wont tell my parents or the elders. I know him too well to know he's not about to put me through hell. Were too close for that. I also think with proper planning, I can get him to do research. He doesnt do any personal study so he's not so stuck on beliefs that he can see anything else. I'm having a close friend of mines at work order CoC and CCMC for me so I can have them in the flesh. (cant find CCMC in pdf format anyhow)

I noticed that through my research of people leaving the Borg, most found that the easiest thing to do was to move to hall far away and just not go. Most people said that was most effective. I'm not sure what to do at this point, but I'm certainly not rushing into anything.There were so many great ideas about where to start. Anonymous emails is a really good one. It really makes me happy to see people here who have been there. So much for the "mask of sincerity" all apostates are accused of(WT06 5/15 Lessons For Us)

You guys are amazing to say the least

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

stillstuckcruz

@ scully: excellent idea! I always wanted to do this. It could be with many teachings really. New generation. 1914. New light, etc. I guess the only reason I haven't is because I'm afraid of them being skeptical as to why I'm asking. They know im shaky in the "truth" right now so I guess I dont want them jumping to any conlusions. But I may try that if I can gather up enough nerve

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

stillstuckcruz

Thanks for the story link Thomas. Very interesting. Im happy for you :) I've decided with VERY careful though for the last 15 minutes that within the next week, Im telling my brother EVERYTHING I have learned....about cults, doctrines, CoC....everything I've learned up to this point. I can say with 90% assurance, he may become curious himself. And even if he doesn't want to believe it, I'm 95% sure my secret is safe with him. I say two of us are better than one. He's doesnt know much about the organization with regards to histroy and deep doctrines. Im really not sure how much he believs really. You can read someones mind. As we speak, hes playing in his room Call of Duty Black Ops, likely with other MS brothers. Kind of funny really. Though thats not really a test of faith but who knows. Ill see what happens and post it here when it does.

In the end, you will have to accept that you can't control the outcome.

^I agree. I'm thrilled to have found people in my predicament. Not to say I wish we didnt have to be.

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

stillstuckcruz

I just found this link. Its amazing:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/112308/1/Combatting-Mind-Control-by-Steve-Hassan-with-WT-References

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

stillstuckcruz

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the support. At least I know I'm not by myself in this. I'm trying to find pdf version of steve hassan's book. Can't find it. I may have to have someone order it for me.

This is going to be harder than i thought...and I already thought it was basically impossible. Im preparing myself for the worst as I believe thats what it will amount to. But I will try my absolute best to free them.

My mom was a born in. Very close-minded. just saying....

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

stillstuckcruz

I hate you leavingWt....cuz your probably right. :) So what about thought reform would you suggest? Explain to them how they've been manipulated? I'm so bad at this!!!!

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

stillstuckcruz

Believe me, I will hold out for as long as I can. The problem is that I am forgetful. If someone finds the PDF file of CoC, or ANYTHING that indicates "apostacy" on my part because I forgot to delete, that inevitable "talk" will happen sooner than I want it to. I'd rather be prepared than stammering and stuttering like an idiot with little evidence to support anything I say.

want to finish both of Ray Franz's books first, then I will move on to his. I've heard a lot about his as well. Looking forward to it.

51

Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?

by stillstuckcruz in

i'll give my story again:.

i was raised a believing witness.

i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).

stillstuckcruz

I'll give my story again:

I'm 20 years old. I was raised a believing witness. I had a normal life and VERY loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21). We did lots of this together growing up. Regional Building Commitee for the 07' hurricanes in FL. pioneered twice. I got baptised when I was 16 not because I felt a strong relationship with God and all that. But because of the same reason many/most others did. I wanted to hang out with people and most were baptised. I didnt want to be looked at as bad association by others parents. I could see how my parents viewed other kids who werent baptised. A few months after I was 16, I began to grew more doubt about the religion. Not because I felt all their doctrines were wrong or anything(I didnt do any personal study), but mainly was this God's one and only channel to man-kind? Was the GB really being led by God? Was he "pulling the strings" so to speak for all JW's? Why JW's of all the billions of others worldwide?

The older i got (especially in the last two years), I really began researching the religion outside of the WT and other publications provided(which we all know is a big no-no). I've almost completed CoC and i am THOROUGHLY impressed with his in depth look at the JW org. I am still is disbelief at the the information found there-in. Of course, I've been using this site quite a bit for new information.

MY FAMILY:

My father is a very much loved elder in the congregation. Of the top 3 in our hall no doubt. he came into the org in his teen years. My mother was raised a witness. She is a DEVOUT witness who is a favorite among the congregation for her sense of humor, outgoing nature, and sincere love for others. My brother is a MS who harbors many responsibilities in the cong. And they just keep growing, as me an him both are excellent readers and speaking becuase of our deep and clear speaking voices. So as you can imagine the "potential" they expect from the both of us. I know that I am often compared to him because he seems to be doing so well and I'm no so hot. All I do in the hall really is carry mikes, do stage and give talks. Thats about it. I only go in FS on Saturdays and get MAYBE 2-3 hours a month. I avoid it if at all possible. lol.I love my family to death. And I can't bear to lose them. And it doesnt help that all the family that know are all JW's. And the fact that I've never been allowed to associate with others means that whenever I leave, I have no one. I haven't the slightest idea what to do. I know many others are in a similar predicament. I'm not discussing my issues with them right now. But I have a feeling that at some point in time(possibly closer than I think), we will be sitting down having that inevitable "talk".

I feel if presented with specific information, my brother could potencially grow curious.(we are very close even though we are total opposites.) But my parents are an entirely different case. I feel that no matter what hard evidence they are presented with, they will be too proud, naive or whatever word you can think of to say...they won't budge. What I need are suggestions of how to speak to them and also more information that can be presented. Please remember that they wont be swayed by mere opinions but things must be sourced and scriptually there. It doesn't help that next weeks sunday talk is about us "mentally diseased" apostates. lol. I just began writing down infomation to present to them a few days ago....heres what I have thus far....:

1. The new light explantions. How can you have new light that is really old light? As an example, I will be using the new light recieved that the DC 2011. (If you have more exmples w/ sourcing, that would be great)

2). The whole....apostates are horribly, demented, mentally diseased, satan-like, ravenous people, etc. Until recently(especially after CoC), I hadn't realized just how horrible they made apostates out to be. I have lots to say about this.

3) Failed prophecies. Until Coc(once again) I never knew about all the filed prophecies. Its a lot to go through. Does anyone have a compiled list of the failed prohecies as well as the WT's that prove them? If not I guess I can search through CoC and find them, including the dates shifted around being of the failing of the prophecies.

I could use more information to present. I have more. But I'm not sure they would be effective. Well, I'm not sure any points would be effective, but I'm not going out w/o first explaining myself thoroughly. Please remember that if you present more information, it can't be just heresay. If at all possible sourcing would be great. I will try my absolute best to get them to look at CoC but I think thats a dead end. Any help that can be provided will be fantastic! :) Thanks guys.

8

Pastor Russell Quote Denying New Light that Changes Theology

by mfriend in

i was reading wilbur lingle's book on the jw's and he had the following quote.

below i've pasted a screen pic from my copy of the february 1881 watchtower.

this quote is from charles russell and seems to be devastating to the wt believe in new light:.

stillstuckcruz

Yes. Excellent find! Where is this again? I would love to print this out for my elder dad and o-so faithful mother.