Posts by truth_b

6

The Big Lie JW`s Tell The Courts !

by smiddy3 in

imho, its the one rodney spinks and terry o`brien parroting the governing body direction is that when somebody leaves the religion whether they just fade ,disassociate or even get disfellowshiped ,then they are in fact shunning all members of all congregations worldwide including family and friends ,.according to their testimony at the arc.. this is a blatant lie and misrepresents the truth,.and they know it.. when a person leaves the religion for whatever reason they are rejecting the governing body`s teachings ,doctrines and practices of the religion of jehovah`s witnesses and not all peoples associated within the congregations.. especially not family and friends who they may have long standing relationships with.. they try to shift the blame and put the onus on those who leave.. shame on them for perpetuating such a lie..

truth_b_known

Imagine being an expert witness for the government in the ARC.

Attorney: You at one time were one of Jehovah's Witnesses?

Witness: Correct.

Attorney: You chose to stop being one of Jehovah's Witnesses? I believe the term is you "faded"?

Witness: Yes. That is correct on both of your questions.

Attorney: So then, what happens to you if you try to maintain your relationship with active Jehovah's Witnesses? I mean to ask, what consequences are there for you as a former Jehovah's Witnesses for trying to maintain a relationship with current Jehovah's Witness?

Witness: None. Nothing will happen. There are no consequences.

Attorney: What would happen if the Jehovah's Witness you are maintaining a relationship with? That is to ask, what consequences would that Jehovah's Witness face?

Witness: That Jehovah's Witness would be disfellowshipped and shunned by all other Jehovah's Witnesses including all family members that do not live in the same home as that Witness. Anyone that is a Jehovah's Witness would be told they will face the same outcome if the continue any relations with that person.

Attorney: Let's be clear - You're telling the court that as a former Jehovah's Witness you are free to associate with active Jehovah's Witnesses and face no consequences, but the reverse is not true? You may or may not shun Jehovah's Witnesses, but they must shun you under penalty of being shunned?

Witness: That is truth.

Attorney: No further questions your Honor. I pass the witness.

84

Faith-Apostasy-Atheism

by DoubtingThomas in

i have been on m any different forums, and only carm is similar to this.. all the rest have rather hypocritical trust in god.. this and carm are for those who apostate to the wtbs and to god.. turned off by the gb, or hypocritical examples in the congregation, they drop worshiping god and their belief in the bible... for they know too much,.

that's why scripture isn't discussed, and jws like me, are demonized.. i am cool with that!

maybe some of you will come to their senses!.

truth_b_known

DoubtingThomas:

I was raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I was present when there was a change in the Watchtower's approach to making converts. The book I was studied with prior to Baptism was the Live Forever book. That book took time to not only teach what the Watchtower claims is truth based on its interpretation of the Bible, but it and many other publications of the day took time to attempt to disprove all other religions both Christian and non-Christian.

As a result, many who saw the Watchtower for what it is came to this conclusion - If all other religion is false and so is the Watchtower there must be no god. No true religion. That is what happened to me. What happened next was my life became a nihilistic train wreck.

What I eventually found out through study was that what the Watchtower prints about other religions has not always been true. There have been many half-truths or flat out misrepresentations of the truth. These are called "lies."

I know a lot of people on this website and other places debate the existence of the god of the Bible or whether Jesus really existed and was resurrected. For me, these things are not important. How the universe came to be, what happens when we die, these types of questions do not matter. How to live while we have this precious gift of life is the most important question.

Imagine if people actually lived by Jesus' teachings rather than argued to be right about something that does not matter.

14

JW healthcare

by jhine in

given that us healthcare isn't free at point of contact and people have to pay for insurance, which can be expensive and is often linked to employment how do jws get on ?

if they are encouraged to take low paid or part time jobs so l assume don't get good healthcare insurance from their jobs .

how do they cope with medical bills?

truth_b_known

Growing up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses I only had health insurance once I became an adult and got a job with benefits. Witnesses are obsessed with home remedies and "snake oil". As a kid my parents rarely took me to the doctor. My parents only started going to doctors once they got old enough to qualify for MediCare/MedicAid.

I remember my mother suffered a small heart attack. Rather than dial 911 or rush my mother to the hospital, my father called a sister in the congregation who was a retired nurse. She told my father to hang up the phone and rush my mother to the hospital. Once the medical bills started rolling in my father just placed them in the trash.

29

We are now around 25 years past the point when Armageddon was to arrive as PROMISED!

by nowwhat? in

absolute worst case scenario, the last of the generation that saw the events of 1914 would have died off would be in the mid to late 1990's!

so we were told in the 1980's!

so now we 3/4 of another generation past that!.

truth_b_known

As a born in Jehovah's Witness that was raised in the 1980s and early 1990s I was told Armageddon would come before -

I was an adult
I went to high school
Before the end of the 20th Century (Printed inside each copy of the Awake! magazine)

I became an adult nearly 30 years ago.

I graduated high school nearly 30 years ago.

1999 is the last year of the 20th Century. January 1, 2000 was the first year of the 21st Century. We have been living in the 21st Century for over 20 years.

Now all my children have or will graduate high school in the next 3 years. All my children will be adults before then. That will place as 1/4 the way through the 21st Century.

Here's the nail in the coffin for me -

My whole life I have been told by Jehovah's Witnesses that we are living in the "Last Days". The Watchtower claims we live in the "Last Days" and has for over 100 years (we are closer to 200 years than 100 years). In 2020 Stephen Lett tells us that we are in the "final part of the last days, undoubtedly the final part of the final part of the last days! Shortly before the last day of the last days." Now Anthony Morris III tells us that Lett's statement is false and it is not as close as thought.

It doesn't take faith to keep being a Witness. It takes belief. Belief is the ability to ignore facts and evidence that disprove an idea one holds dearly.

10

Happy New Year

by HappyDad in

jw
friends

wishing all of you a happy and prosperous new year.

my wish is for everyone to find happiness.

for those of you who are still having to keep up appearances (pimo's) because of family who are still in, my wish for you is anything that will open the eyes of your family members and finally be set free.. tonight here in minnesota, happydad will be celebrating with a bloody mary, right here at home in my sweats.

truth_b_known

Happy New Year to all. May you be happy & well.

18

Article to discuss or argue over: Buddha, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historic figures or largely legends?

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

i've posted a link to an article that contains important food for thought.

as we search for information to free our minds and hearts of cult-like thinking which entails being able to critically think, we need to ponder research that is available to help us to make important decisions.

we need to allow ourselves to consider other possibilities, something that jw’s are discouraged from doing.

truth_b_known

Sea Breeze:

The time stamp is 4:49 on the first video you posted in regards to the doctorate panel's instruction to the then future doctor. He was told that he could not use the New Testament as evidence of the resurrection of Jesus.

A book a read make a statement that really struck home with me -

First, you must have faith that your religion has truth. Second, you must have doubt in your religion. Third, you must have dedication to find the truth, whatever it may be.

Referring to doubt, the writer stated to have doubt, but not be skeptical. There is a difference. A skeptic is looking for anything to disprove something. A doubter simply seeks the truth. It also means not clinging to an idea and seeking to only prove it to be true. There is a balance. A middle way.

I am open to there being a historical Jesus. It would even be reasonable that such a man was executed for his teachings. It would be reasonable that a religion would be born from that man's teachings.

I also know that the Jesus story is built on the foundation of a belief in a future Messiah who would liberate the Jews from their never ceasing line of foreign conquerors. The Old Testament was written by a people who were constantly having their religious beliefs influenced by the conqueror of the day. Egyptians, Persians, Macedonians/Greeks, and then the Romans. Persian Zoroastrian religion gave the Jews a monotheist religion. The Greeks gave the Jews an afterlife.

That is why the sects of the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to be. It was their job to keep the Jewish religion pure from outside influence. That is why they attacked Jesus because his teachings did not align with theirs. That is also why there are those who theorize that when Jesus spoke about his father, God, that it was not YHWH Jesus was speaking of. That the Jews had left the worship of their true god for the worship of another, YHWH.

I am off track here. My point being that Dr. Haberman provides sound arguments, but not evidence. That is what apologetics is - it is reason based argument, only. Reason based argument can show things are possible. That doesn't mean they are.

It is like the Scooby Do argument - you can use reason based argument to show that there is most likely some sort of consciousness that fits the description of what some call "god". However, to make the statement that the consciousness spoken of is god "X" requires evidence. That the one true religion of "X" is "Y" takes a tremendous amount of evidence. This is where the honest believer has to admit that they substitute evidence with belief.

I commend you, Sea Breeze. You obviously are actively seeking truth. Belief is holding on to an idea regardless of the evidence presented. Faith is letting go of all idea and accepting the truth as you experience it. Have a little faith. The Apostles did.

10

No rational reasoning with cult elders

by UnshackleTheChains in

https://youtu.be/elm5y8t3pjs.

this is why i can't in good conscience go back to the organisation.

you are pressured to bring others into the cult and then for them to wake up and find they are caught in a web of rules and policies such as shunning.

truth_b_known

"Because the Bible says so." - Attorney

"Yup!" - Terrance O'Brien

That is partially true. Those who leave are considered to be apostate, "runaway slaves," according to the Apostle Paul who created this arrangement according to scripture.

The real question is "If you are a professed Christian will you obey Jesus and show love or obey Paul and shun?"

6

Poll abouth new media center

by asp59 in

lets take a poll abouth new media center.

maeby its gonna show how well it's gonna be accepted in the congregations.

you can only choose this two options.

truth_b_known

Does anyone else here get dressed up in business attire to attend the most recent blockbuster movie?

19

So many are waking up. Pandemic gave jws time to think.

by pistolpete in

this is not about stats, but "actual experiences" happening world wide in the organization.

there is about 156 comments of what some jws are seeing in their congregation.

feel free to read and come to your own conclusion on whether the watchtower organization is turning pimo but no one says anything in order to keep family relations.

truth_b_known

This makes sense to me. My father who is PIMI shared with me back when I first started my fade that typically Witnesses who become inactive and stop attending meetings rarely return. I wish I remember his exact statement as his wording made sense. It had something to do with a person's way of thinking.

What my father didn't realize what he was actually sayings was "The more time you spend away from Witness activities the more you will see the truth about the Truth."

18

Article to discuss or argue over: Buddha, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historic figures or largely legends?

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

i've posted a link to an article that contains important food for thought.

as we search for information to free our minds and hearts of cult-like thinking which entails being able to critically think, we need to ponder research that is available to help us to make important decisions.

we need to allow ourselves to consider other possibilities, something that jw’s are discouraged from doing.

truth_b_known

I watched some of Dr. Habermas lecture. It was interesting. I found it intriguing that this body of scholars told him he could not use the New Testament to prove the resurrection of Christ and his response was "I will find a way around your system so as I may use the New Testament to prove the resurrection of Christ."

It seemed the good doctor does what most apologetics do - use philosophical argument based logical conclusion in the place of evidence. I get it. Good argument. Makes sense. Not evidence.

I realize a problem is that what we view as evidence today was not available in time of antiquity. It makes it difficult to prove anything. What could we possibly have?

Well, I found Apostolic Succession interesting. Every ordained Catholic priest can trace their lineage of ordination back to the original 11 Apostles. There is a similar practice in Buddhism. Ordination or Dharma Transmission for a Buddhist traces the line of teachers all the way back to Siddhartha Gautama in the sixth century BCE.

The problem for most Christians, especially Evangelicals, is that would mean accepting the Catholic Church as the one true church.

truth_b_known

Posts by truth_b_known