Posts by truth_b

37

Sep. 2021 Broadcast: more money

by neat blue dog in

in the latest jw broadcast, anthony morris the turd gives a talk about donations.

to camouflage this, he starts and ends the talk by saying that isn't actually what he's doing.

first he starts with the usual disclaimer, 'wt has never begged for money like christendom and we never will', you know the drill.

truth_b_known

I was a Witness for nearly 4 decades. I belonged to 5 congregations in 4 different states. During those years never once did I ever see funds donated at the Kingdom Hall go to help the needy or the poor whether they were a member or not. Not 1 time!

I remember there were 3 different contribution boxes in the Kingdom Hall -

Local Congregation
World Wide Work
Kingdom Hall Building Fund

The Local Congregation fund was to maintain the Kingdom Hall. Any overages in donations were sent to the World Wide Work fund by a vote.

The World Wide Work fund is another way of saying "The Watchtower Fund". That is what the money was used for - to keep the lights on at Bethel.

The Kingdom Hall Building Fund was just that - donations to help build Kingdom Halls that would eventually be owned by the Watchtower.

No where in there is there a fund to help people. This is why the Watchtower's tax exemption status needs to be pulled.

12

It takes a while, but eventually a person finds his way out.

by pistolpete in

it hard to believe------you don't have the truth.. sometimes, for many----it takes half of your life -- or more---to figure it out.

it was like swimming upstream with lead boots pulling you back in.

and the closer you got to the "real" truth----the further away you strayed from your intimate group.

truth_b_known

I was born-in as a Witness. It wasn't until my late 20's/early 30's that I faded, though not by choice. I was in my mid 30's when I realized the Watchtower sold a bunch of made-up non-sense.

My biggest support has always been my wife. Not being financially reliant on a Witness and have non-Witness friends is the key to getting out. By the time I woke up I had so many friends who are not Witnesses and my Witness friends had already turned their backs on me.

7

"OLD" Light vs. NEW light

by Terry in

jw
friends

this was last updated in 2014it badly needs updating.

it is a list of watchtower (before and after) old light / new light doctrines.

shorturl.at/bqyir

truth_b_known

Old Light.

New Light.

Reminds me of the children's game "Red Light, Green Light."

17

Letter from Mother: "...go right ahead on death's road and take your kids with you."

by silentbuddha in

so my jw father is sick.

my mother uses the opportunity to try and preach to my 16 year old daughter.

i simply told my mother to: "please refrain from trying to lure *my daughter* in with jehovah's witness questioning.

truth_b_known

I'm thankful to Jehovah for the children & grandchildren that Jehovah has given me as He promised. They soothe my heart for the ones I've lost.

I have some bad news. They will leave her, too. When a relationship is conditional there is no love.

Most the children of the people I grew up with in my home congregation have all left the Witnesses.

23

Unfaithful spouse

by Worstfear in

my wife and i have been together for 12 years.

married for 6. she was born into the truth, i studied for 2 years before we got married.

we would attend meetings on a weekly basis, go to conventions, and memorial every year.

truth_b_known

Worstfear:

I am sorry for the suffering you are experiencing. Your wife made a choice and now you both will suffer. However, your suffering can end sooner by coming to terms with reality - happiness comes from inside of us and not from an external source. Do not put your happiness in her hands or the hands of anyone else. When you do you become that person's slave. She made her choice and her actions are hers alone to own. It is not your fault.

You are asking for advice on what to do. I recommend first and for most to take care of your health, both physically and mentally. Be sure to eat healthy, exercise, and get sleep. Find someone to talk to and seek the help of a therapist is if you feel the need.

Second, seek legal counsel to assist with the divorce. I would not seek revenge or be spiteful as that will only bring you down and cause regret down the road. Love is the sacrifice of the self for the other with no expectation of reciprocation. Romance is the wanting of someone else to satisfy your wants, cravings, and desires. Romance is the craving of joy or pleasure from someone else physically or in a way that builds the ego.

Adultery is the only Biblically approved reason for a divorce. It doesn't mean you have to get a divorce. She made the choice. Everything is on her.

13

Is this New Light coming or just some crackpot?

by pistolpete in

this experience was posted about a year ago.

it seems like a crackpot co was giving his prediction of what "might possibly happen in the future" .

now it seems like he wasn't such a crackpot after all.. quote.

truth_b_known

Everlasting life can be yours too if you subscribe to the JW.Org streaming service...for a "small fee".

Is this where the bankrupt publishing company that Charles Taze Russell started over 100 years ago is going? It sure seems that way.

Nice post, PistolPete.

56

If God exists, what would be a good reason why he never communicates or helps his creation by intervention?

by pistolpete in

you have probably heard all kinds of excuses why god doesn’t communicates with his creation or why he doesn’t intervene.. some examples.. no one can see god because he is a spirit.. but we can hear god---yet he chooses not to talk to humanity.. god only communicates with certain people.

moses, samuel, abraham, etc.

but there are many people today who also claim that god spoke to them yet we ignore them but believe god spoke to people who lived thousands of years ago and we can’t really verify if that was so.

truth_b_known

I believe what Slim Boy Fat is referring to is called "qualia".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia

With qualia we see the difference between conceptual knowledge and experiential knowledge.

I like this explanation -

Qualia is the term to used describe actual subjective experience and sensation, as opposed to mere knowledge and information.

The concept is best described by Frank Jackson's color blind scientist thought experiment: A scientist knows everything there is to know about the color red from physics, optics and neuroscience, but is color blind, and so she doesn't know what it's actually like to see the color red. If we then somehow repaired her vision so that she can now see colors, and let her see the color red, she would learn something new about red that she didn't know before, despite all of her previous knowledge about the physics and biology involved. This additional knowledge she gains is the qualia of seeing red.

56

If God exists, what would be a good reason why he never communicates or helps his creation by intervention?

by pistolpete in

you have probably heard all kinds of excuses why god doesn’t communicates with his creation or why he doesn’t intervene.. some examples.. no one can see god because he is a spirit.. but we can hear god---yet he chooses not to talk to humanity.. god only communicates with certain people.

moses, samuel, abraham, etc.

but there are many people today who also claim that god spoke to them yet we ignore them but believe god spoke to people who lived thousands of years ago and we can’t really verify if that was so.

truth_b_known

So as I am following -

God must be proved through a repeatable experiment or
God must communicate with all mankind in a way that everyone experiences simultaneously.

If God does not it is either because -

God is a jerk for making us and not talking to us as well as leaving us to what we see around us (I am guess war, famine, crime, etc.) or
God does not exist.

(footnote - I am using "God" simply as the term for whatever may or may not have caused everything to be set in motion and not a specific deity.)

I can understand how a person would come to such conclusions if their paradigm of what everything is comes solely from a Western, Judeo-Christian culture. That is why I always find it interesting that such debates are not whether or not there is a god, but whether or not the God of the Bible exists.

There is a famous saying in India - "The only atheists here are the people who went to Catholic school."

56

If God exists, what would be a good reason why he never communicates or helps his creation by intervention?

by pistolpete in

you have probably heard all kinds of excuses why god doesn’t communicates with his creation or why he doesn’t intervene.. some examples.. no one can see god because he is a spirit.. but we can hear god---yet he chooses not to talk to humanity.. god only communicates with certain people.

moses, samuel, abraham, etc.

but there are many people today who also claim that god spoke to them yet we ignore them but believe god spoke to people who lived thousands of years ago and we can’t really verify if that was so.

truth_b_known

The claim that God doesn't communicate with humans is based on the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever.

What do we mean by "communicate"?

Notsure what sort of evidence would you accept?

Great question. I do not mean to be inflammatory, but are we talking some sort of two witness rule or three witness rule?

16

Even if God exists…….

by snare&racket in

i’m an atheist.. let’s assume i am wrong, i am willing to be.. let’s give people a god, let’s even make him the god of the bible…... does he deserve to be worshipped and obeyed?

if so, why does his abhorrent actions not morally make you question allegiance to him?.

does his authority alone allow him to murder and drown and order war, to throw people into a lake of fire?.

truth_b_known

Let’s give people a God, let’s even make him the God of the bible…..

You ask the question, "Even if God exists why worship him?" However, you quickly turn it into "the God of the bible."

When it comes to that question, we have to be more specific. There are many gods listed in the Bible and we find out about more as time goes on. Is it El, YHWY, the Lord, or even Jesus (if you grant him divinity).

I have come across some interesting information over the past couple of years where it shows the Israelites had several gods during the course of their history. There are even those who suggest that in the Gospels Jesus rebukes the religious leaders for worshipping YHWY when their true god is this "Lord".

I get your argument about why any would ever want to willingly worship the god of the Old Testament. Keep in mind, part of that is because morality is dynamic and not static. Religious belief is part of culture. Culture is a learned experience. Over the centuries it begins to look like "that's the way it has always been." This is not true.

So, I think another way to look at it is "How could anyone in our current culture and in this modern day and age choose to worship the brutal god of the old testament?" I think the reason is simpler than we think - we were raised to believe it.

True, some people choose to accept this blood-thirsty tyrant as their god later in life. I have no idea why other than the shared experience. People find something to belong to and want to share in the emotional experience the others in the group have.

I get wanting to follow the tenets of Jesus. However, Christianity tends to say "You have to accept the YHWY if you want the Jesus." That is hard to come to terms with.

I also see Vidqun's point. Who am I with my first world, suburbanite morals to tell God what is right and wrong?

truth_b_known

Posts by truth_b_known