Have you been dipped?
That definitely would change the consequences of asking questions.
Londo111
JoinedPosts by Londo111
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39
"Forced" study with an Elder - The first question i will pose, help appreciated.
by CitizenofEarth inhello folks.
as some of you might know my dad couldnt keep quiet about my view of the world, so i have been "forced" to study with an elder.
otherwise i would be dragged to questioning, which is to much pressure for a young inexperienced person like me.
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23
JW's Should Be Banned!
by mr_doubtful ini'm all for religious freedoms.
i am not for a religious organization demanding freedoms from the government that they in turn take away from their own members.
why should the organization get religious freedom when they take that very thing away from it's members?.
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Londo111
Perhaps growth may stagnate in Russia, but what about growth everywhere else?
Think about how much 9/11 had people flocking back in. This could have a similar effect.
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Is time moving faster?
by Fisherman indo you get the feeling that time is moving faster?
what do you think?.
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Londo111
It is a natural phenomena: the older we get, the faster time subjectively goes for us. I remember when I was a kid an hour seemed like a long time. Now whole weeks can go by in the blink of an eye.
Time is also relative depending of the frame of reference. A beam of light emitted from a star 13 billion years ago traveling 13 billion lightyears experiences no passage of time or space between emission and absorption. 13 billion years is not even a moment for something traveling at the speed of light.
Nobody has really been able to effectively answer the question: what is time?
It seems beyond human understanding.
Learning to mindfully dwell in awareness of the present moment, rather than the past, or the future, is a challenge, but on the occasion I’m able to helps eliminate stress and anxiety.
“The present moment is the only moment available to us and it is the door to all other moments.”
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JW's Should Be Banned!
by mr_doubtful ini'm all for religious freedoms.
i am not for a religious organization demanding freedoms from the government that they in turn take away from their own members.
why should the organization get religious freedom when they take that very thing away from it's members?.
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Londo111
Banning is counterproductive for cults. It feeds into the persecution complex. Those under cult indoctrination will dig in further.
Russia's banning of JWs is a win/win for Watchtower. They get to play the Persecution Card which validates the belief system. It also feeds into the whole "the end is so close" and attack by the "king of the north" hype, which also ends up being validating. JWs in all other parts of the world, who might've been on the verge of waking up and freeing themselves, will be scared back into "mother's arms".
Removing tax exemption and/or financial penalties targeted at the organization are the best stick. The answer is not penalizing individual JWs, who become victim twiceover, both of an authoritarian religion and an authoritarian government.
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Your Most Embarrassing Door Knocking Experiences
by pale.emperor inif there's one thing we can look back on and laugh and tell our kids it's the fact that knocking on strangers doors at inopportune times results in some funny or embarrassing experiences.
i'd be interested in hearing some of yours.
here's some of mine to get the ball rolling:.
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Londo111
Every dang time I was doorknocking was embarrassing.
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Has anyone here joined a different church after ditching the JWs?
by NikL ini am just curious.. i have a cousin who is a baptist and his church streams their sunday services and i've been checking them out before i go to meeting with my jw wife.. i haven’t been to a church except for the occasional funeral and wedding and the only sermons i had heard were the tel-evangelist type.
anyway, all the church bashing by jws over the years made me unsure what to expect and i was pleasantly surprised.
they do use the bible and they don't spend the whole time begging for money.
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Londo111
I joined a mainline church, was a deacon for a time, and attended many non-fundamentalist services at varying denominations. I guess I'm more in the "spiritual not religious" camp these days, so while I don't have anything against churches in general, I don't feel drawn to go anymore.
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Were You Ever A True Believer?
by minimus ini was raised in the religion and for the most part believed that my religion was truth.
i recognized some mistakes were occasionally made but felt that nobody is perfect.
then i smartened up and realized how dumb so many of the beliefs are....was there ever a time that you truly believed you had the "truth"?.
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Londo111
Yes. Cults cultivate and retain true believers. Everyone else they chew up and spit out.
Otherwise I would not have done so many things I otherwise would not choose to do, or even found against my nature. Like going door-to-door on Saturday mornings. Attending 3 meetings a week. Studying Watchtower publications. Not having friends who were not JWs. Not going to college immediately after high school, but attempting to regular pioneer. Then when I did go, not getting beyond a two year degree. Not dating until I was “ready” and only with the intent of marrying a JW.
I would not have avoiding apostate writings and been afraid of “apostates”. Or been afraid of demons. Or afraid of God. I would not have gone to confess matters about myself to the elders when I’d “messed up” or reported on very private matters that happened in the bedroom between myself and my then wife. I would not have watched the news nightly with a view of finding any signs that the Great Tribulation was close.
I could go on and on.
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I need help understanding my moms decision!
by Holzy86 infirst of all i'm not a jahovas witness, my mother is.
i've asked my mother for some help over the weekend for my sons birthday, i understand jw do not celebrate birthdays.. every year i take my son out for a treat day, this year he has asked me if he can bring friends too so i said i only have enough room for one but he has asked for two, so i said i will ask nanny if she will help out to take my other son in her car with my netphew and older sister, but as soon as i mentioned it was for a birthday treat she refused to help me.. i just need to know if jahovahs witnesses will refuse to help family out when asking for help, i feel i've asked and made sure all the people she will be giving a lift to that it is not there birthday.
his birthday has just happened to have fallen on the weekend when we would have been taking him because he is at school monday to friday.
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Londo111
This is not your mother. This is her cult indoctrination. She is a victim of undue influence. While her authentic identity would more than likely help in whatever way she could, the cult identity is in the driver's seat.
I believe if you can understand it's not her that is the problem, it's the cult, while not solving the problem, it help cope with it. The good thing is you are in communication with her...many of us who got fully committed to the cult at a young age no longer are in regular communication with our parents, relatives, and friends who are still in.
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Something that doesn't get discussed all that much...
by Vidiot in...but i believe is relevant:.
just how much is the watchtower organization's "business model" dependent on its tax-exempt status?.
is it truly sustainable without it?.
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Londo111
Evidently it was important enough for Watchtower to stop selling its magazines and books in 1990.
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Do You Trust The News Media?
by minimus inobviously, trump doesn't.
but do you?
do you think that they are generally fair, unbiased and honest?.
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Londo111
It's not perfect, it makes mistakes, but overall, yes.
Unlike in Russia, there is no one entity that is "the media", but many independent venues. When fact checking, these independent sources known as the "media" are more trustworthy for the most part, as opposed to fringe "media" outlets that cater to telling audiences what they want to hear.