John Aquila

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Posts by John Aquila

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  29

  17 year old son is blaming me for ruining his life from the Cult. He's complaining "I could have been a high school sports star!"

  by PhilsWager2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you know about my not-so-ugly divorce and how me and my wife found out the religion is false.

  she still attends while my 17 year old has been raging on me about all the wasted time he suffered from by being in this religion.

  he think's his life is ruined, very angry we did not learn this was a cult earlier(he was 14 when he stopped attending after reading the revelation book, he said "in all time and history, how could a trumpet blown in revelation have anything to do with a jw bible student convention statement"?.

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  John Aquila

  Apology is all that is needed, it's not like you deliberately choose to be in a cult to hurt your son. Once you found out you did something about it.

  Plus, "Could have been" is different from "Would have been" There is no telling if your son would have been a sports star. There is that little word called competition. There is always someone out there better than you. So there would have been no guarantees that if he was not raised a JW he would have been a "Sports Star"

  Hey, I "could have been" a movie star and marry Angelina Jolie.

  If only I wasn't raised in a cult------Oh I forgot about Brad!
  
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  16

  They lie about everything, why don’t they lie about annual publisher growth?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jwfacts show that publisher growth was 15% pre- 1975 and has decline to about 2%.

  what prevents them from fudging the annual growth and keeping it at something more positive like 10%?.

  "a great crowd that no man is able to number".

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  John Aquila

  If they have a couple of years of no-growth no matter how they manipulate the numbers, I see them flipping to counting people differently by using meeting attendance and phone-in numbers will be included, then they will start counting website hits somehow.

  You hit it right smack on target OnTheWayOut

  I was trying to figure out how they would do it and what you said makes perfect sense.

  Because none of the numbers are validated from an objective external reviewer there is not much value in the numbers.

  That so true, NewYork44M
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  16

  They lie about everything, why don’t they lie about annual publisher growth?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jwfacts show that publisher growth was 15% pre- 1975 and has decline to about 2%.

  what prevents them from fudging the annual growth and keeping it at something more positive like 10%?.

  "a great crowd that no man is able to number".

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  John Aquila

  cappytan LOL!

  
  

  That says it all!
  
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  16

  They lie about everything, why don’t they lie about annual publisher growth?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jwfacts show that publisher growth was 15% pre- 1975 and has decline to about 2%.

  what prevents them from fudging the annual growth and keeping it at something more positive like 10%?.

  "a great crowd that no man is able to number".

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  John Aquila

  Jwfacts show that publisher growth was 15% pre- 1975 and has decline to about 2%. What prevents them from fudging the annual growth and keeping it at something more positive like 10%?

  "A great crowd that no man is able to number"
  

  Will they continue to publish the annual growth statistics if it goes to 1% or below? I don't think they will.
  
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  64

  What triggered your doubts / awakening?

  by Tornintwo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am sort of new here, used a different username for a while but things got 'difficult' at home so i've since been lurking.... what i would be really interested to know, if you don't mind sharing, is what it was that triggered your doubts and initial research which led to awakening, was it a bad experience, injustice, changed doctrine?

  for me, it was seeing mistreatment of young ones in the congregation, they're under so much pressure and as soon as they go even slightly astray they are shunned, either informally (as bad associations which pushes them further into the 'world') or formally - with elders dying to throw the book at them so they even lose their family.... ...then reading about child abuse issues in the press.... ...which led me to silentlambs.

  ...then jw facts, this forum and coc, wham!

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  John Aquila

  If 607 were true, I would've go back heart and soul.
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  13

  DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT the things people believe about JESUS?

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  do you ever "think about" the things you just take for granted about the story of jesus?.

  there are things about christianity which should make honest thinkers scratch their head in wonder.. **.

  when beloved (or hated) public figures are murdered (or executed), some rather large waves of reaction ensue.. there are two kinds of outcry both speculative and descriptive.

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  John Aquila

  The first person (chronologically) to commit ideas and contexts down in writing about Jesus Christ had never met him during
  

  his lifetime or ministry! The man, in fact, had made a career out of stopping people from spreading stories about Jesus. This man was Saul of Tarsus. His only contact with Jesus, according to him, was a supernatural vision!

  WTF, I never even thought of this Terry. You just blew my mind---AGAIN!
  
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  24

  Christianity: The most deceptive religion

  by opusdei1972 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  jesus was a jew who apparently thought he was the messiah, however, after dying, his disciples began to propagate the lie that he would return from heaven during his generation.

  but, his generation passed away, and it was clear that it was a false prophecy, then a dishonest christian wrote the second letter of peter so as to condemn those who realised that the prophecy was a fiasco.

  interestingly, and sadly, this religion survived,....why????

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  John Aquila

  I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ

  Who got the story of Jesus Going???
  

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/283203/do-you-ever-think-about-things-people-believe-about-jesus
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  32

  I think the WT believed their own "growth" statements - Financial Trouble Thoughts

  by thedepressedsoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  we've all read, heard and have seen in the videos where jw's and their leaders talk about the "huge" growth that is taking place.

  they've talked about how many kh they needed, branches etc... .

  our co last visit he mentioned how quickly the organization is speeding up and the huge growth they are seeing.

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  John Aquila

  Building is very common way for the wealthy to "park" their money. Its got decent return on investment and is reasonably secure. Its not totally liquid but its fairly well "hidden" in a way cash is not. They arnt srupid or fooled nor are they drinking koolaid. They are cunningly managing assets.

  Totally agree Morpheus,

  That's how the rich do it, Stock, treasury bills, and property.
  
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  25

  Jehovah's Witnesses---From Walking Tall To Living In Shame

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember the days when jws were proud of their religion, they walked tall and carried their big stick, their bibles, proudly.

  now, it's embarrassing for a witness to admit their faith to others.

  the average witness can't explain their beliefs, as they have changed so many times.

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  John Aquila

  From Walking Tall To living In Shame

  
  

  
  
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  44

  The JW religion has just cost me my marriage & my family life

  by jambon1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after leaving the organisation 10 years ago i fought with everything i had to stay in my marriage and with my three children.

  after a tumultuous number of years trying to maintain a happy family life while living in a divided home, it's finally over.

  the religion is single handedly responsible for destroying my marriage and my family.

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  John Aquila

  Sorry to hear that. I know exactly what your going through and it's not easy. I also lost my wife, we were headed towards 30 years of marriage. And it was a great marriage, until I started waking up and voicing my concerns. She also is a kind, caring woman but is deadly afraid losing her everlasting life in paradise earth. There was nothing I could do. Me against everlasting life in paradise earth. - I couldn't compete.

  Welcome to the forum.