Posts by John Aquila

29

Mentally Diseased - is it partly our fault that we got this label?

by cappytan in

jw
friends

i was thinking about this the other day.. a common way for apostates to "fade" is to pretend to have depression or anxiety problems.. is it possible, that when apostates become known, the elders report to the society that said person was undergoing mental health problems?

i can see a scenario where the society then took those statistics that were reported and just decided, "well, it looks like the only ones leaving are those with mental diseases.".

oh, and not to mention the subliminal messages conspiracy theorists.

John Aquila

Mentally Diseased - is it partly our fault that we got this label?

Is it possible, that when apostates become known, the elders report to the Society that said person was undergoing mental health problems?

In all the years I was an elder, we never reported to the Society that certain individuals were undergoing mental health problems. The Society didn’t give a rat’s ass who was having trouble mentally.

It’s a control and scare tactic that is used by many authoritarian groups to manage control of the members. It’s not a new tactic. In the 1600 Galileo went against the current view of the Church that the earth was not the center of the Universe and that the Sun did not revolved around the earth, but instead he proposed that the earth revolved around the sun. He was labeled a heretic and mentally diseased. And there was consequence to anyone who would talk to him or help him in any way. He was tried and found guilty of heresy and apostasy and it wasn’t until 1992 that the Catholic offered and apology to Galileo. Almost 400 years later.

Hey, maybe 400 years from now the WT will offer an apology to us mentally diseased apostates.

12

How many of us stayed in the organization longer than necessary for these other reasons?

by John Aquila in

John Aquila

disposable hero of hypocrisy

I can't blame you, they're jolly nice.
Exactly the reason I'm still in. For her sake.

That's a very good reason my friend!

12

How many of us stayed in the organization longer than necessary for these other reasons?

by John Aquila in

John Aquila

Image result for Black and white pic of muscular back

64

The "Final Push" before the GT!!! I think they REALLY believe it!

by DATA-DOG in

i don't know if i have shared this with everyone, but there seems to be a new theocratic term, at least in my circuit.. the term is "final push.

" wtf does it mean?

well, an eldub said that the gb are "all in" with warwick and they might spend all their money on the project.

John Aquila

Hey DJS, yes my avatar is Dexter, and I agree, hot girls always look amazing. So here is a little something from Dexter, his girlfriend Hannah.The final push in 'Our world" of apostates.

Image result for dexter's girlfriend hannah pic

64

The "Final Push" before the GT!!! I think they REALLY believe it!

by DATA-DOG in

i don't know if i have shared this with everyone, but there seems to be a new theocratic term, at least in my circuit.. the term is "final push.

" wtf does it mean?

well, an eldub said that the gb are "all in" with warwick and they might spend all their money on the project.

John Aquila

"The final push."

16

The Governing Body-Faded apostates?

by John Aquila in

ive been here less than a year, but ive notice that the majority of us have faded for various reasons.

we also read the stories of those who got disfellowshipped or disassociated themselves.

in the majority of the cases, their parents will not talk to the children for years and the children will not talk to the parents even if they are dying.

John Aquila

I’ve been here less than a year, but I’ve notice that the majority of us have faded for various reasons. We want to talk to our family, want to keep our marriage, we still have parents who are alive and we don’t want to lose contact.

We also read the stories of those who got disfellowshipped or disassociated themselves. In the majority of the cases, their parents will not talk to the children for years and the children will not talk to the parents even if they are dying. And the marriage will never be the same.

But whatever the reason, most of us are not willing to pay the price and declare, “The Watchtower is a cult and evil and the Governing Body is a bunch of Fu*****liars.

The price is too high.

If that is the case with us, why should we not believe that at least some of the Governing Body are faded apostates with more to lose than us? For one thing they are old. They have no marketable skills that will sustain them in a decent job. If they are awake, they may have come to conclude that the Bible is not a book from God so they may feel there is no one to help them and no one to pray to.

Think about what they are seeing just like us.

The generation of 1914 has died.

The anointed is growing instead of declining.

100 years have passed since 1914

The annual growth of the organization is 2% instead of 15% in the 70s

All the child sexual lawsuits

And several more changes that I’m sure they are aware of for the future.

I feel some, if not all, are faded apostates just like us, bidding their time and enjoying what they have at the moment, until either they die or until the jig is up and it’s all gone.

Isn’t that what we are doing?

32

WHY DO ONLY A FEW START TO QUESTION DOCTRINE CHANGES AND NOT EVERYONE?

by disillusioned 2 in

there are many on here who state specific changes in wt publications have caused them to start questioning (understandably you would think), and yet the majority don't.

why is it only a few individuals that do this?

curious as to what others think about this.

John Aquila

There’s a couple of books that shed some light on this question.
“The True Beliver” by Eric Hoffer and “The Believing Brain” and “The Science of Good and Evil” by Michael Shermer”

People in general don’t like change, because change is disruptive. If the status quo is tolerable, then most people “Prefer” to go along with the current flow. But there is always a few people out of the “Group of Humanity” that always want to know more about the world and life. In the process of learning, they come to realize that the path they are in- is a dead end and they need to formulate a more viable trajectory into the future. It’s the brain’s response as a result of any new information it has received to give the person a “Wake up call” thus prodding people to abandon undesirable situations like (Dead end jobs, bad relationships, and cults)

But for the majority of people, as long as they are not affected personally by ridiculous demands, they will prefer just to go along with the flow.

It’s people like us “apostates that open the door to knowledge of the world. Remember Galileo? He went against the current religious idea that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around the earth. He was considered as apostate and found guilty of apostasy and a heresy.

But he was right. And everyone else was wrong.

23

Disfellowship, Disassociate, or fade. What would you do different.

by John Aquila in

hindsight: .

many times because of the shock of learning ttatt, a person loses it.

you want to scream and tell the whole world that the watchtower is a big lie.

John Aquila

Awake magazine quote:
This magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away.

I need to get some of those old Awakes magazines. That was like the red flag for me. 1995 the year the generation starting changing, the year trouble started brewing in my household.

23

Disfellowship, Disassociate, or fade. What would you do different.

by John Aquila in

hindsight: .

many times because of the shock of learning ttatt, a person loses it.

you want to scream and tell the whole world that the watchtower is a big lie.

John Aquila

Hindsight:

Many times because of the shock of learning TTATT, a person loses it. You want to scream and tell the whole world that the Watchtower is a big lie. Your first concern is those you love. You want to save your spouse, your children, your parents.

But you blurt out and say the wrong things at the wrong time. You can’t seem to control your emotions. And you can’t control your anger. You start demonizing the Organization. You start calling them Hypocrites’, the evil slave, the Devil--- without realizing that you just started scaring your wife, your husband, your parents, and your children are crying.

In their mind you have somehow been caught by the devil. In their mind you have disobeyed the Governing Body and have looked at the internet.

You tell them what you read about the Watchtower. They ask you, “Where did you read this?” You answer, “The internet.” You just confirmed their worst fear. You are becoming an apostate.

They call the elders, the parents, the friends and they all rally against you. You start slowing down in field service. The loyal JW friends start scaring your family. They say, “The next thing will be the meetings and after that the truth.”

Sure enough the more you learn about TTATT, the more you are convinced that you cannot go out in service anymore. You keep reading more about the Watchtower, and you finally get to the point where you just can’t go to the meetings any more.

And because one took these steps, the results in many cases, have been that many have not talked to parents for decades. Some have not talked to children for years. And some lost their marriage partners forever.

I have no doubt that if I knew back then what I know now; I could have saved my wife.

Now that you understand what is involved in learning TTATT and leaving the Watchtower, what would you do different.

This is advice for new JWs lurking the site.

7

What did you think of the ones that married, “Out of the Truth” but would still defend the WT Teaching?

by John Aquila in

when i conducted the wt study and the article was on marrying only in the lord, it seemed that the ones who commented the most were persons who married a non-jw.

in fact, they were the ones that always told the young single jw girls to pioneer and never marry a worldly person.

"because i know what its like and believe me it's no fun" .

John Aquila

Wdaughter
They are trying to overcome the stigma of the marriage (which is not forbidden explicitly, but is definitely considered weak) by insinuating that they are in some way suffering or being persecuted in their marriage-thus removing the stigma and inviting the crown of martyr to be offered to them.

That's a pretty good explanation.