Posts by The Searcher

42

New here..help greatly appreciated

by Confusedandangry in

hi everyone i don't even know where to begin.

i recently saw leah remini's series on scientology thanks to my husband (semi-active jw) and i felt like my eyes were being opened for the 1st time in my adult life.

i felt shaken almost sick to my stomach with each episode i watched.

The Searcher

Welcome Confusedandangry. The feelings you have are shared by many of us here, especially, "How could I have been so blind and not see through the scam?"

The good news is that you have awakened. Your task now is to take things slowly and learn to be "cautious & innocent." Don't give the "executioners" any information which they could/would use against you.

As "mature faders" ourselves, my wife and I have established our own set of rules, and the elders cannot cross the lines drawn. Take time to do some research, and carefully prepare your answers when others attempt to get information out of you. Here are a couple things which I hope will help you on your journey.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5734981074681856/how-fade-basics

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5748999109738496/what-org-teaches-1-dealing-sinners

Keep researching and try to stay restrained when you feel that the J.W.'s around you should know the truth. It's hard to keep quiet, but it will save you a lot of grief if you do!

41

Witnesses really hate it when you appear to leave.

by schnell in

i have a certain customer, whom we will call sally.

i know sally only by face and only through work.

i am a truck driver on a local dedicated route, and i often deliver to her work.

The Searcher

The J.W.'s greatest and undeniable problem with "spiritually weak ones?"

They cannot and dare not acknowledge any statements which put the org/G.B. in a negative light - especially scriptural evidence!

Their minds are not conditioned to deal with hitherto unrecognised facts. The implications are too great to face.

27

A Beard Maverick

by EyesOpenHeartBroken in

so i went to the kh for the first time in a month, and the first brother in our congregation has grown a full beard.

i am in a western u.s. semi-rural area in a cong with an extremely conservative and controlling elder body.

oddly enough, it seemed like people were going out of their way to converse with him and act like they didn't notice the beard or they complimented the beard.

The Searcher

I was recently delighted to hear two things: after an M.S. in my previous congregation had his "privilege" of position removed (due to his child dating a "non-believer") the ex-M.S. very quickly grew a full-face beard.

Knowing the little-Napoleons in his K.H., they will be seething! :)

40

The popularity fad of home-schooling!

by stuckinarut2 in

i know this has been discussed over the years on this forum, but i just had to post this again!.

it seems that the popular fad amongst the "spiritual" ones in the local circuits is to home school their children instead of sending them to school.. now to clarify, we are in a very nice area of semi rural australia .

one with very community minded, and strong family values.

The Searcher

J.W.'s are very big on Bible "principles" being followed - if there isn't an applicable law.

By home-schooling their children, they are rejecting the principle at John 17:15 - "I do not request that you take them out of the world, but that you watch over them because of the wicked one."

It's perverse that J.W.'s consider 8 - 12 years old children "mature" enough to decide for themselves to get baptized into the cult, yet they're not spiritually capable of withstanding tests of their faith in a "worldly"school."

The sad reality is that many J.W. parents are convinced the end is coming very, very soon, and as such, their kids will survive well enough in low-skill jobs.

23

The goal in all this 1918/1919 change?

by careful in

as some have recently posted here, there does seem to be a shift going on in their self-interpretation(s) of what happened in 1918 and 1919. if we can look past all the details that emphasize the poor thinking and poor wording (or contradictions/just plain craziness/insignificance) of their message, something bigger seems to be afoot.

they appear to be attempting to redefine the meanings for some "prophetic" scriptures in light of themselves.

1. they are trying to somehow fill the void they have themselves created from their rejecting freddie franz's (ff) type–anti-type postulations.

The Searcher

Good question Careful.

I perceive that the org and its puppet-masters in recent years have become extremely re-active, as opposed to being pro-active, and they have woken up to the reality that their nemesis is the all-mighty internet!

Pandora's box has been opened. The hierarchy knows that every single nonsensical and anti-scriptural teaching from Russell until the present-day charlatans is under justifiable scrutiny and attack. Their strategy is now damage-limitation, by repudiating/distancing/discrediting former teachings and governing body members - regardless of the outcome.

Hence the reason for the conversation-stopper and "priming" of J.W.'s in the February 2017 Study Edition of the Watchtower - "The Governing Body is neither inspired nor infallible. Therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction."

If J.W.'s raise concerns in the future, the WTBTS will simply point to that article and say, "Jehovah is refining his earthly organization. Are you keeping up with His fast-moving chariot?"

4

No Judgment Day exists for humans

by anointed1 in

a judgment day seems to be a fabricated teaching because of the following reasons:.

1) each generation believed judgment day would happen in their time (1 corinthians 10:11; hebrews 10:24, 25).. 2) putting an end to the present system of things and starting an eternally existing one does not match with our very makeup.

our physical body is full of proofs for something that exists as the builder and sustainer of body, for something that exists within the body—which we call “i”—which everyone experiences as something alive, conscious and as made of knowledge.

The Searcher

I like that one!

53

Skinned and Thrown About.....

by Tech49 in

this is a little long, but stick with me.. if you recall, when the building work was in full swing at the new lakefront villa (warwick), wt was having workers come and they would put them up for a year, or more, while they were providing "volunteer services".

with that, and the impending need for hundreds and hundreds of new khs in the usa territory, the congregations were abuzz with the need for "continued construction volunteers".

recently, as many of you know, wt headquarters has sent pretty much everyone home, and is no longer needing workers at the new warwick site, as the building is mostly complete, with the dedication coming up later this year.

The Searcher

Thanks Tech49. Such posts may help some lurkers to waken up and see exactly what is behind the mask of their revered organization - a very ugly corporate monster, masquerading as the "only true religion."

It beggars belief that any still-in J.W.'s would even consider selling off everything in order to gain "privileges of service" from the parasitic WTBTS - especially after having witnessed (pun intended) the worldwide cull of countless faithful Bethelites, special pioneers, D.O.'s, and C.O.'s.

Parasitic: Habitually relying on or exploiting others - https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/parasitic

4

No Judgment Day exists for humans

by anointed1 in

a judgment day seems to be a fabricated teaching because of the following reasons:.

1) each generation believed judgment day would happen in their time (1 corinthians 10:11; hebrews 10:24, 25).. 2) putting an end to the present system of things and starting an eternally existing one does not match with our very makeup.

our physical body is full of proofs for something that exists as the builder and sustainer of body, for something that exists within the body—which we call “i”—which everyone experiences as something alive, conscious and as made of knowledge.

The Searcher

"Trust your own judgment, for it is your most reliable counselor”. Nice little anecdote for every creature on planet earth which lives purely by instinct, and not by reasoning. (if they could read it!)

As for myself, and I'd venture to say, most people, the advice given by Henry Kett in 1814 would have been more beneficial in view of some of my life-changing decisions - “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client”

:)

67

Any updates on the org's $4000 per day fine?

by The Searcher in

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/jun/24/ticker-judge-sanctions-jehovahs-witnesses/#.

it's heading towards $900,000 now..

The Searcher

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/jun/24/ticker-judge-sanctions-jehovahs-witnesses/#

It's heading towards $900,000 now.

82

the-question (607 BCE explained and proved)

by pleaseresearch in

so a user named "the-question" said the jw's were right about 607 bce.. this is your chance brother to prove us all wrong.. we all can't wait to hear from you :).

The Searcher

@ the-question: if you are a genuine & sincere Bible student, compare the WTBTS's chronology of the Babylonian/Medo-Persian prophecy with the Biblical account.

Fact: Babylon and its king were overthrown in a single night in 539 BCE. If Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon 70 years earlier, that would give the year of 609 BCE - not 607 BCE.

Fact: In order to force "a square peg into a round hole," the alleged "faithful slave" states that it took the exiled Jews more than a year to return to Jerusalem and begin their rebuilding projects.

These scriptures put the spotlight on the WTBT's corrupt logic of adding on time to prophecies in order to fit their prophetic predictions. (e.g. "overlapping" generations)

(Jeremiah 25:11,12) "And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years."’ (not 68 years - and then serve the Medo-Persian king for the remaining 18 months) And it must occur that when seventy years have been fulfilled (not 68 years) I shall call to account against the king of Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘their error,..."

(Jeremiah 29:10) "For this is what Jehovah has said, ‘In accord with the fulfilling of seventy years (not 68 years) at Babylon I shall turn my attention to YOU people,..."

(Zechariah 7:5) "Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When YOU fasted and there was a wailing in the fifth month and in the seventh month, and this for seventy years,.." (were they wailing for 68 or 70 years?)

The org's sums don't add up.