jeremiah18:5-10

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Posts by jeremiah18:5-10

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  52

  What was your "Aha!" moment?

  by Hortenzie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for me it was when i learned that gb makes their decisions by 2/3 majority vote, not by direction of holy spirit..

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  My aha moment occurred several years after being dfd. I was actually sincerely attempting to return and get reinstated. I decided that to do so I wanted pure motives I wanted to do so out of love for Jehovah. So I determined along with my wife to start reading the new testament. I did so without reading any wt info. I also did so with an open mind. I started with acts, by the time I was in Romans, ny eyes were opened to how hypocritical the wts is. I was shocked at how wrong they were in the hope for the future, I only read of a heavenly hope, no alluding to earth at all. I was struck by the freedom that was preached about and how rules and regulations and human opinions were discouraged. I realized that the whole process was warped, hypocritical, unloving, and unscriptural. I determined I could not subject myself to their pharisaical court and practices.

  After this things moved rapidly. I read CoC, searched the web and discovered UN situation, then jw facts, jw survey, jw struggle, then JWN. Ive not looked back since. I feel so much happier and fulfilled and have zero regrets.
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  350

  Called JR Brown regarding Cano Pedophile situation

  by LDH in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  just called their media line:.

  http://www.jw-media.org/contact.htm.

  asked a young man named bryce where is the official press release on the cano pedophile situation.

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  This my first time coming across this experience. It is the most impactful information that I have come across, short of Ray Franz books. These statements of JR Brown get to thecrux of my issues with WT, their iinsistence on being the only true religion, enacting life-altering family-ruining decisions, and alluding to the GB being inspired and Gods spokesman. Without these claims, insistence, and decisions, JWs would be free. I'm so grateful to have this info which thoroughly disgusts me. Sadly, its useless in influencing family members or friends unless they want to be influenced or honestly want truth. What a great experience and find.
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  54

  Religion vs. Spirituality

  by Oubliette in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  religion is for people who are scared to go to hell.

  spirituality is for people who have already been there.

  - bonnie raitt .

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  I think religion, especially JW since that's the only one I've been a part of, tries to use religious practices and regulations to measure spirituality. But spirituality cant be measured, its deeply personal.

  Trying to use religion to measure spirtuality is like trying to measure air pressure with a tape measure.
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  19

  All those times Jehovah answered my prayers...

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...and granted me strength, friends, a job, whatever...was all either through my own effort alone or sheer luck.. i wanted a government job so i prayed for one and went out looking for one every day for ages and made a heap of applications...and got one.

  my own effort.. i wanted a friend and prayed for one, crying myself to sleep with loneliness.....and after 6 months in the new congregation someone reached out to me.

  chance.. i prayed to be able to stand up to my family when they put pressure on me about christmas etc...my own cult conditioning so strong.. i prayed to find a nice husband...luck when i moved congregations and one of those sisters who just has to match make introduced us.

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  Mealtime prayers, "thank you heavenly father for providing this food...." Used to bother me, because everyone else (non jws) were eating too. So if he's providing for them too, what makes us so special. Guess you can give credit wherever you choose to. You can see what you want, doesn't make it so.
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  62

  Game: Caption this pic

  by rebel8 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'll start.. .

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  GB : "see, only goats are willing to go out on a limb. Just do what we say and be sheep"
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  23

  Happy Birthday,Cedars

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  happy birthday,cedars.have a great day.. .

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  bangalore.

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  Happy birthday!!! Why do I still feel guilty saying that, geez.
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  23

  Did being a JW affect you socially?

  by Mahtaw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i feel like i'm awkard in social situations.

  i hate going up and talking to people i don't know.

  i have trouble making friends.

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  This topic resonates with me on a deeply personal level. I feel awkward socially, although I fake it well. Perhaps being a JW is to blame or perhaps just the family environment I was in. As I type this, and every other post I make, I'm terrified of rejection. Many of my comments are qualified with statements of "I hope this doesn't offend anyone" or "I hope this isn't off topic or out of line". Every interaction is governed with this obsessive concern. I see it clearly when reflecting on my 30+ years as a JW, I was so fearful of going against the grain. I worried about what I said, what I wore, what I thought, where I was seen, who I was seen speaking to, what I liked, what I believed. I've now been out for 5+ years and things have changed very little. Even though I now have freedom to be me, I find it difficult to not be overly concerned with what people may think of me, even complete strangers. This has definitely affected my ability to interact freely with others and to make new acquaintances wknd friends. When I do make a friend, I am fiercely loyal and protective of that relationship. As an example, I so admire people who can get up and sing karaoke, I so badly want to, but find myself paralyzed with fear, even though I've delivered over a 100 public talks and assembly and district convention parts. I've done it a few times but on those occasions I was very drunk and the liquid courage was abundant. Is this because of being a JW, I don't know, but I just can't stand it. I call it the "don't give a shit" gene and figure I just didn't get it. This only scrapes the surface of the social retardation I feel and deal with daily. The practice of hiding who you really are and how you really feel is so unhealthy. I'm proud to say that I go out of my way to teach my kids to embrace who they are and not to hide it. I encourage them to not say or do anything that they would be ashamed of. If they do, I encourage them to analyze why they are ashamed and to try to help them not be enslaved to the world if political correctness as I have been. Our communication is outstanding and I hope they can have a solid sense of self-worth throughout their lives. For me, I feel it may be too late, I an what I am.
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  42

  A question for elders and former elders who have served on JCs

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  based on your experience of judicial committees, how would you advise someone who is due to meet with the elders and has asked for the best way to avoid being disfellowshipped?

  is denying everything ever a successful strategy?

  does addressing a letter to the elders threatening legal action if they disfellowship ever work?

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  The repentance route is the safest and easiest to fake. This, in most cases, is what elders are hoping to find. The other two routes are a roll of the dice and depend heavily upon whether they have witnesses and/or the elders involved and how ballsy they are. Even if only one witness, they can move for df and force the person to choose whether to appeal or not. Then the appeal committee's bravery comes in to play. At that point a threat of legal action, if only one witness, could be effective.
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  62

  7/15 WT- Insane, Far Fetched, Narcissistic "New Light " about the FDS

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know this article has been discussed, re-hashed upside down in past threads.

  but there were at least 2 points i discovered in here that i felt were pertinent and important to bring out concerning the total control and narcissistic tendencies that these wt leaders possess on the governing body, i.e.

  alleged " faithful slave " .

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  I agree with ctrwtf, they get around the sister thing by referring to a scripture that says there is neither male nor female in the kingdom of the heavens. Thus they boil it down to the person, and yet there is no soul that survives death?!?!
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  59

  In 12 Lines or Less: GIVE US YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY POETICALLY

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  autobiography.

  forever began at the day of my birth, but, it turns out that it was a lie,.

  i am who i am when nobody's watching, then nothing is there to deny.. .

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  jeremiah18:5-10

  It wasn't by choice at the time that I left

  My faith was taken as if by theft

  An ambitious brother pursued my and took my peace

  This led to my activity to pretty much cease.

  The longer I was away the less I wanted to go

  I began to question things, things i needed to know.

  I started researching, I took to the bible to read

  Slowly I saw real truth, I had planted a seed.

  My eyes have opened and they can never be shut

  Now I'm happy without an if, and or but.

  I hope others can come to find what I have found

  And break free from the falsehoods to which they are bound