Posts by somebody

26

"the Society teaches"

by somebody in

*** w98 3/15 p. 19 living up to christian dedication in freedom ***

4 in order to avoid misunderstandings, jehovah?s witnesses try to be careful about how they express themselves.

instead of saying, ?the society teaches,?

somebody

Freedom,

I usually heard the phrase "The Society Says...."
I never heard anyone apologize for using those words, no matter how cultish it sounds.

That means the same thing as "the Society teaches" in my mind. Because if you said to another person, " The Society teaches that celebrating holidays is exalting men", would you think of that as a teaching of the Society? Or just something " the Society" said? And then... would you look and search the Holy Bible to find out if that teaching was in the Bible or if it was just something said by the Society?

26

"the Society teaches"

by somebody in

*** w98 3/15 p. 19 living up to christian dedication in freedom ***

4 in order to avoid misunderstandings, jehovah?s witnesses try to be careful about how they express themselves.

instead of saying, ?the society teaches,?

somebody

Hi asleif,

I'm sorry about the blank post! That was a mistake on my part.

You said:

Instead of saying, ?the Society teaches,? many Witnesses prefer to hide the actual facts and act like they don't belong to a screwy cult. Because if people knew the truth about 'the truth'(tm) from the get-go, they'd have even less success recruiting new members!!

That is hindsight for all of us ex recruiters! Isn't it? I know many former JWs who actually succeeded in recruiting others, therefore, whole families.

Those people just like ourselves were not "preferring to hide the truth" but trutly thought we were spreading the "the truth" .

But once JWs come to know the real truth and still continue to direct others to "the Society", they are doing exactly what you said. Hiding the actual facts.

If i were a JW today, I'd do what I did when I was 17 in the mid 70s and forced to go door-to-door by my parents offering "the Society's" publications for MONEY,Throwing them into the trash can in the ladies room whenever we stopped counting our time seved in order to have coffee. I knew that "the society" did not care where their published garbage goes, as long as they RECIEVED THEIR MONEY.

And I know that they STILL what to recieve their money and beg JWs for it now. Since the "complete donation agreement" came into exsistance, they have been beating their own followers to PAY FOR the material studind in their own KHs. Even telling JWs that they can';t expect the "complete donation agreement" to cover what they study at their Kingdom Halls for their own personal use.

peace,

somebody

26

"the Society teaches"

by somebody in

*** w98 3/15 p. 19 living up to christian dedication in freedom ***

4 in order to avoid misunderstandings, jehovah?s witnesses try to be careful about how they express themselves.

instead of saying, ?the society teaches,?

somebody

26

"the Society teaches"

by somebody in

*** w98 3/15 p. 19 living up to christian dedication in freedom ***

4 in order to avoid misunderstandings, jehovah?s witnesses try to be careful about how they express themselves.

instead of saying, ?the society teaches,?

somebody

*** w98 3/15 p. 19 Living Up to Christian Dedication in Freedom *** 4 In order to avoid misunderstandings, Jehovah?s Witnesses try to be careful about how they express themselves. Instead of saying, ?the Society teaches,? many Witnesses prefer to use such expressions as, ?the Bible says? or, ?I understand the Bible to teach.? In this way they emphasize the personal decision that each Witness has made in accepting Bible teachings and also avoid giving the false impression that Witnesses are somehow bound to the dictates of some religious sect. Do elders call "the Society" to see what their latest teachings are when a JW who does not carry the title of elder comes to them and confesses that they committed a "serious sin"? Or do they read the Holy Bible to see what it when that happens? Do Elders follow the SAME procedure when an elder or MS or any other JWs who carry prominent titles come to them confessing the SAME sin as when a JW who carries no title comes to them with the same confession? peace, somebody

61

My life ... and how JWD came to be - Part 2

by Simon in

previous: my life ... and how jwd came to be - part 1. .

how many times have people said ?if i knew then what i know now??

what a difference that would have made to my life.

somebody

Thank you so much for sharing so much ofyour life with us, Simon ( and Angarad). I know that typing all of it out can be VERY emotional. I got emotional reading much of part 2.

I've been waiting patiently...well...maybe not THAT patiently for part 3. I've been checking the board all day! LOL

I remember you on wit.net back in the day!

peace,

somebody/gwen

2

Does anyone have the latest statistics?

by aframe9999 in

i have been lurking here for some time and enjoy everyone's comments.

since the jan 1 wt has been out, i have not seen the latest worldwide report.

would it be possible to post a scanned image here somewhere or email it to me?

somebody

I too would like the latest statistics on how many "anointed JWs remain to make up the remnant" of the 144,000.

I wish the graphs included that!

20

Mom's Being Guilted to Shun Me

by Lutece in

i thought my mom would never change, that she'd never really go along with the shunning, but last night she wouldn't let me stay to eat at their house when my dad made dinner.

my parents and i have been close all our lives, we've been through a lot together and for her to say that she has to be getting a lot more counsel from the elders.

she is being guilted into shunning me, hoping it will help me eventually come back to the truth.

somebody

And although jgnat might not like this { hi jgnat :-) I'm waving at you..can ya see me? :-) }, Lutice, please print this out and ask your mom to read it. even if you have to mail it to her.

jgnat reached into every thought I think we ALL had as Ex-jWs, and always forced ourselves not to think about as JWs.

I thank you jgnat, for telling what you did. It helps more than you know. And if you don't want me sharing your intense post with others, just say the word and I won't from now on unless I have your permission first.

peace,

gwen

3

Tallyman...

by somebody in

jw
friends

if anyone has his/tom's e-mail address or has kept in touch with him, can you please send me a pm?

somebody

Thank you, AlanF.

I appreciate this.

3

Tallyman...

by somebody in

jw
friends

if anyone has his/tom's e-mail address or has kept in touch with him, can you please send me a pm?

somebody

If anyone has his/Tom's e-mail address or has kept in touch with him, can you please send me a PM?

18

Is becoming an XJW like growing up?

by ballistic in

jw
friends

did your process of leaving the organisation and learning new stuff feel like growing up to you?

looking back at your time in the so called "truth", do you think you were misled or even "naive"?

even "innocent"?

somebody

Ballistic,

You asked and said::

Did your process of leaving the organisation and learning new stuff feel like growing up to you? Looking back at your time in the so called "truth", do you think you were misled or even "naive"? Even "innocent"? Do you think it is just the result of having your eyes opened to something that makes it feel that way? Or do you think there is a real process going on here?
Sometimes when people post those "going back to the hall" threads, this is the perspective from which I cannot understand it one bit. Once you have had your eyes opened, you cannot un-learn what you know, or return to innocence.

I feel as if I could have written the same thing on looking back on my life in being raised a JW. I had the same thougths and I asked MYSELF the SAME questions that you have asked here. I could never understand anyone "going back to the hall" either. For me, it was like a child going back to believing that there really is a Santa Claus. Once you grow up even to the age of say....6 or 7, your natural thougths are that there isn't and you face reality no matter how much you really wish Santa existed. Comparing that with what you said, I did look at leaving the borg and facing real life as growing up. I knew that "going back to the hall" was not going to help me grow up and live life in reality, nor could I have sat there and listened to make -believe land, no more than a child can "go back to believing" that Santa Claus really exists. But even coming to that conclusion took me quite a few years. It takes a long time to grow up! ;-) peace, gwen