Posts by pronomono

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

pronomono

Maybe this is the only part that makes some sense. But it requires God to act,.. that's just what I want to experience. His actions in my life.

I've been searching for this for quite a while too. It hurts when you cry out to God, seeking his direction, his approval...... but nothing. You start to doubt yourself, mind racing thinking that you've done something to displease God to be getting this silent treatment..... but nothing. You want to make changes, to feel God's presence in your life..... but nothing. In times past, God offered proof that he was with his people, from the cloud pillar when Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt to his own voice when he spoke of Jesus as his beloved whom he had approved. God acted. But now?..... nothing.

I sincerely want that to change, but apparently it is one-sided (if God exists).

27

WTBTS continues to move to paperless

by pronomono in

during my last meeting i was approached to see if i would be willing to switch to the electronic version of the km/watchtower.

i thought to myself "i'm way ahead of you here, buddy.

been doing it for almost a year.

pronomono

@DucatiJoe: The only reason I still go is family and friends. I'm sure my gig is drying up fast, but I'm milking it for all I can because I love them too much to lose them. It's been a year and a half since I've commented and about a year since I've went out in service. So far nobody is asking questions. The elders used to, but they've stopped for some reason. So until the time comes when this all comes to a head, I'm enjoying my family and friends, and I'm learning more and more so that I can give them a good unwitness.

20

Convention visit observations

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

this weekend we visited the convention.

my findings:.

- no jw.org marketing here at this moment.

pronomono

Stephan Lett was presenting the Drama. He seemed Donald Duck. He was more drama then the play.

I always saw him as more of a C-3P0 kind of guy.

111

CONGREGATION FLEECING RESULTS?

by The Searcher in

how much did your congregation and its bank account get taken for?

share your horror story!.

pronomono

I just found out that ours is $560 a month, up from the usual $90 or so that used to be contributed. We still have $15,000 in our bank account, so it doesn't look like there was a one time transfer. We have our CO Visit in a few months, so it will be interesting to see if that changes.

27

WTBTS continues to move to paperless

by pronomono in

during my last meeting i was approached to see if i would be willing to switch to the electronic version of the km/watchtower.

i thought to myself "i'm way ahead of you here, buddy.

been doing it for almost a year.

pronomono

@Giordano, Yes I'm on the fade. Slowly but surely.....I think. I surely haven't been putting forth any effort towards being a good JW. I'm more or less there, and when I'm not there I'm taking in information on JWs, other religions, atheism, etc. as I try to examine lots of viewpoints and reasonings, for and against, various schools of thought. It's enough to make your brain explode when you realize how much is really out there. WTBTS made everything so simple ("We're right. Everyone else is wrong. We have people research for you so you don't have to waste your time with that. WORSHIP US!!!!")

@WifiBandit, That's how I feel. She's her own person. She can make her own decisions on things that affect her. For family decisions, we make decisions as a family.

27

WTBTS continues to move to paperless

by pronomono in

during my last meeting i was approached to see if i would be willing to switch to the electronic version of the km/watchtower.

i thought to myself "i'm way ahead of you here, buddy.

been doing it for almost a year.

pronomono

During my last meeting I was approached to see if I would be willing to switch to the electronic version of the KM/Watchtower. I thought to myself "I'm way ahead of you here, buddy. Been doing it for almost a year." But I told him, "Sure, switch me over. I'll have to see what my wife prefers."

He actually got an attitude with me. "Well, your the head of the family. You should make a decision."

After giving him a WTH look, I told him, "Fine, she'll continue to get paper."

Douche.

19

How do you measure a Jehovahs Witness?

by Londo111 in

im just thinking outloud and, of course, you are welcome to think aloud with me.. (1) there are the metrics used in the yearbook totals.

the average publisher count measures only those who reported time.

likely, most of those who attend the memorial are those inactive or somehow associated in some way, shape, or form.. (2) there is meeting attendance.

pronomono

Invisible ruler....ha ha. Good one, ADCMS.

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

pronomono

That's a good creed to live by. I was thinking a few of the same thoughts last night and came to the conclusion that my goal is to not live by any man's creed except for my own. To make my own decisions and conclusions about God, life, etc. I still place a lot of importance on researching JWs, other religions and belief systems, and reasoning on such because when I finally reject the JW way of life, I want there to be no doubt in my mind that I made the right choice.

Even with all the negative evidence pointing towards JWs, I still have an inkling of a belief that they could be right if God could be proven to exist. Ultimately, it comes down to me that if you are not allowed to prove to yourself things that are true, righteous, and just without being disfellowshipped, then there is obviously something wrong. But is it worth losing family and friends? A God that tells you he came to divide households and families (and then you see it in action) loses a lot of respect from me. And lack of verifiable contact makes me wonder how much of a hand God really has in any religion.

One of the biggest faith-bolstering arguments for JWs was the conversion stories of how people made drastic changes in their lives and personally seeing the effect it has had on close family members - from my father-in-law who was a mentally diseased drunken, violoent, alcoholic to my sister with chronic depression over the multitude of long-term sicknesses and physical disorders that she has been diagnosed with over her lifetime. I have seen drastic changes in behaviors and moods for the better. I spent a lot of time reading conversion stories between other religions, denominations, and deconversions. It's funny that every group has their own PR stories like this. It's a little different when you see it for yourself. But you realize that it's mostly mental, psychosomatic. They could have made these changes on their own if they only believed in themselves. I could make the change if only I believed in myself.

Sorry for getting a little off topic. I just started typing and wound up here. lol

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

pronomono

Dismember, Thanks again for posting this. I watched it last night, and for the first time atheism made sense. I've before described myselft as an "Agnostic Christian Atheist", which to me means that I really don't care about if there is a God or not because he doesn't seem to care about us, although I believe the morals instilled by the Christian way of life have some importance in our life and merit attention, but deep down I feel that there is no God. That's the simplest way of putting the messed up state my mind is in. After listening to Dan's reasoning, atheism makes a lot more sense. I want to get his book "Godless", and read it.

24

April 23, 1933 - the most significant date of all.

by Focus in

jw
friends

april 23, 1933 - the most significant date of all.

every single one of you will, of course, know the significance of this momentous date in the history of god's people and their "inspired", ark-like organization.. do you know what was the significance of that critical date?.

do not expect the earthly media to provide you with a clue.

pronomono

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