There are many small ways we can help free people from Watchtower's influence
There are many small ways we can help free people from Watchtower’s influence

It’s only through happenstance that I came to be an admin here at JWsurvey, but it was an opportunity I was happy to accept, because I love helping the cause.

One of my duties is sorting any contact emails that arrive. I often see messages of support and thanks for the information provided here.

A recurring theme in these messages is a desire to help. Speaking from personal experience, I can completely relate. Curtailing Watchtower’s influence is a cause I fully support.

Like so many of you reading this, my time as a Witness is marked with painful memories of unnecessary grief caused by Watchtower’s policies. When it all got to be too much, I had to make the difficult decision to leave behind those I had grown up with, including my immediate family.

The past twelve years have been a time of rebuilding and discovering what life really is all about. I’m never sorry that I decided to leave, but I still resent what I had to go through to get to where I am today.

My parents and sister have no contact with me. And, even though I live three hours from my hometown, news of my involvement with the ex-JW movement appears to have spread. I’ve recently started experiencing shunning when out and about in my current location. This new development has made me wonder what more I can do to help stop this from happening to others.

Great things can be achieved when we pull together under a common cause
Great things can be achieved when we pull together under a common cause

I don’t consider myself to be a leader in the cause. I’m not the type to uncover secrets and expose hidden policies. Truth be told, there are already so many who do this, and in my opinion they do it well. Cedars and others like him are doing a great job of putting Watchtower’s flaws out there for the public to see.

New YouTube videos are being added every day. Facebook and Twitter are buzzing with stories about things Watchtower wants to keep quiet. The information is there, and that’s where WE come in.

All of us have a unique opportunity to make all this effort pay off. Others have done the hard part, now it’s our turn to spread the information. We can all draw attention to the stories and blogs by sharing them with others. By word of mouth and social media, we can each play a part in getting the message out to a wider audience.

It may require an act of courage, or stepping out of our comfort zone. But unless more of us take this leap, the efforts of those doing the research and writing cannot reach their full potential. We can all be the backing chorus to the work being done. By lending our voices, we make the message stronger.

The more issues such as shunning and mishandling of child sex abuse are put in the public eye, the more momentum builds. Every opportunity we take to share is an opportunity to help someone avoid the pain we’ve experienced inside the Watchtower.

With increasing numbers of active Witnesses using the internet, we have a chance to show them the reality of their “truth.” As opinions start to change, everything we do puts just a little more pressure on Watchtower to make reforms and end their oppressive and often life-threatening practices.

As your fellow chorus member, I’m asking you all to consider supporting those who are leading the charge in the fight against Watchtower by sharing their message at every opportunity. The more we speak up, the more the world will notice, and lives could even be saved.

 

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Further reading…

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257 thoughts on “What can we all do to help?

  • March 8, 2014 at 1:55 am
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    Well done Jeni, great article and compliments Cedars video about the importance of no longer staying silent. The WT can no longer control through isolation and fear.

  • March 8, 2014 at 2:01 am
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    Excellent, Jeni – Too many non JWs imagine the outfit os no more than a group of earnest, quaint and rather nerdy but harmless religious enthusiasts. The more we can push image into the area occupied by, say, snake handling Christians, the Ku Klux Klan, the Lord’s Resistance Army and Al Qaedr, the better.

  • March 8, 2014 at 2:22 am
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    I’ve recently began doing this on facebook. I’ll share a brief comment occasionally and every time I do the response is heartwarming. Whatever little we all can do really does help. The general public and non Witnesses often see JWs as a quirky, eccentric at most, misguided religion. But we all know it’s much more than that. We’re all in this together. Thank you Jeni for your contributions to the cause. It’s people like you that help shine the light on the lies.

    All it takes is really just a little courage and we can help others and feel good ourselves. If we could weather the elements and give our time and money in field service participation, a quick facebook post or youtube video is nothing compared to that.

  • March 8, 2014 at 3:58 am
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    Good job! Is time to warn poeple everywhere.

  • March 8, 2014 at 4:20 am
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    Can we make a video with disfellowshipped Jehovah’s Witnesses experience? To show and share with every body.

  • March 8, 2014 at 4:36 am
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    Recently, a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses including a District Overseer and an Elder and a considerable number of “preachers” accused me of “intimidating them” and even used verses like “(Leviticus 26:29) . . .YOU will have to eat the flesh of YOUR sons, and YOU will eat the flesh of YOUR daughters. . .
    I was jailed for 4 days answering to their accusations… They are trying to silence me after they have taken my wife captive for now 6 years. It is seems they are setting traps everywhere to silence me!! They want me to loose balance in hands of courts…

    We need to be cautious as we help others, they will look for any reason, small or big, to silence you using the police and courts, what I am experiencing now!!

    “They try to lift it out of the way by interfering with the Kingdom preachers. In so doing, the meddling nations have received “severe scratches for themselves,” getting all cut up. Even their reputations have been hurt as they meet with humiliating failure” (http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=w07+12%2F15+p.+23+par.+10; w07 12/15 p. 23 par. 10)

    Be careful, Jehovah’s Witnesses are very manipulative! When in JAIL, they seized every opportunity to sally my name in the public!! I have learned another HIDDEN SIDE OF THEIRS! From http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=w03+3%2F1+p.+9+par.+6 you can read them saying
    “We also need courage when opposers maneuver the media into spreading bad reports about God’s servants or when they try to restrict true worship by scheming “trouble by decree.” (Psalm 94:20) For example, how should we feel when newspaper, radio, or television reports about Jehovah’s Witnesses are distortions or outright falsehoods? Should we be shocked?”!

    Be careful and couragious, they will silence you “by scheming ‘trouble by decree.’ (Psalm 94:20)! This is what I am experiencing now!!

    • March 8, 2014 at 2:20 pm
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      This is, in its way, encouraging. JW bosses must be feeling the heat from honest media reports about JWs. It seems all they can do, ‘in defence’ is claim that accurate reports on their grubby little outfit are Satanic.

  • March 8, 2014 at 4:53 am
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    It takes great courage combined with determination to break free from Watchtower mind control and scare tactics. I was under their control for many years as was my 2 brothers and we all finally saw the way out, willing to die at Armageddon if the Watchtower was actually right in their prophesies. Fortunately, THEY ARE NOT RIGHT. Our mother is still under the Watchtower control for 57 years and could care less about listening to anything not from Watchtower sources. Mind Control again.

  • March 8, 2014 at 6:11 am
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    Great article, Jeni. I’ll do what I can to expose this demonic religion. I was in for 40 years, I know them.

  • March 8, 2014 at 6:50 am
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    I found Jeni’s article very moving. In the UK I like to use the ‘First and Last Ministries’ outreach group which also shares some helpful literature.

  • March 8, 2014 at 7:50 am
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    Might remind people that they can also do this anonymously if they must. I have a Facebook page and blog under an alias so that I can share and comment freely. It helps to open two browsers if you switch back and forth between your real identity and your alias throughout the day; for me, everything on Firefox is real, and everything on Google Chrome is my alias. Less risk of mixing them up and accidentally browsing an “apostate” site or commenting with my real name. The alias gives me great freedom to say and share what I want.

  • March 8, 2014 at 8:00 am
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    Jeni, great article. It gives me great pleasure to see you speaking out, helping to educate the non-JW world about the Watchtower’s violations of basic human rights.

  • March 8, 2014 at 8:15 am
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    Our activism is not only aimed at helping JWs break free
    but also to inoculate the public against ever taking them
    seriously . I’m dedicated to educating the public that because of the JWs hateful practice of shunning and slandering their victims they qualify to be identified as
    a Hate group .

    This can have the affect of pulling off the phony image they propagate of being a loving harmless “christian religion” .

    And can hit them right in the pocket book .

    I want people to Google hate group along with Jehovah’s Witnesses .

  • March 8, 2014 at 9:08 am
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    There are different types of Jehovah’s Witnesses. But many have a strong desire to help others. Which means that when they see some of the problems and can no longer promote (or publicize, so to speak) the kingdom, they still want to find ways to help others. I love being among people like this, before, and now, still!!! I don’t really worry because I just know almost all of you are or will be trying to pay it forward. Here’s to all of YOU! Much success!

  • March 8, 2014 at 9:10 am
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    Sorry, I should say;”Here’s to all of US!”

  • March 8, 2014 at 10:18 am
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    Jeni.. I loved your write up on aawa and I tried to comment but couldn’t get it to go through. It has been almost a year since my husband and I left and we are still barely surviving the daily effects. We came from very close families and group of friends and were both raised JW’s. We made a conscious decision to leave with our 4 small children and it has been hell. We lost all support and feel like hundreds of our family and friends have died. Sometimes I feel like going into a convention and unrolling toilet paper to write jwfacts.com on it and then roll it back up, hoping someone will start a wildfire of realizing the rediculousness. Your articles give me hope that change is possible, and I think you are absolutely right that we can’t just quietly go away and still be obeying their man made rules. I feel like if this change would have started 10 years ago, maybe somehow my family would still be together. I strongly support your thoughts and hope people spread the world that people have a right to practice any religion but indoctrination and mind control crosses the line into dangerous territory.

  • March 8, 2014 at 10:24 am
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    I also wanted to add that our family comes from a small community, and the news of our family shunning us had really drawn attention. We’ve had a dozen cards from stangers telling us they support us and that they never knew JW’S shunned but that it was so wrong. It has also been a huge deal in our circuit/district, as we were both pioneers and in foreign language when we left. I can only hope it makes other born in witnesses like us think for themselves and use the Internet to get the real story.

  • March 8, 2014 at 2:48 pm
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    Thanks to everyone for their kind words. And, thanks to Cedars & those like him for putting together articles, blogs, & videos that the rest of us can use to warn others. We live in a time where nobody should fall victim to the WT, because more & more of the real “truth” is being shared.

  • March 8, 2014 at 4:18 pm
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    This is one of the sites that helped me get out the watchtower and after I left, so I thank you for being an activist. I speak to people at work and church about why I left and what they teach and how I’m free in JESUS and I let them know that I speak about jw’s because this is my history and it’s where I’ve come from. They need to know how to speak to jw’s and know what jw’s think to stay free themselves and fight respectfully that wicked spirit in the watchtower.

  • March 8, 2014 at 4:20 pm
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    Amen to that!

  • March 8, 2014 at 8:13 pm
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    Way to go, Jeni. Those of us who know you understand how dedicated you are to educating the world about JWs. Just do what you can when you can and don’t burn out as so many have before you. We need your voice and help on our side for as long as we are privileged to have it.

  • March 8, 2014 at 10:27 pm
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    Hi Jeni
    Thanks for sharing and helping. I have not been d/f and I still believe Jehovah to be the true God.They can’t d/f me from my dedication, but they may treat me as such, though I’m yet to experience that. I don’t agree with their flawed reasonings on shunning,1919/1914 and the FDS understanding and many others.
    I’m with you in support, for all who are seeking what is right.
    Keep going forward
    Duds

  • March 9, 2014 at 3:09 am
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    alexjamesisnotmyrealname,
    I wanted to face “THE TRUTH” of JWs they fight for with “LIES and DECEPTIONS” and used my real names, not “alias”. I am now in the middle of a serious attack… but it is funny!!! I am learning more about Jehovah’s Witnesses!!

    How can they DARE write “Looming large in this story is the Inquisition. It was created by the Roman Catholic Church in the 13th century ‘to convert apostates and prevent others from falling away,’” (http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102014166)

    Do you think they do differently? Why do we have to hide under “alias”?

  • March 9, 2014 at 3:17 am
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    Jw I and all,

    My dear old Mum, and two other pensioner witness sisters are combining to do half pioneer hours this month. Ten hours each. One of them is in a wheelchair.

    This illustrates that they are pushing all of their poor followers to do more and more for them. Therefore, we need to do as much as we can to counter their propaganda.

    We all do what we can. It will be enough.

    Peace be with you

    Excelsior!

  • March 9, 2014 at 4:37 am
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    Jeni,
    Thanks for the article, I believe activism works and has a domino affect.

    I was unjustly DF’d and thoroughly dedicated to Jehovah trying to get RI’d, going to all the meetings. But I was really suffering badly with CD. It was a total paradox that my JC was guided by holy spirit and imperfect men.

    This messed with me for months, activism help me realise that my JC was not guided by Holy Spirit, finally activism helped my CD dissipate.

    Activism helped me formulate and exit plan, I recorded my last JC meeting to help others who were trying to get RI’d. It highlighted the fact that the RI process was unscriptural.

    Activism helped me try to help others. I hope my interview and JC meeting has helped those in similar circumstances.

    Here is my story, it’s 35 mins long. Kate xx

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_uWFKDFMdQ

  • March 9, 2014 at 6:38 am
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    Hi John. I have been disfellowshipped for 4 years now and as you said in your video, noticed a number of glitches in the matrix before finally packing it all in. My family has been weaponised againt myself and although I still have limited contact with my parents, who are very old and frail and depend on me, our relationship has totally changed.
    They ask ‘polite questions’ like ‘how is your shop going? Has it been busy etc, but I can tell they are not really interested. The only thing that matters to them is me getting reinstated. The only thing.

    I was a born in (1971) and have lived and been influenced by armageddon being very close, never getting old, parents will always be here because the new system will come before they reach old age, watching the news hoping that this will be the day I see developments (religion being turned on etc)

    Do you know what this does to your head? Your mental health?

    Every night, my mind wanders to the thoughts of ‘but what if they are right? What if the reason why the watchtower is making so many mistakes is that it has been corrupted, in the same manner as the jewish priests were.

    The thought of just living for 70 or 80 years and thats it frightens me. No hope for future. No resurrection. My whole life and who I am is in turmoil.

    So yes, even ex jw’s are still deeply troubled and really need help, even when they know that something is wrong with the ‘truth’. The only people on this planet who can offer support are the ones who have been through this torture and come out the other end.

    I for one, really appreciate your services.

    Kind regards.

    • March 9, 2014 at 8:11 am
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      It took me several post JW years to realise that the whole JW Armageddon package is a cruel fantasy from start to finish; that the life we have now is THE life and is to be enjoyed and lived to its fullest extent.

      And I had drifted away from the Kingdom Hall by my early teens. Of my family only my mad mother was a JW and I ran away from her and was effectively raised by my grandparents, for all that my house of refuge was daily infested by my mum’s awful presence complete with her bag of JW mags.

      My late brother, however, had stayed with our mum, and, emotionally tied to her, he never left home as an adult. He could not free his mind of the imminent Armageddon nightmare. He spent several periods in psychiatric wards and died in his early 40s. To this day, my sister, who had escaped to our grandparents before I did, refuses to acknowledge any connection between our brother’s mental problems and our mother and her JW obsession.

      Something I find of great comfort in the internet age is the ability of we ex JWs to network. I had imagined that my situation was freaky and that all other JWs conformed to the clean cut image the outfit likes to project. This superficial impression was partly the result of the Kingdom Hall ultimately playing a relatively marginal, albeit horrific role, in my childhood.

      My mother did not look like a JW. She was a determinedly unwashed, unkempt scruff. She was able to swallow, with relish, all the visions of the imminent destruction of ‘this system of things’, but to deflect as if they had no existence, all the Kingdom Hall commands about neat grooming and self presentation. She was also able to deflect almost anything I ever said to her. Hence, not only does the clean cut JW image not fit with my family experience; the much wider assumption that sons are automatically devoted to their old mums is something quite alien to me as well.

      This blog and other ex JW sites have shown me that every JW experience, despite the bland conformity of the cult’s exterior, is quite singular. Some exes have not been shunned; not every kid JW was sexually abused. Some never believed the JW bilge as kids; others cannot rid their minds of JW poison long after their last Kingdom Hall visit.

      Likewise every journey out is different. My mind was freed of JW nonsense largely by flinging myself deliberately in the opposite ‘Satanic’ direction. I became an Anglican and a soldier. Whatever the limitations of the C. of E. and the Army, it taught me that the JWs had given me an utterly distorted picture of the world beyond the Kingdom Hall.

      Further, Bible study and the history of Christendom (of which JWdom is a part) as well as of other religions, taught me that imminent doomsters have been a menace throughout human history, and like the JWs, they have all been utterly wrong.

      • March 9, 2014 at 8:15 am
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        What amazes me is just how totally ignorant of the Bible most elders are. I love to [put them on the spot as they can never answer me directly without getting “further reference.”

        It really is all rather pathetic!

  • March 9, 2014 at 8:00 am
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    You can 100% count on my support Jenni!

    Best wishes Carol

  • March 9, 2014 at 12:07 pm
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    Mike,
    When you leave, some JWs cry thinking you are going to live a miserable life because you are leaving “THE TRUTH”!

    Let us really make things even simpler; these poor minds are taught:
    “Some may find it sobering to think that they might survive with only their “soul” as a spoil, but that actually should be no disappointment at all.” (jr chap. 9 p. 112 par. 19; http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=jr+chap.+9+p.+112+par.+19)!

    These people are fed on Jehovah’s table, the food they eat aver there is a mental poison!!

  • March 9, 2014 at 5:12 pm
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    Mike,

    You still have about four decades to enjoy this wonderful planet and the universe beyond! That’s a long time. You and all us humans lucked out. We’re the most successful life form around. We have a brain that can fathom into infinity. It’s a great life.

    Everything dies. Stars die, planets die, to be recycled into something else. The heavy elements were created by dying stars, to be flung out into the galaxy, to coalesce into planets with the potential for new life to form.

    Everlasting life is a common quest for many cultures. We feel that it would be great to be around forever. But it wouldn’t. Eventually, one would know everyone, know everything and what then? Nothing new under any sun.

    No! A long, healthy, dignified, peaceful life, and a death painless and quick. That is a better paradise.

    One thing that always puzzled me was the belief that eventually the earth would be full, and we would simply stop breeding. Really? No new people! No fresh perspectives. Imagine that.

    I lost my dad to cancer a few years ago. He went before his time. But, miss him as I do, I would not wish everlasting life on him or on anyone.

    I wish you well on your journey of discovery. Life is what we make it.

    Peace be with you

    Excelsior!

    • March 9, 2014 at 7:46 pm
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      With respect I have to disagree. In our universe every that dies is reborn. A sun dies, it implodes but its energy lives on and is regenerated in the rebirth of new forces.

      Those not wanting everlasting life have truly not found happiness. I have and each day passes as blissfully as the last, and I look forward to the next. My partner and me are very happy, very very very happy, and simply aliens passing through this wicked evil world.

      Our home is literally our castle and once in the draw bridge is firmly up to the mad crazy outside world. We never answer the door bell to anyone, other than through a prearranged appointment, thereby always keeping Satan’s world firmly apart from ours.

      When a person finds true love, one would want that to be for eternity. I have never loved as deeply as I do my beloved partner, Jehovah and our Lord Jesus……..yet bet I could “endure” everlasting life!

  • March 9, 2014 at 7:54 pm
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    Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you have to be a Jehovah’s Witness to have ever lasting life.

    Ever lasting life is there for all who believe in the Almighty Farther through His son Jesus.

    God reaches out to all that seek him.

    These are the eternal facts of the message in the Holy Scriptures and are fixed and everlasting.

    Now, this is a far cry from the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society who are, “happy to keep on making it up as they go along.”

    Please don’t be fooled.

    • March 9, 2014 at 10:40 pm
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      You, Carol, and your partner, together with me and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, are part of this world. That business of imagining the ‘world’ is somehow inferior or even diabolical, was imprinted in my childhood brain at the Kingdom Hall and took some time and effort to eradicate.

      It is not, I realise, a unique JW property, but, like the Amish and other fringe outfits, the JWs take it to an extreme. Your language, Carol, suggests you are yet possessed by that delusion.

      It is hideously irresponsible to imagine oneself superior to an unreformable world and to wait for some God or other to sort all the problems in a flash (by zapping all the baddies at an Armageddon or Judgement Day?)

      Is that what you wish for Carol – simply with a different set of rules from the WT ones, for sorting out the goodies and baddies?

  • March 9, 2014 at 10:43 pm
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    I ‘am going to protest the assembly neatest to me this summer with a respectful sign saying (When will the Watchtower address in writing its membership in the U.N?)

    Many members of my family (Elders and a circuit overseer) when learning of the WT joined the U.N. Quit. Big deal, I have not had contact with my family for over 33 years, after they learned about the U.N. that was all it took for them. As my brother who was an overseer said “does that membership make them the Harlot or the Beast or both?”
    Join me in a respectful protest. Let those know of this issue, they knew about Child abuse but were able to dismiss the issue because it was about the conduct of a bad person. The U.N issue is one the governing body owns all by its self. It opened their eyes and then they were able to see the rest of the WT lies.

  • March 9, 2014 at 11:38 pm
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    Carol,
    You are missing a lot of points in your trying to balance your Mental and Spiritual life:

    1) *** bh chap. 3 What Is God’s Purpose for the Earth? ***
    How can you support Jehovah’s side in answer to Satan’s challenge?
    IT SEEMS WE, HUMANS, ARE FORCED IN A CONFLICT OF FATHER (Jehovah god) AND SONS (Satan and Jesus) WHOSE ORIGIN AND REASONS WE DO NOT KNOW!!!

    2) What is the reward for “supporting Jehovah’s side in answer to Satan’s challenge”?

    Answer (Psalm 58:10) . . .The righteous one will rejoice because he has seen the vengeance; His feet will be drenched with the blood of the wicked.

    Carol, I can understand now why you enjoy that nonsense and can’t grasp the real meaning of life. Look at this:

    “Although many Christians formerly had an immoral lifestyle, they now view sex and marriage as gifts from God” (w12 8/15 p. 13 par. 9)

    “I led an immoral life, becoming a serious womanizer” (w11 11/1 p. 10)

    “I WAS 16 years old when rebel soldiers forced me to join their army. They supplied me with drugs and alcohol, and I often fought in a drug-crazed state. I fought many battles and committed terrible atrocities. This I deeply regret.” (http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=yb14+p.146)

    WITH FEW EXCEPTION, MOST JWs have SAD LIFE BACKGROUND (Diseases, War, Immoral life, Victim of rape, Failure in life…) TRYING TO REASON WITH THEM ABOUT A “HAPPY LIFE TODAY” IS A “TOTAL LOSS OF TIME”!!

    The only REMAINING HOPE for life for them is what they call “NEW EARTH” and they are longing for the day of Vengeance.

    “day of Vengeance”, they can’t even see they are victims of a stupid conflict between JEHOVAH AND SATAN. “vengeance” against who?

    Let these poor souls, the Watchtower Society is mocking them: “Satan wants people to lose confidence in Jehovah. That enemy of God does not want us to know the real causes of human suffering (w03 9/1 p. 9 par. 5; http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/l/r1/lp-e?q=w03+9%2F1+p.+9+par.+5)

    Last year, Memorial attendance in Democratic Republic of Congo was 1.051.310 of a total of 19.241.252 (5.5% of global attendance)!!!!!!!

  • March 9, 2014 at 11:58 pm
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    On the contrary, religion apart, I will differ with you comments for so many reasons. Here are just a few!

    The world in general is most definitely inferior to my standards of decency and living. I therefore refuse to be a part of it.

    Diabolical is a fairly good description, and I would agree with you there.

    In Britain today there is not one government department that is not tainted with sleaze and corruption. We have declining social values where out old are left to die through the want of proper treatment as part of an evil policy. Crime is out of control, and cities are in decline ….there is a general sense of desperation throughout.

    Definitely “goodness” is not in control!

    Sex and porn is thrown at you constantly through the media and our children are taught in our schools that gay sex at 5 years old is Ok.

    Is that enough for you to realise that people of integrity and standards, and there are many that I know, have had enough and would love to see a great change.

    I believe in God’s word that he will only suffer the wicked ways of mankind for so long…. and no longer!

    It’s inevitable looking at world conditions today that we all live in an unsustainable environment heading, as it is, for a disaster, be it God induced or man made!

    • March 10, 2014 at 12:02 am
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      ‘The world in general is most definitely inferior to my standards of decency and living. I therefore refuse to be a part of it.’

      You might as well say, Carol. that you refuse to be dependent upon the sun’s energy and on oxygen. You are part of the world whether or not you know it or like it.

      The world is getting progressively better fed and less violent.

      JWdom and other doomster outfits thrive on pathetic and irresponsible pessimism .

  • March 10, 2014 at 1:09 am
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    The WT’s alliance with the UN did not stop after they were ‘outed’ by the Guardian Newspaper and then made up the story of resigning because of some supposed change in regard to NGOs that would ‘compromise their neutrality’.

    They have regularly used the services of the OSCE (a UN agency) in Europe to fight their battles for them over their supposed human right to preach without hindrance. Just look up the OSCE website and type in something like ‘The European association of Jehovah’s christian witnesses’. There are countless references there. They lost their ‘neutrality’ long ago, but keep up the charade for the rank and file.

    • March 10, 2014 at 2:01 am
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      Hi JimmyG,
      Yeah, apparently the CEO of that organization is a Witness having the sanction of GB.Fighting for the equal rights of all religions and the disadvantaged.
      Have peace
      Duds

    • March 10, 2014 at 3:23 am
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      Hi again
      Been try to find his name. I read it on one of the sites for ex/w. but can’t find it just yet to confirm for you. i should have save it.
      Cheers Duds

  • March 10, 2014 at 3:39 am
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    Carol,

    I must say that your attitude is very selfish!

    Where is your labour to improve things, then? Raising the drawbridge and gorging on TV news, and the doom laden musing s of the WTBTS will colour your world view dark.

    Has there ever been a perfect society? No there hasn’t.

    Can you think of one good thing that has got better with time and the evolution of society? I can think of many.

    What are you doing to make things better? If you want to be no part of the world, then you can try if you like. It is a losing battle, because what effects one effects all.

    Peace be with you

    Excelsior!

  • March 10, 2014 at 8:25 am
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    Carol, Life is good. I think perspective is helpful. Since time began people have spoken of doom. People, however have solved enormous problems, every day there is more insight. A few years ago Aids was going to wipe us out, none of us were going to survive the year 2000 computer problems, planes were going to fall out of the sky. None of it happened. People are making huge leaps with the environment. Its about perspective, knowledge, education and whether we have a problem focus or a solution orientation. With a solution orientation you may not have to bolt your door and hide. This is said to help not to criticise.

  • March 10, 2014 at 9:22 am
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    While I think “washing hands” off this world is not right and everyone should do whatever they see as right to their fellow human beings. I agree with Carol on the rest.

    This society got smarter and “civilized” but it hasn’t become better morally. I tend to think there is indeed a bad “system” in place, which makes humanity hostage of it, including the evildoers. It made its way such that it’s no longer possible to break it.

    We all have to die ? Who volunteers saying this to a 10 years’ old, who may be terminally sick ? Who got only a fraction of life ?

    This is not right. If it was part of the nature, why people missed this evolutionary step adjusting their minds and hearts to the mortality ? Why all this mourning ?

    • March 10, 2014 at 9:32 am
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      Women are no longer property. Slavery is outlawed. Nobody outwardly glorifies genocide, Bible style. More and more of us are free from grinding poverty and repetitive agricultural labour. Medical science has improved no end. Deaths in child birth are a rarity. War is considered, at best, a last resort and the least of evils. For millennia it was considered a necessary experience for becoming a man, (as opposed to a boy.) Doomsters do not like these facts.

  • March 10, 2014 at 10:34 am
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    Carol,
    I am sorry for you!! Can this help?

    1) (Romans 8:20) . . .For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but through the one who subjected it, on the basis of hope

    WHO TO BLAME?

    2) (Numbers 25:6-9) . . .. When Phin′e·has the son of El·e·a′zar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he immediately rose up from the midst of the assembly and took a spear in his hand. Then he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her genital parts. At that the scourge on the Israelites was halted. Those who died from the scourge amounted to 24,000. . .

    Question: The world in general is most definitely inferior to YOUR standards of decency and living, would you fit in the world above.

    3) (2 Samuel 12:11, 12) . . .This is what Jehovah says: ‘Here I am bringing against you calamity from within your own house; and before your own eyes, I will take your wives and give them to another man, and he will lie down with your wives in broad daylight. 12 Although you acted in secret, I will do this in front of all Israel and in broad daylight.. . .

    (2 Samuel 16:21) . . .“Have relations with your father’s concubines. . .

    (2 Samuel 20:3) . . .the king took the ten concubines he had left behind to take care of the house, and he put them in a house under guard. He supplied food to them, but he did not have any relations with them. They remained in confinement until the day of their death, living as if they were widows, even though they had a living husband.

    After RAPE PLANNED BY JEHOVAH GOD, The poor women “remained in confinement until the day of their death living as if they were widows, even though they had a living husband.”

    CAROL, which world do you want to fit in with your standars?

    (2 Kings 2:24) . . .he turned around and looked at them and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. Then two she-bears came out of the forest and tore 42 of the children to pieces. . .

    Teach your 5 old child this, it is better:
    (Judges 3:22) . . .The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed in over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the fecal matter came out. . .

  • March 10, 2014 at 11:34 am
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    Rowland, although on a lot of points I am in agreement with you, there are some details I must disagree.

    Back in time corrupt, cruel people could lord upon the population by conquering them and imposing their power. Now we have democracy, the same corrupt, power hungry people get themselves elected. There is a saying that says, people chose the leaders they deserve. This is how the coward and selfish attitude infiltrated into us, we all want a bigger slice of the pie, this is why we’re putting those kinds of people in power. Back in time, it was only possible by brute force, now it’s much more “civilized”. If a population was made of solidarity, with honest people, such “leaders” would be thrown out off their chairs in no time. Where are those good ones to serve the population ? They either don’t get elected, or they get killed …

    Respectfully, I must say, slavery only changed shape, while I agree that women are not considered as property, their lives aren’t easier necessarily. I’d agree about medical science’s progresses only when everyone stands the same chance for leading a healthy life and being cured. Though I think, medical science became much more profitable. We’re so much tempering with our environment that we have no idea where it’s going to bite us back (and it is …). This is how, we started having, younger and younger, all kinds of diseases.

    I’m not the one saying that the economic inequality has never been so deep as it is today. Stats, experts say so.

    Honestly Rowland, I really don’t think world became much worse today (maybe more dangerous, yes) but I don’t think it gets better neither. The wrong things humanity endures are just changing shape, and the same filth is served, packed in nicer presentation in my opinion.

    Most of all, all this progresses aren’t making us more honest, and above all, … happier. Even Moses who dwelled the desert for decades didn’t get a burn out :-) I’m only repeating things I see and read, and those are of no religious sources. This is why I kind of react that much for this kind of topics.

    I don’t think we’re moving anywhere from where we always standed, we probably invended a rolling band for us to walk on, giving us the impression of going anywhere.

    And actually, the key point I have in mind is : Humanity is good. I honestly think that, and the goodness is in our genes. The disturbing question is, what we did to end up like this ?

    I’m really no doom scenario fan, but reading newspapers, seeing documentaries today give me bigger shivers than a good old Armagueddon picture of Watchtower. I’m not kind of a person to say “is this memorial the last one” but I am watching the way a lot of things unfold today, and I can’t take my eyes off that …

    • March 10, 2014 at 1:30 pm
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      Why such a misery? Sure there is much room for improvement. But imagine surgery with no anaesthetic; some employment conditions are, certainly. little better than slavery. But the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade could never now be repeated.

      And whatever the limitations of many law codes, there is nothing anywhere as barbaric and revolting as the Torah. It is to be hoped that the fad fro Sharia, like that for Marxism and fascism will pass.

      JWdom and similar outfits certainly target negative miseryguts types. Their mega holocaust and Paradise Earth fantasy would never appeal to anyone else, and quite definitely would never be convincing.

      • March 10, 2014 at 3:16 pm
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        Yes Rowland you’ve got valid points too. I guess, my main concern is about the unpredictability of the future.

        • March 11, 2014 at 10:34 am
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          Unpredictability. That’s a defining feature of the future; it’s unpredictable. So many have always wished it were not so, hence the popularity of palmists, astrologers, Bible and Koran based prophets, economic forecasters and the rest.

          They are uniformly, if not totally wrong, certainly not reliable. Most fact based research, however, on a whole range of measures, points to the improvements in the human condition.

          JWs and their ilk thrive on the doomster, negative and pessimistic state of mind, as well as the good old days illusion of Eden.

  • March 10, 2014 at 11:58 am
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    JB,
    Why do you torture yourself? Is it because you want to believe that the world is a bad place? Did you imbibe so much JW indoctrination that de-programming would be helpful? I ask these questions in an attempt to help. If you start reading material that gives a more positive perspective, you may begin to take another view. Unplug from the TV news for a week and see what happens. They are in the business of selling bad news, good news does not sell.

    • March 10, 2014 at 3:55 pm
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      Hi So Glad, don’t get me wrong, I’m actually a quite a positive person and I do believe that life is fantastic and there are lots of positivity in life.
      I don’t wake up saying oh, I woke up to this miserable world again, I’m not a person like this.

      But, let’s say, I had to see things and live things through in life that just reminds me that we’re not eternal, and we can be vulnerable. Such feelings also bring some awareness that things are actually not as good for other people as it may be for me. To a point that, I cannot call this world good, as long as it’s not good for everyone.

      I’m in total agreement BTW, that there are very well intentioned people who did everything to help humanity and they did bring valuable help to make our lives better. And although my words might not hint about it, quite a great deal of my thoughts are efforts are focused on positivity actually.

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