Have Been Experiencing Jehovah's Witness "Programming Glitches"

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

What makes you think I have a master. Do you? I'm a guy by the way. I am my own master, even if they think they are mine. Nobody can control what you think.

a reply to: MConnalley

I'm meditating daily. That tends to help me out. I feel a lot happier. They believe in meditation on the Bible, but I have lost faith in the Bible. Especially when you realize that it's been edited into something completely unrecognizable.

a reply to: brazenalderpadrescorpio

Yes sir i know what you mean with lack of faith in the bible. I grew up in a half Catholic half Mormon family and all it did was make me seek real truth and use logic to verify the world around me, but i still feel and understand that there's a source out there, whether it be god or the super massive black hole that spit us all out in the big bang after the big crunch finally occurred. We exist because mass was set in motion. Meditation is a powerful tool.

It's worth the watch, at the end the JW was promised a Quran and agreed to a study with Deedat. lol
Islam is not as scary terrorist bs as the fear mongers want you to think. At least the Sunnis arent. I've listened to a lot of their teachings and they make a whole lot more sense than JW or any bible based religion. Personally I'm a non conformist anymore and just seek god on my own and find like minded people that do the same. Much more efficient for just about every aspect of life in my opinion.
a reply to: brazenalderpadrescorpio

a reply to: MConnalley

I definitely feel that there's a source there, too. That's why I love Zen Buddhism so much. While some branches of Buddhism may not believe in God, Zen Buddhists don't negate the idea of God. The more I research Zen Buddhism (and especially the Soto school), I feel like it was almost made for me. There are some things that seem a little bit ritualistic, but for the most part, it seems to be a very straight-forward religion. Even the apparent rituals, may not really be rituals. That's why I have to do more research because it actually is still new to me.

a reply to: supermanning

I'm more interested in mysticism than anything else. If anything I'd be more into researching Sufism. But I have yet to look into it. Right now I'm just enamored with Zen Buddhism. I would also like to find God on my own terms, too.

originally posted by: brazenalderpadrescorpio
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

What makes you think I have a master. Do you? I'm a guy by the way. I am my own master, even if they think they are mine. Nobody can control what you think.

because my girlfreind is an ex JW and so is one of her brothers ...they are 2 of 6 siblings the rest of the family are still in the cult and the garbage that goes on because of the JW world is really quite sad....they put JW before family for a start....it is a cult that values brainwashing..that is why i ask

a reply to: brazenalderpadrescorpio

Sounds cultish/clickish. Get out while you can. The thoughts you are expressing in this post will never fly within the church. The just won't tolerate your questions or questioning.

R. D. Laing named three rules that govern abusive family dynamics, that allow the family to not acknowledge the abuse: I think it applies to your "larger JW family" broadly.
Rule A: Don’t.
Rule A.1: Rule A does not exist.
Rule A.2: Never discuss the existence or nonexistence of rules A, A.1,or A.2.
These rules hold true for the culture. We see them every day in every way, from the most intimate to the most global. This culture collectively and most of its members individually will give up the world before they’ll give up this abusive structure.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

A lot of times they have drama that they don't want the average person to know about. But you obviously have seen some of it. A lot of times they want people to think that they all are full of the holy spirit and that if you're a true Jehovah's Witness, you can do no wrong. And then there are others that do whatever they want, provided no one finds out.

There is someone here that I suspect is even from my congregation, but it's really just a vague suspicion. It's not really based on any solid evidence. That person talks about things are not exactly JW approved. I'm just mentioning this person to point out that according to JWs there are those who do and those who don't. If you are one of those who don't, then you better hope that they don't find out! If they find out, then they will make your life hell. And it will be hell if you care about other people who are still there in the organization. If you don't care about others in general, then it won't affect you.

a reply to: th3dudeabides

I think that this may apply to family abuse, but I don't think that it applies to mind-control groups. One way that I know that it doesn't apply, at least to Witnesses, is that the rules are regularly rehashed and regurgitated. But I guess that you are right in the sense that they might not be seen as rules in the strictest sense. I guess that they are seen as "loving provisions by Jehovah." Yeah, so on deep reflection that dynamic does hold true to JWs.

So brazenalderpadrescorpio, what is it exactly you're looking for here? A place to express doubts about the JW belief system, your personal doubts or just talk about what goes on within the confines of the Kingdom Hall? ATS can certainly be a sounding board, but I'm just getting where you're going with all this?

a reply to: brazenalderpadrescorpio

I don't understand what you are saying.
Jehovah Witnesses are a newer CULT...how is it related to gnostics?

I don't care for the group...at all. It's all about control.

What's up with your avatar?...I don't understand that either.

Fritz makes this crap up...to go with the few real facts.

Funny how Fritz "knows" all about mind control...yet Dr. Acquino doesn't and can't relate to anything that mr. Springmeyer says.

Why are you part of a group that shuns you?

a reply to: supermanning

Wow, I never heard ANY of that anywhere else before. Seriously Manning, thanks for going into such detail. I myself am an ex-Roman Catholic (the day I moved out of my parents was the last time I went to a physical Church), and so didn't know a lot about the JW, aside from all of the mongering b.s. that I was taught about how bad/wrong every other religion in the world was in comparison to RC. I agree with you 100%, and will dare to take what you said in the last sentence of your post a step further.

I feel Religion as a whole is, in its very nature, ignorant. Religion is an organized structure of beliefs. It is NOT spirituality, or even morality for that matter. To believe in something is one thing, but to believe that YOUR belief is in someway either the best/only/better path then others because XYZ, is naive. If I live my life in a just, loving, and considerate fashion, I'm pretty sure regardless of which book you're reading, I won't be considered damned to hell. And if that's not enough...then I guess I'll cya guys in the inferno, lol.

a reply to: surfinguru

I was pretty much just getting it all of my chest. I'm not trying to get anything out of this.

a reply to: AFewGoodWomen

1) I don't think it has to do with Gnosticism. It's a belief that he has that I don't agree with.

2) My avatar is a photograph that an artist made. I just think it's artsy in a weird way. Artsy in a weird way describes my personality.

3) My plan is to get as far away from this group as soon as possible. The timeline seems to get complicated for that, however. For example, it just got complicated today as a result of something that happened yesterday.

ETA: That photograph is not a picture of me by the way. The subject appears to be much shorter than I am. And also older.

a reply to: brazenalderpadrescorpio

he looks like Little Finger from Game of Thrones.

a reply to: AFewGoodWomen

I don't watch Game of Thrones, so I have no idea who you're talking about. I don't have HBO.

originally posted by: brazenalderpadrescorpio
Have you experienced "glitches" and hypocrisy in formal religions?

Religion and reality are often at odds, particularly when it comes to presenting guidelines for people. People are flawed creatures. We're animals that live in a real world that we have to deal with all the time. Religion presents a kind of hypothetically optimized world that runs into conflict with the real world.

For the most part, religions try to guide people toward being a better person, which is good. But we're all animals at the core, and we're capable of thinking for ourselves, depending on our own experiences. Religion isn't really set up to reasonably deal with that other than with clumsy punishments and sanctions. At some point, if you can't reconcile the two things, you may have to let the religion go and just try to be a good person on your own, the best you can figure out how.

a reply to: brazenalderpadrescorpio

Hey, no problem! Hope my question wasn't taken negatively, just wondering where you're going. Good luck in your journey and I hope you find some happiness and peace of mind. Just remember that there are many, many good, accepting people beyond the confines of the "Kingdom Hall."

a reply to: Blue Shift

What I hate about religions is that a lot of times, they are cookie-cutter templates on how to connect with some type of spirituality. I think that I've learned through all my excursions into religion to, in a smart way, pick and choose the elements that you like, and adapt them to fit your needs. I think that the best thing you can do is strip a religion of all its dogma to let it help you.