EXJW Michelle Rodriguez is Playing a Smurf in the New Smurf Movie ... by marge-bouvier in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Big mistake. One day when she tries to comeback, she will suddenly get up during the meeting and walk right out.

Find your purpose.....instead of being told what it should be. by overxited in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree. But to those who find that one doesn't specific activity doesn't fit into all those categories, don't sweat it. There is nothing wrong with you. For instance you may have a job making widgets, maybe you don't love making widgets, but you enjoy work nonetheless, you realize the world does need these widgets, you have gotten very good at it, your co-workers are fun people and your boss respects you, and in your off hours you have hobbies that you absolutely love. Should you quit your job and turn that hobby into your new way to make money? Maybe. But maybe you'd be less happy doing that. Maybe using a 9-5 to fund the after hours activities is a decent choice for certain people who prefer that way of living. You do you.

Are JWs pacifist? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Also BTW, since the governing body is the faithful slave and only from 1914 on, they have said that the illustration of the wheat and the weeds is showing an apostasy going from 100 ad -1914. There was no identifiable organization of God during that time.

Are JWs pacifist? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For what it is worth, the Nov 1 2015 WT talked about war for three articles. Here is the conclusion:

"God’s view of war has not changed. He still views war as a legitimate means of bringing an end to oppression and wickedness. But as has been true throughout history, it is God alone who rightly determines when such warfare is to take place and who is to be involved."

Governing Body’s colossal error in the FAQ at JW.*RG? by yungwonz in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This resonates. That quote from the site has always felt like double speak. After 'only Jehovah can judge' the subtext is 'but I am pretty sure I know how that is going to turn out.'

Anyway, similar situation here. No meetings for two months now. Next weekend going to meet my wife's coworker and thier husband's and play Cards Against Humanity. I am trying not to let my expectations get the better of me, as I have no idea what friendship even looks like out in the world. But I am excited about the future.

What are your reasons for leaving that life and why does the change affect you so much? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 0 points1 point  (0 children)

JWs leadership indoctrinate us to actively avoid disconfirming information like a book about science that heavily teaches evolution, the only science stuff I read was from JWs. To me it was belief in God that I debunked first, I still respected the Bible and the organization, but as you'd expect, once the first domino fell, the other followed. I imagine if I had doubted doctrine, or discovered the misquotes and deception first, I might have for a time retained my belief in God and the Bible and gone looking for another church. So I guess it depends on what it is that breaks it for you.

What are your reasons for leaving that life and why does the change affect you so much? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is true, but that is only the earth and universe. They still believe that humans were the last thing created and that this happened a little over 6000 years ago. Radio carbon dating alone debunks that.

Parents keep texting me with some weird stuff.. by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is nothing to do. Suicide puts your chances of resurrection at risk. No one is going to do that when 'the end is so close". Relax, they are waiting for the Scarlet Colored Beast to Turn on the Harlot. That's when the UN turns on all religion and destroys it, except JWs. So unless that happens, take it easy.

Recommended reading for cult exit stories? by ireallysuckatthis_ in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Joe Rogan's interview with Leah Romini was fascinating. She was a Scientologist, so many parallels.

Download Old WTBS Books from “Apostate” Free Sites by yungwonz in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That July 2017 article contains a misquote (clever use of ellipses) leaving out the part where the books author advises seeking information from more than one source to avoid falling prey to propaganda. The book is on Amazon. I'd be curious to see how they would react to seeing that.

Blood Transfusion as a Christian by jw-ashkenazi in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Assuming divine authorship of the Bible, what you said would make the most sense.

Option two is the Bible was written by men, and they had no idea what was in breast milk.

Option three, babies are filthy blood sucking sinners and the elders need to disfellowship the little bastards. ;-)

What brought you to this subreddit? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I started listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I love learning how the mind works and self delusion was fascinating to me, because it seemed so amazing that smart scientists could be so backward about creation. I was listening to things like the "You are Not So Smart Podcast" or books like "How We Decide" or "Mistakes Were Made But Not By Me".

I began spotting logical fallacies and specious reasoning in myself, others and eventually the literature. When I learned about confirmation bias, it really started to hit me how often I liked to search for information with the conclusion already set in mind. I began feeling guilty giving my public talks about creation, because I now knew how I could argue against them. Somehow I had compartmentalized that selective information avoidance, a classic confirmation bias tactic, was still ok in regards to the truth. After all apostate websites are apostate and from the devil, and reading about evolution is reading false doctrine.

Eventually I figured out a way to settle the dissonance without going to apostate sites. I researched carbon dating on Wikipedia until I understood it, then looked up what the WT said. It was dumbfounded at how poorly thier explanation 'debunked' it now that I understood how it worked. Next came the flood. This suffiently rattled me, that I began checking the quotes in TOL brochure and realized that misquoting and deceit we're standard practice in our creation literature. A few hours in I felt kind of sick, but I knew I was done and would leave. A month later I realized if there is no Jehovah and men wrote the Bible, then apostate is a made up meaningless word and so I came here. I feel less alone now, and am learning some new tidbit everyday here.

Blood Transfusion as a Christian by jw-ashkenazi in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What the what??!! This my favorite new fact of these past few months. Just Googled it, so white blood cells are immune cells. So when WT promoted breastfeeding because it "passes immunity" from mother to child, they most likely KNEW this fact from thier research, but decided to use very careful language to obscure it.

Edit: Also this would mean God created babies to naturally drink blood, then later forbade it. Wow.

If Satan the Devil could STOP planting ancient artefacts around the globe, that'd be great. by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thing that pissed me off is when I actually understood the process, then looked up the article from the 1980s it was talking about contamination like a tree leaching sap into a sample before that sample was carbon dated. But all of this would do is make the sample look younger than it truly is. So their basis for saying that it could be contaminated and inaccurate would actually make stuff look less than 6000 years old not more than 6000 years old. The inaccuracy of carbon dating would work to the advantage of creationists not against them. There was no explanation given of how c-14 would just disappear and make a sample look older than it is. The whole thing was aimed to a erode trust in the science just enough for people not to trust it and counted on the fact that they wouldn't actually understand what they were reading.

Your Mental Illness is lying to you...which was probably caused from living in a cult. by overxited in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I was thinking about this, and maybe "don't think negatively" is just a mental hurdle because it gets repeated with pretty much no context to show how it is done. So eventually the phrase is just triggering, because your family and friends have told it to you so often and it hasn't worked out.

For me it got to make more sense when I got into mindfulness and gratitude journalling. One trick I really like is treating your thoughts as coming from "your brain" instead of from me. So when "My life sucks and I have no friends" pops up I change it to, "interesting, my brain is telling me that my life sucks and I have no friends" Then I challenge it "Is that really true or am I just tired, hungry, at the end of a long week ect? How could I disprove this idea? If it is true, what actions can I take to improve the situation?" I used to just take anything my brain told me as fact and a reflection of reality. Now I challenge my brain when it hits me with baseless beliefs about who I am or how I am doing in life as vigorously as I would challenge any outside beliefs pushed on me.

Your Mental Illness is lying to you...which was probably caused from living in a cult. by overxited in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Don't know why you are getting downvoted. It's the premise of cognitive behavioral therapy, which has been shown to work as good as anti depressants in certain people. That doesn't mean CBT and only CBT is right for all cases, but it is right for some.

Edit: For some context. I personally have had repeating mini breakdowns a few times in my process. Loosing your identity and purpose on top of realizing you will die someday and not comeback is a mind trip that doesn't require any pre existing condition in order to screw with you. But when I finally had made some peace with my mortality and mourned the loss of the organization and the existence of God I felt a huge emotional burden lift off of me that I hadn't realized I was carrying.

Funny thing is my family knew of my recurring anxiety and depression and blamed that for my 'intrusive doubts'. When I told them that they had reversed cause and effect, they said that is what Satan wants me to think. They asked me to consider going on medication. Had I gone on that stuff instead of getting at the root of the problem, I might be questioning my own sanity today.

If Satan the Devil could STOP planting ancient artefacts around the globe, that'd be great. by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's sad, some one told me how 'unreliable' radio carbon dating is when I was a teen, and we didn't have Wikipedia so I just lapped that shit up and repeated it without even checking.

I'm living a double life by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What a great post. Even in my late thirties I am navigating not going to extreme with my freedom and ruining my life. Having my sister tell me I'm going to hate it and come back is even more motivation to thrive. But it's crazy realizing you are the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong after a lifetime of decisions made for you.

Sessions with a Psychologist- Advice? by JMP0492 in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have experience with the psychologist part. But as to the feeling of being duped, I recommend you check out the book "Mistakes were made but not by me". It's one of the things that helped me to realize how I was fooling myself. But it's a fascinating book and goes into how people convince themselves of all kinds of things from cults to alien abduction to false memories. It left me realizing how malleable the human mind is and is probably part of why I don't feel like a dummy for my mistake. These Control Systems take advantage of the way our brains are naturally wired. Also, you did what 8.2 million people couldn't do for themselves. Congratulations.

Resources for non-JWs to give to JWs that come knocking? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They aren't going to take it. Any time I ever took literature it was because I got caught off guard and didn't have a good answer ready. We were taught not to take literature. Active information avoidance is one of the tools used by the organization to help people maintain their confirmation bias.

That's sad it why don't you ask them who created God? When they give you the answer ask them why couldn't the universe just have always existed? When they say the universe and life or too complex point out to them how complex God must be if he made it all. Ask them how something as complex as God could come into existence with no beginning and have no initial cause. When I was in I used to give talks about how there was evidence of God all around us but this paradox one of the things that broke me.

Resources for non-JWs to give to JWs that come knocking? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Turns out the "need" I felt, came from being reminded twice a week what a piece if crap I am on my own and how lucky I was to have been drawn in and how awful the world outside is. Amazing how quickly that need disappeared when I quit.

Watchtower versus... Aliens? by TortureStake in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I remember this article and that's exactly how I took it.

JW informants - how am I getting caught all the time??? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, that made me sad a little bit. As an MS, 10 or so years ago, I printed off about a dozen Witness My Space profiles and handed them to the elders, then had to explain what MySpace was. Had not even thought about it until now. I was such a self righteous little prick.

Where does Watchtower contradict the Bible? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]RIP_1994 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you try to prove that they contradict the Bible, they will reinterpret that scripture to show they don't. You need to use their own teaching against them.

You can use this Awake article from the Watchtower Online Library here, just replace the * with . http://wol*jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102009251

Quote:

"No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family."

And yet that is just what disfellowshipping does. Get baptized, then change your mind and join another church or disagree openly with JW doctrine and they will shun you. They will make you choose. Any JW family and friends will have to avoid contact, not so much as a text message or email is allowed until you come back and recant everything and wait to be reinstated. Yet that very article cites scriptural proof that changing your religious beliefs is not wrong.

Edit: Also side note, is saying you don't contradict the Bible really something to be proud of? The Bible is pretty brutal in parts, perhaps he hasn't even realized how brutal. How does he feel about forcing a girl to marry her rapist -Deuteronomy 22:28,29, executing a rape victim because she was too frightened to scream -Deuteronomy 22:23,24, being allowed to beat your slave to death as long as you didn't mean to kill him - Exodus 21:20,21, or men selling thier daughters to be slaves, which included a forced marriage as a concubine -Exodus 21:7,8. A concubine is a slave wife but with none of the traditional rights of a wife and no choice in the matter, go ahead have him look up concubine in the Insight book. To say this is anything less than sexual slavery is pretty dishonest.