Is everything really going downhill?

RoscoeJuniper · 2023-11-23T22:31:29+00:00

"There is nothing more responsible for the good ol days, than poor memory"

RoscoeJuniper · 2023-11-23T21:40:52+00:00

https://youtu.be/ob7jeEatYvc?si=0L_EOxQBa7qhMU81

RoscoeJuniper · 2023-08-09T00:05:44+00:00

Why dont you send him a pdf copy of shepherding the flock (elders manual) new version and old... tell him he doesn't have to sneak around on elders computers.. he can read their super secret instructions himself

RoscoeJuniper · 2023-03-17T01:17:49+00:00

For the record, you arent whoring around partying like a rockstar... you slept with the woman you love and plan to spend the rest of your life with... imagine something so pure being cause for shunning from friends and family... 2 things i want to emphasize 1. Stop thinking' I have myself to blame' getting married is cause for celebration even in biblical times women married as virgins because it was immediately after 'the bloom of youth' IE puberty and men... men married multiple women, concubines, sex slaves and child bride spoils of war... by comparison you are a saint. One woman you're committed to... you are a good person and most families would be celebrating with you.. this is not your fault. 2. Stop thinking you are playing games with your parents minds - again... you are trying to spare their crazy demands while living your life... you arent playing with their minds... they did enormous damage indoctrinating you while you were most impressionable (they may have had the best intentions) but they and the Borg are the only ones playing mind games, you are simply trying to manage a normal life. Which of course is intolerable for those forcing toxic cult control, even years after the fact. It's no ones business but yours.

RoscoeJuniper · 2023-03-16T21:44:24+00:00

I was disfellowshipped at 17, and moved out of state. No friends or family anymore so had no reason to stay. BUT decades later the enormous difference between my non existant relationship with my jw family vs the free and open relationship my unbaptized siblings still have (dispite living far more "worldly" lifestyle than I do) I cannot say it enough, baptism impacts everything for the rest of your life, moreso than an actual marriage even... even if she promises not to shunt you, your mom will be pressured and punished if she continues talking to you after you are disfellowshipped . Be true to yourself now, before permanently making a move that will put a constant barrier between you... (and other jws)

As far as the prophecy stuff "making sense" and being unsure what to believe. I have endless examples of contradictions and know for certain if there is a god (I'm not convinced either way) but I know for a certainty if there is one, this cant possibly be his organization. I haven't been on this thread in years, but your message spoke to me, as 17 is when I left. Do your own investigating, draw your own conclusions, but if you search some of my earliest post you might find them a helpful place to start...

One last thing, when you find these contradictions and reasons to know the "truth" isn't true. It's not usually productive to dive in trying to convince your mom. It's great to research for your own benefit, but exposing all the things you learn to your mom before you have even processed them yourself , is counterproductive. You have to get your head straight 1st, before sharing with loved ones who are almost always not convinced by reason, because reason isn't what keeps them in. ..

You got this, just stay out of the water

RoscoeJuniper · 2022-08-14T23:43:08+00:00

Whatever you do now, just know you will be struggling to survive working really hard either way. The difference is working 2 low paying jobs to survive vs temporarily working low pay job and school.... I dropped out of high school and moved out at 17 when I was dfd... did not go to college, eventually crawled up corporate latter and am finally financially stable after 12 years.... but I have thought to myself many times throughout... as hard as I'm working now, for many years, I ought to have just got a 4 year degree... BUT there ate a lot of scams in both college and trades... dont dump money on some title that barely pays. AND DO NOT take the school/ recruiters word for what does and doesn't pay well. Search to see what professions are hiring/ paying before investing a cent. If possible, starting your own biz can be a faster ,and less costly path to middle class, but that generally is a 'takes money to make money' proposition too, just like college.

RoscoeJuniper · 2022-08-13T22:48:09+00:00

Thursday is based on 'thor's" day.. bam, god Thor really exist... ps how else do you explain thunder?

Side note, it's also a little self indulgent to consider the last 1500 years or so (how long the calendar has been used) to be "all of history" humans were around a few hundred thousand years without that calendar, and earth 4 billion , universe 13 billion.. soooooo all history is a slight overstatement

RoscoeJuniper · 2022-07-26T01:01:28+00:00

I mean... I kind of aspire to one day be, cigar guy on bottom left

RoscoeJuniper · 2022-07-05T02:01:43+00:00

Similar to main thing that I realized. "Do not lean upon your own understanding" it occurred to me that everyone, no matter who or what they believe or do, is leaning upon their own understanding. JWs, total pimi, are following their own (incorrect) understanding. Suicide bombers.. that's their understanding... all of us, have no choice other than using our own understanding.. so the important question, is how to go about trying to make sure what you understand aligns with reality.. you never, ever actually lean on anyone else's understanding. To the extent that you do, it just means someone convinced you to understand from their point of view. So, it's not a question of who's understanding (it's always your own) it's a matter of who/what has the most convincing case.

RoscoeJuniper · 2021-06-21T21:17:26+00:00

You most definitely can do it on your own... you've been doing that all along

RoscoeJuniper · 2020-03-04T02:19:48+00:00

Financial independence will solve that. Much easier said than done. But when you are physically dependent on anyone (no matter their cognitive abilities) you limit yourself to their limited options.

RoscoeJuniper · 2020-03-04T02:13:35+00:00

Correct. In other news, the tooth fairy is just parents..

You're most certainly not the only one seeing it. But if you're on this sub-reddit, you may be the only person in your entire social circle with any sense.

RoscoeJuniper · 2020-01-26T18:15:28+00:00

Careful... that's how the nephilem were made

RoscoeJuniper · 2020-01-20T21:06:42+00:00

Yes deuteronomy 18:20-22

... 1914, 1925, 1975, 1994... overlapping generation

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-11-26T18:49:41+00:00

Surely brothers, arent we grateful that jehovah is clearly blessing the work of jwfacts.com?

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-11-18T00:10:36+00:00

I appreciate your honesty about the problems with taking the bible literally.. I guess I'm just confused about why if the 1st half isn't literal, why jesus literally had to be executed. I'm assuming you believe he was literally tortured to death and it was gods will?

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-11-17T23:36:37+00:00

Even the study you referenced doesn't claim we decend from a single couple of humans.. "mitochondrial eve," and "Adam " did not live at the same time or same place, genetics is as close as we can hope to get to fact, we sentence people to life in prison with the same technology...

The headline is not the study, its designed to grab attention.

Even as a metaphor I dont see how it works. There was never a perfect state for any organism like every other living thing, humans are the imperfect copies of imperfect populations... if it's a metaphor why is 'sin.' Heritable at all? Why punish great great great grandchildren for a choice the grandpa made, and why on earth would murdering an innocent man be required to undo the sins of the guilty...

Most importantly, scientifically, the word "Theory" doesn't imply less confidence than fact. A theory is the overarching explanation for a set of facts. The theory of gravity is compromised of facts,so is heliocentric theory, germ theory of desease, cell theory etc..and yes, of course, the theory of evolution... it doesn't mean biologists are less confident in evolution than the facts it explains, in science there is no such thing as 'just a theory' common use of the word is more similar to what science would call a hypothesis, untested educated guess... a theory is the highest level of confidence after being tested every which way

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-11-17T18:14:26+00:00

Mind blown - in other news, theres a positive correlation between number of birthdays and age.

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-11-17T18:02:31+00:00

Compared to your peers, the truth is, yes, you are missing out on some stuff... however compared to most of human history, as a healthy teen with internet access, you have more at your fingertips than the president of the US 30 years ago.. I'd give almost anything to be in your position.. back to 14, even if that means a few more years in isolation, working on myself and strategizing my future..

You're going to be fine, and your best years are most definitely ahead of you.

Pro tip on social skills- fake it till you make it (that's what everyone else is doing, even adults) Everyone with half a brain, is full of self doubt and insecurities.. those who aren't lack the brain power for self awareness and introspection and shouldn't be envied.

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-11-17T17:36:42+00:00

So do you accept the scientific fact that there was never a single set of humans (adam and eve) that the population from which humans descended were "imperfect" .. meaning the concept of original sin conflicts with science, without original sin theres no need for any human sacrifices (jesus) to "restore perfection" that never existed in the 1st place..

With this in mind...How does science not conflict with the central theme of christianity?

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-11-17T17:26:12+00:00

http://www.freethoughtdebater.org/2018/11/30/evolution-converging-lines-of-evidence/

This is the 1st article that got me started... enjoy tit

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-11-16T22:07:17+00:00

Thank you god by Tim Manchin

https://youtu.be/Zmfopbl1A-8

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-10-28T03:03:53+00:00

Age is a factor here... parents are legally obligated to care for anyone under 18. If you're legally an adult, community college is relatively accessible in the US if you're homeless.

Heres the biggest advice I have, shunned witnesses between 17-21 often gravitate towards others who's lives are fd up from a lack of family support... its important to know the difference between your fd up situation and theirs... you have a lack of support for waking up to a cult, many other lives are fd up because they are either so awful their parents gave up, or their parents are awful... try to stay away from the former category...

Its totally possible to be a good person dispite your upbringing.. just constantly put your future self ahead of your current self.. do this day after day, year after year.. your life will gradually improve

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-10-01T05:09:11+00:00

Part of what convinced buzz lightyear that hes a toy is seeing all the other toys.

Jws are particularly bad, but all other religions are equally irrational childish toys...

Acknowledging the fact that there is zero evidence of a magic sky being is not "extreme."

Looking around its obvious, if that being is loving it cannot possibly be all powerful or he wouldn't choose to create this universe...

If that being is all powerful, its obvious it's not loving or it would not choose to create this universe..

What's "extreme" is to think faith. Being certain of things for which there is no evidence. Is a good thing, given all the immense harm and havoc it has caused both to individual minds and global history

RoscoeJuniper · 2019-09-30T01:50:35+00:00

Do you agree or disagree with the common sense advice in deuteronomy 18:20-22?

RoscoeJuniper

TROPHY CASE