the ask a unbiased ex-Jehovah's witness anything Thread

Hey with this thread i'm gonna reveal a part of myself that has been closed to public ears since my "childhood" .

From birth until my 13/14th year i was the one and only child of 2 JHW's up here in Belgium. They did the whole thing like they were supposed to do and never gave me any present for X-mas, New Year, Birthday, Easter. Somethimes my mom would pass me a present around my birthday so that wasn't that bad after all. We went to the Kingdom Hall for 4-5 hours week added with some Bible studies every week in a fellow JHW's house .
Also twice a years there where those massive gatherings of JHW's of the whole country that went on for like a whole weekend.

So now u know something about how our JHW's system worked. now i'm gonna tell u more on how i felt about it.

For me it wasn't that bad i have a family who's heavy into that JHW's stuff so i felt more accepted then some members. The lame thing as a kid are those long boring hours talking about the bible.(but they sure give me a huge advantage when religious discussion come to rise) Also since birth not a single soul gave me anything for all the common Holidays or birthdays. Sometimes this was very harsh. When u go to school and all the other kids can bring in a toy they got from santa that year, u feel excluded.... But still here i sit at my computer writing a tread about it so i guess it wasn't that bad after all.

I can't come up with anything to tell u guys . butt this is the ppoint of my thread. I'm an non-believer now with open mind nd interrest in the origin of man nd religion . So anything u guys want to ask me just fire it up ...

Would you say that members of the religion are in it because of an honest connection with god or are they in it because they are afraid of the consequences of turning their back on "the truth"?

I have known a few of them in my day and in my opinion, they are almost always driven by fear and most seem to show zero connection with "god".

Just a question that has bugged me since childhood.
Why doesn't Jehovahs Witnesses allow blood transfusions?
Especially as ALL religeons say about loving your family and trying to not let any harm come to them.
Surely if you are a blood match, either parent or sibling can save the others life by donating blood , surely thats like sharing?
Sharing ones love , ones life - - not frowned upon
Giving blood - - - is frowned upon.

Why is that?

And thanks for being honest and actually standing up for your beliefs on here and coming out with it straight away by not jumping down anyones throats about being a Jehovahs witnesses and actually trying to 'enlighten' everyone else ( like me) in ignorance about your religeon.

What was your food stock preparation like and have you chosen to continue with it?

[edit]
Also I knew some JW's and apart from being slightly superior towards me (very slightly) they were some of the most thoughtful and honest people I knew, is this usually for JWs?

and..

Do you plan to take up the commercialist crapfest that is Christmas

and....

Do you still believe in an "end time"

[edit on 27/1/2009 by spitefulgod]

Originally posted by spitefulgod
What was your food stock preparation like and have you chosen to continue with it?

I could be wrong here, but I thought that was a Mormon thing. I didn't think that JW's had the same stockpiling philosophy.

reply to post by Karlhungis


lol, how ignorant of me... oh well.

Originally posted by DataWraith
Just a question that has bugged me since childhood.
Why doesn't Jehovahs Witnesses allow blood transfusions?

because blood is sacred to god.

lev 17:# [10] And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
[11] For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
[12] Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
[13] And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
[14] For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

yes, eating blood is slightly different than transfusing blood. however the principle is to not take in another´s blood whether human or animal. (short answer)

this topic has caused alot of controversy among people, however because of JW refusal to transfuse, bloodless options and procedures have been refined, and actually have been found to be better than blood treatments. bloodless procedures are in alot of ways better because they eliminate many complications associated with blood transfusions.

Thank you for clearing it up for me ( sort of).
With religeous text quoting.
So ( getting my English Pagan head round the textual meanings).

Means that the life of the flesh is in the blood ( true - without the blood there is no life)
And that God created said life - And therein the Blood.

Surely God would state that in creating life would like life to keep living.
So I'm thinking that God would NOT approve of EATING blood ( Vampirism of sorts) but in the name of continuing life that he created and loved would approve of pouring blood of a loving family member or entity ( human loving enough to want to share their life's blood) to ensure life continues?

Sorry but I'm still confused .. but I thank you for the answer.


And I appreciate that other blood procedures that do exist, would and could be utilised.... and SHOULD be utilised by anyone, surely the rights of the individual take precendence over ones understanding of their religeon?
If I were a Jehovahs witness and My understanding is that God made me live and loves me . I would want to live to show at least my appreciation and love to God by trying to live longer even if it goes against what is written in religeous texts?

MAN o MAN , thats why I don't or never really WILL understand religeons.
I don't sometimes understand Paganism , just that it has certain aspects that agree with my personality , same as Bhuddism at times .

Dunno is PagoBhuddism a religeon yet?

Originally posted by DataWraith
If I were a Jehovahs witness and My understanding is that God made me live and loves me . I would want to live to show at least my appreciation and love to God by trying to live longer even if it goes against what is written in religeous texts?

i understand what you are saying, but there are certain laws that are not flexible.

for example.

david and his men were hungry, so they entered the temple and ate of the show bread. god allowed it because it was an extenuating circumstance. however the issue would not have been the same if they stole bread from someone. (stealing is NEVER allowed)

remember that uziah saw the ark tip alittle. the command was not to touch it, but he still did. it was a rule that couldnt be bent.

-------------------------

the other thing is that the bible has a theme of restoration. it talks about putting hope in the future. it talks about healing and resurrection. everything that is bad about your life, god promises he can undo. even death.

that being said, which takes priority? preserving an imperfect life now? or preserving the hope of eternal perfect life in the future?

you might not agree with them, but thats what they believe.

i think its admirable that they can keep their faith even in extreme circumstances

reply to post by Karlhungis
As i look at the whole thing i remember. i hve to state that most of them are there to worschip god. but as it comes to mind that when i left the JHW's in my "teens" i noticed i did not have the widespread friends like you guys have. Al the friends i had before i left the community were jhw's.

So if u mean that ppl stay into the JHW's community to keep their only friends they have, i would say ur right stating that alot of them en certainly not all stay in there to keep their closest friend. Cause when you decide to leave them. Usually the events that makes you leave is being decommunicated (i hope its a fair transelation for u guys). For me that meant not being able to talk to alot of ppl who were close to me.(even my first GF :-( )

Hope this does it mate.... i gave it my best shot




And to the rest of u guys and gals ill be right back i got some important stuff to finish and then ill get into ur questions.

reply to post by Spartannic


I've always wondered what JW's thought about the original translators of the NWT [New World Translation] admitting that they didn't know Greek or Hebrew when they translated their Bible. But, I would think that this wouldn't affect the JW's in Belgium much since, they speak German or French there. Are their Jehovah's Witness specific translations in other languages?

Something else I've wondered is, why don't the authors of the articles in the Witness literature [Awake! and The Watchtower] don't put their names.

What do the JW's feel about their leaders making predictions but those events not happening?

Why do the witnesses believe that the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation are believers, when in Revelation it is specifically said that it's "12,000 sealed from each of the tribes of Israel"?

Sorry for asking more than one question! I am a Christian, and within the last year, I started studying Mormons and JW's--to gadge better what they believe, so I wasn't like some that just make stuff up-- and those are some of the things that I was never was able to find answers to in regards to the JW's

I believe that if someone believes it is wrong, it is wrong for him.

If another believes it is ok, it is ok for him. I can not remember which book that was in the bible. As long as all things are done to the glory of God.

Ama

thx to miriam for clearing the whole blood issue up for me, cause thats about the only thing i'm kinda biased about. Il make it clear for those who don't get it :

If my parents who are both JHW's would get in any situation where the blood thing would get to mentioned. i would decidete that my parents got donor blood(at the end of my post i thought of it an i would try to respect their choice and give some alternativess like salt-solutions or plasma ). M point is that ; if there is a god somewhere and he loves us al like he claimes he does in the holy scripture(with is the same for almost 90% of the scriptures related to faith)how can he could make a choice to let anyone (from any faith) to suffer the faith of ppl who have AIDS,cancer and all the stuff we don't want in this world ..

reply to post by octotom

u make good point here mate , but .....

to answer the 144000 question. IMHO they don't have a clue what they are talking about . Every religion on the globe seems to be telling the same story over and over again . Maybe they tell stuff in a diff context but u find the stuff backl everywhere.(things like flood of noah, plagues nd tons of other stuff.)i ain't the true die-hard JHW's spy u al wish for, but i can give u anything who get into to my feeble mind without giving u, The beloved FELLOW members of ATS any biased info around them.

Just a small thing i would like to mention
My A button got (same thing u guys Q button got fked up in a recent fire in my home ....)

reply to post by octotom

i can't answer that question right now but i promise ill ask them the next time a get the chance to do so friend. I made a tread claiming i would answer every question presented to me and i intend to keep my word on it.

Originally posted by octotom
I've always wondered what JW's thought about the original translators of the NWT [New World Translation] admitting that they didn't know Greek or Hebrew when they translated their Bible.

one can only guess who the translators were. the closest anyone can get to that information is an ex JW apostate who named who headed the committee.

1. its sheer speculation. of course anit-JW websites dont present it that way.

2. ok, you possibly have the names of the people who headed the committee. so what? you still dont know who actually did the translating. how can you possibly smash the credentials of someone when you have absolutely no idea who he is?

Something else I've wondered is, why don't the authors of the articles in the Witness literature [Awake! and The Watchtower] don't put their names.

should they?

What do the JW's feel about their leaders making predictions but those events not happening?

prov 4:[18] But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

imperfect servants of god can make mistakes. they admit it, learn from it and move on.

however im sure you are referring to the 1975 ¨thing¨. i heard about that and searched the indexes for watchtowers and awakes that talk about 1975. there was one that speculated that 1975 was the end of the 6000 year period and it stated that something MIGHT happen in the near future.

sounds like a speculation more so than a prediction

Why do the witnesses believe that the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation are believers, when in Revelation it is specifically said that it's "12,000 sealed from each of the tribes of Israel"?

2 reasons.

1. the list of tribes in revelation doesnt match the actual tribes of isreal, so how can it be literal?

2. the first century christians also knew that the tribes were figurative. james 1:1 says ¨to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.¨ he wasnt ONLY addressing jews, but rather congregations that likely included gentiles.

When I was a child I lived in the Netherlands. We had a group of JHW come to the door one day doing their usual thing. Once they learned we were not from the Netherlands they lost interest and left. Happen to know why they only wanted the Dutch rather than a foreigner?

Originally posted by Tentickles
When I was a child I lived in the Netherlands. We had a group of JHW come to the door one day doing their usual thing. Once they learned we were not from the Netherlands they lost interest and left. Happen to know why they only wanted the Dutch rather than a foreigner?

technically you would be in the foreign territory so they would given to the congregation that deals with your language specifically.

for example, sevilla has an english congregation that specifically searches for people who speak english natively. those in the spanish congregations leave the english for them.

reply to post by miriam0566


Wow! That explains why the Korean Jehovah's Witnesses in my neighborhood always leave when I answer the door. Thanks

I always thought maybe they just didn't have an English Watchtower on them, but it seemed kind of strange not to bring them in a neighborhood that's probably 30% white/English-speaking, 30% Asian, and 30% Spanish-speaking.

Originally posted by americandingbat
reply to post by miriam0566

 

Wow! That explains why the Korean Jehovah's Witnesses in my neighborhood always leave when I answer the door. Thanks

I always thought maybe they just didn't have an English Watchtower on them, but it seemed kind of strange not to bring them in a neighborhood that's probably 30% white/English-speaking, 30% Asian, and 30% Spanish-speaking.

it may be awhile too before the english congregation stops by.

i live in seville, im associated with a spanish congregation (im not baptised), but they finish their entire territory like every month or 2 (the territory is really small because there are alot of congregations.) but the english rarely finish. they have the entire province of seville, which can take you about 4 hours to drive across. i went with them one time to do a village outside the city of seville, it was like and hour drive to do 5 or 6 doors. lol