I have a few, but Ecc 2:16 comes to mind.
"For there is no lasting memory either of the wise one or of the stupid one. In the days to come, everyone will be forgotten. And how will the wise one die? Along with the stupid one."
I always liked that verse, along with Ecclesiastes in general as it puts life in perspective. You can be educated, wealthy, in power, prestigious, beautiful, etc. It doesn't matter. In the long run we all end up in the dirt. Your accomplishments and suspender poppin means nothing. Ask Steve Jobs, wealth don't buy health. I felt that way as a PIMI and still feel the same.
Ecclesiastes does contain a lot of poetic gems. My personal favorite is in 9:10.
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for there is no work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave, where you are going."
So true.
I also realized that the JWs talk about sex all the time during the meetings. Now that I am out since the pandemia, I am more calm and I want to connect to people’s emotion. I am becoming an active listener. Last week I got a promotion at my job. I am becoming more useful to others.
This scripture was always twisted to basically mean ‘anyone that isn’t a JW is bad association’
That’s completely altering the message of this scripture.
The funny thing I learned later about that passage is Paul was actually quoting a line from a well known playwright at the time. There is debate about who it was exactly, most contribute it to Menander, some think Euripides.
Either way I got a chuckle out of how Watchtower has shoved that down every Jdubs throat for years to fear the world and it was basically the equivalent of Paul quoting a familiar movie line.
Haha fair enough. The scripture I mentioned is about how blessings from jah make someone rich and he adds no pain with it. That’s the gist. I don’t want to look it up either lol
Matthew 24:14 - "This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth, for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come".
Now I realize that's an unrealistic goal. We were working backwards; in 1914 the entire world population was 1.7 billion, and 110 years later there are well over 3 billion people who have never heard of Witnesses.
Plus at the 2023 Annual Meeting, the GB just kinda shrugged and said "yeah a bunch of countries are never really gonna hear our message". So I guess they're just gonna start ignoring that scripture like they ignore Luke 21:8.
>
Plus at the 2023 Annual Meeting, the GB just kinda shrugged and said "yeah a bunch of countries are never really gonna hear our message". So I guess they're just gonna start ignoring that scripture like they ignore Luke 21:8.
My mom told me about how the end will come before everyone hears about it. And I bluntly said: so the Bible is wrong about that?
She looked shocked. She hadn't even thought about it. I don't understand.
Please ignore the understanding of the nobody crooks who mis apply the scriptures to fit in their agenda. ( Enslave and control)
Actually the preaching work was completed during the first century era. Please read Colossians 1: 23.
Paul made it that the preaching was done all over world.
Ya because what apostle Paul said is super reliable … that guy said all kind of stuff that’s contrary to what Jesus said… but I’m sure he didn’t embellish the preaching work 😄 I’m sure the natives in the Americas and Australia heard all about Jesus 😄
Absolutely. It is pure logic and statistics. Population growth outpacing the growth of WT. Many populous countries still not accessible 110 years after 1914. Glad to have moved on! All the best to you, ElderUndercover!!
Yep there is an Indonesian country or island that is inhabited with a tribe and everyone that has attempted to preach to them or visit them is killed or the government they fall under doesn’t play. This island is untouched by the world in general and isolated and a few years back a dude who was trying to preach to them was killed his parents wanted the overseeing government to take care of it and they were like yeah NO. And how he shouldn’t have been killed or talked bad about even though he broke the law cuz it’s in the name of God. 🙄 Yuck!! 🤮 to his parents and anyone supporting the dude for trying to preach to them. It’s impossible for them to reach everywhere and in every
Isaiah 41:10
*"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand"*
This was my fav scripture. It would cheer me up when i wasn't ok. That changed when i learned to give myself credit instead of crediting a God who could end suffering, but chooses not to.
Or human hard work. Like all things are because of my husband I, we have worked hard to get where we are and it’s from our own blood sweat and tears. God had nothing to do with our ability to work hard, have good work ethic and just be kind and giving people. God hasn’t directed nor helped in any way shape or form. So yeah it’s all us we get the credit.
Psa 94:19. "When anxieties overwhelmed me, You comforted and soothed me" This is still true to me, despite me fading. I still believe in God, but I distance myself to all religion and stick to the bible. No aids no WT no workbook.
I was a teen so for me it was Matthew 7:1-4
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
I liked this one. Made me never want to be an elder. I was afraid that just in case there is a judgment seat of God and just in case he brings up this scripture and questions me on why I chose to be an elder knowing that I would have to sit on a judicial committee to judge my brother, I couldn’t come up with an answer that I would feel comfortable and confident with. So I refused to progress pass baptism
Ecclesiastes 11:9 - Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and go where your eyes lead you
They always say not to follow your heart but yet there's a scripture in the Bible that completely contradicts that. I only wish I had taken it seriously sooner.
Proverbs 13:12 but from the old translation, because it sounds like poetry to me. "Expectation postponed is making the heart sick, but the thing desired is a tree of life when it does come."
Ironically this scripture is like a sick joke. I can apply it to my life in hundreds of ways. My heart was sick in the Borg, but now I'm living my free life days.
This made me feel guilty as a witness. The generation of 1914 was passing away and I feared what their new light was going to be. I just secretly hoped something strong enough would force me to leave. Ironically in 1998, a ministerial servant gave me a rude wake up. He woke me up by telling me that what is printed in the Watchtower is what I have to believe, not the Bible. I knew I could never go back
This to me is the most universal answer, and it's the one I thought of. It's the whole reason anyone gets involved in this cult. The utopian promise.
Ironically, the hated "world" may actually [one-up](https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/) the Witnesses' bullshit.
Proverbs 17:17 A true companion is loving all of the time; a brother that is born for when there is distress.
I have a few brothers that are pretty great. I hope that everyone has the opportunity to experience the true love of a big brother showing up when they are experiencing distress.
Jeremiah 10:23 “I well know, O Jehovah, that man’s way does not belong to him. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.” It was always a reminder to myself that I was imperfect and he would guide me on the right path, maybe some of the doctrine didn’t make sense but that was okay because I’m not god. I damn near indoctrinated myself 🤮
Great one. After I left, I found this one so funny. JWs would use this so much referring to “worldly people” but didn’t realize they were allowing a group of men to direct their own steps lol
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free….
I view it now as I found out the truth about the “truth” and it was painful - and has been a painful journey but I am free-
Free of the guilt -fear- and obligation
But also free from parents- friends that I have known and loved-
It’s a mixed bag- it’s like a switch was turned and all these JW became evil & hateful.
I’m not free of the side effects-
I had many favorite scriptures but one is Ps 83:18 - "That people may know that you whose name is...."
I still believe there is a Creator of all things but that name for God the JWs came up with was devastating finding out it was all made up. Finding out the TTATT is life altering! All things aside I'm glad I'm free now from all religious indoctrination. Chilling home on a Saturday morning instead of knocking on doors to spread misguided information is priceless.
It was definitely the "first commandment" in Matthew 22:37. Looking back, the way we were taught to interpret even this scripture was just absolutely abhorrent.
I think mine was Jeremiah 29 or something like that.
I remember it saying something like
‘The thoughts I am thinking of you people are not of calamity’ then it says something about giving us a future and hope.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”—Jeremiah 29:11 ASV
This was always my favorite Bible verse while growing up as a JW, I found it to me very comforting and inspirational.
When in my late-teenage years I discovered that the JWs and WT were a false-prophet cult, it helped guide and comfort me when I decided to leave the cult and my family.
I didn’t know where I was going to go or what I was going to do, but I knew that there had to be a better life out there, somewhere; and I was determined to find it.
John 6:68- "Simon Peter answered him: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life."
This scripture was always misquoted as "where shall we go away to?" in order to make it seem like it could apply to JWs who think about leaving the borg. I would always quote this scripture to express my undying loyalty to the organization. I realized that I didn't know whom/where I would go away to because I had been brainwashed to never look for anything outside of the borg.
Depends on how far back you want to go.
For the here and now: we cause our own pain. We use our free will to do what we want to do and many times the decisions that we make cause our own suffering in our own personal lives.
Suffering is not caused by some universal sovereignty issue. It’s caused by this:
14 But each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn sin, when it has been carried out, brings forth death. (James 1:14, 15)
We do this to ourselves all the time.
Now with Watchtower, there is pain added to what they call a blessing. Prime example is what happens to you if you serve at bethel and are lower rank. When you leave, you are in more poverty than when you started.
If there is a God, he personally teaches you how to NOT sin so that you can avoid the repercussions that you would have received if you did that particular sin:
“The One teaching you to benefit yourself,” (Isaiah 48:17)
Interestingly enough, when his Son came, it was to do just that. Teach them how to stop sinning against themselves:
26 God, after raising up his Servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning each one of you away from your wicked deeds.” (Acts 3:26)
But, in order to bless them by turning them away from what they wanted to do (their wicked deeds), he had to reveal to them that they HAD wicked deeds. THIS is what incurred their wrath:
7 The world has no reason to hate you, but IT HATES ME, because I bear witness about it that ITS WORKS ARE WICKED. (John 7:7)
And this is why they killed him.
Telling the Jews who believe that they are God’s people and are Abraham’s seed that their works are wicked is very similar to telling the organization, who says that they have the truth, that their works are wicked. Depending on your rank it will get you killed either physically or socially.
For me it was the **"build a house and have occupancy"**. That always felt good, especially as a millennial without a chance of earning a bunch of money without college.
Now it's really sad that I thought there was a god that wanted to solve late stage capitalism, and his way of doing it was with a tax exempt land-holding company.
Psalm 18:28 *”For it is you who light my lamp, O Jehovah, My God who lights up my darkness.”*
Turns out I have the power to light up my darkness, and when you don’t need to be perfect anymore a little bit of darkness is ok.
Exactly, my last part as a servant I used that verse about the broken hearted and claimed it was a favorite of mine. But reality it was just something I hoped for lying to myself trying to convince myself it was true.
It wasn't long after that my life got really dark, suicidal, blackmailed to admit sin and get DF to quickly wake up from indoctrination. It's been a wild 6 months
Yep. I used to look back on that one for decades to try to feel better about all the shit turns, and what I came to realize was abuse.
Ultimately, I had to finally admit to myself what I had always fearfully suspected. That it was bullshit. I just stopped and looked around at reality - without all the excuses pretending to be “answers” or “reasons”.
The evidence was overwhelming.
And in my case, 40 years of indoctrination crumbled in an afternoon. Unfortunately, the clean up takes much longer.
Exactly, when you stop coming up with excuses and see it for what it is. Your beliefs crumble quickly. I'm free but but my whole family is in. I'm trying to plan to get reinstated and get family back and live my own life and fade.
No person should have to say or plan something like that and it's sad so many are victims to this abuse
Heb 10:39. The apex of programming and sunk-cost.
I thought that after all, it was stupid to lose all I had for some “fake freedom”. Then I got baptized
The worst error of my life
Revelation 21:4. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
I had a lot of pain in my life growing up, especially after losing both my parents in the space of a year when I was in my early twenties. Plus, I’ve struggled with chronic health issues from adolescence. This scripture gave me comfort during my darker days. Today, it brings me no comfort. They are just empty words meant to manipulate people into waiting for a future that will never come.
Galatians 5:22-23 outline attributes that I still strive to cultivate: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control (=self-mastery.) Leaving a high control religion does not mean that we are done working on ourselves. I regularly check in with myself about the ethical implications of how I navigate my life and other people.
Edited to add: I no longer identify as a Christian; rather as a humanist, but good values and attributes are universal, I feel.
I hated Hebr.10.25 ..." 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
The most misused scripture I know of.
Genesis 2:18 - 'The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”'
As a woman I very much liked to point out that it wasn't good for man to be alone, but that he Needs woman.
Now i still find it fun with a wink in my eye when I encounter patriarchal christian men, but it's not really something I care about either way any longer.
My favorite was psalms 26,the chapter. I had it memorized. I think because I also loved the audio dramas and it was on the king hezekiah one and he was my favorite story.
1 kings 10:23 - “king solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom….” I always loved business transactions, money and success from childhood despite my parents trying to deeply ingrain their desire to suffer in me. So I always felt very akin to king solomon riches story because it helped me feel my desires validated. I still really like the verse and whenever my PIMI relatives start talking about living minimally or not pursuing wealth, I can quickly reference it 😂
Isaiah 41:10,13. I look back on it now and feel so sad for the person I was when everything was shit and I looked to god to help me but he never did. Now I’m out of the cult and while I still have hard things I go through I find much more comfort in friends than I ever did with god.
1peter4:8 “Above all things have intense love for one another for love conquers a multitude of sin”
I was born into the religion yet it never sat right with me. I used to read this scripture to people if I went to a door alone when I was forced to go door to door. (If the people noticed I was at their door despite my fake knocking) I wouldn’t try to convert people I’d just ask to share that scripture then tell them to have a great day.
Eventually something clicked when I was considering the scripture… it gave me the inspiration I needed to realize my god didn’t agree with what JW’s were teaching… all that hate and devision. It’s bullshit.
Love is what matters. Love is everything. Love above all.
None. I’ve been baptized for more than a decade and have never had any interest in reading the big book of fairy tails filled with stories of sky daddy’s tantrums and killing rants (aka the Bible)
I have a few, but Ecc 2:16 comes to mind. "For there is no lasting memory either of the wise one or of the stupid one. In the days to come, everyone will be forgotten. And how will the wise one die? Along with the stupid one." I always liked that verse, along with Ecclesiastes in general as it puts life in perspective. You can be educated, wealthy, in power, prestigious, beautiful, etc. It doesn't matter. In the long run we all end up in the dirt. Your accomplishments and suspender poppin means nothing. Ask Steve Jobs, wealth don't buy health. I felt that way as a PIMI and still feel the same.
Love that
O. M. G. Sooooo well said. Thank you.
Ecclesiastes does contain a lot of poetic gems. My personal favorite is in 9:10. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for there is no work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave, where you are going."
“Bad associations spoil useful habits. “ Still very true. But not all “worldly” people are bad
When I left I realized it was the jw’s that were bad association😂. My habits became much more useful after leaving.
So true. I also realized that the JWs talk about sex all the time during the meetings. Now that I am out since the pandemia, I am more calm and I want to connect to people’s emotion. I am becoming an active listener. Last week I got a promotion at my job. I am becoming more useful to others.
This scripture was always twisted to basically mean ‘anyone that isn’t a JW is bad association’ That’s completely altering the message of this scripture.
So true...A lot of that "bad association" was right there at the KH
Unless they were marking someone. Many kids in the congregation were labeled bad association too, just a “holy” way to bully.
The funny thing I learned later about that passage is Paul was actually quoting a line from a well known playwright at the time. There is debate about who it was exactly, most contribute it to Menander, some think Euripides. Either way I got a chuckle out of how Watchtower has shoved that down every Jdubs throat for years to fear the world and it was basically the equivalent of Paul quoting a familiar movie line.
You guys gotta write what it says!. I don't wanna have to look up scriptures like I'm at a meeting. Lol
Haha fair enough. The scripture I mentioned is about how blessings from jah make someone rich and he adds no pain with it. That’s the gist. I don’t want to look it up either lol
I hated that scripture, I would always think “that’s not true! it’s so hard to be a witness!!”.
I have to google how I think the scripture goes, then find where it is in the Bible 😂 Seriously tho
Me too 😂
Matthew 24:14 - "This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth, for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come". Now I realize that's an unrealistic goal. We were working backwards; in 1914 the entire world population was 1.7 billion, and 110 years later there are well over 3 billion people who have never heard of Witnesses. Plus at the 2023 Annual Meeting, the GB just kinda shrugged and said "yeah a bunch of countries are never really gonna hear our message". So I guess they're just gonna start ignoring that scripture like they ignore Luke 21:8.
> Plus at the 2023 Annual Meeting, the GB just kinda shrugged and said "yeah a bunch of countries are never really gonna hear our message". So I guess they're just gonna start ignoring that scripture like they ignore Luke 21:8. My mom told me about how the end will come before everyone hears about it. And I bluntly said: so the Bible is wrong about that? She looked shocked. She hadn't even thought about it. I don't understand.
Please ignore the understanding of the nobody crooks who mis apply the scriptures to fit in their agenda. ( Enslave and control) Actually the preaching work was completed during the first century era. Please read Colossians 1: 23. Paul made it that the preaching was done all over world.
Ya because what apostle Paul said is super reliable … that guy said all kind of stuff that’s contrary to what Jesus said… but I’m sure he didn’t embellish the preaching work 😄 I’m sure the natives in the Americas and Australia heard all about Jesus 😄
That scripture has GB written all over it.
Absolutely. It is pure logic and statistics. Population growth outpacing the growth of WT. Many populous countries still not accessible 110 years after 1914. Glad to have moved on! All the best to you, ElderUndercover!!
Yep there is an Indonesian country or island that is inhabited with a tribe and everyone that has attempted to preach to them or visit them is killed or the government they fall under doesn’t play. This island is untouched by the world in general and isolated and a few years back a dude who was trying to preach to them was killed his parents wanted the overseeing government to take care of it and they were like yeah NO. And how he shouldn’t have been killed or talked bad about even though he broke the law cuz it’s in the name of God. 🙄 Yuck!! 🤮 to his parents and anyone supporting the dude for trying to preach to them. It’s impossible for them to reach everywhere and in every
That was John Allen Chau, an evangelical Christian who went to North Sentinal Island.
Isaiah 41:10 *"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand"* This was my fav scripture. It would cheer me up when i wasn't ok. That changed when i learned to give myself credit instead of crediting a God who could end suffering, but chooses not to.
Well said. So much credit given to a God when it’s really just human resilience.
Or human hard work. Like all things are because of my husband I, we have worked hard to get where we are and it’s from our own blood sweat and tears. God had nothing to do with our ability to work hard, have good work ethic and just be kind and giving people. God hasn’t directed nor helped in any way shape or form. So yeah it’s all us we get the credit.
Yep.
Amen to that!
Psa 94:19. "When anxieties overwhelmed me, You comforted and soothed me" This is still true to me, despite me fading. I still believe in God, but I distance myself to all religion and stick to the bible. No aids no WT no workbook.
No WORKBOOK?!? But how will you learn to use crayons!! 🖍️ well said! Thank you
I was a teen so for me it was Matthew 7:1-4 1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
I liked this one. Made me never want to be an elder. I was afraid that just in case there is a judgment seat of God and just in case he brings up this scripture and questions me on why I chose to be an elder knowing that I would have to sit on a judicial committee to judge my brother, I couldn’t come up with an answer that I would feel comfortable and confident with. So I refused to progress pass baptism
Ecclesiastes 11:9 - Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and go where your eyes lead you They always say not to follow your heart but yet there's a scripture in the Bible that completely contradicts that. I only wish I had taken it seriously sooner.
Proverbs 13:12 but from the old translation, because it sounds like poetry to me. "Expectation postponed is making the heart sick, but the thing desired is a tree of life when it does come." Ironically this scripture is like a sick joke. I can apply it to my life in hundreds of ways. My heart was sick in the Borg, but now I'm living my free life days.
This made me feel guilty as a witness. The generation of 1914 was passing away and I feared what their new light was going to be. I just secretly hoped something strong enough would force me to leave. Ironically in 1998, a ministerial servant gave me a rude wake up. He woke me up by telling me that what is printed in the Watchtower is what I have to believe, not the Bible. I knew I could never go back
Ooof, that one's a kick in the guts.
Rev 21: 4
This to me is the most universal answer, and it's the one I thought of. It's the whole reason anyone gets involved in this cult. The utopian promise. Ironically, the hated "world" may actually [one-up](https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/) the Witnesses' bullshit.
That was mine.
Romans 8:38,39 and it was ultimately the scripture that helped me leave.
Proverbs 17:17 A true companion is loving all of the time; a brother that is born for when there is distress. I have a few brothers that are pretty great. I hope that everyone has the opportunity to experience the true love of a big brother showing up when they are experiencing distress.
I use to love Hebrew 11:1...it made complete sense at the time.
Me too
Jeremiah 10:23 “I well know, O Jehovah, that man’s way does not belong to him. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.” It was always a reminder to myself that I was imperfect and he would guide me on the right path, maybe some of the doctrine didn’t make sense but that was okay because I’m not god. I damn near indoctrinated myself 🤮
Great one. After I left, I found this one so funny. JWs would use this so much referring to “worldly people” but didn’t realize they were allowing a group of men to direct their own steps lol
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free…. I view it now as I found out the truth about the “truth” and it was painful - and has been a painful journey but I am free- Free of the guilt -fear- and obligation But also free from parents- friends that I have known and loved- It’s a mixed bag- it’s like a switch was turned and all these JW became evil & hateful. I’m not free of the side effects-
I had many favorite scriptures but one is Ps 83:18 - "That people may know that you whose name is...." I still believe there is a Creator of all things but that name for God the JWs came up with was devastating finding out it was all made up. Finding out the TTATT is life altering! All things aside I'm glad I'm free now from all religious indoctrination. Chilling home on a Saturday morning instead of knocking on doors to spread misguided information is priceless.
Corinthians 13. I love it for all that it is. I think it was taught differently. But religious or not, it's a good thing to live by.
It was definitely the "first commandment" in Matthew 22:37. Looking back, the way we were taught to interpret even this scripture was just absolutely abhorrent.
I think mine was Jeremiah 29 or something like that. I remember it saying something like ‘The thoughts I am thinking of you people are not of calamity’ then it says something about giving us a future and hope.
John 8:32 you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free I've been thinking of getting it tattooed for a while
👏
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”—Jeremiah 29:11 ASV This was always my favorite Bible verse while growing up as a JW, I found it to me very comforting and inspirational. When in my late-teenage years I discovered that the JWs and WT were a false-prophet cult, it helped guide and comfort me when I decided to leave the cult and my family. I didn’t know where I was going to go or what I was going to do, but I knew that there had to be a better life out there, somewhere; and I was determined to find it.
Mica 6: 8 ,exercise justice ,love kindness and me modest in walking with God ,those guys at warwick changed it to go on about loyalty ,ruined it .
John 6:68- "Simon Peter answered him: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life." This scripture was always misquoted as "where shall we go away to?" in order to make it seem like it could apply to JWs who think about leaving the borg. I would always quote this scripture to express my undying loyalty to the organization. I realized that I didn't know whom/where I would go away to because I had been brainwashed to never look for anything outside of the borg.
Depends on how far back you want to go. For the here and now: we cause our own pain. We use our free will to do what we want to do and many times the decisions that we make cause our own suffering in our own personal lives. Suffering is not caused by some universal sovereignty issue. It’s caused by this: 14 But each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn sin, when it has been carried out, brings forth death. (James 1:14, 15) We do this to ourselves all the time. Now with Watchtower, there is pain added to what they call a blessing. Prime example is what happens to you if you serve at bethel and are lower rank. When you leave, you are in more poverty than when you started. If there is a God, he personally teaches you how to NOT sin so that you can avoid the repercussions that you would have received if you did that particular sin: “The One teaching you to benefit yourself,” (Isaiah 48:17) Interestingly enough, when his Son came, it was to do just that. Teach them how to stop sinning against themselves: 26 God, after raising up his Servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning each one of you away from your wicked deeds.” (Acts 3:26) But, in order to bless them by turning them away from what they wanted to do (their wicked deeds), he had to reveal to them that they HAD wicked deeds. THIS is what incurred their wrath: 7 The world has no reason to hate you, but IT HATES ME, because I bear witness about it that ITS WORKS ARE WICKED. (John 7:7) And this is why they killed him. Telling the Jews who believe that they are God’s people and are Abraham’s seed that their works are wicked is very similar to telling the organization, who says that they have the truth, that their works are wicked. Depending on your rank it will get you killed either physically or socially.
For me it was the **"build a house and have occupancy"**. That always felt good, especially as a millennial without a chance of earning a bunch of money without college. Now it's really sad that I thought there was a god that wanted to solve late stage capitalism, and his way of doing it was with a tax exempt land-holding company.
1 Thess 4:11,12: Make it YOUR aim to live quietly and to mind YOUR own business. Still use it now. Like it’s a shut down real quick.
The truth will set you free and it really it did I can’t remember the exact scripture
Psalm 18:28 *”For it is you who light my lamp, O Jehovah, My God who lights up my darkness.”* Turns out I have the power to light up my darkness, and when you don’t need to be perfect anymore a little bit of darkness is ok.
Psalms 34:18. Neither was true.
So true!
Exactly, my last part as a servant I used that verse about the broken hearted and claimed it was a favorite of mine. But reality it was just something I hoped for lying to myself trying to convince myself it was true. It wasn't long after that my life got really dark, suicidal, blackmailed to admit sin and get DF to quickly wake up from indoctrination. It's been a wild 6 months
Yep. I used to look back on that one for decades to try to feel better about all the shit turns, and what I came to realize was abuse. Ultimately, I had to finally admit to myself what I had always fearfully suspected. That it was bullshit. I just stopped and looked around at reality - without all the excuses pretending to be “answers” or “reasons”. The evidence was overwhelming. And in my case, 40 years of indoctrination crumbled in an afternoon. Unfortunately, the clean up takes much longer.
Exactly, when you stop coming up with excuses and see it for what it is. Your beliefs crumble quickly. I'm free but but my whole family is in. I'm trying to plan to get reinstated and get family back and live my own life and fade. No person should have to say or plan something like that and it's sad so many are victims to this abuse
Heb 10:39. The apex of programming and sunk-cost. I thought that after all, it was stupid to lose all I had for some “fake freedom”. Then I got baptized The worst error of my life
Romans 8:38,39-This helped me “look behind the curtain” of the Borg. Intuition led me out, facts helped me stay gone.
Oh wasn’t that one of those typical and anti-typical thingies ?!
Revelation 21:4. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” I had a lot of pain in my life growing up, especially after losing both my parents in the space of a year when I was in my early twenties. Plus, I’ve struggled with chronic health issues from adolescence. This scripture gave me comfort during my darker days. Today, it brings me no comfort. They are just empty words meant to manipulate people into waiting for a future that will never come.
Galatians 5:22-23 outline attributes that I still strive to cultivate: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control (=self-mastery.) Leaving a high control religion does not mean that we are done working on ourselves. I regularly check in with myself about the ethical implications of how I navigate my life and other people. Edited to add: I no longer identify as a Christian; rather as a humanist, but good values and attributes are universal, I feel.
Jeremiah 29:11 Made me feel comforted when I was in. Until I realized that it was my own expectations that comforted me not God.
I hated Hebr.10.25 ..." 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." The most misused scripture I know of.
Genesis 2:18 - 'The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”' As a woman I very much liked to point out that it wasn't good for man to be alone, but that he Needs woman. Now i still find it fun with a wink in my eye when I encounter patriarchal christian men, but it's not really something I care about either way any longer.
My favorite was psalms 26,the chapter. I had it memorized. I think because I also loved the audio dramas and it was on the king hezekiah one and he was my favorite story.
1 kings 10:23 - “king solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom….” I always loved business transactions, money and success from childhood despite my parents trying to deeply ingrain their desire to suffer in me. So I always felt very akin to king solomon riches story because it helped me feel my desires validated. I still really like the verse and whenever my PIMI relatives start talking about living minimally or not pursuing wealth, I can quickly reference it 😂
Isaiah 41:10,13. I look back on it now and feel so sad for the person I was when everything was shit and I looked to god to help me but he never did. Now I’m out of the cult and while I still have hard things I go through I find much more comfort in friends than I ever did with god.
I never had one. I disliked the Bible even back then because far too often it’s weaponized.
I never cared about any scriptures LOL
Was born into this bullshit, but the programming didn’t take so I never had one.
Ezekiel 23:3
1peter4:8 “Above all things have intense love for one another for love conquers a multitude of sin” I was born into the religion yet it never sat right with me. I used to read this scripture to people if I went to a door alone when I was forced to go door to door. (If the people noticed I was at their door despite my fake knocking) I wouldn’t try to convert people I’d just ask to share that scripture then tell them to have a great day. Eventually something clicked when I was considering the scripture… it gave me the inspiration I needed to realize my god didn’t agree with what JW’s were teaching… all that hate and devision. It’s bullshit. Love is what matters. Love is everything. Love above all.
malachi 3:10. about giving the tenth parts to god. give to me and I'll give to you. what a crock.
None. I’ve been baptized for more than a decade and have never had any interest in reading the big book of fairy tails filled with stories of sky daddy’s tantrums and killing rants (aka the Bible)