Comments by "erichensley67" (@Eric_01) on "People Are Deep"
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I can relate to and verify every single point that Ali mentioned regarding JW beliefs and tactics. Absolutely 100% accurate, not one iota of exaggeration.
I was born in and made it to age 35 before I left. I'm 57 now. I did maintain visitation with my then 6 year old daughter, which was wonderful and we were very close, until her 18th birthday. At that point I received a "Dear John" text from her stating that she was going to take the truth seriously and could not see me anymore. That was 9 years ago. We've never spoke since. The rest of my immediate family lives within a 15 mile circumference of me, I'm also not spoke to a single sibling or parent in at least 10 years. I only assume they are all living or even still live in the area.
Just after I'd quit, I did have a short relationship with a woman who was not a JW, but members of her family were. Unfortunately, she became pregnant simultaneous with the relationship ending. I saw our daughter a few times over the next 2 years, but ultimately, she ended up being given to the JW family members as her guardians. They told me that I was not allowed to see her solely because I was disfellowshipped. The last time I saw her she was 2 years old, she will turn 17 in December. By the way, the male in that guardian dynamic, her fleshly uncle, was arrested a little over a year ago for molesting her and she was given over to another non-related couple in her congregation as her new guardians. I've only learned this through public court records, still have never had contact with anyone involved.
Generally, having been a JW well into adulthood and then leaving has absolutely ruined, not only ever single relationship I'd ever had, but the scar makes it impossible to stomach the thought of trusting another person ever. Since the birth of my 2nd daughter, I've not had even the urge to have another relationship. I've been single now since 2010 and likely will spend the rest of days as such. The damage that this horrid religion does, even if you can leave it, is just more than some people can recover from. Ever.
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You are why this work and this community is so important. You're only the cusp of realizing that a deconstruction is needed, but just keep finding the right channels and information that will continue to educate you, not only what the headquarters lies about, but about the authenticity of the bible itself. It's a lot to even willingly realize on the front end, this will take a little while, but keep using your critical mind to question and demand answers that do not include, "because the governing body said so." For starters, while watching their videos, just start counting how many reminders that interject constantly that you, the lame flock, should listen and obey, do not question, what the GB says. Not what the bible says, what THEY say. If you're a male, have you tried your brand new permission to grow a beard yet?
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@markbowman2890 Well, I have to disagree again. There's one thing that cannot be cherry-picked or debated. Jesus never, ever wrote a single word. There is no book of Jesus. True, I do not speak for Jesus...but you would believe that Paul does? A man who never even met Jesus? That seems like a low bar. It would seem that you are guilty of the very thing you're accusing other of doing, which is selecting only the parts of the bible that support your preconceived ideas and ignoring the rest. It's not a good platform to be on if trying at all to be convincing. Now, when you say you've been close to countless people from cults, but then say that atheism is also a cult, it immediately nullifies whatever you think you understand a cult to even be.
Atheism is one thing. The lack of belief. That's it. We have no leader. We have no unified theory or beliefs. To simply use the BITE model against atheism pretty much dispels whatever point you were thinking you're making. Behavior control through manipulation and domination of members through strict rules, rewards and punishments. NOPE. Atheism does not fit. Information being controlled or censured, restricting members' access to outside perspectives. NOPE. Atheism does the opposite of that. Thought control through psychological techniques used to shape beliefs and attitudes, suppressing critical thinking. NOPE. Atheism is literally the opposite of that, too. Emotional manipulation, fostering dependency and loyalty through love-bombing, guilt and fear-based indoctrination. NOPE Atheism does not do that, either. Actually, these traits describe nearly every single faith-based religion on the planet, especially Christianity. You lost this one, friend.
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@markbowman2890 Your bible. Is that good enough authority? Here we go. For example, water into wine. Told in the book of John as a third person story. The author is not claiming to have witnessed it. Jesus heals official's son. Never even went to the kid, just told the dad that the kid would live...from a fever. And of course he lived. Nothing miraculous what-so-ever happened here. Natural occurrence, people got over fevers all the time. Jesus drive evil spirit out of a man. Well, I've seen this done on TV, not very impressive or hard to find someone willing to shake around a little bit and the act like something just went down. Not even remotely interesting and quite commonplace as a public display. Anyway, this could go on 30+ more times, but the point is made. That being, firstly, these claims are all written as if folklore and not as eyewitness accounts by the authors. You speak of 500 witnesses? Where are their 500 testimonies? Oh, there isn't a single one. It's just one more claim in a bible book by someone who was not there and there is absolutely no evidence for these witnesses having even existed outside of the narrative that an author is trying to push.
My credentials for dismissing the bible is the bible itself. It fails at every turn regarding science, human rights and blatant misogyny. It's hypocrisy knows no limits. Don't murder...unless it can be justified by religious disagreement or maybe your child has a sassy mouth, in which case, take him to the streets and let the neighbors stone him to death. You can't have plant life before you have sun light, therefore, the creation account is the dumbest thing ever written. Context aside, which is rife with contradicting nonsense, scholars have shown us the degree that these writing you now call the bible, have been wildly tampered with through the centuries. You actually think that 2,000 year old writings, that are completely gone, are even remotely the same as the more than 3,000 translations that have been pooped out since the third century? That's absolutely insane to believe. Numerous bible characters that simply never existed and have no secular existence in history what-so-ever. There was no Moses. There was no exodus from Egypt. The archeological scourings of the area prove this. It's just all made up stories. All of it. The bible has no credibility and a simple mouse possesses the authority to dismiss it.
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