| Written by Sherry Jansma | | Saturday, 05 June 2010 10:19 |  Nils and I arrived at Bethel in 1966, not long after Ray and Cynthia Franz. Since Cynthia and I were both assigned as housekeepers, we became friends, and it was through her that I came to know Ray. Cynthia always spoke of her husband with profound love and respect. One time when she became extremely ill and the doctors were unable to accurately diagnose her condition, Ray devoted himself to her care, researching her symptoms until he was instrumental in discovering the problem. During her lengthy illness, his love, patience, and tender care for her were obvious to all of us. A man's character is often defined by the way he treats his wife. |
| Written by Randall Watters | | Saturday, 17 January 2009 11:26 |  There are a number of religious groups claiming to be Christian that deny the celebration of holidays to their members, including Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Mother's Day, etc. This is especially the case with Jehovah's Witnesses. While there are some Witnesses who celebrate these holidays secretly for fear of being caught, most take pride in this prohibition. Parents are willing to allow their children to suffer much peer pressure and isolation, and are perfectly willing to isolate themselves from their families during holiday times, even taking the opportunity to go door-to-door during these seasons of celebration. What are the reasons given for this stand against holidays? Is it wrong to celebrate holidays?
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After 30 years of printing The Free Minds Journal, Zen thought it might be good to add a little color to celebrate. For those who prefer to read something printed... articles often appear in the Journal before they hit the Net! (except in this particular issue, due to TWO proofreaders working at once, I messed up and left out one whole page by Zen.) Plus the Hateraid article is actually by Bil Bowen.Yikes! So for a special treat, you can read it HERE. It will be included in the next issue. The new 2012 issue Includes: Will a JW get disassociated for taking Blood? Does the Society disassociate over Blood? Dad Died Today — Bill Bowen Dad’s Funeral Responding to People in Pain -- R. Watters Will You Drink the Hateraid? — Bill Bowen
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| Written by Barbara Anderson | | Friday, 25 September 2009 09:59 |  Joe and I just returned from Chicago where I was a guest speaker at the BRCI conference on September 19, 2009. The attached material, "Opening Pandora's Box" is the talk I gave. It is about our European month-long tour from last June-July. “Pandora’s Box” is a simple Greek myth which explained how bad things came to be. In one version, when Pandora opened what appeared to her to be a valuable box, she let out all the evils including hope. Is hope evil? Well, the Greeks considered hope evil, even dangerous, and its bedfellow was thought to be delusion.In our jargon today, opening Pandora’s Box means to unwittingly unleash chaos on yourself and those around you. It was with these thoughts that I commenced one of the lectures that I gave three times in Europe this past summer. |
| | Written by Lee Marsh | | Monday, 06 February 2012 03:13 |  How do you respond to someone who believes all Jehovah’s Witnesses are good people, and all I want to do is tear them down? I’ve met a few people like this over the years. My answer has always been the same. When a person is just getting to know the Witnesses they will be on the receiving end of a lot of love and kindness. What they don’t know is that Witnesses are taught to make sure all new people are treated with extra kindness. The hope, of course, is that they person will join them. That is how they treat new people. It is called "love bombing" and its sole purpose is to get the person to believe how wonderful they are. And as long as they follow the rules they will be welcomed. |
| Written by Mary Patterson | | Wednesday, 15 July 2009 10:47 |  It seems that a lot of us still have family members in the Watchtower religion and have frequent arguments with them about some of their controversial beliefs and practices. From my own experience and what I've heard others say, when these arguments come up, they will inevitably say something like "the bible tells us we have to preach door to door" or "where is this 'proof' that Jerusalem wasn't destroyed in 607 BCE?" or "we know Jesus did not die on a cross". There's so much information out there that you don't know where to begin. If you say "let me click on the internet to show you what I've found out", the thought stoppers implanted in their brains are triggered. After all the Internet is run by Satan himself, isn't it?. And so they decline your offer. The aim of my project is to solve this problem.
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| Written by Morey vs Fudge | | Sunday, 22 July 1984 00:00 | Please read this article in html fullscreen: Hell -- Traditionalist vs Conditionalist Views |
| Friday, 03 February 2012 16:44 | | That is how I feel a lot of the time. It is hard not to feel that way. Like all those people who have lost their parents in death, I feel alone. The terrible thing about that is that my mother isn’t dead. She’s a Jehovah’s Witness who shuns me. If she wanted to, she could pick up the phone and call me. Mind you I could call her too and be told to get back to the meetings. The really peculiar thing about her telling me to get back to the meetings is so that she can stop shunning me. She has never once said I need to make it right with God. I know people in other religions place the emphasis on a person having a good relationship with God but it seems the Witnesses have a slightly different perspective. Shunning is supposed to be a punishment to those of us who have been disfellowshipped or disassociated. But it almost seems like Witnesses feel punished, too. They are being deprived of a relationship with us. And of course it is our fault. All we have to do is demonstrate we are repentant and things can go back they way they were. |
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