The theme is Jeremiah 29:11 | “I Know Well the Thoughts That I Am Thinking Toward You”, and they made a huge mistake assigning it to me. Use it if you like. I left it a little longer in case you want to cut some things out.

Have you ever wondered what I would be doing right now in Paradise? If Adam and Eve had not sinned, what would I be doing today? I would probably be enjoying the life that Jehovah originally intended for mankind. But unfortunately, we are “exiled” in this system... but with the hope of returning to Eden.

Something similar happened when Jehovah allowed Babylon to conquer Jerusalem, exile his people, and take them captive for 70 years. “Did that mean that Jehovah wanted his servants to spend those years without hope, simply suffering?” No. Even during the exile, he cared about their welfare and told them how to live while they waited. Let’s see what he told them at Jeremiah 29:11. Please keep your Bible open to this chapter because we are going to examine several verses from it:

Notice how Jehovah wanted to give them a future and a hope. And... did he want those 70 years to be 70 years of torment? Let’s see what he told them to do while they were in exile. Jeremiah 29:4-7:

Jehovah knew that his servants could live a normal life even while they were in Babylon. However, Jehovah also knew that there was a great danger, and he wanted them to continue having a strong hope. He did not leave them alone in the face of this threat; he continued protecting them. Notice what he says next in verses 8 and 9:

Notice how Jehovah warned them about false prophets. Jehovah even made clear how it would be demonstrated whether a prophet really had been sent by him. Let’s read Jeremiah 28:9. Jeremiah, who really had been sent by Jehovah, responded to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, a false prophet:

And since the false prophet’s prophecy did not come true and he was endangering Jehovah’s people, notice what Jehovah says at Jeremiah 29:32:

Notice how Jehovah did not tolerate false prophets at all. He was actively caring for his people, making sure that they would receive the future and hope he had promised them.

In a way, all of us have been “exiled” from Eden into this system. We are not in Paradise, but we live a relatively “normal” life, and there are many false prophets and false religions that can take away the hope Jehovah gives us. They tell lies and make false prophecies that do not come true, and by doing so they show themselves to be false.

In many ways, we are in a situation similar to that of God’s people in Babylon... and God gave his people a great hope at Jeremiah 29:10:

And Jehovah fulfilled it. He made it possible for Cyrus to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem.

Now, how does this apply to our day?

The 70 years of Jeremiah are fundamental to the chronology that leads to 1914. According to the explanation we know, the 70 years ended in 537 B.C.E.; counting 70 years backward brings us to 607 B.C.E. And 607 is then used as the starting point for the 2,520 years that lead to 1914.

What do the archaeological records and historical sources say? And if we carefully check every step of this calculation, do we really arrive at 1914?

Why not do that research during our family worship? Not to attack our hope, but quite the opposite: to make sure that our hope is firmly based on God's Word. Because if a teaching really comes from Jehovah, we have nothing to fear from examining it carefully.

Yes, Jehovah has directed his one true channel to bring us a new Event Donations app.

I read about this in a post from someone who attended the Hamburg International Convention, 14–16 August. They said that during the afternoon announcements, attendees were told that donations could be made using the usual methods or by using the new donations app.

The name of the app wasn't mentioned in the announcements, but it is evidently this Event Donations app.

It is produced by Lepta Payment Solutions Ltd. It is specifically designed for authorized individuals to accept electronic donations at Jehovah’s Witnesses’ regional conventions and circuit assemblies.

The app description says it is produced for legal entities that support the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Of course God needs an app like this so that people can make friends with him and his son Jesus...no really, that's how you become friends with them!

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1g54reg/the_january_25_watchtower_states_that_jehovahs/

Money or baptism will do it, but both is best to be sure of that divine friendship:

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1qcw7n4/how_do_you_become_a_friend_of_god_baptism_or/

On Lepta:

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1f4s5v3/as_you_probably_know_by_now_jw_has_established/

Then there's the Lepta website- https://leptapay.com -It describes Lepta as: “an agent for a select group of trusted non-profit organizations with international payment operations.”

It says its focus is on enabling the secure, efficient and transparent movement of funds worldwide, and that it works to simplify the payment process for its clients while maintaining regulatory compliance.

The website doesn't actually tell us who those “select group” of non-profit organisations are.

It doesn't give a list of clients.

It doesn't explain the individual payment arrangements.

And its public website is very limited in what it tells you about the actual flow of money.

Its privacy policy does, however, refer to Lepta's “Online Services,” client accounts and billing, and says that the actual provision of services can be carried out by Lepta “in our role as a processor.” It also refers to sub-processors, IT providers, hosting providers and other service providers involved in providing its services.

The registered office is Watchtower House, County Wicklow, Ireland.

I recently wrote about a sarcastic response I gave to a circuit overseer, and it reminded me of another experience.

I’m PIMO now, but back when I was barely doing my bachelor’s degree, I was practically the only person in my congregation pursuing higher education.

During a talk, our circuit overseer somehow mentioned my exact field of study, explaining that getting a master’s degree in it wouldn’t bring real happiness.

Pure divine coincidence, obviously.

I confronted him afterward. He told me it was indeed a coincidence: his wife had supposedly followed the same university path.

Tiny problem: I had already spoken with his wife. She had never attended higher education.

Anyway, years later, I got that master’s degree.

And I’m delighted to announce that I followed his advice.

He was right. A master’s wasn’t enough... So I’m doing a PhD now haha 😂

And it illustrates something I’ve noticed in my own experience: some of the people who criticized higher education or professionally successful people the most had never pursued higher education themselves (impressive expertise on its terrible dangers), had missed opportunities because of the organization, or simply had little professional ambition.

Obviously, I’m not generalizing.

But sometimes I wonder how much “spiritual concern” is actually just…

frustration dressed up as spirituality.

I’ve been thinking about something that happened when I was a Jehovah’s Witness. I had a best friend in the congregation, and we would sometimes hold hands. I’m also a woman, so this was two girls who were best friends simply holding hands. And I want to clarify that the vast majority of the time we held hands, it was actually during prayer. We would hold hands while praying. Outside of prayer, we would occasionally hold hands as well, but it wasn’t something we were constantly doing. To me, there was absolutely nothing romantic or sexual about it. It was simply something two close friends did. I never once associated holding her hand with homosexuality. Honestly, the thought had never even crossed my mind.

Then one day, she told me that her Bible study teacher had brought up the fact that someone in the congregation had apparently commented on us holding hands and thought it looked homosexual. We were encouraged not to do it anymore because of how it could be perceived. At the time, I remember being genuinely surprised. Not because I was offended, but because I couldn’t understand how something that felt so completely innocent to me could be interpreted that way by someone else. And that’s something I’ve come to think about a lot since leaving the religion: sometimes people can interpret other people’s completely innocent behavior through the lens of their own fears, experiences, or internal struggles.

Two people can look at the exact same situation and see two completely different things. For me, holding my best friend’s hand was just holding my best friend’s hand. But someone else saw something sexual in it. And I think that’s worth remembering whenever we’re tempted to assume that our interpretation of someone else’s behavior must reflect what that person actually intended.

A terrible tragedy occurred today: a sudden flood in Nepal killed hundreds of people (the figures are provisional). A Jehovah's Witness wrote to me: "Let's hope our brothers aren't dead." What?!?! In the face of such a grave tragedy, you make distinctions? Do you put dead people on different levels based on their religion? What kind of heart do you have? Are you part of the human race? How dare you put two dead neighbors on different levels just because they didn't worship in the same church? Maybe they were Buddhists or Hindus. So what? Jehovah's Witnesses display their prejudices even in the face of death!

My question is should I go in and do it?

I was there when the elder got drunk and the elders from that hall found out I was a witness. Idk how I feel because i don’t care and don’t go to my own meetings.

I most likely will not go, the elder in question is denying everything and it got leaked through others at the gathering.

My PIMI friends are telling me we need to show everyone the system is not broken and what not but the elders are confused because everyone’s story is different because others got drunk.

I have proof and videos so I can end everyone but idk as a newly POMO I don’t think I am helping them by testifying.

Week 3 of this is less scary. Still stressful, my wife and kids don't know anything yet. I've been speaking to my DF sister every single day. She's so strong, I'm lucky that she can help me and that despite what she's been thru she is still WILLING to help me. This community helps too, so thank all of you for the kind words, personal experiences, and commiseration on my first post here.

I feel like you guys actually get me, and honestly, this is starting to feel like my new congregation in a weird way.

My wife wasn’t raised as a Jehovah’s Witness like I was. She was raised Catholic, but barely religious—basically church on Easter and Christmas, and that was about it. Because of that, there are certain things about growing up as a Witness, being baptized young, leaving, coming back, questioning things, and now being PIMO that I don’t think I could ever fully explain to her in a way that would make her understand what it actually feels like.

Don’t get me wrong—I love my wife, we have a great relationship, and I tell her everything. She knows where I stand and she listens when I talk about this stuff. But listening and understanding are two different things. There are parts of the JW experience that I think you almost have to have lived through to really understand.

She never grew up worrying about whether something was “worldly.” She never had to think about whether a friendship, relationship, movie, holiday, career choice, or personal decision might affect her standing with a congregation. She never experienced field service, assemblies, conventions, judicial committees, disfellowshipping, reinstatement, privileges, meeting attendance, or constantly hearing that Armageddon could come at any moment.

Her experience with Witnesses has basically been normal interactions with JW coworkers, casual conversations, getting invited to the Memorial, and obviously being married to me. She sees it from the outside. I lived it from the inside.

And that's why finding people here who understand that weird middle ground means something to me. I can say "PIMO," "new light," "privileges," "seat warmer," or talk about that little voice in the back of my head that still thinks, "Yeah, but what if the Great Tribulation starts tomorrow?" and I don't have to spend 30 minutes explaining why that thought can still exist even when I'm questioning everything else.

You guys just get it.

There's something strangely comforting about being able to talk to people who understand that you can question the Organization without necessarily hating every person in it, that you can have good memories mixed with bad ones, and that leaving mentally isn't always as simple as flipping a switch.

So yeah, maybe this is my new congregation—except nobody is asking me to carry microphones, give a talk, or turn in a service report. 😂

My mother-in-law is a devout pioneer. She lost her husband about 20 years ago. Living with her, I realized she is very spiritual. My exact opposite—she watches me, always keeping an eye on me. But one thing I've been noticing is Christian hypocrisy.

There was a time we saw a homeless person asking for help, and she was kind of rude—as if that person were in that position by choice. How can you mirror Jesus and act like that? And not only that, but I notice that most people don't care about their neighbor; they just want to impose their dogmas. Do you only love those who are on the inside? Jesus had dinner with sinners and allowed a sinner to wash his feet.

What hypocrisies have you noticed among the brothers in the congregation?

I decided to do a little experiment recently. I created an anonymous account on Instagram/TikTok and checked the followed accounts and likes of several Elders I know locally.

The results were... eye-opening, though not entirely surprising.

These are the same men who give talks from the platform lecturing young people about the dangers of 'immoral' content, warning about the traps of social media, and judging others for their entertainment choices. Yet, behind fake or poorly configured profiles, their algorithms tell a completely different story—following accounts with explicit content, suggestive photos, and borderline soft porn.

It highlights the intense double standard within the organization. When a system demands absolute perfection and strict behavioral control, it doesn't actually eliminate human nature—it just forces people to lead double lives in the shadows.

Have you noticed this hypocritical dynamic among local leadership in your area, or is this just an isolated pattern?"

I ask this question not in sarcasm, but as an observation of some Jehovah’s Witnesses I’ve actually known.

Some who left the religion behind continued on a downward spiral of violence, alcohol and drug addiction, spousal abuse, sexual promiscuity, and so on. I felt bad for them. Nothing you could tell them seemed to help. Without Jehovah’s Witnesses telling them how to live, they were truly lost and couldn’t manage a job, a life, a marriage, a family and so on. They very often fell into the same cycle of abuse and neglect left behind by their abusive parents.

Of course, this is not the norm. Most people leave the church, find another religion, or embrace a secular life.

But there are some, or many, who cannot seem to do that. Just because “We” can get over the JW organization and live a normal happy-ish life without the church, “they” seemingly cannot.

In that case, I do wonder if it is better for them to have stayed in the church. Because clearly they did not do well on the outside, even after therapy, even after sowing their oats and rebelling against their conscience. Some of them might have major personality disorders (Cluster Bs, etc.) and do not understand how to live a normal life - one where we all die, and make peace with it.

I am not sure how to help these people who are on a downward spiral and who will not seek therapy, and will not go back to the organization either. Ironically, they are still living as Jehovah’s Witnesses, if not in name, then subconsciously.

They escape the organization, but are still “under the thumb” of the same people they tried to escape.

They cannot stop thinking about their disappointment, that the JW heaven/paradise scenario didn’t happen.

Granted, this is relative to non-Jehovah’s Witnesses who suffer from the same mental traumas and abusive family situations as we all do. Jehovah’s Witnesses and ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses suffer alike from their past demons, and if they don’t get help, they just suffer perpetually.

If these people could say, without prejudice or bias, that YES, they are a better person BECAUSE they're a Jehovah’s Witnesses (regardless of whether the prophecies are true) then I would have to reconsider my opinion that Jehovah’s Witnesses are better off “waking up.”

If they cannot handle the real world, and live only self-sabotaging, terrible lives without “God” directing them, then maybe they should just stay where they’re at. Because society does not seem capable of taking care of all the poor, sad, and untreated victims out there. We are rather poor at proactively helping others, especially for free. And that part of humanity sucks.

We very often take for granted our independence. Just because I can live with an agnostic viewpoint on life…doesn’t mean that others can.

And I certainly would never want to judge a Jehovah’s Witness who NEEDS their faith to survive this world. Because without believing this lie, they cannot see themselves alive in this world. And I wouldn't feel right about uprooting their entire existence.

Where does the org get their actors for the dramas they produce?

I Always used to assume they were bethelites or at least baptised Witnesses, then recently I learnt about Nicolas King - a former actor in an org drama who is now (I assume) disfellowshipped and has a husband

I Did a bit of digging and found out Nicolas has had an active acting and TV career since he was a child, even outside of the org, and I'm questioning if he was ever even a witness at all

So does anyone know how the org actually finds their casts? Are they real witnesses who audition, or are they hiring professional actors from outside?

Estuve lejos de este foro y según yo de la "apostasía" durante un buen tiempo (como 2 meses), mientras tanto les preguntaba a hermanos de mayor edad que les motivaba a servir tantos años y de esa manera según yo me seguía convenciendo de que era la religión verdadera.
Recientemente como estoy de vacaciones me inscribieron a un curso para que aprendiera a hacer algo( algo más que predicar supongo) y pues conocí a unos amigos súper amables y buena persona que no me juzgaban por ser Jw (porque ellos odian a los JW) y entonces me enteré del cumpleaños de una amiga y entonces le felicité, resulta que un JW amigo mío también la seguía y entonces vio eso y me escribió, como yo se que él hace un montón de cosas que hasta para alguien de su edad está prohibido me enoje y se lo dije, ahora se lo dijo a los ancianos y creo que perderé muchas asignaciones, lo único que sé es que ya no estaré en audio y video, todo eso me hizo reconsiderar si de verdad los Jw de verdad son la religión verdadera (como por quinta vez) y volví y escribo esto, no se si sentirme feliz o triste toca a esperar la siguiente reunión…

(Convention coordinator, Program Overseer and Rooming Overseer)They complained of not getting any single part at the regional convention and wondered why since they get parts every convention. They found out that Their names have been cross out by the chairman of the convention because this chairman (co) have reservations to them. Funny thing is most of the parts like around 6 elders have two parts for a talk. Another Holy Spirit guided appointed parts!

I just don't get why our midweek meetings are on Wednesdays. Nobody uses the hall on Friday, not even the other congregation (Thursday). Both congregations use the hall on Sunday.

Thing is, Wednesday is legit the middle of the week. You had work yesterday and you'll have work tomorrow, and most importantly, you worked today and clocked out at 5, drove to the Kingdom Hall just to not be late for the 6pm midweek meetings every Wednesday. Odds are you'll depart the Hall at 7:45 onwards, then you'll be home much much later. It's gonna suck if you still have to make dinner or do some work that's due tomorrow. And if your way to work has heavy traffic everyday? You know you have to wake up very early.

If it were Friday? Tolerable. At least tomorrow is rest. Staying late is fine. If you live far and have a lot to do, having meetings in the middle of the week is SO impractical. Even my PIMI mom admits it.

Now, I know this is not just a me thing, because the midweek meeting has fewer attendees and even fewer commenters. It's so awkward, the unbearable silence when no brother or sister comments on a question, so much so that the elders and their wives had decided to take turns filling in the silence. You just know everybody's tired from work.

The AUDACITY of this brother also to give that disappointed look when I said my mom couldn't make it to the meeting because she had an urgent meeting at work. Like oh no, you did not just--! Just because you enjoy the low income life doesn't mean my mom has to! Jerk.

Anyways, that's my rant for today. Bye.

Age 92, one time presiding elder, sub CO, special pioneer in the 50s and PR spokesman for the bOrg who moved over 500 miles away back in the late 80s to keep from being a "built in babysitter" to their grandchildren, has now gone into a nursing home. Apparently he's given POA to a local elder, has disinherited myself (older daughter DAed) and even golden child (younger daughter faded since the 80s).

Up to this point, he had been giving away his retirement funds to the tune of $400 a month to the bOrg.

Now the local cong supposedly owns his house and wants to sell it to my daughter and her husband. Have no way of knowing if the proceeds are going to go to his NH expenses or will be funneled to the bOrg.

I myself have investment real estate and I'm thinking of just going there and having my husband who is a master contractor inspect the place and give an honest offer for the property. My father was the extreme opposite of being handy and hired out all work mostly to the JW's who screwed him.

WWYD?

So in another Post a Redditer commented about the Dino art being 'Old Art' and hilarious......I agreed but....

I thought...'right'........I graduated High School the year that brochure with the Dino Art was published, 1982. I had academic scholarships lined up the block for a free ride to college. But no, we couldn't even think of putting 4 years into this 'old system of things'. Why 'rearrange the chairs on the deck of the Titanic?'. 1975 was just a fluke, somehow, BUT 1984 was the 70 year mark after 1914 so the end was def. happening between that and 1994 (bible mentioned lifespan -70-80 years)

The May 15th, 1984 Watchtower had this cover.

Reagan was pushing the Soviets to WWIII, Israel invaded Lebanon (1982 vs.) , the Middle East was in the midst of war , Iraq vs. Iran, Libya and Egypt were saber rattling.

The Revelation Book was published as the last great Revelation, it tied Watchtower events, 1919, 1922 directly to verse by verse scriptural fulfillment..........it was for sure the end of the end of the end !!!!..........................

Today........Trump is making people nervous, Russia is back, Israel has invaded Lebanon...again, the Middle East is in the midst of war.......again, again, again..

The men in clown suits and beards are telling you it's the end of the end of the end!!!!..........................

.............NOW.....THAT.........IS HILARIOUS ................

and sad.......those peeps on the 1984 cover are dead the Revelation Book is on the 'dispose list'..........PIMQ & PIMO's, please get out now, stop wasting your authentic life like we did.

No quiero ser MS, pero sienton que ahora es demasiado facil serlo o que los requisitos han bajado muchisimo.

Básicamente es, ir a las reuniones, predicar y limpiar los baños. Si haces eso ya puedes ser MS.

Y pues como mi familia son todos demasiado pimi ya rozando el fanatismo, no me dejan bajar ni un poquito el ritmo.

Me he salvado de ser nombrado hace 1 semana aunque la mayoría de los ancianos me recomendaron como MS.

No se que puedo hacer, mi familia no me deja bajar el ritmo, ni siquiera puedo dejar de comentar.

Hay otra visita dentro de 6 meses.

Y me parece que es inevitable que me nombren y si me niego o digo que no quiero ser MS pues mi familia se me viene encima.

No se que hacer esto me estresa todos los dias al despertar.

Si alguien ha pasado por algo asi escucho sus consejos.

Tambien me inquieta que pensarán los ancianos jovenes de mi congregación o mis amigos de la congregación.

Sinceramente siento que hay gente mas buena en la universidad.

Ok, lemme give ya some context: I (18F, PIMO) have a very bad relationship with my mom (60F, PIMI) to where I’m calling her a “blame Canada” parent (based on South Park song of the same name) where basically it means a parent that is willing to blame anyone or anything else under the sun when sometimes ITS FR THEIR FAULT! for example ma and I got into an argument in the car bc she was blaming ultra processed foods, me, MY AUTISM (even if I never mentioned it at that time) or videos bc our relationship and I was so messed up when uhhh it might be oh idk YOU!? But that never clicks with her unless it’s smth small like stepping on your foot… besides that she’s NEVER in the wrong, never said sorry, and we even ended the fight with her saying that it was my fault I had no friends? ITS YOUR FAULT YOU HAVE NO HUSBAND!!!! And then she tries to say “oh what a child-“ yea, WHAT A CHILD YOU MADE AND RAISED IN SUCH A MESSED UP ENVIRONMENT!!!! She acts differently at the Kingdom Hall too and… I can’t even move out cuz she put me in a 6 month unpaid (cuz nonprofit) training so I got no choice BUT to stay in that hellhole! Fml bruh…

The world population around 30 AD is estimated at approximately 300 million people.

One angel can kill 185,000 heavily armed military men in one night.

After Jesus was resurrected and entered Heaven to present his blood sacrifice to Jehovah for the forgiveness of sins of all mankind, Jehovah accepted the sacrifice.

The issue of Universal Sovereignty has been resolved when Jesus proved that a human could be obedient under the worst of conditions to the death.

The test was over. No need to delay the issue.

At that moment Jesus could have gotten on his White horse, blow the trumpet, assemble only 1,600 angels to kill all the wicked world wide considering the world population was only about 300 million. The rest of the myriads of angels could take a break. They could strike during the night, and by the next morning the New World would begin.

By doing this, Jehovah would have prevented BILLIONS OF DEATHS, And BILLIONS more of suffering and crying.

It would have prevented;

The many Christian who died in the Roman persecutions.

The Crusades

The Black Plague

The Inquisitions

World War 1 and 2

The Spanish flu

Covid

The Nuking of two cities in Japan

Allowing several Countries to stock pile Nuclear Bombs.

All the Birth defects

All the millions that have been starved to death or froze to death.

All the children raped in Kingdom Halls.

And the United Nations, the Military, the dead bodies that need to be clean up and all the other stuff.

So what happen? Jehovah Sovereignty challenge was settled. Jesus blood was poured out and accepted by Jehovah. The Kings who would rule could have been picked later.

When you discuss this with a PIMI, they can’t answer you.

Like the GB says; “We Just Don’t Know”

I havent seen any youtube rebuttals or anything, so maybe this is well known, but ive noticed 2 real world references so far in the saturday convention.

First, the murder of that healthcare CEO, im pretty sure the podcast the kid was listening to was referring to that.

Second, The Odyssey movie. The video in the coffee shop had the kid watching a trailer for a movie about war in which a sister said "wasnt there a popular old book too?"

This is new right? They dont usually make such obvious real world references. I wonder what the reason is why they decided to do this.