by Bonnie_Clyde 37 Replies latest jw experiences
yeah, my ex thanked her father and grandmother for being able to pioneer,
they didnt provide jack squat and I paid for everything. I have heard of many stories that were exagerated to look better, from young ones going to bethel, pioneering all to make them clap.
abr
I'll never forget my friend going up there and telling "his" story.
He said they made him change it to say this and that and that at the end of it it wasn't HIS story at all!
He said that the whole thing was a joke!
He was the son of an 'outstanding' elder.
Countless times. At the end of a particularly cheery one given by a blood-sucking pioneer in my hall, I said outloud, 'Well why doesn't someone throw her a treat already!!"
Looks like many of the experiences are embellished.
Bangalore
The examples everyone has given on this thread highlight yet another hypocrisy -- http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=half-truth 'half-truth (h f tr th , häf -) n. A statement, especially one intended to deceive, that omits some of the facts necessary for a full description or account.' Watchtower Sept 1, 2004 page 15 ''Some individuals who were once part of the Christian congregation now attempt to mislead the sheep by speaking twisted things - half truths and outright lies ...'
I once attended a convention where a sister from my hall - a busty, petite girl - was interviewed on her dress & grooming. At the KH, she was known for her tight sweaters and skirts with high slits -besides what went on behind closed doors, the cause of several private reproofs- but on the platform of a 15,000-person convention, she was the image of modesty. She told of how meticulously she'd pick out her clothes, checking herself in the mirror, asking her mother's advice, etc etc.
Bullshit.
I remember thinking how, outside her congregation, 14,900 people had no idea what she was really like: how many mothers would be telling their daughters to be "more like that girl at the convention" when picking out their clothes the next day?
And that's when I was still in, gung-ho and all. But the stench of it all started to rise from that day on.
Ever hear an experience at an assembly that you KNOW wasn't slanted?
The problem is that the WTBTS instructions as so specific ( " interview a young pioneer couple who have simplified their lives and reduced their workload to put kingdom interests first " ) that it is very difficult to organise an interview without having to get the participants to spin it.
The worst I saw was when a brother & sister in our congregation was interviewed at the circuit assembly and the sister said that her children had accidentally "come along - as it happens" so she had reluctantly had to give up pioneering for a few years. This was a total lie , as her & her husband had been desperately trying for years to have children , and the sister had actually had a couple of miscarriages before she finally was able to start having children. There was also a lot of other rubbish in the interview , to give the false impression that the couple were very "spiritual" ( in reality , they were a very self - righteous couple who had fallen out with most of the congregation). My wife actually got up & walked out before the interview was concluded , as did a couple of other members of the congregation.
I was an elder at the time & afterwards spoke to the brother who conducted the interview afterwards and told him angrily and listed point by point the lies in the interview. He was a bit shaken up by it and admitted that he had really struggled to get anyone in the whole circuit he could interview that met the WTBTS qualifications. I told him that regardless of that , it was completely unethical to encourage a couple to lie to the whole circuit.
My parents were interviewed at the District Assembly & my father said that he had always conducted a regular family study while the children were growing up. In reality , we never had a regular study - probably only had one every year , usually before a circuit visit. I asked him afterwards why he falsely claimed this and he said that the CO interviewing him had insisted that he should make that assertion , regardless of its veracity , as it was in the outline.
My family were on the stage at a circuit assembly once, the experience was about how we had decided to give up television to concentrate on more spiritual things. We were all prepped with questions and the appropriate answers beforehand. According to what was said we had all discussed it and agreed to do it. The reality was that my stepdad had sold the TV because our family was skint (again!), there was no discussion, and as soon as my stepdad started to miss the horse racing (a couple of months later) we had aquired another TV.
I can't remember what I was told to say but it wasn't what I thought.
