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I Just Talked To An Old JW Friend About The Dumbness of The Organization
by minimus 40 Replies latest jw friends
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MsBHaving
Hi Minimus,
its been a long time since I visited this site. just noticed this post. My thought, for me it was partially laziness but also when I did try to do research I always seemed to run into more confusion, conflict and could never seem to get a straight forward answer so I would give up. The other piece was fear of disapproval... whatever, I am so glad I finally jumped. I have never looked back.
Hey,
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minimus
glad u jumped 2
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wtfmidoing
I think that some people can only absorb so much at a given time. At least he is sick of it. Frustration will trump laziness sooner than later for most people. He needs a good friend to set/keep him straight. All it takes is a bathroom break with an old watchtower to know that their frauds and full of sh-t. Can you send him a link to this site? A side note, Prince was just on Leno and he fits the JW critria, what a weird f-er.
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WTWizard
I wonder how many other blatant discrepancies between the truth and what the Washtowel Slaveholdery claims is the truth are there. I can remember a few myself:
1--I remember when the Grand Boasting Sessions were 4 days. Then they reduced it to three--and I thought that, as the end was getting near, there should be more, not less. How can three be more than four? (Never mind that the whole thing was a complete waste--that came later).
2--Deleting one of the Great Boasting Sessions and replacing it with a Big Boasting Session. The Big Boasting Sessions are only one day instead of the two-day affairs that they are replacing. That is one less day of instruction, at the time when it was supposed to be ever more critical. (Again, never mind that it, too, was a complete waste).
3--Availability of the Kingdumb Maladies, as individual tracks (not medleys) of full orchestra. They wanted me to give up worldly music and listen to Kingdumb sxxx, yet they didn't want to make the versions I was after available (so I could compile tapes of them). Instead, all I could get were medleys of orchestra (impossible to compile) or piano versions on the records.
4--It is not double donating when you pay for the littera-trash when you pick it up, and then pay for it again when you receive the donation after placing it.
5--We were going to finish the preaching work. However, at any given time, you will have a set of children that are crossing the border of being accountable. Which means having to repeat the work to reach those children--and, by the time these are in, another group is going to cross that same line and force another repeat (this would go on forever). They never did provide a satisfactory answer to that.
6--People are at their happiest just above the poverty level--meaning they cannot enjoy any of the nicer things in life, or get decent products that are going to hold up (and, in the end, actually save them money and aggravation). A related point is that too much time and too much money equals extreme tribulation.
7--It is wicked to put up Christmas lights. You are violating the rights of others to have consensual sex (among adults, at that) if you are not married. You are murdering anyone you do not reach in field circus if you are too slow, take breaks, or go in early because you have to work that night or you are excessively tired or have personal matters to tend to.
8--Turning in a field circus report was mandatory. Now, if this was Jehovah's work and He is so powerful, then why couldn't He tell whether you were out in field circus or not? Thus, why waste the time keeping track? It would be more practical to just worry about being out there and focus on the ministry (and taking records only to track your own calls, not to report them).
9--Worldly songs are bad because they have swear words (even the words like "Darn"), have even mild sex, violence, and/or drug innuendo in them, or promote another religion or Devil worship. They can also be bad if the writer is disfellowshipped (and, lately, if they lived an unclean life). Yet, I saw two Kingdumb maladies that, according to their own standards, were blatantly blasphemous (in the 1984 book, they were songs 27 and 61). The singer is claiming to be Jehovah Himself. When I mentioned it, they said that we listen to and sing them anyways. Songs worse than drug rap or open Devil worship--and they want me to use them for worship anyways.
10--I once saw the congregation account start to grow. People were donating plenty for their expenses, and it got toward $3,000. And, instead of saving for a rainy day or easing the burden somewhat, they bled the "excess" by sending a donation to the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund. That effectively destroyed all that work in donating, forcing people to re-donate.
Note that this was all in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It has gotten even worse since then.
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yadda yadda 2
He talked about the stupidity of the organisation but he left and returned to it. Stupid is as stupid does!
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minimus
He talked of a few other friends that are quasi-JWs and he laughed about their little group. Evidently more than a few JWs remain in the Org. for different reasons and compare stories about how irritating it is to be in their position. I know these people. They're regular partiers, big drinkers, swearers, and Witnesses living on the fringes.
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darth frosty
Classic line from shawshank redemption comes to mind:
Get busy living, or get busy dieing.
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mindmelda
I know a lot of "fringe" Witnesses, or used to. They just sort of hang around, never really getting totally into it, always feeling guilty because they're not "good" Witnesses. I was that way myself for many years (my husband too), irregular with publishing, spotty on meeting attendance, never really believing half of it, but knowing nothing else and afraid to death of making a break with it, because OMG what if it's really the TRWOOF?
Then I started asking myself what if it's not, and things got scarier for a while, but are gradually getting better.
My husband is still in the "apathetic but still a little afraid to admit it's not the truth" phase. I'm trying hard not to push him, when I bring up things I have found out about the WTS too much, the defenses come up a little.
He's not been to a meeting longer than even I have, but the indoctrination and fear still are working at some level. I understand. It's a process. He's mainly afraid I'll get DF'd for apostasy, he mentioned that the other night.
I told him, "Honey, we're both doing things we could be DF'd for, whether you know it or not. We both swear, we both like oral sex and we hang out constantly with worldly people, and we don't believe some of the key doctrines of the WTS. You can be DF'd for all that! Quit worrying, I just want to fade away and be totally ignored by the JWs as long as I live, and I know you do too."
I reasurred him that I do not hate the Bible (as I now understand it, sans WTS doctrine) or God and that seemed to reassure him in some way although he's not keen on religion of any kind now.
But, he can't stand the behavioral micromanaging or the restrictions on DFing and has ignored them for years. He hasn't been to a meeting in years, nor read a magazine, none of that. I believe that's what it takes...just not filling your head with the nonsense and it gradually fades. You have to keep feeding your brain this idiocy for it to keep working. I know that's why they constantly indoctrinate you and train you to keep indoctrinating yourself. The last time I heard a Watchtower article read, it was so easily deconstructible it wasn't even funny. The circular logic, the leaps of logic, the erroneous conclusions. all very obvious.
My husband told me this morning he's starting to think all religion is a crock...that's a step in the right direction, I'm sure. I went through that too. I may never go to any sort of church, but I believe in God in a personal way now. For now, that's fine.
And definitely not the JW version of God. Ew.
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LUKEWARM
I know a lot of "fringe" Witnesses, or used to. They just sort of hang around, never really getting totally into it, always feeling guilty because they're not "good" Witnesses. I was that way myself for many years (my husband too), irregular with publishing, spotty on meeting attendance, never really believing half of it, but knowing nothing else and afraid to death of making a break with it, because OMG what if it's really the TRWOOF?
mindmelda your observations are so right! I am aware of many “JW’s” that are increasingly becoming indifferent of the WTS rhetoric but they value their social networks so they keep on with the activities, mentally disconnected and not paying much attention to the rambling that goes on from the platform. They don’t see anything better to transition to and view the org as a religion with its good and bad…