ugh - it's so cliched.. it's like they have a ad-lib style book of cliched experiences, they just fill in the name, age and country and whamo! new experience..
Amazing Awake Experience, Former druggie looks up JWs in the phone book and starts studying
by LostGeneration 33 Replies latest watchtower bible
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sir82
who even owns a phone book anymore?
I dunno, I seem to get a new one, from a different company, delivered every month.
Actually, the references to "phone book", "CDs", etc. are an indication that this experience (likely highly modified, if it's even true) may have taken place 10, 20, or even 30 years ago.
A lot of the experiences in the study edition of the WT, I suspect, are from the 50's and 60's.
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Mary
So I picked up the telephone book, called the Witnesses, and started studying the Bible with them.
Funny, but I've heard the exact same experiences given by Mormons, Baptists, the Worldwide Church of God, Seventh Day Adventists, and I'm sure a whole slew of other denominations.
In fairness, I do know that the religion has been instrumental in helping people get off the booze and drugs and live a better life. There was a woman in my old congregation who had been very heavily into drugs when the Witlesses first called on her and she managed to kick the habit and got baptized. However, I've also noticed that people who had the really bad drug problems tend to become fanatical Witnesses. Maybe that's the only way they can stay on the straight and narrow.........
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Pika_Chu
I can't stand the illogical link they create between listening to a certain kind of music and becoming a completely out-of-control druggie. This has always bugged the crap out of me.
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Mr. Falcon
In fairness, I do know that the religion has been instrumental in helping people get off the booze and drugs and live a better life.
That's a good point, Mary. I'm glad you mention it so people don't think that everything on this board is just anti-JW. But really there are plenty of religious organizations that have helped people with all manner of addictions. And honestly, I would say that if you actually tallied up every addict who was helped by religion, the WTBS would probably rank very low, yes?
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Franklin Massey
Reminds me of this old experience: I had to give up classical music because it made me want to drink absinthe. So I called the operator and asked her to patch me through to the nearest gathering place of The Bible Students. They played a phonograph recording to me that explained how "leviathan" mentioned in Job was the steam engine and how in a perfect world, all black people would turn white, the way it was meant to be. I could see they had the truth. I swiftly dropped the classical music and absinthe. It was the first Christmas I had spent sober in years and I had God's chosen people to thank for it.
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Mr. Falcon
Praise be to God, Massey!
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Reality79
Why do they still say "rap" like it's the 1980s or something. It's hip-hop for crying out loud!!
Once again, hip-hop gets the blame as usual. He should have threw on some Will Smith and Mos Def if that's the case then he would have been alright.
Anyway, methinks this story is ducktales.
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Mr. Falcon
Why do they still say "rap" like it's the 1980s or something.
Great point, Reality79. They say the word like it's this hateful term that can only be pronounced properly while gritting your teeth together. Typical groupthink stereotypical views. Principally, it's the same kind of thinking that caused many white races to view blacks as "inferior animals" or Jews as "undesirables". They need to just shut the hell up. Seriously, if you look at rap music's roots (Gil Scott-Heron, hell, even as recent as Tupac for example) the message wouldn't mean anything to an old white guy on the Governing Body. But if you were a black man living in Chicago during race riots or facing other discrimination, you may feel differently about the music's message. I'm not black, so I can't truly understand what it means to be black, but at least I can respect the message and roots of it.
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Franklin Massey
I remember an assembly demonstration where a boy walked onstage with a Walkman and giant headphones, banging his head wildly. His father called out to him but the boy couldn't hear him. The dad walked over and removed the headphones and said, "Jonny, that music really has you excited. What are you listening to?" Jonny's response, "My favorite group, Rap City!" By the end of the demo, God made Jonny throw the tape away. A friend of mine from anouther circuit said that during their demo, the kid was listening to the heavy metal group "Kiss Death." Hahaha!