New to The Jehovahs Witness Faith and need some help

by jnjburkett 171 Replies latest jw friends

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  jookbeard

  clearly she was frightened off, she came to the right place though and left with some excellent resource material.

  My old cong had a huge YMCA about 5 minutes away and included a large accomadation area , gym, restaurant , coffee shop etc, I think most Dubs in the area would'nt even walk past it let alone even enter the building , I believe there was a few small snippets in WT articles over the years in regards to joining this orginization and possibly we even had a local needs talk about it, the general consensus was that is was in no uncertain terms a big "no no"
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  krejames

  I think apostates have over-egged the YMCA thing over the years. It may well be "official" policy but it's not a biggie down on the ground. Back in the 90s as a regular dub in good standing I regularly performed at the YMCA with my band, all of whom were JWs. A couple of people made comments but some from the cong used to come and see us perform including an elder. To be honest more people were "stumbled" at the fact we played at another larger venue which had a gay landlord.
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  KateWild

  she was bewildered by the Responses she has received.-objectivetruth

  I was bewildered by the responses too. After being in a cult we should all remember why we are here, to get help and help others. We are also used to concrete thinking in black and white terms. On this thread there is a lack of abstract thinking by x JWs.

  It is clear by the thread YMCA is a grey area in WT around the globe now compared to what it was like in 1979 when the WT article about the YMCA was written.

  She came here to talk about the military not the YMCA

  Hopefully she will question why so many questioned her sincerity when she brought up the YMCA and she will get an answer that will raise more red flags.

  Well done objectivetruth for giving her support and PMing her. Thanks for the update too. I knew she was sincere and I am glad you confirmed this.

  Kate xx
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  jookbeard

  Kate , it just goes to show their lack of unity which they constantly bang on about when some parts around the globe elders will view YMCA membership as a "grey area" where as my old cong would happily DF you in an instant if you was to join thats why no body did, just becsuse its a 1979 article reinforces their abillity to be able to quote it from the WT, if you was to casually sit in front of a JC and say the article was printed in 1979 and it must be "old light" I think in most instances you would have signed your DF in a second.
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  notjustyet

  What did I learn from this thread?

  I learned not to be quick in calling "troll" at the expense of scaring away a person who came to this site for answers

  about the WTBTS/Jw. The upside of making the "troll" comment was being first to call them out with the downside being that you more than likely prevented a person from seeing the WTBTS for what it truly is.

  There are so many variables that could happen in the future that could make a person "look" like a troll but in reality are not. A person could have misunderstood what was said, the person that share story X could have been lying, the story could be true and would be dealt with on a Judicial Commitee later, etc etc etc,..

  I hate seeing a person come here and get pounced on in a free for all with everyone jumping in sharing stories. I think its almost like information overload for the person asking the question. I wish there was a better way to handle situations like this although I do not know how to go about doing it.

  I would just ask everyone to think about the potential fallout regarding this person from the way this thread went down. I'm sure eventually she will hear from her study conductor about those that have left the WTBTS and their motives etc, What do you think JNJ will remember when this topic comes up?

  NJY
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  krejames

  @notjustyet: agreed! The reaction to this person makes me quite angry but I think some of us have been hurt by the judgmentalism of some in the JW organisation and cannot see the irony in being just as judgmental in a forum such as this. I think we just confirmed everything this person will be told about apostates by the WTS. What gives us the right to jump to conclusions about people and insult them like this? A shot in the collective foot me thinks, I'm sorry to say.
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  Comatose

  I am surprised the disfellowshipping and shunning practice just because you change your mind was simply ignored... Totally glossed over. The conversation went on about mundane things. Is she okay with not being able to ever leave? Very odd...

  It could be that this person studying with her is "weak" since she left and then came back. No one has forced the "weak" person studying with her to quit the Y since they are still love bombing her too...
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  cultBgone

  I apologize for my post and pledge to continue working on my knee-jerk judgmentalism. Sorry, sometimes the jw-crap-thought sneaks up on me.
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  tornapart

  If she's genuine (and I believe anyone should be given the benefit of the doubt) she will probably have been scared off straight back into the arms of the 'love-bombers'.

  Nice work...
• 

  diamondiiz

  How many of you knew about YMCA while being dubs? I know I didn't or vaquely connected the religious aspect of it and I know JWs from my old congregation played basketball at YMCA on regular basis so let's not try to imply that anyone who says there were elder's kids playing at YMCA must be lying.