sparrowdown

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Posts by sparrowdown

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  29

  Do you or did you experience too much intrusion into your personal life by the elders in your congregation?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i ask this question because i have personally experienced first hand the control and intrusion into my personal life by the elders at our hall; and for virtually trivial things or non issues!

  what's more, i regularly hear of individuals moving to other halls because they were stumbled by the thought police....er, i mean these elders.. have you had any such experience?

  have your elders been a bit ott over trivialities?.

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  sparrowdown

  Amicabl - it seems every cong has it's "scapegoats". Very sad religion.
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  26

  gb, PLEASE, PLEASE UP THE ORGANIZATIONAL HARSHNESS IN 2018

  by steve2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sometimes i have expressed a longing for jw organization to tone down its rhetoric and become, well, nicer and more loving.

  i have not been alone in my hope.

  some posters have even said that if a wave of kindness washed over jw organization and, say, the shunning doctrine was modified (e.g., left up to the individual's conscience without fear of retribution from elders), they'd go back.

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  sparrowdown

  Speaking for myself, it's only when shit got really painful within my congregation that it finally forced me to look at the whole org more critically. Truth is if things had stayed "nice" and "lovely" I'd still be there. I wish I could say it was my superior intellect (lol) that was the catalyst for re-examination and subsequent change but it wasn't it was pain, the cold hard reality of pain that started the process and then my intellect got on board.
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  29

  Do you or did you experience too much intrusion into your personal life by the elders in your congregation?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i ask this question because i have personally experienced first hand the control and intrusion into my personal life by the elders at our hall; and for virtually trivial things or non issues!

  what's more, i regularly hear of individuals moving to other halls because they were stumbled by the thought police....er, i mean these elders.. have you had any such experience?

  have your elders been a bit ott over trivialities?.

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  sparrowdown

  I've observed that how intrusive the elders are depends a lot on the individual elders and the individual JW. As Toesup said if you give them a firm "no, talk to the finger" when they try it on they jog on.

  There are some people though that seem to be targeted by bodies of elders for the slightest infraction, they watch and wait for the person to screw up so they can df their arse out of there. While some other person, usually some smarmy suck-up with connections could be Jack the ripper himself and the elders would be completely blind, deaf and dumb to them.
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  16

  From enemies to friends: Did it really happen?

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  yesterday, they showed the story “from enemies to friends” at the kingdom hall.

  my mother in law told me about it as she was touched by the story.

  so then, later in the evening, i searched for the video and found it in the january 1st 2017 broadcast.

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  sparrowdown

  Doesn't pass the sniff test to me - but none of their "experiences" do.
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  9

  Why do we speak out once we learn TTATT?? Because the Society TRAINED us to do so!

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was just thinking about how the gb / society hates it when people like us dare to speak up or mention anything negative about the society.. they try and demean us, or colour witnesses view of anyone who leaves - especially if we speak up!

  we know the sort of rhetoric they have been spewing forth over the last few years.. but the gb needs to face the fact that we speak out because we have been trained to do so by them!

  they have used scriptural passages to encourage us repeatedly to "preach with boldness"(acts 4:29-31 eph 6:19).

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  sparrowdown

  Truth sharing is a one-way street for them, JWs are all for "sharing" as long as it's them sharing their "truths" not the other way round.

  I don't try to tell them anything, not because they won't like it but because it's a waste of my time and energy.

  I will make an exception if I'm in an area where the cart people on duty don't know me then I may try to ask a few questions posing as a mildly curious person who knows nothing about them but even then they're pretty impervious to new information and very suspicius of anyone asking questions.
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  21

  "Are you humble enough to admit you were wrong?"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  that is a question i want to calmly and politely ask a witness next time i interact with them.

  perhaps at a cart.. "the bible says we should be humble.

  may i ask, are you humble enough to admit you were wrong on things you believe?

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  sparrowdown

  Wouldn't they first need to admit they could be wrong? They know they're not wrong so why would they bother.
  

  Worth a try though.
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  29

  Will The Watchtower Ever Give Up Mandatory Shunning Of DF'd Members?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i think the wt will never give up this practice unless forced to by the courts, even if they are financially failing terribly they will keep it because the moment they do get rid of it the whole thing will collapse even faster and they know it(or afraid of it happening).

  they have painted themselves into a corner of financial ruin.

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  sparrowdown

  LHG - I slow faded while maintaining friendliness. I was not DFed nor DAed. I don't think I could have faded in a "nicer" gentler way, yet, I am full on shunned.

  If anything the WT's shunning policy gave these so-called friends and family the opportunity to reveal their true character or at least how little I meant to them. Did me a favor. Though, if any of them woke up and left the borg and decided to contact me I would be delighted for them of course but relationship wise I would have to cross that bridge if and when I come to it. If they decided to stay with the organization that is still telling them who they can talk to then no, I would not resume as if nothing had happened.
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  25

  Creeeeepy Sanderson

  by oppostate in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

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  creepy sanderson.

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  sparrowdown

  I don't get a creepy vibe from this pic of Sanderson, I've seen creepier pics of Lett.
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  55

  The watchtower does not have the resources

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if you have a look at the december broadcast on jw tv they tell you that they wont be showing you a normal format for december but the 143rd event of gilead because the watchtower does not have the resources other wise to translate it many different lanuages.. with all the cuts the watchtower have made and are going to make you would have thought that they would have lots of resources.

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  sparrowdown

  No broadcast for you instead we would like to wish you a ...

  
  
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  29

  Will The Watchtower Ever Give Up Mandatory Shunning Of DF'd Members?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i think the wt will never give up this practice unless forced to by the courts, even if they are financially failing terribly they will keep it because the moment they do get rid of it the whole thing will collapse even faster and they know it(or afraid of it happening).

  they have painted themselves into a corner of financial ruin.

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  sparrowdown

  I don't know if they can just drop the shunning policy and not be consequences for WT. It would be like opening the gates of the compound so people could come and go as they please. Shunning damages relationships sometimes irevocably. Would those that have been deeply hurt by the shunning even want to talk to their JW relatives and friends again?

  What would be the alternative to a shunning policy for rule-lovers like JWs a non-shunning policy? Is it realistic to expect that people you discarded will just start talking to you again after years of persona non grata. Years you will never get back when you burnt those bridges.

  Man what a can of worms would that open up amongst the congregations. I mean it would be nice to think if they just dropped shunning as an official policy everyone would play nice but somehow I don't think so.

  I feel like even if they gave it up officially it would still be used as weapon on a personal level by many members. Face it there are some people who just like to use the silent treatment to get back at someone and blank people they don't like. It's actually harder to force people to talk to one another than it is to get them to not talk to someone as shunning only takes one party whereas talking takes two.

  Conclusion : WT will give it up officially when it's in their best interest to do so, then and only then.