ive been speaking with my wife and she feels that its the honest thing to do and just meet with the elders and tell them my thoughts and doubts.
not to rejoin but da if i want.
she brought out that its rude of us for them to expect us to do parts and think alls well, and the.
Just walk in with your Bible and your phone. Start recording on your phone before you walk in. Plonk both on the seat next to you or under your chair. It's one of the things nearly everyone carries, no one will think it odd that you have your phone with you . Or forget your Bible and use the jw app for any verses then you HAVE to have your phone with you.
I've recorded using my phone, quality is pretty good..
being a jw makes one feel special, no doubt.
when i found out ttatt i realized i'm not special at all.
i'm just one of the other 7 billion human beings who will live and die being nobody, the world will forget about them (and i'm not talking about relatives and friend), they didn't make anything special in their life, they didn't change the course of history, were not famous nor rich, didn't invent facebook, google or anything awesome, didn't have an article published in newscientist, had no imdb profil, not even a wiki page, didn't write a book etc.
I know EXACTLY what you mean when you say you're starting with a minus figure. We've been crippled by the teaching that everything must go on hold for now, that we can do anything we want in the new system, but just make the sacrifices now.. Everyone else planned families and careers, long term plans, I don't know about you but I'm 40 years behind everyone else, I've got a lot of catching up to do .
here is the situation.... a young 19 year old in our congo had a fallout with his parents because of all the restrictions and jw dogma and moved out of the house last wednesday.. to make the story short, the parents went running to the elders and what was the comfort?.
coe said: i saw that coming!
your son never reached out to get baptized.. then the other elder said: don't worry, you still have one left that will be saved.
WOAH!! priceless thread, marking in case I can ever use it....
i was reading brant jones' experience (published on jwfacts.com).
i read both letters: the one he wrote to the gb and the one he recieved from them.
link: http://jwfacts.com/watchtower/experiences/brantjonesunresponse.pdf.
I don't get why they'd risk another scandal by immediately joining the osce? I don't know any details about the osce apart from what I've read in this thread but how could they weasel out of this one? Have they a limited membership or something? SURELY they're not stoopid enough to go and do exactly the same again? Or are they counting on us to be stoopid enough not to notice?
don't wait.
update your advance medical directives before you find yourself in my situation.... .
my left arm was feeling 'odd' last friday morning as i was getting dressed for work.
Thanks for the update aude, what ya ridin ' there?
i know many who were witnesses hate their past, their decisions, their wasted time.. but you know what??
it's not so bad now.
at least we are out, either mentally, physically or both.. and now, we know better!.
Hahaaaa well contributed Sophie! >writes down Sophie g's words of wisdom to pass off as my own eventually<
i've read the walsh trial that indicates the societies stance of ' unity at all costs, even if we're wrong ' but that sounds more like conformity to me.
so how do other religions or movements justify the range of beliefs within their respective movements?
for example, the born again movement, a massive range of beliefs, but they don't insist on conformity.
Well, you guys have taken this way deeper than I can comprehend, so thanks, I've got some interesting reading to get my head around . In answer to your last question ruby, simply, yes it is unity, but it's enforced unity from birth (or baptism) PORTRAYED as protective. E. G. Don't read other materials, don't talk to apostates, for YOUR OWN GOOD, they're wily and will lie to you... If you DO go outside our walls we'll have to lock you out for the good of the community. I admit, there have to be rules for any club you belong to, and a kicking out process for those that transgress, but we take it WAYYY too far. Imagine belonging to a Ford motor enthusiasts club then being thrown out for bad behaviour. Or for saying that you think Fords are actually not as good as General Motors. And then seeing former members in the mall who will not catch your eye or say hello. True, some may do that naturally, out of fierce loyalty to Ford, but the majority would recognise an old companion, exchange pleasantries, maybe even joke around about Ford/GM! But I digress. Our unity is simply by brainwashing, brain training, repeating repeating the same old stuff until it becomes new stuff then repeating repeating that stuff until it's entrenched. And warning that there'll be repercussions for speculative independent thinking. That's not unity that I want to be part of. If someone else has a different idea to me, that's their prerogative, as long as it doesn't harm anyone or impinge on their liberty, fine. If only! I keep coming back to Barry's quote at the top of this thread. Cheers Barry!
it's the co visit in our hall this week.
last night he gave a talk about all the changes that have taken place in the last few years, like the change in the book study arrangement and the changes in public forms of witnessing, the rise and importance of jw.org.
he then emphasised what our reaction to these should be.
^^^ You're not alone bro's..
i've read the walsh trial that indicates the societies stance of ' unity at all costs, even if we're wrong ' but that sounds more like conformity to me.
so how do other religions or movements justify the range of beliefs within their respective movements?
for example, the born again movement, a massive range of beliefs, but they don't insist on conformity.
Thanks for those replies, very deep, and most interesting. I'm trying to preempt discussions that can happen in the future. I know one of the arguments for jws is that "we're unified. No one else is as unified as us. We worship the same all over the world, and despite local differences (facial hair, sideburn length, multiple ear piercings for the ladies etc) in the DOCTRINAL side of things there is absolute unity." And we point the accusative finger at churches for splitting over the issue of women priests or homosexuality etc. But in my mind our unity is ENFORCED, we can't believe something differently to what were told to believe, but a better unity would be a unity in common purpose but all embracing in opinion. I don't know why I'm bothering to ramble on, I'm not sure I even believe in a god anymore anyway... Just preempting future discussions.... Dhoh
i've read the walsh trial that indicates the societies stance of ' unity at all costs, even if we're wrong ' but that sounds more like conformity to me.
so how do other religions or movements justify the range of beliefs within their respective movements?
for example, the born again movement, a massive range of beliefs, but they don't insist on conformity.
THAT - (where you quoted Jesus just then) is an OUTSTANDING point. Gonna have to see what the cdrom says about that verse....
