I had a few that would discourage my attending college. I did early admission to a junior college in my senior year of high school. I explained to those in the kingdom hall I had to finish the next two semesters or I wouldn't graduate high school. Then when I pursued my AA and BS I simply moved away and faded. The congregation I attended was fairly easy going with only a few fanaticals.
adjusted knowledge
JoinedPosts by adjusted knowledge
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42
Did anyone in the congregation discourage you from going to college?
by Trapped in JW land ini remember being out on service with an elder when i was 17. he asked me what i plan on doing after high school.
i told him i was thinking of going to college to be a teacher.
he then asked me, "do you think this system is going to be around that long"?
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Governing Body has a system in place to cash in?
by adjusted knowledge inso i recently attended a few meetings in the last 30 days.
i've not been in over a decade.
as posted in an earlier topic, i still have a few family members in.
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adjusted knowledge
So I recently attended a few meetings in the last 30 days. I've not been in over a decade. As posted in an earlier topic, I still have a few family members in. I was visiting family members and during vacation went to a few meetings.
At one Sunday public talk the visiting Elder was talking about the importance of attending every meeting. He stated that important communication could be delivered from the Governing Body BEFORE the Great Tribulation occurs. This was the same message I heard over and over again in the 80's and 90's. Often time it would be followed up with examples in the bible of those who lost their lives for not following direction. On other occassions the Talks would speak of how perhaps special direction of hiding will be given and we may miss out because of not attending meetings.
I never gave it much thought even in my youth. Even before I learned TTAT, the scared tactics didn't work on me. I just thought these talks were used to get meeting attendance up. However, now I think this could be used as a tool to "cash in". Perhaps, this topic has been spoke of in the past and I'm just coming to the same conclusion many of you already had. But think about this, if the Governing Body wanted to "cash in" they could send the direction to sell off all real estate and collect tax free.
The most valuable asset the GB has is real estate. This is true with most traditional companies. Think McDondalds is in the burger business? Nope they are in the commercial real estate business. Poorly run companies such as Sears and Kmart are able to last decades, because of the selling off of real estate, while the top managers pocket the money.
I'm not stating the current GB will do this but they do leave the door open for this to happen in the future. I'm sure most rank and file JW would not question the direction and in fact would be thrilled that finally the big A is on the way. All it would take is a big event (war, major natural disaster, ect..) for the GB to use.
Or maybe I'm way off.. If this has been talked about just pm a link...
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Describe What a Jehovah's Witness Elder Is Like
by minimus ini know what they are supposed to be like.
but at this point in time, do you think the elders look joyful?
are they serious bible students?
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adjusted knowledge
My experiences with Elders is much different than what is posted here. True it has been many years since I've been an active witness, but while I was active, the elders in my congregation did care. Yes, they were hypocrites at times when it came to their family, but overall decent men. I would over look their flaws, mostly because I felt sorry for them. The actions of the Elders didn't impact my attitude to the religion. The bible is full of examples that God considered holy men that were killers of women and children. It is the teachings of the prophecies by the GB, and to be honest if they were to get just one right I might believe.
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How Do You Come to Terms with Being Just One of the 7 Billion?
by will-be-apostate inbeing 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.
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adjusted knowledge
I know what you mean about feeling special because how we were taught. We were taught that God knew the name of every star and so each of us were special in his eye. Even before I left the organization I no longer had that feeling of being special. The trigger was when I saw the images of the Catacombs of Paris. There were walls as far as the eye can see of human skulls stacked upon each other. I learned latter there were millions of remains down there. Looking at those skulls and thinking each one was unique at one point in existence but long forgotten. The bible may condemn, "Let's eat, drink, and marry for tommorrow we shall die"; but can you really blame people for this attitude.
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Why churches should brace for a mass exodus of the faithful
by adjusted knowledge ininteresting article i found that is recent.
it focuses on catholics and mormons, but jw would fit in the arguement too.. .
http://theweek.com/article/index/258520/why-churches-should-brace-for-a-mass-exodus-of-the-faithful.
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adjusted knowledge
Interesting article I found that is recent. It focuses on Catholics and Mormons, but JW would fit in the arguement too.
http://theweek.com/article/index/258520/why-churches-should-brace-for-a-mass-exodus-of-the-faithful
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Two Roads... and the one I took made all the difference
by adjusted knowledge inintroduction to the faith.
ive been a lurker for many years now, and recently created an account to post comments.
someone suggested i should introduce myself and tell my story.
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adjusted knowledge
Introduction to the Faith
I’ve been a lurker for many years now, and recently created an account to post comments. Someone suggested I should introduce myself and tell my story. My introduction to the religion was when I was five years old. My parents began studying with a couple from the local congregation. That was the last year I celebrated Christmas and I still have that one memory of waking up on Christmas morning. I also have one memory of Halloween dressed up as Pacman that was around 1982.
My father made an honest effort to become a witness but after five years he came to the conclusion they were no different than any other religion. He had three college degrees and was a teacher. I think because of his education and career pursuit he was looked down upon by the Elders. The biggest reason my father stopped attending meeting, was when he reported seeing an elder’s daughter making out with a “worldly” boy. My father was reprimanded, for reporting it, by the Elders and he stopped all association. Interestingly that elder’s daughter got pregnant that same year and was disfellowshiped. There are many other examples in my congregation of hypocrisy but I’m sure they are no different than the readers of this forum have experienced.
My mother eventually got baptized and believes the JW have the truth to this day. However, she rarely attends meetings but is devout in her readings and beliefs. My siblings and I are all baptized too, but are all considered inactive. I use to be a strong believer and was an auxiliary pioneer at the age of 15. My faith was much stronger than any of the other children in the congregation, because I didn’t have to go to meetings or study the literature. I did those things out of my heart because I truly believed there was a caring God.
The beginning of Doubt
My first doubt this was God’s organization actually happened an hour after I was baptized. I was at our circuit convention and my friend from my congregation was guarding an entry way. He needed to use the restroom and get something to eat, but had no one to cover for him. I asked the elder in charged if I could cover for my friend (who was the same age as me). The elder stated only baptized brothers could serve and I stated I was baptized. He then asked me how long and when I stated that I was baptized today, he replied it wasn’t long enough. Now, this may seem inconsequential to some but to me it had a great impact on my faith. I got baptized and thought, finally I’m a brother and equaled to all and then I realize that was not the case. There was a hierarchy and I was not a part of it nor had any hope of getting there as a youth, since both my parents were either spiritually weak or a non-believer. At that same convention I also followed my same friend to the accounting room where all the money was being counted. His father was an Elder at the time and was there with other Elders counting the donations. I was told I couldn’t enter that room, but I looked inside and there were many Elder wives in there along with their children. Children barely able to walk, teenagers, and women were allowed in there because of who their Father and Husband were. I was eventually blessed at the end of the convention to clean the restrooms.
The imperfections of the organization were not the deciding factor for me leaving the Faith. It was the change “and this generation will not pass away” doctrine in 1995. I graduated high school that year and thought to myself how for 13 years in my youth I preached that message and now they change it? I was told it was “adjusted knowledge” hence my user name. I decided to get my college degree and pursue a career. That was 19 years ago.
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Anyone have a member play the "Chinese Attack" on you?
by adjusted knowledge inhttp://www.jrn.com/fox4now/news/jehovas-witness-church--247401911.html.
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adjusted knowledge
I guess I'll tell my story in a separate post.
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Anyone have a member play the "Chinese Attack" on you?
by adjusted knowledge inhttp://www.jrn.com/fox4now/news/jehovas-witness-church--247401911.html.
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How Were You Affected by All The Rules & Regulations From The Watchtower Society?
by minimus inthere are so many directives for elders, pioneers, ministerial servants and "publishers", it is mind boggling!!!.
to fulfill all of their expectaions, you would have to be perfect!.
i must say, that i really don't know how some do it, every day, ever week....i wonder how long some of the elders that frequent this board will still push the flock like the watchtower says they must..
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adjusted knowledge
The rules and regulations never bothered me. Most of them will not get you disfellowshiped but looked down upon. We in the congregation would be told that we need to use our Christian conscience, since the Bible couldn’t make a rule on every single possible issue. If a brother or sister nagged me about watching an R rated movie I would simple reply, “It didn’t bother my Christian conscience”. I’ve always done what I wanted despite the counsel given. I used all the rules to my advantaged. I stopped shaving for some time and told the brothers I couldn’t afford razors. They bought me an electric razor. It is a fun game to play for those of us that is still in.
I found being labeled “spiritually weak” gave me fruits of both worlds. I could attend college, work on a career, have NO responsibilities at the Hall, and get to socialize with family and friends. The non-burdensome commandments laid out in the bible were not hard for me, so I never needed to worry about being DFed. I married a non-believing mate and get to celebrate all Holidays. If I ever get questioned about it, I simply say “oh my wife bought those decorations” J I attend a few meetings a month, and never do field service. If the elders complain to me I simple say, “Out of your own mouth I’m spiritually weak, what do you expect? J” If I get pressure, I miss more meetings and don’t take long for them to back off once they realize the correlation. I love reading and actually enjoy the bible, whether it is Hebrew fables or not. I simply use my meeting time at the Hall as if I’m at a library studying. I’m sure most will view this as a waste or double life, but four to six hours a month is not much of a sacrifice. I bring my Ipad to the hall and play games now. I tell the brothers that I’m on jw.org.
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Just got a call from an elder
by nolongerconfused inso i faded over a year ago...i told the elders that if i needed them i would call them.
1 year and 3 months later, today, i get a call from an elder who used to be my good friend...he calls and i dont pick up..he leaves a voicemail, saying "hello ____, please call me back at 444-444-4444 whenever you can".
i was like wow, this has to be one of those calls to get inactive ones back to the memorial.
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adjusted knowledge
I've had Elders stop by my house, and informed me they were given directions to contact disfellowshiped and inactive witnesses. The Elders around my town seem genuinely caring but very tired.