new letter say the co visit is now one night a week, tuesday, to allow for family worship to continue uninterupted.
Monday night is when Bethel does its "family worship" (just a wt study mind you...imagine bethelites doing play acting of bible characters like real families are told to do!.?....... hahahahah)
The average witness is "allowed" to choose whatever evening suits them.....
i just saw my first watchtower magazine in about 15 years...it was tucked under my doormat.
all i can say is wow!
i was shocked at how small and flimsy it was.
And it can all be summed up by the classic line in that classic article:
"all of us should be willing to do whatever is asked of us, even if it appears foolish from a human standpoint" (or some crap like that)
"so, we dun wan any ya'lls ta start finking four selves in ya littel braines....jus do wot us tells ya all ta doo"....
did we all notice the way in which this weeks wt study (how to maintain a positive viewpoint) was all about keeping the flock positive even if they feel they are not doing enough in 'service'?.
the irony is that the very reason they feel stressed or worthless is because of the pressures the org puts on them to perform!!!.
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Yes Oubliette, you are right! Its the classic "battered partner" situation we have discussed before!
I see your point!
Now Im even more angry.....
You should have heard our cong lap up all the material....and the self condemning and emotional comments too...it was sickening.
I was so close to just turning the sound off and walking out!
a couple of days ago in town i met a jw guy i have known since he was a kid in diapers, he is now an elder and must be 40 yrs old, still a kid to me, though.. he gave me the spiel about "we would love to see you come back " , i said that i could not come back to the religion i had left as it no longer existed (a line i got from my friend bill), this elder replied that there "had been changes, but the basics remain the same".. i just was not quick enough with this one, i just sort of nodded at that and went on about what i simply could not swallow as "truth".
overlapping generation etc etc.. what he was meaning by the basics being the same is that nothing has changed on the "what jw's don't believe in" front, i.e trinity, immortal soul etc.
the reality it is that the basics of jw/wt teachings about what they do believe in have all changed !.
I was just thinking too:
The basics of most diseases havent changed either! But that doent mean we want to go and catch something either!
Or:
Use the illustration the WT loves using re a little bit of poison: " if a glass of fresh water has just a tiny, tiny drop of poison in it, would you drink it if thirsty?"
a couple of days ago in town i met a jw guy i have known since he was a kid in diapers, he is now an elder and must be 40 yrs old, still a kid to me, though.. he gave me the spiel about "we would love to see you come back " , i said that i could not come back to the religion i had left as it no longer existed (a line i got from my friend bill), this elder replied that there "had been changes, but the basics remain the same".. i just was not quick enough with this one, i just sort of nodded at that and went on about what i simply could not swallow as "truth".
overlapping generation etc etc.. what he was meaning by the basics being the same is that nothing has changed on the "what jw's don't believe in" front, i.e trinity, immortal soul etc.
the reality it is that the basics of jw/wt teachings about what they do believe in have all changed !.
Did anyone ever play the game "chinese whispers" when they were kids?
The basic result of the game is that the original comment or sentance told in the beginning changes drastically by the time the last person (perhaps 20 people later) hears it!
The results are often very funny, or very disturbing!
WT teachings are no more that "chinese whispers"....the original teachins are so distorted or changed, that the originators of the message would not even recognise it anymore....
SO, who told the truth along the way? Was it the one who started it, the one in the middle, or the one at the end??
Whats makes the most sense?
So Phizzy, you were right with the comment you "The religion you left is no longer the same"....
chronic fatigue syndrome refers to severe, continued tiredness that is not relieved by rest and is not directly caused by other medical conditions.. did you have many congregation members, particularly pioneers, that said they had " chronic fatigue syndrome" ?.
that's their "get-out-of-jail-free card.
" they were free to cancel anything at anytime and it was their legitimate reason for not doing anything that didn't involve field recruiting.
I do not wish to offend any here who actually suffer from this, or any other illness. I genuinely feel for you.
My experience while in Bethel though was similar to the comments the OP mentioned. Whenever someone was discouraged, or wanted to leave bethel, (or in later years when someone wanted to leave pioneering), then the only legitamat way amongst witnesses was to have "CFS".
It seems that this meant no one would questioned the decsion. But if someone just said something like, "I would like to do something different in life now, and leave bethel or stop pioneering", they would be judged as being "spiritually weak or self centered"....unless the magical "illness" card was played!
The greatest tradgedy this all did was to make the genuine sufferers look bad or like they were faking it!
Such a twisted scenario...all based on the constant oppresive culture of the witnesses!
did we all notice the way in which this weeks wt study (how to maintain a positive viewpoint) was all about keeping the flock positive even if they feel they are not doing enough in 'service'?.
the irony is that the very reason they feel stressed or worthless is because of the pressures the org puts on them to perform!!!.
.
Did we all notice the way in which this weeks wt study (how to maintain a positive viewpoint) was all about keeping the flock positive even if they feel they are not doing enough in 'service'?
the irony is that the very reason they feel stressed or worthless is because of the pressures the org puts on them to perform!!!
some judged me for going/having gone to university.
some judged me for being 'too smart.
' some judged my non jw brother for being in the army.
The judging and murmuring that takes place amongst the so called "spiritual ones" in the cong is amazing!
I find that these ones who feel that they are in a good spiritual place (according to wt practices anyway), are so quick to judge others in the cong..!
The practice of assuming that we know others circumstances better, or therefore have the right to judge what they should or should not be doing, or what theocratic activities we should be pursuing is so harsh....
They should all mind their own business!!!
as the title asks---which members on here have you actualy met ?.
ive met.
cantleave and nuggett.
I've met jwfacts..... when we were at bethel together in the 90's...
i haven't had the courage to reacquaint ourselves since, although I respect him greatly!
i just wanted to openly apologize to anyone that i have ever offended on this website.
i have been thinking about this lately.
we all seem to go through the same various stages of learning ttatt, anger, sorrow, frustration, bible champion, agnostic, atheist, ect.
Data-Dog and BU2B...I often feel like you guys are reading my mind when you post! I relate very much to what you say....
DD, you havent offended me.
I understand that we all need to go through the stages of healing and grieving as we make this journey!
