you know, you could almost compare the watchtower to tony robbins, with there constant motivating do more service, attend all meetings.
what will the watchtower be using to motivate the current members to keep this crap going ???.
what were the biggest motivating remarks you remember as a loyal jw ??
You know, I gortta take issue with the comparison to Tony Robbins.
The WTS uses negative motivation - fear, threats, social pressure.
Robbins exhorts people to realize their dreams and to keep setting new goals.
It's almost like the WTS are the anti-Robbins.
....you read in the paper that one of the jw's you knew died and you are either disfellowshipped or disassociated?.
do you mourn all alone for them, do you send a card to the family anonymously, or do you just leave things alone?
i feel bad and wish i could do something but then i have to realize that i didn't shun them, they chose to shun me.
I haven't been through it yet... but I guess it depends on you.
If you want back in ignore any advice of mine.
If you are comfortable with your existence outside the WTS, then send cards to those you care for. Many may be ignored... but you may help make a difference with someone who remebers that those who leave are not all "of the devil".
Condolences.
yes i go door to door im in the pest control business and when i need more work.
there has been a drought in australia the past couple of years and the little creepy crawlies dont breed.
door to door is the best advertising on an average night i can get $600 per hour in work.
My public speaking has helped with presentations and speaking at symposiums.\
Also, I was in retail commission sales for years... I was asked how I dealt with the rejection. I said, "Look, I used to knock on people's doors during the Saturday Game of the Week and tell people they had to change their religion or they were going to die! Now, people come into my store voluntarily looking for electronics. You don't know what rejection is!"
i am interested to know whether jw's or ex jw's on this board really did believe 100%.
did you have doubts all of the time, did you have some confusion or did you never doubt at all?
i recognise that most on this board will have had doubts at the end but was this always the case when you were a good dub?
Don't think I ever believed once I was old enough to think straight. Unfortunately, my emotional development lagged my intellectual by a good amount (surprise).
It was emotional challenges that kept me in, not faith, and it was emotional strength that took me out (not doctrinal issues, which I'd always discerned but allowed to remain behind the curtain.)
is there anything that you miss, since you don't belong to the jw's anymore?
friendship, family, or maybe just the feeling of belonging to some groupe that had you dreaming of a better world?
I have to admit I enjoyed the weekend-KH projects... but I create that feeling (minus the flirting with out-of-town girls:) with work and volunteering in the community.
So I guess the answer is not a darned thing. The opportunities to speak publicly and answer questions and manage the audio and microphones and such were short-term ego boosts, but they were more bad than good for me.
what are your most successful methods for dealing with their visit?
do you prefer to "blow 'em off"?
or do you attempt to dissuade them from their inanity?.
I have a KH round the corner.
The first time I got two very nice sisters. I politely said, "I respect your commitment, but I'm not interested, and I'd really appreciate if if you could have the person who manages the territotry records to mark this address as not to be called on".
One sister said, "So you are familiar with the magazines?" I said "Yes, I am".
She said, "well, I just want to say that was the most politely I've ever been asked that. Good bye."
I said "have a nice day".
The next one (two years later) was not as pleasant - an obnoxious sister and a quiet companion. When she started talking, I asked "Isn't this address marked as a do-not-call address on the territory card?" She said "Yes, it is, but some people wonder why we keep visiting..." At which point I interrupted and said "I still live here and I still don't wish to be called on. Good-bye."
The next time I expect it to be two brothers...:)
according to mike kropveld, director general of (of info sect), this decrease in popularity could be due to, among other factors, recent accusations of negligence in sexual assault cases that have given jehovah's witnesses bad publicity... recruitment seems to have been fruitful at the last international convention of jehovah's witnesses, which took place at the olympic stadium this past june 26-29. close to 35,000 members, from canada, the united states and several francophone countries gathered there.
"people join the ranks of these groups mainly during transitional periods of their lives, when they have existential questions," explains mike kropveld.
"they need to have something to believe in, to belong to a group.
Not off topic at all... nice post, and thanks.
i cannot go into great detail just yet, because a lot of what i have going with my family hinges on what will happen on the weekend of october 10th.
a short background of this topic before the question: at a very young age.
very young i was sexually abused, by more than one member of our congregation.
Well I guess I'm the blind pig finding an acorn in this scenario...;)
Thanks, AlanF.
i made a previous post about me opening my big mouth...............i posted a message on another site making comments that some of you here made in trying to help me say something back to him... below is a copy of his answer to me.
the bold type is the other guy and the normal print is mine............................................. first of all i just want to go back to something you said in the 1st part of this message about the abuse victims....you said..."the elders in the congreation said that this is all a lie.
well, do you mean every last case?
Paraphrasing the words of Utah Phillips:
"Arguing with a <Witness like this> is like having a conversation with your refrigerator. The light goes on, the light goes off... it's not going to do anything that's not programmed into it."
Or the old saw about arguing with a pig comes to mind (wastes your time, annoys pig).
You're wasting your time, I fear.
i cannot go into great detail just yet, because a lot of what i have going with my family hinges on what will happen on the weekend of october 10th.
a short background of this topic before the question: at a very young age.
very young i was sexually abused, by more than one member of our congregation.
Based on other threads, including the one that described another Bethel rejection of a kid that Leo Greenlees hit on years before, I think that the WTS is trying to prevent anyone with a sensitivity based on expereince from being at Bethel, and possibly flipping out when they hear stories, see some proscribed homosexual behavior, etc (I don't know that it occurs, but you can tell they are afraid of the possiblity). The old Greenlees and Chitty stories must be especially rough on victims of child molestation who arrive at Bethel. I doubt it's about your activities at all - unless his guilty feelings led to a "confession".
