darkspilver
JoinedPosts by darkspilver
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Petition! 100,000 signatures...
by darkspilver in....are needed by tuesday 19 september 2017 !your voice in the white house.
we the people ask the federal government to tell us what the federal government is doing about an issue: investigate watchtower bible and tract society for known child sexual abuse within its organization and not reported.. created by h.c. on august 20, 2017. save the children!
pass a law to protect children.
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Circuit leasing is expanding
by DazedAndConfused ini don't have time to look up a post that showed that the society has a circuit leasing site...........so here we go.
lol.
i looked up circuit leasing in my program "copernic" (ah what a wonderful thing) and i came up with a page that shows that not only are they in grand rapids, mi but they are also in 4 other states.
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darkspilver
zeb: just what is circuit leasing..? please
The OP is 16 years old.
The WT asks congregations each year to pay a suggested 'per-publisher' levy of a few dollars each which the WT uses to (bulk) buy the actual cars for COs to use. (The additional running costs/expenses (fuel/oil etc) are paid by the congregation the CO visits each week)
After four or so years the cars are sold. The money made back, along with the annual 'per-publisher' levy is then used to buy new cars, and so on.
NEW - in the UK the WT only replaces the cars after SEVEN years
This means that I understand that in the UK, they have had NO annual 'per-publisher' levy for a couple of years now....
UK used circuit cars are sold here: http://www.tocars.org.uk
You can see an example of Australian cars for sale here:
Use the password: Cars4Sale
In the US the WT now uses http://used-tools-equipment.com/ to sell surplus equipment and cars.
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Brazil: Judge authorizes blood transfusion in adult JW
by darkspilver infyijustice authorizes blood transfusion in jehovah's witness patient in es.
painel politico, friday, september 15, 2017 (via google translate).
religion does not allow the faithful to undergo the procedure, even in cases of emergency; the judge argues that the right to life overrides this.
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darkspilver
St George of England: No doubt the patient and his family will be secretly relieved by the order.
Looking at the wider ethical principle (rather than the 'blood issue') - why?
It appears that the judgement has been obtained beforehand, and the operation has not taken place yet.
In view of the judgement:
- Does the adult patient now refuse to consent to the operation?
- Should the hospital now force the adult patient to have the operation?
How may that work out in other instances when an adult patient wishes to refuse what a doctor deems to be a 'life-saving' operation.
The operation in the OP is an amputation.
Consider the case below from the UK - not blood, but an amputation:
Court of Protection upholds the right of a confused, lonely man to refuse treatment
The issue in this case was whether it would be lawful for the doctors treating Mr B, a diabetic with a severely infected leg, to amputate his foot against his wishes in order to save his life.
Having visited Mr B in hospital to get a clearer understanding of his needs and wishes, as well as to explain to him the consequences of foregoing the surgery, the judge concluded that the operation would not be lawful.
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interesting EX-CO AMA ( Ask Me Anything) over on exjwreddit
by Diogenesister inex-circuit overseer here, ama.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/6usaky/excircuit_overseer_here_ama/.
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darkspilver
More answers...
What it's like to be a Circuit Overseer - Part 3Wednesday:
Time to preach. We started at 8:00 am in that country and preached straight for 3 1/2 hours door to door. Most householders listened sort of, out of politeness. I would first preach with whoever was being recommended for something, or an elder, then the pioneers one by one. There were no car groups, everyone walked, the territory usually surrounded the Hall. It was tropical heat and dust. If I was preaching with a cute pioneer sister, that made the time go by faster.
Looking back, I spent thousands of hours preaching. Before I was a CO, I was called a Field Missionary. 140 hours per month. Then as a Circuit Overseer it was 90 hours a month. Being a foreigner, I stuck out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood though, so I was robbed at gunpoint more than once.
The houses were mostly tile floored, some had dirt floors. No one had air conditioning. I had some crazy stories, mostly though it was reading the same scriptures and using the same reasoning thousands of times. I used to say, "If Adam and Eve hadn't sinned, where would they be now?" When they answered, "Earth", then I would read Psalm 37:29. I had no problem with the "secondary fulfillment" of that scripture. Or Revelation 21:4. Again, thousands of times using the same scriptures and same reasoning. Brainwashed and helping to brainwash others. My Bible would automatically open to the same verses because I had read them so much. Week after week, month after month, year after year of the same. I gave thousands of presentations at the door. After an hour of service every morning I started to go brain dead. I would forget if I had read a scripture or not. It was all so mind-numbing and I was in field service saying the same things over and over and over, I guess you get the picture.
Rarely did any householder bring up a challenging question. Even rarer was somebody talking about our organization. I remember a householder once talking about Carlos Russel. I wondered who that was. Usually though, the only discussions I had were with born-agains.
At lunch I would walk to the house of whoever had invited me to eat. Chicken and rice, mostly. Delicious. Though sometimes I had seen the live chicken that morning at that house for the meeting for service and I had been informed that was lunch. The friends were extremely hospitable. I appreciated their hospitality and I was always polite, though sometimes I acted as if I was important. Those are bad memories. Once in a while the family would invite a single sister to eat with us in case we might like each other, that was great. We would laugh about it later. Other times the "unbelieving husband" would be home or even a disfellowshipped husband. I would always eat with everyone, I figured it was a good Witness and after all, they were feeding me. I had a couple of strange experiences at lunch, I'll tell them sometime.
After lunch was usually a siesta, remember this is tropical country with no AC, everyone was always dripping wet with sweat. If you didn't rest, you would definitely fall asleep on the Bible studies later due to the heat and humidity. I would rest on a couch or on a hammock in the patio. Sometimes the mosquitos were so bad I had to sleep under a mosquito net.
At 2 pm, Bible studies. This was the Knowledge Book, remember that book? I went on two studies per afternoon, three days a week. Add that up. That's over 300 a year. I was bored out of my mind. I used to read other books while I was on studies and in service, including Newsweek magazine that my family had sent me. There was no real Internet service back then so the magazines my family sent were it. The friends would talk about how I knew every paragraph in the Knowledge book even though I didn't seem to be paying attention and I was reading other stuff. The Branch eventually sent me a letter telling me to pay more attention on Bible Studies, apparently word had gotten back to them.
Then came the Pioneer Meeting. I tried to make it happy. There was always complaining about territory, long meetings for service, no key to the Hall, pioneers not getting along. I almost always sided with the pioneers, not with the elders. The elders sometimes seemed to think they were better then others, I hated that. I supported the pioneers. Anyway, I tried to make the pioneer meeting lively and practical.
That's it for Wednesday. If there was a huge problem in the congregation, I might schedule a meeting to discuss it that night. Otherwise it was back to the missionary home or back to where I was staying. Occasionally I did a shepherding call with one of the elders.
Reddit user 'Askmeaboutmy_Beergut' commented:Your service experience sounds just like when I was in Guatemala:
There we had mountains to walk up. Beautiful country and beautiful people. Just like you I'd use the same scriptures. The resurrection really appeals to those people since many had lost loved ones to the civil war. But it would get hot there, and I would get burned. People were so poor but very generous, they would give us mangoes or some sort of food for a donation, tortillas or offer us a plate of food, which you never turned down. I would be full from lunch and be offered a plate of rice and beans with chicken 20 minutes later on a study with someone and would somehow manage to put it down. There was ONE thing however I could not eat, which was popular with the poor mayans. It was called "Atole"! It was basically just food starch and water. A filler that the poor people ate. It was served hot into a cup. I can best describe it as warm snot in a cup. I couldn't do it I had to apologize many times for turning it down.
And yes beautiful women everywhere. But the Spanish women are very hot headed and jealous and those are hard qualities to deal with. Everyone wanted to work with me and ask me tons of questions about the US. Many had plans to go illegally to the US and would tell me, many did, they'd just disappear then later I'd hear they "went north to the US." I saw car accidents where people were dead laying on the side of the road. Way out in the mountains you can't wait for police, and the roads were narrow, the buses would stop and traffic would stop, and the people would move the cars off the road as well as the dead occupants (I saw a woman and her little girl about 11 or 12 dead) they'd just cover them up with a sheet, call the police then leave. We took chicken buses everywhere. Hot sweaty people packed 3 to a seat, the mayan people smelled like campfire smoke because they all cook with wood. And the women all had babies tied onto their backs. It really was a great time down there. Just ashamed I was part of a cult recruiting for them.
Here's 3 pics showing what my territory looked like. These pics are clear because I go back regularly with my wife. This is where I served back in 97 and 98. https://imgur.com/a/GrT75
Probably alot like where you preached. Those outside markets had the best vegetables I've ever seen, but if you didn't wash them you'd get amoebas and your stomach would ache for days.
You should write your story on here as well. You mention a lot of stuff I forgot. The car accidents are gross, and riding those buses with the chickens was an experience.
Yes the markets had great vegetables. But I always had to take amoeba medication every year as a precaution. I liked to barter the prices too.
Do you ever experience dreams where you are reliving the life you lived as a Jehovah Witness? My brother who was born in and finally woke up, keeps having dreams of all the people he affected in one way or another. Like people he studied with and brought into the organization, people he had a part in disfellowshipping, sisters he encouraged to leave their husbands for reasons of spiritual endangerment. Unfortunately many of the experiences and people Jws met and lived with will be etched in the minds and memories of Jws who finally wake up. And from time to time those memories will rear their ugly head in our dreams, of which we have no control. Which is why I ask if you ever relieve your experiences as a CO in your dreams.I have dreams occasionally of being back in my assignment and being stuck there. Bad dreams.
That sounds boring as hell! I don't know how you did it. I would've died.
Reddit user 'Askmeaboutmy_Beergut' commented:
I went through the same thing as him basically and to be honest it was an incredible experience.
Trekking through jungle, talking with indigenous people who live like they lived a thousand years ago is amazing. The sights, the smells. Yeah all the time spent preaching and meetings was boring, but man very few people get to live in a 3rd world country with such colorful people.
The moments are were it's at. Standing on the side of a mountain in the evening watching the sun go down, the purple and orange sky, looking at a village a mile down into the valley as all the lights come on, the cold air and the smell of campfire smoke and food cooking is something very few people have experienced.
I sat on the steps of a village thousands of feet up the side of an ancient volcano in a mayan village, early in the morning, cold, watching a village half a mile down, hearing roosters crowing, smelling tortillas cooking, watching mayan women laughing speaking kak chi que language. Yeah parts were boring, but overall he saw shit no one here could ever imagine. Being a witness in service took us to parts of those countries where no westerner has ever been. Seriously, whole villages would come out to look at me because I was the 1st white guy they had ever seen, little kids would touch me like I had some magical powers or something. It was wierd.
Overall, worth it.
Very cool. I had some rural circuits at first and I saw some of the same things. Beautiful countryside, simple living, nice people. Cooking with wood, drawing water from a well or from the river. Quiet evenings. Completely different world there.
This is interesting in a morbid boredom kind of way. I would hate it. Sounds like busywork for nothing. Usually I wondered doing CO visits how bored the CO and his wife may be. We got a meeting that was different but boring every week... They heard the same shit every single week... Urgh.
I have a stupid question but I need to know this. You mentioned dealing with judicial matters... Do COs choke the chicken? Is it harder to do when you are visiting a different place every week? Did you ever have intrusive thoughts? I am really curious
Of course I did. The hormones were raging. Usually I finished the deal on Monday before I left for my assignment. Then all week I would act like the perfect CO. I think because I was so focused on service that it was easier during the week. Plus I had very little privacy. Come Monday I would "fail" again. All the young single CO's "struggled" with masturbation. The DO told me that when we had our private once a year meeting. In fact, the Branch was always so innundated with questions about it that they told us not to remove an elder or servant or pioneer for it unless it was a long time habit that they weren't trying to overcome. My substitute CO told me he was really having a difficult time with it and I told him just to keep fighting it. He felt I was being too lenient with him so he personally went to the Branch to confess. They told him the same thing. Keep fighting and as long as you do then you won't be removed.
I remember coming back to the States and talking with elders and CO's here about it. What a difference. They would remove them if their masturbation was a regular thing. I was shocked.
The Branch where I was had worse problems to deal with. Adultery was common. I had to find a long-time married elder to interview at the assembly and I had to find one outside my circuit since all of them in my circuit had committees adultery in the past.
One of the CO's I taught pioneer school with was watching porno movies at night with his wife. Then he was, ahem, receiving oral sex from a single mother in the bathroom where they were staying for the week.
He got disfellowshipped after he left his wife for her. That lasted three months, she kicked him out because he couldn't get a job, he had no skills. His wife took him back. Within a year he was reinstated and then a regular pioneer again. I think within about 5 years he was a substitute CO.
Then a marrried District Overseer was caught with his girlfriend at a mall, hanging out. They had been together for six years. Six years of him giving talks and counsel to other people while hiding his girlfriend. I knew him well, he was a very kind man who had married a quiet pioneer sister who was very studious and who also was extremely conservative in her dress and grooming. His girlfriend on the other hand was a little firecracker. The reason I mention that is because he often talked about how brothers should look for spiritual qualities in looking for a wife. So on Mondays he was dropping off his paperwork at the Branch which a lot of us did, then visit his girlfriend who lived around the corner.
So yes I did it my entire missionary career off and on. I really tried to stop though. I felt so bad after the deed was done and I would pray and pray to Jehovah for forgiveness, but I was able to relax and focus on the week of activity after that. I knew it was wrong, but I justified it since I dealt with so much porneia and adultery that what I was doing seemed relatively innocent.
Wow the knowledge book ? Then that was a long time ago. How long since you left the org?My wife and I are faded. We are still technically in although we haven't attended meetings in years. Trying to help family and friends to get out.
I love how you still use the term "the friends". Old habits die hard. It took me forever to stop saying "the truth" Damn that cult. They really pound that shit into you.I'm using all the Witness expressions! Its easier for me to write it that way and you all know what I am referring to when I say brother and the friends and bible studies and pioneer meeting, etc.
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Brazil: Judge authorizes blood transfusion in adult JW
by darkspilver infyijustice authorizes blood transfusion in jehovah's witness patient in es.
painel politico, friday, september 15, 2017 (via google translate).
religion does not allow the faithful to undergo the procedure, even in cases of emergency; the judge argues that the right to life overrides this.
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darkspilver
FYI
Justice authorizes blood transfusion in Jehovah's Witness patient in ESPainel Politico, Friday, September 15, 2017 (via Google Translate)
Religion does not allow the faithful to undergo the procedure, even in cases of emergency; The judge argues that the right to life overrides this
The Justiça do Espírito Santo has determined that a hospital located in the municipality of Serra, in the metropolitan region of Vitória, to perform blood transfusion in an elderly patient who is Jehovah's Witness - religion that does not allow its followers to receive blood from third parties, even in cases of medical emergency.
According to the process, the patient is hospitalized and needs to undergo an amputation surgery. Aebes (Associação Evangélica Beneficente Espírito Santense), which is the manager of the State Hospital Dr. Jayme dos Santos Neves, says that both the family and the patient witness of Jehovah himself do not allow the transfusion, even at the risk of death.
The lawsuit was filed by the association that manages the hospital, in which it requires, in anticipation of guardianship, that blood transfusion be authorized during the surgery of the elderly, as well as in the postoperative period, independently of the will of the patient's relatives .
According to the author of the action, the patient is elderly and is hospitalized in his unit because of the "need for transtibial amputation of the right lower limb", because he presents a leg injury without clinical conditions for outpatient treatment and that needs to be kept hospitalized with the consequent amputation. He also reports that since he is anemic, he will probably need a blood transfusion.
It turns out that the hospital was surprised by the family's refusal to allow transfusion for being faithful to the religion that rejects such a procedure.
"Right to life"
In the understanding of the Judge of the 4th Civil Court of the Serra, between the right to life and the right to religious belief, the right to life overlaps, and the State has a positive duty to act in relation to the preservation of it.
"The right to life, because the right to be born, to grow and to prolong its existence comes from the natural right inherent in human beings, which is undoubtedly the primary and antecedent of all other rights. Based on the above reasoning, I understand the requirements for granting urgent care and I authorize the applicant to use blood / blood products (blood transfusion) during the surgery, as well as in the postoperative period. ", the judge concluded, ordering Jehovah's witness patient to undergo the procedure.
READ ARTICLE: http://painelpolitico.com/justica-autoriza-transfusao-de-sangue-em-paciente-testemunha-de-jeova-no-es/
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Repository for JW "experiences" with Hurricane Harvey
by sir82 init's only a matter of time of course..... jw rumor mills will start up soon, with stories of how jws were "first on the scene" as the flood waters receded..... how the red cross and/or us national guard and/or doctors without borders and/or [you name it] were marveling at just how "organized" the jws are..... how zealous jws were pulling their trolleys thru ankle-deep water to "offer comfort" to victims, by giving them - sandwiches?
bottled water?
to offer them comfort by giving them 16 page "magazines" to read in their spare time..... so as the stories start to come in, you can "deposit" those little nuggets of bs here.. once collected, we'll wrap them in a pretty bow and flush them away where other instances of pure manure go..
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darkspilver
The tragic story of Wilma Jean Ellis - this is on the front page of The New York Times today (Sunday, September 17, 2017) and has been promoted by the NYT in a series of tweets:
"The rescue of Wilma Jean Ellis was one of Hurricane Harvey's heroic tales, until it wasn't."
"How did Wilma Jean Ellis, who was rescued twice from Hurricane Harvey's floodwaters caused, end up in a body bag?"
"Catastrophic storms have their measurable aspects. Then there is the unknowable, like how Wilma Jean Ellis perished."
Twice Saved From Houston Floods but Still, Mysteriously, a VictimThe New York Times, Sunday, September 17, 2017 (front page of print edition)
It was a hard choice, but in the end it was no choice at all. A small rescue boat had come up the driveway, offering help. Carl Ellis was with his frail, 73-year-old mother, Wilma Jean. The boat had room for one.
The water was already up to Mr. Ellis’s knees, so there was no time to wait for rescuers with more room. His mother would have to go alone.
Using the back of a pickup truck as a gangplank, Mr. Ellis helped his mother into the boat, her belongings trussed up in garbage bags. There were no life jackets, but it was a short trip and the rescuers promised to come right back for him.
He never saw them — or his mother — again.
The peak of desperation for northeast Houston residents inundated by Hurricane Harvey came on Monday, Aug. 28. Greens Bayou had swelled to a record 43.4 feet where it crossed Tidwell Road, dislodging cars and ripping apartment walls down to their studs.
In the middle-class, predominantly black neighborhood where Ms. Ellis lived in a one-story brick house, people woke in the wee hours to find the water seeping in. Hundreds — if not thousands — of people escaped in watercraft of every description.
The water turned thick and oily, boiling with angry clusters of fire ants.
Sometime around 7 a.m., three men in a boat motored up the driveway of Ms. Ellis’s house on Drifting Winds Drive.
Ms. Ellis was an energetic woman — a committed Jehovah’s Witness who made boudin sausage from scratch, played video games on a Sega Genesis, drove a gargantuan pickup truck with a grille the size of a portcullis and enjoyed the occasional nip of Windsor Canadian.
But she had recently had surgery, followed by a stroke, family members said.
So Mr. Ellis didn’t stop to ask exactly who the men in the boat were — he just helped his mother aboard. She still wore the hospital bracelet from her recent treatment...
READ FULL ARTICLE: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/16/us/hurricane-harvey-houston-wilma-ellis.html
FYI the JW website posted a 'news' article about Hurricane Harvey a couple of days previous, on Thursday...
Witnesses in the United States Cope With Impact of Hurricane HarveyJWorg, Thursday, September 14, 2017
Approximately 84,000 Witnesses live in the areas impacted by Harvey. No deaths are reported among our brothers and sisters, although nine were injured and five have been hospitalized.
READ FULL ARTICLE: https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/united-states/hurricane-harvey-jehovahs-witnesses-cope/
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interesting EX-CO AMA ( Ask Me Anything) over on exjwreddit
by Diogenesister inex-circuit overseer here, ama.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/6usaky/excircuit_overseer_here_ama/.
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darkspilver
ExCO: My personal progression? Publisher at 5 years old. Baptized at 15. Pioneer at 16. MS at 20. MTS at 23. Missionary at 24. Appointed elder at my assignment at 24. CO at 28.
Considering his fast-track (and young) progression - I was slightly surprised he was not baptized younger than 15, especially considering he was an unbaptized-publisher at only 5..... but part of one of his answers below perhaps answers that when he reveals:
ExCO: When I was in school as a kid, my mother was a Witness and still is, and my father never was.
Interesting.
More answers....This reminded me of being at work the other day. My boss gave me a clip board and asked me to go around the show we were setting up to see what still needed to be done and what was. My co workers instantly started razzing me for having a clip board so I (jokingly) told them I was giving grades and taking notes on them. In which they (jokingly) told me to f-off and we all had a good laugh. But wow, you actually were taking notes on and grading people! Was it hard for you to acclimate in to the real world after being such a lemming rock star? And don't take this in a mean way, but I'm sure it was hard to come to the realization that you aren't as special as you thought. Just a guy spinning around on a rock through space. I'm sure many CO's stay in just because they love the constant ego pump. I give you a lot of credit.
Yes I did take notes on all the talks. I wanted everyone to put real effort to apply what we learned at the Theocratic Ministry School.
Looking back, it was a joke. Being a CO didn't help me at all in the real world, in fact it hurt me. CO's are nothing, I walked around like I was important when in reality I wasn't doing anything special at all.
Regarding the MS who was cooking the books and stealing congregation money and had been for years.... Wow. That is so infuriating. Here he was literally stealing from the people he was supposed to be protecting so much. Did anyone in the congregation ever find out about it?
As far as I know, no one ever did. He became a servant again years later.
When my husband and I were pioneering and he was an elder, we had the theocratic goal of getting in the circuit work. We had both been raised in the truth and were brainwashed to wait for the new system to have a natural part of life - family. So what would be a natural next step for a pioneer couple serving in the foreign language field - circuit work... when we inquired to a then CO how to achieve that goal - he told us because we asked we were now disqualified - have you ever heard this rule? I've always wanted to ask a CO this mind boggling question...
Because you asked you were disqualified? Nonsense. First of all, there is no application for Circuit Work. You have to be recommended. So a brother approaching the CO regarding the circuit work would be welcomed. I was always on the lookout for brothers so I could recommend them. There are only two basic requirements. Elder and regular pioneer. After that, the brother, if married, must have a wife also pioneering. They must have been married at least two years. They must be available to travel, in other words, the Society didn't want more substitute Circuit Overseers that were tied down to a job. They wanted brothers who could be permanent CO's.
So if a brother or a couple asked me, I would always ask them those questions. If they filled the bill, then I would write a letter of recommendation to the Branch. I would also fill out a PQR - a Personal Qualifications Report, on both of them. It's a two page questionnaire that focuses on someone's personality, talents and skills. I would send that in also.
That CO had something against you. Normally a CO would LOVE to recommend someone, it looks great on his resume as well and shows the Branch he is on the ball. The Society was always sending us letters telling us to be on the lookout for good elders who were pioneers who could be a candidate for circuit work.
So that "rule" you were told is bogus.
How would you get a substitute CO in trouble for being an asshole? We have a guy here in Dallas who is known as a HUGE asshat. He was one of the reasons I woke up. I served with him as a MS and the shit he pulled blew my mind. Point his finger at your nose, get in your face right there in front of everyone. Make 'my way or the highway rules'. I mean, what could someone do to get someone called to task over this kind of behavior? He's an elder, but a substitute CO also. Write a letter to bethal outlining his behavior? It seems guys like him are untouchable in this org.
First of all, write a letter. Anytime the Branch receives a letter complaining about an elder or a CO, someone is assigned to handle it. I received letters from the Branch based on a letter they had received from someone, and I had to investigate. So here is what to do:
Write a letter
Try to get multiple people to sign it and identify themselves. Anonymous letters go nowhere.
Make a strong BIBLICAL accusation. Make sure you use a scripture in 1 Tim 3:1-5 or Titus 1:5-9 on elders qualifications. Accuse him of losing his temper. Specifically state that he put his finger in your face and several witnesses will corroborate that. Or get some more info on him, but only that Witnesses can verify.
They will have to address it at a special meeting and you will have to be there. So will your witnesses. I have seen young, timid publishers take down mighty elders because of this two-Witness rule. It goes both ways ha ha.
So yes, you can take this guy down. Get your biblical accusations ready, have your witnesses ready to testify in front of this guy.
But it will take time. Will it be worth it to you? It's a lot of hassle. I have been on a lot of these cases. If you decide to do it, PM me, and I can give you some more detailed info.
It most probably is a waste of your time, and he might be actually helping to wake people up, so there's that to think about as well.
But he's not untouchable. No one is in the organization.
Is there anything that we used to teach, "the deep things of God", that was explained by Watchtower that just never sat well with you but you couldn't give it the mental attention it deserved because it would lead to doubts. In other words. When the mental road block signs came off after you woke up what teachings were huge red flags for you?
Great question.
I was raised a Witness, so I fully believed. But some things did bother me, while others didn't. Let me start with what DIDN'T bother me, in fact it had the opposite effect.
The 144,000. The anointed. That was one of the STRONGEST things that kept me in. I knew some anointed ones growing up. They were knowledgeable about the Bible, well, about Witness teachings anyway. And some were shy, reserved. I used to talk to them as a young man. I was impressed by their humility. They weren't elders or servants, some were female. They loved the scriptures. I was impressed by them and I thought that's how the anointed should be, not the loud, prominent ones but the ones that Jehovah deemed worthy. It just seemed right. That helped to keep me convinced I was in the right organization.
But years later, when I was a missionary CO, I was at Bethel getting my eyes surgically fixed, so I had to stay at Brooklyn for a couple of months. I saw GB members close up. I had only talked to them at assemblies and meetings and in my assignment brother Jaracz visited who impressed me a lot. But this time I remember a friend of mine who was visiting Bethel, he approached a GB member who was at the Monday night Bethel Family Watchtower study. He asked him a biblical question, and I could tell the GB member had no idea. He also didn't seem to care. That bothered me. Then I heard other stories of anointed ones who were very haughty or strange. But overall, they impressed me as a youth until other things became clear and I met more of them as an adult and then the mystique of the anointed started to wear off.
Another thing was that I looked up John 1:1 in a Greek only Bible. I saw with my own eyes the definite article ("The") before the first mention of God and no definite article before the second mention of God. So I was convinced that the NWT had it right that Jesus was "a god." That also convinced me the organization had it right.
Another thing that convinced me was that I believed in the account of Adam and Eve. I always thought, if Adam and Eve hadn't sinned, where would they be now? On earth in a paradise without sin!
So those were some of the things that convinced me. Now on to what bothered me
What bothered me?
When I was in school as a kid, my mother was a Witness and still is, and my father never was. I remember asking my mother why we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. I was assigned a project at school for Thanksgiving and of course I couldn't participate. I asked my mom why and she said because it's worldly. I said, "OK, but what do I tell the teacher, just that I can't because I'm a Witness?" She said, "No, don't say that because they will think you are not being allowed to. Just say it goes against your conscience." I told my Mom, "OK then if my conscience allows me to then I can?" She said no, we would have to tell the elders and I would be in trouble. So that bothered me, I was telling a lie to the teacher. It wasn't my conscience, I had to obey or get in trouble by the elders.
Another thing that bothered me was the generation. I lived and breathed the 1914 generation will not pass away. I even kept the famous 1989 WT in my briefcase that said the preaching work would be completed by the end of the twentieth century. I just knew we were so close to the end. And then I became a missionary and in 1995 the generation teaching was changed. I remember studying it at the missionary home table with everyone. It was a sad study. I tried to make it work in my mind but it really bothered me. I felt like the GB was hedging their bets, that they had to say something because too much time had gone by and the end hadn't come. I put it out of my mind though.
Then there was the appointment of elders and ministerial servants. When I became a CO, I found out that the local branch appoints the elders and servants, not Brooklyn. The Service Department at the Branch was one brother who was a very simple man. He made a lot of mistakes. He appointed an 18 year old as an elder by mistake. i tried to talk to him about recommendations but he just kept the topic simple. And I saw a lot of elders and servants appointed who had been committing sins and we're found out. Were they appointed by Holy Spirit?
Appointed by Holy Spirit is not really a deep teaching but it did bother me.
Another thing that did bother me was the lack of scriptures talking about the paradise earth. The Bible is so big, and there is so much information about other stuff, why not more about the paradise earth?
All those things bothered me and started to add up more and more.
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Canada: class action lawsuit filed against the Watchtower about the pedophilia issue
by yalbmert99 incanada, province of quebec : class action lawsuit filed against the watchtower about the pedophilia issue.
it is now official.
see the articles in french of today:.
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darkspilver
The Petitioner Ms. Blais is represented by the law firm Woods LLP in Montreal.
AKA http://www.litigationboutique.com
there doesn't seem to be anything about this on their website yet....
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How Rutherford did a backflip (flop) off the Great Pyramid
by TerryWalstrom inin 1924, judge rutherford published an article which referred to the great pyramid as "the scientific bible" and added that measurements on the grand gallery inside the great pyramid confirmed the dates 1874, 1914 and 1925.. 1925 was the famous blowout date for the return of "ancient worthies" about which the judge said, "i made an ass of myself.".
just four years later, rutherford did one of his famous about-face reversals.. whereas previously the watchtower had taught that the great pyramid was probably built by melchizedek, or shem;*.
rutherford now said the great pyramid was constructed "under the direction of satan the devil.
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darkspilver
FWIW there's some more discussion here:
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September 11, 2017 Re: Global Assistance Arrangement for the 2018 Service Year
by wifibandit inseptember 11, 2017 to all congregations in the united states re: global assistance arrangement for the 2018 service year.
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darkspilver
The Fall Guy: So the answer is this - the org's insurance may cost the congregations more.
Any idea why for 2018 the GAA UK publisher rate is, once again, around half US rate??
GAA - US-per-publisher = $8.00
GAA - UK-per-publisher = $4.08 (£3.00)
That's some interesting “equalizing”
