Posts by OneEyedJoe

5

How long do JW study the bible with someone? Until baptism?

by Lynnie in

i have a 35 year old cousin who got baptized last year after rejecting the jw since she was 13. not sure what happened to change her mind, i suspect it's all about family since her dad is an elder and her two sisters are very much in.

her oldest sister is married to a middle management guy in bethel.

so she studied for about 2 years until she decided to get baptised.

OneEyedJoe

That's been the trend for a while - though studying for 2 years prior to getting dunked is on the long side. Usually 6 months to a year is considered normal. Pre-baptism they study one book (draw close to god, I think it is now?) Then post baptism they go to the next book (keep yourself in god's love?) And sometimes a third book, I think.

As they say in the baptism talk, it's not the end, it's the beginning. The beginning of a life enslaved to the cult and pressured to constantly be up on your indoctrination.

45

How to Choose a Wife!

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

back in the day, when my family moved to a new congregation, i fell head over heels with a young sister who was an elder's daughter.

it wasn't long before we were talking about marriage and i was contemplating buying her an engagement ring.

my parents were not happy at all.

OneEyedJoe

I always wondered "what happens if he refused?" If he says no, shouldn't he be equally obligated to break up with her for making the suggestion? At that point the "it was just a test!"retort would just seem like backpedaling.

It's no wonder that the happiest marriages I've seen in this cult were between "spiritually weak" couples. The more you follow the rules, the worse job you'll do finding a compatible spouse and the worse you'll be at putting them first before anything else.

15

UK Branch visit 2015

by tamagotchi in

jw
friends

anyone know anything about it?

apparently it's going to be broadcast live nationally to all the congregations this saturday

OneEyedJoe

The only thing I can tell you for sure is that it'll be a waste of about 3 hours of your time.

The US branch visit consisted of public shaming of bethelites, a few puff pieces about some missionaries, then AMIII making a bunch of Pharisaical rules that, in spite of his opening claims, had no support in either the Bible nor the cult's literature.

The Canadian visit was apparently more up building, so it's anyone's guess what you'll get.

45

How to Choose a Wife!

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

back in the day, when my family moved to a new congregation, i fell head over heels with a young sister who was an elder's daughter.

it wasn't long before we were talking about marriage and i was contemplating buying her an engagement ring.

my parents were not happy at all.

OneEyedJoe

I don't remember this being a thing 20 years ago. It's horrifying to think that anybody who asks can just be shown your record card.
This religion really has a privacy problem

I've always understood the process to be that the elders look at the records for you and give you a yes/no/maybe type answer. So not a total betrayal of privacy, I guess. When you contrast it with what would be likely to happen if you asked if brother McPedophile is safe to have around your kids, though, it becomes indefensible.

The idea that an elder can work out someone's heart condition based on a few numbers on a publisher card is just absurd.

45

How to Choose a Wife!

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

back in the day, when my family moved to a new congregation, i fell head over heels with a young sister who was an elder's daughter.

it wasn't long before we were talking about marriage and i was contemplating buying her an engagement ring.

my parents were not happy at all.

OneEyedJoe

I think it probably has less to do with producing more baby dubs than it does with training a pattern of obedience and a "put the cult first" mentality. That and if you know your spouse has been trained to be loyal to the cult before you, you're more likely to subdue your doubts with an appeal to consequences - you won't let yourself doubt because it'll mean losing your spouse.

Born-ins have proven to be a retention nightmare, and the ones that stay are usually half-assed about it.

45

How to Choose a Wife!

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

back in the day, when my family moved to a new congregation, i fell head over heels with a young sister who was an elder's daughter.

it wasn't long before we were talking about marriage and i was contemplating buying her an engagement ring.

my parents were not happy at all.

OneEyedJoe

Yeah, I figured this to be the case since I've heard variations from different sources. The fact that they would openly encourage such deception from the platform always bothered me.

45

How to Choose a Wife!

by snugglebunny in

jw
friends

back in the day, when my family moved to a new congregation, i fell head over heels with a young sister who was an elder's daughter.

it wasn't long before we were talking about marriage and i was contemplating buying her an engagement ring.

my parents were not happy at all.

OneEyedJoe

Yeah, I've heard from the platform numerous times that you should discuss any potential marriage mate with the elders in their congregation.

Another thing along the same lines (also heard from the platform in more than one congregation) is the story of a girl that was dating a JW and one day she suggests that they leave the cult and go alope. When the young man agreed, she revealed that it was a test and ended the relationship. The message being that someone that is loyal to the cult before you will make an ideal marriage mate.

17

Another "reaching out" guilt trip this weekend, apparently.

by OneEyedJoe in

i just got word that the brothers of my congregation is "encouraged to attend a special meeting" this saturday.

i was told to bring the od book, and the 9/15/14 and 4/15/15 study wts.

judging by the articles in those, it's going to be another guilt trip to get all us dead-beat kids in our 20s and 30s to "reach out" to be jr. cult leaders.

OneEyedJoe

5/6 hours - run a microphone, be an assistant to an assistant on the hall dept
[...]
I don't know about now but they are pretty desperate - I'm sure some of the guys used are hardly regular.

Ahh, those were the days. The congregation that I was in from 6 to 18 years old this was the rule - 6 hours a month to touch a mic, 6 month rolling average.

I haven't turned in more than 2 hours in a year, and they'd still try to stick me with the mic nowadays. They're clearly getting desperate. No one's even mentioned the possibility of removing me from mic duties because of low recruiting time. I do think I might be blacklisted now, though. What crime could be worse than turning in such a low monthly report? I've stopped shaving and instead use clippers that leave me with the look of roughly a day's growth. Apparently, in their world, allowing your god-given facial hair to be slightly visible is a much greater sin than being lax about recruiting (which they view as being blood-guilty because god might blindly kill someone if you don't warn them!)

17

Another "reaching out" guilt trip this weekend, apparently.

by OneEyedJoe in

i just got word that the brothers of my congregation is "encouraged to attend a special meeting" this saturday.

i was told to bring the od book, and the 9/15/14 and 4/15/15 study wts.

judging by the articles in those, it's going to be another guilt trip to get all us dead-beat kids in our 20s and 30s to "reach out" to be jr. cult leaders.

OneEyedJoe

I had those sort of meetings a couple of times, it is either pre or post CO visit by a few weeks i reckon, it's just the local BOE trying to show or take some initiative in "encouraging" i.e guilting the dick swingers to reach out.

Hmm. CO was maybe 6 weeks ago. Maybe it took them a while to get to it because of the memorial. This last visit was the last one with this guy, so maybe they're trying to look like they got their s**t together for the new one. From what I understand the departing CO gave the elders a reaming for not doing enough harassment (excuse me, shepherding) calls on people. They probably want to avoid that sort of thing this next time around.

17

Another "reaching out" guilt trip this weekend, apparently.

by OneEyedJoe in

i just got word that the brothers of my congregation is "encouraged to attend a special meeting" this saturday.

i was told to bring the od book, and the 9/15/14 and 4/15/15 study wts.

judging by the articles in those, it's going to be another guilt trip to get all us dead-beat kids in our 20s and 30s to "reach out" to be jr. cult leaders.

OneEyedJoe

I only show up to these to keep everyone happy.

That's more than I'll be doing. When I got the text from my father-in-law it was all I could do not to reply with something super snarky indicating that I'm not going to be there. That'd probably be a bad decision at this stage though.

Last time they brought pictures of some of the geezer elders from their pre-cult days to show everyone. "Look at this douchebag! You'd never think he'd be the shining example of an elder you see before you, would ya!" That was the approach they took with it. I guess in their mind it must be some excess humility that keeps the kids from wanting to have anything to do with the cult beyond the bare minimum. They just can't fathom that the younger ones just don't see the point or *ghasp* have made a contentious decision not to get more deeply involved.