Posts by apostrate

14

How Much Does It Cost To Produce One Watchtower Magazine?

by The Governor in

jw
friends

hello everyone i had a quick question to ask.

does anyone know how much it cost to produce a watchtower magazine?

also does anyone know how much each watchtower magazine is worth?

apostrate

I don't know the answer precisely, but I had this conversation with an elder once. The elder admitted that the cost of printing a magazine was pennies, he said probably a nickel or less.

So, I reminded him that the "brother" on the platform told us that when donating for publications, we should compare our book or magazine to what a similar book or magazine sells for at Barnes and Noble or some such bookstore, and donate accordingly.

I also reminded him that the WT does not have the operating costs that commercial book publishers have. WT does not pay their "employees", they do not pay their writers, they do not pay for advertising, they do not pay for the gasoline that their "sales people" use to go door-to-door, they do not spend towards a clothing allowance, and they most definitely do not pay TAXES!

So I asked him why should a JW pay a comparable price for WT literature that they would pay for a commercial book or mag?

Needless to say this elder does not speak to me anymore!

As for what each Watchtower magazine is worth? (This is too easy) It isn't worth the paper that it is printed on!

62

What is the most strange action of a witness while out in field service?

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

i was paired with this older "brother" when i was a teenager.

he was very very strange.

he was a nice guy but goofy.

apostrate

This message is for DwainBowman, Dwain, this college that you mentioned earlier, ummm..... where is it exactly???

Although I am no longer a JW, I'm thinking about going out in Field Service again!

62

What is the most strange action of a witness while out in field service?

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

i was paired with this older "brother" when i was a teenager.

he was very very strange.

he was a nice guy but goofy.

apostrate

Vidiot,

Yeah, like Jesus, I've pretty much given up on planet Earth, too. If Trump becomes our next president, I'm definitely getting on board that shuttle bus to Mars!!

52

After Death Communications in the JW community

by jack2312 in

my name is jack and i'm looking for after death communications from the jehovah witness community.

an after death communication (or adc) is when a loved one sends a kind of message to this side of life after their death.

it can be a dream or smell (like perfume or roses that would be attached to them in memory) or a feeling of their presence.

apostrate

Lack of evidence does not mean that something isn't so. Many murderers have walked away free due to lack of evidence. Just because they were not found guilty in a court of law does not mean that they were not actually guilty.

To be honest, I have had many unexplained incidences, particularly since my brothers death. If it were just one incident, I could chalk it up to coincidence. But a series of coincidences??

I don't tell people about these things because 1, I have no proof, and 2, nobody would believe me anyway. I have no Messiah Complex and I am not out to save the world or make anyone believe the things that I believe. If there is life after death and I am being sent a message, then that message is for ME, nobody else.

I don't concern myself with issues such as "evolution or creation". If there is life after death, then all will be revealed in due time. If there is no life after death, THEN WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE??? Why argue about such things?

Eat, drink, and be MARY!

62

What is the most strange action of a witness while out in field service?

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

i was paired with this older "brother" when i was a teenager.

he was very very strange.

he was a nice guy but goofy.

apostrate

One of my earliest recollections of going out in field service. North Hollywood, CA, 1965. I was 11 years old and I was tagging along with my mom who was tagging along with Sister Alice, the woman who brought my mother into the "Truth".

It had been a morning of the typical knocking on doors, people either being not-at-home or just plain not-interested. We were about to call it a day when we knocked on the door of a man who was very eager to talk religion! But he was the victor in this conversation, and he was very keen on sharing with us his "proof" of what he had to say.

He told us that Jesus had given up on the planet Earth and was now concentrating his efforts on the planet Mars. After talking on the porch for a few minutes, he invited us in his house to listen to a tape recording of the ruler of Mars giving a speech to Earthlings. (As others on this site have previously stated, you just can't make this kind of shit up!!!)

To the best of my memory, his house just looked like a typical old man's house, complete with the typical old man smell. But he had this huge reel-to-reel tape recorder, and he put the tape into place and began to play it to us. It had weird background music on it while somebody gave a speech about life on Mars.

This was a long time ago. I can't remember exactly what was said on the tape recorder except that people on Mars could live forever, but typically they would get bored with living after a few hundred years and would willingly go into chambers and kill themselves. (Kinda the same feeling I have now thinking about living forever in a world with Jehovahs Witnesses, except my boredom would set in long before a few hundred years!)

Well, we left after listening to this old man's tape, and I remember Sister Alice saying to my mom, "You don't think any of that is true do you???"

"Oh, c'mon now Alice! You know it's not true! He probably worked for one of the movie studios and got that tape from the set of Star Trek or Twilight Zone!"

Of course, now that I am grown and know The Truth About The Truth, I lie awake at night wondering if I hadn't passed up my only opportunity at eternal life on the Planet Mars????

180

What is the most bizarre counsel you received as a JW, from a JW?

by Funchback in

there were many addressed to me.

for example, i once had a sister tell me i was gambling because i liked playing skill crane (the machine where you have to try to pick up prizes like stuffed animals) at the arcade.

i then fired back a her: "you saw the r-rated movie 'backdraft.

apostrate

William P,

that makes me think of something that happened once, although I wasn't actually there to see it. Quite funny though, at least I thought it was.

I once worked in a mailroom for a large company. The mailroom was staffed with all JW's. Sometime after I had quit, I heard that one of the "worldly" women who worked at the company brought some homemade Christmas cookies down to the boys in the mailroom

Well, the manager (a JW) refused to eat any of them. But one of the other workers there (also a JW) would take a knife and scrape the Christmas icing off of the cookies and then eat them (I guess that made them less pagan).

This, of course, infuriated the manager. So, there was friction between the "brothers" in the mailroom.

180

What is the most bizarre counsel you received as a JW, from a JW?

by Funchback in

there were many addressed to me.

for example, i once had a sister tell me i was gambling because i liked playing skill crane (the machine where you have to try to pick up prizes like stuffed animals) at the arcade.

i then fired back a her: "you saw the r-rated movie 'backdraft.

apostrate

My mother became a JDub in 1965 in North Hollywood, CA. In 1968 we moved back to Dallas, TX. In California, the congregations were integrated, blacks and whites met together at the Kingdum Halls.

In Dallas, TX, in 1968, the congregations were segregated. The blacks had their own Kingdum Halls. My dad was never a JDub, but he would go to a meeting occasionally to placate my mom.

Once, while attending a meeting, my dad just came right out and asked a "brother" why they were segregated when they taught racial unity.

"Well, we have to think of how it looks to outsiders". That was the answer that this "brother" gave.

My older, real life, brother, summed it up best when he told my mom and dad, "What a bunch of hypocrites. You guys need to find yourself another religion!"

180

What is the most bizarre counsel you received as a JW, from a JW?

by Funchback in

there were many addressed to me.

for example, i once had a sister tell me i was gambling because i liked playing skill crane (the machine where you have to try to pick up prizes like stuffed animals) at the arcade.

i then fired back a her: "you saw the r-rated movie 'backdraft.

apostrate

I guess that I am a homosexual and didn't know it because I have been wearing white socks, exclusively, for the past thirty years!

Back in the 70's I had a severe problem with ingrown toenails. The dye from colored socks would get into the edges of my toenails and complicate the problem even more. So, since then I only wear white socks. I knew it was turning me into Cliff Clavin, but I never realized that it made me gay!

Now, in one of the congregations that I attended there was this one very old, feeble "sister" who must have been at least 90 years old. At one of the service meetings one night, the "brother" gave a talk all about the evils of "sisters" wearing slit skirts and the detrimental effects it could have on our young "brothers".

After the meeting, a group of us were talking about how spiritually uplifting the meeting was, and this elderly "sister" spoke up and said (in her typically feeble 90 year old voice), "I guess I'm gonna have to watch what kind of clothes I'm wearing, I don't wanna do anything to cause trouble in the congregation."

We all had to turn and look away, and try to hide the tears rolling down our faces from the laughter we were trying so hard to contain!!

180

What is the most bizarre counsel you received as a JW, from a JW?

by Funchback in

there were many addressed to me.

for example, i once had a sister tell me i was gambling because i liked playing skill crane (the machine where you have to try to pick up prizes like stuffed animals) at the arcade.

i then fired back a her: "you saw the r-rated movie 'backdraft.

apostrate

When I was in my early 20's I did not know what the word "euphemism" meant. Not only do I now know what it means, but I realize that the "brother" you are about to hear about did not really know what it meant either.

One night after the service meeting this "brother" came up to me and said, "The other elders and I have noticed that you tend to use "euphemisms" a lot."

Not knowing what that meant, I just gave him a perplexed look and said, "What???"

He said, "You know, you use words like "golly" and "gee whiz."

Not trying to be funny, but I again looked at him and said, "Gee! I didn't realize that!"

Then I just walked away from him, pissed! With all the other things that I was going through at the time, I couldn't believe that someone would try to make a big stink about me saying, "Gee"!

This "brother" happened to be the husband of Diane Wilson, who would later write the book, "Awakening of a Jehovahs Witness".

When I read her book, she told the story of how her husband had scolded others for the same transgression.

Goooolly! (Gomer Pyle voice)

52

After Death Communications in the JW community

by jack2312 in

my name is jack and i'm looking for after death communications from the jehovah witness community.

an after death communication (or adc) is when a loved one sends a kind of message to this side of life after their death.

it can be a dream or smell (like perfume or roses that would be attached to them in memory) or a feeling of their presence.

apostrate

This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but I will share it anyway.

A few years ago I rented a room from an old man. He was a grumpy old codger and a devote atheist. Time after time I heard him say, "When you're dead, you're dead!"

Well, one day he's out in the front yard and he falls and breaks his leg. After being taken to the hospital and getting a cast on his leg, he has to spend a few days in rehab. Problem is, rehab is full, so they arrange for him to stay in hospice.

One of the people he befriends is an older black woman. They have breakfast each morning and he seems to enjoy her company. One morning, she's not there. Next morning, she's not there. He asks one of the nurses where she is and is told that the woman passed away the other night.

Now, remember, he is an atheist and he believes that when you're dead, you're dead!

But he tells me that each night, for the duration of his stay, a ghostly figure would appear in his room at night and he believed it was the woman! (Now I gotta tell you, taking a cue from an old Eddie Murphy monologue, if I wake up in the middle of the night and I see a ghost in my room, friend or not, I'm getting the HELL outta there!!!)

Now, of course, I can't believe that he is believing this! And I know this man. He's not yanking my chain or anything.

Well, I just listened to his story, I didn't offer up any advice or give my opinion or anything. I just found it odd that he would believe this.

A few months later I brought the subject up again. I don't remember exactly what I wanted to know from him. But he just looked at me, perplexed, and said, "I don't know what you're talking about." I reminded him again about the dead woman, and he just looked at me like I'm crazy and shakes his head.

Alzheimers maybe??