ray franz who gave us insight into the gb due to a crisis of conscience was an absolute moron, with absolutely no critical thinking skills whatsoever like all of us have.
i mean, to have a conscience based on some magic man in the sky.. how stupid can you be?
in search of christian freedom?
vinman,
Don't take the advice from Viviane too seriously. She loves to tear people down. It's just her thing. She is kinda the Joan Rivers of ex-JW's. Some people have a difficult time distancing themselves from the JW mindset.
But, we all love her here. Her posts are highly entertaining!
i am interested in reading books published by former jws which detail personal experiences of their time with the organisation.
i know of coc, exiting the jw cult, mamas club, 30yrs a wt slave, and told ones were written by otwo, punk and terry.
i'd like to spend some time making my way through them so titles, authors and links would be really useful.
ray franz who gave us insight into the gb due to a crisis of conscience was an absolute moron, with absolutely no critical thinking skills whatsoever like all of us have.
i mean, to have a conscience based on some magic man in the sky.. how stupid can you be?
in search of christian freedom?
ok we all say stupid things (probably on a daily basis in my case) but my mother (a jw) was told by another member that she doesn't have a conscience because anyone who smiles as much as she does simply can't have a conscience.
i bet you can guess the person who said it to her has a face like a wet weekend.. i guess the reasoning is: if you had a conscience you wouldn't have much to smile about because you'd be overwhelmed with guilt and worry.
what a load of old bollox that cult is eh?.
JW_Rogue
No, that is not complete nonsense, and yes, it has happened - several times, to me! (And it's not always necessarily a good thing).
For the sake of brevity, let me give you just one example. I had already left "the Truth" many years before. I started a new job. I had one manager in particular who was a real hot-head, angry, belligerent, foul mouthed, no body really liked him. He was a clean cut guy, well dressed, but what an arrogant ass hole!
One night I went to the Cracker Barrel to eat and as I was leaving, I saw him dining at one of the tables with two women. I assumed that one of the ladies was his wife and the other may have been his mother or mother-in-law. But just looking at them I just knew "My God! He's a JW!!!"
I can't explain it. I just knew. I did acknowledge him and said hello. I decided I would ask him point blank the next day at work if he was a JW.
After sleeping on it, I chickened out. If I asked him that and he wasn't, that would really piss him off, and he could really make my job more difficult. So I just let it drop.
About a year later I was talking to a co-worker and the subject of religion came up. He mentioned to me that there were several JW's who worked there. I asked him who, and guess who the first one he told me was???
After about another year this particular JW was fired. He was making racist comments to other employees there.
So, yes they do indeed stand out. And it's not always for the reasons they think!
"Who Will Conquer The World In The 1970's?"
Man, that very title sounds so Flash Gordon-y.
i was about 12. i took a friend along to a meeting and he said he didn't mind learning stuff but it was a shame it was so boring.. i was about 14. i had my very own bible study and took him along.
he just kept whispering about the girls there that he fancied.. i was in my early 20's.
i took along a lady that i knew.
you know the organization is slowly going down.
not as fast as we would wish, but nevertheless it is crumbling.
five (5) year old child baptisms, smaller magazines, child sexual abuse exposed, smaller annual growth, no one wants to reach out, young ones leaving.
Okay, I do foresee this happening,
"The Artist Once Again Known As Prince" pools his resources with Miley Cyrus and Pharrell Williams and buy out a major interest in the WT Society.
Twerking becomes an acceptable form of worship in Jehovah's loving Congregation arrangement and "You Sexy Ministerial Servant" becomes one of many new Kingdom Melodies.
you know the organization is slowly going down.
not as fast as we would wish, but nevertheless it is crumbling.
five (5) year old child baptisms, smaller magazines, child sexual abuse exposed, smaller annual growth, no one wants to reach out, young ones leaving.
Even if the WT should be forced out of business because of the pedophile problems, or because of having to file for bankruptcy, or whatever the reason, they would soon be back in business again under a different name. Perhaps some other super, uber JW would take it upon himself to reopen the franchise.
It has happened before. When CT Russell died and Rutherford took over, his vision of the WT was completely different from Russell's. The name WATCHTOWER was just about the only thing that was retained.
And, there will always be loyal followers that will go along with whatever changes are made, whether in doctrine, financially, or whatever.
As for what those changes will be, it is almost impossible to predict. Just when you think that you have WT figured out, they make some radical change that no one saw coming.
in march of 2014, i was a very active jw, a ministerial servant, gave a public talk, was an attendant for the memorial, and one of 4 cleaning captains for an international convention of 40,000+ attendees.
so what woke me up?
an innocent comment from a co-worker about the candice conti court case rang a bell that could not be unrung.
dozy,
"Reading Franz's books just confirmed much of what I already knew."
Exactly! Ray Franz didn't lead me out. I was already out when I read his book. But what he described going on at HQ was what I had experienced on a local level.
