Becoming an elder is bad for your health, bad for relationships. Even "reaching out" to be an elder can be damaging. It brings you closer to a niche of individuals who tend to bully and they will eventually expect you to adopt the same behavioural profile
SO true
Alive!
JoinedPosts by Alive!
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24
Following Christ "from a distance."
by New day inluke 22:54.
"then they arrested him and led him off, and they brought him into the house of the high priest; but peter was following at a distance.
" i am still raging because this verse was used at a recent circuit overseer's visit.
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Alive!
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24
Following Christ "from a distance."
by New day inluke 22:54.
"then they arrested him and led him off, and they brought him into the house of the high priest; but peter was following at a distance.
" i am still raging because this verse was used at a recent circuit overseer's visit.
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Alive!
Who would want to persuade any unaware soul to be subjected to a lifetime of this vile abuse of scripture - they lay out words and ideas that are designed to make the 'sheep' judgemental and side looking.
They've mastered the art of smooth words which imitate a code of love with darts of poison carefully placed......
I've gone to a couple of dozen services at my local baptist church....on and off over the past two years.
Doctrine is not mentioned, bullying disguised as encouragement has NEVER been used in the 'talks' - I'm not interested in being a church member, but I like a couple of lovely women there who have become friends -
The 'org' broke my husbands self esteem years ago, he was invited very quickly into the company of influential elders, who drank up large and gossiped to him after his 'personal bible study' - my husband was a very lovely, very funny, social and yet very humble and easy to teach guy - they said to me they'd rarely such good elder material in a new 'study'.
Looking back, I can see how they destroyed his 'good' spirit - he failed to reach out - why? Just in those first few elder/MS club drinky get togethers he saw and heard first hand the horrible bullying and sheer malice (sugar coated) that existed - he told me 20 years later that he knew back then, he never wanted to be appointed.
And for years he was considered spiritually weak. He just didn't want to join their 'club'.... But they still invited him for drinks, well why not? He had some of the best scotches and a decent wine 'cellar' and the 'boys' loved a good 'lock in'
We used to laugh it off - but looking back, these men were NOT qualified.
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I'd report THAT to the police, but not THIS...
by Northern Star ini am new to the boards, so a little background info may be a good idea?
also, i'm not quite sure which sub-forum to post this to....
i have a typical religious background for my country; grew up with lutheran christianity (which was our state religion up until 2012; we now have a secular constitution).
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Alive!
I'd suggest this - when you bought up the child abuse issues and the ARC etc at your 'discussion' meeting - the JWs leading the study would have moved into full protection mode with an 'interested' individual - they would have told you what any decent human being would expect - that is any crime (child abuse included) would be reported to the authorities -" NO QUESTION about that!!" They would have assured you.
A few weeks later they are explaining the scriptures from an indoctrinated witness viewpoint - and would have possibly been thinking of the "not taking a brother to court' scripture .
It's interesting - but they work hard to 'cover' the interpretation flaws and firefight potential damage (as in limiting shock or disapproval from an interested person) - whilst still eventually having to work with off the wall bible understanding and explain THAT.
Ive been present when pioneers have said some very odd things which I knew 'hid the truth' - in order not to put off the listener.
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75
How did you feel when you found out "the truth about the truth"?
by stuckinarut2 inso when you first found out specific facts about the organisation, how did you feel??.
the un membership.
the way 1914 was calculated from pyramid measurements.
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Alive!
It's very comforting and affirming to read everyone's stories.
I felt like I was going slightly insane during the first year or two of waking up - sifting through the dark pangs in my heart and the rotten feeling in my stomach when I went to meetings - some of me still 'in love' with the idea of being with God's only true people, and a growing part of me wildly rejecting the unsound, unhealthy articles and statements in the publications, the reflection of these in the words of the 'friends' - and the misery of realising there was no room for honest discussion.....
I used to love field service - I felt for the people and actually had great exchanges with random folk we met - when it really hit me that I had distributed literature that contained blatant error and articles claiming false knowledge and I actually 'confessed' it to myself....I seriously couldn't do another minute of 'field'.
My observations and experiences over the years made me really ask myself - could I really convince someone that 'God is truly amongst you prople'
A signature of 'Satan' ( if you are a believer in it/him) is deception and lies, false prophecy. But he can also appear as 'an angel of light' - Inbetween what appeared to be the 'good' stuff such as a worldwide brotherhood - we had a history of truly awful misrepresentations.
And behind the nice smiles and excellent grooming of the congregations, the carefully modulated speech and practiced interactions - were behaviours that would shake the average decent person. And these behaviours were not in the minority.
A friend said to me 'but people are people everywhere, even in the Christian congregation' - OK, so if we can't stand out as being 'God's specially chosen people' by our behaviour and words because we are imperfect - (and we know about JWs when you lift the veil) then surely an impeccable record of solid truth and clear indication that God is speaking directly to the writers and interpreters - the guardians of doctrine. I mean, this is all meant to be urgent right?
There are many, many lovely people amongst the JWS - so many I have loved and still love - but I couldn't stand our claiming to be the only true people deserving of salvation. It made no sense.
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How did you feel when you found out "the truth about the truth"?
by stuckinarut2 inso when you first found out specific facts about the organisation, how did you feel??.
the un membership.
the way 1914 was calculated from pyramid measurements.
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Alive!
I initially felt terribly out of sorts as my CD didn't work anymore - I couldn't make excuses or explain stuff away - I KNEW something was seriously wrong.
I broke down.
I made one last huge effort spending time out in service - and it just got worse.
I asked hard questions to the 'qualified' career pioneers, elders - and close trusted friends who are clean, honest and totally loveable - I asked these questions as in 'how would you answer this in a bible study'
I got angry at the foolish answers over time - and I pushed harder - people stopped texting and talking to 'our dear sister Alive'
Its a long old journey - I watch those GBs - and think, I was brought up to know better, - but it still hurts. I should get more angry - but often I just feel incredibly sad that I fell into a trap that felt so good, for so long..... And I feel ashamed that I closed my eyes to stuff that I knew was wrong amongst our high ranking elder friends who loved to drink it up, gossip and talk spiritual stuff all in one sitting. And it appears this is a global culture problem. What a weakling I've been :-(
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New Watchtower Propaganda and hate speech destroying families (Feb 2016 WT)
by Daniel1555 inthe following is a paragraph from the new february study watchtower article "learn from jehovah's loyal servants.".
7 a conflict of loyalties may arise when a close relative is disfellowshipped.
for example, a sister named anne [1] received a telephone call from her disfellowshipped mother.
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Alive!
Yes Blondie - and the WT forgets that the law is done, gone. -
105
New Watchtower Propaganda and hate speech destroying families (Feb 2016 WT)
by Daniel1555 inthe following is a paragraph from the new february study watchtower article "learn from jehovah's loyal servants.".
7 a conflict of loyalties may arise when a close relative is disfellowshipped.
for example, a sister named anne [1] received a telephone call from her disfellowshipped mother.
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Alive!
I read an explanation for the scriptural verses somewhere on a bible discussion forum or blog....
Something about 'greeting' meaning a close and intimate welcome that was given at early Christian meetings that carried a holy exchange between Christians and 'eating' referred to sharing the 'lords evening meal'
Now THAT made sense - a Christian who was not living by his declared Christian principles could not share in 'holy' things like the above until he turned around from whatever he was doing wrong.
A simple interpretation which makes sense.
But, the WTBTS prefers pulling families apart, causing an isolation that causes psychological trauma ( particularly to the sensitive ).....that's cultic.
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Our fade-gossip-elders calling
by All for show inlooking back we had been fading without even realizing it.
life happened...and we weren't regular.
then we woke up and have actively been fading for 9 months.
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Alive!
Excellent response! -
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Plans for huge Jehovah's HQ take shape
by Formerbrother inhttp://www.chelmsfordweeklynews.co.uk/news/11227290.plans_for_huge_jehovah_s_hq_take_shape/.
its going to be a real beautiful place when its finished.. they are going for quality over quantity.
it used to be accommodation for a few thousand permanent residents, now its looking like less than a thousand permanent with the possibility of a few thousand more in temporary accommodation should the need arise.. some say the plans are going to be like a garden of eden in england :) i mean they had farming in london over the years but this is going to be epic what they are planning for temple farm at chelmsford.. they are planting thousands (literally) of fruit trees, including tropical fruits in huge green houses, huge vines yards and then the same basic farming activities as before.
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Alive!
Strictly for JWS?
Well of course - millions and millions being invested for a privileged few.
Why all this in these 'urgent times?'
What's the point?
If they believe we are right on the final brink - why build a park like compound?
Why use all that volunteer time when they could be out, preaching?
I'm not being negative - yes, it's a fantastic project - but beautifying real estate is not what Christ was all about?
Have they EVER stopped to think how this constant building and selling, renovating what doesn't need renovating and the spending of millions in the 'public eye' simply waters down the urgency of their message?
That the 'the world' observes these busy Christians building luxury compounds unavailable to the poor and needy - and the public doesn't think 'wow, God is truly amongst these people'.
Sorry, I know it's easy to just criticise - but honestly, if only they could see what 'message' they are really spreading....
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November Study WT "Train You Child to Love Going Door 2 Door"
by JW_Rogue inbeen catching up on some jw reading and found a gem in the november study wt in the first article, paragraph #11:.
yet, you might look beyond the obvious and ask yourself, does my child enjoy the ministry or only the breaks?
if you discern that the ministry could be more interesting or more rewarding for your children, set goals with them.
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Alive!
I, as an adult, initially I actually grew to love field service - I wanted people to find happiness, spiritual solace....I have to say, over time, it became more about socially connecting with other witnesses, because, it was obvious that mainly it was the mentally impaired who took any long term interest (I'm going by the overall mental health of the RVs and studies conducted by the members of WTBs) - heck? What does that say about me???? :-)
When I first 'came into the truth' - the belief was that we were part of the judging and separating work - how sick is that for a young child to manage?
Not that it's any better these days - we have a history of lies and deception in the org - these men are disgusting.