Posts by Lonestar13

90

What Is The Stupidest Rule You've Encountered As a Witness?

by minimus in

jw
friends

one rule that i never could understand is that if you were studying with an unbelieving husband, you could associate with him, even as couples, but if a person was considered a "weak" witness, it was best to avoid any association until that person changed......what dumb rule or belief comes to your mind??

?

Lonestar13

Wick: LMAO!!! AMEN!!!

Cyberguy: never heard of that one..in our neck of the woods, a brother could ride in the car alone with a single sister as long as she sat in the back of the car.

My addition to this topic: years ago in field service we COULD NOT STOP FOR ANYTHING. Let alone if it were 5 below and we were all shivering, WE HAD TO KEEP OUR TIME GOING. It caused a lot of us young ones to HATE the ministry, it was torture. later on a CO came and took frequent breaks and only then did the die hards loosen up on that 'policy'.

26

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 2-1-04 WT Study

by blondie in

wt quotes

"?matthew 24:44.

you also must be ready all the time.

Lonestar13

Blondie- great review. To be honest, these reviews should not really be that difficult becuase each week it pretty much the same thing over and over again:

Do More...avoid Materialism...complacency...have a sense of urgency...and other buzzwords.

Wasn't there a recent study article about giving materially to the society in order to "further kingdom interests"? How does the WTS expect "window cleaners" to afford giving to them AND support a family while the wife pioneers (the whole bit about supporting at least one family member in the pioneer ministry)? Maybe if they "allowed" the R&F to go to college all these years, they would be getting better monetary support!

Pistoff- that list of words taken from the wt is horrible to say the least. This will not leave one feeling motivated, rather it will make one think that Jehovah is a God impossible to please and they will give up without even trying. That is what I did. Even when 'pioneering' I was made to feel like a failure for not meeting the hour requirement. Yet and still I was out in the ministry more than the average publisher, or even the average Elder!! Once I stopped pioneering, I told myself that I would never do it again. And then there was the service meeting part about pioneering, the ones that come around every July or August right before the start of the service year. The ones that said if you have proper love for god and neighbor you will be moved to pioneer. That was it!!! I didn't want to pioneer so that HAD to mean that I didn't love Jehovah!!! What fallicy! And what a horrible way for a man made religion to define love of God. Re-read Acts 10:34, 35!!!!!!!!

12

Being Theocratic Before Meetings

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

one thing that my mother was trying to instill in me was to be "theocratic" before the meetings.

many times i would drive me and my mother to the meetings while listening to "wreckx-n-effect" or "ac/dc".

she would usually give me hell for this and told me i should listen to kingdom melodies to get my mind prepared for the meeting.. another "problem" was the conversations that went on before meetings (or even on field service) where me and someone else my age would be talking about something completely unrelated to the "truth".

Lonestar13

oh yeah! on sunday mornings it was strongly suggested to me by a family member that I should be playing kingdom melodies.

(on an unrelated note, but related to the absurdity of the above comment, the daughter of that family member stated before the entire congregation in her comment, that the only website that "we as christians should go on is the societies website"

13

Single in the troof

by Purple in

jw
friends

here's something i am wondering.

i was alone in the troof (married but partner not in troof) female without children.

the ignorance and arrogance of so called sisters was outstounding.

Lonestar13

Good point Ascot....I am 26 single and loving it. I take 4 vacations a year, I come and go as I please, I don't have to ask my husband for permission to dye my hair, go shopping for a few hours or to buy a new computer. I just go out and do those things, and the married sisters would marvel at me.

However to stick to topic, single sisters DO have many issues facing them in the congregation. Especially if the sister is career oriented, intelligent, strong willed, opinionated etc. Then I think the elders feel challenged a bit because thechnically there is nothing they can do to shut such a sister up, whereas if she were married, they can tell the husband to give her a good talking to.

Me personally, I have no desire to marry a jw man and to be his submissive weaker vessel. I have worked too hard to get where I am to now ask permission to leave the house!

And yes the couples only thing was so annoying that I believed it was mentioned and complained about and later dealt with.

Being the ONLY 20 something single sister in the congregation also subjected me with many attempts for set ups. And yes, people really should mind theirs!

17

JW Women

by Sassy in

jw
friends

purple had a thread about sisters and feeling left out or forgotten and while i do totally relate to what she posted about and agree with it from personal experience, what i experienced as a married jw wife i found more intollerable and it was one of the reasons that i ceased to be a jw.

it is one thing to be a woman and single and feel like you miss out on some social activities because you aren't a "couple' or a "couple where both are jws" and that does stink..

but be a woman who is married and your husband is a 'so called jw'.. you have no rights.. you can not even talk to the elders without your husband in their presense.

Lonestar13

Welcome Jahna...Thanks for sharing your story. I am horrified and angered that you had to enudre all of that only to find that the JW elders lack the compassion needed to be the shepherds that they call themselves. They are light years behind when it comes to dealing with women.

17

JW Women

by Sassy in

jw
friends

purple had a thread about sisters and feeling left out or forgotten and while i do totally relate to what she posted about and agree with it from personal experience, what i experienced as a married jw wife i found more intollerable and it was one of the reasons that i ceased to be a jw.

it is one thing to be a woman and single and feel like you miss out on some social activities because you aren't a "couple' or a "couple where both are jws" and that does stink..

but be a woman who is married and your husband is a 'so called jw'.. you have no rights.. you can not even talk to the elders without your husband in their presense.

Lonestar13

Although I am not a JW Wife, that is the reason I never wanted to be one. I noticed the way women would be so submissive to their husbands in EVERYTHING and it made me SICK. However most persons thought that the reason why I didn't marry YET (being 26 and not married in the org -gasp) was becuase i could not find a brother to marry. So then a lot of "well meaning" people started inviting me places where they knew single bethelites would be in the hopes of creating something. I had to explain to all that even though my closest friends were all married and I was YET single, and often looked quite depressed, that this was due to a bad home situtaion NOT being single. I got blank looks. I even had to explain to an ELDER that i do not wish to be married, especially in the org. I told him that i do not like the way that women are regarded despite the fact that they "are a large army" and that many of them are 100 times better at speaking and teaching than some of the sorry brothers that "grace" the stage who never seem to progress beyond shoddily put together 5 minute talks on the TMS. I think he was taken aback.

All that being said i have always been drawn to "worldly men". And they have treated me like I was a QUEEN. And it took a LOT to break down the barrier that the WTS would want their women to believe- that worldly men are only there too sleep with "clean jw girls" and then move on to the next. ANY SLEAZEBALL WOULD DO THAT. In fact, JW men do it, except they are required to marry the girl first all the while pretending to be interested in a life with them, but at age 21, its all about the sex.

61

A question for all women that were raised in the "truth"

by codeblue in

.

do you feel like you have low self esteem because of being raised as a jw?.

codeblue

Lonestar13

Agreed with Luna! I never fit into the congregation becuase I am unconventional and free spirited. Being the ONLY twenty something sister in my congregation REALLY made me stick out even more since the other sisters were older and married. They all thought that i would follow in their footsteps and marry a nice MS or Bethelite and I wanted nothing of that. I didn't want to be like them, living at home with mommy and daddy, depending on them for everything, and then getting married and depending on their husbands for everything. I wanted to be independent, live alone for a few years and then see what happens. Plus too, I have desire to be a "christian wife", you know the kind that OBEY their husband's every COMMAND such as, be home at 5 pm with my dinner on the table, don't wear a skirt above the knee, don't cut your hair short etc. (these are all real life situations). I think deep down they all envy me because I call my shots!

47

What Regrets Did You Have Because You Were A Witness?

by minimus in

jw
friends

one of the biggest regrets a person might have is that they let their children become involved in the whole jw "thing".

you know---everything from the elders always cornering them to "investigate" something or even having the parents "turn in" their own kids......is there anything that you especially regret?

Lonestar13

NOT GOING TO COLLEGE! But I am still young and I am going to go, and to be honest it is better that I go at this point now that I am more mature, and have gained valuable experience in the workplace that can help me in my schooling. Ideally its the other way around, but hey!

Other than that, I hated EXPLAINING why I decided not to attend college. I am sure you've all heard the illustartion given in most public talks which says "why would you want to buy a ticket on a sinking ship" Or why would you go into a store that has a sign that says, "going out of business" and ask for a job application. I'd get the blankest stares ever, followed by the question, "but how are you going to get a job"...

The sad part is that may accepted jobs doing menial tasks becuase the of the stance of the org on "higher education". Then, as jw started stuggling financially, and it was found that working part time in a clothing store could not support one enough to pioneer, it was then decided that "supplemental education" is necessary. However just 2 years ago, a friend was denounced by one elder in her congregation because she deceided to go to college.

Agreed with Blondie- NO REGRETS!

26

Was Paul really a woman hater?

by peacefulpete in

for the discussin i will set aside questions about whether paul was was infact a literary creation of the gnostic xtians.

"paul's" famous words at !

tim 2:12-15 and i cor 14:34,35 that insist women be silent in the congretgations have spawned hundreds of years of female repression.

Lonestar13

An old friend used to interpret the scriputue which says that women are not permitted to speak as "let the women shut-up"

(and old friend as in FORMER friend )

38

JW's and Pubs/Bars

by Heatmiser in

i have noticed on past threads from posters from other countries than the usa that they would be hanging out in pubs and such while still jw's.

in the us i believe that going to bars would pretty much be a df/da offense.

in other countries is the policy different?

Lonestar13

I've gone to bars however would not divulge this info to my ultra conservative j-dub 'friends' since i knew it would be frowned upon greatly. I've heard several talks but none recently which mention the dangers of bars, but moreso for the association and not the drinking. Point is as stated above, restaurants have bars, hotels as well. I went on a JW trip to DC and the hotel we stayed in had a bar. I went down and enjoyed a drink with an older brother and thought nothing of it and neither did he. When I go to the UK I find that j-dubs go to pubs and consume more alcohol in general than their US counterparts, which suits me just fine