True North

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Posts by True North

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  69

  This Forum.....What Benefit is Is thesedays?

  by ScoobySnax in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  firstly .......i don't mean for one minute the end of friendships that may have been cultivated here.....or the "help" that may have been extended to those who needed it.... there are some good people here.

  but......... but...... how often can the same old topics be bounced about and re-cycled amongst the topic threads here, usually created by the same few, for an imaginary multitude that i just don't see.

  ok you say many may look in here, and may not comment.

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  True North

  I only recently discovered this forum and lurked awhile before making my first post. I've benefited from what I've read here and have received helpful answers to posts. Although I was a complete stranger to them, some forum members took the time to PM some additional information to me; I really appreciated that.

  If there has been some repetition in thread content, as a newbie I certainly can't complain. Quite the contrary: it's all new to me. In fact, I felt that some of the "old hands" were being rather generous to us newbies in their willingness to go back over ground that must have been covered before. As time goes by, perhaps I'll tire of reading the same old things over again. If so, then I just won't read those threads. On the other hand, maybe I'll toss in my two cents to try and help someone else who's new.

  One more thing, I truly wish that this site and freeminds.org -- and the public Internet/Web for that matter -- had been around when I was first being sucked into the JW org., or at least when I finally left it some twenty years ago. I think that there's a good chance that they would have spared me some misery.
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  7

  Screenplay ?

  by Thunder Rider in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks, does anyone have any experience in writing a screenplay.

  i want to turn trb into a screenplay, but i'm not sure just how to go about doing it.

  i would appreciate any suggestions you might have.

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  True North

  You might get some value out of reading Writer's Digest's "The Complete Book of Scriptwriting" by J. Michael Staczynski. JMS was a writer/producer for the TV series "Murder, She Wrote", created and wrote for the series "Babylon 5", is currently doing the show "Jeremiah", has movie projects in the works, etc., etc., etc. This book focuses a lot on the real-world issues of scripting as a business/profession -- agents, marketing scripts, pitfalls to avoid -- which are obviously important to consider unless one is just writing for personal pleasure.

  Amazon.com has the book at discount for just $13.99. Be sure to get the latest, revised edition (ISBN 1582971587).

  BTW, what is "TRB"?
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  21

  If JWs are still around in a hundred years, what will they be preaching?

  by True North in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if the jw org makes it another hundred years, what will they be preaching then?

  how will their chronology and doctrines have changed?

  if there are colonies on the moon or other moons, or mars, or out among the asteroids, will they still be reporting time in the house-to-house (pod-to-pod?

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  True North

  If the JW org makes it another hundred years, what will they be preaching then? How will their chronology and doctrines have changed? If there are colonies on the Moon or other moons, or Mars, or out among the asteroids, will they still be reporting time in the house-to-house (pod-to-pod? dome-to-dome? airlock-to-airlock?) work? How will the org. have dealt with the passing of the last of the "anointed"? Any thoughts?
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  21

  If the JW leadership is all about the money, what do they want it for?

  by True North in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in the brief time that i've been reading jw-related postings and sites on the net, i've seen a lot of stuff regarding the jw leadership being all about the money with the implication that there is something unsavory about their acquisitiveness.. if that is true, what exactly do they want it for?

  from what i've read, the gb seem to live reasonably well (better, in fact, than the average jw would expect, i think) but it hardly seems anything that would have earned them a spot on lifestyles of the rich and famous.

  so, why would they be so concerned about amassing organizational wealth?

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  True North

  In the brief time that I've been reading JW-related postings and sites on the net, I've seen a lot of stuff regarding the JW leadership being all about the money with the implication that there is something unsavory about their acquisitiveness.

  If that is true, what exactly do they want it for? From what I've read, the GB seem to live reasonably well (better, in fact, than the average JW would expect, I think) but it hardly seems anything that would have earned them a spot on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. So, why would they be so concerned about amassing organizational wealth? What can they do with it? Do they want to pile it up in a vault to leap and burrow through it like Scrooge McDuck? Are they secretly building luxurious vacation dachas on the Black Sea? What's the point for them?

  Is it empire building? Do they want to fuel an ever-growing organization and recruitment/preaching effort just so that they can be ever-bigger big shots? Or are those who take them to task for being avaricious suggesting there's something more sinister afoot? (Well, actually, I guess that growing that particular organization is pretty sinister, but you know what I mean.)
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  Governing Buzzards - Part 6 - Broken foundation of Russellism

  by Amazing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  part 6 ?

  exposing the broken foundation of russell-ism

  a core foundation claim asserted by the watchtower society from its inception in the 1870s to this very day, is that they are god's chosen channel of truth for all humankind.

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  True North

  Amazing,

  Of the seven doctrines you cite, how many were invented by Russell as opposed to having been acquired by him from others?

  And BTW, I'm really enjoying your series on the GB and am looking forward to the succeeding installments.

  TN
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  17

  Governing Buzzards - Part 6 - Broken foundation of Russellism

  by Amazing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  part 6 ?

  exposing the broken foundation of russell-ism

  a core foundation claim asserted by the watchtower society from its inception in the 1870s to this very day, is that they are god's chosen channel of truth for all humankind.

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  True North

  Are there any doctrines peculiar to Russell that are still accepted by the Watchtower org. these days?
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  17

  When good elders do bad things...

  by True North in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recently i had occasion to speak with an elder i hadn't seen in a while.

  (although i've been out for twenty years now, my wife and some of my children are still locked within the org's tender embrace, which led to my happening to encounter him and our resultant conversation.

  ) he's someone i consider a really good guy at heart, truly caring and sincerely working at being a good shepherd as he sees it.

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  True North

  I've noticed that some former elders post on this site. If any such one is reading this thread, do you consider yourself to have been -- as an elder -- basically good at heart, truly caring, and sincerely working at being a good shepherd. If so, how did you feel when compelled by the org. to render judgement 'without regard for any "collateral damage" or for what the average unaffiliated (i.e. "worldly") person would consider the justice of a situation'? Did your conscience ever bother you? Were you ever troubled? And if so, did this ever somehow modify your course of action?
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  17

  When good elders do bad things...

  by True North in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recently i had occasion to speak with an elder i hadn't seen in a while.

  (although i've been out for twenty years now, my wife and some of my children are still locked within the org's tender embrace, which led to my happening to encounter him and our resultant conversation.

  ) he's someone i consider a really good guy at heart, truly caring and sincerely working at being a good shepherd as he sees it.

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  True North

  Recently I had occasion to speak with an elder I hadn't seen in a while. (Although I've been out for twenty years now, my wife and some of my children are still locked within the org's tender embrace, which led to my happening to encounter him and our resultant conversation.) He's someone I consider a really good guy at heart, truly caring and sincerely working at being a good shepherd as he sees it.

  In thinking about him afterwards, it occurred to me that since he is also wholly devoted to the organization, he would feel obliged to enforce the org's rule in the congregation without regard for any "collateral damage" or for what the average unaffiliated (i.e. "worldly") person would consider the justice of a situation. However, I found myself wondering if he would, nonetheless, ever be troubled by any suffering or injustice that resulted from some judicial action he felt compelled to take.

  So my question is, how do good elders feel about enforcing shunning on people who merely want to leave with honor and maintain family relationships, or disfellowshiping and demonizing honest doubters as apostates, or telling victims they must remain with victimizing spouses or parents, or hushing up crimes they personally believe to have been committed but for which there are not the requisite two witnesses, and so forth? It seems to me that good people (and I believe from personal experience that many elders are good people) would feel very troubled in such circumstances. But perhaps I'm wrong -- never having been an elder myself. Does the organizational sanction and their devotion to "keeping the congregation clean" perhaps protect them from ever having troubled consciences?

  (BTW, this is not of solely hypothetical interest as, depending upon how some things work out, I could possibly be on the receiving end of some unwelcome elderly attention in the not too distant future.)
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  26

  A lurker no more! I have a question about exit counseling for ex-JWs

  by True North in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking on this board for a couple of months now, taking it all in.

  i've really appreciated and enjoyed reading your postings and it's all been very helpful.

  i have now a question i'd like to ask.

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  True North

  I have to get to work now but I wanted to offer a quick thanks for all your comments. It really helps.

  Since I have other children still marching to the beat of the Watchtower drum, as is my wife, and since some of my children are still minors, I know that once I start to take some action, it's probably really going to hit the fan. After starting to wake up to what a lifetime of JW conditioning has done to my kids though, I know I have to press forward; however, I want my course to be well thought out and to not take rash action or speak hastily.

  To garybuss and cruzanheart, could you share any more about what your counseling covered and how it proceeded? But please, I understand that this might be very personal so, if you'd rather not go into any more detail, I'll understand and I won't even come close to being offended or bugged about it.

  To jgnat, thanks for the invite but I'm afraid that my current domicile is more southwest than north.
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  26

  A lurker no more! I have a question about exit counseling for ex-JWs

  by True North in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking on this board for a couple of months now, taking it all in.

  i've really appreciated and enjoyed reading your postings and it's all been very helpful.

  i have now a question i'd like to ask.

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  True North

  I've been lurking on this board for a couple of months now, taking it all in. I've really appreciated and enjoyed reading your postings and it's all been very helpful. I have now a question I'd like to ask. I was a JW for several years but have been out for twenty years now. However, my wife stayed in and I decided to support her in raising our children as Witnesses in the interests of family harmony. As it turns out, that was a huge mistake but also another topic.

  What I'm interested in knowing now is if anyone has any first-hand or even second-hand experience with "exit counseling". The reason I ask is that two of my children -- both in their early twenties -- have without any encouragement from me decided that they no longer wish to be JWs and are not attending meetings. A third child -- who is sixteen -- has on her own decided that JWs are probably a cult and is only continuing to attend meetings so that she is not cut off from her friends.

  The reason I'm asking about exit counseling is that I've come to appreciate that although my children may intellectually recognize that JW-dom is a false religion, they are still going to be burdened with a lot of "baggage" acquired from their lifelong conditioning: fear of dying at Armageddon, guilt, difficulties with normal social interactions with non-JWs, distrust of "the world", feeling lost and without purpose or direction, etc.

  Could some sort of exit counseling be helpful to them? I've gathered that Randall Watters of freeminds.org has had some involvement with this sort of thing and I've thought of contacting him. If anyone has any thoughts or experiences to share about this, I'd greatly appreciate it.