Posts by cyber-sista

18

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 3-13-05 WT Study

by blondie in

will be in black and parentheses ().

quotes from other sources will be in blue.

and the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then, finally, the end will come.

cyber-sista

This willingness to give up what may be held as valuable

Are you motivated by [the Kingdom good news] to make the necessary changes to bring your life-style, values and goals into harmony with what Jehovah (the organization) requires?

An elder in good standing I know of is building himself and family a plush 7000 sq ft house with swimming pool and home theatre and a waterfall at the front entrance (his last house was grandiose but this one is even more so). The congo here is not wealthy and I wonder how he can stand up there week after week and spew this stuff out. I guess he thinks Jehovah has blessed him more than the rest. Seems like most of the time life in JW land makes more nonsense than sense.

Thanks blondie,

cybs

11

THIS HELPED ME. Your opions please

by xjwms in

jw
friends

friday february 18 i arrived in orlando for a tony robbins event: "unleash the power within".

i went to cleanse the mind of anything unwanted, ... and to replace with strong, powerful, positive direction.

by sunday at 7pm.

cyber-sista

Translation Zen?

Are you saying that if we recognize our basic needs as human beings and then understand why we were involved in such a group as the WT Org that we can forgive ourselves for being Oh so human and then be able to move on with life. I do believe that many in the WT Org are there because they are seeking to have a need fulfilled that has not been previously fulfilled in their lives, much like kids from broken family lives who join gangs just so they can be a part of something or belong to something greater then themselves I see this in many people who join the WT Org and I feel sorry for them as they are broken and in need of a fix, but what the WT has offered them has many strings attached. I can say that this is the reason that I joined up with the WT Org in my adult life, because of not having certain needs met in my earlier life....But, I think it is differnet with those who have been raised in it, as the WT was not their choice and maybe not their need, but they were programmed in childhood to be needy of the WT. Later when it comes a time in their lives when they see the WT for what it really and they have to make the break it seems that closure of the WT life is something that helps many people to move ahead. True it is something that will always be a part of my experience in life, but I no longer want it to be in control of my actions and a negative influence on my life today.

well that's my 2 cents,

cybs

11

THIS HELPED ME. Your opions please

by xjwms in

jw
friends

friday february 18 i arrived in orlando for a tony robbins event: "unleash the power within".

i went to cleanse the mind of anything unwanted, ... and to replace with strong, powerful, positive direction.

by sunday at 7pm.

cyber-sista

thank you for sharing this--I think it is signifigant. It sounds as if it helped you to break through some of the road blocks set up by the WT and to now move ahead in a positive direction. I think the bonfire idea is good--a symbolic physical act to rid yourself of the bondage. Next time I have a barbeque I think I will burn up some of my words in the fire.

cybs

37

cleaning the mind and the implanting of right thinking . . . 1970 Yearbook

by garybuss in

jw
friends

yearbook of jehovah's witnesses 1970 p.9.

watch tower bible & tract society of pennsylvania 1969 need for mental cleansing.

it is evident, therefore, that there must be a cleaning out of the mind if there is to be an implanting of right thinking.

cyber-sista

it is therefore necessary to obey the organization that he is personally directing. Doing what the organization says is to do what he says. Resisting the organization is to resist him.

I found this quote from the WT quite chilling. How many recall these words "resistance is futile--you will be assimulated" (The mantra of the evil mind sucking alien Borg from star trek who combed the universe looking to gather creatures into their hive mind collective by sucking their humanity out of them and turning them into evil robotic creatures like themselves who all think the same thoughts and are programmed to do whatever the evil Borg Queen instructs them to do)...

I often wondered if someone who escaped from the Org wrote the script for this show...

cybs

58

The Social Structure in the Congregation

by Mary in

jw
friends

ever notice how the "happiest people on earth" are also the most class-oriented?

to say that jesus said his followers should all be on equal footing, it's incredible how much the r&f witness is not on equal footing.

the social structure in the congregation is more complex than the blueprints of a nuclear warhead, but just so that you "remember your place", see if you can find where your niche was/is:

cyber-sista

I was at the 6 1/2 mark

Wife of an unbelieving mate. Got tired of hearing the comments year after year--couldn't get your husband to come huh? What do you think his problem is? Hard nut to crack isn't he? thinking back much of it was downright insulting and rude. Of course there were the public talks too about the poor unbelieving wives who are in subjection to their cruel unbelieving mates and what fine examples they are to the flock--that didn't ever set well with me either since my husband isn't the least bit evil or cruel to me. Of course we didn't have much of a JW social life--few want to associate with you if you have a wicked worldly unbelieving mate--it is rather like having the plague. You are pitied in the congo, looked upon as a grand example of martyrdom and treated as a second rate citizen. Despite the downsides of it in the congo it gave you a lot more freedom to associate with those on the outside.

cybs

12

Elder says "Watchtower is cutting costs"

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

an elder told me the other day that the reason the society is making the awake!

magazine monthly, is to cut costs.

didn't tell me that the society were simplifying, or trying to make the awake more kingdom friendly.. nope, just cost cutting.

cyber-sista

Yup Gary, that makes total sense. Even the WT publications that are being printed are more cheaply made--most are no longer hard cover. The study books are probably more profitable than the magazines because every JW needs to ~~buy~~ possess one. Seems like mags and brochures were being placed more and more with the public and not so many books--or at least it seemed that way to me--the public hardley ever gave money for the magazines--most of us were glad if we could give them away.

I remember the WT telling us that every member of the family should have their own book bags and their own copies of the study publications even if they were young children who couldn't read. Being a JW is kind of like being in a book club--the first few books are free, but after that you have to keep buying them forever and ever. The WT has created a market of dedicated paying book consumners among their own R&F. Can you remember when they had a new book release at the assemblies and how much like a sales pitch it was? How many of us followed the lead to gratefully donate our money for these ~~cheaply made poorly written~~ valuable publications?

cybs

30

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 3-6-05 WT Study (Abbreviated)

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the march 6, 2005 wt study (february 1, 2005 issue date)

review comments

will be in black and parentheses ().

cyber-sista

An even greater joy was in store for them because of their zeal for the Kingdom?

They were being offered the highest honor and privilege that any human could have.

While I believe this is speaking here of the annointed I think the WT is using this to prod the R&F...Many of them are not feeling the joy--and why? Because they don't have the zeal for the Kingdom preaching work.

So if you don't have joy it is your fault because you aren't preaching enough!

And since this is a privlege of the highest honor you are being ungrateful by not acknowleging it by doing more preaching work!

Feeling joy and showing appreciation = doing more preaching work!

I happen to be in the grocery store yesterday afternoon and saw a JW women I know who just got out of the Sunday meeting. She didn't see me, but just looking at her knitted brow and troubled expression she clearly looked unhappy. She is one who sacrificed for the Org pioneering since high school ,not marrying until she was middle aged or having any children and then in deperation marrying someone she is not happy with. She has had a full share in the preaching work, but she is not a joyful person--thus proving the WT formula for happiness null and void.

cybs

30

How Far Would You Have Gone To Prove Your Loyalty To The Organization?

by minimus in

jw
friends

would you have not taken a transfusion?

would you make sure that your child was deprived of one, too?

would you have turned in your own family member to the elders?..........just how far would you have gone in showing allegiance to the cult?

cyber-sista

I DON'T KNOW AND THAT IS WHAT SCARES ME TODAY. HOW FAR WOULD I GONE? I DON'T HONESTLY KNOW. I DO KNOW WHEN THE ELDERS TRIED TO CONTROL MY THINKING AND ACTIONS IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT WOULD HAVE DESTOYED MY MARRIAGE TO MY UNBELIEVING HUBBY OF 30+ YEARS AND RELATIONSHIP WITH MY DAUGHTER I JUST COULDN'T BE OBIEDIENT ANYMORE. I DREW THE LINE AT MY FAMILY AND DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW ANYONE CAN DO THE SHUNNING THING TO THEIR OWN CHILDREN. I GUESS THAT IS WHERE I DREW THE LINE, BUT I MIGHT HAVE DIED NOT TAKING A BLOOD TRANSFUSION--I WAS REALLY CONVINCED ABOUT THAT ONE. IT SCARES ME TO THINK HOW MUCH INFLUENCE THE WT ORG HOLDS OVER ITS MEMBERS--I KNOW SOME OF THEM WOULD DRINK POISON IF THE ORG TOLD THEM TO.

CYBS

23

Why is the Governing Body so Thoughtlessly Cruel?

by frankiespeakin in

jw
friends

i have wondered why the governing body is callous when it comes to the rules they make that effect millions of their followers.

they enforce their ban on blood transfusions with the threat of disfellowshipment which has caused untold suffering and death for its members.

they make shunning mandatory of any member that doesn?t agree with their interpretation of the bible which destroys families and friendships, and in all this there doesn?t seem to be any let up.

cyber-sista

because the org is the control, and with out the org they will lose control.

Good comment kls...This filters down through all the JWs and this is why they so strongly defend their precious Org. If the Org is not defended by the elders for instance they lose their power over the flock (even if they think something is wrong in the Org they remain silent in fear of losing their own postions if they speak out) These elders receive glory from the congo in their positions and control over people they would not normally have being that many of them are misfits in society already. Many of the JWs are also misfits who are built up to believe that by their association they too elevate themselves and gain power, as many of them are of low self esteem and feel powerless otherwise. It is a cruel cycle and it takes advantage of peoples dysfunctions and needs--and it also perpetuates them. The sad truth is for so many of the average JW you take them out of JW land and they feel powerless in their lives. I know many like this. Some wouldn't even know "how to direct their own step" if they left.

cybs

37

BE LIKE PRINCE.......

by Gill in

jw
friends

my older sister, always a devout jw, or so we were led to believe......recently left home and went to live with her boyfriend!

hubby and self are faders, fading very nicely so far.

we went round for sunday dinner at my parents, who are devout jws and they had also invited my sister and her boyfriend.

cyber-sista

I was skipping past the oscars and caught a glimpse of prince and thought he looked oh so arrogant and not the least bit humble in my opinion. Why is he allowed to do all he does and the average JW is told to display lowliness of mind?

cybs