Posts by pratt1

72

Bethel: Pathway to Apostasy

by Black Man in

jw
friends

at the 'big house' you go either one of two ways, company man or apostate.

i think for many that went, it demystified the whole organization and you saw firsthand that there wasn't holy spirit influencing anything - only the muses of sheltered, out-of-touch old men and political bureaucrats.

i work in the corporate world and i saw just as much if not more politics in bethel.

pratt1

I didn't go to Bethel but I attended a congo about a mile away from the "Holy of Holies". I had many bethelites as friends and many would stay over my house on the weekends. I was also the keeper of many restricted contraban like video tapes, CDs, questionable clothing.

My folks were also pretty generous with the bethelites finacially and most of them ate at least one dinner a week at my house.

I also became the chauffeur for many bethelites, driving them back to the home after the late night meetings.

Many of these guys were away from home for the first time and were probably clincally depressed because of the stress they got at bethel and the fear letting their congo down if they returned home in disgrace (asked to leave).

I did enjoy most of these guys and I would take them out to bars and clubs in manhattan on the weekends.

The interesting thing about that is that they hooked up with "worldly" girls more often then I did and most could drink me under the table.

12

what's the worst?

by bonnzo in

jw
friends

what's the worst thing you've ever heard of an elder or ms doing and getting away with it?

i'll post mine in a while.

pratt1

Well this didn't happen to me but it involved my mom.

This prominent elder in my hall got drunk at a wedding reception , cornered my mother and exposed himself. He was married and my mom was good friends with his wife.

Well he whips it out and tugs at it in my mom's face so with two hands my mom shoves him in his voice box and knocks him straight on his ass. At this point everyone hears the commotion and he is screaming that my mom attacked. Idiot didn't realize that he still had his penis exposed so many people saw it.

The best part is that they had a jc meeting about it and tried to get my mom to say that he really didn't expose himelf and that she was mistaken, just an honest mistake. Well my mom the little spitfire that she is, told the elders that unless they reproved him and made him apologize my worldly dad wass going to have a nice little chat with the elder and introduce him to Smith and Wesson. She also threaten to alert the authorities because similar accustations had been made against this brother in the past and he was never spoken to about it.

They relented and put him on public reproof. The best part is that my dad came to the next meeting and asked this brother to step outside but the coward stayed in the hall for an hour and half after the meeting was over until me and my mom could get my dad to go home.

33

Witness School

by loosie in

has anyone here ever gone to a witness school.

you know the school jw's set up to keep their kids separate from the world.

you would have the daily text every morning and of course a kingdom song had to be sung.. i'd love to hear your experiences.

pratt1

There was a witless school in Queens, NY. I knew the owner of the school quite well ( well I knew his daughter quite well.) I don't think the students did any better than the average public school student academically, but I am sure that they were far behind socially.

33

Jehovah's Witnesses and interracial marriage

by what_Truth? in

*this is a bit of a riff off of bluegrass tom's post in the bible research forumn .

in my old hall we had three interracial couples.

in fact i didn't even realise that they were interracial until i was about 12. .

pratt1

Is an interesting question. Back in the early seventies a bethelite (white) brother got engaged to a young (black) sister in my hall. Thi caused a major uproar in the congo with many people vowing not to attend the wedding.

The people who had the biggest problem with this union were the black dubs. The reason given for the resistance was that the brother was about 40 and the sister was barely 18. Also his plan was to move her back to his hometown in somewhere in Mississippi.

Us city folk were terrified that her life would be in danger because their mixed marriage.

Long story short, they got married anyway, had 3 beauitful children and last time I saw them they seemed happy mentally and prospeous financially.

Also, they left the dubs after about 20 years.

24

DF'd and dirty looks

by loosie in

i have a friend she is disfellowshipped.

she suffers from depression.

she wants to go back.

pratt1

I can certainly understand why your friend feels depressed.

I hope she gets help (professional) that can help her deal with the unloving treatment she is recieving from the "brothers".

I think the more important question is why would she want to associate with a group of people who display such unloving traits.

After being treated this way, how would she treat a disfellowshiped person once she is reinstated.

She needs to remember that if she does not practice shunning like the "pack", she might find herself ousted again.

3

Barbeque Grills

by pratt1 in

jw
friends

.

i am in the market for a new outdoor grill.. any suggestions on a reliable brand, mid range price - $500 - $1000?.

also which do you find better, gas or propane gas?

pratt1

I am in the market for a new outdoor grill.

Any suggestions on a reliable brand, mid range price - $500 - $1000?

Also which do you find better, Gas or Propane gas?

29

Do your JW clothes still fit you?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

although i don't go to meetings anymore, i usually go to the memorial.

but this year, i couldn't go even if i wanted to..... my jw clothes don't fit me anymore.... i certainly won't spend 200$ just to go to one meeting.....

pratt1

My clothing still fits, but I have developed an acute allergy to polyester, therefore I can't wear it or sit next to it.

I guess that means I can't attend the memorial.

14

No siblings - many siblings

by pratt1 in

jw
friends

.

after reading the thread of "toxic relationships" i began to wonder, are there advantages to being an only child and / or would you rather have siblings even though the relationhips can be painful.. i am an only child and i am beginning to think that i am not missing much by not having brothers and sisters.. did you family size have anything to do with your decision to have one child/ or more than one child?

pratt1

After reading the thread of "toxic relationships" I began to wonder, are there advantages to being an only child and / or would you rather have siblings even though the relationhips can be painful.

I am an only child and I am beginning to think that I am not missing much by not having brothers and sisters.

Did you family size have anything to do with your decision to have one child/ or more than one child?

41

Was it worth meeting with the judicial committee?

by 24k in

jw
friends

for those of you who met with a judicial committee and were subsequently da'd or df'd, was it worth the time and effort?

did the elders let you speak your piece, or were they only interested in hearing that key word or phrase that would allow them to act?

was there genuine interest shown, proboing questions asked, did they really want to know how you felt?

pratt1

I have to say that I am very glad I met with them.

I got a lot of issues off my chest and I wasn't afriad to call them on the carpet for their actions on several issues within the congo.

Ultimately they did Df me but I have no regrets.

Oh execpt that I got reinstated 4 months later.

Not that was a mistake!

31

Are you afraid to watch The Exorcist?

by Pwned in

for the longest time i was afraid to see it, and when i did i have to admit i felt 'weird', anyone else feel this way.

pratt1

I found the first one extremely scary but I didn't feel as though I was allowing the demons to come into my house.

My wife however refuses to watch this movie becaue of her dub upbringing.

If you have never seen it before and would like to, make sure you see an uncut version that is usual shown on a cable channel.

Network tv generally cuts out all of the really juicy parts.