we all know that education is severely demonized in this religion.
and that the elders are appointed based on how many meetings they attend, hours they put in on the ministry and general attitude to other elders (as apposed to, you know, actual theological training and counseling) - so my question is, what were your elders occupations outside the kingdom hall?.
in my old congregation our elders consisted of:.
1970's through the 1990's.
Retired blacksmith
Steelworker (4 of them)
Machinist (myself)
Wallpaper hanger
Factory worker
Hospital kitchen worker
Chemist
Electrical engineer (got his education before becoming a JW)
Salesman
Heating and air-conditioning business owner
Personnel manager (educated before becoming a JW)
Project manager for an engineering company
Don't remember some of them.
so much for dedicating the kingdom hall, hallfields lane, peterborough, .
pe4 7yh for 'true worship(tm)'.. it's now a mosque.. not that i care anymore, i have finished thinking much about the jobos.
moved on and glad of it.. just thought you'd be interested.. now i'll sod off again for another few months.
In the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the old Central Kingdom Hall. In it's heyday, it was the number one KH in the tri-state area (PA, Ohio and West Virginia). It is where most people were baptized from the 1950's into the 1970's when the assembly hall was built. It is also the home cong. of Al Schroeder who became a bigwig in Brooklyn.
The place was sold a number of years ago and is now a big deal Islamic center.
putting it simply, kingdom halls are no longer the property of a local group of the folks that paid for and constructed it.
the lender, the watchtower society, now says that once a mortgage is satisfied, that congregation must then declare a resolution which says it will continue to make payments, usually equal to the amount they were paying on the mortgage.
and they must do so indefinitely.
And to think....back in the 1960's and 70's when I first came in contact with JW's, they constantly condemned all religions for their asking for money and tithing. Back then the JW's had something in the line of credibility in some small way. Today they are no better, and in many ways worse than mainstream religion. The Christian churches today whether they are small, big, or mega.....are all supported by generous free will giving. Their hard earned money isn't stolen from them like it is from the JW's who donate, work, or whatever else they do to be approved by men.
have any of you heard of anything like this.
i remember an ex jw from ohio taking video of a former kingdom hall that is now a church.
apparently the society sold it to the church.
My old Kingdom Hall in White Oak, PA that I haven't stepped foot in since 2001 is now a church.
this coming saturday!.
memorial service for jehovah's witness george kraynak.
being broadcast worldwide as a livestream direct from the sharon kingdom hall of jehovah's witnesses at 2885 hann hill rd, hermitage, pennsylvania usa.
At least the family asked that donations be made to the Allegheny Health System in Pittsburgh.
That probably raised a few hackles with the dubs. They'd want donations to be made to the "World Wide (ripoff) Work"
well, i messaged someone on e-harmony and she messaged me back.
i did like her at first and she likes me too.
we exchanged more than 10 messages till i find out yesterday that her best friend is a tarot card reader.
There is more than one lady on E-Harmony. Give it a chance. Flipper met his wife on E-Harmony and they are living happily ever after.
oh this is just worth sharing!.
so , as many know, it has been two years since i have attended any meetings, conventions, etc....nothing...cold turkey.. the hassles and problems the elders threw our way were monumental....so many details i could share, but suffice it to say, we stood firm and kept our dignity and poise and reminded them of "appropriate boundaries ".
one elder in particular has since spared no effort in ensuring that malicious gossip and slander has been spread so that witnesses have avoided us like the plague!.
At least you stopped. Very good on your part.
I was broke down along a little travelled road and stood by the car with my hood up. A brother and his wife passed on their way to the KH and saw us but kept going. That was more ammunition for me.
A loveless bunch of unchristian people.
You however, showed true Christian love whether you believe or not.
"if you are a young person you need to face the fact you will never grow old in this system of things.. why not?
because all the evidence in fulfilment of bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years...as a young person you will never fulfil any career that this system offers".
may 22 awake!
Removed from public access!
This is why someone mentioned that the printed material must not be thrown away. Oh yes, the WT doesn't want to keep the old literature because it shows how corrupted and wrong they have always been.
We can be very thankful that some in the ranks of exJW's have put many hours into the work of archiving all of the WT crap online. Unfortunately, the rank and file and especially the younger generation doesn't have a clue as to what was actually taught.
It seems that the WT reinvents itself for each new generation that comes along.
Now I know why....as a JW in the very late 1960's through the 1990's, I wondered why some older ones just stopped associating even though their health was still good. They recognized the bull shit!
i've always been a bit of a reader - but only reading about topics i find interesting, e.g.
natural history, dinosaurs, etc.. recently i've started to select, buy and read novels.. this year i've bought and read frankenstein (mary shelly), dracula (bram stoker), the hound of the baskervilles (a. conan doyle), 'salem's lot (stephen king), jurassic park (michael crichton) and the firm (john grisham).. i have an inclination towards horrors and thrillers.. what fiction have you been reading?.
could you recommend anything?.
If my recommendations have already been mentioned, forgive me. I have always been an avid reader and keep a list of the books I've read for the last ten years. There are well over a hundred and possibly around two hundred books on it. I do it alphabetically by author.
Out of this list, I must highly recommend the following books by Ken Follett.
"Pillars of The Earth" and "World Without End" that make a set. Then there is the Century Trilogy that is three very accurate historical fiction novels covering World War One through the fall of the Berlin wall. They are "Fall of Giants", "Winter of The World", and Edge of Eternity".
i thought, ok the case in australia would open the eyes of the world about this dangerous cult.. well that passed without a ripple.
we talk about the un and the wt link, none jw's don't.
understand the significance.
About 13 years ago I spoke at a few churches of the negative qualities of the JW's. I felt I could enlighten everyone to the dangers of this religion. I printed a ton of material from the internet that could help the public learn more.
Guess what? No one cares!
It only took a year or two for me to realize that the majority of people don't give a damn about JW's. The JW's are insignificant and are important in their own minds only.
