Posts by Axelspeed

128

It Seems That My Children Are Not Trained

by Gary1914 in

jw
friends

i just returned home from the kingdom hall.

i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.

i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.

Axelspeed

If you are having a problem with the direct confrontation (and an inability to say no), I would suggest changing congregations if you can. They will try to talk you out of it, but do it. Say your family needs a change or something. They will send a letter of introduction to your new congregation.

No doubt the body at your new congregation will be happy to see another prospective elder on their body. This may give you a few months of elder-free duty for a few months until the CO comes around. He will visit your new congregation, they will probably discuss you briefly as a formality during the elders meeting for the week, and recommend you. They will send it off and when it comes back, probably within a couple of weeks after the CO leaves, they will ask you then if you will accept the recommendation. At this point...JUST SAY NO and that you would like to spend more time "building your family up spiritually."

It may be a little easier as you will have less of an emotional attachment to this new elder body. Believe me, I understand. In the future I will share more of my own story.

Axelspeed

3

The Power of A Label

by Axelspeed in

jw
friends

war is peace .

freedom is slavery .

ignorance is strength.

Axelspeed

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

These are taken from Orwell’s 1984. You have to read the book to get the full meaning of what he was saying. But it started me to thinking how powerful an influence a person or group can wield just by the simple act of renaming something and appealing to human nature and the ego that comes with it.

In the WT these three come to my mind.

MISERY IS REFRESHMENT

HATRED IS LOVE

WORK IS PRIVILEGE

MISERY IS REFRESHMENT
Let’s face it, though a few did enjoy it, for most of us field service was misery. Getting up every Sat morning when you’d rather be sleep or watching cartoons. Yet, we were always taught that what we were doing would actually be REFRESHING. I grew up in it and I can honestly say I never really enjoyed it. If there was any satisfaction at the time, it was because I knew I would have some hrs. I could report honestly at the end of the month.

HATRED IS LOVE
Most JWs honestly feel that by their cruel treatment of others through shunning, it is actually LOVE. I think that most here can attest that this does little to really draw people back, at least for the right reasons. If anything, it truly exposes the iron fist in the velvet glove.

WORK IS PRIVILEGE
Anything normally called work is simply renamed PRIVELEGE. Does the hall lawn need to be mowed? –we’ll call it a privilege and reserve it for those who are reaching out by the performance of other work …I mean PRIVELEGE…by regular FS.

Need a microphone man? Call it a PRIVELEGE and watch the young brothers jump through hoops to be one.
Need a Literature or Mag Servant? Yes, call it a PRIVELIGE.
Need more MS to do some of the work elders don’t really want to do? Again, call it a PRIVILEGE
Want people to put in work with the goal to put in Regular Monthly Work…but with a quota? Call them Pioneers…and then call it a PRIVILEGE
Need more elders? You got it…call it a PRIVELIGE. (If you never were one you didn’t miss a thing…except more work)

Can you think of more?

Axelspeed

3

The Power of A Label

by Axelspeed in

jw
friends

.

Axelspeed

128

Is there any hope of you coming back to Jehovah?

by LeftBehind in

jw
friends

my brother is a self proclaimed apostate.

i see now that there is a wide variety of posters here.

so to those that have left the witnesses what would it take to get you back?

Axelspeed

There is nothing that would get me back at this point. I know this sounds strange to a JW, because at this point you cannot imagine how a person could say that.

A family member went apostate and has turned his back on Jehovah

By this statement you have made the assumption that when a person leaves the organization, he has left Jehovah. Can you separate the two? Or realize that the Organization does not = Jehovah.

Secondly, the only thing many here have done is what you and other JWs ask other people to do every time you go door to door. And what is that? EXAMINE THEIR RELIGION.

I can’t be sure but since your family are all JWs, you sound like a person who may have been raised in. Have you ever examined your own religion? Have you ever been allowed to examine your own religion? You have limited knowledge of other religious groups through the eyes of the WT and your JW background, but have you ever read anything concerning JWs or other religions through anything but the WT?

Other questions, do you really believe your brother prefers and enjoys the relationship he has with his family now? If he is going through this much of an effort, is it possible that he learned some things that his conscience and personal integrity would not allow him to accept anymore? If it is that important, and you do have the Truth which should stand up to anything, can you at least hear him out?

I was raised in myself, but intellectual integrity would not allow me to accept any longer what I knew to be false. That is not truth.

Axelspeed

42

Hi, I'm very new!!!

by Rebekah in

i've just found this site this evening.

i've been off work with a bad cold since tuesday and there was a knock on the door this afternoon.

i don't usually answer the door to strangers but on this occasion i did as i could see 2 elderly gentlemen.

Axelspeed

I know JWs who have chess sets also and play. It is usually not something talked or widely circulated by those who do. The WT considers chess to be a Game of War, so it is frowned at in some circles.

Fun to JWs is supposed to be knocking on doors. It is seen as the BEST thing a JW can do, even more so than things like feeding the homeless.

Axelspeed

42

Hi, I'm very new!!!

by Rebekah in

i've just found this site this evening.

i've been off work with a bad cold since tuesday and there was a knock on the door this afternoon.

i don't usually answer the door to strangers but on this occasion i did as i could see 2 elderly gentlemen.

Axelspeed

In my experience garage sales were ok, but yes there was always that fear that some item could contain wicked spirits or demons. So a lot of JWs cast a wary eye at anything bought at thrift stores or garage sales. If it is a church garage sale, then the answer is absolutely definitely not.

If anything is church related, its pretty much a no-no, even if the cause is seen to be good and noble by persons who are not JWs. To JWs, all other religions are seen as Babylon the Great, controlled by Satan the Devil. So any efforts carried out by these agencies would be indirectly supporting an entity controlled by Satan in the mind of the JW.

Axelspeed

33

Watchtower, January 1,2006. Study article, First paragraph.

by Blueblades in

jw
friends

to be studied on febuary 5th.

blondie will do her usual "comment" later.

i just want to point out how they start the 2006 study article, the first paragraph only.. a young man wanted to be more useful in his congregation.

Axelspeed

Thanks JT...great stuff!

32

Is There Truly Any "Underground Reform" Going On?

by minimus in

jw
friends

not an organized type, at least.

as an elder, i would try to bend the organization's rules so as to be more moderate and give the "sheep" a little more comfort.

but no elder or group of people could organize such a group and stay within the watchtower's (kingdom hall's) walls.

Axelspeed

"love of the greater number has cooled off",

Yes with the core hardliners that reasoning will work, and there will always be that core.

But that number is dwindling fast to a ever-present, but delusional and disconnected core. I dont believe the "love of the greater number has cooled" card will play as well the next time around with a lot of JWs.

Axelspeed

32

Is There Truly Any "Underground Reform" Going On?

by minimus in

jw
friends

not an organized type, at least.

as an elder, i would try to bend the organization's rules so as to be more moderate and give the "sheep" a little more comfort.

but no elder or group of people could organize such a group and stay within the watchtower's (kingdom hall's) walls.

Axelspeed

jgnat said: I think we are seeing a silent protest building

That is exactly what I see. As things have progressed lately, the hardline seems to be the course the WT is taking.

I wouldnt call it reform - just yet. But the JW culture seems to me to be changing from the bottom up. The few JWs that come in today are a different breed, and more independent. And many of the ones who have been in the WT for yrs. feel a little shafted (gen change, college flip flops), even if they refuse to admit it, even to themselves. The kids are smarter and way more connected than I could even think to be at that age, and have way higher aspirations than "pioneering".

So now you have:

-Pubs(young)going to university
-Pubs (older) going back to school
-Pubs pursuing other interest i.e. getting a life
-Pubs putting in false hrs.
-Brothers filling seats, yet running from "priveleges"
-Brothers with priveleges trying to do less
-Brothers with priveleges who say enough and resign
-JWs who have accepted their circumstance and now the KH is more a social club

All the while nodding their heads in the yes, to make a show of being compliant and agreeable to any counsel. The disconnect with Brooklyn will continue. Heads nodding yes...but the hardline message falling on deaf ears.

Any organized movement at this point will have to be very careful...because if found it will be squashed swiftly and harshly. But a critical mass of protest of the silent kind is approaching. And once people start seeing that they are not at all alone in what they are thinking among the "friends" the WT will have a problem and some decisions to make. Well actually, they already do have a problem and its not going away just my .02 Axelspeed

53

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 11-13-05 WT Study (Education)

by blondie in

review comments will be in red

wt material from todays wt will be in black

quotes from other sources will be blue

Axelspeed

If you can get a hardcopy of this one, its a keeper. I'm sure they probably have before, but this is one of the few times I can recall that they have specifically spelled out 'higher education' = 4 yr degree (par 6). Its also one of the few times I can recall specifics on favorable vs unfavorable careers (par 18).

Hmmm. Hairdressing must be ok now, but some yrs. ago it was actually considered one of the bad, immoral ones.

There must be real concern in paradise...as this is one of the more direct/desperate articles, and really shows the life of delusion of the WT in this yr of 2005.

Note to WT: The party as you knew it 20 yrs. ago is over. The internet is here. And people, even JWs, realize that education is something that is better to have than not. The JW parents who were burned 20 yrs ago are not about to let it happen to their kids. The WT must change or become even more irrelevant and the chasm between Brooklyn and reality will grow wider. In some ways JW culture is already changing in an unexpected way...from the bottom up.

Axelspeed