Posts by Axelspeed

I think everybody just needs to step back and take a deep breath. We all have come out of the same hell. I have lurked and posted for about 5 yrs. and have never been a very active poster, but I’ve been here long enough to see that these are not new issues. Well actually, there are no new issues. None. Nada.

Believe me, just about every question/topic/board issue that comes up now has been covered ad nauseum in the past…every one. But you know what? that’s ok cause there are new posters everyday that somehow think that their situation is somehow NEW and UNIQUE. How many times has a distraught new poster come to the board with the plea “Oh please help, I think I’m in love with a JW?” No problem… that’s what the board is for.

I mention the above to say this: Same thing with this latest huff n puff. This kind of stuff has happened over and over and over again on this board. Somebody gets their feelings hurt, lashes out against the mods or the mods overreact—take your pick…that’s not my point or my call. My point is this stuff ain’t new. It has happenned in the past and will happen again. In the meantime, stop trying to pick apart EVERY word and read into EVERY nuance you might imagine is there.

The problem is that boards like this, while providing a great service, give us a sense of anonymity. We can post and feel empowered enough to let it all out, damn what others think or how it comes across. What I find as very IRONIC, is that some feel they have to create and maintain some kind of board persona for this anonymous persona. Contributing to this confusion are the cliques or cliquish topics i.e who are the best-est and most favorite posters. I see publisher/pioneer/elder class-like similarities. I don’t think its intentional, just human nature. Yes, of course I have posters I look for, those I like and gravitate to. But I think the confusion and cliques these post create is something to think about when they come up. Sometimes I’m not even sure the objects of adulation in these post aren’t sometimes just a little embarrassed by it all. When people used to congratulate me on some talk I gave, yeah sure I liked it, but ultimately it just created some persona that wasn’t really me, and that somehow needed to be protected and lived up to. Very tiring and unfulfilling.

Another problem with discussion boards is that they rarely give a true indication of a posters character and personality. I have spoken to a few from the board off-line, and they are nothing less than charming and intelligent. Their sense of humor is not at first apparent and very often misunderstood as it comes across here on the board. That’s probably why I don’t do much fluff. I’m not good at it, and would come across totally misguided and as a complete jackass. (I laugh at the dark, quirky and sometimes twisted things). So, if you want to get something straight with a poster, I would suggest you pm them, get contact details and then call them on the phone. I can almost guarantee you will adjust your opinion of them or better understand there post. You will quickly realize you are speaking with a fellow victim/survivor, who can pretty much understand where you are coming from more than most never-been-jws ever could.

I now feel bad for those people who did contact you. I would like to make a suggestion to you, for those who you feel are worthy of your words of wisdom, send them a PM and give them your personal e-mail and/or number. That way those who you deem as "socially retarded" will not bother you and you will not have to waste your precious time and voice on people you clearly look down upon. You yourself opened the door when you gave people your personal info (i.e., personal e-mail account and from the sounds of it your phone number as well) and then to call them names is rather harsh. All I can say in my very simple words ... shame on you.

The above was in response to LDH post:

I have an awfully long fuse because I understand it's basically socially retarded people I'm talking with (when you consider the unseen population of lurkers and the disabled XJW).

This is how it gets started. I can tell you that I believe you misunderstood her comment. It was not meant as an affront or an insult to anyone here. There are few things in life that I can be sure about. BUT, I can guarantee that 1) if you were a jw at one-time and 2) especially if you were raised from childhood as one and 3) doubly-especially if you grew up in a staunch jw home, then you ARE/HAVE BEEN at one point socially retarded. This includes LDH aka Lisa, 99% of the posters here and most definitely myself. She has a sense of humor and forthrightness that probably not all get…and let me stop there because I’m sure she doesn’t need or want me explaining her : ). I would suggest you contact her.

The mods are not perfect, Simon is not perfect. But this is his board...respect it. I am willing to concede that it is a thankless job I would never have. These calls to delete or not delete are always subjective and subject to scrutiny and general criticism. But again respect the board.

Stop creating eggshells and stop causing your fellow victims/survivors feel as though they have to walk on them. We are a lot more alike than you realize.

Axel (of the "if you have any questions about my post--don't assume, please ask--I don't bite" class)

28

DC in Ireland: Warning about groups of bros who want to modernise the WT

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

.

i just heard this from someone who attended a district convention in ireland.. the brother told me that the speaker said that there were brothers forming groups to try and modernise the watchtower society.

has anyone heard anything like this in the usa?

Axelspeed

The people I see causing the biggest changes are the R&F who hear and then quickly forget what they hear. They don't speak up yet, but their actions show they aren't going to be pushed around so easily.

I agree. The biggest jw changes are already happening, from the bottom-->up. The only changes that will come from the top-->down are those brought on by lawsuits and cash flow problems.

Even with no further change from the top I could argue that in 20 yrs. you might not recognize this religion or the R&F jw.

Axel

36

Who would you invite to your Fantasy Dinner Table?

by nicolaou in

you know the game, you can invite ten real people - alive or dead - who you would want to have around the table for a meal and conversation.

since it's a fantasy, language wouldn't be a barrier.. i'm still working on my definitive list but some names come immediately to mind;.

stephen fry.

Axelspeed

I have actually been thinking up my list for the last 2 days, and shuffling and reshuffling. I'm still not sure of a few so I'd consider it more of a work in progress...

Augustus Caesar
Quincy Jones
Bill Clinton
Jesus Christ (assuming real)
My Mom
Benjamin Franklin
Ellen Degeneres
Warren Buffett
Albert Einstein
T.S. Eliot
Cleopatra
Emily Dickinson

btw. a great Dickinson poem -

The Bible is an antique volume –
Written by faded Men
At the suggestion of Holy spectres –
Subjects – Bethlehem –
Eden – the ancient Homestead –
Satan – the Brigadier –
Judas – the Great Defaulter –
David – the Troubadour –
Sin – a distinguished Precipice
Others must resist –
Boys that "believe" are very lonesome –
Other Boys are "lost" –
Had but the Tale a warbling Teller –
All the boys would come –
Orpheus’ Sermon captivated –
It did not condemn –

Axel (yeah I bumped it to twelve)

38

Will there be a time when NO ONE will be able to become a JW anymore?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

the witnesses always said that at some point in time, it will be too late to join, the doors will be closed.. do you believe that will happen, or is it just to scare the witnesses?

and what would trigger the watchtower to decide, it's too late?

Axelspeed

LDH...LMAO!

22

Kerry Louderback-Wood on today's BBC 'Sunday Programme'

by AnnOMaly in

somebody gave me the heads up on this.. if anyone can find a way of recording it before it disappears ...?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/sunday/ select 'listen to the current programme in full' option, and the excerpt begins approx 10.37 into the stream.. or.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/realmedia/sunday/sundayauto.ram.

Axelspeed

Thanks Barbara for that extra information. Hmmm, have a senior WT official present himself as a lowly (and disconnected-- if need be down the line) elder...truly theocratic warfare at its finest!

Axel

52

don't any of you get afraid??

by nowisee in

all of the stuff re wts.

yet with all of this stuff happening in the mideast....with al gore's "an inconvenient truth" and scientists backing him up...with nkorea....with "christian" rhetoric....with pornography taking over the minds of our men.....bird flu....debt up to the eyeballs....complacency....pacs.....enron...corruption...serial killers in phoenix.....shrinking dollar....economy being sold to overseas.....etc.

can anyone reassure me?

Axelspeed

Perfectly stated Terry!

Get some perspective, we're actually living in one of the best times in human history.

Axel

71

PO said automation and declining contributions reason for Bethel layoffs

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

last week at the meeting, the po, who has very close connections to bethel, said that he never thought he would see the day that bethelites were being sent home.

he said that the biggest two reasons he thought bethel were cutting back, was automation and a massive decline in contributions.

looks like you're right metatron about the contribution aspect being their achilles heel.

Axelspeed

This is from that same article.

Awake! 1975 September 8 pp.24-26 Economic Woes Strike the Churches:

Well, consider: Back in 1879 in the second issue of The Watchtower (then called Zion's Watch Tower), it was noted:
"'Zion's Watch Tower' has, we believe, JEHOVAH for its backer, and while this is the case it will never beg nor petition men for support. When He who says: 'All the gold and silver of the mountains are mine,' fails to provide necessary funds, we will understand it to be time to suspend the publication."

13

Assemblies: Queues (Lines) at the Ladies, and taping over mirrors

by Duncan in

jw
friends

this topic sufaces here every now and again, with people reporting on the way that in some locations, the brothers tape paper over the mirrors in the ladies toliets, in order to speed things up and reduce queues.

i posted this a couple of years ago, but i'm resurrecting it now because i think this is relevant and interesting:.

this link:.

Axelspeed

Taping over mirrors?!

Call me out of touch with jw-ism, but that is the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a while. I hope I wasnt that much of a sheep.

Axel

47

Has being a Jehova's witness totally shattered your faith?

by Silvia Plath in

just because the watchtower society is wrong doesn't mean that there is no god, nor does it mean there is a god.

it would interesting to now how former members have adjusted thier cosmology, or whether they are now atheists and why.

i personally see religion as a more personal matter, rather than belonging to an organization.

Axelspeed

Being a witness didn't shatter my faith.

What it did do was cause me to realize that I needed to stop being a dupe and put a lot more faith in my own brain and thinking ability. From that point it was let the chips fall where they may.

Axel