Posts by TallTexan

29

Church members come from far and wide to repair hundreds of houses

by Country Girl in

jw
friends

church members come from far and .

wide to repair hundreds of houses .

by: jamie reid, the enterprise 01/13/2006 .

TallTexan

HOW DO WE GET THIS TO FOX NEWS?

Yeah, wouldn't Bill O'Reilly love something like this??

51

Circuit Overseer Celebrities?

by Delboy222 in

jw
friends

i am a active jw, but one question i would like to know is why do these 'men' get treated as superstar celebrities when they attend the congregation?.

for as long as i can remember, there seems to be a 'buzz of excitement' when it is announced that he and his wife are due to visit.

what is so special about them?.

Here's my take. And I will admit, I knew some very kind, loving CO's, but as another poster shared, this was back in the 70's/80's. I've also known some very gruff, "Your congregation sucks" kinda guys. Everyone made sure they were first on the list for dinner, lunch, breakfast, midmorning snack - whatever could get the 'blessing of Jehovah' on your house by feeding the guy.

Here's why I think people became so excited. You spend all year hearing from the local elders, MS, etc the SAME OLD MESSAGE, same talk styles, etc. Honestly, we all know that many local brothers are poor speakers who can't put together a coherent meeting part to save their life. Now, the CO comes to town. Usually (not always) they were very good speakers and you always felt that, even though it was the same message, it had some sort of authority, because this guy was one step removed from the GB. This was the GB's representative to you. This is the guy who validated everything you did during the 6 months between his visits, because he came from the top and assured you that the work was progressing, that Jehovah was happy. That's why if he hammered your congregation, then the elders took it out on the publishers because the CO's disapproval was like Jehovah telling you that you had been naughty becuase your cong average was only 9.8 hours instead of 10.1 like the last cong he was in.

I don't know. Plus the average JW life is so boring that ANY reason to get excited is a good one.....

39

Are you paranoid about posting?

by wombat in

poor jwfacts got sprung when the jw trawlers were able to join the dots.. no, that's wrong - they knew it was him but it took something else for them to be able to prove it.. i am not game to post a bio about myself.

my jw siblings are very litigious.

one even sued another jw for libel.

TallTexan

I could care less if they found out about me - I'd be posting my name, address, phone number, email address, shoe size (12). My only concern is that certain members of my family are going through some tough times w/ the org and out of love and respect for them I don't want to inflict any collateral damage on them. Otherwise, I'd be naming names, dates, places of all the 'brothers' who have ever caused me problems.....

24

Did you know of any JW elders or JW pioneers that were "racist"?

by booker-t in

i know this might sound like a question from "la-la" land but as a black ex-jws most of the white jw's that i did have contact with were really nice.

i was talking to a hispanic ex-jws the other day and he was telling me of some of the racist experiences he had as a jw.

i did not contradict him but i never experienced racism from caucasian jw's.

TallTexan

I spent a few years as well on the Texas-Mexico border. The relationship between the "English" and "Spanish" congregations is curious. Both groups tend to do their own thing, despite worshipping the same god.

Interesting. Not to argue with you by any means, but I grew up in South Texas also and don't have quite the same viewpoint. The area I lived in had a number of small towns with usually just one English and in some, one Spanish congregation. As a rule, the Spanish cong's were much warmer and more loving than the English, and in most cases, they mixed quite well. I remember playing softball routinely in one town and there were bros/sis from both cong's playing and they knew each other well. I guess because of this there were a large number of interracial marriages between Hispanic and whites with no interference or really even a second thought from the elders or anyone else in the cong.

I know of a cong in north Texas that I went to with a friend of mine and I was surprised because all the blacks sat in the back of the hall and the whites in the front. I asked him about it and he said it was weird when he first moved there, but that it had become 'normal' after a while.

An elderly sister that used to ride to the meetings w/ us used the 'n' word all the time, but it seemed to be a substitute for using the word 'black'. Like she would say "The 'n' - man across the street came over to help me with my truck today." It wasn't like she was trying to be offensive or had anything against black folks, but I guess she just grew up in a time when it was accepted to say things like that.

I guess overall I don't believe that the Witnesses as a whole are racist. I witnessed very few incidents of racial problems during my time in the 'truth'.

23

5 minute guide to knowing if Jehovah's Witnesses have the truth

by jwfacts in

i have just posted a new article at http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/5min.htm that is copied below.

can you please check it and make any suggestions?

a few bits may not make total sense as they are links to other pages in the website.

TallTexan

Dude, that's awesome work.

We're not worthy, we're not worthy.....lol.

23

5 minute guide to knowing if Jehovah's Witnesses have the truth

by jwfacts in

i have just posted a new article at http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/5min.htm that is copied below.

can you please check it and make any suggestions?

a few bits may not make total sense as they are links to other pages in the website.

TallTexan

It parallels very well with the philosophical question posed in the movie The Matrix when Morpheus says to Neo:

I was watching The Matrix the other night and thought Hey, it's just like leaving the WTS. While you're in the Matrix, it's normal. When you're ready and are shown the truth, you realize the reality of the lie you were living.

12

The Watchtower Study: The one way to make your views publicly known

by sir82 in

jw
friends

as most of us here are aware, the watchtower "study" weekly meeting is no "study" at all.

paragraphs are read, pre-arranged questions are asked, and the "correct" answer is a slight re-wording of the sentences in the paragraph.. however, sometimes (many times?

depending on the congregation), members could use the study as a way to publicly air their opinions on a variety of topics, without fear of interruption (so long as the answer was couched in enough "theocratese").

TallTexan

In 1984 when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom came out, a group of about 10 of us in the hall went to see it. This was a very small congregation and the resident holier-than-thou pioneer found out we went. The next day was Sunday and I was reading for the WT study, which was about, appropriately enough, avoiding worldly influences such as 'bad' entertainment. Well, she was prepared. She proceeded to launch into a 5-minute (literally, 5-minute) comment on how NO true Christian would ever see this movie or view this as entertainment. She also read an entire movie review that discussed the movie's violence and spiritism and described the 'heart removal' scene in detail. I guess she didn't realize that to the 30 people in the hall who had NO idea why she was giving this mini-public talk that she looked like a total idiot......

24

Song 32

by Rooster in

song 32.

"from house to house".

(acts 20:20).

TallTexan

Were is that song about bees that where molested and that I can never beat them off? I can never sing that with a straight face.

Uhhh, don't remember that one.

My favorite was always "Firm and Determined"....it had that minor-y 'Wagner' feel to it....

24

Song 32

by Rooster in

song 32.

"from house to house".

(acts 20:20).

TallTexan

Why doesn't it say

"And to be sheep or to be goats

We'll let the people choose....

After a crappy 30-second presentation memorized 15 minutes before the meeting for field service given by someone wishing that it were 10:30 so they could go on break.....

29

I am 'no longer 1of JW's', and damn it feels good. Plus my letter to bethel

by jwfacts in

for anyone facing my situation i recommend not being scared.

it is not money i am after, what it would be good to achieve is make the wts so scared of publically announcing anyone that they end up changing their d/f policy.. this is what happened.

for anyone facing my situation i recommend not being scared.

TallTexan

Yes, congratulations are in order. I'll be honest, I didn't read all of your letter to the Society due to time constraints, but what I did read was excellent. Very well thought out and presented. Too bad all that effort and thought was most likely wasted on the deaf, dumb, and blind (to reality, anyway).