I have to chuckle at our hot Texas efforts toward remaining blameless whilst going as far afield as imaginatively possible.
I think the counsel, admonition, and exhortations of JW leaders toward stifling natural and healthy sexual expression is not only wrong-headed but unkind and rather malicious.
Nobody has succeeded in keeping the lid on hormonal volcanic urges . . . ever.
The best you can hope for as a Dub is an early marriage.
Even so, so many prohibitions on self-expression still exist even within the marriage arrangement, a different set of frustrations arise.
How did we ever make it through our teen years in that Organization?
Posts by Terry
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6Big Bad Burly Brothers who like to corner you
by Terry inin my local congregation w-a-a-y back in the 60's, there was a brother who was an uber-witness.. brother h. t. jones, as i recall.
stolid.
impassive.
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Terry
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6
Big Bad Burly Brothers who like to corner you
by Terry inin my local congregation w-a-a-y back in the 60's, there was a brother who was an uber-witness.. brother h. t. jones, as i recall.
stolid.
impassive.
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Terry
The year was most likely 1966. My girlfriend was Jeanie Young.
She was a sort of Country Girl type with red hair, freckles, and a sumptuous figure in profile (he said discreetly.)
I'd been working on her for months. First, double dates at Drive-In theaters in which I barely made a move. (Barely).
Once I did the old arm-stretch and put behind her on the seat move.
She about jumped out of her skin calling me on it.
"What are you doing?" She asked as though I had unzipped my trousers and grabbed her hand.
"I'm just getting comfortable. Are you okay? Have you had a bad experience, Jeanie?"
Turns out, other Brothers had groped her and even slid sneaky hands up her thigh.
Shocking, I tell you, simply shocking a Christian male would do such a thing (nobody said...ever.)
I commiserated.
I was as virginal as Jeanie.
I was as inexperienced as Jeanie.
Turns out, I was as horny as Jeanie. It took time, patience, and above-all: instincts.
The day Brother H.T. accosted me on the Road to Damascus with his truck, I was walking to meet Jeanie out in the woods for spiritual communion.
I didn't have a car and neither did she.
I'd walk probably six miles over her way and she'd walk maybe a mile.
We never did anything at all explicit. Amazing, really.
If I knew back then what I know now -- it would have been a far different world which spun beneath our innocence.
Instincts for sex are amazing. I was a very shy person and so was Jeanie.
We both wanted the same thing. Jehovah stood there like ice water on blue balls,
Lord of the Cockblock!
Once Jeanie and I went for a walk in her neighborhood and I spotted a vacant house.
We found a way inside.
Now here's the problem . . .
It was Texas summer. Outside was very hot. Inside a vacant house without working air-conditioning it was a sauna.
We fumbled around pretty hot and heavy (doing innocent but provocative things you'd laugh at) until perspiration was ejaculating from my pores. (A poor substitute, indeed!)
She was drenched. Sweaty too.
Lucky for our virginity it wasn't perfect weather . . . or the electricity still hooked up . . . or a furnished bedroom, eh wot?
One other time, we were at her grandmother's visiting right on Lake Worth.
We walked down the sloping grassy hill to water's edge out of sight line.
We had beach towels.
Both of us were hornier than the Nashville Brass Ensemble.
We got worked up and something in my sub-conscious shouted at me: "Get into the lake water and you can *whisper whisper whisper*).
Was this (in retrospect) anything other than a damned stupid suggestion?
We got in.
Was the water cold?
OMG YESSSS!
But your boy was undiminished in purpose and perpendicularity.
I...t-r-i-e-d. . . but the door was clenched tighter than the gold depository at Fort Knox.
Cold water + virginity = hokey pokey with no hokey and all pokey.
Inefficient it was, non-productive, frustrating, and - did I mention? STUPID!
This was loose conduct, technically. TIGHT loose conduct.
Jeanie and I broke up during the Dallas Assembly at Market Hall when she showed up before the first talk having CUT HER HAIR short.
She had had luminous, luxuriant, flowing red hair that filled my soul with blazing embers of desire - until that moment. Now she looked like she was auditioning for Peter Pan.
I'm so disappointed in myself now looking back. I flipped out.
I actually broke up with Jeanie over something trivial like that. Which only goes to
actualize how clueless a human being I was in 1966.
Imagine breaking up with a beautiful young JW girl, compliant in every sense of the Me:Tarzan, You: Jane JW mentality.
I had done all the preliminary priming to suddenly - now - abandon ship.
Moron was me.
Her next JW boyfriend had her bedded so fast they were almost DF'd. They got married instead. Her name changed from Jeanie Young to Jeanie Jackson.
She subsequently (I am told) became a model in Dallas. Divorced. Left the Org.
I'd love to know what really happened with her and how her life turned out.
She was very fortunate to have me break up with her. I was less fortunate. -
6
Big Bad Burly Brothers who like to corner you
by Terry inin my local congregation w-a-a-y back in the 60's, there was a brother who was an uber-witness.. brother h. t. jones, as i recall.
stolid.
impassive.
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Terry
In my local congregation w-a-a-y back in the 60's, there was a brother who was an Uber-Witness.
Brother H. T. Jones, as I recall.
Stolid. Impassive. Hewn from stone.He was built like a cast iron furnace. When he shook hands, your own hand disappeared into his hairy paw
and a sickening crunch soon followed.
His specialty was cornering the Friends, sucking them into intense conversation about some trivial minutia concerning their duties and especially with a view to creating discomfort. i.e. "guilt trip."
Few came away with joy in their heart but him.Brother Jones sudden appearances were blitzkrieg.
Before you could shout inwardly,"OH SHIT!" Brother Jones had you pinned down like a butterfuly - withering under his steely doll's eyes like Spielberg's shark.
There was no wiggle room, only inevitable surrender.
He'd grill you.
You'd squirm.
He'd counsel you.
You'd skulk off and take a cold shower and drink too much._______
_________________One day I was walking down the street minding my own damn business when a large truck slowed, made a U-turn and puttered up beside me as I made my way from Point A to Point B.
My policy--to ignore encroachments.There was a minute of me walking and the truck ominously creeping beside me along the edge of the street.
Presently, the truck sped up just enough to cut over in front of me!
The window rolled down and the monstrous head of Brother Jones appeared like a storm cloud full of thunder bolts of crackling malevolence.
He glowered silently.
I paused with the realization I was doomed to one of "those" conversations.I waited for a greeting. (After all, he stopped ME.)
I could have waited till the sun went down. He never greeted.His clipped monotone was pure law enforcement declarative; no-nonsense.
"Get in, Brother Walstrom.""Oh, thanks for the offer, Brother Jones. You see, I'm out getting some refreshing exercise and. . . "
"GET IN."
(Easy to see why he had so many successful Bible studies going ...)I did climb in to his truck. (You would have as well!) It was a serial-killer victim moment if ever there was one.)
Once inside the cab of his truck, Brother H.T. turned only his head on a neck the thickness of a tree trunk.
The impression was like that of an enormous owl.
"Have you made out a daily schedule?" His voice was flat, without a trace of human feeling.
My mind's computer sorted, collated while searching to provide me with context; which was more than Jones had done.
(Sidebar: At the previous Service Meeting, a talk was given counseling all JW's to create a personal schedule to manage their every waking moment. The purpose was now suddenly clear to me. It was to prevent idiots such as myself from wasting time walking down the street instead of knocking on doors.)
I had to decide whether or not to play this interrogation game with Brother Jones.
Some part of me bristled. I tend to become insubordinate when cornered. But I tried to be pleasant."Sure. In fact, I'm scheduled to be about a block from here at this very moment--had you not stopped me."
I grinned. (A slowly dying grin.)No trace of emotion on his side of the truck!
"When you sit down to make your schedule do you know how you are supposed to start it?"
Pure condescension.
Now I was getting steamed; I don't like intimidation!"Of course. First things first. Second things second. Third things third--well, I think we can see where this is headed." I didn't smile.
His eyes narrowed only by a millimeter or so. He had no sense of humor or radar for sarcasm or--well, he had nothing personable to offer.
"You put the things you HAVE TO DO first. Our service to Jehovah is what goes to the top of the list. Everything else goes second."
Parsing this flash of infinite wisdom in my head, I pursed my lips thoughtfully.
"Not much room for 3rd, 4th, 5th, eh? FOOD, SHELTER, CLOTHING. What about bathroom breaks?"
I guarantee you, this man did not detect for an instant of time that I was anything but clueless!
He sat there.
He. . . just. . . sat there.I sat there.
I. . . just. . . sat there. Until I couldn't take the torture any longer."Well, thanks Brother Jones for this little chat!"
I grabbed the door handle - my escape route inches, only inches away.Sunlight, fresh air, and FREEDOM. . . if only I could make it out unscathed!
Jones' hairy paw clutched my elbow. I was Fay Wray to his King Kong.
He had SOMETHING ELSE to say!His voice changed. Perceptibly. I can't say how exactly.
"I have an hour sermon this Sunday at the congregation in Denton. I have to go out of town. I need for you to present it in my place. The outline is in the glove box."
("What the fuck?") was not in my vocabulary. At least, not at that time.
I did manage to compose myself long enough to utter the word, "Huh?"_________________________
So, that is why he stopped me. The pretext of counsel on how to make a schedule was just bullshit.
It was a Friday and the Sunday hour public sermon was two days away.
Lucky for him he saw me, the one Brother known for having a super memory.I delivered the talk in Denton, Texas.
The title was, as I recall--"HOW PRACTICAL IS THE SEARCH FOR WEALTH."
It went over well. I like to think it was because I ad-libbed my way through it and inserted humorous asides
you'd now be castrated for doing.__________________________
Now I ask you, who was the REAL uber-witness in that situation?
The Bro who fobbed off his assignment or the poor schmuck walking to see his girlfriend who got kidnapped?________________
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98
Beards - September 2016 Watchtower
by Listener inthe issue of whether beards are acceptable or not is addressed in the september 2016 watchtower - well sort of.
it is as clear as mud as to whether they are allowed in places like australia, usa and britain.. 17. what are some factors that may affect whether a brother wears a beard?17 what about the propriety of brothers wearing a beard?
the mosaic law required men to wear a beard.
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Terry
What--if any--differences or distinctions are there between:
the CUSTOMS of men
and the TRADITIONS of men?
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Remember when you 1st learned "The Truth"? Want to experience that tingle in a new way?
by Terry inyou can't unring a bell once rung.. you can't unknow nor can you forget being deceived, tricked, lied to and misled.. the truly awful aftershock of waking up to the 'truth about the truth' is the death of wonder,.
belief, and absolute certainty that you know what life is all about.
in fact, for most of us the path is the same.we begin investigating our foundational belief system.
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Terry
I'm really really sorry I posted this topic because it isn't as funny as I thought it was at first.!
More and more young people are falling for it. Uneducated people relying on their "intuition" don't trust the idea that the real world can, and of is, counter-intuitive.
For conspiracy theorists, intellectual honesty is for OTHER people and not for themselves.
Intellectual honesty is the willingness to admit you are wrong when the facts go against even your most cherished "truths."
Here is a very brief breakdown of the skeleton beliefs behind Flat Earth Theory:The leading flat-earther theory holds that Earth is a disc with the Arctic Circle in the center and Antarctica, a 150-foot-tall wall of ice, around the rim.
NASA employees, they say, guard this ice wall to prevent people from climbing over and falling off the disc.
Earth's day and night cycle is explained by positing that the sun and moon are spheres measuring 32 miles (51 kilometers) that move in circles 3,000 miles (4,828 km) above the plane of the Earth.
(Stars, they say, move in a plane 3,100 miles up.) Like spotlights, these celestial spheres illuminate different portions of the planet in a 24-hour cycle.
Flat-earthers believe there must also be an invisible "antimoon" that obscures the moon during lunar eclipses.
Furthermore, Earth's gravity is an illusion, they say. Objects do not accelerate downward; instead, the disc of Earth accelerates upward at 32 feet per second squared (9.8 meters per second squared), driven up by a mysterious force called dark energy.
Currently, there is disagreement among flat-earthers about whether or not Einstein's theory of relativity permits Earth to accelerate upward indefinitely without the planet eventually surpassing the speed of light. (Einstein's laws apparently still hold in this alternate version of reality.)
As for what lies underneath the disc of Earth, this is unknown, but most flat-earthers believe it is composed of "rocks." [Religion and Science: 6 Visions of Earth's Core]
Then, there's the conspiracy theory: Flat-earthers believe photos of the globe are photoshopped; GPS devices are rigged to make airplane pilots think they are flying in straight lines around a sphere when they are actually flying in circles above a disc.
The motive for world governments' concealment of the true shape of the Earth has not been ascertained, but flat-earthers believe it is probably financial.
"In a nutshell, it would logically cost much less to fake a space program than to actually have one, so those in on the Conspiracy profit from the funding NASA and other space agencies receive from the government,"
- See more at: http://www.livescience.com/24310-flat-earth-belief.html#sthash.D3oEofvH.dpuf
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Remember when you 1st learned "The Truth"? Want to experience that tingle in a new way?
by Terry inyou can't unring a bell once rung.. you can't unknow nor can you forget being deceived, tricked, lied to and misled.. the truly awful aftershock of waking up to the 'truth about the truth' is the death of wonder,.
belief, and absolute certainty that you know what life is all about.
in fact, for most of us the path is the same.we begin investigating our foundational belief system.
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Terry
To me, rational thinking for animals has a practical limit moderated and (in some instances) nullified by stronger impulses.
Effort is required to be rational whereas there is no effort at all to acting emotionally.
Societally, we are conditioned to act on cues. When those cues interfere with rational thinking, cognitive dissonance provides a rescue. We compartmentalize.
Cults are a means of feeling safe at the cost of rational thinking. Instead, we get self-justification and willful blindness. Loyalty supplants self-preservation and BINGO, altruism is born.
Becoming invested in any belief system begins with self-preservation. If we feel our world view is threatened by a conspiracy to deceive us--we lean in and listen. That is why cults use fear so skillfully. Cults scare us into questioning whatever world view made us feel safe. "What if we are being fooled?" It all begins with making us doubt we have THE answers. -
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Remember when you 1st learned "The Truth"? Want to experience that tingle in a new way?
by Terry inyou can't unring a bell once rung.. you can't unknow nor can you forget being deceived, tricked, lied to and misled.. the truly awful aftershock of waking up to the 'truth about the truth' is the death of wonder,.
belief, and absolute certainty that you know what life is all about.
in fact, for most of us the path is the same.we begin investigating our foundational belief system.
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Terry
A caller is given as much respect as humanly possible when Flat Earth question is asked. What ensues is an entertaining exploration of, in my view, basic ignorance leading to cult beliefs.
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Remember when you 1st learned "The Truth"? Want to experience that tingle in a new way?
by Terry inyou can't unring a bell once rung.. you can't unknow nor can you forget being deceived, tricked, lied to and misled.. the truly awful aftershock of waking up to the 'truth about the truth' is the death of wonder,.
belief, and absolute certainty that you know what life is all about.
in fact, for most of us the path is the same.we begin investigating our foundational belief system.
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Terry
Here we have the EXACT same reasoning by an Islamic scholar answering
a question posed to him as to whether the earth revolves or remains motionless.
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Remember when you 1st learned "The Truth"? Want to experience that tingle in a new way?
by Terry inyou can't unring a bell once rung.. you can't unknow nor can you forget being deceived, tricked, lied to and misled.. the truly awful aftershock of waking up to the 'truth about the truth' is the death of wonder,.
belief, and absolute certainty that you know what life is all about.
in fact, for most of us the path is the same.we begin investigating our foundational belief system.
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25
Remember when you 1st learned "The Truth"? Want to experience that tingle in a new way?
by Terry inyou can't unring a bell once rung.. you can't unknow nor can you forget being deceived, tricked, lied to and misled.. the truly awful aftershock of waking up to the 'truth about the truth' is the death of wonder,.
belief, and absolute certainty that you know what life is all about.
in fact, for most of us the path is the same.we begin investigating our foundational belief system.
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Terry
I guess my sense of "fun"is different.
I never realized how FRAGILE factual knowledge has become in our modern world and how susceptible to disruption and mistrust we become if we aren't on guard.http://www.space.com/20514-apollo-moon-landing-hoax-poll.html
20 percent of Republicans believe that President Obama is the Anti-Christ, compared with 13 percent of Independents and 6 percent of Democrats who agree. -
Still, about 7 percent of Americans polled in the study think NASA did indeed fake the Apollo moon landings, the study found. Seriously...7 percent.
This Flat-Earth and Faked Moon Landing movement exists mostly among young college age persons who weren't alive when the moon landing took place.
Young people have little life experience. They are highly susceptible to "inside" information.
What do cults and conspiracies have in common?
The Governing Body is what? It is a SECRET SOCIETY with special inside knowledge unavailable to everybody else.Guess what? We fell for this crap!
The 'anointed' the 'faithful and discreet slave' and the 'remnant' were spooky terms I'd never heard before I began studying with my friend Johnny in 1959.
It all sounded silly. It WAS silly. But after I had heard it a thousand times and began to associate with people at the Kingdom Hall who accepted it as true---the novelty of the stupidity vanished.Have you heard the old saying, "Perception is Reality"?
That should scare us into vigilance.
These documentary-style propaganda videos on YouTube I posted are manipulative and interestingly so. Maybe not to you--but to plenty of others.
WHY?
Because, if you just let a tiny doubt creep in that you have been lied to--it triggers a survival mechanism!
Us vs. Them kicks in.Who lied? What else did they lie about?
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/20/flat-earth-believers-youtube-videos-conspiracy-theorists
A New York magazine piece on flat-Earthdom is skeptical of some who claim the mantle: “The line between actually believing the theory and enthusiastically entertaining is unclear. Being a Flat Earther exists in the same online space as chemtrails and the notion that 9/11 was an inside job: there are some who believe it sincerely, and magnitudes more who entertain the notion ironically.”
______________________How does this happen?
Gradually, insidiously and on purpose.
Asking one simple question after another which undermines authority and trust disables our certainty and balance and triggers curiosity about more and more.
Vetting sources and doing research is NOT easy if you are diligent, tireless and thorough. But, if you are lazy, you fall prey to false information and go down the rabbit hole with the rest of the low-hanging fruit,.
You see, lots of very "trustworthy" leaders are j-u-s-t fake enough to lie about a little all the time. If you call them on it and they cover- it- up, you never trust them again.
If we are not wary, once we leave the JW's we can easily become drawn into the next swindle and the next cult and the next phony cause or conspiracy. How?
Our brains have been wired to do so by years of habit!!
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Remember this, to current JW's the "apostates and their videos" are exactly the same as Flat Earth believers!
We are all bent, twisted and messed over in some way as a result of our meat-grinder experience among the Dubs.
It's all too easy.
Being an individual rather than part of a 'belief group' is difficult for many of us.
Every day outside a Control Group is a test.
Like quitting any other habit or addiction, maintaining healthy skepticism without becoming a nutjob just ain't easy! :)
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