This is like a family reunion :)
It's wonderful to feel a sense of continuity between generations. (I didn't use the word "overlap"). We'll just keep on keeping on until the last Trumpet. (I didn't use the word "Trump"). As always, the solidarity of the Ex-JW community is heartening. (I didn't mention "hardening" of arteries).
We long-timers here are from the Nathan Knorr Era. I started studying in my first year of Jr. High School in 1960. I was baptized in '63 and served in prison from '67 to '69.
I was DF'd in '79 and discovered the ExJW community online in 2006.
Wow-what a journey; with no end in sight. Wouldn't it be fantastic to live to see the decline AND FALL of the Watchtower sociopathic overlords?
Posts by Terry
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232022-April-Elder Manual and Addendum--12 Files!
by Atlantis inseveral files in the folder including:.
2022-april-elders manual.. 2022 april addendum.
working together safely12 files total.
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Terry
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My personal favorite Jesus story (in woodgrain)
by Terry inmy favorite jesus storya couple of years past retirement, i moved into a "retirement community" .
old folks home) which was convenient like a hotel.. once a week there would be a coffee and doughnuts meet and greet get-together so you would know who your neighbors were.. well .
.. i attended a few and missed a few.
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Terry
Hadn't thought of it like that. Did Jesus wear horn-rimmed glasses?
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2
Rod Serling might well say: Soup Herb
by Terry inrod serling might well say, "witness a man for whom success will never arrive even as his bright dreams slowly die.".
(culver city, california 1980).
soup herb.
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Terry
On the other hand, there was this CARPET STORE in the very Jewish FAIRFAX district
of Los Angeles that (for the entire 10 years I lived in California) went OUT OF BUSINESS every day for a decade (and may well still remain)!
Before I returned to Texas in '83 I entered the Carpet store and chatted with - I'm supposing - the owner who was NOT Jewish but probably Iranian.
I laughed as I asked, "How is it not breaking the law to claim to be going out of business for ten years?"
How the proprietor answered taught me a life lesson.
He gave a dismissive grunt and downturned the corners of his mouth with disdain.
"Ha! Everybody always asks me that."
I raised my eyebrows and asked, "AND what's the answer?"
A throwaway shrug followed by, "I tell you what I tell everybody. Learn to read a business sign C-A-R-E-F-U-L-L-Y.
And so I did!
THE GIANT BANNER outside his store...once I got up close and actually read each word c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y said this:
GOING OUT for BUSINESS!
It was my own brain that substituted OF in place of "for"!!
The proprietor shouted at me:
"People only see what serves their own greedy interests!"
Wow! We interpret things to our own advantage!
The customer goes into the carpet store thinking they will snag a great price because the business is about to go under with a heavy inventory.
GREED!
So, that's the opposite snippet of a story about businessmen in L.A.
Take your pick. -
7
My personal favorite Jesus story (in woodgrain)
by Terry inmy favorite jesus storya couple of years past retirement, i moved into a "retirement community" .
old folks home) which was convenient like a hotel.. once a week there would be a coffee and doughnuts meet and greet get-together so you would know who your neighbors were.. well .
.. i attended a few and missed a few.
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Terry
I suspected that for many years (the late 50s and 60s) the artist at Bethel who
portrayed Jesus used STEVE REEVES (Hercules) as his model.
Mostly, I'd reckon, because the WT leadership didn't think the classic flouncy Jesus in a diaphanous nightgown was manly enough! -
7
My personal favorite Jesus story (in woodgrain)
by Terry inmy favorite jesus storya couple of years past retirement, i moved into a "retirement community" .
old folks home) which was convenient like a hotel.. once a week there would be a coffee and doughnuts meet and greet get-together so you would know who your neighbors were.. well .
.. i attended a few and missed a few.
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Terry
MY FAVORITE JESUS STORY
A couple of years past retirement, I moved into a "retirement community"(i.e. Old Folks Home) which was convenient like a hotel.
Once a week there would be a coffee and doughnuts Meet and Greet get-together so you would know who your neighbors were.
Well . . .
I attended a few and missed a few. Small talk at these things was microscopic.
After an absence of two months, I re-entered the community room where all the blue-haired folks gathered. The conversation seemed to be about a fellow who had passed away.
One white-haired dearie said to me, "I thought YOU were the one who died."
I assured her I was not.
____
Only two (count em') TWO guys were still alive and I was (presumably) one of them.
Thankfully, another fellow moved in and news spread like wildfire he had retired with plenty of money!
The ladies just adored and befriended him. In fact, they liked him so much they shared their woes with him and he became the local Savings and Loan, only without the "Savings" part.
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Well, one Sunday at the coffee thingy, I say hello to the new guy and we start chatting. Suddenly, spoke up all excitedly...
"Did you see Henrietta's clock?"
Well, I thought that sounded like a straight line if ever I had heard one.
"You did say: CLOCK, right?"
"What'd you think I said?"
I told him I didn't think a woman with a clock was newsworthy enough to warrant his enthusiasm, so I . . . well, never mind!
(His name was Stan.)
Stan didn't miss a beat.
"Oh come one, come on--you gotta go with me--Henrietta loves to show people her clock. You've never seen anything like it."
Other folks, (always eavesdropping) jumped in all at once.
"Oh, that's right! YOU CAN SEE THE FACE OF JESUS in the woodgrain of her clock!"
I chuckled.
But, the serious expressions of the others told me not to scoff.
There were more of them than of me, so . . .
Let's cut to the chase.
_______________________
I end up, along with all the others, marching down a few halls like vigilantes until I found myself standing in Henrietta's room.
We formed a semi-circle around a sort of smallish version of a Grandfather's clock.
A cheaply made clock with awful fake woodgrain.We probably looked a bit like those ape-like hominids at the beginning of Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey as they beheld the MONOLITH.
You know that 2001 Obelisk, right?
***
One by one the lady hominids lurched forward with trembling fingers and touched the sacred "face" of phantom woodgrain Jesus. There was plenty of "oohing and ahhing" and the others
were purring like shaggy kittens with blue permed fur.
"You see?" One of them urged.
"You do SEE HIM...right?" Another one scowled.
"Do YOU SEE our Saviour?" It was Henrietta herself this time.
Each one of them was cocking their head this way and that like a puppy in a pet shop window.
"Isn't it amazing?"
Henrietta's face glowed like a Renaissance oil painting.
I stared.
I blinked. I squinted.
I got closer, then farther away.
It was sort of like trying to read an Optician's Eye Chart in Swahili.
My internal dialogue went like this.
"I'm screwed. If I don't see it, I'll be skinned and tossed into the furnace as a witch."
_______________
A few minutes passed.
The ancient cheerleader's tempers were getting short with me.
Some were making excuses for me, while others were suggesting I was atheist or Muslim. I'm not kidding!"Aren't you a BELIEVER?"
Henrietta narrowed her suspicious eyes at me while traces of a snarl curled the side of her lip.
_____________________
There have been many times in my life when I have been tested as to faith, belief, and willingness to take a stand. I have always thought you have to swim against the tide and say what's really in your heart and your mind. Take the consequences as they come, that's what counts.
So, I took a deep breath and faced the menacing lynch mob squarely.
_____________
"Yes, ma'am--I think I'm starting to see something...it's shaping up... I'm almost there....oh..Oh..OHHHHH Wow!"
("Waitress, I'll have what THEY'RE having, please!")
In other words: I FAKED IT.
Don't judge me too harshly. I had to see these people every day. It was time for me to learn to go along to get along. Screw integrity. I've been there and done that. I gave at the office.
_____________
Smiles like campfires in the night glowed among the crinkled faces.
I was now accepted as ONE OF THEM.(At last, he loved Big Brother.)
One by one the congregants drifted out into the hallway all aglow and deeply, spiritually satisfied.
Now alone, it was just Stan and Terry remaining, glancing back and forth at each other in a weird sort of way.
Henrietta had sauntered off to go back to the coffee and doughnut soiree' in the recreation room.
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Stan heaved a weary sigh and turned to me.
His face was turned down in disappointment.
"I was hoping you couldn't."
"Couldn't what?"
"Couldn't see the Jesus face in the wood grain."
"I confess: I stood there in front of all those old women and lied my ass off!"
"Really?" Stan replied with eager delight.
"Not unless Jesus Christ looked like a knothole," I replied.
Stan gave me one of those inscrutable looks for a second and shrugged his shoulders.
"I wish you had SAID something. They browbeat me for a solid hour yesterday until I gave in!"
"Ha! Better you than me, my fine-feathered friend."
I exclaimed in my best Daffy Duck impersonation._____
We both stood there with pursed lips contemplating the injustice in the Universe.
So. THIS is what it felt like to be a Sell-Out! Well, it didn't feel too bad at all.
At least I was in good company with old Stan.Besides, maybe, just maybe this is partly how some of Christianity spread in the first place!
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Rod Serling might well say: Soup Herb
by Terry inrod serling might well say, "witness a man for whom success will never arrive even as his bright dreams slowly die.".
(culver city, california 1980).
soup herb.
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Terry
Rod Serling might well say, "Witness a man for whom success will never arrive even as his bright dreams slowly die."(Culver City, California 1980)
SOUP HERB
The tiny diner was empty - and it was a minute past noon!
I walked into the little shop chuckling to myself,That name! SOUP HERB - it struck me as brilliant and hilarious.
A “superb” lunch was right up my alley!
Inside the diner, in the corner at a small table a man in a chef's costume sat “smoking” an unlit cigar, flipping through a daily Racing Form.
"Ah, good day to you, Sir" His mustache drooped as his smile beamed.
"You're my first customer! You eat for Free today - but you must promise to tell all your friends how wonderful we are - (he added with a wink) even if it is lousy- which it never is!"
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AN HOUR LATER
By the time I walked out of SOUP HERB...
I had - as Rod Serling might well say, "Witness a man for whom success will never arrive even as his bright dreams slowly die."
Herbert (last name now unremembered ...too many consonants for my brain) had not only served me hot soup with fresh rolls and brisk iced tea, he had dumped a platter filled with autobiographical remembrances on my soul as well.
In short, he had come from Serbia - escaping from Kosovar Albanians hellbent on wiping out every living thing from his village. Parents: dead. Friends: dead.
I confessed I knew nothing about Serbs or Albanians.
He was unsurprised.
"Nobody knows - or cares." Then he added, "Why should they?"
He traveled West, joining a crew of sailors heading to America and landed in New York.
He discovered a job in a delicatessen as a short order cook.
Eventually he moved on, learning his trade as a Chef.
He'd saved all his money for the dream: his own business.
He was Catholic. Through his church he made contacts and found a landlord who felt sorry for him and granted one month's free rent. California was paradise - this would be an incredible new life - new beginning for him.
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The shop I was sitting in was cobbled together with his own two hands from scratch.
"How'd you come up with the name SOUP HERB", I finally asked - expecting a delicious snippet of genius - a clever story or a shrug of modesty.
"It's easy to make, it's delicious, there is a good profit margin - and - well, my name is Herb."
I thought he was testing me. For a minute, anyway.
"Are you trying to tell me "SUPERB" never entered your mind?"
He stared at me ...
"No - what is that - a word?"
____
TWO WEEKS LATER
I stopped by again and walked in to find the Chef sitting in the same spot in the corner - no customers around - but no smile this time.
He slowly revealed to me how he had been robbed and the money he was saving for the new month's rent was gone.
Herb astonished me when he revealed:
"I apologized to the little man with the gun. Yes, I did. I told him I knew how desperate life can make you --and how you'll do anything - no matter how awful - just to escape."
_____
A MONTH LATER
The sign was down and Herb had vanished from the chalk board of dreams.
Chalk dust on fate's eraser.
This isn't a happy story but it's a true one.
Funny thing about it -I can't get rid of it from my memory.
Herb haunts me in quiet moments.
He is a man with big dreams, a tragic past, an iron will to survive and when his chance at success comes - a little man with a pistol snatching it away ...
BUT HE APOLOGIZES to the thief!
Why?
I think it is called "empathy".
So...
A LIFETIME LATER
Today, every time I see the word "superb" I stop what I'm doing and feel my heart forming the ghost of a prayer for him...and I think - "No, it's SOUP HERB!"
Life is indifferent to our dreams. And indifferent to our Chef and his tiny diner.
I have a problem letting go of my memory of him. But I’m a writer and I have a way of exorcising such matters.Herb the Serb, now that you’ve met him…
Now he's your problem too.
__________
T.E.Walstrom -
134
How far do we get away from 1914
by PimoElder inhow far do we get away from 1914 before they have a new light and admit it was all wrong?.
they cling to the old theory of the 77 week prophecy from the wrong date that jerusalem was destroyed .
with the overlapping generations nonsense still we are getting too far away from 1914. what will they say if we get to the 2030s and they still cling to 1914?.
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Terry
My attitude is: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
Let's consider the situation RATIONALLY.
Consider the story of JOB. He preached a message of destruction (very reluctantly).
He was coerced! (Remember the great fish?)
But finally - preach he did and then Jehovah SPARED the Ninevites.
This sent JOB into a very ugly snit-fit.
Something he said went sort of like this: "I look like a fool having preached destruction and now you spared those Yahoos, Jah!"
Here is what I extract from that. The purpose of threatening destruction was to drive people to repentance and reform.
Job had no interest in SAVING people.
JW's largely preach to save their own asses and have an ugly eagerness for the destruction of others at Armageddon.
The bottom line is this: Saving people can take forever. Every hour of every day of every week, etc. NEW PEOPLE are being born in need of being saved.
As long as people repent - Jah isn't going to make good on any predicted dates for destruction.
Serving God isn't about being right in predicting doom. No.
Being loving, grateful, and willing to save others is the best attitude.
IF there ever comes a time when no people are left with a repentant heart - THEN the destruction comes.
I think that is a much more reasonable and less selfish (bloodthirsty) view. -
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Science Fiction Short Story
by Terry inhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1rvjietqhb6kqpbmyo6jsnt6uqvxddzx7i7qxoauzohg/edit?usp=sharing.
personation alien factor 7“enter, and be seated but do not speak.
do you understand?”“yes.”“violation!
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Terry
luckynedpepper3 hours ago
i read everything you post.
Well shucks! That's enough to keep me going.
Feel free to leave any sort of feedback. I am never offended
by any sort of critique because you learn from it.
Thanks for your time and attention, gentle reader :) -
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Science Fiction Short Story
by Terry inhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1rvjietqhb6kqpbmyo6jsnt6uqvxddzx7i7qxoauzohg/edit?usp=sharing.
personation alien factor 7“enter, and be seated but do not speak.
do you understand?”“yes.”“violation!
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Terry
I'm experimenting with posts of varying content as to whether anybody stops to read them.
Only very few of my essays, poems, and short stories have stimulated interest (as measured by likes or comments.) That's understandable with long-form material.
Who has the time?
I think perhaps the days of READING per se are a thing of the past with video/audio superseding old habits.
I wonder who reads magazines with stories anymore? How is readership holding up over the decades? That's worth researching.
I'll ask directly: What content are you most likely to stop, read, and comment upon? -
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Science Fiction Short Story
by Terry inhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1rvjietqhb6kqpbmyo6jsnt6uqvxddzx7i7qxoauzohg/edit?usp=sharing.
personation alien factor 7“enter, and be seated but do not speak.
do you understand?”“yes.”“violation!
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Terry
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RvJiEtqhb6KQpBMyo6jSnt6UQvXdDzx7I7QxoAUzOhg/edit?usp=sharing
PERSONATION ALIEN FACTOR 7
T. E. Walstrom
“Enter, and be seated but do not speak. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Violation! You will be punished if you cannot comply with simple comm structure.”
“Sorry - I thought …”
“2nd violation! This is your last warning! Come forward and be seated but do not speak.
Do you understand?”
“(Silent nodding of head)”
“That’s better. Listen and comply exactly. You are charged with violation of Sentient Interference Neutrality and of Personation. You will be questioned and a sentence will be passed. All answers must be given freely and without hesitation. Untrue statements are forbidden. Deflection is punishable. This process will not take longer than necessary. Do you understand? You may now reply vocally.”
“I hear what you are saying. I understand the meaning of your directions. But I can’t say I comprehend what is actually happening to me, how I got here, and I’m in great fear. Can you tell me anything?”
“You did not achieve assigned Personation publicly and that is a core violation of Social Contract Memoranda. You have been extracted as a Status Docile. Temporary amnesia and sometimes aphasia appear as after-effects. Can you remember your assigned identity?”
“Jesse Garon is my birth name. I don’t understand half of anything else you asked or told me just now. Sorry.”
“I’m authorized to adjust down to Level 7 for communication purposes. Let me know if you can understand what I tell you next. Understood?”
“I guess I’m about to find out if I understand. Go ahead. Explain. I’m ready.”
“You were murdered by your brother. Is that clear enough for you? That is Alienation of assignment.”
“Wh-what? Th-that’s impossible - isn’t it? I’m very much alive. Who are you? What is all this?”
“Your assignment was invalidated when your brother strangled you. Local technicians disposed of your remains. Your consciousness is harvested according to Protocol Q11.
This inquiry is a mere formality. You cannot be reassigned until you are made aware of your Personation failure and accept your reassignment fully compliantly. Is that clear?”
“No. It’s not clear and sounds like - well, I won’t say what it sounds like. You wouldn’t like it.”
“Personation Rights Committee bylaws require autonomy, acceptance, and allegiance.
You elected to accept an assignment and swore loyalty to Great Guidance personally &
soul seed implanted inside a human female subject at 3rd planet sector 13.
So far so good?”
“I - I … It all sounds …I’m trying to say confusion is mostly what I’m feeling. Just keep talking and I’ll try very hard to understand.”
“We cannot proceed this way. Why don’t I answer any questions you have and proceed from that satisfaction level. Go ahead. Ask whatever you need to achieve competence.”
“What is my assignment? What was its purpose? Who are you and what am I?”
“Assignment? We are a task force empowered by Great Guidance. We tame planets.
Evolutionary development brings soul seed to self-awareness beyond mere survival strategy. Chaos, corruption, and violent carnage must be subverted. We achieve objectives by our external insertion of Leader Level charismatics. In this instance, humanity needs Great Guidance. We infiltrate, set agenda, and tamper with social evolution as needed. Eventual harmony, when realized, brings each planet into Unification. Need more?”
“I was murdered or Alienated by my brother before I could tame the 3rd planet sector 13?”
“This time worse than last time, yes. This instance was in utero! Your brother’s umbilical strangled you. You were stillborn. He acquired your charismatic profile by virtue of that extremely unlikely twin occurrence. You were a twin by accident of course.”
“This time? Last time? I’m so confused.”
“Great Guidance monitors all living beings everyplace. With as minimal interference as feasible, the interdictions are computed accurately but not with absolute certainty.”
“I hear words but I grasp no meaning in them. Try again. Please.”
“Harmony requires adjustments. It is, in fact, called “tuning” by Great Guidance. We tame planets by tuning operations. We are foresworn to cause as little collateral damage as feasible. We have been doing this tuning from time immemorial. Your previous assignment had a collateral impact, but you brought about reasonable harmony for a brief time. This present failure could not be foreseen computationally. Twins were possible but vanishingly rare complications must be ignored. You were given a name by your mother before you were delivered stillborn. Your twin assumed your charisma allotment genetically. That is a technical violation of Personation by Alienation. No harm is done but the distortion of sought-after tuning will result. Mission aborted. You must accept responsibility before we try again. It is our law. Understood?”
“How can I accept responsibility for something I can’t control?”
“Great Guidance demands it of all of us. Sentient Interference Neutrality must never be violated or Free Will be destroyed. All of us have vowed never to question this essential doctrine. Chaos and Hubris must be kept at bay at all costs.”
“Are we fooling ourselves on purpose, then?”
“Great Guidance has an only binary choice. Either / Or. Alone or with Others.
Great Guidance chose Others and that’s Us - all of Us. We are not controlled. We are Free.
That Freedom carries a terrible secret; if Freedom is abused, Chaos and Hubris appear and must be “tuned”, neutralized, but never destroyed or Free Will vanishes and so do we all.”
“We are cheaters but for good cause - is that it?”
“Not ‘cause’. We are cheaters not for good ‘cause.’ We are cheaters for good ‘effect.’”
“That’s a contingency assumed into being by allowing Freedom? There could be Harmony everyplace forever if Freedom could be removed?”
“Of course, that is obvious.”
“Tuning is a small price to pay …really. Very small. Otherwise - we merely exist as puppets - wonderfully made puppets performing predictable scripts over and over.”
“We did not choose to exist, after all. It is a “FREE” gift that carries a horrible secret. The need for constant fine-tuning. Great Guidance has given us more than imaginable Freedom.”
“I see.”
“Your previous assignment wasn’t all that bad. You were tortured and murdered, of course - but - look at the results. As messy as it is - not awful.”
“My head still isn’t clear on exactly what you reference?”
“Right. Still muddled. Well, before you were Jesse Garon, you were Charismatic Rabbi Yeshua bar-Joseph. A tremendous pushback followed your death. The Romans succumbed to Barbarians but the net result was practically that of neutrality.”
“I see. And Jesse Garon?”
“Your brother, Elvis inherited your charisma, and 3rd planet sector 13 got Rock n’ Roll!”
“Remarkable. Very well, I accept full responsibility. I’m ready for reassignment!”
“Great Guidance will be very pleased.”
“By the way - who is Great Guidance?”
“Oh everyone knows that! Cyberdyne Systems Sentient Interference Neutrality module
666 built by SAC NORAD. We’re finished here. Get some rest.”
“I’m so relieved!”
________________
