Posts by dhlpcjw

70

Any funny stories of when a"brother" giving a talk, said something "funny" or "questionable", and didn't even realize it?

by Dunedain in

there were always all types of speakers in the org.

myself, growing up a "witness", must have heard all types of talks, and given by all manner of speakers, especially on sundays, when almost every week we would get a "visiting" brother giving the public talk.. sometimes, you would have a "great" speaker, all fluent and animated.

other times we would get a comical speaker, one who would maybe purposelly get a few laughs outta the audience.

dhlpcjw

One time an elder accidentally admitted during a Watchtower study about the disfellowshipping arrangement that he regularly prays for his currently dfed daughter.

Either he forgot this was a no-no, or he forgot he needed to keep that fact a secret.

And

Several years ago we had a creepy visiting brother give a public talk and he made this statement regarding the dangers of the internet from the platform:

"I would never have Internet access in my home. I would spend all my spare time looking at pornography."

94

What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

by John Aquila in

its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

dhlpcjw

Maybe a few years down they will pass a resolution that everybody turn in the minimum hourly requirement or be removed as a publisher. If you go a consecutive 6 months without submitting a time slip membership is revoked and an announcement is made you are no longer a JW.

"Don't commit the blood guilty sin of not preaching, brothers!" Instead become blood guilty by letting someone you love die by refusing a transfusion.

Prob won't happen but if it did would be fascinating to watch the whole thing play out and see how different brainwashed fence sitters and faders would react.

94

What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

by John Aquila in

its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

dhlpcjw

With all the propaganda they've been producing for the children lately, I fully expect it to expand. Probably a lot more pressure for kids to get baptized too. Don't be surprised if in the next couple years there is a feature length Caleb and Sophia movie released at one of the conventions.

I think more and more videos will replace talks and meeting parts until that's over 50% of the meetings. At that point they will probably have some type of live telethon/money bomb fundraiser where publishers can make donation pledges to "keep the monthly broadcasts going".

225

Cult or Religion

by Richard C B in

what is a cult and what is a religion?

its open to debate.

who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?

dhlpcjw

I can understand to an extent what your saying Richard CB. And what I think your saying is that a certain measure of responsibility falls on the individual to how they internalize and react to what a cult or religion imposes upon them, and that the Bible should be what ultimately impresses upon them. And I could be misinterpreting that. (I'm agnostic now btw so I have little to no regard for anything the Bible has to say anymore)

Personally at times this is how I deal with some of my frustrations with the organization. I look at all the misinterpretations of the Bible they use and ask myself why I allowed myself to be mislead for so long. I direct some of that anger at myself in an effort to turn those negative thoughts into a learning experience for myself so that I will not go about life placing too much trust in anything.

My wife however strongly disagrees with this line of thought because as she has correctly pointed out to me that many (herself included) have been baptized at a young age thereby being affected by undue influence during a time when the human brain is extremely impressionable. They are raised believing there is no other option for truth outside what Watchtower offers.

As far as what the definition of a cult is, I'm going with what Finkelstein posted previously.

Also, since you are not very familiar with the Governing body or their history I strongly recommend researching jwfacts.com. If you are going to start a debate on cults in an ex-jw forum it would be beneficial for you to know what you're debating for or against.

16

Your Religion Is Dispicable

by freemindfade in

http://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/world/jehovahs-witnesses-in-prison-2/.

the witnesses make reference to article 18 of the international covenant on civil and political rights, in reference to their not being able to practice their religion in certain places.

how despicable when (in my mind) their policy of disfellowshipping, apostasy, etc, causes them coerce members to keep this religion.

dhlpcjw

Run back to your cult SimonSays. You know good and well your masters don't want you debating with apostates on the internet.

Otherwise shut up and pay attention. You might actually learn something truley beneficial for once.

27

Just Throwing Out The Idea Of A Class Action Suit Against The Watch Tower Corporations

by frankiespeakin in

i think now that the governing body is in this big power grab in order to stay alive as an entity, thus tighten control, the more controling the more they open themselves up to legal consequences.. blood tranfusion forbiden by a authoritarian religous corporation.. disfellowshipping enforcement that brought pain and suffering thousands i'm sure these type of lawsuits could break them but i'm not well versed in law so i thought i would thow this out for discussion.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/class_action.

in law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued.

class actions are commonly referred to as class action suits; however, this phrase is redundant as the historical distinction between "actions" at law and "suits" in equity is no longer recognized.

dhlpcjw

Wouldn't now be a good time, while watchtower has their legal teams and money tied up in smaller cases and Warwick to hit them with this? If nothing else it could at least help shine a light on the current and pending child abuse court cases.

A captive organization run by "guardians of doctrine", that openly encourage child baptism, has a history of covering up child abuse, and then infringes on those same children's religious freedoms. The cost for not shunning? You get shunned too.

It could be a knockout punch while they're on the ropes. Legal fees wouldn't be an issue with all the ex-jws out there who would be happy to get behind it.

I for one would love to see GB members getting grilled on the stand as to why they dont explain the shunning policy in their study aid that leads to dedication and baptism.

37

S*** JW Parents Say

by Dissonant15 in

my mom especially had some go-to phrases that to this day echo in my head and piss me off.

things like, .

"don't get mad at me for enforcing the rules, because jehovah made them, so if you don't like it, you're disrespecting him.

dhlpcjw

"Even if it's wrong, it's still the Truth."

"The only thing that could ever cause us to stop being proud of you is if you ever decided to leave Jehovah's organization."

"You're going to die at Armageddon. And we're not going to miss you."

27

FMF: A Wake Up Story

by freemindfade in

sorry for the length of this, i hope anyone stopping by to read will take the time and read it.

i haven't included any things i would consider "apostate" specifics about doctrines, or major scandals.

it's just a general layout of the path i took to becoming an exjw.

dhlpcjw

I enjoyed hearing your experience of waking up. I could definitely relate to some of the things you went through. One thing was viewing apostasy as something scary but also the last major violation of the rules. I remember for a long time telling myself that no matter what I would never read apostate material and being terrified at the thought. I remember my hands trembling the first few times I began researching the organization on the internet.

But I feel as though eventually my distrust and anger at the organization built to the point that it was finally stronger than my fear. Tony Morris also played a role in that for me. I heard him give a talk at the International convention where the things he said caused rage to well up in me.

In retrospect I'm so glad Tony is marketing himself as Rutherford 2.0. I think he's causing a lot of people to question the credibility of "God's Earthly channel".

180

What is the most bizarre counsel you received as a JW, from a JW?

by Funchback in

there were many addressed to me.

for example, i once had a sister tell me i was gambling because i liked playing skill crane (the machine where you have to try to pick up prizes like stuffed animals) at the arcade.

i then fired back a her: "you saw the r-rated movie 'backdraft.

dhlpcjw

Played a song on guitar at a "wetness gathering". It was something top-40 and inoffensive. Later an elder from my KH pulled me aside to say I shouldn't have played it because another elder from a different hall who was there just informed him that the VIDEO of the song I just played has questionable content.

I tried to reason with him that it was doubtful many there had seen the video. Besides, I didn't play the video- I played the SONG. He said it was the same thing.

It struck me as odd since this was normally a pretty laid back elder. A heavy drinker and was well known to perform some questionable songs himself. So it was clear to me that the other elder was forcing him to discipline me.

Exasperated, I said: "well fine, I already played the song. I can't take it back. I'm sorry if someone was offended. Should I apologize to everyone or do you think that would be giving further attention to something inappropriate? Do you think some could be tempted to look up the video?"

He dropped the matter once he realized that bringing this to my attention was fruitless.

62

What is the most strange action of a witness while out in field service?

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

i was paired with this older "brother" when i was a teenager.

he was very very strange.

he was a nice guy but goofy.

dhlpcjw

On the very first day, the first year they started having a special campaign for the district convention invitations me and another brother were assigned to go work with old brother Smith. He was in his 80s and had only studied and gotten baptised in the past couple years and was still extremely intimidated by FS.

Before we left the hall the FS conductor stressed for 10 minutes not to engage with the householders; that we were to simply hand them the invitation and tell them they were invited to an upcoming event. That if they had any questions we should take their info and return another time so as to focus on canvassing the territory. We were also told not to go in pairs but just one publisher to a door.

So at the first house that morning Bro Smith shuts his car off and goes around the corner to the front door. A minute goes by. Then two. A few more. Over an hour goes by and me and the other brother are unsure what to do. I went and knocked on the door to see if everything was ok but no one was answering because apparently they had gone into the basement and couldn't hear me knocking. So we just waited in the car for about another half hour or more then Bro Smith appeared.

He sheepishly introduced us to the householder who had followed him out to the car. Then he explained that he had been "enlightened" by the householder as to some of our incorrect beliefs involving the Trinity. He didn't agree with what the guy was saying but I think he wore bro Smith down and forced him to come out and admit his defeat to us.

Poor bro Smith was a nervous wreck after that but we didn't care because it was time to meet back at the KH and end our morning and we didn't have to do a single door.