as a jw did you have a pioneer sister/elder's wife who was the biggest busybody, self righteous, arrogant pus in the circuit?
who would look down on others and treat people like crap.. without giving to much away, i experienced one that knew everyone in circuit.
and if she or her husband saw or heard something they didn't like it was " you know what the bible says" regardless if it was in there or not.
My wife wasn’t!
All those years of my eldership, putting up with my stress , my having to spend time in elders meeting after pointless elders meeting, and hearing me grumbling about things. It gave her a healthy disrespect of the BOE and the system.
I do know the type you mean though. Tough old birds who had pioneered for years and thought themselves a cut above the rest. But don’t you come across that type in other church groups as well? I think so.
jehovah can't be your father in this life.
'they [jw members] address him prospectively as "our father.
jesus is not your mediator:.
Have to agree with Drearywether.... The candidate fo baptism has to answer 80 questions about the faith to ensure they understand.
Mind you, the books at the start of the study always show the enjoyment of paradise and removal of “the wicked “. It is not until some time later in the study that the difficult bits are encountered ...still pre baptism though
freedom!
not having to adhere to man made rules and regulations.
not being afraid of maybe “stumbling “ someone..
I learned to think for myself, trust my own judgement, not always say “ What have The Society said about this?”
i got off the treadmill of eldership and I don’t have to go door to door
On the other hand , I used to have a hope of growing young in paradise and of seeing my dead parents again. But it is better to face the reality of life than live for hopes and dreams that never come true. Don’t they call that ‘ castles in the air?’
i don’t care about politics, books you are reading, movies and tv programs you’re watching, etc..
Yes.... there are times when I turn straight to the “Watchtower Soc./JW “ heading on the front page, especially when the American Politics with all its vitriol gets too much.
But when it settles I click the ‘latest’ button to see what is going on . That’s how I found your thread. Why is there less comment on WT issues ?
We used to delight in picking apart the beliefs and showing the falsehoods but I guess that has all been said , and it is now only when they say something new and silly that we have a good talking point. They have got so bland. Their video talks send you sleep. The meetings are the metaphorical plate of cold porridge. I don’t know why anyone would be attracted these days.
That said, I can’t stay away.........
inspired by a previous post i wrote and thought it deserved a place of its own .. i hope it helps people on their journey out of the wt/jw religion .. their is no going back after discovering the "truth" about the wt/jw religion.. its the path of freedom from enslavement to a man made religious organization that was born in america, a nation that has spawned numerous charlatan religious organizations, especially in the 1700`s to 1900`s .and even beyond..
So true....one cannot unlearn what you know. Frankly, there have been times when i felt it would have suited me better to be back in the cong. That is for family reasons and social and Initially I missed the sense of purpose, what I considered spirituality , and frankly the status of being an elder in the congregation.
However I could never do it.never convince myself that the JW take on things was correct - not now after coming so far.
during a recent conversation i had with someone, a question came up that i really don't know the answer to.
did jw's still drink during prohibition in the us during the 1920's until it's repeal in 1933?
was alcoholic beverages considered forbidden and possibly subject to disfellowshipping?.
I was so intrigued by the quotes from the 1929 Watchtower that I went to a site and found the text of the article to read it in context.
It was a discussion of Romans 13, subjection to superior authority. Perhaps this was new light then as they carefully laid the argument to say that those authorities were Christ in heaven, not the worldly governments. Indeed the government's are here described as Satanic to which they owed no obedience, save for Christian principles of behaviour.
With that view they could choose not to obey if they wished. I dare say some still imbibed alcahol. Particularly given the encouragement in that article.
Nb. Dont you see the false reasoning in the article , comparing booze with bread , which are not the same at all. That is a "slippery slope" argument if ever I saw one
this concept was leaked here not too long ago, and it was just announced at the next section of the 'annual meeting' on jw broadcasting.
they allude to it being a half hour series and say that it will cover literally every detail in all four gospels in chronological order through the course of all episodes.
they also insinuate that it's the most ambitious project yet (i guess making use of that new media production facility).
What is wrong with books? Who needs video ?
Back in the day we were encouraged to read . To start with we have the four gospels; In the early seventies we had the Aid book with a very useful chart showing all the gospel scriptures in chronological order . ( I spent ages studying with the help of that.) Later on they did a book called “ The Great Teacher “ that studied all of Jesus’ Ministry with all the scriptures to read
I guarantee that we learned and remembered more about it than today’s generation will from their darned video!
i feel bad i just faded away and did not "come out" as an apostate hater.
my mum died refusing blood and still i hang back my wife still has witness friends and goes to the memorial every year..
I faded successfully some years back. Now I am under the radar, known to the cong as a “husband “ . The home situation is good with my wife and I happier than we ever used to be despite our different views on the WTS. She is in good standing, I can converse with anyone I like and be sociable to her friends ( when lockdown permits)
Some might call me hypocritical,or cowardly. I view it as the successful saving of our marriage,and on my terms.
i think back on the 30+ years of bs as well as my fading almost a decade and even now being low key in person to hopefully save my nieces from the wt.
i'm a wreck in some ways.
i'm other days i'm stable however when it comes to theism i depart quickly and with anger!
I also think back to my youth and wonder, “ Why did those close to me ,outside the .Org, not sit me down and show me I was wrong?
I guess they did, really, the best they could, but it takes an inside knowledge of the beliefs and history to be able to refute it. All they could offer were the stock objections that I had been trained to deal with.
They did not know that the Wt had forecast the end in 1914, and in 1925 ..They did not even really grasp that we were anticipating with joy the mass genocide of the population. How could they, we never told them that.
It is true. You have to start feeling doubts inside yourself. Once you reallise that something is “off” , then you can look around. Today, thank God for the internet! It allows us to talk to other ex Witnesses and hear the arguments a doubter can relate to.
david splane once again 'davesplaning' facts and figures.
10 million bible studies and 200 000 baptisms.
how many of these would be jw kids with no choice?
In the past it was common to have persons in the congregation that were “ coming along “ I.e. studying and progressing to baptism, whole families even. I was thinking back to many of such ones who have gone on to be elders and main supports of their congregations.
That was a long time ago. I cannot recall the last time that happened. Now the baptisms are almost always youngsters growing up. The younger elders are all born ins. The only odd “study “ that attends have been very odd people indeed whom I suspect are there for social reasons.
