trying to create a paper trail 5000 kilometers long - heheheheeee.
i need to know from some ex elders what happens when.
1 you get your 'papers' transferred to a new hall.. 2 what they contain.... 3 if any meetings have to be attended at the 'new hall' before they can be sent.. notices of my fraud will be posted soon...
My experience is 5 years out of date now. But we would endeavour to find out if someone was moving . The home cong sec. would send a nice letter of introduction to the secretary of the new cong., wishing them well hoping they settle in "Be a great asset to your cong" etc. The publishers record cards would also be enclosed. This was precisely to prevent people slipping through the net.
I have been told that nowadays they leave out any personal comments , due to the Data Protection Act
my husband, who's a ministerial servant, was approached by an elder and asked if he'd offer our home to become a 'book study' meeting place.. i'm a bit of a loner, and need lots of peace, quiet, privacy, and solitude; plus to boot you all know i'm living this sort of double life, you know, just doing the very minimum to remain a witness.. this is awful!!!!!!!!!!
i can't deal with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
take care!
This is your moment. You have been leading a double life ,compliant to your husband but they have forced you to make a stand.
I may be wrong, but I get the impression that your husband is the kind of M/s who will do anything the elders ask and wants to "Reach out " for further priviliges. That all depends on having a wife who is in agreement since he must be "Presiding over his own household in a fine manner" 1Tim 3.4.
Notice a "Fine manner" so no family disputes could be allowed and if they thought he was forcing it on you then it would be a black mark against him.
So, as someone said, the elders must be told that you cannot handle the "Privilige" . it is not uncommon. Many times groups were moved in my experience because the wife had had enough. No big deal .. Think of excuses, chronic tiredness, PMT, stress, anything!
If that and a frank talk with husband fails, follow the others advice and adopt wrecking tactics. How about a few CD's of Heavy Metal or Rap lying around? ... video of "The Exorcist".... and DONT offer a cup of tea (coffee in the U S ),afterward
God luck!
well, 2002 comes to a close and it's been a busy year.. we have had over 380,000 posts!
in them we've laughed, we've cried, we've celebrated and commiserated, we've fallen out and made up and we've seen new people come and people move on.. what's to come in 2003?.
well, some changes .... the new forum is nearly ready (though i expect will never be 'finished' lol) and i think it is a good opportinity to do some things differently and make a 'fresh start'.. i have incorporated features that will allow me to give other people the chance to get involved running the site so it becomes less 'mine' and more 'ours'.
May I add my best wishes and grateful thanks to Simon for providing this wonderful place to meet up together. We are a special people because non JW's can never really understand where we are coming from.
Incidentally, lets not forget the little "Paypal" icon. That way we can express our appreciation in a way that is really beneficial . Just waiting for payday Simon.
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over the past few months i've found it hard not to feel anger and bitterness at wasting my youth on the watchtower , all the things i didn't do that i wanted to and will never be able to, at least not in the same way.. learning my father is dying of cancer has not helped, i feel his life was wasted in the truth, he was only tring to do what he thought was right.i think of my parents as a young couple just married in 1972, and reciveing a call from two young witnesses of a similar age.they must have believed they had found something special that they could give to their children.. sometimes i wish these things had not happened.. and yet would my life had been better if they hadn't?.
would my parents still have been together after 30 years, what would my childhood have been like if my dad had not learned to control his temper?being a natural rebelious idividual how would i have turned out, knowing how most of my friends from school turned out?would i have developed the qualities that i now value without by upbringing?not worring about being different anymore?would the paths i could have gone down been any better?i would certainly have not met my wife, and the experiences i have enjoyed as a result,my desire to now push myself and accomplish something great in my life may not have developed so strongly, the desire that may possible move me to success.. the irony is that being brough up a witness has shaped my personallity, determined the people i have met and those i have avoided, maybe my life would not have been so could if those witnesses had never called on my parents.
I am really sorry Sleepy, to read the sad news regarding your father. Certainly , as someone posted elsewhere tonight, bad things will still happen to good sincere people.
I can certainly share your sentiments
I've found it hard not to feel anger and bitterness at wasting my youth on the watchtower , all the things I didn't do that I wanted to and will never be able to
I realised far too late that God gives us "Threescore and ten" years and once used up there is no going back . What might I have done if I knew then what I know now? I was banking on the New World but that is a failed dream
I suppose there is no good looking back .
did you believe that you would be blessed by god by doing more in the organization?
did you see a relationship between being blessed by god and being active in the organization?
Roddy is quite right in that was exactly what was constantly told to us. . I never bought that attitude of mind - a bit of a cynic guess, even then or perhaps I could see through it.
There were plenty who saw the hand of God or Satan in everything.
someone posed this question to me the other day, and i have to say it has really had me thinking.
we were discussing abortion, and they asked me if i would have killed hitler as a baby, knowing what he would do as an adult.
i believe murder is wrong, but do you think it is justified saving others lives?
"and you dare to complain about hitler! nutcases lived in all times at it seems."
Hosea 13 seems to be a prediction regarding the warfare that would cause the destruction of Samaria by Assyria. A dire warning but certainly not an endorsement of such barbarity. We all know that such things happened in history.
Regarding the Hitler question , I can agree with the view that foreknowlege would allow preventative measures to be taken, other than abortion. My own layman's understanding of that time tells me that there were complex issues behind the rise of Nazi views .
how many times were you in a congregation split?
i was in 1 in about my 10 yrs active as a jdub.
Never did. As soon as we ever got big, some families would move out and we'd go back down again. Overall , the rate of growth was never great enough to cause splitting like an anoeba.
Once, I just missed an amalgamation of two congs, one had a good hall and few people the other had people and no hall - so that was a reduction in the numbers of congs. As far as I know they are still one .
With a one percent increase this year in Britain - I can't see too many happening .
there always seemed to be such a big stink about making sure you went to the hall that you were assigned to.
whatever territory that you lived in, that would be the hall assignment, whether you liked it or not.. if you chose not to go to your assigned hall, boy was there ever flack.
you could get severely counciled for it.. just seems to be another stupid rule that they would get upset about.
If ever you requested an "Official " answer then you would only be told that it was strongly recommended that you attend where they put you, but individual circumstances may permit........etc.
In fact in my experience the attitude of the elders will vary enormously. At my old congo when I was on the body we were pretty tolerant and welcoming to "strays" from over the border. Dont forget that bodies of elders do not always have a high regard for each other and may be sympathetic .
Other congs I have known have taken a much more rigid line , and made such ones so unwelcome that they either went back or moved on to a third cong.
as a horror fan, i've seen every antichrist movie from the omen to the omega code.
and that number 666 keeps popping up.
so, i was thinking about that number, and how it's actually written in the bible is a bit odd.
rs 32-3 Antichrist ***
Definition:
Antichrist means against or instead of Christ. The term applies to all who deny what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, all who oppose his Kingdom, and all who mistreat his followers. It also includes individuals, organizations, and nations that falsely claim to represent Christ or that improperly ascribe to themselves the role of Messiah.Does
the Bible refer to only one antichrist?1 John 2:18: "Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour."
2 John 7: "Many deceivers have gone forth into the world, persons not confessing Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist." (Notice that the "many antichrists" of 1 John 2:18 are here referred to collectively as "the antichrist.")
Is
the coming of the antichrist reserved for some future time?1 John 4:3: "Every inspired expression that does not confess Jesus does not originate with God. Furthermore, this is the antichrists inspired expression which you have heard was coming, and now it is already in the world." (That was written near the end of the first century C.E.)
1 John 2:18: "Even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour." (By "last hour" John evidently meant the end of the apostolic period. The other apostles had died, and John himself was very old.)
Some
of those identified as antichristPersons
who deny that Jesus is truly the Messiah1 John 2:22: "Who is the liar if it is not the one that denies that Jesus is the Christ [or, Messiah, anointed one]? This is the antichrist."
All
who deny that Jesus is the unique Son of God1 John 2:22: "This is the antichrist, the one that denies the Father and the Son."
Compare John 10:36; Luke 9:35.
Apostates1 John 2:18, 19: "There have come to be many antichrists . . . They went out from us, but they were not of our sort."
Those who oppose Christs true followersJohn 15:20, 21: "If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also . . . But they will do all these things against you on account of my name."
Individuals and nations that oppose Christ as King or that themselves falsely claim the Messianic rolePs. 2:2: "The kings of earth take their stand and high officials themselves have massed together as one against Jehovah and against his anointed one [Christ, or Messiah]."
See also Revelation 17:3, 12-14; 19:11-21.
Matt. 24:24: "False Christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones."
.............................................................................................................................................
That is the Watchtower Society teaching, from the "Reasoning From The Scriptures" publication.
How does it feel to be the Anti Christ ???
the two "get out of jail cards" that the society plays when explaining away failed predictions are:
god's prophecies are never wrong, its just our interpretation, let's wait a while and when things are clearer we'll tell you in retrospect what the prophecy really was.
we never actually said that, it was the rank and file, they got over excited.
I knew I had heard of the Club of Rome somewhere :-
*** w75 1/1 12 Insight on the News ***
World and 1975 Nineteen-seventy-five finds mankind facing as never before the harsh fact that its problems are truly globaland that global problems demand global solutions, nothing less. "Science News" magazine says that the internationally known group of scientists and industrialists called the "Club of Rome" describes the situation as "unique." Why? Because past crises were usually local, but today only a global solution is now adequate, and whereas there was time to search out solutions to previous problems, only rapid action will now suffice.Insight on the News
The
In similar vein, editorial writer Anthony Lewis says: "The fear that something fundamental is changing in the relationship of man and nature, the concern that things are out of joint in the world, is not confined to the problem of food. The use of oil as a political and economic weapon, the pressure on other resources, the inflation raging across most of the worldall give rise to uneasiness." "Oil, food, prosperity, security, everything is connected to everything else."New York "Times," November 10, 1974.
Prominent economist Robert L. Heilbroner believes that the world will move toward a new social order to meet its problems.
The Bible foretells that the nations will arrive at some kind of global arrangement allowing them to claim they have found the way to "peace and security." But it shows that such will be short-lived and that only Gods promised new order will bring the desired relief from global distress.1 Thess. 5:1-3; 2 Pet. 3:13.
Who was the foremost scaremonger?
Is this their way of saying "We are sorry, never again"?????
