Sorry if I missed it Megawatt but what are your specific issues with the WTS?
TheListener
JoinedPosts by TheListener
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20
Welp- Talked to an elder
by megawatt inspoke to an elder and mentioned i had some concerns that need addressing.
he asked if it's about the organization and i answered with a simple yes.
it's something i don't want to do, but for some reason the better half thinks it's necessary, as if i need a different perspective on my research and maybe he'll be able to shed some light on my doubts.
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Welp- Talked to an elder
by megawatt inspoke to an elder and mentioned i had some concerns that need addressing.
he asked if it's about the organization and i answered with a simple yes.
it's something i don't want to do, but for some reason the better half thinks it's necessary, as if i need a different perspective on my research and maybe he'll be able to shed some light on my doubts.
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TheListener
Drew,
Talk about an all or nothing gamble! Wow.
Glad it worked out though.
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How can I know for sure that the WTS isn't God's organization?
by nbernat ini go back and forth everyday.
one day i'm like, "suppress your gay feelings and what you think is wrong about this organization and keep going forward because you want eternal life and all of your friends are here and it's as close to the truth as it can possibly get so just deal with it.
" others i'm like, "live your life.
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TheListener
When I first admitted to myself that I didn't believe it was the truth anymore I panicked. I felt for sure that each major world catastrophe was going to be armageddon. As sad as it sounds I would lie awake at night during thunderstorms and be afraid that the end was coming. It was a horrible experience.
But, I realized that this was happening because I hadn't really convinced myself it wasn't the truth. I mentally knew it but my heart hadn't accepted it yet. So I began to intensely study the issues that I felt were out of whack with reality. I chose a handful of doctrines that I knew were wrong and studied them until I could convincingly explain them to others - not a believing dub though, nothing convinces them.
Studying what I felt were glaring doctrinal flaws allowewd me to see how messed up the religion really is. It has also helped me steer my kids and wife toward the exit very very very slowly (hope hope hope).
Good luck.
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Welp- Talked to an elder
by megawatt inspoke to an elder and mentioned i had some concerns that need addressing.
he asked if it's about the organization and i answered with a simple yes.
it's something i don't want to do, but for some reason the better half thinks it's necessary, as if i need a different perspective on my research and maybe he'll be able to shed some light on my doubts.
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TheListener
Good luck Megawatt.
My wife wanted me to write the GB and talk with the local elders too.
I told her that there wasn't any information they could share with me that wasn't already in print - and we have access to everything in print.
She accepted my argument and dropped the subject. I think she decided it was better that I fade and be left alone than get disfellowshipped and become an activist.
Of course our carefully non-verbal agreement to this affect could topple at any time.
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How the new "generation" study went down in the meeting today
by slimboyfat ini made a big effort to get to the watchtower study today.
i have not been to the meetings much for months, but i figured this was a pretty historic "study" and i wanted to see reactions and how it would go down locally.
well a few things struck me as a bit odd in the study itself, and in the audience response as well.
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TheListener
The GB already have all the power in the organization.
It doesn't matter to them if 4,000 or 24,000 individuals partake.
They can allow 144,000 to become figurative and still make no organizational adjustments whatsoever.
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18
Interested in seeing random papers, forms, and letters from Bethel?
by daniel-p inwhile sorting through old papers and files in my closet getting ready for a move, i came across a bunch of papers and forms from bethel.
a lot of them are outlines and directions for the first few days and weeks while at bethel.
in addition, there are some typed notes from the 2002 annual meeting (the kind you're not supposed to post in the interwebz), a few letters from the gb to bethelites (mostly telling us how to dress and so forth), and some other random junk.
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TheListener
I believe I even have my old phone bills. I'd have to black out some numbers but it could be a good thing to have online somewhere.
I'll spend some time over the next several days looking over my crap and see what's postable.
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Interested in seeing random papers, forms, and letters from Bethel?
by daniel-p inwhile sorting through old papers and files in my closet getting ready for a move, i came across a bunch of papers and forms from bethel.
a lot of them are outlines and directions for the first few days and weeks while at bethel.
in addition, there are some typed notes from the 2002 annual meeting (the kind you're not supposed to post in the interwebz), a few letters from the gb to bethelites (mostly telling us how to dress and so forth), and some other random junk.
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TheListener
I believe I have a lot of my old forms as well.
Stuff like dish duty assignments, night watchman stuff, even a couple copies of Dwelling Together in Unity, the pre and post 1990 versions. I even saved my old bethel phone directory - it's hopelessly out of date by now. I also have some GB letters to bethelites
I'll think about blacking some stuff out and scanning it as well.
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Warren Schroeder from Bethel on Freddy, Kline and the apostate books!
by Dogpatch inhaving problem pasting this...
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TheListener
This is one of the single best threads I have ever read and participated in.
I will suffer no guilt for reminiscing with others about our shared history.
I have read each page of the thread and have seen no posters make light of how much importance brothers and sisters out in the congregations placed upon Bethel and how that did affect the lives of millions. It is certainly disgusting that the WTS directs individuals lives to such a high degree. But, that doesn't preclude those who have escaped the machine from reliving shared experiences.
The simple fact is these things happened, and by retelling these true tales the mystique that Bethel is a spiritually magical place can be exposed as a falsehood.
For any of us who grew up with Witness parents who thought beating the crap out of us was scripturally acceptable or who cajoled us into joining the school at very young ages and guilted us into being different at school over the holiday issues and used our family vacations to visit bethel and work where the need was greater and used any available extra money to grease the palms of bethel heavies this thread can be as liberating as it can be enlightening and frightening.
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TheListener
Oh yeah, Bethelites are always finding deals on airfare and such. Plus friends from their congregations will offer to fly them out or at least help them out so they can do an extended trip to attend their home congregations District Convention.
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TheListener
I went on vacations as often as I could. Officially you get one day off for each calendar month you work (12 days in a year). But, you usually seem to find more time off than that. I always did.
Lots of times we would do an all night weekend driving trip. Leaving just after work on Friday and returning in time for work on Monday morning. Yes, we weren't too productive on that Monday. You can't do that all the time because you only get one Saturday a month off if you're a brother.