Posts by TheListener

18

Finding love as a witness

by RawrSaysTheLion in

hi i'm new.. i'm going on 2yrs as a baptized witness although i've just received a reproval on the grounds of living with a wordly man unmarried for 6 months.

long story short it ended messy and i ran straight back to the witnesses because i do love jehovah and i missed my family.

my issues were only with the actual organization.. i desperately want to find someone to share my world with but i feel like i'm too tainted to be loved by anyone worthy in the truth and my morals are to high to love another boy from the world.

TheListener

Welcome Rawr, glad you posted. You will get lots of advice here but it's really up to you to look at it and really think it over. Sometimes what is familiar to us isn't always the best or right thing. I know a lot of non-witness people who would be considered moral and I know a lot that wouldn't, same goes for those in the local congregation and circuit. In my experience witnesses are just a bit better at hiding their true feelings/actions due to the potential of not just losing a mate in divorce but being disfellowshipped and losing pretty much everyone they know.

I hope you take the time to review jwfacts.com and think about what jwfacts the poster said about following rules and regulations making us similar to the Pharisees.

I'm really sorry you're so stressed out right now and I wish you all the best. Please keep up posted on how things go.

17

We give more to the Watchtower Society than for our local KH

by James Jack in

i have been doing the accounts for our local congregation now for 3 years.

i just thought, wow our local expenses total just $500 a month, yet we have an ongoing expense each month of $600 for the kh expansion work(ie:world wide work), $60 for the traveling overseer insurance and $54 for the local kingdom hall insurance, in addition to the operating committee expense of $525.. so, our one congregation sends $714 a month plus what the publishers contribute towards the world wide work usually between $600 to $700 per month.

in other words, we are at least sending, for our little congregation of 75 publishers, $1314 a month!

TheListener

If I understand right your hall with about 75 publishers sends in about 1,300 to the society and uses an additional 500 or so for local expenses each month, for a total donation from the congregation of about 1,800 a month.

So 1,800 / 75 = 24. Of course every publisher doesn't contribute, I never did as a teen unless my parents gave me some money to put in the box. So that means some publishers are giving more.

24 or something a bit more a month doesn't seem like much to contribute even for a dub. I could see this makes sense on an average basis.

161

Court denies summary judgement for Laurel Jehovah's Witnesses congregation

by OrphanCrow in

court denies summary judgement for laurel jehovah's witnesses congregation.

a motion for summary judgement is denied in a case against the laurel congregation of jehovah's witnesses and some individuals over child abuse reporting issues.a lawyer for the congregation maintained that elders were exempted from reporting requirements under a state law because of clergy privilege and confidentiality.the case resulted from allegations that elders did not report an unlawful sexual relationship between a woman and a 14-year-old boy, both of whom were members of the jehovah's witnesses congregation.. download the court opinion here.

http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/download.aspx?id=235880.

TheListener

Vidiot, I know, just saying...

Hey who downvoted me? That's so unloving, I am reporting you to the elders.

37

My experience with the people in my hall

by Freeandclear in

i've been awake now for about 6 months i'd guess and a member here for a couple of weeks.

it's been eye opening to read other peoples experiences on here and i appreciate all of you.

i've noticed in many, seemingly most, of your comments that you were not treated well at your hall or you have had very negative experiences in the "org" so i thought i'd like to share mine.. in all my time as a jw i have to say for the most part i always loved the people.

TheListener

I was raised in a multi-generational witness family and most witnesses I knew were friendly and kind. I think the difference could be that most congregations/circuits have cliques and if you are in the clique you are ok and if you are out of the clique it can be hell. Like an earlier poster said if they smell blood in the water it's all over.

Friendly or unfriendly people don't make the organization any more accurate in their teachings though - it's still a cult.

37

According to YouTube Egyptian bethel closing and special pioneer's

by Crazyguy in

according to you tubers mike and kim and son of thunder, egyptian branch closing.

son of thunder is saying he has relatives that we're running bethel in egypt for years and they have been let go reassigned as special pioneers yet according to him this job no longer pays a wage.

he also states that 5000 total bethelites world wide are being let go.

TheListener

Sounds like an honest mistake....move along nothing to see here... well, except my exciting post on the matter.

53

Finally posting and I'm FRUSTRATED!!!

by stephanie61092 in

okay, i'm about to engage in a major word vomit.

just giving you fair warning as your time may be better spent somewhere else.. so, i'm sitting on my lunch break, bawling my eyes out, and writing on this forum to people i don't know yet probably have a great deal in common with but at the same time, used to scare the daylights out of me.

for years, i would come across this forum and 'lurk' awhile if you will, or see things on youtube.

TheListener

Hi Stephanie61092, welcome to the forum! You are so brave and I am so glad you posted here. This forum is full of people with similar circumstances and backgrounds. You can receive so much good advice by truly caring people. I'm sorry it took me so long to post my hello, somehow I missed the thread.

34

My boyfriend is thinking of becoming reinstated

by gypsyvine in

i'm not really sure where to post this.. i've been with my boyfriend for 4 months now and i've really never been happier.

i was brought up in the church of christ with an elder father and i really believe in my religion, although i will admit to being a lousy christian at times due to sheer laziness (not wanting to get out of bed on sunday).

my boyfriend essentially lives with me.

TheListener

Welcome gypsyvine. Glad you decided to post and get some advice and comments. There are a lot of people on the forum that have been through something similar and from time to time new posters like yourself will come here to get advice.

My 2 cents; I believe that his mother, if she is a JW, is hoping that by treating you with kindness, love and respect you will eventually convert. They will treat you great as long as there is a chance that you will convert one day. I'm surprised that his mother has anything to do with her son since he's disfellowshipped, that's a no no.

If he gets reinstated, which isn't automatic, it takes time and effort and a good deal of humility in the face of disgusting shunning by everyone at his kingdom hall, he will then be a regular JW in good standing. Which means he must believe the teachings of the Watchtower Society (JW organization name). That means he believe that almost all non-JWs will die very soon at Armageddon and that a career or education in this system of things is meaningless and useless.

If you already know how he feels about these things now, that's good, if not try to find out to see if he is really in the JW mindset. If he is, then you are in for a rough ride emotionally.

Have you had him read items which disagree with his beliefs? Would he be willing to read something like JWFacts.com? That would be a sure way to gauge his attachment to the JW organization.

I wish you the best of luck and hope everything works out for you.

25

They're now asking people to clean at Bethel?

by onightdivine in

jw
friends

i heard from a "friend" that a letter was read aloud during the midweek meeting asking people to volunteer to do cleaning work in bethel.

lol.

i really can't think of anything else to say if this is true.. they get more free labor, and they still ask for more more more money!!

TheListener

The dubs will line up to clean at bethel, my god what a privilege for them. But give it a few months and the excitement will wear off and they'll be miserable and less likely to volunteer.

30

Quality of JW teaching from elders

by sir82 in

jw
friends

there was a recent thread on the "quality" of converts to jws in recent years.

it wasn't a pretty picture, based on the thread contents.. well, the lack of depth isn't restricted to new converts.. in our clam this week, one of the principal points for review was this:.

ne 1:1; 2:1—why can we conclude that “the 20thyear” mentioned at nehemiah 1:1 and 2:1 is countedfrom the same starting point?

TheListener

What makes it worse is that they feel that they are deep bible students.

161

Court denies summary judgement for Laurel Jehovah's Witnesses congregation

by OrphanCrow in

court denies summary judgement for laurel jehovah's witnesses congregation.

a motion for summary judgement is denied in a case against the laurel congregation of jehovah's witnesses and some individuals over child abuse reporting issues.a lawyer for the congregation maintained that elders were exempted from reporting requirements under a state law because of clergy privilege and confidentiality.the case resulted from allegations that elders did not report an unlawful sexual relationship between a woman and a 14-year-old boy, both of whom were members of the jehovah's witnesses congregation.. download the court opinion here.

http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/download.aspx?id=235880.

TheListener

Why would the WTS hide behind a religious doctrine, the confessional, that they don't believe in?

Can you imagine if a publisher in the congregation asked an elder to sit down and listen to their confessions like a priest and then that elder wasn't to tell the body of elders and they weren't to institute judicial proceedings if they felt a sin of sufficient gravity was committed? Hah! Ridiculous!