Posts by under the radar

17

Chapter 19 New Boy 50 years a Watchtower Slave

by new boy in

jw
friends

chapter 19.

“look ma no hands”.

by the time the summer rolled around they decided to put me on the dryers.

under the radar

My parents and other family knew a Brother Kennedy from the Atlanta area. I vaguely remember an assembly public talk being filmed or broadcast back in the 60's. This Brother Kennedy had something to do with show business, and I clearly remember him pointing at various sections of the audience and circling his hands to encourage them to clap longer and louder. I guess he was trying to keep the sound balanced for the recording. I was a pre-teen or very young teen, so I don't remember many more details. I don't think I ever personally met him.

Years later, my dad told me that Brother Kennedy had been murdered while sitting in his car. Apparently, it was a robbery that went wrong. I don't know any other details, but I'm pretty sure it's the same guy.

Regardless, it's so sad when people die taking senseless chances or are killed while minding their own business, especially when they're young and had bright futures ahead of them.

It's also very sad that this mind-control cult thinks nothing of squashing any hint of individuality. It is led by hypocrites and traitors to everything they claim to believe.

23

Instructions to remove old WT information from kh libraries

by Half banana in

a pimo friend (physically in mentally out) has just informed me that the cult has decided that they want to suppress all old jw org information by removing bound volumes etc from kh libraries.. in reality, all through their history they have claimed divine "new light" as a means of changing uncomfortable doctrines.

this however would mean that new jws, or more likely these days young jws, will be prevented from seeing the old light which had been held up as divinely inspired truth in the past.. truth which would get you through big a and which if you didn't agree with would get you disfellowshipped.. anyone else heard of this?

what might be the reasons (if true) for removing the old wts?.

under the radar

In Watchtower-speak, "in the event the elders decide" has the same real meaning as the instruction that elders should "consider whether" excess congregation funds can be donated to the World Wide Work™.

It's more than a connotation. It's a de facto instruction, and true believers understand that compliance is mandatory, but it's phrased so as to give the Society plausible deniability. "We never said they had to do it! It's not our fault if some went beyond what was written."

This kind of crap is disingenuous at best. I think it's downright dishonest and deceptive, self-serving and hypocritical. They would love to get rid of all the old embarrassing literature. Even now, many JW's are convinced that anything off the internet, and really, anything not known to be an original Society publication or document, has probably been doctored by "apostates" to undermine their faith.

54

JW Kids Bullying My Daughter

by pale.emperor in

trying not to type swearwords as i write this so bare with me.. my little 3yo attends meetings with her jw mum (who doesn't believe watchtower anymore but is stuck in because she relies on her family for help).

my mum (the one who tells people im dead) had a party for her grandchildren.

that's my 4 nieces and 1 nephew aged from 3yo-11yo.

under the radar

It's too bad that your relatives want to be such anuses. And their children are having their natural decency stolen from them by their parents' slavish devotion to that blanking cult. I don't even know you, but I am so sad and angry that your precious daughter was treated in such an unloving and vindictive manner, and by her own relatives!

If there's any silver lining, it's that their robotic mindless shunning of an innocent child may have actually protected her in the long run. If they had welcomed her with open arms, she may have been fooled by the love bombing and might have wanted to spend more and more time around them. This would inevitably end with their attempting to brainwash her into becoming just like them. A young child has little defense against indoctrination by a determined cultist who poses as a loving grandmother, aunt, or other authority figure.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't allow them any unsupervised time around her. Who knows what they'd be poisoning her little mind with?

44

A WTF Moment While In the WTS

by Searching in

has anyone else had a moment, while still within the organization (and before learning ttatt) that caused them to stop and go, "this is kind of messed up.".

for instance, back i believe in the early 2000's, i was attending a dc with my family.

it was announced at the beginning of the convention that there was going to be a special announcement at the end, so for everyone to please try to remain until the very end of the meeting.

under the radar

smiddy, I had exactly the same WTF!!! moment you did! And like you, it was several more years before I completely and finally broke free, but that was the first real crack in the dam.

I never was all that gung-ho, but I did believe the Bible was God's Word and that the Society had the Truth™ (in most areas, anyway) well into adulthood. Then that patently ridiculous and self-serving bullcrap about early Bible Student conventions fulfilling certain Revelation prophecies woke me up. I started doing a little clandestine research on the nascent internet, and Voila!, my eyes were opened. The first site I found was Randall Watters' FreeMinds.org. I especially enjoyed his Net Soup. That eventually led me here (well, one of JWN's earlier iterations) and the rest is history.

I have never been DA or DF, though to be truthful, there would have been grounds if they had chosen to pursue it. The loophole in the latest Flocking the Sheep (double super-secret elder's manual) gave them an out. I now live far away, don't represent myself as a JW (oh, hell no!), and no one up here thinks of me as a JW. I'm sure the fact that I know where many "skeletons are buried" was not a factor in their decision to leave me alone. I know stuff that could peel the paint off the walls...

I am shunned by some relatives (to varying degrees), but by no means all. None of the active JWs will discuss the reasons I left or any other "spiritual" topic. They don't want to know what my issues are. I believe they're afraid they too will see behind the curtain and have their precious bubble popped. Any discussion with me might "undermine their faith." They know they simply cannot hold their own in the light of calm reasoning backed up by verifiable facts and unassailable logic. The only thing they have to fall back on is "Where else would you go?" or "Those were just mistakes by imperfect men" or "We've had family in the Truth™ for almost 100 years. How could all of them have been wrong?" None of which has the slightest bearing on whether the Society's teachings are true or not, or whether their practices show any indication of "divine guidance" or not.

It's amusing that they are so scandalized and appalled that, thanks to this site and a couple of others, I usually know about confidential stuff, even super special boys-only BOE letters, well before they do, sometimes even before my Elder relatives. That irks them no end. I have to admit I enjoy a certain satisfaction in their discomfort and resentment. Oh well, no one's perfect. I am a bad boy...

8

Junkyard Photo (Door)

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

i see where you were shooting and what did i tell you?

don't bother lying!".

the heavyset man could have been a bulldog or a gargoyle.

under the radar

Thanks for another moving story, Terry. You have a true talent for drawing your reader in.

Not to pick nits, but I believe the fumigant of choice was Xyklon B, originally developed as a commercial insecticide. It came in pellet form, shipped in air-tight cans. The SS soldier would go on top of the gas chamber, which was configured to make the victims think it was a community shower, take the cover off the shaft coming up from the chamber, and pour the pellets in. They would turn into poison gas almost immediately upon contact with the air. The soldier, of course, was careful to wear a gas mask when pouring in the pellets. Safety first, you know.

16

They should show this 2 minute video about 1975 at the convention

by LevelThePlayingField in

if only there was a way to hack in and play this.

:).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bmca1qdhho&feature=push-u&attr_tag=3yku113wrp-khxdt-6.

under the radar

That video is extremely well done! It would be great if it could somehow be played at big meetings and conventions. It would likely be over before anyone was certain it had been "adapted." Regardless, I think it could wake some people up... and that's a good thing.

Another point: while the Society's productions are blatant propaganda that appeals to blind loyalty and shamelessly exploits normal emotions, this video presents its message honestly without manipulating or distorting the facts. It neither overplays nor minimizes the raw truth of what actually happened in many, many cases.

25

What is the worst type of work or job you have ever had to do?

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

we all need to earn a living.... so just curious, what is the worst type of work or job you have ever had to do?.

under the radar

Wow! Most of you guys had it far worse than I ever did. My hat's off to you for hanging in there as long as you did.

The worst job I ever had was during the last six months of high school. I was in the "work release" program (actually it was called something like Vocational Office Training, VOT for short), where you went to school for half a day and worked an approved outside job for half day for whatever pay they offered, and you still got school credits towards graduation. Anyway, I went to work for a finance company, a small shop downtown owned by a rich old man who owned a lot of property around town, including the land where the city built their shiny new convention center. I was only 17 and too young to write loans or sign anything official, so he made me call the past due accounts, even those only one day late.

Man, I hated that! I don't like bugging people when they owe ME money, but I sure hated calling people who were one day late on a payment due a finance company. I quit that job the week I graduated. Good riddance!

30

Grandson Came, Cleaned, Cooked

by snowbird in

jw
friends

pork chops, grits-broccoli-cheese casserole, celery & green onions smothered in turkey broth.. oh, frabjous day, calloo callay!.

or, something like that.. tee hee hee..

under the radar

What a wonderful meal, snowbird! And what a wonderful grandson he is to make it for you. Well done! You raised yo' yunguns right!

I feel sorry for those po' Yankees who don't know the exquisite delight of grits in the morning. Nothing is better, especially if you stir in scrambled or sunny side up eggs and eat them as one dish. Mmm mmm... heaven on earth!

16

Oooh, caught a JW colleague telling porkies at work this week.

by nicolaou in

there's a jw 'sister' at work, lovely girl in her mid twenties.

anyway, on monday the union (cwu) called a one day strike in support of colleagues and all union members supported the action as far as i'm aware, except the sister.. she claimed it was 'against her religion' to strike.

bare in mind, she's a fee paying member of the union.. now, a few of my workmates know of my past and asked me if this was really true, that jehovah's witnesses aren't allowed to strike.. we'll, i like this girl and i didn't want to make her look silly but what was i supposed to say after i stopped laughing?

under the radar

As far as I know, the Society has never said JWs can't be in a labor union. Participating in a strike, however, would depend on the circumstances, even if the JW planned only to honor the strike but not picket or do anything else controversial.

Some strikes are illegal, and a "True Christian™" would not honor those because it would be against the law. I personally know of one JW who was an air traffic controller when their union (PATCO) went on strike in 1981. He did not honor the strike and continued to report to work as usual. The union did not give him any trouble, though, because he had told them well in advance that he wouldn't go with them and why. It was not because it was "against his religion." It was because (1) the strike was illegal and (2) he had signed a sworn oath (like all government employees) when he was first hired that he would not participate in any strike against the government. The union essentially gave him a pass on it because he was straight with them from the beginning and he didn't work against them by discouraging others either.

41

Want to read a surprising comment/complaint posted on my website about JW's encouraged not to have kids. Who would have thought!

by AndersonsInfo in

http://watchtowerdocuments.org/did-you-know-having-children/#comment-474.

here's the short article found in the "did you know?

" series found on watchtower documents, and, underneath it, is the unusual comment:.

under the radar

I think LongHairGal is onto something. With all the emphasis on shunning family members who reject the Truth©, whether baptized or not, the clear message is that they should be considered already dead. "Don't even pick up the phone if they call or text out of the blue, no matter how long it's been since you heard from them. It doesn't matter that they may be in mortal danger or seriously ill. You don't know, and you don't want to know."

It naturally follows that you wouldn't want to encourage or facilitate their immoral lifestyles by giving them money, or even leaving it to them in your will. "How much better, Brothers and Sisters, to use your valuable things to further Kingdom interests. Jehovah needs your money! Give it to us, and uh..., we'll be sure he gets it."