i was listening to a lunchtime call in radio show about jws and the personal experiences of being disfellowshiped, and a former elder called in saying he was disfellowshiped for asking about jws and their involvement in the un in the 1990s ,and he just said look it up.. thinking that it was a made up lie ,so i looked it up and it was true even a letter confirming it from the un itself and that led me here and to jwfacts and further research into the history and teachings of jw and walked out the door about 5 years ago.
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COFTY:
Yes, I remember that exactly. Instead of having a special title alerting people to the upcoming change - they slipped it into the article like the sneaks they are.
Were they hoping nobody would notice? Who knows? But, I was sitting there at the meeting and felt like I got punched in the gut. They were just stringing everybody along.. It dawned on me right then that I had to make plans to get out of the religion.
When I got my life in order, I began a ‘Fade’.
but what they don't say he left started and ran a real estate company and a global real estate consulting firm and apparently after making a fortune come back to bethel a few years ago.
how in the hell could a non lifer now be anointed and appointed to be a gb member.
sure can't be for his spiritual qualifications!.
DREARYWEATHER:
Umm, that’s not entirely accurate and not telling the whole story…..
Yes that’s true that many ex-JWs criticized the GB for being out of touch with Real world experience:
BUT, that was because they were presuming to tell the rank & file Witnesses how to live. Telling people not to get higher education and what job or career they (shouldn’t have) and not plan for their Retirement. In other words, they should starve to death.. A GB who knew what life was like outside might have empathy and not say such stupid things.
The situation you have here now is different. They appointed someone with ‘real life experience’ in an area the RELIGION is interested in. Not to benefit anybody else!
i was listening to a lunchtime call in radio show about jws and the personal experiences of being disfellowshiped, and a former elder called in saying he was disfellowshiped for asking about jws and their involvement in the un in the 1990s ,and he just said look it up.. thinking that it was a made up lie ,so i looked it up and it was true even a letter confirming it from the un itself and that led me here and to jwfacts and further research into the history and teachings of jw and walked out the door about 5 years ago.
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It was after they came out with the 1995 changed teaching on Generation that I knew something was wrong with the Witness religion and I had to get out.
Before that time there were a whole lot of things that got me wondering what kind of mistake I made getting involved with this religion! ..There was the lack of love unless you were part of an extended family or clique; the intrusiveness; the gossip that was fierce, etc. ..In my case I was ‘disapproved’ of because I worked full time and had to look out for myself - because nobody else was.. I did NOT follow in the footsteps of other single women there whose time was taken up with the ministry and doing favors for all the ‘Users’!👎
Anyway, I started searching on the internet while at the same time reconnecting with estranged relatives, etc. I was positively shocked at the mountain of unflattering information about the religion and many personal testimonials. It was certainly not my imagination about many things. At this point I was on the fringes of the congregation.. Even though there were a handful of people in the JWs that I liked I planned my ‘Fade’.. I could not be part of this charade anymore.
i am writing to ask if anyone cares to share their experience and/or offer advice for people leaving.
i was raised in the religion, and both my parents died when i was very young.
i recently stopped associating because my conscience no longer allows me to preach or support the organization.
MAGNUM:
You are right that people outside the Witness religion cannot comprehend what it is like.
I was raised Catholic and I went to church on Sunday. I would have never been able to understand what a Witness went through if I had not lived it myself.. The Witness religion is all or nothing and insinuates itself into your life and your mind. The Catholics and other churches do not do this (not talking about other high control groups).
When I was a JW I felt as though I had a target painted on me. In the Catholic church they didn’t bother me. They also didn’t try to interfere in my life or shun me for having a decent job. They also promoted and loved higher education.
We were really put through the wringer by being in the Jehovah’s Witnesses.😮.. What a Life Lesson learned!
but what they don't say he left started and ran a real estate company and a global real estate consulting firm and apparently after making a fortune come back to bethel a few years ago.
how in the hell could a non lifer now be anointed and appointed to be a gb member.
sure can't be for his spiritual qualifications!.
DISGRUNTLED FOOL:
Yes, it would appear that appointing a GB member lacking the ‘spiritual’ credentials his predecessors had (and passing over more ‘spiritually’ qualified individuals) ..is yet another slap in the face to any Jehovah’s Witness ‘with one operating brain cell left’ as you said.
I get the sense that this is more upsetting to people here than last year’s change of dropping the counting of time slips. I thought that change was a slap in the face to anybody who sacrificed. I was judged over that as a low hour publisher but glad now I never listened!
Is this new change of putting a controversial individual (judging from the religion’s own past standards) in such an esteemed 🙄place as a GB a more shocking change than last year’s change(s)??
The old JW religion is gone. Hope nobody was wishing to go back there because they can only go back in their dreams!
a change to their doctrine came from jackson.
this isn't a transcript of his whole speech but i thought i would try and get some of his main speech in writing.. at around 1hr26 minutes he starts talking about some dangerous thinking in feeling there is some wiggle room in regards to the schedule for the gt.
but you see, we need to be careful about what we are thinking about the number of anointed ones left on earth.
RON W:
Yes, the young ones were aggressively targeted but in my opinion it was mostly females.. Somehow, a brother got a ‘pass’ or was less scrutinized if he had a full-time job.
Oh, there was an attitude here and there but it was NOWHERE near as bad as for a woman. The hypocrisy and double standard is monumental in this religion and what you describe about older retired people with cushy lives pushing poverty on some young person is entirely accurate.
I am glad I was raised Catholic and had my ‘worldly’ family and friends’ wisdom instilled in me so that Witness bullshit was rejected… Anybody who looked around the hall and saw all the older people collecting their pensions would realize you’d have to have your head examined to listen to the religion.
But, I will say it again that it’s the rank & file Witnesses who are responsible for helping to make trouble with their gossip and judgment.
a change to their doctrine came from jackson.
this isn't a transcript of his whole speech but i thought i would try and get some of his main speech in writing.. at around 1hr26 minutes he starts talking about some dangerous thinking in feeling there is some wiggle room in regards to the schedule for the gt.
but you see, we need to be careful about what we are thinking about the number of anointed ones left on earth.
DESIROUS OF CHANGE:
Yes, it’s true that most Witnesses in any congregation will NOT understand another JWs serious issues with the religion (and will NOT care) unless they have been personally touched.
I remember talking to men in my age category in the congregation who had full time jobs like I did.. Well, nobody was going up to them and telling them to quit their job to clean toilets and pioneer!! I guess just women got singled out for this nonsense. Thank God I ignored all these hypocrites and kept my job.
I really have no pity or use for the rank & file JWs who cannot or will not see the obvious hypocrisy in the religion. They ‘go along with the crowd’ and are complicit in my book. I could never be around them.
a change to their doctrine came from jackson.
this isn't a transcript of his whole speech but i thought i would try and get some of his main speech in writing.. at around 1hr26 minutes he starts talking about some dangerous thinking in feeling there is some wiggle room in regards to the schedule for the gt.
but you see, we need to be careful about what we are thinking about the number of anointed ones left on earth.
GORB & BETH SARIM:
Yes, the Witness religion will continue to reinvent itself just as it has been doing all along. Some fools will think it’s ‘new light’.
And you are right that people come and go. Imagine all the sacrifices people now and in the past have made?
I wonder what some of the die-hards there think about everything: last year’s changes especially the biggie about no longer counting hours/time slips, and now these two younger GB members? I wonder what the older JWs there really think about their religion?
All I know is that it was a happy day for me when I started my overdue ‘Fade’ from the JW religion all those years ago!
i've been meaning to share some recent experiences that defy the usual tropes about the 'world gone to hell' or 'people now days".. as some of you may remember i was seriously ill for a while and had to close my business and shop.
now, as it seems i have beaten it, i put up a sign again advertising that in a limited way i'm back.. what amazes me is how many times over the past 2 years customers and even competition have written and called to express their concern and best wishes.
just last week i had a personal visit of someone who i thought of as a rival, come in and shake my hand sincerely happy to see me up and around.
PHIZZY:
I am so very sorry that your wife passed away. You are wise to let the grief run its natural course.. It is good to hear that you are experiencing the kindness of people at this difficult time and it does give you hope for the human race.
PEACEFUL PETE:
It is good to know you are bouncing back from illness and that you have been getting well wishes and help from people! I think that most people have goodness inside them even if you don’t see it all the time. They can and do rise to the occasion.
I never believed when the Witnesses said people outside the religion are ‘bad’, etc. Of course, I wasn’t raised a JW and didn’t buy all their hype when they kept praising themselves. Too be honest, ‘worldly’ people can teach Witnesses a few lessons about being kind and Christian.
https://youtu.be/rjr0ugtu6zu?si=d3zsz20ee33gytxi.
these new appointments are troubling, to say the least, especially considering the factors surrounding their selection.
these appointments raise key concerns about leadership, experience, and what is happening behind the scenes at the organization's headquarters.
RAYMOND FRANTZ:
I got the same impression you got that these two new GB members are too young for all the reasons you mentioned and one guy into real estate(?)
The first obvious one is they have not had decades of faithful service which would have been a requirement in the past.
It’s probably been observed by everyone for a while that the old Witness religion that many of us remembered is long gone. It looks as if these appointments of younger men without the so-called spiritual qualifications required in the past is just more proof. When the Boomer JWs still attending in congregations are gone there will be no recollection of the old ways and the old days.
Maybe as predicted by some, JW is almost ready to become a totally online religion.
