The JW elder arrangement is a joke. I saw guys come into the religion after me and rise through the ranks to elder in under 10 years. The congregations are clearly desperate.
Nothing like a middle aged sister getting counciled by little Tommy LOL
ChakkaConned
JoinedPosts by ChakkaConned
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14
What's with such young "elders"?
by Gig inhow can the wts consider an unmarried man in his mid-twenties qualified to be an elder?
clearly the "theocratic" process of election by the holy spirit is not what's happening.
ever known any (too) young elders?
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Panic Attacks
by rebel ini don't know if this subject has been touched on before - i didn't know what section to put it under.. i have to go to the meeting this sunday - basically emotional blackmail by my husband (long story).
i have suffered from panic attacks in the past.
when i don't go to the meetings, and my family do, i get very panicky and breathless.
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ChakkaConned
What an interesting phenomenon. I wonder how many other religions have produced such effects on so many of it's members? Really, someone needs to conduct some kind of study on this.
Rebel, I too, can empathize. In fact, it was when I first started having panic attacks that I began to take a good honest look at my life and what was going on inside of me. At the time, I felt I was doing all that I could possibly do to live "right". I was working hard to serve God, be a good JW mom and a good wife. Yet, something internally was obviously going eskew. Why and why now when I had made such "positive" changes in my life? And that is when I began to look at the reality of what my religion was truly doing for me.
One small thing that you might want to do is sit in the back of the hall when you go on sunday. It was when I had to sit in the front that I used to feel so panicky. Not sure why except perhaps the idea of all of the "friends" watching those in the front added to the discomfort of being there. Sitting in the back and closer to the door helped me feel less enclosed and less scrutinized. The only problem is that you might have to go earlier to secure one of these much coveted seats You can always tell one of the attendents that you're not feeling well and need to sit in the back row. Just a thought.
Good luck Rebel and take care
CC
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The Three Hs
by Defender inin answering the question about why do jws continue to believe whatever the society prints and postulates we must start with an inward look at ourselves.
every person had his or her own reason to become a jw.
in fact, when we were jws the first question we used to ask of those we recently meet, say in the hall or at assemblies, was how did they become a jw?
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ChakkaConned
Ah yes, the three H's. I remember that WT article. People who are drawn to the truth must first be (1)honest (2) humble and (3) hungry for the truth.
Am I right? Do I win a prize?
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You'll Never Get Blessings If You Don't Listen
by minimus inin all the years that i've been a witness, one thing that i remember is hearing that if we didn't do everything we were supposed to do, we would not recieve blessings from jehovah.
our performance in fulfilling goals and quotas meant that we must do more in the service so that we could recieve blessings from god.
if we ever slacked off, we would be reminded that there would be nothing for jehovah to bless.
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ChakkaConned
Remember the Awake article about the sister who pioneered while being confined to an iron lung? What a guilt trip that was meant to induce! If she can do that, how much more could YOU do with your HEALTHY sorry ass?!
After a decade of listening to and reading of these *motivating* experiences, I finally began to recognize exactly what the society was trying to do to people. These experiences eventually meant nothing to me and I began to disregard them and all of the other guilt provoking JW propaganda, even long before I left the religion. I wish that those who feel so unworthy would determine not to let other equally imperfect men dictate their self worth regarding their spirituality. A relationship with God should be a source of joy, comfort and acceptance and I believe that is what God wants people to experience....not the self loathing and negative self esteem that the WT continuosly promotes. I feel so sorry for the elderly who have lived long hard lives who can't even have the satisfaction that they have pleased God because they should be doing more than they're able.
These self appointed masters over others faiths have much, much to account for.
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There is a rat on this forum
by jesusstolemyhotrod ini think someone on this forum is a rat....or troll as i think they are called.. i am sitting at home last night watching fear factor, and there was a knock at the door.. i opened it to find two elders from my old hall.
they did not seem very sincere when they apologized for disturbing me without notice.. they said the purpose of there visit was to just to check up on me, find out if my circumstances or opinions had changed.
we ended up in a huge conversation about my "inactivity", they wanted to know if there was anything keeping or holding me back from the truth, and wanted to know if there was anything i needed to get of my chest, cause guilt has away of keeping people back.
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ChakkaConned
Jes,
I, for one, would never admit anything to these clowns. Deny, Deny, Deny! You owe them nothing, including the truth about your activity here. They can't prove that you post here, can they? It matters not what you posted about your circumstances. It isn't you, period, end of discussion.
I wouldn't give them the slightest satisfaction that they are *on to you*. Take the attitude of....."Who are you going to believe...me or your lyin eyes??"(actually the rats eyes)
They want to buffalo you. Don't let them and admit nothing.
All the best!
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SHUNNED BUT NOT DISFELLOWSHIPPED WHY ???
by nightwarrior inyou dont need to be dissfelowshiped to be shunned ( why & how ).
what caused you to be shunned from within your congregation,even though you were not disfellowshipped ,.
where in the scriptures does it mention this particular type of remedy,does the creator sanction this type of treatment,were you suicidal when this happened ,did you receive support from anyone ,how did you handle it.. can you offer advice to people going through this at the moment.. agarpe love
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ChakkaConned
There is no scriptural reason to shun those who haven't been DF'd or DA'd. The reason they shun such ones is because the society has encouraged the judging of others, not mearly in "the world" but in the congregation as well. Yes, they encourage individual witnesses to size up their brothers as to whether they are doing all that Jehovah(WT) has commanded(ie meetings, FS, good conduct) and if the brother or sister isn't, well, they can personally resist or shun you based on their own observations and JUDGEMENT. If the elders don't like you, that's just furthur reason to give the stamp of disapproval. And any gossip floating around about you by the collective will fan the flames as well. Great, isn't it?
My advice to the one being shunned is to realize that the JW's is a paranoid cult, plain and simple. Just like a big dysfunctional family, once you are considered the "black sheep of the family", you will be discounted and thought less of and treated accordingly. And it's hard to shake once you've been pegged as such.
Get out while the gettins good!
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I'm new....
by layla inhi, i'm a little bit nervous posting something in here.....this is the firts time.....i was just wondering what "good" or "bad" things you have to say about jw.
i have been a jw all my life and my husband too.
right now i'm in the process of getting out... or fading away....i'm not attending the meetings anymore.
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ChakkaConned
Hello Layla
Are you an Eric Clapton fan? He IS God! lol
A hearty welcome to you! I remember feeling uneasy until I hit the 6 month mark in my fade. I knew that the thought police would be after me most during that time since it affected the cong. average and they had to account to the CO. But, they surprised me by not bothering with me at all It's been over a year now and so far, so good.
As you learned, whenever the elders get involved in someone's marriage, they invariably do more harm than good. The council is always the same.....don't miss meetings or field service. Be strong so that your mate will return so he also can be at all of the meetings and out in FS. That is ALL they care about.
Now you and your husband can present a unified front as you plan your strategies when and if the elders confront you. Keep researching and posting here.
All the best!
Chakka
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I NEED SOME HELP!
by UnDisfellowshipped ini know it seems different to see me asking for help finding a watchtower quote, but i really need some help finding a couple of quotes that are very important for something i (and others) are working on.. i have heard that either the february 1st watchtower or the february 15th watchtower has comments about the media reporting child abuse in which the watchtower basically says it is the devil and.
false stories.
please let me know if you can find a quote like that.
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When in FS...
by starfish422 inwhen you went out in service with a group, did you alternate whose call it was, with each house?
or did you have to keep knocking until you found someone at home, then move on to the next person in the group?.
we did it the former way; and thank goodness for rural territories!!
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ChakkaConned
Thank Gawd we did it the first way, rural or city. If we hadn't have, the first person would have had no skin left on their knuckles since people were rarely at home. There was more than just one person needing to
ditchplace old mags and tracts at the not at homes! -
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JW delivery man just here
by Mulan ini had to buy my parents a new refrigerator and dishwasher this week, and it was delivered a few minutes ago.
one of the delivery men noticed mom's daily text book, and asked her if she read it every day, to stay close to jehovah.
she immediately asked him "what congregation are you in?
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ChakkaConned
Reminds me of an incident, years ago, when I was just beginning to study with the JW's. I worked at an office with another girl who cursed like a sailor and didn't care who heard her or what they thought of her. There was a delivery guy who came in a couple of times a week. I can't remember how I found out he was a JW but when I did, I was all excited about revealing to him that I was studying. I remember that he acknowledged he was indeed a witness but then acted completely unimpressed and disinterested that I was studying to be in his religion. He liked the potty mouth alot better and seemed to find her most entertaining! He was nice to me but never spoke a word of "encouragement" about our commonality which I thought, at the time, to be rather strange. I now understand what this bro was probably going through. Burned out and bored of it all with no desire to cultivate any *kingdom seeds* while out doing *normal* things.
I seriously doubt this brother hung in for long.