because of the length of this, it will be done in two parts.
part 1. i when to bethel march 21,1970. at the time you had to be a pioneer for two years to apply, by the time i left in 1974 they were calling people in who had never pioneered..........average stay was 5 months ( they had signed up for 4 years)..........the reason they left was......well, it was hell.. one of the reasons was, knorr hated bethelites, but he loved the gilead students and why?
because when they screwed up they were thousands of miles away!........just before i got there, they had kicked out over 60!
( they had signed up for 4 years)
That is why I didn't go, I was kind of encouraged to go, but, I didn't think I could make 4 years and I knew how you would be treated at the local congregation if you didn't stay the whole 4 years. I also was afraid of the big city...I think now I would kind of like it, but, back than I was terrified of New York.
OC
short story:.
never had a real religious formation until i met the witness in my teenage years.. not everything has been bad but most of my friends there and exwife have been cheaters, liars and hypocrites.... i called it quits this year as i could no longer swallow their truth.
i remarried a supposedly "christian" 23 yr old woman that has shown me how bad things are 'out here'.... regarding her i have a question... those of you that continue to uphold bible's principles and love for our dear creator please advise on the following situation:.
Dear C.
You said you think that there is no one to trust. Keep in mind you married a woman you met online from a poor country that you hardly knew and married her after only one day. This is hardly a formula for finding the love of your life who you can trust. There are plenty of nice women who do not have mates, why not, try meeting one of them, get to know them and than ask for their hand in marriage. As far as your current situation, sounds like you might already have grounds for scriptualy divorce.
OC
i got the boot and so didm\ many others..anyone know for sure what his problem is
You should be happy that you got the boot. I read some of his writtings and he sounds like a frustrated GB or a wanna be GB. I think he is like a lot of religio fanatics, they know it all and want everyone else to agree with whatever dogma they write, same as the Society, the big difference is, with this group it is one guy pretty much doing the writting and with the Society, at least it is 14 nuckle heads putting out the garbage, so it comes a little bit tempered and not so over the top.
OC
how many of you who grew up in the truth truly loved a sport and fought hard against your jw parents to get to play it?
post your experience here.
my determination to play come hell or high water led to my mother turning me over to the state as a youngster, which then lead to foster care and freedom until i foolishly came back to the borg as an adult.
I suppose I was way more fortunate than most here, my parents allowed me to particapate so long as I did not miss too much service or meetings, Of course I was never encouraged or praised for my success so this led to being rather callous about achieving greater goals, plus witness peer presure added to that attitude as well, plus, I could of gone on to college level, but chose not to because of the Society's stand on college education. So I too am bitter about that; however, I am thankful for the time I did have on a team.
I love Basketball and after repeated pleadings to my parents was allowed to play in middle school and Freshman and JV in high school because the games were during the day and weekdays. my Sophmore year I was given a opportunity to jump to Varsity.
Once my parents found out I was forced to quit because of the night games and occasional Saturdays. I was devastated and to this day friends from school still bring it up. it still hurts..
I can feel your pain here. Sucks outloud. OC
for some reason, i can't cut & past from word.
Ok, let me get this straight. Elders/ms are appointed by holy spirit only if they met the qualifications set out in the Bible. But, holy spirit doesn’t block the appointment of someone who doesn’t? So, how exactly is holy spirit involved at all? And, notice how it’s not just the scriptures that are used. The theocratic history is the element that gets 90% of the attention in my experience.
In conclusion, this one wasn’t as rule driven as others in the past, believe it or not. But, there was very little said about taking care of orphans & widows or about helping folks with real problems. If I were to sum up the single largest problem with the org, this is it. All the focus on rules, none on love.
Exactly
OC
well since maybe you are no longer a jw any more..............you have that option!.
good idea?.
giving your sons or daughters to the "gods of war" .
Can you trust the rulership or the judgement of everything your countries rulers do?
I can't, I think in most cases their judgement is based on something other than preserving freedom.
There are countries that are not militaristic and provide a measure of security for their people and they negociate peace with their neighbors.
The US would rather shoot first and than ask later why there is a problem, this current US President doesn't deserve the sacrifice of one life.
OC
i know the witnesses changed their 'generation' definition in 1995 to get away from being tied down to the literal generation of people who saw 1914.. but applying their definition of the word to matthew 24:34 makes the verse meaningless, regardless of whether the original text grammatically allows for their interpretation.
there is no point in saying "this generation will by no means pass away" if 'generation' merely refers to an attitude of people which may remain the same for any ongoing period of time.. there is simply no point in saying it unless it was intended to refer specifically to a literal generation of people who were alive at the time.
of course, there is no validity to their 1914 doctrine anyway, but nevertheless, they are inextricably stuck with it..
What bothered me was how efficient I had become in explaining this generation. I enjoyed flipping back enforth in the scriptures highlighting all those features of the sign that indicated that this generation was the sameone spoken of in the bible. So when that night came that they change this in 1995, I didn't quit but they lost me as a blind follower, I at that point started to question, but, it was not till the internet and sites like this, that I realized I was not alone in my reaction to this change. I felt that all those hours spent walking in the hot sun in the summer and cold of winter were all wasted. I am glad that I never had become a full time pioneer or I would have been even more upset for sure.
OC
so i had a jw friend stay at my house the past few days after getting back from doing a couple months of work in new orleans on quickbuilds.
he told me all about whats going on there, etc.
but one thing really ticked me off, and its amazing the money the wts is making offa this.. from what he told me is the wts is quickbuilding new homes for all the jw's who lost their homes in the hurricane and collecting the insurance payments that the homeowners recieve.
The brother who came out and asked us to "nail quietly" because he was inside watching TV
Yes, I heard of a Ocean front that was fixed up, that brother was apparently well off.
Also, I heard of one where the 20 year son didn't lift a hand and join the brothers on the crew. Pretty sad.
OC
so i had a jw friend stay at my house the past few days after getting back from doing a couple months of work in new orleans on quickbuilds.
he told me all about whats going on there, etc.
but one thing really ticked me off, and its amazing the money the wts is making offa this.. from what he told me is the wts is quickbuilding new homes for all the jw's who lost their homes in the hurricane and collecting the insurance payments that the homeowners recieve.
What about the fact that the WTS had to write a directive to its followers that they should NOT designate where the senders would like his money to GO on any checks to this sneaky organization?
Agreed, I did not like this when that point was brought out. They have contribution boxes designated for everything else, why not have one for disaster relief, with those monies being accounted for and disclosed on a monthly basis, telling those in the congregation how much was donated organizaiton wide and how much was dispersed and where. Had they done this, I think even more within the congregations would have opened up their wallets wider.
OC
so i had a jw friend stay at my house the past few days after getting back from doing a couple months of work in new orleans on quickbuilds.
he told me all about whats going on there, etc.
but one thing really ticked me off, and its amazing the money the wts is making offa this.. from what he told me is the wts is quickbuilding new homes for all the jw's who lost their homes in the hurricane and collecting the insurance payments that the homeowners recieve.
I agree and disagree with some of what the posters say.
First off, the biggest problem many are having in N. O. is getting people to show up and do any kind of work at all, little lone good work. Those brothers who do come and help are trying there very best to do a good job and leave the homeowner with a house that is safe and sound. The materials being used are of good quality.
I agree however, that, the money from the insurance company should not all go to the society if it is above what the mother organization put out in the first place. I feel that some of the money should be dispersed amoung some of the faithful to help with gas and hotel expenses that were incurred. I feel that those doing the work should have a way of turning in a request for expenses, perhaps they do get this and I am unaware of it.
All in all it is hard to fault an organization that is trying to help. I do agree that more should be done to help the community at large, that is the part of the puzzle that JWs fall far short and why so many can critize them.
OC
