Posts by truthsetsonefree

it seems to be an issue that some have after leaving the witness cult because none of us were ever made to feel we were " good " enough or "valued " enough for what we were trying to accomplish in the cult.

growing up i had pounded into my head by my jw elder father what jesus said, " after doing all things remember you are good for nothing slaves , what we have done is what we ought to have done.

" then i thought to myself - " where's the joy in that ?

truthsetsonefree

" After doing all things remember you are good for nothing slaves , what we have done is what we OUGHT to have done. "

That is one of the statements that makes me wonder about the Bible. I could never really stomach that one. I've never been particularly lacking in self-esteem, but definitely confidence, simply because of the training to follow that I received as a JW. Now my confidence is slowly being built. I try to savor each success, even the small ones. It really helps.

Isaac

93

To SO CAL: What CO's and DO's do we all know?

by IreallydidwalkoutofaKH in

jw
friends

okay, in order it goes like this for me............brother peace 1980-83, brother rose 1984-86, brother yasko 1986-88, brother sekella 1988-91, brother billy ford 1992-95, brother davis 1996-99, brother irskin 2000-03 and then it gets kinda blurry....brother burge and another, brother hairston.

okay, that just about does it.

i have this topic becauce i tried reading the favorite co and do thread, but did not recognize any names......

truthsetsonefree

Well, my ignorance of these folks tells mne they don't move these overseers between coasts. Save of course for the ones Worf mentioned JC Howard and Dison. Howard always sounded tired. If he was df'd, Wow, he was so into "the truth". Now here are some we had here on the Eastern seaboard:

Frank O'Bard, John Manning, Darrell Marlowe, Hollis Milligan, James Cauthon, Robert Milofski, Willis Bentley, Angelo Catanzarro, Leora Brown, Frank Bartel to name a few.

Isaac

23

Witness Wife Seeks Divorce Because JW Husband Hits Her & Mentally Abuses

by minimus in

jw
friends

so she went into the refuge of her elder grandfather who has taken care of her and the 2 kids.

but the other elders told him that because she was getting an unscriptural divorce and the husband was in denial about being abusive, he had to kick her and the grand kids out or else lose his eldership.

(he has taught elder's school and is highly regarded).. so grandpa gave them the news that they have to get out!

truthsetsonefree

That requirement to kick them out makes me think of AllTimeJeff's recent thread on how different congregations are different based on the collective conscience of the elder body. There is certainly no WT written rule on this.

The grandfather needs to do some research there is nothing in the WTS literature that condemns scriptural divorce based on physical abuse so long as she remains unmarried. I was told my my elders I could divorce but would have to remain unmarried until my abusive JW committed fornication or I did. They could not disfellowship me for divorcing me and there was no need for me to be shunned. The councel the Elders is in accurate unless they have changed something from 8 years ago.

The above is what the rules are with one exception: A person's OWN fornication is not grounds for Scriptural divorce as per the WT. This is to close a loophole that would allow anyone to go have sex to get out of a marriage easily. Of course this tends to get communicated verbally at CO meetings with elders and KM schools since no Scripture explicitly states this.

Isaac

36

Leaving the Organization but not the teachings

by donny in

when i left the witnesses in 1992 after ten years in the orgainzation, i got as far away from the teachings and mindest as i could.

however some, like my former brother-in-law, also left, but are intent on finding ways to reform the society from within since he believes in the society as being of god, but that it has become misguided and is slowly drifting to "christendom" status.

one of the things he cites as evidence is the wtbts become aligned with the united nations.

truthsetsonefree

And that examination is essential for true freedom from this cult.

Isaac

14

"I Don't Know is my Belief"

by zarco in

on another thread, ak-jeff shared an interesting perspective........ "i don't know is my belief.. .

i care.

but typically, i get no answers when i ask.

truthsetsonefree

"I don't know" is my core creed. I call it suspending judgment. Meaning that I suspended judgement on the God issue pending concrete evidence one way or the other. Right now I focus on reality, and helping others.

Isaac

33

Jehovah's Witnesses and their Elders

by AllTimeJeff in

i wonder if the governing body (gb) knows the trouble the whole thing started..... to be sure, when the gb put into effect that all congregations of jehovah's witnesses were to have a body of elders that is in existence today, their goal was to meet their own ends.

under a sub heading "gearing up for explosive growth" in their history book "jehovah's witnesses - proclaimers of god's kingdom" they stated..... ***.

jehovahs servants were determined to continue to yield to divine direction.

truthsetsonefree

"It's these elders who are more liberal that cause the GB its greatest grief. It is also these same liberal elders who are most likely to resign their eldership due to the stress, strains, and outright contradictory standards they are asked to promote. Thus, since 1994, their is 1/3 less elders worldwide today. Much of the attrition is due to these men burning themselves out playing the GB's version of theological whack-a-mole.

Thus, when you study what JW's believe and do, remember that much depends on the elders of each congregation. They serve as the nerve center, the filter, for what the GB teaches. And while the GB generally controls elders pretty well, there will always be liberal and conservative congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses, as a result of the individual body of elders that inhabit these congregations."

I was one of these elders. And our congregation tended to be liberal with some exceptions. This is one reason why many JWs don't leave. They don't see the same extremism others see.

Isaac

14

Something important from the RBC

by startingover in

jw
friends

i was around a group of jw's last night, and one mentioned how at their recent kh remodel, done by the rbc, they eliminated their ceiling fans.

the rbc said that the fans were operating at a certain frequency that made it hard to concentrate.

they were not sure what the frequency that was referred to was, electrical or the fan blades.

truthsetsonefree

Of course its also possible that this group of JWs didn't have the story straight too.

Isaac