1) any bethelites who have been laid off who would like to share their experiences/impressions?
2) anybody know any bethelites who were laid off who'd like to tell the story?
3) anybody go to a congregation that has had one of these laid off bethelites assigned to it?
I know a couple that have been there for about 25 years and have been "reassigned". What a sham, they barely paid into the Social Security being pioneers before that and all, now close to their 60's having to start over will be HELL. They will have to cook their own food, wash their own clothes pay bills, clean their own place etc., they won't last long as special pioneers!
IC
i don't know about the rest of you, but in my geographical area, it seems that when a person is df'd, it raises their risk of suicide.
not only did i lose my baby sister when she was 21 this way, but in the last 5 years there have been seven people in the circuit who have taken their own lives.
some perhaps are considering it, or have attempted it and nobody reveals it.
To Loli and the others that have lost loved ones to suicide I am sorry for your loss, I have been thinking alot about this subject because of a thread that was posted yesterday, about how minors that get baptized can then be df''d and how dangerous that can be. I wish there was a way to bring more attention to this through the Media, maybe on CNN or MSNBC or maybe Oprah, something has to be done! Perhaps to just put it out there to those that have been DF'd that they can call a number for support or something, I know there are various support lines for XJW's out there. I believe this could help many people, once they call they can open up and share their feelings and if there are major phsycological issues they can be directed to the proper care. This is one way they can also be enlightened as to the truth about the "Truth", and be freed from the guilt that overtakes them when they are df'd.
I had a very difficult time growing up and dealt with abuse from my stepfather and had a very emotionaly devastating relationship with an MS in the congo when I was 15, I attempted suicide on various occasions, it seemed as the only way out, I thought hey, I will just sleep for an instant and wake up in Paradise ( I can't believe I ever thought that way). What saved me was my Mom, and self help books I would get at the library, and of course my faith in Jehoover at the time.
IC
is there any truth that people under the age of eighteen cannot be held under a legal contract (which is what the wt views baptism as, a legally binding document to the society)?
the result would be that individual cannot be disfellowshiped since that person was underage and above all, never even signed a document.
is this applicable in the us at least?.
This really boils my kettle! I think it should be an illegal practice, this is a very dangerous situation for a juveniles to find themselves in, they are cut off from all their freinds and family and basically treated like they are garbage, I bet many have committed suicide over this. This may have also caused quite a few to endanger themselves by getting involved with drugs and lewd behavior.
The IRS should investigate this corporation and they should lose their tax exempt status(I can only hope), they provide no charitable benefit to society whatsoever and they endanger many lives not only because of the BS Blood issue, but also the phsycological trauma caused through DF'ing.
IC (of the I hope I live to see their demise, class)
I know a young ex-JW boy who was baptized at age 14 then df'd about a year and a half later, this is really sad, thankfully he had his mom to comfort him.
IC
do you use it anymore?
do you care?
do you cringe when you hear it?
I cringe when speaking to active JW freinds and family and every other word out of their mouth is Jehovah (ie thanks to Jehovah, if Jehovah allows etc), I no longer use the name because I have researched enough to know that the Jehovah of the bible is not the true God, he was some trible God the hebrews had. El, Yaweh's father gave Israel to him as his inheritance which is also stated in the bible somewhere in Psalms I believe. Today, I just refer to the Creator as "Creator, "God", "Goddess" or whatever I feel at the moment since no one really knows if it was a he a she or a them who created us, and it doesn't matter anyway since I also found where the Hebrews got their stories, wisdom literature and myths from.
IC
while thinking about more bible related legends depicted in films, a rather obvious one came to mind...the ark of the covenant.
do you think it still exists, hidden somewhere?
or do you think it was captured and destroyed following one of the defeats of israel?
It might have existed but not as what they claimed it was, I agree with what Terry said, how convenient that no one could see what was inside that box, they even provided a story to freighten the crap out of them if they were ever curious enough to want to open it, clever, clever. If that story was true, then whoever intended to steal it would have been killed trying to get it, or maybe Jehoover might have stricken them down, but instead it just disappeared! These days after seeing all the crap the Isrealites wrote I don't believe anything they say, their stories and lies have caused alot of bloodshed, starting with the Adam and Eve nonsense.
IC
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someone said that the water canopy prevented sunlight reaching earth!.
so was there light pre-flood.
I remember it being explained that once the cloud canopy was gone that had filtered the sun, the radiation from the sun was free to reach people on the Earth and that's why people don't live to a thousand years old any more, because they are now exposed to the sun's radiation, something that God had not intended in pre flood days.
Any one else remember this explanation?
That's exactly how it was explained to me also, the sad this is, that I believed it!
IC
Well, these animals, the venemous and the carnivores are all necessary to maintain the balance, snakes eat mice and other critters, lions eat a variety of other animals and hence the balance is maintained, you eliminate one and there will be an overpopulation of the other. Once the blinders are lifted of our brainwashed eyes we can clearly see the absurdity of believing that at any point carnivores will eat grass, their digestive systems and their teeth are designed for eating meat.
I don't believe in the Noah nonsense any longer it's completely absurd.
IC
how could anyone know objectively if they live in the "last days", if they fail to examine history?
how would anyone know if things were .
actually worse?
Flash, I feel for you, I really do, I was where you are now, not too long ago (more than a year ago), and then I started seeing all the error and contradiction in the bible, and did research on the Hebrew people and other civilizations prior to their existence, what I found was not pretty, they borrowed their stories from the Sumerians and Babylonians etc, changed a few names and whala! It was hard to let the bible go, but today I've never been happier knowing that the Bible is simply myths and stories put together to give the Hebrews a sense of history and importance. There is no "End Times" there is no "Armaggedon" this is just a control mechanism to keep you in line, research for yourself and you will see, in the very words of the bible "Seek the Truth and the Truth shall set you FREE!
IC(of the I can see clearly now Class)
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in sept. km under announcements, loving provision from jehovah, elders are being reminded to make the yearly visit to all those that have been df or da.. make sure you have some good coffee or a six pack for them.. treat them kindly and with respect, the gb is very much interested in all those that they kicked out.
I think the Society is between a rock and a hardplace on this one, if they don't visit the Df'd and DA'd and inactive ones they won't ever recover any of the losses (or so they think) but in having the current elders visit these one's, especially now that we all have all this info at our fingertips thanks to the almighty internet, they risk having the elders eyes opened or having a seed of doubt planted and sometimes that is all that is needed for them to do some research in the privacy of their own homes on the issues raised by the disgruntled ones.
YES WATCHTOWER keep telling your idiot elders to go and visit these people, it will only add to our numbers and we'll have more undercover elders out there!!!!
IC
