Posts by Ingenuous

18

Most Hated "True Stories"

by Ingenuous in

i was inspired by the "most hated analogies" thread.. a brother giving the public talk one sunday told the most ridiculous story.

i couldn't even swallow it when i was "in.".

i'll try not to laugh while i'm typing this.. once upon a time, in a land far, far away... someone planted a bomb in a kingdom hall.

The story in the mag wasn't even close to the piece of fiction I heard that day at the hall. I've come to realize that Witnesses have a habit of embellishing the truth and being quite credulous when they think they've found something good to say about themselves.

***
g85 11/22 p. 9 Bomb Blast Levels Kingdom Hall in Australia ***
A POWERFUL bomb, estimated by police to be one kilogram (2.2 lb) of gelignite, had been hidden under the speaker’s platform, timed to go off during the Bible lecture. Its explosion sent the speaker through the roof and landed him on a pile of debris outside the hall—bleeding, critically injured, with two broken legs.
Graham Wykes, sitting in the front row, was killed instantly. His wife and two daughters suffered severe injuries. One member of the Society’s branch staff, Sue Schulz, had her nose broken and lost most of her front teeth. One interested attender had to have shrapnel removed from her eyes. A three-month-old baby was hospitalized with a concussion.
By Sunday evening 14 of the 46 hospitalized were held over; the others were allowed to go home. Most of them were suffering from shock and damaged eardrums. Observers were amazed that more were not killed, since the hall was reduced to a shambles.

18

Most Hated "True Stories"

by Ingenuous in

i was inspired by the "most hated analogies" thread.. a brother giving the public talk one sunday told the most ridiculous story.

i couldn't even swallow it when i was "in.".

i'll try not to laugh while i'm typing this.. once upon a time, in a land far, far away... someone planted a bomb in a kingdom hall.

Ingenuous

Gespro - I remember that story. Only, the way I heard it was:

The sisters go to a house and they knock. The dog comes to the window and says "Nobody's home." The sisters figure they're hallucinating from the heat or something and knock again. That's when the cat comes to the window and says, "Didn't the dog tell you nobody was home?!"

18

Most Hated "True Stories"

by Ingenuous in

i was inspired by the "most hated analogies" thread.. a brother giving the public talk one sunday told the most ridiculous story.

i couldn't even swallow it when i was "in.".

i'll try not to laugh while i'm typing this.. once upon a time, in a land far, far away... someone planted a bomb in a kingdom hall.

Ingenuous

I was inspired by the "most hated analogies" thread.

A brother giving the Public Talk one Sunday told the most ridiculous story. I couldn't even swallow it when I was "in."

I'll try not to laugh while I'm typing this.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away... Someone planted a bomb in a Kingdom Hall. They left it under one of the seats in the front row. Turns out, a lot of people were late that Sunday, so the front row was empty. In the middle of the talk, the bomb went off. The speaker was killed. However, everyone else in the Hall was spared.

The bomb had been loaded with nails to do as much damage as possible. Just before the bomb exploded, the speaker had told everyone to read a scripture with him. Since everyone obediently turned to the scripture, when the bomb went off, their heads were bowed, so all of the nails missed everyone because they flew over their bowed heads. When investigators went over the scene, they found everyone's Bibles on the floor turned to John 8:32 (or some such).

Also spared was a mother and her baby who were in the back room. Apparently, the blast hadn't killed any of the audience in the main hall, but was powerful enough to blow out the back wall of the hall - except for the part covering the room the mother and baby were in at the time of the explosion.

Of course, the audience who heard this story was absolutely amazed and their appreciation for Jehovah's protection deepened.

If anyone has died from laughing so hard they've choked on their food/drink, I refuse all blame and lay it at the feet of the elder who gave this ridiculous public talk.

4

The wisdom of Elders?

by KAYTEE in

before leaving the org.

i was asking many questions and doing much research to make sure that my decision was justified and fully verified.. when i asked one particular elder about certain teachings in one of the study books, i was told "that's ten years old, that's "old-hat" now".

i was bewildered at this comment, as this elder would be expected to explain and fully justify the organisation's position on all that went on in 1914, and the subsequent years.

Ingenuous

If you ever get a chance to look at C. T. Russell's writings, you'll soon realize that, were he alive today, he'd be considered an apostate. The explanation I get for all the stuff that's just plain wrong is that those older assertions were the "understanding" at the time and the "understanding" is different today. Too bad that people are losing their lives (literally and otherwise) over such arbitrary and changeable "understanding."

27

Have you become the 'Pagan' that you thought you would?

by AK - Jeff in

i mean - when we were witnesses we always thought that is what one who 'leaves jehovah' does - goes right out and becomes evil incarnate.

or do you live a life similar to what you did as a witness?

on a scale of 1-10, how wicked would you be considered if the witnesses were making the call on your current lifestyle ?

Ingenuous

The very fact that I've left (at least in my heart and mind) and feel closer to God than ever tells me that I'm not the "pagan" I thought I'd have to be to leave. I thought people who left were completely amoral, godless, hardhearted, hardheaded (well, maybe we are that last one). But I feel I'm a better and stronger person than I ever was in the Org. I feel I'm actually a person. I've got no idea what I'd rate. Let's split the difference and call it a 5.

17

Is your heart bigger since you left?

by Ingenuous in

i was amazed how, in a matter of days after leaving the org, my heart seemed bigger.

i was free to love people - truly love them as they were and without condition.

i was no longer required to sit in judgement of them because they didn't believe as i did.

Ingenuous

CinemaBlend - And kittens! Don't forget kittens! -- The Bible study group I went to last Sunday mentioned how they get a lot of X-JWs, but they tend to be very bitter. I'm surprisingly not bitter - for the moment. If things go downhill with my family, I fear that may change.

24

Is this what dubs do on a convention night now??????

by BLISSISIGNORANCE in

hi everyone.. there is a huge dub convention on this weekend where i live.

i can remember how spiritually full i felt on those weekends as i enjoyed a spritual banquet and an abubdance of spiritual food at jehovah's table, in the spiritual paradise, surrounded by spiritual people.

so what's going on these days???????

Ingenuous

Don't forget the party after the Memorial! I went to one once, but started feeling really weird about going out for dinner and drinks after a memorial service.

24

Don't Isolate Yourself. You Could Become Demonized!

by minimus in

jw
friends

my mom told me that the sept. 15th watchtower is made just for her.

i don't know the name of the article but she said the watchtower was counseling us on how we must not isolate ourselves, grow disenchanted with jehovah and his people and stop attending meetings faithfully.

the article quotes job 4:12-17 where eliphaz has a vision and is really a false comforter to job.

Ingenuous

Oh, God, no! My folks are convinced that's what happened to me: isolation left me prey to Satan.

They accused me of not going to enough meetings (being too ill at times to go didn't seem to matter). When I asked my mom why she felt I was spiritually weaker for not going to all my meetings, yet she wasn't despite the fact that she makes it to even fewer meeting than I did (health issues, yet again), I was accused of being disrespectful.

I'm gonna get an earful over that mag. I wonder if they'll leave me alone if I say my therapist specifically recommended that we not discuss religion...

Valis, here you go:

***
w51 6/15 p. 375 The Spirit, the Organization, and the Word ***
Yes, besides having God’s spirit of illumination, a Christian needs Jehovah’s theocratic organization in order to understand the Bible. He needs to attend the meetings arranged for by that organization and to study with fellow Christians. He needs the organization, too, in order to work in harmony with God’s purposes and to be directed aright in his movements. The reason is that Jehovah God is dealing with his organization, and does not deal with individuals who are outside of his organization or who defiantly try to act independently of it.

***
w80 11/15 p. 7 Do Not Isolate Yourself ***

Isolation really is unchristian. It is divisive, puts a damper on zealous Christian works and limits communication. Cut off from others, the individual may become depressed and give in to doubts respecting trustworthy humans, even about God and the Scriptures. The disciple Jude shows that some in his day failed to appreciate that even angels hurt themselves when they abandoned association with God and faithful angels to indulge their wrong desires.—Jude 6, 8, 10, 20-22.

*** km 9/76 p. 8 Question Box ***
Might a discussion using the Bible alone be reported as a study?

The very fact that this question has to be asked shows there is something terribly wrong with the Org.

7

Anyone tried Yahoo groups?

by ballistic in

jw
friends

i've just been messing around on the net with yahoo groups.

there's some interesting ones on there for ex-witnesses, although lots of "dead" groups with no activity.

anyone got any experience of starting one (not necessarily ex-witness related - anything).

Ingenuous

I second sonnyboy on not allowing just anyone to join without approval. It's good for some groups because the nature of the group is such that shy people might not join if they've got to explain themselves to a moderator, but spam was the main reason I left a lot of Yahoo! groups. There's only one X-JW group I like reading. Leaving the messages public helps.

82

Who here gives to the homeless?

by JW83 in

jw
friends

i'm interested in how many here give to the homeless, or any kind of charity, since that was not a part of the witness experience.

i have to admit that my heart is hard ...

Ingenuous

I've always made some kind of donation to the CFC at work. Last year I actually invented a fundraiser that no one expected to make any money and we pulled in over $300. I'm wary to give to anyone on a street corner, though this thread has me re-thinking that.