Posts by thepackage

3

Strangest place you ever.....

by thepackage in

jw
friends

whats the strangest place you ever where encouraged?

over the weekend i was at a birthday party for a close friend.

half her family is hard core jw and the other half are inactive, she, her siblings and her parents are inactive and do the memorial thing, any ways, while at birthday party and one of her hard core elder uncles and his family where there and he was drunk of his ass!!!

thepackage

What’s the strangest place you ever where encouraged? Over the weekend I was at a birthday party for a close friend. Half her family is hard core JW and the other half are inactive, she, her siblings and her parents are inactive and do the Memorial thing, Any ways, while at birthday party and one of her hard core Elder Uncles’ and his family where there and he was drunk of his ass!!! He started to preach to me and tell me how I’m a negative influence on his family and putting all these ideals in their head. All the time I’m thinking, “your drunk and at a birthday party”. When I asked him what he was doing at a birthday party and didn’t that conflict with him being an Elder he said “I just came to visit the family and take a few pictures I’m not eating birthday cake so, I’m not participating in the birthday events”.

Normally things don’t bother me but this drunk Elder at a birthday party telling me I’m a bad person cause I’m not a JW anymore was very strange.

So, where is the strangest place you have been “encouraged” to go back to meetings?

156

Worldly Shunning

by alice.in.wonderland in

i hear quite a bit of criticism about jehovah's witnesses enforcing 1 corinthians 5:9-13. while jehovah's witnesses have a formal system of maintaining the organization's core values; egocentric, self-worshiping secularists have an informal system of rejecting those of whom they have nothing in common with.

http://www.objectivistcenter.org/cth-32-390-religion.aspx.

most major religions have believed in the existence of a supernatural realm, a realm beyond the natural world of physical objects and bodies governed by causal laws, the world we perceive with our senses and can study by rational methods.

thepackage

Not true in my case. I became a JW and all my family still spoke with me. While I was a JW a spoke with DF people. I never really pai attention to the whole DF thing duirng my 20 years as a JW. I spoke to whom i wanted too becasue they where my friend. Now that I'm out i have several freinds who are cuurently active JW ( a few Elders) that still call, emial, adn meet me for a beer even though they know I dont' beleive in their religion and have expressed over and over to them it's a CULT. Why they still talk to me and hang out at the risk of getting in "trouble", maybe because i always was a true friend to many JW and i didn't base my friendship on whether they where JW or not.

29

Name Things JWs Make Issues Over They Have No Right To Do

by minimus in

jw
friends

the witnesses are worse than the pharisees ever were!.

if you don't turn in a time slip and record your "ministerial" activities, you are no good.. if you wanted to smoke, you would be kicked out, even though the bible says nothing about smoking (and j.f.

rutherford, the society's president regularly smoked).. you cannot go to a "quick build" project and give of your free services if you are wearing a tee shirt with a logo on it!.

thepackage

Don't buy anything at a yard sale

Don't watch the Smurffs

You should attend meetings while on vacation

A good JW will take time off for the CO visit

24

Did You Know Any Jehovah's Witnesses That "Did" Drugs?

by minimus in

jw
friends

my teenage daughter suggested to me that certain kids in well connected families were regular pot smokers.

it was always hush hush because of their connections but evidently it was common knowledge within the "in" crowd.. i knew some adults that were on prescription pills but they had legitimate excuses for being "happy".

of course, most jws i know of, medicate themselves on booze..

thepackage

I might have mentioned this before but, the first time I went to a Circuit Assembly I ran into one brother who I would occasionally smoke weed with, another who used to buy coke in my neighborhood (both in High School at the time and son’s of Elders). I never said anything but the always were worried I would say something, which I never did.

34

How many you you hated to wait in the car while someone was on a good call!

by life is to short in

jw
friends

something i have not heard before on this board is waiting in the car out in service or any of the woman who were elders wives waiting on their husbands while in an elders meeting.. i was 24 years old when i got married to an older man he was 41 and had been an elder for about 12 years.

i truly loved my husband when we got married.

i truly loved him like crazy.

thepackage

I'd read a book or newspaper adn drink coffee. Like many have already indicated, the less i was at a door the better. One Elder had this call, who was lonely and loved to talk to anybody, I'd take him all the time and sit in the car reading for 30 minutes. By the time we left the Hall, got to the Call adn left to the next call it was a good wasted hour!!!!

138

What year Did you Stop Attending Meetings - How Long were you a JW ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i'm trying to compare some statistics and figures on this to share later in the thread to see if more long-time witnesses are exiting- or are newer witnesses exiting after a shorter period of time.

and - are more people exiting in the last 10 to 15 years than before.

so your answers would be helpful in looking into this .

thepackage

Left in March 2007, in for about 20 years, stated studying in order to marry my ex-wife.

24

"Fancy Dress" and large social gatherings are banned in our Halls! Why?

by Witness 007 in

yes we hosted the ultimate "fancy dress" party.

some did come as cowboys with guns {cringe} pirates with swords {cringe} and a male servant/pioneer came as a female balerina {oh my god nearly got deleted!

} but what's the big deal!

thepackage

I remember in the late 80’s early 90’s there was a witness couple in Los Angeles that would have “formal dinner parties” and sell tickets. You’d get dinner, a picture (just like the prom), a live band and dinner. I don’t remember what the tickets cost but everybody would get dressed up with formal dress and tux. The brother that arranged these parties was a real nice guy and he made a few bucks off these parties which help support his family. Well you know what happened, there was a talk at a Circuit Assembly and the parties ended. I remember several people would look forward to these parties since it was their only opportunity to do something fun and feel “normal”.

Interestingly, it was popular for Elders in my old Circuit to have huge black tie events to “celebrate” all their years serving Jehovah. Basically it was a huge kiss a$$ event for that Elder. People would get the mic and talk about how great that Elder was..blah blah blah.

42

Life On Hold: The CO Visit Week

by sacolton in

did anyone have to cancel a vacation trip because it was on co visit week?

i still don't get why the co visit was as if god himself was in town.

is it kinda like if the pope were to visit with catholics?.

thepackage

I remember canceling a vacation that was planned six months ahead of time in order not to miss the CO visit. At that time, I felt I had to set the example and was praised by the Elders for canceling the vacation to stay for CO visit. I also missed a few concert and baseball games and would take time off to “support” the CO in field service.

The last CO visit I blew off using the excuse “my dad is really sick” excuse. I remember missing the Elders meeting that Friday night while I was at a Dodger game having a cold beer!!!!

22

Out of Left Field...Strange things you were told by elders

by FollowerOfSet in

jw
friends

just curious if the crazy was limited to my town or not.. i remember and elder, during a talk about everyone being resurrected that it included all the babies that had miscarried or were aborted, because the big j knew what their hearts were.

after the meeting, he was telling a couple of us how it also disturbed him that his wife would have to carry someone elses babies and he would be raising someone elses children.. another elder said that we would colonize other planets, and that since the bible never said the big j didn't make other inhabited worlds that there was a whole universe of planets to colonize after armageddon.. anyone else hear crazy crap like this?.

thepackage

I as told by an Elder that I should not play Chess because it was a game of War and it was not proper for a JW to play it. So I stopped playing for a few years until I went to a gathering and two CO's where playing. I ask why they where playing and they said nothing was wrong with it.

47

What are the outrageous things did the elders do to you?

by asilentone in

this is a true story, more than 10 years ago, i went to the memorial and there was a very hot bible student female.

we met each other, she gave me her phone number.

.

thepackage

I got a lecture for giving a talk and having a “loud” tie. Personally, I enjoy wearing suits and dressing up. I was always the best dresser in the Hall so when I gave a talk with a very nice colorful tie, I got ripped a new one by an elder who was 45 years old with 8 kids and he wore the same sport coat all the time. He told me I was calling attention to myself by dressing with the “loud” tie and it took away from my talk and was disrespectful.

Another time I got a lecture for having short hair!!!! Now keep in mind, I got a real bad skin rash and had to shave my head to apply the medicine. This, however was not a good reason to show up at the Hall with short hair. I was not allowed to do mike’s until my hair grew out. How stupid was that!!!!