LOL - AuntConnie you crack me up!
3 long f&(&( days. ugh.
Doubting Bro
JoinedPosts by Doubting Bro
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27
Why Are District Conventions Becoming Shorter?
by Quendi in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><![endif].
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17
Rock Center 1/17/2013 Expose on Scientology drew JW similarities
by RagingBull indid anyone watch the nbc program "rock center" last night?
it dealt with scientology defectors and the stories, (shunning, tax-exempte etc) sounded very much like the watchtower/jehovah witnesses!.
i sat with my family...and there was dead silence throughout the report.
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Doubting Bro
The silence in my house was deafening as well. It was hard to not say much but I could see the wheels turning. It was especially heart breaking to watch that lady being shunned breakdown in tears about the family and friends she lost. But, good for them to take action and get their daughter out.
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Doubting Bro
OTWO - strength to you as you deal with this situation. I think your doing a great job.
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Whats the most bizzare way a JW has ever tried to "encourage" you?
by highdose inin my case it was my best freind in the cong who decided to encourage me to answer up at the wt by... refusing to talk to me afterwards if i hadn't answered up!
!.
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Doubting Bro
Gladiator,
That may well be the best story I've heard in a long time. I love how you turned it around on him.
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86
2+2=5 cited this fact about the shrinking amount of elders. Perhaps the coming implosion?
by wha happened? inat the last elders school i heard from a few different attendees that the average age was easily 60+.
there will be a lot of elders gone within the next 10yrs.
there is nowhere near enough young brothers to replace these ageing elders.
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Doubting Bro
No, they actually sent 2 elders in the last year to other congos to help them.
But, even though there are a bunch of younger elders, the ratio of MS is still not good. You want more MS than elders figuring that not all would make it to elder.
Also, the congo average in FS is below the circuit average.
Meeting attendence is 90% for the Sunday meeting and about 80% for the midweek meeting per a recent CO visit. That's not very good considering that with kids who are not publishers, you're looking at 150 potential people or so.
So while the elder count and pioneer count look good, once you dig below the surface a little, to me you see a very apathetic group with a group of overperformers.
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86
2+2=5 cited this fact about the shrinking amount of elders. Perhaps the coming implosion?
by wha happened? inat the last elders school i heard from a few different attendees that the average age was easily 60+.
there will be a lot of elders gone within the next 10yrs.
there is nowhere near enough young brothers to replace these ageing elders.
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Doubting Bro
jam - I"m in an English congo in the US. These things tend to ebb and flow. At one point, they had 5 elders, 2 ms and 2 pioneers. People move in and move away. One individual had a near death experience in his family that turned him from a not participating, former elder to now a current elder in the space of about 4 years.
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86
2+2=5 cited this fact about the shrinking amount of elders. Perhaps the coming implosion?
by wha happened? inat the last elders school i heard from a few different attendees that the average age was easily 60+.
there will be a lot of elders gone within the next 10yrs.
there is nowhere near enough young brothers to replace these ageing elders.
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Doubting Bro
The congregation that I attend is a little different. I don't think its the norm but:
around 130 publishers
9 elders (1 - 80s, 1 - 70s, 1-60s- 3-50s, 1-40s, 2-30s) while there are some lazy ones (2) for the most part they divide things up fairly evenly. They don't get along with a definite break along generational (a real generation not a WT one because they're all the same generation according to the WT) lines.
7 ms (1 -80s, 1-60s, 2-30s,3-20s) - Of this group, one in his 30s will likely be made an elder, if not this go around certainly next. He was a late bloomer for a born-in and wasn't appointed a ms until his late 20s. The other one in his 30s is a slacker. He was my CBS assistant way back in the day and I know he fakes FS and all his parts are worked up at the hall. He likely won't make the cut but is politically connected which is why he's never bothered about his lack of effort. The 2 older ones have maxed out. The 3 in their 20s are all elder material. They put plenty of time on their FS slips (or they give that impression) and are actually much better speakers than the majority of the current elders. If they all stay on their current course, I can see them appointed in their late 20s/early 30s.
18 pioneers as well
But, I would tell you that this congreation is likely one of, if not the most zealous in the circuit. Not to say they don't do what they want. I was just at a gathering (I hate that word, its a #%$# party) this weekend and believe me, folks let their hair down. Yet, people were at the meeting the next day (hungover but made it).
I think if I were to look at the majority of the congos I'm familiar with in this circuit, most of them are how everyone else is describing. I'm pretty sure this one is an outlier
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50
Are you now ashamed of how gullible you were as a JW?
by biometrics innow that you realise how idiotic some of the jw beliefs are/were, do you feel ashamed of how gullible you were to believe them?.
if anything my past as an adult jw makes me understand how easily manipulated people are by the people and environment around them.
and that even intelligent people can be influenced beyond what is rational..
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Doubting Bro
Bluesbrother -
Shame and guilt are, in reality, useless emotions that keep living in the past rather than appreciating the present.
Look back, learn from it and resolve never to be so gullible again..but enjoy the "now" and our cognitive freedom
Very good advice! I know that's something I need to really work on....
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Post KM Elder School, you may see elders become a little nosier or nebby than usual.
by Theocratic Sedition inafter reading through onedayillbefree's thread about being taken into the back room and asked inappropriate questions, i was reminded about a part done at the km school.
one of the common themes throughout the one day school was viewing things the way god sees them and how doing so will require that elders develope insight.
they defined insight as, evaluating individual aspects in light of others, or getting & understanding facts and how all relate to one another.. next, they gave specific examples where an elder will need insight in order to assist wayward sheep.
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Doubting Bro
Hey Miz, a recent round of CO visits had a very similar talk. I can't remember which night it was, maybe Thursday but the poor guy that was stoned to death for collecting sticks was used to illustrate how the meetings are like the Sabbath and basically how that dude deserved what he got because he was in essence stealing from Jehovah because that day was set aside for worship. Likewise, our meeting and FS times are set aside as worship and if we were to allow work to get in the way, we'd be just as bad as that stick gatherer. He didn't say that if you miss a meeting, you should be stoned, but he sort of implied it.
I'll bet they wish they could make it a capital offense.
The crazy thing about that account is the death penalty was not part of the law for breaking the sabbath. It was only after the guy was caught that God told Moses that he should be stoned. The CO even brought that out, asking if we thought it was unfair. I really wanted to raise my hand and say, YES it was completely unfair. If it was a capital offense, they should have warned people. I can't remember his explaination other than you shouldn't break the rules regardless of the punishment.
I find it interesting how they recycle parts. Makes sense I guess.
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50
Are you now ashamed of how gullible you were as a JW?
by biometrics innow that you realise how idiotic some of the jw beliefs are/were, do you feel ashamed of how gullible you were to believe them?.
if anything my past as an adult jw makes me understand how easily manipulated people are by the people and environment around them.
and that even intelligent people can be influenced beyond what is rational..
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Doubting Bro
Very much ashamed and angry at myself. I was a born in but no one held a gun to my head and made me get baptized. That's all on me. No one forced me to be a MS, then an elder. I could have made different choices but I fully believed that even though there were things I saw that weren't right, that somehow it was God's organization and that He would straighten it out over time.
However, I look at the experience as a valuable lesson that you should never believe anyone that says they speak for God, to beware of those who try to assert their authority over you and to always, always verify any claims. If you make outrageous claims (like you are the restoration of the "true faith") then extraordinary proof is required.