imagine that you are in the middle of the (jws version) great tribulation.
food and basic supplies are scarce, the secret and not-so-secret police are actively searching for you and your family.
you have to make it to bro faithful's secret bunker to hunker down with the rest of the congregation.
No beards ........
No running water, no soap, no shampoo, no mouthwash, no toothpaste, no deodorant, no laundry detergent, no toilet paper, no showers, no toilets, no bidets, no douche, no perfume, no razor blades, no electricity for electric razors, no blow driers, no Prozac, no Valium, no Xanax, no Effexor, no Cymbalta, no gin, no whisky, no beer, no wine and on and on and on.Those bunkers are going to be one filthy, smelly and crazy place to be!
i just don’t get it.
it would make their life so much easier!.
'Cause they're assholes?
the circuit overseer, henry judson, came up to me during the circuit assembly.
"brother miller, it's been reported that your family may have a pumpkin in your window.
" he waited for an answer although he never asked a question.
I'm not quite as old as you are, Len but our generations 'overlap'! Remember the Assemblies at the old Taunton Dog Track? Here is some names that you must remember: John Stuefloten, Franklin Park, Samuel Belfiore, Rudy Sunel (Brother in law to Don and Joel Adams) ;all Circuit Servants. Charlie Sarakin service dept troubleshooter. Bob Cunerd , special pioneer and then Circuit Servant. Phil Wilcox, pioneer and now Bethel heavy. I believe that Judson died in 1984, just reaching 85 years old. He 'stayed alive till '75', but it didn't do him a damn bit of good.
for years , we were told to wait until 1975!.
the end was coming and we better be ready—or else!.
were you around during this “momentous “ time??
Wow, thank you Van for your concern! After two more 'guilt induced' breakdowns, I finally sought professional help from a Ph.D. clinical psychologist. Since 2008 I have a completely different inner life. Life has thrown me quite a few curve balls but I can't complain. I have worked very hard and been successful in spite of it all. Every day is a blessing! Your brotherly compassion warms my heart.
for years , we were told to wait until 1975!.
the end was coming and we better be ready—or else!.
were you around during this “momentous “ time??
1975 was the worst year of my life. I was a Bethelite at Watchtower Farms. I didn't believe in the religion that I was raised in. I was raised in a large family by a single, fanatical, god deluded, mentally and emotionally unbalanced mother. I was filled with guilt, shame, confusion and self loathing because I thought that I was a complete fraud. (Quite a paradox. I didn't believe in Jehovah, yet I thought he would destroy me for my hypocrisy!) At any rate, I had my first 'nervous breakdown' as a Bethelite in 1975.
in the real world, very few parents would disown their own children simply because they read a magazine that told them to do it.
very few people would forever completely ignore their own parents because an elder got up on a platform one day and announced that they no longer follow the same religion as you.. in the real world it just doesn't happen.
and yet, for 8 million jehovah's witnesses it's very a normal part of their world to treat "other people" differently than they'd treat each other.
"There are similarities between absolute power and absolute faith: a demand for absolute obedience, a readiness to attempt the impossible, a bias for simple solutions to cut the knot rather than unravel it, the viewing of compromise as surrender. Both absolute power and absolute faith are instruments of dehumanization. Hence, absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power." - ERIC HOFFER
“the christian witnesses of jehovah are the best oriented, happiest and most contended group of people on the face of the earth.
so why on earth would any good follower need the help of a mental health professional?” the society tells about the evils of seeking help from outside their organization.
"as a rule, for a christian to go to a worldly psychiatrist is an admission of defeat.
"As an FYI to all, Bethel does have a brother who is a psychiatrist on the staff." - RubaDub
Since when? I knew that they had a psychologist on staff since about the late '80's and my understanding was that he didn't really 'practice' full time. Can you give us some specifics as to who this medically credentialed individual is? I have been out of Bethel for 40 years and no longer have any inside contacts and so I would appreciate concrete evidence of your claim.
the circuit overseer, henry judson, came up to me during the circuit assembly.
"brother miller, it's been reported that your family may have a pumpkin in your window.
" he waited for an answer although he never asked a question.
"The circuit overseer, Henry Judson............."
What a 'blast from the past'. I grew up in Massachusetts and I remember that 'old bag of wind'.
hello everyone!
does anyone have any confirmation that the governing body uses the business class for its flights?.
also interesting is the information about the hours that were on the hand of one of the members of the governing body..
stillMS, here is an image of a fake Rolex next to a genuine Rolex. If you can tell the difference from just a photo than you are one expert on high grade watches! I have been collecting wristwatches for over 30 years and YOU MUST HAVE A WRISTWATCH IN YOUR HAND in order to determine its authenticity. I don't believe fulano was trying to excuse anyone on the Governing Body. He probably was just trying to bring some common sense to a nonsensical discussion.
back in 2001, i left the jws rather abruptly.
i had discovered things about the watchtower that really made me quite angry, angry because i had been lied to, and it took me just to darn long to figure it out.
before i had left, my husband and i wrote 3 letters, one to the elders at our congregation, and two to our parents.
"Sunk Cost." They have so much 'invested' in the religion that they feel they cannot leave. Like compulsive gamblers they 'stay in the game' because at any moment they feel the 'big score' (Armageddon and the new system) will finally come their way.
