Posts by sparky1

28

What Are Your Predictions for 2020 and Beyond?

by The Bethelite in

jw
friends

2020 the society will continue to have financial problems with massive pay outs because of their lack of protecting their young people from a religion that harbors thousands of pedophiles.

thus this and other religions that has an 1800's mentality will continue to lose their young people.

with the religion's lies easily found on the internet the smart ones will continue to leave in droves.

sparky1

June 1, 2020 I will begin receiving Medicare.

September 1, 2020 I will begin receiving Social Security.

Beyond that, I don't dare say.

95

Greta Thunberg...what’s your view of her?

by minimus in

jw
friends

she certainly is passionate about climate change.

🤔.

When the Vietnam War was raging, young people demonstrated against it. They were maligned, made fun of, mischaracterized, and treated with disdain...much like Greta is being treated here by some posters. I for one am glad that young people have the stamina and guts to stand up for what they believe is right.

70

'Experiences(tm)'! Made up or totally true??

by punkofnice in

at one assembly(tm), i was asked to relate an 'experience(tm)' which i did.

however, during rehearsals, the geezer in charge elder or co or some such title, told me that i shouldn't tell it the way it was.

i did a 're-enactment(tm)' with another 'brother(tm)'.

sparky1

Back in my 'new boy' days at Bethel, we had a talk by David Walker who I believe was the Assistant Farm Servant under John Marcus at the old Kingdom Farm up in South Lansing. He related how a young Bethelite decided to stay home from the Sunday meeting one morning and swim in the pool. Of course, everyone else at the Farm was a good Witness and had gone to the meeting. Apparently when some had returned from their meeting they had found the young Bethelite drowned in the pool. 'We're not saying that he drowned because he didn't go to the meeting, but surely he would still be alive today if he had gone to the meeting' , so said Brother Walker.

27

Scowled At By A JW

by pale.emperor in

yesterday i got home from work and decided to buy a case of beer because, why not?

it’s monday.

the shop is conveniently round the corner from my place.

sparky1

Maybe if you bought a bottle of Macallan you would have gotten a wink, a nod, and a smile.

70

'Experiences(tm)'! Made up or totally true??

by punkofnice in

at one assembly(tm), i was asked to relate an 'experience(tm)' which i did.

however, during rehearsals, the geezer in charge elder or co or some such title, told me that i shouldn't tell it the way it was.

i did a 're-enactment(tm)' with another 'brother(tm)'.

sparky1

Ah yes, Punky! There is definitely something 'fishy' going on with these contrived experiences! But of course, the Circuit Overseer has the authority to 'pivot' the content of the experiences in order to fit the 'contrived narrative' of current Jehovah's Witness dogma and manipulate the emotions of the unsuspecting flock.

70

'Experiences(tm)'! Made up or totally true??

by punkofnice in

at one assembly(tm), i was asked to relate an 'experience(tm)' which i did.

however, during rehearsals, the geezer in charge elder or co or some such title, told me that i shouldn't tell it the way it was.

i did a 're-enactment(tm)' with another 'brother(tm)'.

sparky1

I haven't been on an assembly stage since the 1970's but as I recall it was 'standard operating procedure'. Any time that I or my family gave an experience, it was 'fleshed out' to make it more interesting by the Circuit Overseer. I guess that you could say that Jehovah's Witnesses were ahead of their time in producing docudramas for the entertainment and spiritual edification of their flock!

Docudrama: a drama dealing freely with historical events especially of a recent and controversial nature. - Merriam Webster Online Dictionary; first known use of the word:1961

29

Lack of zeal

by road to nowhere in

i hear rumbling about the rank and file not having the same zeal they had when new.. lets see: door to door at the time least likely to find someone.

waste of a whole morning.

isolated.

sparky1

In the early 1970's my family regularly travelled 33 miles one way to our Kingdom Hall in blizzards for the Thursday night meeting. Sometimes the roads were barely plowed and we would not get home until 11:30 at night. Now, there is a Kingdom Hall about 3 miles from where I live. Most of the congregation is clustered within a 15 mile radius of the Hall. This past Tuesday night there was a dusting of powdered snow and the meeting was called off! Without something like the 1975 date to drive them on, the average witness doesn't give a rat's ass anymore.The religion is now shallow, moribund and all about appearances.

19

"Get Over It!"

by The Bethelite in

jw
friends

this is what my children tell me... get over the whole jehovah's witness thing!

yes, they tell me they have gotten over the whole thing and they tell me that and i need to also.

my exgirl friend who was raised as a jw also has said the same thing.. my children say they got over it, however they are quick to point out how messed up their lives are now because of no college education and other missed opportunities.

sparky1

Keith, my friend, here is my 2 cents...

All of our experiences in life add up. The good and the bad, the helpful and the unhelpful, the pleasant and the unpleasant, the positive and the negative, as well as all our 'highs and lows'. Once we have seen, heard, felt or experienced something it becomes part of who we are. There is no 'reset' button to our lives or a subtraction button like on a calculator that we can use to remove things from our consciousness and human experience. The sum total of every minute that we draw breath makes up 'who we are'. You seem to be a very 'sensitive' man that is caring and considerate. A very fine trait to have although it can cause unnecessary suffering at times. No doubt, your children may have inherited the tendency to be 'sensitive' ( I mean this in the most positive and meaningful way) and therein could lie the problem. When you share with them your thoughts and feelings about your life experiences, especially with the Jehovah's Witness religion, it may produce unwanted reactions inside of them and they may want to 'push away' the unpleasant feelings by stopping the conversation midstream and announcing that 'you should just get over it'. Of course, they have their own set of negative life experiences that they have to deal with and probably are overwhelmed emotionally sometimes just trying to get through life still struggling with the excess baggage of being raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Maybe it would be best for all concerned to sit down and have a heart to heart discussion about your 'common' issues. Honor your emotional pain, and allow them to honor your pain . Honor their emotional pain, and teach them to honor their pain. When the 'common issues' are brought out into the light of day, talked over, examined and acknowledged then they will begin to lose power over your life and the lives of your children. I wish you all the best, Keith. Some of my life experiences are similar to yours and I have fellow feeling and compassion for you.

Remember:

"At any given moment, there is more right with you than wrong with you." - Jon Kabat-Zinn

17

Have you heard of a Jehovah's Witness on federal SSDI disability Pioneering ? How common is this ?

by BottleGate_ in

asking 4 a friend.

sparky1

I don't know how common this is. But yes, I have witnessed it first hand. Like minimus, I recall assembly parts that would praise those individuals on welfare for pioneering because they were bringing praise to Jehovah. In the early 80's I remember an Elder that was on unemployment and pioneering. He had a wife and 4 children. I thought his time would be better served looking for work so that he could feed his family and pay his bills.

5

Child Abuser

by Lost in the fog in

and another one, in wiltshire, england.

.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/18072231.4-wiltshire-courts-2019-sexually-assaulting-children/ .

sparky1

Anyone 18 years old and older that sexually abuses anyone under the age of 13 years old should receive the DEATH PENALTY. Right or wrong...that's my opinion.