we saw it with raymond franz.
but do you think we could ever see one of the current gb members or future ones, make the same choice?.
to leave, and expose it..
I rather doubt that you will see any of these men 'disassociate' themselves from 'mothers teat'. Where in the world could they get a secular job with pay commensurate to what they are receiving in 'benefits' as 'leaders' of the 'one true religion'? And besides that, what skills do these men possess that would be 'saleable' in the free market? They know which side their 'bread is buttered on' and they aren't about to give up their 'free ride'!
during the post-awards interview, the director said that the story is not over.
it's still ongoing.
could this have been a vieled jab at jws, and/or a hint at a spotlight part 2?
Interesting how the JWs will react when confronted with this film.
Any Jehovah's Witness in good standing will not view this film because it is R rated. Hence no discussion among the rank and file. I doubt the Governing Body(tm) would bother to 'screen' this film to see what is going on with the 'competition'. R rated films are off limits.
none of you are old enough to have been there, i suspect.
i had been in prison two years as a jw conscientious objector when the exciting news about 1975 spread like wildfire.i was paroled from prison in 1969 and immediately began pioneering.
the pressures began mounting throughout the organization.
Of course, Terry, we will never, ever see a REAL apology come from the WatchTower Society about any of their failed prophesies or life destroying advice. I prefer to view people who do not apologize in the same manner as Thomas Szasz: "Beware of people who don't know how to say 'I am sorry'. They are weak and frightened, and will, sometimes at the slightest provocation, fight with the desperate ferocity of a frightened animal that feels cornered."
SOUND FAMILIAR?
first let me introduce my self, i am a 33yo male show spent much of his youth in the jw cult, i was not raised into the truth however thought i found it at the age of 11 when a well caring brother knocked my door, i had no father figure so this brother was everything to me, like a father, i quickly began attending meetings even when my mom used to oppose, i was taken like an example kid because i was an "orphan" in the spiritual sense, i got baptized when i was 12, and spent the rest of my teenage years being this good kid everyone thought i was, i hated that attention and pressure however it felt good to be doing good things, when i was about to finish high school i started to get into punk and ska music, i used to listen to it in secret, one time an elder found out and went to my house when i wasnt there, he went into my room and took all my cds, this was my first time i felt like i was being invaded of my privacy, i was made to feel guilty for liking this music and lost all my priviledges..theres a lot more i can say but i will stick to the main points, i became a reg pioneer, i became an ms, the whole thing, living in new york allowed me to visit bethel many times and had many many friends there, at the head quarters and walkill, in my cong we had bethelite elders etc, so yeah i was "in the club" , i always had a doubt in the back of my mind if what i was doing was the right thing, i used to rent the basement out of en elders house, he is what made me turn, he was the mos unloving person i ever met, for instance he would turn off the heat during snow storms, sometimes due to my pioneering i had no food and he knew this, well no food from him etc.
yet all this time i thought i was doing the right thing, eventually i feel in love and started dating this beautiful pioneer girl, daughter of pioneer parents as well, i never felt fully excepted because of my spiritual orphan status and no family in the truth, eventually got to a point where i could not communicate with her and her parents used to pick up the calls, they told me i could not continue to pursue a relationship with her, i was devastated!
long story short i wanted to see her etc, they put a restraining order and labeled me a stalker, made a mistake of sending her an e-mail and well, that got me arrested!!
Welcome to the forum.............and to your FREEDOM.
none of you are old enough to have been there, i suspect.
i had been in prison two years as a jw conscientious objector when the exciting news about 1975 spread like wildfire.i was paroled from prison in 1969 and immediately began pioneering.
the pressures began mounting throughout the organization.
1975? I have NO idea what you are talking about!
i have always wondered why prince and michael jackson stayed in good standing for some of the stuff they released as jws?
or how the williams sisters could stay in sports without all the bs?
after all the revelations about the org that i have heard... i wonder if they are paid and the reason they get away with it is that they are pr strategies and really they could give a crap about the org?
Forget PRINCE! Bring back a real mans man to represent Jehovah's 'Celebrity' Witnesses. Where is Mickey Spillane when you need him!
according to jwism, god didn't cause suffering, he just allowed it.
wow, that's really, really, dumb.
to help humans out, jeehoobidoob provided the ransom.
"Calm down Isaac.........I realize that you must be terrified and scared beyond belief at what I am about to do to you. I too am suffering immensely that Jehovah would ask me to murder my own son and not even give me an explanation as to why. Oh wait..........I don't need to kill you after all! The jokes on us! Ha ha..........Lets just forget the whole thing" - Abraham
"GOD IS LOVE" - 1 John 4:8
so i just wanted to jot down some thoughts and feelings about my meeting yesterday.... first, the wt, paragraph 16. i couldn't help but laugh to myself at the blatant hypocrisy.
god’s word admonishes us “to live with soundness of mind ... amid this present system of things.” (titus 2:12) having “soundness of mind,” or being sober-minded, should certainly come into play when the explanation of a diagnostic method or therapy seems strange or mysterious.
can the practitioner or the one promoting it explain satisfactorily how it works?
Were they Christmas themed Tic-Tacs? That would certainly catch they eye of any conscientious 'spiritual policeman' ...I mean Elder. After all, you can't be too careful about Satan's influence even in the Kingdom Hall (tm).
long story, short story.
grew up on a farm, went to bethel, married a sister and left bethel.
found ttatt after my cousin died refusing a blood transfusion.
i mean, i don't want to be miserable or anything, but what's the bloody point of it all?.
since i left the watchtower cult, i have come to realise that god cannot possibly exist...and if a god exists...god is indifferent to humankind as the least.. in 100 years time i'll be gone.
kaput.
"There is probably no point in my going into your questions now; for what could I say about your tendency to doubt or about your inability to bring your outer and inner lives into harmony or about all other things that oppress you - is just what I have already said: just the wish that you may find in yourself enough patience to endure and enough simplicity to have faith; that you may gain more and more confidence in what is difficult and in your solitude among other people. And as for the rest, let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.
And about feelings: All feelings that concentrate you and lift you up are pure; only that feeling is impure which grasps just one side of your being and thus distorts you. Everything you can think of as you face your childhood, is good. Everything that makes more of you than you have ever been, even in your best hours, is right. Every intensification is good, if it is in your entire blood, if it isn't intoxication or muddiness, but joy which you can see into, clear to the bottom. Do you understand what I mean?
And your doubt can become a good quality if you train it. It must become knowing, it must become criticism. Ask it, whenever it wants to spoil something for you, why something is ugly, demand proofs from it, test it, and you will find it perhaps bewildered and embarrassed, perhaps also protesting. But don't give in, insist on arguments, and act in this way, attentive and persistent, every single time, and the day will come when, instead of being a destroyer, it will become one of your best workers - perhaps the most intelligent of all the ones building your life." RAINER MARIA RILKE - LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET : LETTER NINE
