I remember at least one field service meeting when I was little where an elder didn't show up to lead it. There was so much confusion. But all those sisters just had no idea what to do without direction from an elder--it's really quite sad.
apfergus
JoinedPosts by apfergus
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37
The Increasing Degradation of Women in the Watchtower Society.
by Dogpatch infrom towerwatcher:the increasing degradation of women in the watchtower society.
the lifestyle of a woman as one of jehovah's witnesses is certainly not an easy job.
it is a well known fact that most of the work that takes place within the watchtower society contributing to its success, is due to the backbone of the watchtower which can be described as the women in the congregation.
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When you left the JWs did you keep their publications?
by White Waves ini threw everything away except the bible (which i now know is crap), the songbook and reasoning from the scriptures ( to use against them... primarily the conversation stopper part).
so many posters seem be able to access jw info easily and quote it... i wonder if i should have kept everything.
at the time, it was a way to start over and commit to never going back.
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apfergus
I'm pretty sure my mother still thinks I'm a "smart boy" and that one day I'll come back to "the truth". I'm also pretty sure this is the only reason she and the rest of the people from the old congregation I still see from time to time will even talk to me. So in order to hopefully keep some kind of relationship with my mother I just left all my copies of the literature wherever they were sitting last time I put them down. I'm pretty sure it's all in a box in the attic now, actually, so it's not like I took it with me when I moved out or anything, though.
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Gay & Lesbian JW where are you?
by LEC ini came out of the closet when i was 18 yrs to my parents & the elders expelled me out ever since that my life has changed completely!!!
i was born under a jw household and i finally celebrated my first birthday when i was 21 yrs and it felt weird.
i was just wondering how to cope w/ this feelings, sometimes i want to go back but i can't ignore my feelings.
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apfergus
My flight from the JWs had nothing to do with my sexuality, but my sexuality definately ruled out any possibility of me going back. I still haven't come out to my parents because I don't want to ruin what little of a relationship I have left with my mother. But I definitely couldn't subject myself to any environment where I would have to repress something that seems to me to be so natural.
Even though I may not be in the exact same boat as you are, I can promise you that going back to the organization is something harmful for you in the long term. Just keep asking questions, but don't be afraid of the answers you might find. -
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Question about the Anointed
by Zico ini have just joined this site after having been visiting as a guest for a few months.
i am searching for answers so please be patient with me.
a friend of mine in the congregation has directed me to this site as he has been having doubts about the organization, though he said he never posts on it.
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apfergus
First of all, hello and welcome. I hope you find the answers you're looking for. Just be prepared for answers that might surprise you.
I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you implying that people who practice religions other than the Jehovah's Witnesses brand of Christianity don't really believe it "beyond all doubt"? If that's not what you meant to imply, why would the Jehovah's Witnesses' faith be better placed if people of other religion's have just as much confidence in theirs (which I can assure you, many do). -
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Your first "worldly" heroes?
by apfergus inone of the first things that i realized after i left the organization was that i could actually have human heroes who weren't bible characters.
now this will give you an idea of how much of a nerd i am, but the first person i began to idolize as a 17-18 year old teenager was richard p. feynman, the mid 20th century theoretical physicist.
of course, now i'm on my way to becoming a physicist myself, although i'm going into the experimental side instead of theory.
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apfergus
I've looked up to people I know personally, my own unbelieving father included. He was raised Southern Baptist and was told repeatedly growing up that he was just going to burn in Hell, so I've always felt a little bit of a connection there.
I can also hear you on the sci-fi. I was way into Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and the like. -
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I caught my JW parents digging in my trash + an intervention
by LeftBehind inoh where to start.
i will start with catching my parents digging in my trash.
my neighbor called me on the phone and thought i would like to know that 2 people were digging in my trash and asked if she should call the police.
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apfergus
I remember when my mom regularly searched my room while I was at school when I still lived at home. She would flip out at the most random things and even threatened to kick me out of the house a couple of times. At one point she was also reading my email and to this day I'm still paranoid about keeping track of web browser cookies because of that.
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Your first "worldly" heroes?
by apfergus inone of the first things that i realized after i left the organization was that i could actually have human heroes who weren't bible characters.
now this will give you an idea of how much of a nerd i am, but the first person i began to idolize as a 17-18 year old teenager was richard p. feynman, the mid 20th century theoretical physicist.
of course, now i'm on my way to becoming a physicist myself, although i'm going into the experimental side instead of theory.
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apfergus
One of the first things that I realized after I left the organization was that I could actually have human heroes who weren't Bible characters. Now this will give you an idea of how much of a nerd I am, but the first person I began to idolize as a 17-18 year old teenager was Richard P. Feynman, the mid 20th century theoretical physicist. Of course, now I'm on my way to becoming a physicist myself, although I'm going into the experimental side instead of theory.
My second "worldly" human hero was R. Buckminster Fuller, American inventor, architect, and design scientist. I now own a small collection of rare and out of print books of his. He helped turn me on to the idea of doing "more with less" and the idea of long term human survival through continuously improving our way of living through human intuition and ingenuity--none of this just waiting around for God's Kingdom anymore. One of his early books was Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, which I believe is actually freely available on the internet if you look for it.
So does anyone else have any stories about their first "worldly" human heroes? Why do you admire them and what did they do/say/write that helped you move beyond your life as JW? Just a fun question, I thought. -
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Do you have a motto in life?
by lovelylil indoes anyone out there have any wise words for us to live by?
a favorite motto?
please share your wisdom if you don't mind.
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apfergus
There's a motto associated with my family name which I actually rather like: "Dulcius ex asperis" - literally meaning "Sweeter after difficulties".
One of my personal favorite words of wisdom is actually from one of my heroes, R. Buckminster Fuller: "The Things to do are: the things that need doing, that you see need to be done, and that no one else seems to see need to be done." -
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Is there a 3rd option to explain the origin of life?
by nicolaou inthe creation / evolution debate has raged for 150 years with almost everyone coming down on one side or another (although creation has never offered an explanation for the origin of life).
my question is; 'is there another way of explaining the existence of life in the universe'?.
it's tangential and difficult to imagine but can we drag our perceptions away from the well established religious and evolutionary grooves to arrive at something .
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apfergus
I don't think the situation is quite that simple. The situation is something of a false dichotomy. There are actually many different possibilities on both sides. There are, as you said, "alternative" Gods to the Christian monotheistic deity. On the other hand, there are many different scientific theories to describe the origin of life. The scientific theories which are still relevent today are those which are possible given what we know about how the world works, but which of these (if any) is the best theory has yet to be determined.
So my point is really that we don't need an alternative. There are already so many different ideas which have yet to be tested or confirmed in any conclusive manner, that there is plenty of room for discussion and experimentation on these alone that it doesn't seem necessary to speculate about esoteric "third" possibilities. -
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I'm not angry anymore...
by TerriO inmy name is terri, and i live in the south of england.
i used to be a regular pioneer in the jw's, i stopped going to the meetings about 5 years ago.
and my life has just got better and better.
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apfergus
Another good book that I don't think I've heard anyone here mention before is Apocalypse Delayed by James Penton. It's supposed to be a scholarly history of the JWs and I found it pretty interesting. It tells a little bit of a different story than what I remember from that one big green two-volume Watchtower publication the name of which I can't remember.