Posts by Quandry

28

Has anyone ever been to a Christadelphian meeting?

by twinkletoes in

since i have been out of the jws, i have found the freedom to look into other beliefs.

i remember when i was in the org.

how they used to say that the christadelphians are so similar in beliefs to the jws that they must be controlled by satan, especially as they do not beleive in satan as a person/individual.

Quandry

Twinkletoes

Thank you for your post. I have read information about them on their website, also. My hubbie and I were in for over thirty years also, and it is hard knowing what to do now regards religion.

I thought about the "born again" route, but look at the things that they have been involved in-Pat Roberson, Jimmy Swaggart, etc.

I have seen Joel Osteen on TV and he seems so upbeat and sincere. Of course he steers clear of anything doctrinal or controversial. Still, when we felt low after seeing the Borg for what it is, I watched him a few times and felt better because of his uplifting message of love and "you can do it" attitude.

If you do go to meetings of Christadelphians or find out more about them, please post and let us know more.

80

My Mom passed away today.

by Finally-Free in

jw
friends

after a lenthy illness, 10 years in total, my mother, margaret stecko, passed away peacefully today surrounded by family.

she was 84, and leaves behind 3 children, 5 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren.

she was a jw but never shunned me.

Quandry

So sorry for your loss. You were a wonderful son and how comforting to her it must have been that you were with her.

75

I ran them off !

by oldflame in

jw
friends

the witnesses came to my complex today, this time it was two very good looking women.

i walked up to them and calmly said that this is the second warning that they were trespassing on my property and that no jehovah's witnesses are aloud on this property knocking on doors.

i have a tenant who is a jw and this is fine with me and they are aloud to come and visit her but i do not allow them to bother my tenants as they all prefer they stay away anyways.

Quandry

There are no posted signs but I think I scared the living hell out of those two women. LOL I'm not a bad guy either but I sure felt bad when I scared them. (GOOD BAD)

Confession-

This is what I had a problem with. I am not angry with this person. I was just sad and not amused as he was when he said that he scared the living hell out of those two women. I thought it unnecessary I have just lived long enough to know that it is better to treat people as we would like to be treated. If all people put these words into practice, as Mohandas Ghandi said, we would not have the problems in the world that we have now.

19

I feel uncomforatable when my children ask about God....

by flip4diz in

i don't know what to say.. for some background: .

i have been out for 10 years.

it was the birth of my son, who just turned 11 ... that brought me out.

Quandry

I agree, it's hard when you feel turned off by religion.

One thing that I would keep in mind is, it's O.K. to say you don't know. If my child asked about how TV works, I'd have to say I didn't know.

I personally feel that the Bible could provide some answers. I do not feel that just because the ones in the WTS did not measure up to being the "one and only channel to God" that he did not provide the Bible. Perhaps you could read some of it together from time to time. It would aquaint him with God's own words, allowing him to have a basis for knowledge, without leaning to any one religion. When he gets older it would equip him to make up his own mind on things. He has the right to know enough to formulate an opinion.

Many common quotes used by people everywhere come from the Bible, as well as references to Jesus and his teachings, and should become known if nothing else than part of a basic education.

Yes, it is hard. But you are a good mom for caring and wanting to provide answers for your son.

75

I ran them off !

by oldflame in

jw
friends

the witnesses came to my complex today, this time it was two very good looking women.

i walked up to them and calmly said that this is the second warning that they were trespassing on my property and that no jehovah's witnesses are aloud on this property knocking on doors.

i have a tenant who is a jw and this is fine with me and they are aloud to come and visit her but i do not allow them to bother my tenants as they all prefer they stay away anyways.

Quandry

No matter the supposed reason?" Really? So it doesn't matter what a lady does? Doesn't matter how disrespectful she is? Doesn't matter how many laws or rules she breaks? Men are not even to inform them of their infractions? I submit that it is attitudes like this that give so many "ladies" the idea that they can run ramshackle over men. And plenty of them are doing just that.

Confession-

When I was pregnant with my child, I went to an apartment to preach. The manager came and began yelling that he'd already told us to leave and that we'd better, etc. I replied that I had never seen him before in my life. He softened and agreed that, yes, it hadn't been me he'd spoken to. He realized that I shouldn't have to take the brunt of his anger against all Witnesses.

That is precisely what I meant when I said that the poster didn't need to be angry at the ladies who came to his apartment. We don't need to take out our anger with the WTS on unsuspecting dubs who may be doing their best to serve God. I was one of the sincere ones who felt that there may be deserving people in apartments that must be reached.

Rarely do two Jehovah's Witness women qualify for your description of disrespectful lawbreakers. No one said that they could not be informed that the Witnesses had been asked not to come on the property, just respectfully, without "scaring them" as the poster admitted he did.

If you feel that this attitude is wrong, then we hopefully can agree to disagree. I have been treated badly by the WTS; I do not plan on treating any person (not even men) badly in the hopes that I somehow will "get back at them" by my actions.

75

I ran them off !

by oldflame in

jw
friends

the witnesses came to my complex today, this time it was two very good looking women.

i walked up to them and calmly said that this is the second warning that they were trespassing on my property and that no jehovah's witnesses are aloud on this property knocking on doors.

i have a tenant who is a jw and this is fine with me and they are aloud to come and visit her but i do not allow them to bother my tenants as they all prefer they stay away anyways.

Quandry

It was my out spokeness that got me into trouble with the JW's and my JW mother. You are exactly right about this. Jw's do not like people who speak up and tact ? yeah I guess I could learn how to use tact a little better, but I am one person who when has something to say even if it hurts I say it. That just drives a JW nuts. These are your own words from a previous post. Sound familiar? I was certainly not in your shoes; believe me, I had enough being in the "shoes" that I had to wear. In my case, it was not me that was initially treated badly, they treated my only child as if she was garbage not worthy of living--after falsely accusing her, then calling her a liar.I can tell you that a mother or father would far rather take the foul treatment themselves than to have this happen to their child. Of course, after that, my husband and I were treated equally as badly, to the point that we both struggled just to want to live for two years. I suspect that many of us on this forum have been to the same "shoe store." I try to keep in mind this quote from George Washington Carver: "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these." I hope that in time you will learn compassion, tenderness, and tolerance. It will look better on you. (By the way, Jesus was not driving out ladies, he was driving out money grubbing men--maybe I am getting old and out of tune with society in general but I still feel that real men do not treat ladies in this fashion--no matter what the supposed reason)

75

I ran them off !

by oldflame in

jw
friends

the witnesses came to my complex today, this time it was two very good looking women.

i walked up to them and calmly said that this is the second warning that they were trespassing on my property and that no jehovah's witnesses are aloud on this property knocking on doors.

i have a tenant who is a jw and this is fine with me and they are aloud to come and visit her but i do not allow them to bother my tenants as they all prefer they stay away anyways.

Quandry

LOL I'm not a bad guy either but I sure felt bad when I scared them. (GOOD BAD)

Well, I am wondering what kind of a person you truly want to be. Did you feel good about yourself? What you displayed to me was bad manners to ladies. I never have thought there was a time or place for that. That is surely not the way Jesus treated people; rather, even if they were less than kind to him, he treated them with respect and dignity.

I am wondering why you would think that your tenants cannot speak for themselves? Do you feel that they do not have the intelligence necessary to to think for themselves? If necessary, you could print up a flier and outline the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses, some that they may not be aware of. This would arm them beforehand so that they could be ready for the witnesses when they come. That way, not only would you be making your tenants informed, but perhaps they could impart some of the "new" information to the witnesses when they came. If I was in your complex and a priest came, or Mormans, or any organization, I would want to make my own decision as to whether I wanted to speak to them.

At any rate, I never feel that bad manners make anyone look amusing or gentlemanly. If anything, they make me think of Pharisees and elders who assume that they have the God given authority to treat people any way they please. This is the main reason I and many others left the organization--because of unloving treatment.

22

AWAKE! Urges Questions on United Nations

by compound complex in

dear friends,.

i am hearing regularly now, from local jws and jwd, that the governing body says the end is -- this time for sure -- near or soon or at hand.

though the following awake!

Quandry

1999 Change in "disgusting thing" doctrine. Previously, the WTS taught that this was fulfilled when the League of Nations was put in the place of God's kingdom by the "Christian" religions on earth.

*** w82 11/15 p. 5 Flee While There Is Yet Time! ***

In the year 1919 they proposed the League of Nations, which leading clergymen proclaimed to be "the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth." Likewise, religious leaders have described the League’s successor, the United Nations, brought forth in 1945, as ‘the sole hope for lasting peace.’ So the clergy would have this man-made makeshift stand in the "holy place" where only God’s kingdom by his Christ may now rightfully operate. A "disgusting thing," indeed, in the sight of God and all lovers of righteousness!

Now though:

*** w99 8/15 p. 29 Do You Remember? ***

Why is it logical to say that there will be a future "standing in a holy place" by "the disgusting thing"? (Matthew 24:15)

In the ancient pattern, ‘the disgusting thing standing in a holy place’ was linked to the Roman attack under General Gallus in 66 C.E. The modern-day parallel to that attack—the outbreak of the "great tribulation"—is still ahead. (Matthew 24:21) So "the disgusting thing that causes desolation" is yet to stand in a holy place.—5/1, pages 16, 17.

How in the world did I sit there week after week and listen and prepare for every WT study and try to read everything and not catch this? It is no wonder I always felt inadequate at the doors talking to people. Unless you had some photographic memory you could not possible keep up with the shifting, weaving, waffling, changing "light" from the society. I always thought that I was the one who had a faulty understanding. Inside I would think, "But didn't the WT say something opposite from this earlier? No, it is me. I wasn't reading it right. I don't study enough." In this case the more you know, the more confused you become!!!!

Not to mention the fact that the WTS wanted people in the Khalls to do the dirty work of telling people about the "exciting developments" with the U.N. The way the magazine reads, the U.N. is wonderful and then would expect the rank and file to tell them it's an agent of Satan.

That's like writing an article "Exciting developments are going on in the gay community" --ask Jehovah's Witnesses about them.

Thanks, Blondie for bringing this to my attention.

290

JW Children Lie in Custody Cases

by compound complex in

direct and cross-examination questions in child custody cases.

wtb&ts, page 42.

"be careful that they [jw children being questioned] don't get the impression that they are in a demonstration at the circuit assembly, when they would show that the first things in life are service and going to the kingdom hall.

Quandry

Orobus-

Thank you for your comment about my family scenario. I am glad you enjoyed it.

I have been thinking about this situation and here's the way it seems to me:

Before 1975, the WTS put emphasis after emphasis on the times we were living in--not too much time left, many have quit their jobs to pioneer in the remaining months we have, how wonderful, etc. They whipped up the rank and file into a frenzy. Then when the end did not come, and they were called to task, they put the blame on THE PEOPLE WHO READ THE WATCHTOWERS AND FOLLOWED WHAT IT SAID!!! They were implying that you were the stupid one if you put faith in what they published.

Now, in this instance, you state that sure, the WTS says that witnesses should not be involved in sports, school stuff, higher ed., worldly friends, but that THEY DON'T REALLY EXPECT YOU TO BE STUPID ENOUGH TO FOLLOW THEIR ADVICE/FDS DIRECTIVES.

Well, my husband was an elder; my child didn't do ANYTHING unless it was approved by the WTS. I observed in the KHall that any that did ANYTHING outside the directions of the WT were pulled into the back room and a warning talk was given.

Yes, the fact that a booklet would be provided outling how to get the child to "appear" as other children shows that they are not taught to be that way and must be COACHED BEFOREHAND.

Are you hoping to get reinstated and make it to the WTS's growing crack legal team? I think it is a possibility!!!!!

19

I saw a very old JW in the grocery parking lot today.....

by restrangled in

jw
friends

she was moving slowly, and her back was curved over.

i was leaving in my car and honked my horn....i thought it was my aunt.....she turned........it was my mother!

oh dear god, my heart broke.

Quandry

I thought more about what you posted. You mention that smoking relieves stress and boredom. Well, here is the key.

You need to get very busy with some important things. Have you completed your education? Don't say it's too late. I am over fifty and back in college. I work full time, too. It is difficult and very time consuming, but worthwhile.

Every time your mom sees the JWs, this is what she says, "Oh, my poor restrangled. Satan still has her in his grip with smoking. The WT is right when it says that people will not be better off leaving the wonderful organization." The witnesses nod appropriately, and agree that you are to be pitied (but are big A toast) and that they are smugly and totally right.

Now consider this scenario. Mom goes to the Hall and elder self-righteous comes up and begins to bemoan the fact that restrangled is on the highway to destruction because of her smoking. Mom says, "No, she is not smoking anymore. Her children and I are so proud of her. She is going to college, volunteering, etc. and is busy and happy. Funny that she does not want to come back to the Witnesses, though." Elder SR does not nor do the others at the Hall know what to think. They become confused, unsure of themselves, and do not like the non-smug feeling.

None of us should let them take our life and health and future. They have taken enough. They view us as disposable. We are not.