Posts by silversurfer1

103

Jehovah's Witnesses turned Christian....Post Here

by R.F. in

i would like those of you former jws turned christian to post here.

specific denominations can be mentioned.

i'd just like to get an idea of how many of you there are.

silversurfer1

Southern Baptist. Baptized 2005 after being baptized as a JW in 1975.

46

Notes: Friday District Convention - Follow the Anointed Who Follow Christ

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

today was the first day of three for this year's "follow the christ" district convention.. for the first time in as many years as i can go back, the theme of this program was jesus christ.. most of the program was ok. the talks considered jesus, his life and his works.

there was nothing about the talks that i considered insulting or controlling.. could this be it?

could the society really be going jesus-centric?.

silversurfer1

MCSEMIKE: My ex-wife and two sons go to some small college arena up in Philly now. How people with the only true religion and Jehovah looking out for them ended up in such brutal conditions for a D.C. as late as 2001 is beyond me. Once in the early 90's my family was on the Friday morning program. The turf was so hot that our feet felt like they where on fire and they had to constantly hose down the area with water to deal with the heat. I was a child in the mid sixties when my parents took me to NY for those 7 day conventions. I olny remember long lines for food and using the bathroom. Sorry to here about your family ordeal. My two son's still speak to me often. Noth are baptized and I wonder when the pressure will start from their elders to cut off comunications with me. What a destructive organization, huh?

46

Notes: Friday District Convention - Follow the Anointed Who Follow Christ

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

today was the first day of three for this year's "follow the christ" district convention.. for the first time in as many years as i can go back, the theme of this program was jesus christ.. most of the program was ok. the talks considered jesus, his life and his works.

there was nothing about the talks that i considered insulting or controlling.. could this be it?

could the society really be going jesus-centric?.

silversurfer1

Just like MCSEMIKE said ANIRON, they're all "HYPOCRITES". Very few who claimed to be of the "anointed" that I knew avoided being laughed at and flat out disbeleived by many. Sometimes the ridicule seem to be born of jealousy. There was this one black brother from Bethel (his name might have been Cash) who claimed to be of the anointed and I was told that most of the GB tolerated him and thought he was crazy. But he was very popular with the inner city brothers.

MCSEMIKE: I used to go to the Philly conventions for years. The only thing I looked forward to was Smittys on South Street and ChinaTown. We left the D.C. one day because my oldest son (about 4 at the time) passed out and was unresponsive from our having to sit in the sun. We left mid morning to give him the attentioned he needed. From that point on we sat in the corridors (which was a BIG NO NO) to avoid the sun and heat. Didn't learn anything sitting in the sun and didn't learn anything sitting in the corridors, OH except the fact that this was a really stupid and uncaring way for the FDS to be giving us our precious proper food at the right time.

33

REPOST: For those without Mothers

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

mothers day can bring up many issues for some of us.

for some their mothers have passed away and the opportunity to say i love you in person is forever lost.

for others our mothers are lost to the borg.

silversurfer1

I called my mom to wished her a "happy mothers day" even though I knew there would be at least some objection to me doing so. We talk every week, she knows how I feel about her, so she should expect me to call and talk to her on this special day. My moms retort was that every day should be special for mom and that "Mothers Day" was for the greedy comercial people to take advantage of people. I lovingly / kindly pointed out to her that married people should feel special every day too, but that doesn't stop JW's from celebrating their wedding anniversaries once a year and that the commercial world profits from JW's getting married / celebrating wedding anniversaries. Are JW's going to stop doing either of these to things because of that? NOT!!!! What others do should should not distract from the "Day" what so ever. So my mom piped down, got off her JW high horse and allowed me to tell her all the good things I heard about mothers preached in my church over the weekend and to personally tell her why I thought she was so special to me. So over all it went great!

60

WERE THERE ANY BIZARRE ELDERS IN YOUR CONGREGATION?

by badboy in

jw
friends

any takers?

silversurfer1

We had one elder who liked to use foul language with the sisters and sometimes with brothers. He told one sister, "shut up you one tiddy b***h." Or in front of another couple, besides my wife, his wife and I at dinner at his home proceeded to explain to us in grafic detail where the term "s**t eating grin" came from.

Or another elder who approved of his 70 year old plus wife breast feeding kids that she baby sitted. And when he was on jc's he loved to get all the sordid details on sisters/sex, so he could share the stories with his wife.

Or the many hypocrites who would tell you to get out in field service when in many instances more than half the elders I ever served with never averaged any more than 3 - 5 hours a month in service themselves.

Or this one elder who seemed to be obsessed with sex. In one instruction talk he describe how girls loved to get aroused by riding horses or bikes, "getting that friction", as he called it. Or how boys could get a "stiffening of the penis". This guy and his wife where totally whacked out.

I knew some really nice elders too. But the bad ones caused way more harm than the good ones could ever overcome.

76

Am going to be reinstated

by Caine in

jw
friends

hello true believers.

had jc meeting.

will be reinstated next meeting.

silversurfer1

I hope you gain what you think you will gain by going back. I'm not trying to be pessimistic but I don't think you will. Real happiness and joy comes from something deeper than the approval of family and friends caught in the same trap as you. Will your depression be allieviated by wearing yourself out in their approved works? The "Law" was a nice system to live under for worship too, huh!? If there is such a thing as Christian and or spiritual freedom and you've found it, don't give it away to a person or group of persons, i.e. the JW's. That freedom along with your mental well being is to precious. Perhaps you could talk to a mental health doctor about your feelings/thoughts in this matter before totally commiting again. You're worth this effort. I wish you well!

108

How Far Up The "Ranks" Did You Go In The Organization?

by minimus in

jw
friends

at age 18, i was a regular pioneer.

at 20, a ministerial servant.

at 24 an elder.

silversurfer1

baptised @ 15

accepted to Bethel at 19, got cold feet and did not go.

vacatioon pioneered, aux. pioneered, reg pio from 94' - 96'

MS at 21 and Elder at 28 (4 yrs and then at 38 for 4 more yrs)

QBC for purchasing and work with local qbc on electric crew for 8 yrs

various CA assignments since 16

DA assignment once

Public talks since 24 (gave PT's in cong's in 4 states)

SO, temp PO, Sec, WTO blah, blah, blah

Sent to 2 cong's by CO (only caused more trouble in retrospect)

77

Why Can You See Through the Watchtower While Others Cannot?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

why can you see through the watchtower while others cannot?

compared with the six million jehovahs witnesses worldwide the .

so-called apostates are comparatively much smaller.

silversurfer1

Awesome thread with some great insights. I was raised a JW from 2 or 3 years of age, but only my immediate family. As I grew up I realised that the rest of my extended family on my fathers side thought we were crazy and I only saw them when we would visit them breifly. My moms side of the family live on the west coast so I never saw them, but my mom says they where non to please to hear of my parents coversion. My father was very strict with there beliefs. So I lived a pretty sheltered life. No after school activities, no college, ect.

I was married for 24 years with two sons when my life altering event took place. I guess it was a combination of things. I finally excepted the fact that the JW's supposed love was totally hypocritical and never worked in pratical ways for people who really needed this love. I was railroaded out of the BOE for standing up for a family that included a drunk DF'd father, a mother with an anger management problem and 4 abused children (2 of which were df'd) from ages 16 to 26. Believe me, being in this congregation contributed greatly to their problems. I was being witnessed to at work by a very conservative Christian who, I must say, really knew his bible. My own investigation of JW beliefs follow with a book call "Reasoning from the Scriptures with JW's". I would sneak this book into our apartment. I was caught by my wife with this material and she also found the internet sites I was visiting. The final straw was using this new found info with my sons in our family bible discussions. My wife left with our two sons. She thought I would come to my senses and follow. I never did.

My environment was suddenly change. Sure I was lonely and felt lost quit often. But I also had peace to think, meditate, seek professional help and to heal from a near nervouse breakdown. There was no going back to the JW's for me, regardless off the loss of family, friends and everything I have ever known. It's been hard, but unless I broke from this group how would any of my family?

You see the mind control and total giving of ones mind and life that a JW does once you are out. I can't believe I was duped so long. But the deeper your in the more blind you are. My wife and mom are totally blind and I fear my son's are becoming more so. I pray that they too have a life altering event. Sooner than later.

They think something is wrong with me and by extension all of us here. My mom is said that I go to church or celebrate some holiday's now. My explanations only hurt her and shut her mind down more. I asked her the following:

Explain the 1914 belief using only your bible.

Explain "Generations" of Matt.24

Explain what blood products you can and cannot take and the scriptural reasons why.

Explain how the FDS and GB thing works.

NO EXPLANATION. It did not shake her faith in the JW's, it just frustrated her with me.

Deeply entrenched things are hard to overcome.

79

In Memorandum

by RichieRich in

jw
friends

it was the 14th of april last year that i had to sit my mother down and tell her i was an apostate.. i was closer to her than anyone else.

my father and mother are still married, but he let her raise me as a witness, and that meant it was me and mom.. me and mom in field service for 100 hours in july because she had to make her time as a regular pioneer.. me and mom fighting over what to bring for lunch to the district convention.. me and mom up late at night, when she would berate me, and then unload all her problems on to me.. me and mom and our 4 hour family studies, where we discuss 2 paragraphs of a random book, and then she would browbeat me until early in the morning.. somehow, through all that, i pretended to be a witness for years, just to appease her.

looking back, i don't know if i loved her, or if i was just afraid of her.

silversurfer1

Sorry to see such a sad mother/son relationship. It sounds like the pressure of being a JW has cause some long years of mental problems for your mom and she has taken it out on you. I've always held the personal belief that the bond of love a mother has for her son or sons maybe the strongest type of love we'll ever expierence. (My motto, "No one loves you like your mother") But what you endured is far from love. But you should not respond in the same negative ugly way even though you have deep pain and scars. It will not help you. It is a good idea that you now work to build and or maintain a good relationship with your father. Perhaps together you both could be there for your mom down the road when she will need real love and care. The kind she has and never will receive from her JW family. I hope the best for you.

74

WTS Has Lost +35% of Elders in US Since 1994????

by Seeker4 in

jw
friends

zack, on another thread, said he heard this figure from the platform at both the 2006 elders' school and his recent pioneer school:.

that there were 93,000 elders in 1994, and less than 60,000 today, in the united states.. i thought these figures deserved their own thread, as they are shocking to me, and to see if anyone else has heard anything similar.. i'll post a link to the other thread as well.

.

silversurfer1

newyork44m said

A quick survey from this board. How many were elders during or prior to 1994 and no longer today?

My last elder year was 1994

I for one served before 94' and have been out since 03'. In Baltimore there was constant shuffling of elders (I was moved twice) to plug holes in other boe's. Except for a few cong's there was always shortages of elders through out the city.