the kingdom hall is still empty.
even with amalgamation of 2 congregations.
the elders are handling the microphones and there was only one comment from zoom at the watchtower.
I love to read this.
I don't believe the WT is going anywhere, but it is dwindling and facing mega lawsuits and travails. Good.
Like many here I have family in, and they aren't going anywhere...so far. They get all starry eyed talking about the congregation and Jah. Their community is good for them, and for their small world. They don't understand my leaving and I don't understand their ignorance of the deeds of the corporation and mishandling of scripture.
a department in bethel wants to try to make money from regional conventions by asking local hotels if they will give a special rate and a coupon code to give to jws.. .
they should just keep it simple and not be greedy for dishonest gain.. .
this year some convention sites the hotels said no thank you i think the jws are going to book with us anyway.
Just want to say great name ElderBerry! It makes me smile every time I see it.
Did you see the play? Some exJWS I met on this site years ago and I still see it every time it comes through town.
i just saw on a video that there has been a change about further education.
here is a screenshot of a letter that went to all elders.
i am an elder but i don’t remember this one, perhaps it is only for some areas?.
Thinking about this higher education thing.
I came from a hall with business men as elders, and they all made college available to their kids. They understood what it took to earn a living these days.
I was thinking that since they removed the hour quota from the publishers, they may also back away from a hard stance on higher education, or at least mention it less as they try to enlist educated people for their legal teams.
When I left I told people, what group wants to keep their flock uneducated and simple out of the major apocalyptic religions born in the 1800's? Why it's the JW's! Mormons and Adventist created their own environment to educate, but at least the saw the importance of it.
i often times wonder what happened to certain bethelites that i ran around with during my 1990s tenure there.
while there are still a few left there, the greater majority of them aren't there for various reasons (marriage, disillusionment, left the borg, etc).
a couple of cats i wonder about - there was one brother who i believe was from kansas, who got his fingers cut off in a printing press.
Wow! It's weird reading through this thread!
i popped in to read about the beard u-turn, so thought i'd say hello to anyone who remembers me.
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I am back in Long Beach in February.
Nice! I hope after 2/5, I'll be getting back from Australia that day from visiting some nice exJW folks I met here on the wayback machine.
i popped in to read about the beard u-turn, so thought i'd say hello to anyone who remembers me.
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Hey now that beards are a go any interest in returning? 🤣🤣🤣 JK
Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season 🥳🎄
See you the next time on the left coast! 👐🍶🍸
on february 22, 2023, anthony morris iii was officially removed from the governing body of jehovah's witnesses.
a few months later it was revealed that the watchtower bought him a house in lumberton, north carolina.. however, and correct me if i am wrong, since leaving the gb nobody has reported seeing tony attending jw meetings or participating in field service.
in fact nobody has reported seeing him anywhere, not even at a local liquor store.
I am curious about the real story of Tony, but I doubt we will ever know. I’m sure he signed an NDA in order to receive his stipend and condo.
Still would love to know WTH happened there.
a sister has snitched on me.
got a message from my group overseer requesting a little chat to see if i’m okay.
urgent suggestions needed please.
Avoid at all cost, do not engage. Excuse yourself because you have a doctors/lawyer appointment if you run into one.
https://nltimes.nl/2023/12/11/jehovahs-witnesses-suing-dutch-state-discrimination .
the jehovah’s witnesses have sued the dutch state for discrimination, the religious organization informed trouw.
they consider it discriminatory that the government investigated them, but no other religious organization, for their handling of sexual abuse cases.. utrecht university conducted the investigation involved, following publications in trouw in which sexual abuse victims within the jehovah’s witnesses described what happened to them, and published the results in january 2020. utrecht university concluded that 60 percent of sexual abuse victims were very critical of how the jehovah’s witnesses handled their cases, scoring the handling a 1 out of 10. many victims were traumatized by how things were handled, the researchers said.. sander dekker, then the minster for legal protection, ordered the investigation at parliament’s insistence because the jehovah’s witnesses failed to arrange an investigation themselves, as the catholic church did at the time with the deetman commission.. the jehovah’s witnesses cooperated in the utrecht university investigation but unsuccessfully tried to stop the publication of its results.
Man they are a piece of work. This is the stuff that makes me just hate the religion. No acknowledgment of the trauma of the protocol they force on the victims...just CYA of the corporation.
i already have a friend who is trying to tell me that my mental health is causing my disillusionment with the jehovah’s witnesses.
funny that a mental health therapist has told me my mental health issues are caused by being a jehovah’s witness.
i’m still not going back.
The first few years I was out it was nerve wracking. I didn't return elder phone calls, I didn't answer the door...I was prepared to be confronted with the doorstep questions. I had an elderly JW mother I looked after that was the foremost concern of mine not to give her more agita by being df'd. I was ready to fight legally on that one.
It's funny/not funny what type of pressure tactics "friends" will use...but it gets better. When you don't engage they tend to move on, except for Memorial etc.
The struggle is worth it. Freedom is worth it. Best to you!
