Posts by Jerohobobonadad

27

Wasn't there going to be a "BIG ANNOUNCEMENT" sometime about now?

by Pubsinger in

jw
friends

hi guys.. i mostly lurk but i'm sure there was speculation early summer about some "big announcement" scheduled for octoberish.. did i miss it or are we any the wiser what/when it will be?.

pub.

Jerohobobonadad

I think the big announcement was the new tract campaign.

When I heard about the new campaign and how close armageddon is it really made me think that I'd been an utter fool to question the WTBS. Hold on, no it didn't that last bit was a lie.

41

Your going to the meetings whether you like it or not!

by Atlantis in

your going to the meetings whether you like it or not!

thousands of jehovah's witness children have heard those threatening words backed-up with spankings, whippings, or even severe beatings.

but what if they are too small to understand?

I am not an expert by any means, but I always thought that children's (under 8 or 9) bedtimes were supposed to be around 7 or 8pm. I think it's odd to make a child got to bed at this time on any night, but not on Tues or Thurs when the meetings are on. Surely it messes with their circadian rythyms? I remember being kept up till 11pm after every group or Thurs meeting when I was small (once we'd dropped off the old dear who lived miles out in the sticks). I didn't mind though cos I always got chips from the chippie after the meeting- yum yum! But only if I was good....

22

What's it like?

by Jerohobobonadad in

hello all.. i have always wondered what feelings people have in the hours/minutes prior to getting baptised, the seconds immediately afterwards and then the first few hours thereafter?.

i've never done it, but it seems like it would be a real head f-!.

anyone willing to share their experiences?.

Jerohobobonadad

Thanks Becca.

I brought this up because I remember seeing some people crying, some (like a friend of mine) went completely hyper active and went around shaking everyone's hand, one guy I know went outside for a cigarette during the lunch break, others don't seem to be affected much.

22

What's it like?

by Jerohobobonadad in

hello all.. i have always wondered what feelings people have in the hours/minutes prior to getting baptised, the seconds immediately afterwards and then the first few hours thereafter?.

i've never done it, but it seems like it would be a real head f-!.

anyone willing to share their experiences?.

Jerohobobonadad

Hello all.

I have always wondered what feelings people have in the hours/minutes prior to getting baptised, the seconds immediately afterwards and then the first few hours thereafter?

I've never done it, but it seems like it would be a real head f-!

Anyone willing to share their experiences?

25

What is God???

by BlackSwan of Memphis in

jw
friends

is god just a ball of energy hanging around?.

is god a spirit person as the jw's suggest?.

ok, so i realize that there are a large number of atheists here, of which group i am ever so slowly counting myself among, who would love to shout down the topic with 'there is no god".

Jerohobobonadad

God is mans way of explaining the unexplainable. I read that somewhere, it makes sense to me.

I would say this also: If you argue that everything on earth exists and shows evidence of thought and design then there must be a god/ God, then apply that same reasoning to god / God it goes on and on ad infinitum.

I would say that it is impossible to know for a certainty whether there is a god/ God or not. Either atheism of theism takes a leap of faith. I am not prepared to take a leap in either direction.

14

For those raised as Witnesses ... What was your personal crossroad?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

untitled document  the crossroads in life there will be many times in which an individual.

will come to a fork in the road or to a crossroad.

question is?which road will he or she take?.

Jerohobobonadad

Hello all.

For me, the whole "Truth" thing never really fitted. I come from a family with a strong WTBS tradition. I am third generation, elder dad/ elder grandparents/ uncles etc. I have 2 relatives of the "Annointed" (one deceased). I was always encouraged to get baptised, but never did. I went through phases of being quite keen as I suppose everyone does, but never keen enough to get baptised. I was made an unbaptised publisher at the wise old age of 8 or 9.

Although I have now (within the last 9-12 months) decided that there is no element of "Truth" in any of the WTBS teachings, I have still not technically left the Org. This has been the situation for sometime now. First, I started having questions about certain teachings (in particular the flood account and the "sin gene" teaching that they started using in the late 90's - which has now been reversed), but always thought that perhaps they got it a little wrong in areas, but the fundamentals were still right. Over the last year or so my feelings changed to"well if they got that wrong, how do I know the rest isn't wrong" and so it has gone from there.

I still go to the occasional meeting and I even went in service recently for the first time in months. I have siblings and many friends who still attend. I know that my siblings will never shun me if I decided to leave completely and I'm sure that my parents would be upset, but as I'm not baptised I can't see how they could justify any shunning. If they did initially, I couldn't see it lasting any length of time.

I have many friends in the Org and although I know that their friendship is conditional, I do not see this as their fault. They are only doing what the have been brought up to do. It is difficult not to if you've had these teachings drummed into you every day for 20 odd years and it's all you've ever known. I do genuinely like them, although I realise few will have any contact with me in the years to come. This is inevitable anyway even if I stay in the Org. My parents grew up with many friends, but only see half a dozen at the most now, and this is once a year or so. Once people get families and responsibilities, this happens I suppose. If I left the Org now, I would obviously not see many of my friends again staight away, so for me it's better to keep ticking along, doing what I want anyway and maintaining the staus quo. Some will think this is hipocritical, but it works for me! It can be quite fun trying to juggle a wordly life and a truth life. I know that sooner or later, I will have to make a decision either way (or I'll get caught with a girl or sometghing else!). I don't live in the family home and have moved about an hour and a half away from my old cong so it is easier to hide and not be noticed.

I am basically doing as I please anyway, whilst maintaining a front to keep certain friends and family members happy. I can't see this charade lasting any great length of time (I think about a year tops) - the house of cards will fall sooner or later, but it suits me quite nicely as it is. The only thing that will end it is getting caught for something (not planning on that though) or meeting a really nice girl - only because it gives me a reason to leave that I think my parents will understand better. Better to leave for falling in love than leave as a known apostate!

So to answer the questions:

1.) How long did it take you to decide to leave the organization once you knew it was no longer the "truth" ?

I've decided to leave but havent got a date yet. Been this way for about a year.

2.) How much harder of an influence was it to weigh the decisions on leaving realizing you had family and friends in the organization ?

Family and friends are the only reason fro me to stay, so that makes them a huge influence.

3.) If you had to do everything all over again would you have done things differently or exactly the same ?

I would probably have liked to have started this whole thing in my late teens and early 20s rather than now. I'm getting a bit old for the partying I do and it's getting time to settle down and be sensible. I suppose I'm making up for lost time still!

I've just read this through and it makes me seem like a proper selfish bastard! Sorry it's a bit long.

11

Is the Higher/ Further Education still enemy number one?

by Jerohobobonadad in

jw
friends

i went to university without any problems in the cong.

two others in my hall went and no one made a public complaint.

i was interviewed age 15 on the platform by my dad (elder) about whether i would pioneer when i left school or not.

Jerohobobonadad

I went to university without any problems in the cong. Two others in my hall went and no one made a public complaint. I was interviewed age 15 on the platform by my dad (elder) about whether I would pioneer when I left school or not. I said it was an option but I would rather study more then pioneer later. No one made an issue of this. This was late 90's. I have read a lot about people regretting not having gone to college etc on this board, but wonder whether things are different now as regards studying past 16/18?

Any comments?

21

Did anyone else wonder why?

by Jerohobobonadad in

jw
friends

i always thought that if you want to do 6 or 60 hours a month in field service, why make a big fanfare about it and become a pioneer or whatever?

i always thought if you want to go out loads, then go out loads; why do you need a group of "elders" to approve of it and make an announcement?

i've read about a few on this board who got turned down for pioneering.

Jerohobobonadad

In responce to was an elder once-

You won't catch me out in service! lol

21

Did anyone else wonder why?

by Jerohobobonadad in

jw
friends

i always thought that if you want to do 6 or 60 hours a month in field service, why make a big fanfare about it and become a pioneer or whatever?

i always thought if you want to go out loads, then go out loads; why do you need a group of "elders" to approve of it and make an announcement?

i've read about a few on this board who got turned down for pioneering.

Jerohobobonadad

I brought this up because someone I knew once applied to pioneer, got accepted and had the announcement, then commited a "wrong doing". He was told he could not pioneer because of the "wrong doing" but they then did not announce that he was no longer a pioneer. He did the hours anyway and no one was the wiser. It doesn't make sense to me to become a pioneer and have all of the bagage that goes with it. If someone wants to do 200 hours a month, why not just do it? Why should you need approval to be "God's minister"? Isn't it a right of a baptised witness to preach God's Word (looking at it from a JW perspective?).

70

NEWBIES how many of you

by plmkrzy in

jw
friends

have joined in the past month or two?.

i can't keep up there seems to be so many so i wanted to start a welcome thread for new newbies.. sorry if this was already done recently.. note: the in-built search system is currently being redeveloped so i am not able to check for this topic without looking through tons of pages.. anyway...say hello!.

plm.

Jerohobobonadad

I started here in August...I've not posted much as I don't have a great deal to say! I'm still going to the meetings though to keep family happy and because I have nice friends that I don't want to cause problems for. It's a difficult situation.