Open mind

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Posts by Open mind

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  61

  For Active JW Men: Ideas on Awakening Your JW Spouse (Long post)

  by Open mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  disclaimer: your mileage may vary.

  if you are a married, "active, in good standing" (tm), jw male who has recently discovered that the .

  watchtower is not what it claims to be, this thread is for you.

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  Open mind

  bumping at the request of Confusedandangry.
  
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  5

  Current/recent Elders: WT Legal phone hours?

  by Open mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  when i was serving as an elder about 10 years ago, the wt legal department's main number could not be reached on the weekends.

  does anyone know if they have since made themselves available to elders 24/7?.

  the most recent instructions i could find (october 1, 2012 letter to boe) still say the first thing elders are to do when becoming aware of an accusation of child sexual abuse is to "immediately" call watchtower legal.

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  Open mind

  Thank you sir82. Their policy is still bad, just not quite as bad as when I was serving.

  carla: Yes, that's how it was, and I was able to make quite a few JW relatives squirm with that information. I would lay out the hypothetical scenario of a child saying he was raped in the back room of a Kingdom Hall at 3 pm on a Friday afternoon and all the DNA evidence being gone by Monday morning.

  An elder relative of mine chimed in once saying, "There's nothing stopping the parents from calling 911. It's their primary responsibility."

  I replied, "OK, let's say the parents have headed out for a cabin in the woods for the weekend with no cell phone coverage and they drop off little 13 year old Johnny at the Kingdom Hall for a cleanup afternoon on their way out of town. You're the elder on scene and Johnny comes out of the back room saying he was raped and his parents can't be reached. Are you going to call 911?"

  He looked at his toes for a few seconds and then said, "Yes, I would. But that's a pretty far-fetched scenario."

  I said, "Maybe, but the policy should be changed to accommodate a situation like that, don't you think?"
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  20

  Make the Truth Your Own

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is something that hit me just relatively recently.. the phrase "make the truth your own" is a very famous catch phrase in jw culture.

  it was a pet philosophy of daniel sydlik and has been used and is used in talks, literature and song.

  every witness knows this trope.

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  Open mind

  During my 2.5 years of purgatory, serving as an elder & awakened to TTATT but waiting for my wife to awaken, I used to play a few little games at the meetings to keep my sanity.

  One was changing song lyrics and singing them just loud enough for my wife to hear. Since I had started to rely more heavily on the spirit (mainly gin) to make martinis I would sing to my wife:

  "Make VERMOUTH your own..."
  

  
  

  Bada Boom. (I'll be here all week!)
  
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  5

  Current/recent Elders: WT Legal phone hours?

  by Open mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  when i was serving as an elder about 10 years ago, the wt legal department's main number could not be reached on the weekends.

  does anyone know if they have since made themselves available to elders 24/7?.

  the most recent instructions i could find (october 1, 2012 letter to boe) still say the first thing elders are to do when becoming aware of an accusation of child sexual abuse is to "immediately" call watchtower legal.

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  Open mind

  Hello,

  When I was serving as an elder about 10 years ago, the WT legal department's main number could not be reached on the weekends. Does anyone know if they have since made themselves available to elders 24/7?

  The most recent instructions I could find (October 1, 2012 letter to BOE) still say the first thing elders are to do when becoming aware of an accusation of child sexual abuse is to "immediately" call Watchtower legal. If the elder was made aware of it on a Friday afternoon on the West coast of the USA, they would have to wait around 60 hours before making phone contact on Monday morning.
  
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  37

  "Hard work never killed anyone," or "I have to give up knitting."

  by compound complex in

  1. social
  2. humour

  greetings, my aging friends:.

  it's not really a funny subject, our getting old and our bodies falling apart.

  sure, as the saying goes, hard work won't kill you, but it can wear out your body.

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  Open mind

  Sorry, CoCo, to hear about your pains and having to keep working to pay the bills.
  

  I'll never forget how my Mom would occasionally catch herself after describing her latest list of age-related ailments. She'd say, "Well, I guess you've heard enough of my organ recital for now."

  Not trying to minimize your suffering, but a little humor can sometimes help keep things in perspective.

  Best regards.
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  29

  How about prayers being used as a talk?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  another thread on here made me think of it.. its a personal peeve of mine.. you bow your head in prayer and the brother says thinks like thank you for the lessons we learned today like bla bla bla and for that wonderful point about yadda yadda yadda.

  jehovah we know that etc etc etc therefore we must...well you get the gist.and on and on it goes.

  absolutely drives me mad..

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  Open mind

  Magwitch: "The final prayer would get started by one of my long winded foreign speaking Ukrainian uncles and the majority in the audience just wanted death........"

  Ahhhh, Good Times!!

  I'll never forget a CO who counseled the entire audience at a CA re: the nature of our public prayers. (Which of course only applied to the penis-possessors in the audience.) His counsel was absolutely spot-on, IMO. He said something to the effect of "Brothers, Do you think Jehovah needs a refresher course on the content of the program today? (Long pause) He doesn't."
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  13

  Facial Hair?

  by HereIgo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  now what was the deal with this one?

  my cong strictly enforced the facial hair unwritten rule.

  alot of bros starting growing soul patches, then the co cracked down on that too, no more, must be clean shaven, especially ms and elders.

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  Open mind

  A recent WT backed off on the beard ban and says it's culture by culture.

  Haven't heard whether or not JWs in Northern California are easing up on it or not.

  Anyone else?
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  25

  RC 2017 Rumors

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  source: http://www.extj.com/showthread.php?28321-asamblea-regional-2017 (for a more literal translation) here is the gist, edited for formatting/chronological order/correct minor errors:.

  regional convention 2017 rumors.

  theme: the bible and the divine name.. 3 dramas and 2 dramatic bible readings.. .

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  Open mind

  Marking so I can mess with still-in relatives heads.

  Thanks WiFi Bandit!
  
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  45

  What Songs Best Fit you when you learned TATT and Afterwards?

  by Wasanelder Once in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the work of john lennon best fit my situation.

  first, i found out.

  i found out.

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  Open mind

  Woke up to TTATT about 10 years ago. Continued as a double-agent elder for 2.5 years to see if I could influence my wife and teenage kids to join me......

  Queen, Fight From the Inside

  You gotta fight from the inside
  Attack from the rear
  Fight from the inside
  You can't win with your hands tied
  Fight from the inside
  Ooh, ooh, aah
  Fight from the inside
  Right down the line
  
  
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  30

  Elaine from the bunker video

  by jookbeard in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does anyone know anything about the luscious elaine?

  is she a professional actress or just a member of the r&f recruited to be a member of the cast of this video?

  the pout,olive skin stunning looks make my heart miss a beat every time i see this beauty.

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  Open mind

  Marking for future reference.