Posts by OnTheWayOut

3

Elders initial letters from WT When read

by Lostandfound in

one of my abiding memories of the truth was after hard work for years as secretary and then presiding overseer.

three new younger 'pioneers' appointed who clearly wanted the position.

well i did not want it and could see the future chaos and self aggrandisement such younger ones would lead to if given , what they was as, positions of influence.. circuit visit elders meeting with co, i always checked which elder had worked with co and likely brownosed and clawed their way up the appointment ladder.

OnTheWayOut

I believed in all the crap Watchtower taught, so I wanted to be the School Overseer. Once I was, nobody ever coveted my assignment. They wanted me to keep doing it.

I never desired more assignments. I never desired to kiss the C.O.'s ass to get circuit assembly talk assignments. There were so many others that did want them. I also remember elders who had their heads so far up their own asses because they spoke at conventions and assemblies all the time, that they acted like they could only go to a Kingdom Hall for a public talk if some in the congregation had a big gathering afterward so everyone could praise them for their wonderful talks. I went out all the time and didn't expect anything.

12

Self Brainwashing

by OnTheWayOut in

so i would love to hear and make more comments here on how "self-brainwashing" is done in jehovah's witnesses and how it becomes a problem when trying to wake up our loved ones.leah remini was on bill maher's show on friday, feb. 17th.

she had some great comments about things said on her series about scientology.

one was how members are "self-brainwashing" because they spend some hours every day doing self-study.

OnTheWayOut

smiddy, thanks. So true. I have seen, a handful of times, where someone raised a question or strayed radically from the main answers. It was met with words to the effect: "This is not the time for that" or it was just ignored and another answer was taken to get back on point.

I just got into one of those bizarre moods thinking about "selfr brainwashing." I dragged out the books or the computer library to eliminate any doubt in my mind about doctrine. I just kept going until I found enough Watchtower information that indicated that they "always" made room for the newest doctrine.
I just find it crazy that I could support in my head that Jehovah protected "His Word" yet "His Word" was altered by men to remove "His" name. I never really went along with "spirit-directed" vs. "inspired" to allow for today's "spirit-directed" men to be allowed to make errors. The very idea of the 2/3rds majority blew me away when I read of it in CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE, but I was already on the way out by then.

58

Assembly Dramas:They were so bad.... but.... you waited for them to break away from the monotony!

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

.

you do remember the four day assemblies... sitting outdoors being fried in the sweltering heat,getting heat stroke in the middle of july in an outdoor baseball stadium.sitting outdoors from 9:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. was so much fun while you wore a suit,long sleeve shirt and a tie while your brain fried.

mom's who had children to take care of,lug strollers,feed all the kids,take them for bathroom breaks and try to not faint from the heat.. the sound and audio was always breaking and barely audible from the wind,airplanes flying over and (if you attended the cicero,illinois circuit )you would smell horse manure from the horse stables next door.. you know that you are a jehovah's witness.... when the only excitement waiting for the drama... where brothers and sisters dress up in ancient cloths,fake beards,fake rocks and fake soldier uniforms and wave their hands incessantly to pretend that they are acting out a drama.the excitement was unbearable!.

OnTheWayOut

Sir82: To this day I would obscenely overpay for a breakfast of a cheese danish, a bagel with squeeze-out-of-the-tube cream cheese, and a semi-frozen slushy orange juice.

Sounds great, but it would give me a weird deju vu trip down memory lane.

58

Assembly Dramas:They were so bad.... but.... you waited for them to break away from the monotony!

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

.

you do remember the four day assemblies... sitting outdoors being fried in the sweltering heat,getting heat stroke in the middle of july in an outdoor baseball stadium.sitting outdoors from 9:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. was so much fun while you wore a suit,long sleeve shirt and a tie while your brain fried.

mom's who had children to take care of,lug strollers,feed all the kids,take them for bathroom breaks and try to not faint from the heat.. the sound and audio was always breaking and barely audible from the wind,airplanes flying over and (if you attended the cicero,illinois circuit )you would smell horse manure from the horse stables next door.. you know that you are a jehovah's witness.... when the only excitement waiting for the drama... where brothers and sisters dress up in ancient cloths,fake beards,fake rocks and fake soldier uniforms and wave their hands incessantly to pretend that they are acting out a drama.the excitement was unbearable!.

OnTheWayOut

I do remember the food program. We called the sandwiches "hoagies." I liked the cheese danishes in the morning. I was not a fan of Shasta soda. After Sunday's lunchtime, they let us (elders, pioneers, volunteers) have leftovers from the soda, danishes, even the hoagies.

65

My Introduction - An ex-elder's story of waking up later in life.

by doubtfull1799 in

background:.

my parents got the “truth” while i was in primary school.

i was baptised at 14. i loved school and was extremely studious.

OnTheWayOut

Welcome. My story, while completely different in specifics, is strangely the same. I woke up as an elder, seeing doctrinal problems and hypocrisy, I researched. I faded away fast and I have an active JW wife who couldn't see it my way.

I think we differ in that I do not plan to disassociate because of a JW mother and the in-law family. I have been out more than 10 years. I look forward to reading more from you.

58

Assembly Dramas:They were so bad.... but.... you waited for them to break away from the monotony!

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

.

you do remember the four day assemblies... sitting outdoors being fried in the sweltering heat,getting heat stroke in the middle of july in an outdoor baseball stadium.sitting outdoors from 9:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. was so much fun while you wore a suit,long sleeve shirt and a tie while your brain fried.

mom's who had children to take care of,lug strollers,feed all the kids,take them for bathroom breaks and try to not faint from the heat.. the sound and audio was always breaking and barely audible from the wind,airplanes flying over and (if you attended the cicero,illinois circuit )you would smell horse manure from the horse stables next door.. you know that you are a jehovah's witness.... when the only excitement waiting for the drama... where brothers and sisters dress up in ancient cloths,fake beards,fake rocks and fake soldier uniforms and wave their hands incessantly to pretend that they are acting out a drama.the excitement was unbearable!.

OnTheWayOut

R&R, I not only was at Cicero, Il at Hawthorne Horse Track, I was in one of those dramas with a fake beard on my face. It was a 3-day convention, though. I also remember watching the horses working out and watching the momma duck marching ducklings each day- everyone watched these distractions.

I remember losing the race track and switching to the Chicago White Sox Stadium for a few years. We went through too hot, too cold, too rainy, too sunny, upper seats too steep. That was about the worst place. I think we were there 3 or 4 years. It sure made me miss the horse race track.

24

My Son's wish granted from Make A Wish

by azor in

jw
friends

we leave friday for his disney cruise wish.

he's also a big star wars fan, and they have a star wars day on one of the seafaring days.

to say we are all looking forward to this is an understatement.

OnTheWayOut

Awesome for your son. I hope he has a great adventure.

66

Was There ANYTHING Positive That You Experienced Because of Being a JW?

by minimus in

jw
friends

was there anything positive about your jehovah's witness experience?.

OnTheWayOut

I could also say I stopped smoking to become a member of the dangerous mind control cult that kept me from proper counseling for 20 years over a suicide attempt, drained me of my money, held me back years from proper career goals, got my thinking all messed up in logic fallacies, convinced me that as long as I spouted Watchtower teachings with enthusiasm and went out some hours every month in the recruiting work- that I should be an expert on counseling others despite the mess I was.

My point is that I am not a fan of giving credit to them for anything good. The price was too high.

66

Was There ANYTHING Positive That You Experienced Because of Being a JW?

by minimus in

jw
friends

was there anything positive about your jehovah's witness experience?.

OnTheWayOut

I have learned how to be skeptical of everyone/everything, how to research instead of accepting what I hear/read.

12

Self Brainwashing

by OnTheWayOut in

so i would love to hear and make more comments here on how "self-brainwashing" is done in jehovah's witnesses and how it becomes a problem when trying to wake up our loved ones.leah remini was on bill maher's show on friday, feb. 17th.

she had some great comments about things said on her series about scientology.

one was how members are "self-brainwashing" because they spend some hours every day doing self-study.

OnTheWayOut

Flipper, I would have to watch again, but I recall that Leah said something along the lines of "If you don't get the language exactly right, members automatically say you don't know what you are talking about."
And I know that even "WE" don't always get the loaded language exactly right. We leave the celestial chariot and still use old terms like "presiding overseer" or we get behind on some minor teaching points, so we are seen as just bitter ex-members who didn't study.

Jeff, yes- "...to think I did it to myself...." That's what we are talking about. But we also want to realize that is the norm among cult members and our loved ones still in. We need to not be so hard on ourselves about this.