Posts by OnTheWayOut

36

Crossing the Elders

by Cold Steel in

few things draw my interest as much as people on this board who talk about the elders, the insidious little toadies who lurk around kingdom halls, the proverbial big fish in little ponds.

it amazes me the terror and the veneration they inspire, as well as the occasional ridicule.

it makes me wonder how they're selected and whether most of them come into the position with a sense of power, entitlement, authority and control, or whether many of them are pretty nice people and that i'm just hearing about the bad apples?

OnTheWayOut

There are 53 distinct types of nuts on the planet. I don't think you will manage to sub-categorize elders into 53 distinct types, but there are all kinds of elders.

Typically, elders are selected by their ability to promote and demonstrate full faith in the corporation of Watchtower. Accepting and using their doctrine on the platform and being willing to do any menial task they ask of you helps.

But it isn't that simple. Some are made elders because their family donates money. Some because they pioneered long enough to impress the other elders, or because they married into the right influential family. While I was made elder for the first reason I list, demonstrating and promoting the corporation, I was made an elder kind of fast because I studied with the elder who wanted to be a huge fish in a small pond, and nothing was more impressive than all his male students making elder quickly.

Being raised a JW, you get there faster if your family already has "men in position" and especially if they hid any of your youthful indiscretions to protect their own positions. If you were converted as an adult, you won't have your youthful indiscretions held against you. So many different paths to elder. Hell, someone who buys a minivan for recruiting every Saturday and gives the C.O. a green handshake every 6 months could get there fast.

23

What Kind Of Psychological Conseling Do You Think Jehovah's Witnesses Need When They Find Out It's Not The Truth?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

i personally would like to see they get the very best but haven't a clue how to do it what are your benevolent words of wisdom, should a person do a deep research on his own a kind of self medication or should they brush up on some psychology,, who should they trust because after you leave you got big trust issues.. i don't know about you but to me it was a real shocker, i was totally into getting their worthless bull shit out of my head.

i choose the self medicate path and did as must research as time would allow,, science was a biggie for me, it was enjoyable learning to get so much bull shit out of my head..

OnTheWayOut

If you were hardcore in your belief then maybe it would be as Jefferson Airplane says in SOMEBODY TO LOVE:

When the truth is found
To be lies
And all the joy
Within you dies

If so, you really need some counseling. Not everyone has the insurance or the income to get counseling, you know- because they gave up going to college or seeking a career because they were seeking Jehovah's favor.
And that's a shame.

My problems stemmed from something beyond just the JW's and I got standard counseling that included getting past my bitterness about Watchtower. Others might need more focused post-cult counseling that the likes of Steve Hassan provide. But I see those types as expensive and/or rare to find, where standard counseling is relatively easy to find and people of different budgets might be able to find some help. Even priests/pastors will give free help, or colleges will sometimes take patients to talk to their grad students. So there is a mix of what people need and what they can get.

If you can't get any of these, ex-Jehovah's Witnesses or similar ex-cult groups would help a bit. People understand with little explaining what you are going through.

7

Walking The Line

by millie210 in

a recent comment in another thread inspired this one.. the comment concerned a family who owned a bakery and got counsel on the icing and cake decorations.. the cakes reflected the theme of worldly holidays of that time.. the family was told to sell the bakery.. then, we have the case of jalessa castillo, a young u.s. journalist who happens to also be a pioneer in a congregation.

she was covering religious topics (among other topics) and it seems that got stopped?.

at least when you look online now it is very hard to find her name in the byline of anything religious in nature.

OnTheWayOut

I used to strip and wax grocery stores with JW's. I remember we did the Commissary on a military base, then we maintained it once a month for several months. But the elder I was working for was bothered by going on to the base and being a "cog in the war machine" by making the floor shine in a grocery store for soldiers, sailors, airmen. He also said out loud, "What if the tribulation starts when we are on that base?" So he gave up the job and passed the lucrative contract on to someone else.

I started thinking that was the extreme view we had to have. But it conflicted with "Jehovah knows our intentions." It conflicts with the thought that cashiers have to ring up cigarettes sales as a small part of their business, and as long as they don't work in a tobacco store, it's okay.

In that same congregation, a long-time meeting attender worked at a facility that placed military officers in the correct jobs according to their degree and training. She was not allowed to get baptized because she was a "cog in the war machine." My elder boss was probably the main person preventing her baptism because another lady who worked at the same facility was baptized with a different congregation.

My point is that there have been no real hard rules beyond working with tobacco, abortion clinics, military and police (even there, there have been exceptions), etc. etc. It often depends on the local elders and what they think.

As an elder, I had figured out in 1995 that the generation was going to pass away "in this system of things" and I pursued a career that would allow me to retire because the end wasn't so near. The other elders said my qualifications as an elder would need to be reviewed if I was going to miss meetings for my new career as a firefighter. I told them to do whatever they had to do, as I had to do what I had to do. They never removed me. I think that's part of overriding the feelings of the elders in a congregation. A member has to be confident in their own right to do what they need to do- be it putting flags or Santa Claus on cakes, or ringing up a carton of smokes. When the member is confident, they learn to tell the elders "I am fine" and take away their power.

44

Lot's Wife - Connect the dots - JW.org

by Funchback in

yay!

now kids can help draw lot's wife getting destroyed.. .

OnTheWayOut

That is completely out of line.
Where to even start on inappropriate this is?

Start at Dot #1. It even says "Start" right there.
That is "where to even start on [how] inappropriate this is."

37

What Was/Is The Dumbest JW Belief?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i think the finished mystery book probably contains the stupidest beliefs ever recorded!

almost any prophecy publication but especially anything to do with revelation, is unbelievable!

.

OnTheWayOut

TOP 4
Connecting unrelated scriptures and adjusting history and still having to count years as being "360 days" in order to make 1914 fit their doctrinal calendar.

Saying that 1975 didn't bring the end of the world because we don't know how many years Adam was alone before Eve was created to end the "6th Creative Day" and mark the beginning of the 7th day, which is 7000 years long. So Satan knows when that is.

Anointed are a literal 144,000 while most of the rest of that area of Revelations is symbolic, creating the need for the "other sheep."

Overlapping Generation. Hands down- This is the winner.

6

Newest Watchtower Silicon Valley land grab?

by Balaamsass2 in

just heard from a silicon valley elder yesterday that a number of local congregations are being dissolved and combined between belmont and palo alto, ca.

on the san francisco peninsula.

can anyone verify this?.

OnTheWayOut

Fascinating. I look forward to verification and developments.

22

How do the GB micro-manage people's lives today?

by UnshackleTheChains in

how do the gb micro-manage people's lives today?one example is their micro management in dress and grooming.

eg their view of beards.

elders in most congs will take a brother to a corner and remind him why jws don't grow beards.

OnTheWayOut

GB video about "spanks" and tight clothing.

Regardless of how much they have lightened up on the "FIVE" meetings, they still require everyone to have a significant share in the recruiting work and they expect members to be at that Kingdom Hall every week.

They still insist on shunning what would be close family members.

College is bad, school sports is bad, worldly friends are bad, etc. etc. etc.

How do they micro-manage the people? Through video and magazines and meetings and elders.

65

Major changes to convention security beginning in 2017

by Edison Trent in

short info on interesting changes to the major conventions this year: there will be a new security concept that will be implemented at all regional conventions in 2017.. similar to other major events (e.g.

festivals, concerts), there will be admittance controls in stadiums.. - at each entrance, there will be a massive presence of attendants that look at each visitor.. - there will be pocket checks at the entrance.. - suspicious persons are no longer left on the convention grounds.. - suppliers to the stadium will be intensively inspected by attendants.. - there will be a special sign for attendants that must enter the stadium before 7.30 am.

all others (even all attendants) can only enter after 7.30 am..

OnTheWayOut

I am so tempted to go to the event in my typical Hawaiian shirt, sandals, and cargo shorts. Then let the fun begin.

NAH! They would probably let me stay and then I would have to listen to that crap.

3

Our Christian Life and Ministry Meeting Assignment

by Ndeh in

assignation helper is free application developed to make assignments for our christian life and ministry meeting quickly and easily.

it's a very nice tool!

the website is: assignation-helper.com.

OnTheWayOut

WOW! I was the school overseer back in the day. I would have used that were it available and the elders would have quickly warned me of the dangers of doing such. Today, no big deal.

14

Fake publisher card

by floridaborn in

jw
friends

so i've been a lurked on this site for about 15 years, thank goodness for dial up internet.... anyway my fade has been working off and on for that long but my whole family is still in including my kid.

at this point i have started dating a worldly person.

he is wiling to put onthe facade of being a witness so i don't have to lose my family.

OnTheWayOut

Before subjecting your mate to the phony publisher idea, I would simply attempt to be more honest that he is not a JW. You can always try to win back your family a little bit by your half-assed participation in meetings for awhile if they feel the need to shun you.

If that didn't work, then I would let the people go rather than try to keep up such a deception.