zarco

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Posts by zarco

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  224

  Where Are You From?

  by finallysomepride in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  alot of members don't have a flag or country name beside their user name, and well frequently one doesn't know where that particular person is from, tell us your country, state, county or what ever you feel like giving out.

  if you are going to post please at least devulge your country.. me, i'm originally from taranaki, new zealand via auckland.

  for the most of this decade i have been living & working in brisbane, queensland, australia.. .

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  zarco

  SF Bay Area
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  35

  No Kingdom Halls would definitely work!

  by John Aquila in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  last night we were invited to a get-together with quite a few heavies attendingelders and regular pioneers.

  there was beer and later some music.

  everyone got relaxed and let down their guard and starting talking all kinds of non-theocratic stuff that you only discuss after a few beers.

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  zarco

  John, with all due respect, how much beer did you drink?
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  37

  A question about fading....

  by Tornintwo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i understand that many on this forum are undertaking a slow fade, over months, years even.. can i ask what is the benefit of that instead of a fast fade?.

  as i understand it, the elders only have to deal judicially with people who are still active witnesses, known in the community as witnesses, having contact and influence with witnesses etc.

  so surely the sooner you stop attending meetings the better.

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  zarco

  There have been a lot of great comments and advice. It really depends. In my circumstance I was comfortable living half in and half out to keep our social circle. When my wife at the time finally learned TTATT she stopped everything immediately. I have deep respect for her following her conscience. Within weeks I resigned all responsibilities in a brief letter and we have never been back except for one memorial about 5 or 6 years ago.

  Looking back, it would have been much better to do a quick fade and not waste the mental and emotional energy living half in and half out. It also, in our circumstances, was better to start building a new life as quickly as possible. Life is too short to waste a portion of it.

  Best to all in their exit decisions. Zarco
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  38

  Reason of financial problems WTS

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a non-witness insider told me this week that the wts has financial problems.

  that lead to halting down their building plans and lay off the special pioneers and.

  bethelites.. the reason of the financial stagnation is beside some bad investments,.

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  zarco

  The WTS uses a lot of outside advisers - at least they did back in my day. Most advisers would not have divulge confidential information. If they did so I doubt they are in-the-know.
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  44

  Need advice

  by Darkknight757 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hi.i've been pouring over this site for the past few days looking for some advice and i hope there is someone here that can help a guy out.

  i'm desperate.....short bio: i came into the organization after high school and shortly after married a wonderful girl who was born-in.we have been happily married now for nearly 20 years and things were well until 2015 hit.

  by the way, i currently serve as an elder and have the ""privilege"" of being the "watchtower overseer".. either here nor there, we were told we would never have children but late last year my wife became prego!!

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  zarco

  I am deeply sorry for your loss. Huge good thoughts and hugs for you and your wife. And while most of the folks on the site do not believe anymore, it might be best to take some time for you and your wife to heal emotionally before you make a lot of decisions. Reach out to trusted family and friends if possible. Reach out and embrace each other like never before and build your relationship even stronger. It will take some time. A lot of folks have had good results speaking with grief counselors and other professionals.

  After you heal as well as you can maybe then address how and when to start your fade.

  All the kindness to you and your wife.

  Zarco
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  17

  My mom

  by cognac in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was just talking to my mom a few weeks ago.

  she said, out of all her kids, i was the only one she didn't have to worry about as far as spirituality.

  i always took a stand for jehovah.. she told when all of her kids were little, she gave us the option of not eating birthday cakes in school.

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  zarco

  Really well done, Cognac. I agree with the post above that it is risky to explain the actual reasons now. You established a good platform for such a conversation in the future. If you do wish to explain why, maybe just pick one subject to discuss with your mom. The next conversation just one subject.... I guess taking it in small pieces is best. Nice going!
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  54

  What would you do if the Society Declares Bankruptcy

  by Quarterback in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  special pioneers let go.

  bethel workers laid off.

  construction halts, what's next?

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  zarco

  The WT is not any where near bankruptcy. They have significant real estate assets that will keep them afloat for a long long time. I am sure they are having cash flow issues as many on this forum have either demonstrated or surmised. The cash flow issues seem severe. However, there are many moves in the WTS's portfolio. Selling assets, continuing or enhancing the fake tithing, consolidating assets, getting out of the printing business and many many others.

  When you think about it, the WTS could run its worldwide operations with probably around 200 people. The GB, the helpers, legal, finance, administrative, IT staffs and support functions. All the customer facing folks DO/CO/other could be local volunteers.

  A lot of the old timers would appreciate a move to a very small crazy core similar to the old days. And most of the established folks would stay because the cost of leaving (emotional, social, realization that you have been lied to) is way too high. The young ones will continue to leave. But the aging core and the streamlined headquarters would last a generation or two (not an over-lapping one).

  Zarco
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  112

  Did an EX-JW wake you up to TTATT or did you put the effort to wake up yourself?

  by John Aquila in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.

  how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.

  how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.

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  zarco

  This is an interesting read. Thanks for starting it, John.

  I think I mentally checked out after 1975. My family had moved to where the need was greater (West Coast to Midwest). We had sold our house and most of what we owned and went to serve out the few years before Armageddon. Floyd Kite, Angelo Manera and others made very direct comments about 1975 as did the WTBTS. We were living off the proceeds of the home sale for the most part. The upside was we met a long of great people. After 1975 (I was in high school) I vowed never to trust the Society again. I met my then wife in the Midwest and we did the JW thing for several years. I served several positions, PO, Sub-CO, rooming guy at conventions and advised Bethel Treasury and all sorts of the things that we were supposed to do.

  My spouse was a believer and our daughter got baptized but she like me realized it was not the "truth". Since I would not trust the advice of the Society completely I made sure that all of us went to University. I did this while working and wife and daughter both went full time after I had finished and daughter was old enough. It set us up for our eventual exit. We also did other pretty lame rebelious things like Thanksgiving and New Years celebrations. We also did birthdays but our celebrations were pretty low key.

  During our life, like others, we saw all sorts of injustice. From child abuse issues, to Judicial Committees being drunk on power, the devaluation of women in the organization (like crazy Ted J telling women to stay with abusive mates). The generation change, blood issues and other doctrines were all factors. But after our daughter didn't want to live the half-in-life anymore and moved to Europe to finish college my then wife decided to explore things a bit on her own.

  In her exploration and with some prodding from our daughter and me she quickly realized that the religion was not only a sham but also harmful in its teachings and left immediately. I respect her a great deal for the quick decision, I was somewhat happy being in and doing my own thing while having a fun group of people to hang out with. When she decided to not go to meetings any longer I wrote a letter resigning my positions and we never looked back. A wonderful scholar named Leolaia was very instrumental in solidifying our decision.

  We are both married to other individuals - wicked worldly people, haha - and are all very happy with life and where we are at. I stop by this site from time to time to check in on what is going on with the JWs and see if any of the Elders I knew are child abusers.

  I love where we are. I do not mean to make the exit sound easy. It was emotional at times and only a handful of our past "friends" stay in touch. But it was the best decision of our lives.

  Thanks to everyone for sharing their story. All the best!
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  17

  My thoughts re Pope Francis

  by ctrwtf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so today i'm watching cbs news coverage of the popes visit to america.

  first, let me say i'm not religious at all at this point in my life.

  still a few things stood out to me about the news coverage of his visit.. first thing i wondered was if a gb member happened to garnish this much press (unlikely) what would his message be?

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  zarco

  The Catholic religion by design does not proselytize. Rather, it does charitable works... hospitals, feeding the poor and etc. And in poorer parts of the world it attracts significant members (in Africa entire villages). The JWs do not do anything of value for the community. It is little wonder that leaving the example of Jesus in feeding and healing has not produced results.

  In our lives, caring for the community, the environment and our children is the best way to show the JWs that their path is wrong.

  Disclaimer - I don't believe the Jesus stories of loaves and fish and healings... but if one is religious that is the example... and the JWs miss the mark
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  14

  2014 Pew Research on US Religion

  by adjusted knowledge in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the pew survey i've been reading is quite lengthy, but filled with interesting information.

  it really explains a lot of the social issues.

  impact of little education, donation issues, the issues of women finding marriage partners.

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  zarco

  They are a very significant religion, as proof I reference the seven angelic trumpet blasts at Cedar Point, Ohio that rocked the world:)