Posts by humbled

11

My DA from the WBT$ 'membership'.

by punkofnice in

i posted this on the private board 2 years ago but now don't care who sees this as i'm no longer in hiding from the wbt$ cult members.. these are transcripts of the 2 letters i recieved leading up to my being da'd (not df'd), for apostacy(tm).

dear punk.

i am aware that you have requested that there be no contact from the congregation, but there is an outstanding matter that needs to be resolved, and we would like to have your co-operation in resolving it.. .

humbled

Punk,

Is this like a "break-up" letter where he/she can see the marriage is obviously in the crapper and doesn't want to hear the reasons why it is? This is so obviously a one-sided matter, only one side's interest of concern. It reflects a lack of appreciation for the psycological suffering that has to be felt by the one who has been going down.

Why do these elders have to make themselves so emotionally dead?

When the Org. does this it corrupts the congregations. IF they would be open to talk how different things would be! But this way they are clean, pure and holy--my way or the hiway. The elders have to have new hearts to do this work-- the hearts of butchers.

We who are expelled at least have a chance to recover. They do not.

I forgot--have they been worried about you since? (Mine haven't looked me up)

anyhow, take care

Maeve

20

My First Special Pioneer Assignment

by fulltimestudent in

my first special pioneer assignment.- part 1.. in australia, western civilization is a thin strip of land, that hugs the coast.

all the major cities are on the coast.

i grew up on the east coast of australia where the great dividing range, as its called, runs parallel to the coast, and limits the extension of cities like sydney and brisbane.

humbled

FTS,

That is a great story and well told.

You may have referenced this in another thread, namely the absolute reason(s) you scuttled the "Truth".

I myself have lived much of my married life in situations as you describe and found some of the exhortations and examples in the literature to be unrealistic. No plumbing, many children and no gas money and chores at home a-plenty. Yet I found the "Jesus teachings" to be invaluable in living with neighbors of all sorts.

I told the elders one time that my own experience was like "Legion" in the gospels. Healed of spirit, not allowed to go with the other disciples---and yet given the commission to go about telling others of the good things he had received at Jesus' hand.

The futility of trying to conform to the requirements of the WT program made me think a lot about what was in the bible and and what was not--so as to find where I and others like me could be a good witness to God even if we were "bad" J-Witness.

That helped me to leave when trouble came later.

I say again, Good story. I doo hope you will tell more of the struggles you saw in the community you were assigned to serve. Life being a struggle, I am sure some of those salty folks had some comments on the kind of spiritual needs they felt and the menu the WTBTS offered.

Thanks for your posts.

Maeve

36

An Anti-Witnessing Campaign, Please Join Me!

by What Now? in

in the past few weeks, the shunning issue has become a very personal one for me, and i have begun to realize that it is not just enough for me and my family to fade out.

after some recent events, i am motivated to start some anti-watchtower activism of my own.. i, like many others, have hoped that there would be a scandal of epic proportions within the organization, something that would wake others up and trigger a mass exodus.. while i am still hopeful that this may happen, it seems that the organization is too good at damage control, and heightening the paranoia surrounding apostates.. but what if the ex-witness community tried a different approach?.

what if, to borrow a hockey term, a sort of shut out situation was created?.

humbled

I occasionally see religious fliers on car windshields or in laundromats, but they can be tedious. With a few illustration-comic book style--it would be read by most who see them.

Your post makes me think.

We used to go door to door with a "Life-saving message" as JWs. Maybe this message of Anti-witnessing would really be lifesaving.

19

The Watchtower: Does This Game Of Jenga Ever End?

by metatron in

jw
friends

there are a great many fine posts here - and some from 8 years back - detailing how apathetic and perfunctory the organization has become.. and yet, it still stands, doesn't it?.

is there any point to be reached in this apparent 'experiment in sociology' in which they wake up and say 'screw this?

' if they crammed 10 congregations into one hall and stole the money, would any witnesses wake up?

humbled

The

The WT has a feature that makes it certain that there will always be some faithful adherents. What other religion has completely segregated the cult object from the common worshipper?

God and Jesus are made remote and unknowable by design. And though some of us had doubts and left there will be others for whom here is no way to know or not-know God unless they are tuned in to the "Channel". These are so indoctrinated that they will never be able to examine their own experience and thoughts of whether God even exists or examine the scriptures with honesty.

They will die as martyrs by slow suffocation.

19

Drinking and JWN

by BU2B in

jw
friends

i am drinking a japanese beer called kirin ichiban right now exploring the wonderful threads of the past here on jwn.

i love this forum so much.. how many here enjoy an adult beverage while browsing jwn?

i love all of you guys :).

humbled

I am a lousy typist so I can't drink my beer and type at the same time.

Which is a drag--because I at least fancy I can think when I'm drinking--something that I doubt otherwise.

Maeve-who-loves-her-beer

26

Pioneering: How the GB shamelessly capitalizes on members' worldly desire for prominence.

by Island Man in

the bible likens the preaching work to a sacrifice of praise - praise to god.

pioneering is also a sacrifice that involves praise.

it's the sacrifice of a specified number of hours that wins you the praise of men.. when you really analyze the psychology of pioneering it is apparent that the praise of men or prominence before men is at the heart of it.

humbled

Good point, quelly. Anonymous like donations. Why not?

17

Family Lost- Dealing with the "Inevitable"

by BLWashington in

so... recently lost my favorite aunt, mother of my favorite cousin- she was a "witness" when she died.

inactive, but still a witness.

who lived with my witness mother and stepdad.

humbled

NewYork44M,

I do think it's like that. You have already had to accept their loss. The grieving has past.

My clue was from my non-JW husband whose mother YEARS ago moved across the country to be near her only daughter and then dried up as far as her two sons and their families were concerned. She had so completely dried up that when my husband drove to California to help clear out her house (daughter had died), her neighbors were shocked to learn she had sons--she never mentioned them.

She had money to travel--the sons and families scraped to get by. She had her own world.

Theirs was a grief passed before she died.

44

Israel ... Jehovah ... The Promised Land ... Genocide

by wannabefree in

this is a topic that i was always uncomfortable with, but, as a good indoctrinated jw got myself to accept the spin.

of course, now that i am out, when i speak with other "christian" friends, they make the same excuses.

god's ways are above our ways ... okay, sure ... but really???.

humbled

"Well-founded, cogent, true, admirable" is one of the several dictionary definitions for the word "good".

As I was scrolling down the thread i was glad to see ADCMS hold up Perry's insistence on finding a common ground for defining "God".

But there must be a shared definition of GOOD as well as GOD.

Do they fit together, Perry?

46

Please write: show but not tell.

by compound complex in

greetings, fellow posters!.

movies can easily show emotion on an actor's face, or depict what he's thinking by his actions.

not so easily in writng.

humbled

Nancy-drew-pictures.^^^^^^^^ to show and not tell.

"Kickin' back in the sun in margaritaville--palmtrees and --where's my lime?"

Good times.

Rip, we'll write the body-snatchers out of the script and take back your writers' colony!

11

Incomplete quote,, does it make any difference?

by jonahstourguide in

in the dec 15 2013 study article page 19 paragraph 10 a professor jonathan klawans is quoted.. i found the original quote here:.

exodus 12 commands the israelites to repeat this practice every year, performing the sacrifice during the day and then consuming it after the sun has set.

(according to jewish tradition, the new day begins with the setting of the sun, so the sacrifice is made on the 14th but the beginning of passover and the meal are actually on the 15th, although this sequence of dates is not specified in exodus.

humbled

Oubliette,

Your points above are clear-cut assessments. Either option damns the operation of Holy Spirit.

When I first sensed something of the same I couldn't understand it so well as you have put it here. My feeling of doubt began when I pondered a troubling OT episode that I had researched and wanted their considered opinion of it.

I knew a faithful old pioneer sister whose son was still on the writing commitee. I brought up my concern to her. She said casually--"Next time ____ calls, I will ask him about it."

Something didn't set right with me on this. But some weeks later she told me "I talked to _____ yesterday and he said that there was nothing about such-and-such in the literature."

And then it struck me that the swift-moving chariot was run by these human computer-bots. These questions or points that are submitted to the FaithfulDiscreetSlave are never examined by the Holy Spirit/God's channel. It was very, very troubling to me then.

This thread fleshes out the inherent flaws of the development of the literature.

Bad tree, bad fruit.