Posts by erandir

20

Some outrageous counsel I received once ...

by Frequent_Fader_Miles in

i was reading an earlier thread about ridiculous counsel and i just had to share this one with everyone.. you know how sometimes around christmas time merchandisers would package their products in a more "festive" wrapper?

the largest bread company here does that every year.

well one yuletide season (when i was about 7 years old), i was helping myself to a couple slices of bread and my aunt saw me.

erandir

another time it was because I went shopping with my bible student, bad association apparently as she wasnt a witness(YET) suffice to say after that she never became one thank god.

I heard that in a congregation in New England (from someone who lived there for a time and saw it firsthand), there were some publishers who regularly took their bible students shopping and even counted the time on the report because they occassionally talked about bible topics during the trips. Not exactly outrageous counsel, but outrageous nevertheless.

21

What exactly does it mean to be "marked", anyway?

by Amber Rose in

what are the concequences of being marked?

what qualifies a person to be marked?

who determines whom shall be marked?

erandir

It all makes sense to me now. We (my wife and I) were brought into the "truth" a few years ago, and so this concept of being marked never really made sense. And, we never really paid attention to it. We used to have a good friend (she and her husband studied with us--i.e., we were counted as their bible studies) who is the daughter of an elder. She would feel the need to let us know about certain ones in the congregation who were not good to be associated with outside of field service and meetings. She warned us about a good many people...some of which later became good friends of ours. We ended up regretting that we paid attention to our "friend's" warning about them.

Recently, we turned the tables on her and told her that we thought she wasn't a very good friend or witness because of all the slandering of other people that she had done over the years. We ended our friendship right then and there after years of putting up with this pattern of slander, gossip, and back-biting.

So, basically, if my understanding of this "marking" is correct, she was actually doing the congregation a favor and behaving as a good witness. She was marking others, passing on information from her father the elder, and protecting her new studies from bad influences.

That is just TWISTED and SICK, in my opinion. Yet another reason I'm glad I am leaving.

4

"Cut Off" Orchestra?

by brinjen in

jw
friends

i was watching a tv show last week called 'the chaser's war on everything".

for those who don't live in australia it's a political satire program.

one of their sketches was award ceremonies such as the oscars & the orchestra that cuts off the long and boring acceptance speeches.

erandir

oh yeah...i remember that episode too...i lmao on that one.

49

Attention former elders and ms: I have a question.

by R.F. in

i'm currently a ministerial servant and pioneer in my congregation.

i want to begin my fade soon.

i'm going to get off the pioneer list first instead of quitting both positions at once, hopefully to ease potential gossip.

erandir

The thing about doing the "fade" is that it is extremely difficult to pull off unless you are able to move far away and never attend a new congregation. If your family are JWs who live in the same area as you, then I would say that doing the fade is almost impossible, as has been the case with me. I tried to fade, but it has become totally obvious to my JW family.

I've been doing the fade, apparently, for about 2 years now. I have 3 major excuses that have kept things quiet for me. I had clinical depression. I was stumbled by 2 elders and also by my previous employers who are a family of witnesses (I seriously do not recommend working for witnesses! But that's another topic.), and that was the focus of a sheparding call at one time. And I had to take a job working nights which basically keeps me from the meetings during the week. I don't attend Sundays, and I've skipped the last memorial and the special assembly day.

I was not raised in the "truth", none of my family is in it. I studied for a year and was baptised less than a decade ago along with my wife (same for her as well). (I'm being vague with dates here for a reason.) My wife is still active and in good standing and does her best to tell the elders to leave me alone and that I'll talk when I'm ready.

So it's been relatively easy for me to keep my distance, and yet there are a few families who still invite us over for social things. I'm awaiting a call or visit from a couple elders soon, though. This all seems too good to be true.

I guess that in my case, I didn't have to move to another congregation. My wife seems to think no one will push the issue as long as I lie low and keep out of trouble. :)

I hope that experience helps somewhat in your decision, R.F.

43

If the Watchtower ceased to exist right now, what would this mean for you?

by JH in

what would it change in your life right now if the watchtower fell apart and didn't exist anymore?.

maybe some would want to join another realigion right away, because they still believed a bit of what they preached and didn't want to join a false religion, just as the jw's brand all other religions..... .

.

erandir

I would have tremendous peace of mind. I would have a celebration with my like-minded friends and even make the day of the fall an annual observance. I would resist the urge to say "I told you so" to all the rest. I would feel happy that millions of reems of paper weren't going to waste.

45

..If I went "Back to the Kingdom Hall"..

by OUTLAW in

if i went back to the kingdom hall there would be no windows..lol!

!..and..many doctrines,i could no longer preach.i would be reprimanded,reproved or disfellowshipped for it!..doctrines we were told to preach,straight from god,given to us by the wbt$ are no longer valid.the wbt$ says so.......i left in 1974.i couldn`t preach "armageddon by 1975"..most jehovah`s witness`s will tell you wbt$ never made that prediction.although wbt$ liturature says otherwise....."jehovah`s witness will be the only ones who survive armageddon".now,no one knows....."jehovah`s witness`s can`t take blood transfusions".now they can use blood factions....."religion has no place with worldly organizations".the wbt$ had an assosiation with the united nations-ngo..make a big deal about that and you "will" be disfellowshipped!.....

"the generation of 1914 will not pass away.

erandir

What's this about gum chewing? It's frowned upon?

Hmmm...so that's why I got looks all the time as my wife and I passed gum to each other during the meetings...and also why no one accepted a piece from me when I offered. I can't believe I've been so oblivious to this. And all I was doing was trying to improve my breath for the upcoming song...showing love for my neighbors. Sheesh.

Erandir

4

"Cut Off" Orchestra?

by brinjen in

jw
friends

i was watching a tv show last week called 'the chaser's war on everything".

for those who don't live in australia it's a political satire program.

one of their sketches was award ceremonies such as the oscars & the orchestra that cuts off the long and boring acceptance speeches.

erandir

That sounds hilarious. Thanks for the funny mental picture.

Reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons we saw a few years ago when Marge is describing how lonely she was, so lonely that she once invited JWs in to talk for 3 hours, but that they escaped when she went to the kitchen for drinks or something. My wife looked at each other and burst out laughing when we saw that.

Erandir

48

"Disfellowshipping" - a word being phased out? (Anybody got a WBTS CD?)

by sass_my_frass in

jw
friends

you know how jws don't 'shun', or at least pretend they don't, because they don't use the word 'shun'?

do you think that soon they won't 'disfellowship', just because the announcement is no longer "sass has been disfellowshipped", it's now "sass is no longer a jw".

technically, if i wasn't disfellowshipped, i can't say that i was disfellowshipped and that my family shun me.... i'm just no longer a jw, as if it was a choice i made.

erandir

This sounds similar to a new practice at work. In the past, the supervisor would announce that an employee has quit or has been fired or whatever, but now the new policy is that the supervisor announces that "So-so has decided no longer to pursue employment at this company." I think it is a way to avoid a lawsuit, but I'm not sure. I'm thinking slander or something like that maybe.

Seems like yet another practice taken from the business world...just like the whole sales and business meeting thing, I mean the TMS/Service meeting.

Erandir

48

What is your favorite TV show?

by averyniceguy in

erandir

The Colbert Report!

64

Any current Good Standing JW, posting here?

by NotaNess in

i was wondering if there are any current regular posters here that are still active , but are mentally inactive and don't believe all the bull anymore, and are just going through the motions to keep their life with friends and family together.. i realize this might be a posting that will probably get 0 replies, but.......

erandir

inactive for about 2 years...doing the fade...but still want to keep family and friends and still considered good association by a lot of them...weird, huh?