Posts by boyzone

56

My experience at the District Convention today - Appreciate your comments

by BonaFide in

i know i am the one to constantly harp on this board how the organization has lost its "swagger" and the baptism and attendance is going down, and people are waking up.. not so fast.. the audience cried, i mean a lot of people cried when they played some of the songs from the new songbook.

some had bethel singers who sounded pretty good singing them.

so many after the program were saying how touched they were.. then the new release of the book showing how the book of acts prefigures the organization today.

boyzone

I've often thought about the Witness world and compared it to the Truman Show, remember that film with Jim Carrey? Its one of my favourites as it shows how easy it is to just accept the world we're presented with if there's nothing thats allowed to contradict what we see or hear.

In the film, Truman starts to feel that all is not well with his world and wants to spread his wings. These doubts are fed by a girl he fell in love with who hated to see him tricked by the phoney world and warned him. She was forcebly removed from his life by the producer. Despite the manouvering to keep him in one place, he finally breaks free from the make believe world and enters the real. (a tearjerker moment!)

At the meetings, and particularly the big conventions, the make believe world is presented in all its falseness. Those that are just starting to feel all is not right with the JW world,are quickly reassured and made to feel its all is ok again. However, give it a few days at most and they'll start to get the old feeling that all is not right again.

Whether they act on those feelings remains to be seen. But Bonafide, in a sense you are the girl in this scenario. You are the one giving a warning that all is not well with the JW phoney world. Play it carefully and you will stay. Be bold and you will be removed.

But getting your family out is up to them. They have to feel for themselves that all is not well. Then if you gently feed those doubts, they may wake up and step free. But you can only do so much, the rest is up to them.

If you haven't seen the film, I'd recommend it. you're in for a treat!

31

Swearing - Do you?

by Rosey in

jw
friends

one of the things you're not supposed to do as a witness is swear.......but sometimes the definition of what a swear word was went too far.

for example in my family at one point my parents decided for a little while that we should stop saying the word "bum" after having used it forever.

this did not last as a swear word for very long as.........well i mean .....come on!.

boyzone

I let a choice word go occasionally to express my frustration, but I don't use profanity in everyday speech. I got young kids.

14

Video: Stand Firm Against the Devil's Crafty Acts!

by Shepherd Book in

jw
friends

there's been a lot of talk on here about the crazy symposium at this spring's circuit assemblies, "stand firm against the devil's crafty acts.

" so, my wife and i decided to attend the assembly, or at least just this symposium anyway.

i recorded the whole symposium.. you can listen to the whole symposium (4 talks, >1 hour) here: http://www.watchtowerletters.com/media/devils_crafty_acts.mp3.

boyzone

That is excellent Shepherd Book, I really needed the laugh! What a lot of crock they're still spouting, I can't believe I used to sit through this tripe and swallow every word without thinking. God what a dumbo I was.

So? Who's ready to spend their vacation hitting unworked territory? Yeah right.

29

Is Being Disfellowshipped or Disassociated All That Bad?

by minimus in

jw
friends

most jws dread the thought of never being talked to again by a fellow "brother" or "sister".

the thought of being shunned by your flesh and blood keeps many witnesses in the religion.. is df'ing or dissasociation all that terrible?

?.

boyzone

Yes it IS that bad. The shunning is emotional blackmail and some days that can be hard to take. But to be free of these sad pathetic people who think they are rendering a service to God by ignoring you is worth the price.

36

DF or DA what do you think the difference is?

by Rosey in

jw
friends

i would like to know from everyone first of all what they think the difference is between a df'd person and a da'd person.. i would also like to know what everyone thinks that jw's think is the difference between a df'd and da'd person.. personally i am df'd.

i was df'd 10 years ago almost and did not argue it at all as i had no desire to continue as a jw anyway.

before being df'd i was always under the impression that if a person da'd themselves it almost always meant they were " apostate" and that there was no way a jw should have any contact with them.

boyzone

I'm da'd and I don't see myself as any different to a df'd person. Its not the reasons for leaving/being kicked out, that matters, its the consequences. And the consequences for both are the same. Shunning.

48

Forget all of the stages: Denial, Anger, Sadness - Don't you sometimes just feel STUPID for having believed in the Organization?

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

i know i have been through all those stages, i denied it, then i got angry, definitely sad.

months and months of this, and i still am in for my family and friends.. but sometimes i just feel stupid.

why did i ignore basic common sense for so long?

boyzone

Yeah, when I look back, sometimes I feel stupid, but that feeling makes me appreciate what I have now all the more.

46

Let's just show we care and appreciate what this board accomplishes.

by hamsterbait in

just put your handle in a post on this thread.. hb.

boyzone

Boyzone

You guys help me cope with the shunning every day. Without the support here I'd be back on the bulimic cycle due to the stress. You have no idea how important you all are or how much good you've already done - a BIG thanks

BZ

45

BASHING the families of disfellowshiped ones

by Pistoff in

as if the first assembly day was not bad enough, talking about the greedy, fame hungry witnesses who go to college and will not get blessings from jehovah, sunday was worse.. .

i could tell the wife was not happy the minute she came through the door.

after letting her get her "lemonade" in a glass, i said, "so, no rough talks today?".

boyzone

Hi Pistoff and thanks for the info. I think the 2 day assembly has done the rounds already in the UK so I missed it. I guess we might have had a different local need talk so the emphasis on d'fd ones wasn't so heavy.

Thanks again for the heads up.

43

"Commenting" at Meetings

by cameo-d in

i don't quite understand why you call it commenting.. when i attended meeting the question at end were read.. when people "commented" it was never a real comment.. it was just reading back word for word a sentence or two from the paragraph that answered the question.. i would think "commentary" would be something you put in your own words and give a personal statement about it.. .

why do you call it "comments" when it is more like reciting?.

or is it different in other kh?.

boyzone

I really tried to expand on my comments, not excessively, but I tried to make them down to earth and relevant to us everyday folk. Many times they were appreciated. The difficulty came when the whole "only answer one point" council was given. This meant nobody could elaborate, they just had to flatly answer the question in few words, then leave the next point for another hand. This made the answers so boring that many a time the conductor would ask a very basic question and NOBODY would raise their hand. Not because they didn't know the answer but because everyone just couldn't be bothered to answer something so peurile.

In fact the whole congregation was told off in a local needs talk for not bothering to answer the easy questions. The conductor said that every question is a provision from Jehovah and we are treating his provisions with contempt.

I don't suppose it occured to the elders that actually the peurile questions were insulting our intelligence and treating us with contempt.

45

BASHING the families of disfellowshiped ones

by Pistoff in

as if the first assembly day was not bad enough, talking about the greedy, fame hungry witnesses who go to college and will not get blessings from jehovah, sunday was worse.. .

i could tell the wife was not happy the minute she came through the door.

after letting her get her "lemonade" in a glass, i said, "so, no rough talks today?".

boyzone

Its kinda important to me that I know which meeting this talk was given. I'm pretty sure that if my dad hears something this strongly worded, then it'll be the death knell for our relationship and I'll be out of their lives. Can anyone please say if this was given at the DC or a special assembly weekend?

If I know which one, I might be able to create a diversion.

Thanks BZ