Posts by neverendingjourney

58

Just a quick Poll...Do you think the GB is sincere?

by NikL in

jw
friends

i've been thinking about this the past few days and curious what the honest consensus is here just for fun.. show of hands,.

is the governing body.... a: completely sincere.

they really do believe what they teach.. b: somewhat sincere.

neverendingjourney

This was the big question on my mind when I was exiting the JWs. Are the GB sincere but misled or insincere evil geniuses?

After 12 years of pondering this questions, what do I think the answer is? Neither.

The GB are clowns of below average intelligence. Climbing up the ranks is a long, grueling process of total obedience and ass-kissing. Anyone with a conscience or an independent thought would be weeded out in the selection process.

The JWs are stuck with a bunch of bureaucratic yes-men who were groomed to thrive in the cut-throat Bethel environment. Sincerity has nothing to do with it. These are people who are very good at climbing the ranks and the well being of the rank and file or the soundness of their doctrine is completely irrelevant.

Asking whether the GB are sincere is like asking what the marital status of the number nine is or what the color of love is. The question itself, I believe, doesn't make sense given the context.

They're drones who were groomed to perpetuate the existence of the religious organization, nothing more, nothing less. If sincerity plays a role at all, they're sincere in their interest in perpetuating the Watchtower organization.

25

Two (circumstantial) lines of evidence for the real motivation behind the Russian lobbying?

by doubtfull1799 in

1. in bro sandersons latest video (in which he shows a very impressive skill with russian) he mentions two likely results of the imminent russian ban: the liquidation of the branch office and its assets, and the individual brothers capacity to worship freely.

no prizes for guessing which one gets mentioned first!.

2. why have the gb never attempted in the past, and are not interested in attempting now, such a letter writing campaign in other communist countries where the work is under similar restrictions, like china, or vietnam?

neverendingjourney

Wonder why they didn't have a letter writing campaign back in 2004 when they were first banned in Russia?

My mother was all riled up about the Russia thing last weekend. I told her it was nothing new and that they had been banned before in Moscow. She said I was wrong and that this was like nothing they'd ever seen before. I didn't argue with her after that.

As a side note, I remember how excited some of the Witnesses were in 2004 when the Moscow ban came through. It was the primary subject of public prayers for a while. That was during the tail-end of my involvement with them, though. i was out by 2005.

44

New letter about Circuit Conventions accounting procedures

by Hecce in

i hope that one of the friends will post the letter soon.

i heard that on 3/27/2017 a letter with new instructions about the accounts at the circuit conventions was released.

the letter seems to adopt many of the corrections that had been suggested here at the forum, among other things during the accounts report they will be no mention of the per capita and the amount due is going to be released only to the elders.

neverendingjourney

The Bethel elite hold the rank and file JWs in utter contempt.

The same holds true for the ridiculous hotel arrangements during the district conventions. We would routinely find better hotels for the same "discounted" price or less. And we were poor. A few dollars made a huge difference. Yet we had to obey "mother." Turns out this was just a way to ensure the WT got free comped rooms for VIPs.

But don't you dare reveal the truth to the rank and file. Just flog them and make them feel guilty if they disobey the rule put in place to benefit the JW elite.

44

New letter about Circuit Conventions accounting procedures

by Hecce in

i hope that one of the friends will post the letter soon.

i heard that on 3/27/2017 a letter with new instructions about the accounts at the circuit conventions was released.

the letter seems to adopt many of the corrections that had been suggested here at the forum, among other things during the accounts report they will be no mention of the per capita and the amount due is going to be released only to the elders.

neverendingjourney

I've said this before. The fact that there's a de facto entrance fee doesn't bother me. It doesn't add up to more than a few buck per attendee.

What infuriates me is the fact that they have to keep it a secret from the flock. They can't be bothered with transparency. The flock doesn't deserve to know the truth. They're there to follow orders. Only the privileged elder class gets to peer behind the curtain a bit.

It shows contempt for the rank and file.

20

My mom is into "The Secret"

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

lately my mom's gotten into all kinds of weird "power of positive thinking" kind of stuff.

she watches "the secret" and bob proctor videos all the time, and now she's trying to get me into it.

to me her being into this sort of thing seems kind of hypocritical.

neverendingjourney

The JWs attract people who don't have fully developed reasoning skills. Or they prevent people who grow up in it from developing them.

That's why nonsense of this kind is also prevalent among the membership. Various multi level marketing scams made their way through my congregation. Herbs and "holistic medicine" is also big.

Many years ago I went with my mother to consult with a Witness who was married to an elder in a neighboring KH. She sold herbs of various kinds. She had my mother hold a bottle of herbs straight out, locking her elbow. She would then literally say out loud "Does she need 1 pill an hour?" and would push down on my mother's arm. She kept repeating that and adding one to the number of pills until she felt resistance. Supposedly this was the body telling her how high the dosage should be. It wasn't much different than going to see a witch doctor.

And all of this seemed normal to my mother. Hell, it seemed normal to me until I became a teenager and started being able to think for myself a bit.

36

“Well…it was a test”, says a laid-off Bethelite

by My Name is of No Consequence in

i got this account second hand.

a former bethelite was reassigned to a local congregation.

he had been at bethel for years and is now in his fifties.

neverendingjourney

There's no way to put the numbers together, but it'd be fascinating to know the level of activity these former Bethelites show after being "sent to the field." Like how many of them are regular pioneers 1, 3, and 5 years out. How many of them remain elders and ministerial servants. Conversely, how many of them have become just regular rank-and-file publishers or inactive.

11

Dad Turns 70 Today

by neverendingjourney in

jw
friends

and i can't wish him a happy birthday.

they converted when i was an infant, so birthdays were never a thing for us.

still, i'd love to be able to throw him a party, surround him with friends and family, and show him how much he's appreciated.

neverendingjourney

I like your style, eyeuse2badub.

11

Dad Turns 70 Today

by neverendingjourney in

jw
friends

and i can't wish him a happy birthday.

they converted when i was an infant, so birthdays were never a thing for us.

still, i'd love to be able to throw him a party, surround him with friends and family, and show him how much he's appreciated.

neverendingjourney

If you came in as an adult, you have memories of happy birthdays up until then.

I remember seeing pictures of my older siblings in Halloween costumes. My parents destroyed all pictures that showed them celebrating holidays/birthday or where they were inside a church, so it was a rare find. It must have slipped through the cracks. I wonder if it still exists.

11

Dad Turns 70 Today

by neverendingjourney in

jw
friends

and i can't wish him a happy birthday.

they converted when i was an infant, so birthdays were never a thing for us.

still, i'd love to be able to throw him a party, surround him with friends and family, and show him how much he's appreciated.

neverendingjourney

It's funny. A few minutes after I posted this thread I got a call from my dad. He was rambling on about a bunch of different subjects.. Then he started telling a story about how he coincidentally found something he'd lost and had been looking for a long time. He said he thought it was a coincidence that he found it on the day he turned 70.

So in his own way he wanted to call and acknowledge the milestone. I'll try to do something nice for him during an upcoming weekend when it can't be so directly be tied to his birthday.

11

Dad Turns 70 Today

by neverendingjourney in

jw
friends

and i can't wish him a happy birthday.

they converted when i was an infant, so birthdays were never a thing for us.

still, i'd love to be able to throw him a party, surround him with friends and family, and show him how much he's appreciated.

neverendingjourney

And I can't wish him a happy birthday.

They converted when I was an infant, so birthdays were never a thing for us. Still, I'd love to be able to throw him a party, surround him with friends and family, and show him how much he's appreciated.

They've been good about my fading. I stopped going to meetings 12 years ago and they've never asked tough questions. Don't ask don't tell. It works for us.