Posts by esther

113

Please Respond To Survey! 25 more needed please.

by Big Jim in

jw
friends

it seems like to me the majority of people who are in the truth, are were in the truth was a result of either a family member are a friend witnessing to them and not many seem to have been found in the door to door work.. from my years of associating with the borg i cannot recall many coming in the truth from the door to door work.. how were you sucked in?

for me it was my aunt who has now even though i am not disfellowshipped decided to write me out of her will to the tune of about $150,000.00 (maybe i should hang around a couple more years)dont think i will.. please respond .

thanks.

esther

D2D. We had just moved, so only knew my husband's workmates. Like lauralisa, I knew God's name. At least, I knew the tetragrammtron(sp?). Didn't know the bible, so studied with the 7 Day Adventists at the same time, and also asked one of my husband's workmates (a devout Christadelphian), to show me where the 'Truth' book was wrong. The trinity didn't make sense, so I stopped studying with the adventists. The only fault our Christadelphian friend found was to do with Satan, and his explanation there was to the effect that where the bible proved Satan existed it was an error.

The lack of racism in the congregation in my area was a major factor in my belief that JWs practiced the love that Jesus said there would be among his disciples.

I never converted anyone, even when I was given studies. I brought my children up in it, but they had missionaries to study with them.

esther

17

How Many Ways Can You Spell Hypocrit?

by ros in

jw
friends

interesting profile in the 2/15/2000 watchtower (pp.26-29) praising a 17th-century orthodox church patriarch who was murdered and thrown to the sharks for attempting to effect reform in his church.

quote:.

cyril lucaris (b.

esther

Ros, you asked

Can you BELIEVE they actually published that in the Watchtower, and it goes right over the heads of the R&FJW???

I have one suggestion, maybe they didn't read it. I was an active JW at the time that this article was printed, but this is the first time that I have noticed that article. I was so bored with the repetition of information that I ceased reading the magazines, KMs, and books long before I realized it wasn't the truth. I didn't offer the magazines when I went d2d, so there was no need for me to know anything about them.

esther

20

Why DO they stay?

by BugEye in

jw
friends

there is much discussion of the "dumbness" of those still in and the reason that they stay.. some of the reasons that i have seen are:.

they want everything in black and white.. they prefer to leave thinking to others.. they are scared to be shunned.. they are just ignorant souls who are on the "opium of the people".

they dont want others to think bad of them.. while i agree that there is no one single reason and that everyone is different, i feel that the real reason is a much deeper one.

esther

BugEye, good question. You said

Most of the literature from the WTS is presented in a "textbook" fashion, which impressively convinces people that the contained information must be correct.

That is true, particularly since it contains references. The WTBTS insinuates that there are many opposers, so people think that if there were inaccuracies, it would be common knowledge. So they don't check.

Had Enough, you said

knowing the future as it was "prophecied in the Bible", his promises, his word...was the strongest hold on me fortified by all the "fulfilled prophecies" before us as proof these promises would also come true.

This was true for me, too.

Pathofthorns, you said

There is also more information available to those with doubts than at any other time.

While this is true, you must realise that (1) good JWs, even if they have access to the internet, do not usually go to 'apostates' for information and (2) JWs are brainwashed into thinking that the doubts are caused by being 'spiritually weak', so tend to try to improve their spirituality. Also, the majority of dubs do not know about the injustices and corruption within the organisation. I had quite a shock when I found out how much covering up goes on in the organisation, and I had already left before I looked at any 'apostate' sites.

You also put down people who become JWs by saying

No reasonable or thinking person will ever sign up to be a JW. Only the "stupid, ignorant or gullible" do, and that mostly encompasses JW children who have not the intellectual maturity to critically examine things before making such a serious decision.

And then you have the nerve to say that you weren't being critical of others

Boozy, Dana, Redhorsewoman I agree with your comments

esther

5

A Quickie!

by cornish in

just to say hello to all who vsit this forum.. i would love to tell my life story sometime but there is so much to say that i dont know where to begin,but a few things about myself.. i left the borg mindset in 1995 as i would not surrender to the emotional blackmail shunning teqniques,and was told i had basically dissasociated myself,even though my last words were 'i wanted to follow god and christ not a religion' an announcement was made that i had dissassociated myself from the christian congregation,cheek,eh!.

i was born into a jw family in 1962,and most of my immediate family see me as a filthy apostate because they are indoctrinated, my hobbies are horses,ham radio and the net,.

when i have a chance i hope to post more,cheers for now

esther

Welcome Cornish. I take it that means you are from Cornwall?
I am looking forward to getting to know you better and to hearing your story

esther

6

NON Jehovah Witness to marry a JW

by inquiringmind in

good morning.

i am contemplating marriage to a long time jehovah witness.

i, myself, have no intentions of becoming a jw.

esther

Inquiring, even a JW marrying someone who is studying to be a JW is frowned on, so you can imagine how marrying outside the religion is viewed. You won't be able to be married in the JW' Kingdom Hall.

Once you are married, however, there will be a lot of effort put in to converting you. You too, Law. If you do become JWs,you can't just change your mind. You could be considered to have disassociated yourself, or you could be disfellowshipped. Both of these options would lead you to being shunned. They usually call people who leave 'apostates'.

A JW has 5 meetings to attend per week, plus they are expected to do study of the literature and bible, and also, it is expected that the JW will go out preaching for at least 10 hours a month. For the preaching work, there is a meeting first, which takes from anywhere from a quarter of an hour to three quarters of an hour each week, plus the preaching work. It is very time consuming.

Then there is a district convention, for 3 days each year, plus a circuit assembly for 1 day and another circuit assembly lasting 2 days.

You asked about children. The elders will expect your children to be brought up as JWs, and usually will bring pressure to bear to get that done. The children will be expected to attend all meetings.

I hope that answers all your questions, but if you have any more, just ask.

esther

edited because I discovered a mistake

42

disfellowshipped elders reinstated

by jnc in

would appreciate any info or experiences on this subject.... a brother is disfellowshipped, 2 years later reinstated, five years later disfellowshipped again, immorality, 4 years later reinstated, becomes elder, 8 years later runs off with pioneer 16 yr old , divorces wife , dumps girl, remarrys 5 years later, appointed elder again, i believe due to the buddy system, how many times do'es a person have to be disfellowshipped before they say no to any priveledges let alone being an elder again ?

esther

The NWT of the bible, in 1Tim 3 gives the qualifications for overseers and ministerial servants. They should be irreprehensible etc. They should also 'have a fine testimony from people on the outside'.
There is nothing about being reinstated to a position of oversight if one has lost it because of misconduct.
However, this man does not seem to qualify from 1 Tim 3:1-7.
As Ozziepost said

1. There is NO example in the New Testament of a judicial committee. The only mention of disfellowshipping a person, in 1 Corinthians, is addressed to THE CONGREGATION, not to a committee.
2. There is NO mention in the New Testament of restrictions i.e. if you're re-instated, you're re-instated. That's it.

esther

24

1975

by Prisca in

jw
friends

...... ......... ............... .

1975....... is the number of registered posters as of this minute!!!!.

amazing, huh ??

esther

Hallo Its_my_life, glad you are here.
You say you have a hunger for knowledge, but feel that you are too old. Close to 50 is not too old. Maybe you could find what fields have shortages, then train for it. I know where I am there is a shortage of maths and science teachers, for example.

JWs = jay double us = dubs, I think

esther

16

Beauty..Where is it? What is it?

by ISP in

jw
friends

what makes someone 'beautiful' to you?

has it changed over the years, so that you consider something else?

what attracts you to someone?

esther

I like someone with a genuine smile.
But I agree with Seeker

I really do care more about the inner person. I've known some "plain" folks who have become beautiful to me after I got to know them. And I've known some "beautiful" persons who became ugly in my eyes as I saw who they were inside.

After all, people who are beautiful inside are much nicer to be around

esther

35

new Britian elder letters: molestation

by Dogpatch in

something i just read, proofs are at:.

http://thetruthhurts.freeservers.com/.

dear brothers:.

esther

The more I find out about this organisation, the more disgusted I get.

They ran down the Catholic church for the same sort of thing. All they are concerned with is the protection of the organisation, not the children or any of the people.

I am too angry to say any more at the moment. [>:(]

esther

36

Embarrasing Moments

by Free2Bme in

jw
friends

just so certain ladies do not feel alone in cringedom i will confess my red-cheekers !.

i was a well-developed 15 yr old getting too volupteous for my school uniform ( ok too fat then) and the zip had bust on my only school skirt.

my mum replaced it using an old zip from another garment which happened to be quite a bit longer than a normal skirt zip.an unmarried brother came to visit one morning and was sat in our living room having a cuppa while i was frantically getting ready for school.

esther

Keep it up, this thread is the funniest.

One time, one of the brothers on the mikes at the KH had to go to the toilet. He didn't know what to do with the microphone, so he put it in his shirt pocket. But he left it switched on. He was told off for that.

esther