Posts by SnakesInTheTower

49

Can't believe I am doing this

by rockmehardplace in

jw
friends

i am shocked i am even writing this.

for about a year or so, i have hid in the darkness peeking at this site and following everyone else's story.

i have learned more than i expected from so many.

SnakesInTheTower

welcome rock...

it would have been easy for me to overlook some things. What I couldn't finally take any more of was what you said:

What made me change my attitude from being passive about things to being more vocal over everything is backbiting, hypocrisy, lies, and mostly unloving attitude.

Just as in Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy, et al. pulls back the curtain and sees what a pathetic little man running the whole show, so it was when I became a pioneer, then a MS, then an elder.....and see how people really are.

The final straw that caused me to leave, albeit 5 years after the fact, was the 8 weeks I spent at MTS.....we were supposed to be the "cream of the crop." I knew this couldn't be true, I had gotten in for goodness sake. What kind of standards could they have had? Anyway, the backbiting, petty jealousies and attitudes from the so called "cream", turned out to be "scummy dross" instead. I knew before graduation day it was BS...I began trying to figure my way out of the assignment. After only 4 months of commuting, I was able to get out of that hell hole. Another 5 years of being an elder in a kingdom hall full of elder jackasses... and that was enough for me.

Unlike you, I only have my JW mom to worry about. Truly I hope you can figure out a way to show your wife she loses more by staying in than she does by leaving. It is overwhelming if your whole family is in. And what we do for family...... **sigh**

Thanks for sharing, look forward to hearing more..

Snakes ()

7

Need Help From Computer Savvy Person

by choosing life in

jw
friends

i had a message come up on windows that said i have a "corrupted file".

the computer is still running ok, but i am not sure what to do about the corrupted file.

it didn't say what file?.

SnakesInTheTower

just depends on the error. sometimes windows repairs itself. PM me if the chkdsk doesnt work. I will check off and on the next couple of days (when I am not otherwise "occupied"....LOL.

Snakes ()

46

What was the stupidest advice you ever taken from the Kingdom Hall?

by asilentone in

.

SnakesInTheTower

blondie:

Wait on Jehovah

That phrase is one of the most irritating phrases I ever heard in the organization. It was a phrase used as a cop out to avoid doing anything.

My last week as an elder I took the CO on a shepherding call (Snakes style, not typical Borg shepherding.... my style was listen not beat...encourage, not kick)...as we were going back to the KH to drop him off, we discussed the problems in the KH and specifically the BOE (and in particular jackass elder)....he said "Wait on Jehovah"

good thing I was pulling into the parking lot. I stopped the car and said: "Brother CO, unlike the elders, YOU are directly appointed by the Governing Body. When we elders, who are allegedly appointed by holy spirit, don't clean house, it is YOUR job to do so. Elders should not wait on Jehovah to make the congregation whole. CO's definitely should not wait more than a visit or two (to get a feel for the land) before taking action to protect the innocent." He did not really have much to say after I let him have it.

I was deleted as an elder that evening. Seven months later, I attended my last meeting.

Another Organization phrase I hear from JW apologists and defenders (especially my mom) that know there is crap going down...is:

"It's God's perfect organization made up of imperfect men." Bulls*it.

As a side bar, the other phrase I hate in or out of the borg is: "It's not that bad." Well damnit...if it's not bad, then why don't people say "It's good!" ? Why? Because it is bad, that's why. LOL

Snakes ()

34

Do You HATE The Watchtower Organization?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when i read some comments here, it looks like some actually hate the organization.

do you??

?.

SnakesInTheTower

Hate only eats away at the hater. It does nothing to the one hated (unless the hater acts on his/her hatred).

I decided that I do not hate any of them. I hate what the organization does. I recognize that many of the leaders (ie, elders) would be, or maybe are, just as bad in their secular jobs in middle management. The organization just feeds on that inner desire for power and control. Religion makes people accept it because it "must be God's Organization, imperfect people, I just have to deal with it." (If it were a job, the peons would say, "but I need my job, I just have to deal with it."

The upper echelon of the WTBTS (ie, the governing body, the helpers) would be the same if they were corporate executives at some big secular company. Every company or group of people has a dynamic, a mindset....WTBTS is no different.

I understand those who have been more directly impacted (loss of family due to shunning, blood issue, pedophiles, etc)....hatred is normal, but it is just as damaging ..... For them, I hope one day their anger dissipates into something constructive.

Once I realized that, I decided I cannot actively hate individuals. I just avoid them like a plague. I do have anger, do not get me wrong. There are a couple of those morons if I see them in person it will be difficult not to hit them. I just remind myself that prison is not worth it.

I have too much to live for now to allow room for hate.

Snakes ()

11

Excuse me, but this is sickening (DA Contributions)

by winstonchurchill in

jw
friends

a letter from the wts was just read to our congregation: during upcoming district assemblies, there will be credit card terminal available so people can donate using their credit/debit cards.. maybe it's old news, but i just found out last monday, and i find it terribly disturbing.

the wts/jw's is becoming more and more mainstream, not different at all form those churches that are only after your money... oh, wait!

maybe tey are only after our money.. .

SnakesInTheTower

I can confirm that the WTBTS has indeed used credit card terminals at district conventions in Europe. In 2006 when I was a "special delgate™" to the Hamburg, Germany convention that there were credit card terminals. They had brothers and sisters manning them at vendor carts throughout the stadium just as they would man contribution boxes...I guess the exception was that they were there to help answer questions about running the card...they are just like the ones when you go to the grocery or restaraunt.... I think they keyed in the amount..you swiped the card and pin number..and then I don't remember if you had to sign a receipt or what..

...they didn't get my number...

so just add it to the list of ways (EFT transactions that you can AutoDebit every month your donation directly to the Society.) that they are grabbing money... (come on WTWizard...I know you got something here. .I am handing it to you on a platter... Bank of Watchtower, Russell State Bank and Mistrust, Pennsylvania Slavings and Loan......)

The only reason you won't ever see credit card readers in the Kingdom Hall is because the monthly fee and per transaction fee is too high for the low volume that they would do locally. But don't think that they won't make it so you can donate by autodebit locally too...

Snakes ()

36

Friends, Study Partners, and then GONE...

by ptucker8357 in

jw
friends

about a year and 12 ago, after much conversation with a jw co-worker, we began a formal study.

we studied religiously (no pun intended) almost every week unless i was on business travel or there was a sickness or other item that precluded us from getting together.. .

during that process, we became very strong, close friends... at least that is what i thought was happening.

SnakesInTheTower

welcome PTucker

consider your experience a life lesson learned. You missed getting sucked into a cult. Be glad. Be very very glad.

I was a former elder in this cult, and I and other former elders here will tell you,... if a "bible study" (you) were not making "progress" (ie, coming to all the meetings, starting to give informal witness to family, inquiring about becoming a "publisher" [aka door knocker], well into at least the first "study" publication, etc)...then we were told by COs (circuit overseers, a type of regional manager over 20 congregations) and other trainers alike to encourage the rank and file members to drop such "unproductive" studies and find fresh studies prey.

Glad you didn't fall for it.... hope your former "friend" figures out it was all a bunch of horse s*it.

Snakes ()

12

Why did they put magazines in my door?

by SnakesInTheTower in

jw
friends

i come home from work yesterday evening and i was already in a foul mood from having a very unproductive day (which was followed by an even worse day today...not good when one is commission only).

i open my screen door and what do i find rolled up in my door knob?

you guessed it.... current (may 09) "public" edition of the wacktower and asleep!

SnakesInTheTower

I come home from work yesterday evening and I was already in a foul mood from having a very unproductive day (which was followed by an even worse day today...not good when one is commission only). I open my screen door and what do I find rolled up in my door knob? You guessed it...

current (May 09) "public" edition of the Wacktower and Asleep! magazines...yaaay for me...what a fu*k&ng blessing for my mood.

The cover article in Asleep! was about "prescription drug abuse...how can you protect your family?" Now, if I want advice about this subject, I don't think I would read an article from some magazine tucked in my door. I was thinking about how the average householder™ would react to receiving that particular magazine. When you first look at Asleep! magazine, it seems really very inoculous. No scriptures until page 6. But then an avalanche in the last article "Something better than drugs."

I only scanned the magazine articles but, really, all I wanted to do was puke. How many thousands of these magazines did I either actively place or, more likely, place in a door or other unattended place over the decades I was a JW. I wonder how many of them went directly into the garbage? I am hopeful that most were. I guarantee you that is where I just tossed mine..into the shredder bin...and then into the recycle bin....lest some unsuspecting fool pick them up, read them, and become a convention experience.

Why would area dubs put them in my door? I am fairly certain about everyone in the two congregations in this area know where I live. Maybe that is why they stuck current editions in my door. There is nothing in those rags that is going to make me come back to the Truth™ Lie. Why do they bother? And, the burning question (or maybe its gas), will they count the placements with a baptized inactive witness? answer: who cares.

Anyway, its a beautiful day. I tried to work, found no one home after two hours, gave up.....boss will be pissed, I don't care.

I am going to go do laundry and wash and vacuum my car out.

Maybe tomorrow or the day after I will have an interesting tale to tell that has nothing to do with dubs and a lot to do with laundromats.

Snakes ()

6

Lets welcome "awildflower"

by mouthy in

jw
friends

i see she/he just posted on the blood issue 1st post.

welcome on the friends post awildflower.

SnakesInTheTower

welcome awildflower...

and in response to your thread...I tried to read the Tolle books...just never "got" that particular author... was recommended to me by a member here... got it on Amazon....read about 1/4 of the book....sold it on Amazon for about what I paid for it... LOL

my mom was a coast guard wife... my dad started in navy and then quickly jumped to CG.... they found the "truth" before he could retire... {{gag}}..so my dad gave up a military career and pension...3 years shy of retirement.... we hurt financially for years after that....

glad you are free of the Borg.....

Snakes ()

36

Is Anybody on Facebook?

by homeschool in

jw
friends

hey there....i'm taking a leap here.

i really enjoy reading all the threads on here and think you're swell folks.

but with all the anonymity, its still kinda lonely to not "know" who you are.

SnakesInTheTower

I am on facebook... at first it was a very sparse list.... now its a lot longer...

and funny thing, everyone on my friends list is from JWD/N except one person who I met through eHarmony and stay in touch with. At first it was all women on my friends list...she referred to you as "the harem." Now there are some guys from JWD there so it's not "the harem" anymore..LOL...

I am not DF/DA because of a JW mom...so on FB I am only viewable to "friends" and "friends of friends"...meaning if you are on someone from JWD's list, you can probably view my profile...

and my profile says nothing about "Snakes".... but does have my pic that I posted on here....

Snakes ()

73

The "swagger" of the Organization is gone - or is it my imagination?

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

i am in my early forties.

grew up in the truth.

i remember talks at the assemblies by the governing body in the 80's.

SnakesInTheTower

Bonafide...no, it's not your imagination.

I have thought about this a little bit, especially about the conventions. My last convention was summer of 2007, right before I quit going to meetings completely. The last so-called "exciting" convention I went to was the summer of 2006 when I was a Delegate™ to a Special Convention™ to the Hamburg, Germany convention. It was record breaking heat. The attendees sang more songs in their languages after the final prayer each day, and after the final prayer of the convention there were banners of greetings in different languages.

I sat in the Tamil section and watched ogled the many beautiful (and not so beautiful) sisters from India, Sri Lanka and Tamil congregations in their sarees... showing their bare tanned bellies with pierced belly buttons and dainty piercings in their noses... hell, I might go back to the meetings if they allowed that here...LOL... {no, I wouldn't}.

And, yet, even that excitement was tempered by the Pharisaical bus captain who was mad that many in our group did not come back to the bus at the designated time. We were told 4pm. (We did not "follow direction") The session did not end until 4:30pm. As an assistant bus captain, many came to me during lunch asking what to do...I told them the GB always told us never leave sessions early..it was up to them, they were adults and they wouldn't be left behind. So half the group came at 4...the rest 45 minutes or more after the session ended. Pharisee Bus Captain was mad at me...next day, the GB announced no one need leave the stadium until a minimum 45 minutes after the closing prayer (ha ha..Snakes was right)...

The London Bethel tour was a joke (except for the married hottie sister who gave us the tour), nothing really going on...no real excitement from the Bethel workers...other than the fact they were having a huge tour day to distract them.

I heard US bethel is like that now, especially Brooklyn, which is a ghost town. I ran a bus tour of the US and Canada facilities back in 91 or 92.... that was a blast..because I didnt run it the same way as standard... I let people go sightseeing on their own, included Niagra Falls in the trip...didnt make it all WT touring...... Recent reports tell me that hardly any tours go anymore, just not worth it...certainly no fun...

My more recent tour of the Celestial Seasonings tea factory in Boulder, Colorado was a hell of a lot more exciting...truly interesting and smelled good besides.

Anyway, I can only hope beyond hope that the Organization is on its way out the door.

The Organization certainly is a pale shadow of its former self. It just doesn't have the decency to die.

Snakes ()