SnakesInTheTower

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Posts by SnakesInTheTower

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  86

  There's someone here who shouldn't be

  by mrsjones5 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  *i'm posting this in a public place so this person will see it, i'm not sure if they are a member of the board or not but i'm sure they're a lurker*.

  dear person who knows my mother, i want you to know that i am not nor have i never been a jw.

  yes as you well know i was raised in the org but i was never baptised into it.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  mrs. jones... seems like I missed some chaos. Also looks like you have it all under control . woot woot give em hell josie..

  Snakes (Rich )
• 
  42

  Questions for former elders.

  by evilone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have a few questions regarding moving and changing congs.

  i would love to hear from former elders.. .

  my wife and i will be moving soon, and as i described in an earlier post we will be using the move as an opportunity to fade.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  evil one... welcome to the board. We really should not have to jump through hoops should we, but as TAI said, its a cult.

  Look through some of my old posts. I did this exact thing. Ironic, I moved to a St. Louis area congo.... in card only. I still live in the same house I have lived in for the last 13+ years. After I was deleted as an elder (and a secretary), I had my card sent to a congo about 15 miles away, another state, another circuit. I waited 3 weeks before actually attending. I never attended a book study group (partly because they couldn't figure where to assign me since I did not live in the territory). I hit and miss the TMS ... (despite their attempts to get me to give #2 and #4 talks .. -- because I had given public talks in their KH as a visiting speaker -- they even assigned me a school talk without my permission -- I was a "no show.") I attended the Sunday morning meetings, but often left after the talk. I quit commenting early on. I really had nothing to say.

  This huge (150+) congo thought they were getting a MTS-trained elder, so the love bombing began. After they received my introductory letter, they knew I could not be reappointed for 3 years, and then only as an MS, then a year later an elder. Yeah, the love cooled quickly. I even had a difficult time getting a KM.

  When the congo closed for 2 months for a major remodel and scattered everyone, I disappeared. I came back for one meeting when they reopened. And I walked out after the talk, and never looked back.

  As a former secretary, I can tell you it depends on the lazy factor of the receiving and sending secretaries. A lot has changed since I was secretary, but you should just have your letter sent to a huge congo in a KH with multiple congregations. Then just get lost. That is what I did.

  wish you well.

  Snakes (Rich )
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  23

  Changes are coming

  by startingover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i see it happening.

  any comments on our future here in the us?http://www.evolver.net/user/soultraveller/blog/america_changes_are_cominga_lot_them_are_herechanges are coming ----.

  that will blow your mind..... #1 the united states has lost approximately 42,400 factories since.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  starting over... interesting comments...

  some additional observations...

  post office... I ordered something from Land's End the other day. It came UPS AND USPS (post office). You see, it came UPS all the way to my town, then they delivered it to the post office, and they put it in my PO Box (UPS pays USPS for that last connection). FedEx and the post office have a partnership of sorts. You see FedEx boxes outside of lots of post offices now, unheard of before. The "junk mail" is what pays for the little first class mail that we receive. I still get a lot of my bills through the mail, but so many people now get their statements emailed in a PDF or a link online. How many actual letters do you send now? I remember having pen pals in my late teens and early 20s. Now it is all facebook and email and instant messaging. No more trunks full of bundled romantic correspondence to look at decades later. I can see the post office going to 5 day a week service. Already I receive nothing on Tuesdays except the weekly junk bundle of ads.

  checks ... I used to work in check processing for the US Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It was a large operation. They were just starting to heavily market the ACH (automated clearing house) concept. Sending images of the front and back of the checks and the information on the MICR line at the bottom electronically. They were still sending checks cross country on overnight flights. I quit after a few years, but I heard not long ago that they consolidated all of the check processing for the branches for St. Louis (Louisville, Memphis, Little Rock) to St. Louis and that it is a fraction of the size.

  paper money .. you did not mention this one, but I can see the replacement of $1 bills with coins coming soon... along with the elimination of pennies. Not cost effective.

  newspaper... I only get the Sunday paper, and that only for the coupons and ads. And more and more of those coupons are showing up online. The ads are also showing up on the respective retailers sites, sometimes a week early. I can see this going strictly online or to e-book readers.

  books (and magazines) ... ironically, magazines are actually doing well from stats I read recently (but cannot put my finger on right now). But every ad and even some articles, have little scan codes and/or web addresses for more content. I would hate to see books go away. I love having hardback books on my shelf. And electronic versions can be altered at the whim of the content provider.... or as Amazon did recently, just erase it from your Kindle without your permission. The only thing I would like to see go electronic is college and elementary school textbooks.

  POTS (plain old telephone service... aka "landline"). For cost reasons, I just recently switched my phone number from AT&T POTS to AT&T u-Verse (VOIP) service. In reality, I only kept it to keep my old number, the one I have had for 15 years and the one my parents had forever before that. Once we move out of the area, I will probably just go to straight unlimited cell service.

  music I still have some cassettes, but nothing to play them on. I still like having a CD, but only so I can make a backup copy and play the MP3 version on my player. I do not like the idea of buying an MP3 and then not having a hard copy.

  television .... the cable internet providers are figuring this one out (story here). If you are a heavy streamer, and based on caps that Charter and AT&T are going to put on their internet service, they are going to start charging for those extra gigs or slow down or cut the connection if it exceeds those caps. And to think that at one time it was thought that the fiber cable systems had been overbuilt with so much excess capacity... now that technology has caught up, they can't build fiber fast enough.

  things... we have too many damn things. I have a stack of stuff I am taking to the local charity (5a's thrift store... a store that benefits a local pet shelter). I have a rule... bring one thing in the house, send two things out... keeps clutter to a minimum.

  privacy .... we have never had privacy ... before the internet and computers.... it was nosy neighbors. Even if you went completely cash (income and expense), their are cameras everywhere now.

  The world will continue to spin. In reality, if computers and the internet and television went away, I would not cry. Some things are made easier with computers, but so many other things about them are time wasters....

  Speaking of which, I need to get on the phone and call some of my offices to make appointments for my job. Have to pay for the internet, television, phones, etc.

  Snakes (Rich )

  (as a side note, why is it more and more postal carriers look like slobs.... if they even wear a uniform, they have their shirts untucked. My grandpa is probably rolling over in his grave on that one.)
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  31

  HOME FROM THE MEH-MORIAL....GETS WORSE EVERY YEAR.....

  by Mary in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, i walked in and got the love-bombing before i even made it past the foyer.

  everyone's missed me, everyone's thrilled that i came, blah, blah, blah.

  to be fair though, there were a few there that i do miss so it was nice to see them.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Mary... I am sorry that you had to go through that yet again.

  My JW mom did not even tell me about the Memorial™ even though I talked to her two days prior. My fiancee said if she were going she was bringing a can of Cheez-Wiz™ for the "crackers." I told her not to bother, we had better things to do. (We went to an Earth Day festival instead -- though that is becoming more and more commercial and weirder with the New Age booths. We then went to CVS to shop for bargains - never thought about the Memorial until quite late... aww shucks)

  I have wondered what new people (non JWs) thought of the memorial "talk" I gave a couple of years before I left the cult. How ridiculous I must have sounded. Not a one of the non-dubs studied as a result of the Memorial™, and few showed up for the [Not-So] Special Talk™

  Supposedly, the local dubs loved the talk, not the same old same old. I think the outline was new, but I tried to spice it up some, make it more interesting, more about Jesus. (Meaning I had to go off the copyrighted outline a bit.) What I hated the year that I gave the Memorial™ talk was they had a separate "Special Announcement©." -- which was nothing more than invites to the Special Talk™ and for Bible Studies™ as I recall. It was a little slip of paper, about the same size as a time slip. It was to be read word for word with the same kind of enthusiasm as a convention release announcement. The young PO had a copy of the outline and the announcement in his lap making sure I did as I was told. I did not. I made the announcement as a mere afterthought, so as to not take away from the solemnity (gag) of the occasion. Of course, I was read the riot act about the announcement. Originally the PO wanted to be called up to the platform to make the announcement. I vetoed that. As Memorial™ speaker, I had control over every aspect of preparation through execution. Can you imagine how anti-climatic and very infomercial-ish that would be?

  Oh wait, it is a book publishing corporation .

  Snakes (Rich, of the "never going to the Memorial again" Sheep Class)
• 
  23

  Veggie Burgers, Are You Serious?

  by prophecor in

  1. social
  2. current

  .

  anybody else as shocked as i when you tasted them?.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  OUTLAW:

  They make as much sense as a Meat Milk Shake.

  

  This was on the menu at Denny's recently. http://www.dennys.com/#/menu/menu-10

  Snakes (Rich )
• 
  51

  Alert: Witch hunt begins Watchtower 15 july 2011

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  reading the posts about the 2011-7-15 watchtower about mentally retarded apostates i foresee the following scenario:.

  1. congregational elders trying to get grip on non regular publishers and inactive witnesses.. 2. the good ones read in the watchtower that apostates are to find in the local congregation.

  3. inactives like me (i hate this name, but i use their language), and liberal witness like me, will be hunted, .

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  SnakesInTheTower

  sylvia:

  I am in the phone book.

  Me too. And my home and cell phone numbers have not changed since I left. Neither has my address.

  Oh, that's right, my publisher record, if it even still exists from 2007, is in a congregation in another state, another circuit, about 20 minutes away. I do not live in their territory. The territory that I do live in, I have not attended since 1991. The town that I live in, I have not been a publisher since I left for my MTS assignment in 2002.

  Me thinks I fell through the cracks. hooooo raaaaah. If the "Organization" were truly organized, you would think they could find me to encourage and/or DF me. Hell, maybe they DF me in absentia.

  Or maybe I just do not care if I am the subject of a JW witch hunt. F 'em

  Snakes (Rich )
• 
  74

  How many received the memorial invitation?

  by IMHO in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how well is this territory being covered?.

  how many on here (active jws excluded) received an invitation?.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  funny, I called my JW mom last night... she never mentioned the big M. First time since I left. She never mentioned a thing related to JWs.

  My (never a JW) fiancee said we got one in the door last week. She wasn't going to show it to me -- thinks it pisses me off. Au contraire... it matters not to me if they put that crap in my door or not. I think I put it in the compost bin -- maybe the worms will get a thorough witness.

  She said if she went she would be bringing her Cheez-Wiz for the crackers.

  I haven't heard from any active JWs in a long long time (other than running into them at the store). The way I like it

  So much for them being my true Christian friends.

  Snakes (Rich )
• 
  22

  Watchtower - simple doctrine for simple people

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know there are some intelligent witnesses that really research their beliefs, but the more i learn, the simpler and more ignorant watchtower doctrine appears.

  that opinion is certainly not helped by some of the apologists that appear on this site.

  most watchtower doctrine is a product of the black and white syndrome, where all the obvious shades of grey in between are simply ignored with statements such as "wait on jehovah".

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  SnakesInTheTower

  prodigal son:

  Actually, the Snakes in the Tower don't seem to care about murder, or even serial killers. After all, we need to have mercy on them. But smoke a joint? Now that's worthy of a one-way ticket to Gehenna.

  haaaay... wait a minute... what you talking about me that way for?... oh wait, my screen name is a) because I thought the GB are snakes in the tower and b) they would probably have thought me to be a snake in their tower back when I was still an elder but coming to JWD... lol ... never mind.

  just kidding... and good points JWFacts.. . my JW mother, a JW since 1970... 40 years, sh*t.... couldn't explain anything without a WT publication and/or the WT CD ROM now.

  WT, et al has dumbed down an already dumbed down doctrine. Why do people stay in it?

  Snakes (Rich )
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  236

  All out pandemonium breaks out on The Six Screens Conference call... Guest Barbara Anderson and Johnny the Bethelite.

  by koolaid-man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this highly explosive six screens of the watchtower april 9-2011 conference call is now up loaded and ready to be heard.

  concerned people from all over the world were calling in to get the latest news on what is going on in the world of the watchtower.. our first guest was barbara anderson and she brought us up to speed on the criminal complaint the watchtower organization is facing in australia.

  barbara as always wants the facts straight and delivers her information in a very professional,competent manner.. steve guziec a former j.w.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Rick...

  I haven't posted here much of late. When I do come on I immediately go to Active Topics. And this topic of your Six Screens keeps coming to the top. I realize, of course, that by my posting, it brings it back to the top yet again. I went back and read some, but not all, of this thread. I have read enough though. I have also visited your site a few times. Here are my observations:

  Your site, even with the redesign, suffers from poor design issues. It is very dark and has the feel of a cheap tabloid. If I were an active JW looking for answers about the Organization, I sure as heck would have run the other way from your site.

  Your videos of yourself are self-aggrandizing. If I were "on location" with you, I would hide my face. If I were a JW at the KH watching you film, I would point you out as a nut and an apostate.

  The conference calls are indeed chaotic. If you allow unlimited access from your audience to make comments during the call, there can be no other result. You have zero outcome on the result. For you to post the resulting chaotic, lengthy calls without some serious editing cheapens the good information that might happen to be there. Indeed, you risk legal problems if something is said during the live call and it is broadcast all over the internet.

  Your attacks on established posters of this forum show you to be lacking confidence in your own circus.

  And just so you know, I will not "hide" behind my screen name and pretty sunset in my avatar. I have posted my real name before, I have no reason to hide any more. I am no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses, even though, I think, that such has never been announced.

  Snakesinthetower ( aka Richard Bailey, Illinois)
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  43

  Anyone have a Kindle or a Nook?

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i really don't like the ipad (or apple) but i think an ebook reader would be nice.

  nothing made by sony though .... the amazon kindle and barnes & noble nook look to be the best (esp.

  with the recent price reductions) but i'd like any insight from anyone who has one.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  I still like the feel of a book in my hands, but the thought of not having to find my reading glasses makes it tempting.

  I like books on a shelf, but not having to dust or move them around.....

  Snakes (Rich )