SnakesInTheTower

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Posts by SnakesInTheTower

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  60

  Did You Think Jehovah’s Witnesses Were Typically “Racists”?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was a jw from infancy.

  we had a melting pot type of congregation.

  i grew up with all types of witnesses , all with different backgrounds.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  I wish I could say the same. Our area is 66% white, 27% black. We had many mixed couples in the hall. But in later yesrs, or maybe I became more aware as an adult, then especially as an elder, I seen first hand the subtle racism that simmered beneath the surface.

  I watched an especially explosive argument betweem a younger black elder and an old school white elder in an elders meeting. Don't even remember the cause, but it was awful.

  The congregation territory I was in for a few months after MTS was 88% white, 3% black. They sent me (white guy), a black guy, and a hispanic guy from our class. We were not welcome. I left pretty quick.

  Moved back to a cong. near the first, and it 95% white territory. White elders ruled the congo. Only blacks were transplants. Awful.

  For the last 21 plus years I rented the same house in a fairly diverse neighborhood, but it leans black. Mostly no trouble. I recently bought a house, 2 doors down, same street. Doubled down invested here.

  Less trouble and racism here than some JW congos I was part of.

  Snakes (Rich)
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  23

  JWB 5th Anniversary GB host lineup

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the recent article on the 5th anniversary of jw broadcasting includes a helpful graphic showing our hosts:.

  .

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Reminds me of the Brady Bunch, minus Alice.

  Snakes
• 
  12

  Absolutely worth seeing - Kevin from Dubtown tells about himself

  by fastJehu in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhd-xbj9yoq.

  @ kevini love your dubtown videos.

  but this video - where you tell something about yourself - is the most valuable of all previous videos.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Haven't watched the video yet, but I will.

  I was raised in it from 1970, baptized in 1983 at age 16/17, left in 2007 age 41. I will be 53 in December.

  My mom will be baptized 50 years in 2020. Her non JW husband (my stepdad) is very sick, she has few friends, only dubs. I can tell she is worried about her future. I wonder if her 76 year old self would tell her 26 year old self to not answer the door.

  As to the being an ex-JW. I come here only to know what my mom is being fed by the Borg to monitor her mental health (I live 600 kiles away). Once she is gone, I am sure I may only pop in here to keep in touch with friends.

  I am too busy living a real life.

  Snakes (Rich)
• 
  18

  Post convention grumps..

  by zeb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hm of you with a divided house have to put up with this?

  in this house its walking a mine field.. also our little cat has been gone for some 24 hours and her absence is also my fault apparently..

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  SnakesInTheTower

  We are getting ready to build a catio (screened patio for the cats) with access from the inside, all9ws cats secure access to the outside, but not freedom to roam. Paid $49 for detailed step by step professional plans. Downloaded and printed them. Either I will build it or have a friend help.

  We have 9 cats, all rescue. Keeping some of them inside is a challenge, even after our recent move to our new (new to us) house. Same neighborhood. Plug in pheromone diffuser is helping calm them.

  All but one of ours is chipped, I have to got to get on that task.

  As to the divided house: I am sooooo grateful not to have to deal with that. Only my mom is still a dub, and she is 600 miles away. Post-convention blues. Spiritual high, come back to harsh reality. I had it bad after 8 weeks of MTS and only being around so-called uber dubs. Depressing.

  Snakes (Rich )
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  30

  We pray for the governing body

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  since when has it become cool to pray for the gb?

  i noticed that at the begining of my fade back in 2015, it had already been there for a good while and was already getting on my nerves.

  i means, i grew up in it, but can't remember much further than the 90s and i don't remember this being always in the payers.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  I remember specifically during the MTS (8 week Ministerial Training School) I attended in the US in 2002 that we were encouraged by the instructors to include the GB sometimes, but not all the time. We were told not to ket prayers be formulaic. I remember back in the mid 80s during Pioneer Service School that someone encouraged it too.

  Funny Blondie mentioning assemblies where brothers offering prayers were guided. Hell, EVERYTHING at assemblies was.....shall we say.... kneaded like bread dough....until it took the form the GB wanted to match their intent.

  Glad I am out.

  Snakes (Rich )
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  56

  Montana Supreme Court will hear the $35M case tomorrow

  by Corney in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  the montana case enters the home stretch.

  the state supreme court will hear oral arguments tomorrow, 13 september, at the northern hotel in billings during the state bar of montana’s annual meeting (announcement 1, announcement 2).

  an introduction to the argument will begin at 9:30 a.m., with the argument starting at 10 a.m. (4 p.m. utc, 9 a.m. sf time, 12 a.m. ny time, 5 p.m. london time, 2 a.m. saturday sydney time).

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Confidentiality among elders?

  There are three forms of communication among Witnesses:

  Telephone, telegraph, and tell-an-elder.

  After that, it's Tell-an-elder's-wife.

  Snakes
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  13

  Looking for Podcast recommendations.

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm a postman so i get 4 to 5 hours every day with my headphones on and i'm really chewing through some stuff.

  i'm after science (evolutionary biology and anthropology especially), history of religion and comedy.

  old sci-fi audio books are also a favourite.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  I really enjoy Snap Judgement, an hour long weekly broadcast from NPR. Some of those episodes make me laugh, some get me riled up at injustice. You never know what you will get.

  Other favorites, all NPR or other Public Radio favorites:

  Radiolab, This American Life, Fresh Air with Terry Gross

  Snakes
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  14

  The International convention in Warsaw is coming soon

  by FadeToBlack in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i took my wife to the airport today to pick up a 'delegate' from the us.

  on the way, she was almost crying with joy when she read that jw's will have free public transportation if they wear their lapel badge and have matching id.

  jah provides!

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Dozy...

  There were a lot of requirements and restrictions - even down to having to wear meeting attire a lot of the time ( including on the flight).

  When I went to Hamburg, Germany in summer 2006, it was everything you mentioned. It was overpriced, rushed, and the attire thing. I got chewed out by the "Team Captain", because I was an elder, MTS grad and "Assistant Team Captain" for the tour group (or some such nonsense JW title), and I was NOT wearing a jacket or tie, AND I was wearing walking shoes (aka sneakers). International flight in meeting clothes? Uh, no. I wanted to be comfortable.

  I ended up missing almost a whole day of "on my own" sightseeing in London because I had huge blisters and could barely walk....in dress shoes. Never again.

  Snakes
  
  
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  65

  Now Canada's Turn

  by newsheep in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  just got a phone call this morning from a very upset anointed brother.

  he said he didn't believe me when i told him about the pedo problem and selling off of halls.

  he said he was disgusted with the watchtower and had to go to a special meeting last night.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Lhg..... remember THIS:

  1975

  People DID sell houses and business thinking the end would come.

  OR

  People BOUGHT houses and cars thinking the end would come and they would not have to pay them off.

  I was only 9, and my folks had only been dubs 5 years. I remember older ones telling me these stories.

  Either way, "There is a sucker born every minute."

  Snakes
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  15

  No careers in this cheapskate organization

  by eyeslice2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you go to jw.org, you can download the program for 2019 convention.. what i notice is that nowadays there is no meeting for ones wishing to serve at bethel or for those interested in gilead missionary school.

  rather, there is just a meeting for those interested in 'the school for kingdom evangelizers'.. two things strike me about this.

  first, although there was once a big play on bethel and gilead being held out as career options, this is now just about dead and buried.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  I got sucked into MTS (the now defunct 8 week Ministerial Training School, part of WT School of Gilead, apparently also defunct). 62nd US Class, 2002.

  Left very disillusioned but determined to make it work. Too many years invested.

  3 weeks out, WT tries to send me to Middle-of-Nowhere, Kansas. The locals did not want me or my classmate (who DID go). Made NO effort to help us find housing, or a job. They ran off a previous graduate.

  I declined, had knee surgery, kept my full time job, restarted pioneering. (Thanks in no small part to Steve "Rubber face" Lett). But WT sent me 75 miles from home to Not-Much-Work, Illinois. Me and TWO other grads from our class. This congo was THAT fu&ked up.

  I did that 150 mile round trip 3 times a week. Sunday, Thursday, and Saturday for 4 months. Did Tuesday and some FS close to home and worked FT... back home. NO support from Crooklyn. Got sick, lost 25 pounds, got down to 115 pounds. Doc checked for cancer....nope...stress. Told me to quit the commute. I did. Got kicked out of the MTS program. Took 10 months of fighting to get reappointed as an elder to where I ended up close to home.

  Fast forward 5 years. Former elder, pioneer, MTS grad. Walked away, never to return. Forward 12 more. Never set foot there again. Why? Because they LIED to me all those years, told me at those conventions to make FT service my life. You know who encouraged me to keep applying for MTS at those CONventions?

  Samuel "Turd" Herd.

  I pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster I never see that fu#ker again.

  Snakes