Posts by expatbrit

Then there isn't much of a reason for not callin’ it what it actually is, is there? … a Discussion Forum for ex-JWs to talk about their former religion.

So if Simon changes the name of the board, will you go away?

Expatbrit

12

You have three minutes - talk fast!

by expatbrit in

jw
friends

alright, i'm fed up with the shit going all one way!.

today i had my periodic phone conversation with the family back in the uk.

as usual, they veered the conversation around to "the truth".. "did you go to the meeting?

expatbrit

Alright, I'm fed up with the shit going all one way!

Today I had my periodic phone conversation with the family back in the UK. As usual, they veered the conversation around to "the truth".

"Did you go to the meeting?"

"No"

"Have you been lately?"

"No"

After that it was the usual cliche's:

-"you should widen out, make more friends at the kingdom hall" (I've made more friends in the past six months than in all my years in the WT)

-"stand back and think deeply about the truth" (that's why I stopped going)

-"your business wont make you happy" (I'm happier now than I was a year ago and it has nothing to do with my business)

-"the rotten world is going down" (the world isn't rotten, it's a better place now than it's ever been).

My response to these statements usually gets as far as three words, then they cut me off with the next one. It's almost like they don't want to hear my response.

After that the emotional blackmail, wrapped in false humour:

-"well, you can't visit us unless you're in the truth ha ha ha"

-"we don't want any apostates in this house ho ho ho".

SO: I've had it with the Mr-nice-guy-soak-it-up-like-a-sponge-and-don't-provoke-a-conflagration act.

I am going to mail them just a few of the reasons why I am no longer ensnared in the WT cult.

BUT, I suspect that once they start reading this stuff, they will only read a little before the walls go up and the WT blinders come on.

SO, those first items need to be powerful, irrefutable, and hard hitting, like a battering ram against the walls of WT conditioning. If they can just loosen a few bricks, shake their thoughts inside those walls, maybe in the future THEY will stand back and take an objective look at "the truth".

I have some ideas about what to send in this first volley, but would welcome, please, your thoughts on what I should confront them with.

It should preferably be something that doesn't involve the internet i.e. material I can get from the WT publications or available scholarly textbooks or higher quality news-journals.

I would like to concentrate on showing the idiocy, fraud and sheer rottenness of the WT organization.

While I will continue to mail stuff to them in future, I may only get one shot at actually getting their attention. Please give me your input. Thanks!

Expatbrit

7

Pictures in French/Italian editions of the WT

by Osarsif in

jw
friends

from: http://user.online.be/~gd34048/subliminal3a.html.

w99 15/2 3 french/italian:.

no long skirts for italian jw?

expatbrit

Logical:

It certainly looks like it from these scans.

I looked at the original in the bound volume. It's just reflections in the window. Russell's beard is a wedding dress. The dark eyes are not so prominent.

Doesn't look subliminal to me (of course, that's the point of subliminal, isn't it.)

Expatbrit

42

Notes from 2001 District Conv.---Friday

by LostMyReligion in

jw
friends

here are a few notes i took at the friday session of the 2001 "teachers of god's word" district convention.

i thought i would share these upbuilding theocratic point with my new friends, along with my thoughts as i was listening to the program.

1st instruction of the day: sing loudly and listen to the prayer!

expatbrit

Thread starting on WOL re the Satan=Ted Bundy thing.

Watch paranoia develop at http://www.witnessesonline.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/witnessesonline/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000371

Expatbrit

9

Recognized by Baptism or Service Report?

by Josh in

jw
friends

i have been wondering for a while now:are jw's recognized as such by their public baptism or by .

the service report they turn in every month?.

when i was studying,i was constantly told that to become a jehovah's witness,one had to make a. public declaration by getting baptized.2 1/2 yrs after i was baptized,i was stripped of all my privileges.

expatbrit

I'm sure that in the magazines it has been stated several times that one requirement to be called a JW is that a person must be reporting field service time.

Can someone with a working CD perhaps look this up and post it? Thanks in advance.

Also, Josh seemed to be treated extremely harshly. My understanding was that if you had below the cong. average (usually about 10 hours), you were not considered to be reaching out and would not be recommended for promotion.

Other er, privileges, such as reading at the BS, mic running, etc. were available to any brother "in good standing", i.e. any male reporting time regularly.

Sound like you encountered a serious control freak, Josh.

Expatbrit

42

Notes from 2001 District Conv.---Friday

by LostMyReligion in

jw
friends

here are a few notes i took at the friday session of the 2001 "teachers of god's word" district convention.

i thought i would share these upbuilding theocratic point with my new friends, along with my thoughts as i was listening to the program.

1st instruction of the day: sing loudly and listen to the prayer!

expatbrit

LMR:

Thanks from me too, and please give us your observations for the rest of the convention.

Just reading about the convention was enough to remind me of that clenched feeling in the stomach I used to have while actually attending.

Farkel:

Why doesn't the WTS get a clue

Let's hope they don't. It might prolong their miserable existence.

Expatbrit

42

boob jobs and sisters

by jurs in

jw
friends

warning: this is a very shallow post.

now that i'm out, i'm trying to see the humor of my past life as a jw.

when i was new in the truth , only baptized 4 months, i became good friends with this one sister.

expatbrit

I give free advice on whether boob jobs are necessary.

For a complimentary exam, email me any time.

Expatbrit

36

Report on Jacksonville losing WT convention

by expatbrit in

jw
friends

city loses big convention .

by bill johnson, special to the daily record.

wash your car, it will rain.

expatbrit

Sorry, forgot to do that in the original post. Here it is: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/public/public%20news/editorial.html

36

Report on Jacksonville losing WT convention

by expatbrit in

jw
friends

city loses big convention .

by bill johnson, special to the daily record.

wash your car, it will rain.

expatbrit

City loses big convention
by Bill Johnson, Special to the Daily Record

Wash your car, it will rain. Build a megameeting hotel in downtown Jacksonville, and watch the megameetings beat a path out of town.

Such seems to be how the downtown's four major hotels see their situation. No sooner does the Adam's Mark open its doors with nearly 1,000 rooms and 110,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space, than the city has to prepare for what's destined to be one of its quietest and likely least-profitable Julys.

The Watchtower Society of the Jehovah's Witnesses will be setting up shop in Tampa this summer instead of Jacksonville and it is taking its thousands of visiting members and their money with it. Combine that with the loss of March's Cheerleaders of America event and you've got an epic case of bad timing.

The Watchtower loss doesn't just affect one hotel or a few restaurants. This group basically took over downtown Jacksonville during its conventions, which typically spanned two weekends.

"That's a huge piece of business we lost," said John Remmers, general manager of the Omni Hotel. Add to that the general malaise of the economy and its dampening affect on business travel and "you can kind of see our struggles."

Remmers said approximately 700 visitors stayed in his hotel during the event, and he estimates the total number of Watchtower followers visiting the city at about 4,000 to 5,000.

Bob Downey of SMG, the management group the city hired to run the Coliseum, said it is unfortunate the hotels are losing income without the event. But, he said, his group and the city went as far as possible to keep the convention in Jacksonville.

"When we got into it they were paying way below what the prevailing rates were for all the other religious groups and other groups that come to use the facilities in Jacksonville," Downey said.

In addition to the low price, the Watchtower wanted a bare-bones deal, he said: no concessions, no parking deal, no emergency personnel and no custodial service. This caused problems with traffic - because no police were provided - as well as cleaning supply costs and possible culpability on the city's part, since no emergency services were provided for on a city property.

When SMG proposed certain adjustments to the deal to make it more in line with what other groups were paying, Downey said Watchtower officials bypassed his company and went straight to city officials to seek relief.

"In addition," he said, "the entire cost of the rental for the facilities was being given back to them [Watchtower] through a grant from the city's Tourist Development Council." And that amount, basically, wasn't even enough to pay for the utilities during the event, Downey added.

Since the negotiations, he said, several other cities bargaining with Watchtower have called Jacksonville to ask,

"'How do you guys deal with this?'"

"We believed we were being more than fair with them," Downey said. In fact, the Watchtower did have an opportunity for more cost relief from the TDC, but it never made the application for it, he said.