Just one further point - I doubt that they will offer me a Bible Study. I spent all my childhood and most of my adult life in the 'organization' and always prided myself on being up to date with all the new light and doctrines of the society.
eyeslice
JoinedPosts by eyeslice
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51
I am getting a visit - help me prepare for it!!!
by eyeslice inmy wife tells me that i am getting two elders coming to visit me, i assume as part of the 'help them return' initiative.
seems strange that they have asked my wife, who still is a regular attender, rather than give me a call.. has anyone else had a call?
what should be my line be as i don't want to particularly appear 'apostate', especially if there is a chance they will disfellowship me if i take a hard anti-witnees line..
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51
I am getting a visit - help me prepare for it!!!
by eyeslice inmy wife tells me that i am getting two elders coming to visit me, i assume as part of the 'help them return' initiative.
seems strange that they have asked my wife, who still is a regular attender, rather than give me a call.. has anyone else had a call?
what should be my line be as i don't want to particularly appear 'apostate', especially if there is a chance they will disfellowship me if i take a hard anti-witnees line..
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eyeslice
Thanks for all the advice. Not too sure about burying the wife in back yard though!
Like many here I have been on the other side of the fence but I was never and enforcer elder. I once chaired a JC for a brother who was caught smoking who then confessed to fornication, and still managed to swing it so he wasn't disfellowshipped. I was never one for disfellowshipping especially after a young brother in a near by congregation commited suicide after being disfellowshipped.
I am not going to avoid these guys because (1) I know they will persist, out of genuine concern, if they think I am avoiding them and (2) they were former fellow elders and friends.
I think I know what not to say. which is probably as important as what I will say. I will be very careful with the "do you still believe this God's spirit directed organisation" question.
I am sure that this campaign is to try and help ex-Jws return and not some sort witch-hunt to disfellowship suspected 'apostates', that is unless someone knows better?
The thing that worries me about this senseless religion, is that like Hotel California of the Eagles' song, you can never checkout. I have not been to a meeting for over 5 years, and have been careful never to appear as if I am still under the juristiction of the congregation. If things ever got difficult, then I would make sure that they understood I would never attend any JC meeting. But the bottom line is that although they might not be able to 'disfellowship me', they always have the "so-and-so is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses" option, which is a bit a difficult one to get out of really. If you object to that line, you immediately put yourself back under their perceived jurisdiction, if you don't, then you are confirming their statement. You really can't win.
I will post an update after the visit.
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51
I am getting a visit - help me prepare for it!!!
by eyeslice inmy wife tells me that i am getting two elders coming to visit me, i assume as part of the 'help them return' initiative.
seems strange that they have asked my wife, who still is a regular attender, rather than give me a call.. has anyone else had a call?
what should be my line be as i don't want to particularly appear 'apostate', especially if there is a chance they will disfellowship me if i take a hard anti-witnees line..
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eyeslice
My wife tells me that I am getting two elders coming to visit me, I assume as part of the 'help them return' initiative. Seems strange that they have asked my wife, who still is a regular attender, rather than give me a call.
Has anyone else had a call? What should be my line be as I don't want to particularly appear 'apostate', especially if there is a chance they will disfellowship me if I take a hard anti-witnees line.
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49
As a JW Were you Counseled on Grooming, your Dress or Hair Styles ?
by flipper injust another controlling feature of a mind controlled cult.
they always dictate that everyone should look like clones of one another - the same.
from early on i remember my elder dad in the late 1970's telling me as a teenager , " you are an elders son ; little brother jimmy over there looks up to you as an example.
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eyeslice
undercover - I did exactly the same once, I went on holiday and came back with a beard. The difference was I was school overseer at the time and also had a part the same night on the service meeting. I shaved it off for the following Sunday meeting but that didn't stop one elder sounding off at me. I simply told him that not having a beard had more to do with right wing American sterotypes than any Biblical command, so we agreed to leave it at that.
In the early 70's I was counseled for wearing my hair 1 inch over my ears - hardly long haired hippy style. I just wish I had that amount of hair now a days!
I think that was those were the only times in 50 years growing up in and in the truth I ever received any real 'counsel'. No wonder it was a shock to many when I suddenly just quit going.
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In what foreign countries is it acceptable by JWs to have a beard?
by JimmyPage inafter seeing the danish movie "worlds apart" and being told on this board that it is acceptable in some foreign countries, how common is it and where?.
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eyeslice
Afghanistan?
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What were city overseers?
by jws ini'm told that my dad was once a "city overseer".. i don't know what sort of time frame we're talking about.
i know he started in the early 50's and i know by the late 70's/early 80's (by the time i was old enough to know and care about the structure and titles) that he was only an elder by then.. does anybody know what a "city overseer" was?
kind of like a circuit overseer?.
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eyeslice
As far as I can see it was never a big position. In addition to the comments above, the City Overseer used to get involved when the there was a large district assembly held in the city.
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If a visitor wanted to be in a non-public meeting,saying they were a jw
by badboy invisiting the area, would they be let in?.
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eyeslice
I am not sure that there is such a thing as a 'non public' meeting any more.
At one time, the group study, because it was held in a private home, was classed as a 'non public' meeting. Disfellowshipped persons could always attend meetings at the Kingdom Hall but were not allowed in to the group study. With no group study any more, that issue has gone away.
I am not a legal person but my guess is that as the congregation displays the days and times of the meetings outside the Kingdom Hall, often with the message 'all welcome', then it would go totally against their charitable status to refuse entry to people of the grounds of ethnicity, race, religious views or sexual orientation. What they are clever at is sitting disfellowshipped people at the back and totally treating them as if they aren't there.
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There can be no better anthem for X-witnesses.....
by eyeslice infrom the fabulous joni mitchell who sings and looks like an angel.
i am sure for many of us who placed our dreams with the watchtower's empty promises, it is the perfect anthem.. .
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eyeslice
Hope4Others - I just love REM and Michael Stipe in particular; he is so cool and enigmatic
Berean - Hotel Califorinia is an all time classic. Desparado is also a great Eagles track
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What's Your Favorite Breakfast Consist Of?
by minimus ini love breakfast!
and sunday is usually a laid back day to enjoy a good breakfast.
here's what i want tommorrow.
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eyeslice
Spicy Scrambled Eggs
2 tablespoons of oil
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
5 or 6 curry leaves
One small red onion (better still 2 or 3 shallots) finely chopped
1 Tomato chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder (1/4 if don't like things too spicy)
3 eggs - well beaten
Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add mustard seeds
When seeds begin to pop add the curry leaves and fry for about 1 minute
Add onions and fry until soft
add spices and stir in well for about a minute
add tomatoes and lower the heat and cook until they soften
Add the beaten eggs and continue to stir until the eggs scramble
Serve on hot buttered toast
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There can be no better anthem for X-witnesses.....
by eyeslice infrom the fabulous joni mitchell who sings and looks like an angel.
i am sure for many of us who placed our dreams with the watchtower's empty promises, it is the perfect anthem.. .
.
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eyeslice
But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well somethinegs lost, but somethings gained
In living evry day
Ive looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
Its life's illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all
Ive looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its life's illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all