i'm new here -- i confidently disassociated in 1994 (but really left the organization in 1992).
i was a ministerial servant and gave talks at conventions.
i'm not bragging, but just giving you an idea of my involvement.
So, back on topic...
Does anyone know from the inside whether elders are having to counsel more doubting sheep, due to the Internet?
I would think that more and more witnesses would be presenting Web printouts to the elders in their "sessions," which would show increasingly difficult-to-answer critiques of the WTS.
i'm new here -- i confidently disassociated in 1994 (but really left the organization in 1992).
i was a ministerial servant and gave talks at conventions.
i'm not bragging, but just giving you an idea of my involvement.
Yeah, and the "hissy fit" wasn't from me.
wingcommander said in a previous post:.
the bad news is this: the older generation of jw's is dying off, while the younger generation thanks to the internet and research, is able to see through the history of false prophecy and absolute control, and is now leaving in droves!
(he meant "bad news" for the wts).
I have thought so-- that people are leaving-- at least in the developed countries.
I have tended to think that the JW's in the developed countries will eventually be left with an increase-by-breeding program.
Who knows, maybe they'll get "new light" and encourage more childbearing, like the Mormons:
[Imaginary WT article:]"In the past, the FDS encouraged brothers and sisters to abstain from childbearing to devote time to kingdom interests. Does this mean that brothers and sisters should not start families, as some have misunderstood? By no means! Indeed, [scripture they pull out of their ass] says [something out of context]. How encouraging it is that Jehovah loves large families..."
i simply gradually quit going.
of course, this was many years ago and maybe the "rules" have changed, but rather than create drama among my family, i just let them think i was becoming materialistic and spiritually weak.
at least it kept them talking and associating with me rather than cutting me off.
I wanted to leave by choice, rather than by default, and proclaim my independence.
To make a clean break, I also wanted to prevent future harassing shepherding calls by elders and accidental run-ins with "concerned friends".
I actually preferred the shunning; I felt I was shunning them, actually. It was fabulous and made things so simple.
i'm new here -- i confidently disassociated in 1994 (but really left the organization in 1992).
i was a ministerial servant and gave talks at conventions.
i'm not bragging, but just giving you an idea of my involvement.
Sir82 and Alligator Wisdom --
Huh??? You've gotta be kidding with your juvenile gossipy posts. You might as well be saying, "Girl...oh no that's not really a Louis Vuitton purse..."
In my first couple of posts here on this forum, you impugn my honesty? Out of everything that I said in this post, you focus on my resume? Weird!
Who cares if it was a District, or Planetary, or National, or an Anthill Convention? Who cares if it was a Red talk or a Blue talk or a Green talk?
(Evidently you.)
I was simply trying to say that I was rather involved with the organization and experienced the Borg on such a level, as I said! because this thread is called EXPERIENCES.
And it was over frikkin 15 years ago. So, I all I know is I was at a big stadium with lots of people, in an approved Witness-male suit (uniform) giving talks. Whoop-tee-do. And just to be clear, because evidently dates are important to some (ex) Witnesses, when I say I "left" in 1992, I meant psychologically, but formallly disassociated later.
I thought this was a welcoming and safe place.
did you, even in subtle ways, stop living now, "putting all of your eggs" in one basket- the paradise earth?
.
were you so busy with "theocratic activities" that you planned to actually enjoy life once the new system arrived..
I dropped out of college at my Bible Study teacher's ever-so-subtle shame-speeches that college was selfish and indicative of faithlessness in the New System.
I was actually told that a construction job was the Witness-way for men, because the skills would be needed in the NS, and Jesus was a carpenter, and, well...it was just manlier ya' know in the gender stereotyped world of the WTS.
After I got baptized, I immersed myself in Witness World like many, here. I worked jobs just to get by and waited for Armageddon...
... ... ...
When I got out, I quickly got back on the horse, finished my Bachelor's, got a Masters.
i'm new here -- i confidently disassociated in 1994 (but really left the organization in 1992).
i was a ministerial servant and gave talks at conventions.
i'm not bragging, but just giving you an idea of my involvement.
Thanks, all, for the welcomes.
After I left, I only read Franz' Crisis of Conscience and no other literature, books, or anything. So, curiously, I didn't leave because I went on the internet or read any apostate literature. I left because, well...geez...you all know.
Years later I surfed the net curiously about JW's and there was such a motherlode of information!
I asked myself, would I have joined in 1987 if I had access to such freely available information? I remember looking for some "apostate" literature before I joined-- cautiously, but still curious, even though warned of Satan's wily attempts to get me "doubtful". But, it was slim pickins at our library, and all of the criticisms that I was hearing verbally from others were eloquently explained away by my Bible Study teachers. Then, those of you who joined from the outside know the routine: the "love" chemicals take over and new converts become google-eyed about the JW's in the same way that people fall in love and then discount the negatives of their lover, even though their friends are warning them away. So, it took years for the voice of my conscience to yell loudly enough for me to stop ignoring it.
But, I think if I had access to the internet then before I "fell in love" and was in the more cautious, early stages of talking with the JW's and in the Bible study, I think the sheer amount of criticism on the Net would have made me slow my row much more.
The brief time I've been here on JWD-- and surfed the WWW in general and lived life since my disassociation-- I've learned that that little voice saying "No!" during my JW Bible Study, was right all along.
I listen to that voice now, and golly jeepers, it actually keeps me out of trouble.
I trust myself so much more now, wherein, back then, when I was in low-self-esteem-ville, I was willing to hand over my superego to a bunch of curmudgeons in NYC.
i'm new here -- i confidently disassociated in 1994 (but really left the organization in 1992).
i was a ministerial servant and gave talks at conventions.
i'm not bragging, but just giving you an idea of my involvement.
I'm new here -- I confidently disassociated in 1994 (but really left the organization in 1992). I was a ministerial servant and gave talks at Conventions. I'm not bragging, but just giving you an idea of my involvement. They loved me because I was harvested from The World, rather than being produced by JW Breeding. Never looked back since. This forum seemed intellectually interesting.
Perhaps, this topic has been raised before...forgive me, but, how can the WTS survive with the Internet?!!
The WTS's major tour de force of being able to control information amongst it's masses must surely be severely mitigated by the WWW. The cat's out of the bag, right?
I remember joining in the late 1980's when the internet was not ubiquitous, if existent at all, and apostate literature was maybe available in the local library, if lucky; and, then a book was easier to avoid than that seductive, glowing, throbbing internet that we have today.
I've always thought that the Internet would result in a huge spike in the Exodus? Any ideas, insights? Are more people leaving? What do we know from the inside? Is the WTS peeing its pants?
Just curious...
