so, the jehovah`s witnesses sold a kingdom hall that used to be a little too big and started to build a new one a few streets away: .
http://www.lavantposte.ca/actualites/societe/2016/7/22/l-edifice-des-temoins-de-jehovah-prend-forme.html.
what i find absolutely ridiculous is that they could have taken the profit of the sale of the first hall to have a contractor build the second.
So, the Jehovah`s witnesses sold a Kingdom hall that used to be a little too big and started to build a new one a few streets away:
What I find absolutely ridiculous is that they could have taken the profit of the sale of the first hall to have a contractor build the second. But no.. it is much better to take the evenings, weekends and vacation time of the volonteers.
Ridiculous.
im asking for you guys help in a phase im going through right now.
im sure it’ll pass but id appreciate your advice..
born in, my family consists of mum, dad, two brothers and two sisters.
31! First, be glad that you are still young. Sure, you already missed on some education and many years. But you still have plenty of time in front of you and a world of opportunity.
First and foremost, you need to rebuilt your belief system. This may take time, however, you need to do it. You need to stop, think about things you find acceptable and not and be convinced in the reasons why. For instance, I personally do not believe in the bible, a personal God, etc. However, I do believe in being a good person. For that reason, I would not, for instance, cheat on my wife, steal, lie, etc.
Second, you need to do things other than work. Previously, if you were committed to the JW values, you spent at least 15 hours per week doing things related to that. that is 60 hours per month. What will you do with all this time? For instance, I took some extra work, I took karate courses, I did small projects around the house, took other courses pertaining to my hobbies, increased my activities with my kids. You'd be amazed of everything you can discover. Once you have accomplished a few things you never could have found the time to do as a JW, believe me, you will feel truly free!
As for family... well, there is nothing harder than to loose your family. In that regard, I would advise listening exactly what the society says about non believer spouses: Win them by your actions.
You can send them emails giving them updates on your life, leaving out JW related things. Send them pictures, etc. They will certainly read it. They may not answer to these, but you can be sure they will read it.
You need to come the the understanding that your relationship with your family has been forced into an abusive one by the religion you were all involved in. Abuse is never a positive thing. You should not accept abuse from anyone. When you accept Abuse (lack of respect) from parents, family, friends, boss, girlfriend, etc, you will loose respect for yourself. It is than that you will automatically fail and loose happiness.
BTW: I was also in my 30s when I left.
ok. i know this has been brought up in the past, but i have often wondered who in our halls are awake (for those of us who attend).
there are some i would consider a 'maybe', but no way of ever really knowing.. so here is my idea.
i hope it doesn't sound too masonic,.
I also remember a friend of mine who, though not being awaken, didn't believe in 1914 and many of the prophesies. He didn't believe in the faithful slave either! While he told me about this, I understood that he was still under the spell of : "Yeah, but look at all the good fruits the organization is bearing!"
On my end, I simply acknowledged that it was difficult to believe in everything and that we could choose to wait on Jehovah. That day, I didn't know if he was indeed fully awaken and fishing for my feedback, and I didn't want to risk anything. In addition, at that time in his life, he had various issues and becoming awaken at the same time could have proved to be "too much". Leaving the org is very difficult: losing friends and family, time to research and study and undo all the ideas that have been forced into you mind. etc. Some loose their marriage and other fall physically sick under the stress. I didn't want to add this burden on him in a time I knew he could not carry it.
Since I have become inactive, I have had a few conversations with him, however, we never talk about JW stuff. The day he will be ready, we'll have that conversation. In the meantime, I feel he is captive of his own mind and of his family.
Anyways... my point is this: Back then, when we had this conversation, I could easily have assumed he was awaken and this would have opened a whole world of trouble if I had done so.
This is why forums like these are perfect. We can reach out anonymously to people living the same things we are without the risk of causing additional difficulties to our own lives or of those that we care for.
ok. i know this has been brought up in the past, but i have often wondered who in our halls are awake (for those of us who attend).
there are some i would consider a 'maybe', but no way of ever really knowing.. so here is my idea.
i hope it doesn't sound too masonic,.
I had this fantasy also, when I was in, where we could produce this type of secret society. The issue however is that very few awaken members stay in longer then 2 years. And during that 2 years, they tend to become increasingly irregular (in service and meetings) hence, taking away the fun of being with someone who knows its all BS.
2016-08-16 branch relocation project - key events.
2016-08-17 branch relocation project - personnel needs.
2016 key events programme.
From some comments that I read, I have the feeling that brother's with desired construction skills would be placed under passive/aggressive pressure to assist with the construction projects even if it meant foregoing vacations that they would normally take with their family.
Am I right? Do anyone here know of stories related to that?
thinking back to how they went from votes by the congregation under russels time to private closed doors in rutherfords time so as to not waste time, etc, of other members.
if it really wasn't to hide things from the org, it would have an option for the person it's against to have it open to the public.
a time announced for any members or the person to bring any they want to attend.
They brag so often about the concept that their elder's book has nothing that is not already written in a watchtower somewhere, I would act surprised, puzzled, and ask how come they are imposing rules that I had never heard of before.
Not once, even before I was baptized, have I heard of such procedures. I'd ask for them to point to some publication that would explained how JCs are entirely closed with absolutely no observers or recordings allowed.
so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.
about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.
i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.
Before you go at that meeting, remove the link from facebook.
At the meeting...
If you do not show any remorse or regret over posting this thing, you will have a JC.
we had a bad experience with watchtower trying to infiltrate our forums.
let this story be a warning for all you guys here.
if you value your privacy do not ever send your real contact details to anyone, even if you trust them (because their accounts could be hacked or accessed by their relatives - and yes, this happened to people i know several times already).
I'm a guru in IT and at one point in my life, I thought about hacking angry, rambling apostates who threw unfounded accusations. However, for every apostate of the sort, there'd be 20 other apostates who'd correct the lies, stand for the facts, and write something similar to: "There is enough condemning evidence against the society, we don't need to make up new ones".
Understanding that apostates were largely made up of people seeking facts, my desire to hack them faded away. In the end, years later, I became inactive myself.
For the Bethel to have a hacking policy against us would utterly senseless. I believe in the lone wolf theory.
this is a true story.
it's about a sister named henriette venema.
she was a very loyal jw.
I remember a sister who had a stroke in our congregation, they cleared the hall right there and then. Brother's outside instructed people to go as most seamed lost an unable to understand that the congregation meeting could not go on.
I also remember a brother who fell back, but in his case, they brought him behind and the meeting went on.
Thanks for your story TimeBandit
i really fail to see how much actual "witnessing" is occurring with the trolley carts.publishers, usually pioneers, just stand or sit there not engaging anyone and count their time.. the only thing i notice that it's accomplishing is brand exposure for jw.0rg so the public is exposed to the logo and literature/poster card headlines.. take for example this "evening" witnessing by a pioneer elder while on summer holiday/vacation.. .
is this not a wth kinda moment when you consider the years of slaving, knocking on doors, business territory and bible studies we had to keep performing so we weren't branded a "weak" publisher?.
Any higher resolution of that pic?
