Posts by shopaholic

32

Did the Watchtower screw up your life ?

by JH in

jw
friends

on a scale from 1 to 10, to what degree did they screw up your life ?

let it be the watchtower or the jw's... 10 is the maximum.

i'd say 7.

shopaholic

About 6 months ago, I would've said 8 but now its about a 4. But I still think I need therapy.

26

so i am sure you will be thrilled to know that the international conventions in 2009 will be held in mexico, hawaii, south america (but did not say where exactly), austria and germany with other possibles and kenya - nairobi.

cost to europe is slated at 2500 dollars package but warned that other destinations will cost more.

the main requirement read in the letterwas "make sure you have the finances".

shopaholic

It was fun for the most part...but even there you couldnt get away from the Borg rules. I was a bus captain assistant (this could out me...LOL) ...and the bus captain told us we had to be at the bus after the friday session by 430pm...of course, the convention did not end until 5pm i believe..and of course it ran waaaaay over.....
at lunch some of the group asked me what to do ....I told them..."welllll. the bus captain said 430....but the GB always instructs us not to leave until the final prayer is over....let your conscience be your guide," Every one I told that to showed up at about 530...after the prayer and after listening to people sing some more....

LOL...I was the at same convention...LOL...My bus left exactly 45 min after the program and didn't wait for anyone!...I got left behind on saturday and sunday...Hey, I had gift bags to give away and pictures to take! I would not do another international convention as I don't like a restricted travel itinerary which is one reason why I went with the land-only package when I did the Hamburg convention.

I went to London beforehand as well, but on my own and not with through the society. I ran into a few folks that I knew from various parts of the States who were with the official tour group...I had on jeans and a cute blouse but no badge and the group leader tried to shoo the friends away from me even though several of them explained that I was pioneer and they had not seen me since I left for foreign service. He responded that since I wasn't in the group and didn't have on a badge it was inappropriate for them to converse with me for a long period of time although we were all standing at the time entry point waiting for next riverboat. It was funny watching them trying to ignore me when they wanted to talk with me.

Ha..I won't even tell you how I was ignored at the airport when I landed in Hamburg. My flight landed at the same time as some of the other JW flights, I had on a nice KH outfit but I couldn't find my badge but I still mixed in with everyone. When people realized that I had a land-only package, I was clearly dismissed. I asked the german brothers and sisters working with the tour group if they would point me to the taxi to get to the train station and they checked my tag on my luggage (no joke) saw it was land-only and told me that they were there only to assist the friends that had the tour package. So I asked another brother, got the same response. Then get this, a non-JW came and asked me where did I need to go. I had the directions and everything and she said she worked near there and was going the same direction but by bus. So we're leaving out to go catch the city bus to the train and I'm told by a german sister "You have to wait here. The tour group is about to exit for their welcome and we don't want them to think you're with the group." Not exaggerating..LOL...cuz I told that story again that night at the hotel when some of the friends mentioned they didn't have a welcome group at all to greet them. Anyway, the lady led me to the correct bus and from there I went to my train and she was on the same one and got off one stop before me and made sure I knew exactly where to go. On our free day, when we were at the central train station, I heard someone call my name and it was the lady that rode the bus and train with me. As it turned out she worked at one of the restaurants at the central train station and me and the friends with me got a free meal and she got a fat tip.

Unconditional human kindness triumphs over phoney-baloney-JW-conditional-love anyday. And if any of the GB-boys are reading this, you really need to tell your folks to get their act together because God don't like ugly!

36

What Are Your Favorite Web Sites?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i love the drudge report, accuweather.com, new york post online, tripadvisor.com, newsfilter.org .

are there any sites that you think are good?

what are ones that are on your "favorites"?.

shopaholic

style.com, thesartorialist.blogspot.com, forbes.com - among others

31

Self-Esteem Shot To Pieces - No Friends

by wheelintheskykeepsonturning in

school sucked for me as a witness.. i always wanted to be popular, have friends, have a girlfriend, go to parties, play after school sport, stay the night at friends places, do all the other stuff which was fun and made you socially acceptable - which made you feel normal - but was disallowed because i was a witness child.. i thought everything everyone did at school was a direct test of satan on me.

that's what i was told.. so i tried to go through school living a "double life".

i desperatley wanted to be obidient to my witness mother who i loved so much and have her approval... so while i tried hard to pretend i wasn't a witness at school - for fear of being ostracized by my peers - i also was obviously "different" to my friends...and because of this i took a lot of shit for it and eventually became unpopular to the point where i dropped out of high school because i thought no one liked me.. for example: i would never "go out" with girls who wanted to go out with me... because i was afraid they would ring my home and my mum would be "disappointed in me" and angry and upset at me.

shopaholic

Get to know yourself and don't judge yourself for what you discover.

Other people will judge you because they don't know how to process or deal with anything outside of their comfort zone. It takes time to accept who you really are because as a JW you are conditioned to suppress so many things about yourself. But with time the real you, whoever that is, will start to shine through.

35

Studying To Save Lives Again!

by KnowlegeSeeker_UK in

jw
friends

i have served as a jw since 1986, im now nearly 30 yrs old.

i pioneered, i served at bethel then i read the bible............. oh !

hang on..... something doesnt seem right.

shopaholic

Hi KS,

Welcome to the board. I share a similar JW background and a similar awakening. Its been about a year for me as well and its been difficult but worth it. Posting on this board can be great therapy and there are some folks can provide great insight and perspective on the issues associated with leaving the org. I wish you much success in your studies.

54

What has everyone done with your literature, now that you've left?

by momzcrazy in

i have boxes of literature upstairs.

i was waiting for bookshelves to get built in our new house, but now i don't want to put them all up.

i have sentimental things, like ones that were my dad's.

shopaholic

Most of my items were trashed (recycle bin). I donated a few books to the local library, like the Proclaimers Book, YPA, etc., anything I thought would be good reference material for those doing research on the beliefs of JWs. I dropped of a bag of items at the Salvation Army (bible tapes, drama tapes, my book of bible stories CD, DVDs, videos). I kept a copy of the bible, songbook, reasoning book and a few other books but they are not within my immediate sight. It was very liberating. I don't have a Watchtower, Awake, brochure, tract or Kingdom News in the place. I don't have a need for them.

34

Did you try and fit your own "style" into meeting dress?

by avishai in

jw
friends

boy, i sure did.

forties suits with handpainted ties.

fifties/sixties sharkskin "rat pack" suits with the skinniest ties i could get away with, etc.,

shopaholic

Yes, but it seems to me that if you're over 24, single and not overweight you are constantly warned against catching the eye's of the married brothers. If I ever got too many compliments, oh boy, the wives would be sure to tell me what I needed just short of putting a paperbag over my head and dressing in a potato sack. I understand WTWizard plight, it was like they were trying to force me into being their forever-single-pioneer-superstar.

fashionably yours,

S.

11

Could senility become a problem in he WT?

by badboy in

jw
friends

especially as the population ages,so he congregations might also age.

shopaholic

It already has in some congregations. That's when the MTS grads are sent in to take over and save the day.

19

Help me, this new light confuses me....

by dawg in

ok, so if they change the rules and allow everyone who feels the spirit to partake of the memorial then that means that there may be no limit on how many are sealed.... am i right?

if thats' true then ther's no longer a 144k?

if that's true, what does that mean about the great crowd?.

shopaholic

Dawg, you're not confused at all. You've actually seen the light. I've known a number of folks over the years that have partaken of the emblems even though they didn't "qualify" based on what we've been taught. Ha...a friend of mine did this at the memorial this year and everyone thought she had flipped her mind. With this "new light" a number of the "great crowd" will start partaking and then after a few years they will adjust the teaching again. Because if everyone is partaking, how will they know the remnant count for annual stats in the watchtower? It going to jump from 8,000 to 200,000 people partaking...LOL...because every congregational nut, every bible study and newly baptized person is gonna partake!!!!

And yeah, you're not the only one that's pissed off by this! But it makes me happy at the same time because at least somebody is going leave the org based on this twisted light. If I was still in, I would leave!!!

10

Is the Governing Body "Spirit Directed" or "Inspired" ??? See Difference..

by Lady Liberty in

hello all, happy sunday to you!!.

just read quandrys post about the 2007 annual meeting notes.

this comment made during that meeting just got under my skin, so i decided to start a thread to show the dictionarys definition of both of the words.

shopaholic

Here's the question... then why doesn't the spirit guide you fools to the correct answer in the first place?

That's the golden question. So either the GB is to inept to understand and follow the "guidance" or the "spirit" is giving them incorrect info which means God is wrong. Either way somebody is wrong, the GB or God. Ooohhhh how I hope somebody in my family wakes up with this "new light"!!!