Stealth and Sleepy
Just wanted to add my welcome.
Mustang
Great tips! Had me laughing out loud...good for the soul (whatever you believe that is lol)
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Free2Bme
JoinedPosts by Free2Bme
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29
Newbie in the house
by Stealth ini have been lurking for a few months now.
the only reason that i have not posted until now is because of the paranoia that comes with being raised a jw.
my current status in the congregation is irregular, reaching out for the office of inactive.
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Free2Bme
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Free2Bme
Hiya Balls
Need em in here sometimes ...
I'm from Yorkshire but I don't call anyone duck or eat Hovis bread. I smell of chocolate usually but hey it's better than garlic.
Welcome 'n' have fun!Free
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14
? for any who has been an Ex-JW for many years
by Babykins ini voluntarily dissasociated myself about 5 1/2 years ago.
i did not know anything about the things on the internet i just had a feeling that something was not right and i needed to exercise my right to be free and make free decisions.
how happy i was that a year after i dissasociated myself i got on the internet and found a wealth of information and a heck of alot of encouragement.. anyway my question is to those who have been out and free before the days of the internet.
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Free2Bme
Hiya Babykins,
I must admit I found out everything from the internet and from my brother buying 'Crisis of Conscience'. If it wasn't for the net I would maybe be back in or still out but waiting with trepidation to be a dead un at Armageddon!
Do you remember district assemblies where small gangs of 'apostates' would be holding up banners and giving out pamphlets? The horror and fear drilled into us was so strong we would not have dared to be seen taking one or reading it. 'Apostates' had a terminal illness we could catch!
That's why it is so hard to get to JW's to help them see the society for what it is. Great thing about the net is idle curiousity in the privacy of a lurkers home can lead to finding out more than they bargained for and forces them to re-evaluate their beliefs.Free
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116
most embarrasing thing ever at a meeting ...
by alliwannadoislive inhey ... i'm just getting into the swing of this great 'apostasy' thing right ... ?
... i thought y'all out there might well have a story or two to tell, so ... plz tell me tell me tell me about the most embarrasing thing you ever saw at a meeting ...
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Free2Bme
Hey all of you
Thanks for giving me a laugh. Some great stories. I think I exhausted my own embarrasing moments in a previous thread but I do remember a couple of incidents that were the painful variety rather than amusing.
The first one happened when I was new to the meetings, about 7 years old and it was a Watchtower study taken by a highly respected elder. Suddenly the doors at the rear of the hall burst open and a man ran down the aisle waving his arms and sobbing. He was heartbroken as he had just lost his child and had come to ask why God could let it happen. Our's was probably the nearest religious meeting of sorts he could find. The wailing and crying seemed to go on forever but the embarrasing aspect of it was the brother continued on with the study as if the man was invisible. Can you imagine how the poor guy felt? Eventually the hall servents woke up and ushered him out as quickly as poss and the WT study went on with no reaction from anybody. I was only a kid but I expected some sort of soothing remarks to be directed at the man or just some acknowledgement.
The second incident was many years later and is another example of how thrown JW's can be when the norm is challenged. We had been using a seaside town for assemblies for years and they were great occasions loaded with atmosphere. It was great nipping out for candy floss in the break or taking a stroll on the beach. Anyway, I digress...well all good things must come to an end and the society decided we needed to build an Assembly Hall (financed and built by local brothers). The rumours had been circulating and a special talk was scheduled in a service meeting to start putting the pressure on for donations and to introduce yet another contribution box.
Brother W giving the talk was well into it when a Brother B put his hand up and asked if he could make a point. Bro W looked flustered and agreed and we all watched bro B proceed to walk to the front of the hall, pull down the Blackboard, pick up and switch on the second mike then turn to the hall while chalking various figures on the board. He explained how much the project was expected to cost and compared it with the current costs of hiring the hall at seaside blah blah. Bro W had turned white and we were all in mouth-open shocked silence. Someone was daring to raise an argument against the society in full public view. The poor guy might as well have sprouted a forked tail and horns right there on that platform. After a few minutes Bro W found his voice and told him to go back to his seat. I will never forget the horrible embarrased and horrified atmosphere!!That incident was talked about for a long long time...but it was even longer before Bro B ever regained privileges in the congregation. Ouch!
BTW the assembly hall was built and I was sooo relieved I was already baptised so I didn't have the humiliation of parading in a soaked cossie in front of the whole circuit ( oh what a great idea having a pool on the platform!)Free
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36
What do you think of Seeker (good or bad)?
by Seeker inreading farkel's thoughts about being called names, and remembering my own discouragement about the same thing, and thinking about all the posts recently decrying the fighting and bad language, i'm curious to know how my "seeker" persona is perceived here.
i know i have fought with some, made friends with others, so how i am perceived will be varied.
i want to know it all, the good, the bad, the ugly.
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Free2Bme
Hi Seeker,
I seem to recall us having a minor skirmish when I was hot under the collar and you took it personal!
However I must say that you handled it well and even though it is hard to convey ourselves sometimes in here you came across as fair and a peacemaker.
We never did get round to our discussion on New World Order stuff did we? That's me...lists of research and reading I am trying to get done but no time!!Supposed to be comparing notes on a project with Uncle Onion (sorry U O ) but it's a non-starter as I just don't have time as I'm doing some courses and re-vamping my kitchen blah blah..
So maybe one day I'll take you up on that chat.
If I had to say anything critical I would say you perhaps are too sensitive to what other people think of you but then again we probably all feel like that but just don't have the guts to straight-out ask!!!!Good on you mate!Free
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5
first impressions
by teejay inwhen we meet someone for the first time, we notice a number of things about them--clothes, gestures, manner of speaking, tone of voice, appearance, and so on.
we then draw on these cues to fit the person into a ready-made category.
no matter how little information we have or how contradictory it is, no matter how many times in the past our initial impressions of people have been wrong, we still classify and categorize people after meeting them only briefly.. associated with each category is a schema, a set of beliefs or expectations about something (in this case people) based on past experience and that is presumed to apply to all members of that category.
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Free2Bme
Hi,
Sorry to lower the tone but it rather reminds me of the experience of the people living in the Big Brother house on TV.
One point that stands out is how they all make judgements about their housemates in the first few hours that sometimes take weeks to shake off.
The weeks pass by and it's great how they draw closer and really suss eachother out. Annoying habits may still be ...well, annoying...but their interactions become more accepting, like a family.
We really do decide far too much by first impressions. So many folks find it hard to just be thmselves, especially shy people who can be abrasive and seem cold.
Personally I find people respond to me negatively because I am overweight. They patronise me, seem to assume I am jolly, not very bright and pretty slow and lazy. It makes my blood boil. Unfortunately it also puts me on the defensive which prevents them accessing my real personality. Great fun at job interviews!!Interesting subject.
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9
One World Government?
by chappy inone of the basic tenets of the wt org.
has been the establishment of a one world government.. you may have noticed news reports today on the g8 summit in italy and the demonstrations and riots associated with it.
there have also been lots of other public discord at some of the earlier international summits like the wto conference in seattle wash.last year.
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Free2Bme
hi,
As I have expressed before I think the World Govt is inevitable. I also think it will come in our lifetime and will be a bad thing in respect to individual freedom.
My concept of a developing country? Quite often a country at the mercy of extreme elements and natural disasters forced into massive debts by developed nations who are often busy stripping these countries of any resources they can.
If we are all equal as human beings we have the right to the same quality of life. Most of us live in a materialistic, selfish society. We jealously guard what we see as ours and earned by us. What we need is a dose of how other cultures struggle to survive through no fault of their own. Then maybe we may realise how ridiculous our pursuit of the latest techno gadget is compared to a nation of empty bellies.
look at the richest countries in the world? Their wealth has been built on the horror of slavery, the rape of native civilisations and the abuse of power.
What a great idea JW new order is! If only I could believe it. Because I doubt man's greed will allow him to ever achieve a fairer world. Those at the top will never give up the power and wealth they worship. They cling to them like we hold on to our little symbols of success.While someone somewhere dies of disease or starvation.The world govt the nations of the world is plotting is not some mission of mercy to unite the world and even out the wealth and resources. That's a pipedream. It's about control.Ultimate control. We are all just pawns in the game.
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28
A Question for You
by individuals wife injust a couple of quick questions, the first directed at exjws - could you ever see any reason for you to return to the organisation?
what would have to happen for you to return?
under what circumstances would you ever go back?
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Free2Bme
Hello I.W.,
I'm cringing as I type but I did consider going back some time ago just to be reinstated and look up the friends I left behind who I really cared about.
Then I imagined all the crawling and creeping I would have to do and the lying to the elders plus probably having to have a study to make sure I still remembered what I was supposed to believe ( this could get awkward and quite amusing as several 'beliefs' have changed.)Then I thought what would I have in common with my old friends anymore? The honest and open chats we always shared would become guarded and careful and the slightest slip-up I made about my real feelings ....aaah I can't even imagine their reaction!!!
The only way it could work is if I genuinely believed it was the truth again. That would be impossible.
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7
Help! Need these books...
by TheApostleAK ini desperately need these books:.
1. babylon the great has fallen.
2. your word is a lamp to my foot.
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Free2Bme
Hi,
Are these books on the cd-rom? Do you want the actual books or particular information out of them we may be able to e-mail to you?Free
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25
WTBS CORP/ CONTROLLED BY NON JWS!!??
by JUSTAMOM injust pondering over a few things i have been reading.. 1.annual corporate meeting oct 6, 2001. with all the weird changes in the last year...red light alert!.
2. since it was the 337 voting members who had the biggest say so as to the changes last year in removing the gb...... (and they are non jws)....what else will they or have they done?.
the only reason they don't send the gb home, and it's not because they care about their elderly, is the fact without them as puppets up there, most jws might wake up and smell the kool-aid!.
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Free2Bme
Hi Justamom,
Interesting but how do you know they are non-witnesses? Is there solid proof ?
This is important because it would really shake things up.
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