Posts by swa

31

Shawshank Redemption and leaving Jehovah's Witnesses

by AllTimeJeff in

i doubt very seriously that i am the first to make the connection of exiting jw's and much of the movie "shawshank redemption".. frequently, the injustice that many experience as baptized members of jehovah's witnesses cause them to want to resign, to leave.. but it is a prison of sorts.

if you leave and announce it, you are shunned.

and no one will talk to you.. shawshank is such a remarkable movie to me for its simple, underlying theme; finding meaning in our suffering, and never stopping the fight against injustice, esp against our own freedom.. the best part of the movie is the line "you can either get busy living, or get busy dying.".

swa

ATJ and Sphere you are so dead on; I've only posted a couple times but I think my first one included this same analogy as it fits so well. Unfortunately not everyone can be Andy, most stay on the "inside" dreaming of escape but afraid of what the attempt will cost. If you fail life gets even worse, you're still in but now your marked and the guards (elders) keep an even closer eye on you and you may have to spend some time in solitary confinement (restrictions,reproved). But I think the biggest fear is you'll be shot dead while running (DF'd); the guards in the tower are marksmen and they don't miss too often when it comes to escapees.

I personally have faded and haven't been to more than 20 meetings in the last 3-4 years, but my family is on the inside sitting tight waiting for the big "parole" date when they can walk freely into the new world. I only wish this prison was made of bars and stone, it would be a lot easier to go for it and attempt a real breakout.

43

Elder Disfellowshipped Last Night

by wifeofjw in

so my jw husband tells me last night a elder was disfelloshipped.

totally unexpected by the cong.

well, my hubby was really upset by it.

swa

If the offense is likely to become public they should give a talk for the rest of the congregation, so hold tight a while and it will all come out.

61

LaidOff Bethelites: Weeping And Gnashing of Teeth

by metatron in

jw
friends

don't let any of the watchtower's propaganda deceive you.

i encountered some private conversations among witnesses about the subject and it's ugly.

yes, there is suffering as many of these victims try to live on charity and can't find jobs in the worst economy since the depression.. some of their private observations include shock that you need a college degree for nearly any job and that the watchtower society couldn't have picked a worse time to do this to them .. all the while these complaints are discussed, i try not to show that i am astounded by their bizarre "logic".

swa

Cheerios, I like the reference to Shawshank. Some us fear we will end up like Brooks did...he made it out but found he couldn't adjust to life on the other side of the wall and ended up hanging himself. Billie is that how you feel? It seems the WTBS programs us to beleive we will faill if we ever leave. I can't count how many times I've heard the comment "you never hear of anyone's life improving once they leave Jehovah's organization". Obviously, this forum provides ample evidence to refute that claim, but does it ever really go away completely?

2

Southern IN

by swa in

any members here from the area?

just curious.

p.m. me if you don't want to post for all to see..

swa

Any members here from the area? Just curious. P.M. me if you don't want to post for all to see.

94

Watchtower Sends Legal Notice To Website Regarding Coyright Infringement

by Bangalore in

the watchtower has sent a legal notice to the owners of the eds blog for posting copyrighted material without permission.

here is the link to the trancript.

the site owners response is also there.. .

swa

It's about control; this type of activity cannot be tolerated by the FDS. Only they have the authority from Jehovah to distribute his message, and only they have the authority to say how it can be done. I've come to the conclusion they are trying to stop two things from occuring.

1) Since this site was run by brothers and apparantly used by brothers, they must not want anyone "challenging" their position. Can't you just see some young technogeek buiding an awesome website with all the bells and whistles that gets more hits than the official one? Can't you hear Bro. Goodexample saying he uses www.whoneedsboundvolumes.com to get all his meeting parts ready in a flash? Chaos would ensue...the GB would look like the bunch of old guys they are, out of touch with the modern tech-savvy world. So they have to pull in the reigns and keep this pony at a walk, after all they gotta ride it all the way to the end be it 5 years or 50 years away.

2) The sheep seeing that it's not all that hard to distribute the messsage effectively using up to date technology and far more efficient than the door to door effort. I actually just heard an Elder comment at the meeting that he met a man in service who had never heard of JW's! How can that be right here in small town USA? Nobody knew Barack Obama 5 years ago, but with the right team and technology behind him he is now one the most recognizable figures on earth (and I bet it cost less than the preaching work has over the same time period).

Well enough of my long windedness, just got on a roll and couldn't stop.

18

Reverse Engineering the WTS CD ROM

by besty in

has anyone ever done this?.

would be cool to be able to run custom searches like the overall incidence of certain words or scriptures on an annual basis.

i'm sure smarter than me could come up with some handy uses..... thoughts?.

swa

I would be interested in knowing how many times the U.N. has been mentioned or quoted since the N.G.O. membership was "discreetly" terminated. Surely we have a member tech savvy enough to work a little magic with the library....whoops didn't mean real magic!

148

"Remember, nobody can REALLY love you unless they know and love Jehovah first."

by AllTimeJeff in

"unless they know and love jehovah first.

they love "jehovah".

they discuss how to make sure that though they are in charge, everyone doesn't see them, they see the great and powerful jehovah.... oh.

swa

This is another example of what drives me insane about the JW's! For years I would have heard that and thought "yup that's right", but now after a sort of awakening I think "what gives them the authority to say whatever they like, absent any real evidence and expect everyone to accept it?". The answer..."they are the Faithful Slave". Yeah, but they were wrong about this, that, and the other; how do you know they're not wrong about this? The response..."are you questioning the Faithful Slave?" The circular reasoning kicks in and it's all over before it started for 99.9% of the sheep. The Governing Body uses the entire feeding program to condition this type of reasoning and in the end it's almost all designed to enforce submission to them. That is what makes me angry despite wanting to beleive they are doing the best they can given what they actually have in the way of knowledge and spirituality. I just can't do it anymore, but like so many others my family situation leaves no choice. It's hard to feign love and respect for something you grow to dislike more and more every day.

46

Straight from the C.O.

by swa in

hello all, i have been lurking, looking, reading, and digesting for around 2 years and it seems the time is right to post.

i recently had one of those moments at the kindom hall where i found myself looking around thinking "am i the only one who gets it, why doesn't anyone else have this puzzled look on their face?".

said during is second talk to the congregation "all of our food, our magazines, and all our wonderful books, and videos come from/through these 9 men".

swa

Hello all, I have been lurking, looking, reading, and digesting for around 2 years and it seems the time is right to post. I recently had one of those moments at the Kindom Hall where I found myself looking around thinking "am I the only one who gets it, why doesn't anyone else have this puzzled look on their face?". The C.O. said during is second talk to the congregation "all of our food, our magazines, and all our wonderful books, and videos come from/through these 9 men". He went on to say how busy they are and how we should appreciate Jehovah's use of the Governing Body.....but no mention of the Faithful Slave, just a direct admission that 9 men control all of the spritual food recieved by the flock. A few moments later it was back to business as usual with Faithful Slave this and that, but for me it was a major statement and something not to be forgotten.

My personal story will follow sometime soon, just wanted to share that for now.