Posts by Tornintwo

43

So sick of the abuse...

by iwasblind in

i am still serving as an elder but just hanging in there.

i think their quandry is that they don't see me out in the field, but when they need encouragement and decent prayer they come to me.. i just got off the phone to this poor sister who i have only met twice.

she is not even in my congregation (her sister is).

Tornintwo

Well done, There are so many in the organization that need to hear what you told that sister.

There are plenty of sheep skinned and thrown about. When we have problems, we naturally reduce activity, for me it started with exhaustion through overwork and pressures, but then we are labelled 'spiritually weak', and most brothers are not saying it in a 'lets see if we can help' kind of way but in a critical, judgemental way. When I was at my lowest I told an elder, 'I haven't missed meetings for 20 years, I'm just going through painful problems right now and it's hard to attend regularly, I'm reading my bible at home when I miss' he said sharply 'you haven't missed for 20 years so don't miss them now'

we had a particularly loving c.o. a couple of years back, very humble, very compassionate, Christlike really, he was quickly replaced with quite a hard, unemotional guy and sent to bethel instead. I just couldn't get it, surely I thought, the c.o's main quality should be compassion and love, now I know from reading here, what they really want from c.o.s and the like is company men who will make sure the money keeps flowing in the right direction.

16

Effect on youths of Bethel and construction cuts

by Tornintwo in

jw
friends

i know quite a few youths (late teens to early twenties) who have the goal of full time service, as bethelites or international construction, so they're doing the required slog of pioneering in order to achieve this goal.

this is a goal which has been excitedly set out for them the last few years or so at assemblies etc.

now they see the cuts, surely they are going to be discouraged and disillusioned.

Tornintwo

I know quite a few youths (late teens to early twenties) who have the goal of full time service, as bethelites or international construction, so they're doing the required slog of pioneering in order to achieve this goal. This is a goal which has been excitedly set out for them the last few years or so at assemblies etc.

Now they see the cuts, surely they are going to be discouraged and disillusioned. The only f-t service realistically available is the pioneer slog with a low paid part time job, no glory job at the end of it, maybe they'll think again and go and get an education and a decent job!

20

Mass Mailer to Congregations & Branches - Those who can't disassociate

by thedepressedsoul in

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/491270004/mass-disassociation-pact?size=10&page=15.

the topic above got me thinking.

everyone here can't send a disassociation letter due to family or other reasons.

Tornintwo

I posted this on freemindfade's thread:

for those who can't dissassociate, how about an anonymous letter to all the witness email addresses they have. Something like: we are your fellow brothers, we sit in the Kingdom Hall with you, we love Jehovah, but we are increasingly concerned about.....

include the most divisive topics such as shunning, blood, child abuse, false prophecies, GB worship, everyone else will die etc etc with some jwfacts style hard arguments against the wt stand on these issues. Sending them all at the same time to r&f might cause a lot of people to think, certainly stir the pot. If these things are only addressed to the ones in charge it will quickly be clamped down, but if to the r&f it would really be out there and uncontrollable.

Personally I must have more than 100 email contacts who are witnesses, if we all put these together on mail chimp or something and send out a mass mailer on one day (say get cedars to own the account coz he obviously doesn't care about anonymity) we could have thousands upon thousands of witness addresses.

312

Mass disassociation pact...

by freemindfade in

any takers?

we can pick a date and pull the plug?

lol .

Tornintwo

Cool and calm and unemotional, like fmf said, otherwise people switch off straight away. That's why I think jwfacts is so effective, I turned away from many other bitter, weird or hysterical websites before i found that one.

where is the ex-jw ms from Washington state letter, please?

Wouldn't it be great if a TV company would do a documentary called 'shunning', as opposed to 'knocking' .

312

Mass disassociation pact...

by freemindfade in

any takers?

we can pick a date and pull the plug?

lol .

Tornintwo

I don't have time to read the whole thread so i hope I'm not way off topic.

But for those who can't dissassociate, how about an anonymous letter to all the witness email addresses they have. Something like: we are your fellow brothers, we sit in the Kingdom Hall with you, we love Jehovah, but we are increasingly concerned about.....

include the most divisive topics such as shunning, blood, child abuse, false prophecies, GB worship, everyone else will die etc etc with some jwfacts style hard arguments against the wt stand on these issues. Sending them all at the same time to r&f might cause a lot of people to think, certainly stir the pot. If these things are only addressed to the ones in charge it will quickly be clamped down, but if to the r&f it would really be out there and uncontrollable.

Personally I must have more than 100 email contacts who are witnesses, if we all put these together on mail chimp or something and send out a mass mailer on one day (say get cedars to own the account coz he obviously doesn't care about anonymity) we could have thousands upon thousands of witness addresses.

37

It must be a concern of all the information that is now been leaked

by joe134cd in

i have put up previous posts about this in the past, but i just thought that it was worth mentioning again.

it has to be of concern to them with how quickly information is getting leaked.

hell it even surprises at just how slowly information spreads by offical means.

Tornintwo

I dont think there can be that many people who had access to the actual letter, because they are already aware of the possibility of leaks and want to prevent those if possible, so it would be on a 'need to know' basis surely (ha ha yes i know its not the CIA). The atmosphere amongst those few that did know cannot be great right now, surely there will be a witch hunt going on.

20

New member

by New Order in

jw
friends

hello, i am a new member.

i grew up in the jw religion; however i am not an active jw.

have been visiting this site for about 3 yrs, and have become quite attached to it.

Tornintwo

Welcome - it's lovely to have you here.

I am so sorry you had such a horrible, abusive, childhood. I don't think this is all the religion's fault but I do think parents with narcissistic, controlling personalities can have these traits exaggerated when they are witnesses - it gives them so many rules to enforce and feeds their controlling nature.

I am glad you've found a sense of normality with your new family - a second chance at a normal, happy family life and that you are free of the oppressive guilt and mind control. Best wishes to you and yours.

25

where shall we go

by Sabin in

yesterday i read something that hurt my heart.

at a talk given by a brother lyman swingle ( i apologize if i am stepping out of line by using this) he said "that if you leave the jw ( i find it difficult to refer to it as the truth now days) you may as well go jump off a bridge".

this i think is disgraceful talk to say to any body let alone an audience in which children are present.

Tornintwo

Pete zahut: They even say (publicly) that they are not the only ones who will survive into "the new system"

where do they say this? This is a crucial point for me..

they dont say this in writing as far as i have seen, they say the opposite, that you have to be associated with/supporting 'christs brothers' (them) and be in the modern day 'ark' otherwise you have no chance, it's not enough to to be sincere, you have to be in the 'true' religion. Individual brothers say things like "Jehovah can read hearts.." Etc as I did, we comfort ourselves with those thoughts, but that isn't what the WTBTS says. As far as the GB are concerned, all non witnesses will be burned, charred 'hotdogs roasting on a spit' (yes AMIII actually used that analogy in a talk, I have the link).

thats my main problem with this religion." We are all right, you are all wrong, we will all live, you will all die." The opposite of christs message. The answer as others have pointed out is not where but whom, JC.

BUT WHY?, why don't the GB take the more reasonable line? why don't they humbly say: "others will survive, Jehovah is merciful, we won't be the only ones" - the answer, as soon as you say that you take away the importance of the preaching work, membership of their congregations, allegiance to their cult .

It's ALL about POWER AND CONTROL.

27

Tired of the truth... Tired of doubting

by Deltawave in

i'm reaching out here, i've known ttatt for about 3-4 years now.

sadly when i first grasped it i had a total mental breakdown as i was a hard core firm to the core pioneer and 110% believer of my faith.!

now nearly 2years on after my breakdown i still have to attend to please my jw wife.

Tornintwo

Don't go.

You are not being true to yourself - you are going to give yourself another mental illness.

I've been known TTATT for less than 6 months, Im now inactive and down to one meeting a month, and really it's when I want to go for my own reasons. My husband is still in, he's disappointed but not pressuring me, in fact when I do go he says 'why do you go if you don't really agree with it?' - we've agreed that he won't report about me to the elders, but they did come to see me and I told them I was doubting and confused, they aren't pressuring me, I have family issues too so people think that is partly the reason I'm not attending. My daughter is still going but she got really upset with me when I was attending because she said 'I can see you're heart's not in it and you don't want to be there, so I don't want you to do it for me', shes actually happier if I don't fake it, it is also giving her 'permission' to miss more meetings whilst she figures things out for herself.

You seem to have the perfect excuse if they already consider you are unwell. Can't you tell your wife that you don't feel able to keep up with the jw demands at the moment, that you are not sure about some things and would rather keep your relationship with J personal at home? She might be upset, might even yell and scream but that won't last forever. Then your free, more time for yourself to do research, heal, find different interests, whatever.... no more faking and less internal pressure. You can always offer to support her in any way you can manage (with rides if needed or even go to assemblies if that will be the most difficult for her) but it sounds like its time to be honest for your own well-being.

51

Britain Branch Construction - UPDATE

by The Searcher in

definitely something going in the london bethel.. i thought i'd ask them again (and record it again) what the situation was regarding the new britain branch construction work.. i got the same sister (debbie) and here is how the conversation went: .

me: i've been told that construction of the new branch has been stopped - is this true?.

debbie: no, it has not ceased, it's carrying on as normal - can i ask where you're calling from?.

Tornintwo

Here's a link to the new article confirming cuts:

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/watchtower-in-crisis-frustration-grows-at-bethel-as-governing-body-focuses-everything-on-warwick-on-

://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/watchtower-in-crisis-frustration-grows-at-bethel-as-governing-body-focuses-everything-on-warwick