Posts by AnneB

18

WT books thrown into the dumpster...

by NVR2L8 in

jw
friends

for the last few weeks i have been pretty busy as we were moving to a new house.

my wife did most of the packing but when it came to the move, i realized that there are things we own that we had forgotten about because we haven't used them for years!

on top of the list was old wt publications that no longer contain the "truth" and publications available on the wt cd.

AnneB

Once upon a time several years ago, a terrible thing split up our family, and I threw all my JW literature and media (huge collection) into a dumpster. The odd thing is I kept going to meetings for two or three years after that, through some really traumatic experiences (trying to hide the story here). Then the internet came along and I found Randy's site, read some stories that were similar to mine; one thing led to another and I was able to fade away from The Organization completely.

I didn't throw away the literature out of anger or anguish, I really knew I was "done" with WT 'way back then. So why did it take me several more years to disconnect physically when mentally it was already cut and dried?

Is throwing away the literature the disconnect or is it something else?

10

Seeking Advice Please

by Eiben Scrood in

jw
friends

some background: i am an only child, a born-in, my parents were considered superstars of the watchtower having been missionaries and "exemplary" for their entire lives.

shortly after they died in 2002, i started a very slow fade and finally stopped all meeting attendance in 2005.. both sides of the family are, with a very few exceptions, also hardcore watchtowerites as in 'if the watchtower says my green bible is purple, then it must be purple.

' i have lost touch with one side of the family almost completely but the other side has always been close to me and in particular, i miss two cousins who were like brothers to me.

AnneB

You've been trained not to make a move unless it has the whole group's approval. You can get over it, but it's slow and painful. Make up your mind what you want to do, do it, and get through by thinking "this, too, shall pass". Gradually, new people will enter your life and that's when you'll realize that what you knew as "family" and "love" was anything but.

Best wishes,

AnneB

27

Paraplegic JW example used at assemblies

by Alfred in

it seems like every time our circuit failed to meet the field service goals set by our co, the very next circuit assembly would invariably include a talk that mentions a chronically ill paraplegic sister who would dial the phone with her tongue to make return visits or conduct bible studies... i must have heard this experience at least 6 or 7 times in the past 20 years or so.

and every time i heard this recycled talk, they would add even more guilt-inducing twists to it.

to me, it eventually became way to difficult to believe...

AnneB

I particularly enjoyed the story about the African villagers who would walk a half day through the jungle, ford a raging river by using washtubs (that they had to bring with them) to hold their literature, meeting clothes, babies, and small children, then walk another few hours through the jungle until they reached the meeting place, hold all 5 meetings back to back, then make the return trip the next day.

Shooooot, what was my problem bringing five children (three under 6 years old at one point) to the Kingdom Hall in 100+ Fahrenheit temperatures (Los Angeles temperatures), on foot, pushing a baby stroller while the oldest either carried or walked with the middle kid(s)? (My car was totalled in a hit-n-run which was the other driver's fault entirely.) We only had to walk three miles while the elders passed us by with their air conditioned cars, later telling me that 1) it was illegal for them to pick us up because there weren't enough seat belts in their cars for all of us, or 2) they started taking the freeway route because seeing us walking made them feel bad!

Then there was the story about the Malawian sisters in a concentration camp who were told to move a hill from one side of the road to the other, and given no tools! The sisters reportedly carried the soil in their cupped hands, handful by handful, until the entire hillside was moved. Now that story I could relate to!

10

3D printing.

by botchtowersociety in

really cool.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zboxmssz5aw.

AnneB

It's not a "printer", it's a molding machine!

81

Samuel Herd a Murderer?

by Damn The Watchtower in

jw
friends

hello folks,.

i feel like a fish who has been struggling for oxygen so long he's almost dead.

time to grow some legs and get the hell out of hell.

AnneB

Wait 'til you figure out that Armageddon isn't what you've been taught.

28

The magazines didn't used to be so dumb and boring

by Lore in

jw
friends

here's an excerpt from this weeks watchtower study in 1950: .

*** w50 6/15 p. 180 a victory dedicated to jehovahs honor ***.

the strategy, and the attack.

AnneB

IMO, everything is interesting the first time through; it's only after the umpteenth repition that it gets boring. When I was new to JW's/WT publications I read not only the current literature, but started reading "backward" through the old publications. The material prior to the 1960's did seem more interesting, more in depth, and better written. The language was always stilted, though, as if using out-of-fashion vocabulary lent more weight to the message. It wasn't in-talk, exactly, it seemed to me that WT was trying to hold on to old manners that existed more in fictional situations than in real life at any point. Looking back, it seems to me that WT tried to project an air of refinement, as though JW's were of the upper class and for that reason ought to be listened to. (And here's me ending a sentence with a preposition! No wonder I'm not a JW today!)

Long about 1991, WT mag had an article showing the number of JW's ten or twelve years earlier and the number "today". It was something like 12:1. The article went on to state that since people were coming in so fast that they were bringing in worldly habits and influences that weren't present when there was "more time" to study with them, hence the WT was taking a more elementary approach in their articles and even repeating information.

Dumb and boring is what happened when they lowered admission standards so that more could be saved.

44

Diane Sawyer interviews Jaycee Dugard 7/10/11, ABC 2-hr. Special, 9PM EST: Jaycee was kidnapped by Garridos, supposedly one-time JWs

by AndersonsInfo in

preview: http://abcnews.go.com/us/jaycee_dugard .

diane interviews jaycee.

chris como tracks the police investigation.. authorites called at garrido home 60 times and didn't find jaycee in back yard..

AnneB

As I said, someone else will have to research and find the quotes, I don't have WT literature any more. It could have been in the KM, the WT, it could have been in letter form (BOE letters) but I doubt that. It wasn't just some local elder's opinion, it was "from Bethel" as they used to say. At least one of the mentions came with the requisite scary story, something about unscrupulous prisoners knowing that putting on the pretense of reform might lessen their prison time, another one came with the warning that prisoners would feign love for a sister who, in her innocence, would fall in love with the prisoner, leading to all sorts of complications because it was all fake.

If you have a good memory for dates, the first mention that I can remember was around the time the Lloyd Barry - Japanese Prisoner who became a brother story was circulating on cassette tape.

Somebody else will have to take it from here, that's all I remember.

44

Diane Sawyer interviews Jaycee Dugard 7/10/11, ABC 2-hr. Special, 9PM EST: Jaycee was kidnapped by Garridos, supposedly one-time JWs

by AndersonsInfo in

preview: http://abcnews.go.com/us/jaycee_dugard .

diane interviews jaycee.

chris como tracks the police investigation.. authorites called at garrido home 60 times and didn't find jaycee in back yard..

AnneB

As far as Nancy Garrido preaching in prison or studying with someone in prison, WTBTS has written against that many times. Someone else can look up the exact quotes, but WT has said for years not to write to strangers who are imprisoned even to witness to them, and not to take on Bible studies with prisoners. Apparently only certain persons (elders?) are assigned to do prison work. It's been that way since the late 70's or early 80's, plenty of time for Nancy Garrido to know of the policy.

38

June 15th WT ( again ) WT Society Bashes College & Earning a Living

by flipper in

jw
friends

sorry for the redundancy of this being the 3rd article out of this magazine i've made a thread on- but i felt it was important to share these quotes from the aricle titled " make your way successful - how ?

" i think you'll see the extreme dissing of higher education here and guilt tactics used to discourage jw members from getting a college education or earning a decent living.. under the subheading " higher education " ?

it states, " a christian has a scriptural obligation to care for his family, and that includes providing for their material needs.

AnneB

Is it coincidence that their college-bashing issue comes out at graduation time and their begging issue comes out near Christmas?

19

Spear-chucker me?

by AK - Jeff in

no racial slur here.

literal!.

about 20 minutes ago, while working in the yard, the banny rooster who is always threatening me and others [we have several free-range chickens not a farm], decided to approach and feign a flogging.

AnneB

The chicken was demonized so Gawd guided your hand. Did you happen to yell anything about Gideon's sword whilst chucking?