The smarmy elder who made sure to shake hands with every female at the meeting. If he couldn't grab someone before the meeting he'd play cat and mouse up and down the aisles until he cornered the resisters.
Posts by AnneB
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24Did you have someone that annoys you at every meeting?
by Iamallcool inat every meeting and every assembly i went to, a sister would always ask me "how are you?
how is your family?
" she says it with a gloomy face every time!
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9
Baptism reversal
by DanmeraDinglebum inhas anyone ever heard of someone getting their baptism reversed?
ever?.
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AnneB
In one congregation there was a man who was an active drug user, had unconfessed adultery, and was being prosecuted for tax fraud. After several years of active opposition to his JW wife the man decided to get baptized. The elders took him through the questions. The wife told the elders exactly what his status as a drug user was, and about the criminal charges; she didn't know about the adultery (yet). The elders postponed the baptism.
The man left his family and moved into another circuit a few miles away from his family (big city, lots of circuits). There he attended meetings for a month and asked to be baptized. The elders were aware of his family situation and the wife made these elders aware of his personal situation. These elders decided to go allow the baptism to proceed.
A month later he confessed to the adultery and admitted that his wife had been telling the truth about his drug use and criminal activity.
Did they annul or reverse his baptism? Nope. They browbeat the wife.
Six months later they disfellowshipped the "brother". He tried to appeal the discellowshipping on the grounds that his baptism was invalid. It didn't work, they said his baptism was valid because he knew what he was doing at the time he went through the questions.
Mind-boggling.
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25
Appealing a disfellowshipping - any experience
by dozy inanyone had any experience of a successful appeal against a disfellowship?
a friend of mine feels he has been dfd unjustifiably & is considering an appeal.
he probably has something of a case - the jc was a total shambles - but i'm very dubious that he has any likelihood of success.. my only experience of a successful appeal is when elders in a neighbouring congregation were appointed by the co & overturned a df in our congregation a few years ago.
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AnneB
My understanding is that an appeal is only successful if the original committee made procedural errors. It has nothing to do with the actual charges, just whether the committee handled it correctly according to the current WT guidelines.
Obviously there have been exceptions (see above).
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7
longest married couple in the U.S
by His Excellency injohn and ann betar of connecticut have just been named the longest married couple in the u.s.!
he's 101 and she's 97, and have been married 80years.. .
!.
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AnneB
They don't look very long to me; in fact, she looks rather short!
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17
how valid are commitments made while being a jw.
by man in black inseveral times on this board i have read comments from people who were considering joining a new religion.
and how a jw baptism was not "valid", so there should be no problem while getting ready to join the new church.. if a baptism is not real, what about other aspects of life,, such as a marriage ?
outside of the legal requirements that are written down and recorded, from a spiritual standpoint, is it just a bunch of nonsense ?.
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AnneB
IMO, BandOnTheRun hit it when she alluded to contract law.
In any sort of arrangement, legally binding or not, doesn't it just make sense that if you discover trickery, fraud, misrepresentation, outright lies, changed standards that affect the agreement, etc., that you have the right to renegotiate or repudiate the agreement?
The right, not the obligation; however, if you continue on as if the original agreement was still in effect, you're losing ground. Common sense says don't paint yourself into a corner.
"Let your yes mean yes" applies only to what was agreed upon, not to deviations.
AB
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38
Long time reader first time poster
by MissMyHarley intrying to get out after only being in for a year or so.
my wife and i were really taken in by these folks.
we are both have degrees and should have known better.
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AnneB
You could be very right about being used to protect your mother. Take things a step at a time; you may decide to "go inactive" after her affairs are arranged, just to make sure they don't go behind your back and get her to restate her will...it's been known to happen, especially if there is a sizable estate. (Search this site for examples.)
If degrees are a feather, an estate willed to WT is the whole dang cap!
In friendship,
AB
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32
Irritated with my sister in law who is trying to claim my baby girls clothes
by Butterflyleia85 inirritated with my sister in law.
ok so i'm really happy and excited about having my baby girl january 31st!
the same week i learned my sister in law is having a baby due in october but will be having it delivered september.
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AnneB
Your problem isn't your relatives. Behaving as though people can be trusted or taken at their word is "avoidance". You know when people are not trustworthy (relatives or not). As long as you act like they are you will be used and abused.
"Nice" is not a positive. "Nice" placates. "Nice" lives in its own immature bubble.
As our friends in the WTBTS put it: "Awake!" We're not living in Paradise. You're going to have to defend yourself (not just from relatives), so study up on topics like "manipulation" and "masochism". There's where you'll learn what to say and how to come across as someone who can't be walked all over.
Do it now, before you have the baby. Then you can model appropriate behavior as your child grows. That can only benefit both of you.
Best wishes,
AB
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32
If you tried to get your doctrinal or historical questions answered by an elder in your cong...
by NeverKnew inwhat was the result?
i have seen answers strewn throughout many posts but never consolidated.
this is important.
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AnneB
pulled out all the "baby" literature (brochures/pamphlets) to start the discussion.
I've seen this happen many times. Maybe they want to start on square one then build again so they can fill any gaps in their propaganda platform 'cause obviously they didn't completely BS you the first time.
Congrats on having the backbone to dismiss them.
AB
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32
If you tried to get your doctrinal or historical questions answered by an elder in your cong...
by NeverKnew inwhat was the result?
i have seen answers strewn throughout many posts but never consolidated.
this is important.
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AnneB
I tried...once. One Sunday after the meeting I asked an elder how to reconcile two conflicting bits of information in the literature. The elder became agitated and told me that he and another elder would be by that evening, that I should make a written list of my questions. I came home and did what he asked, although I couldn't understand why he wanted "a list" when I had only one question!
Well, the two elders appeared at the appointed time. When I brought out my little piece of paper with the question written on it, the elder wouldn't take the paper, saying "we know all about your questions". I was dumbfounded, as I hadn't discussed whatever it was with anyone, hadn't even been given the opportunity to tell him, and yet he already knew? That was my first inkling that the elder wasn't going to help me figure things out.
There in my own living room, in the presence of my "unbelieving" spouse and my children, both elders ranted for about five minutes, then left. My family just stood there staring at one another, none of us able to comprehend where things had gone wrong. It wasn't until years later, when I found this board and read the experiences of others, that I realized that they probably thought they had an apostate on their hands. If that's what they thought they were so wrong; at that stage of my life I wanted nothing more than to be the very best servant of Jehovah that I could be, hence my request for their assistance. I had no idea...
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29
Hello from Totally ADD. I am back.
by TotallyADD inhopfully many of the older ones do.
since our move to wild's of pa many things have happen to my wife and i. our donut business went out the window.
we closed it last july.
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AnneB
Glad to "see" you have returned!
Gardens are healthier than donuts anyway...
Best regards to you and yours,
AnneB