Welcome! Definitely do some more research, especially if you're considering baptism, hopefully you might be able to see that this pattern has been going on for over 100 years with the watchtower society.
They used to set all kinds of definite fixed dates about when the end was going to come and they've shot themselves in the foot so many times that now they just resort to vague fear campaigns to "rouse the troops" and get them placing more literature. Remember just a couple of years ago the False Religion tract was supposed to start the Great Tribulation and people were getting all excited too. Well, witnesses were getting excited, I don't think a tenth of a percentage of those tracts actually got read.
Here's an excellent archive of actual quotes from published Watchtower literature that shows how far back this practice goes: http://www1.tip.nl/%7Et661020/wtcitaten/part1.htm (sorry, using firefox, you'll have to copy this into your browser)
Hope to hear much more from you, and welcome once again!
marmot
JoinedPosts by marmot
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15
Um hi....
by Hikaru iner, hi.
i dunno where else to say this, but i'm new.
my grandma is a witness.. (17/years old here...)and i fear death/armageddon so i've been studying to become a witness.
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marmot
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Faders: When You Left, did Anyone Give a Damn?
by shamus100 init seems funny to hear how some get love bombed, others get left alone when they fade.
i moved and told nobody - by the time they figured i was 'weak', it was too late - i was gone.
so honestly, what was it like for you when you left the 'organization'?
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marmot
Not really. I got a few "bombing runs", mainly from close friends, but not a peep from the elders. Oh wait, I did get ONE "hi how ya doin'" from an elder, but it was because my mother asked him to.
Suits me fine. -
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Why are witnesses asking if householders know ASL?
by Chloe ini'm pretty sure this has been covered before, but i don't remember the explanation.
this weekend 2 very obviously jw ladies were in my neighborhood.
when they came to my door, the leader said they were with a "volunteer group" looking for those who knew asl or needed the service.. i asked what kind of volunteer group.
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marmot
I was associated with deaf witnesses in two provinces and what you're referring to is called "deaf search work" or just "search work".
I've done it a few times and the biggest benefit was that we didn't have to wear ties or identify ourselves as witnesses, just volunteers looking for deaf people to give them ASL material on DVD. It also makes it really easy to pioneer in an ASL congregation or group.
Doctrinal idiocy aside, the JWs have really tapped a market with the deaf community. Nobody has ever made an ASL bible (at least that's what I was told) and the New World Translation that's currently being released in stages will be the first. The deaf community is also fairly insular from what I've seen and many deaf go to the meetings as an alternative to the gossipy back-biting that goes on in their other cliques. It's a convenient social networking tool.
How long it takes them to clue in to the fact that the kingdom hall can be just as bad is another matter.
There's the potential for really rapid expansion in this demographic because it's been neglected by virtually everybody else and the good ol' boys in Brooklyn get those *kaching!* growth figures in their eyes when they see a ripe market. There's also an equally good chance that those figures will deflate just as fast for the above-mentioned reasons. -
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Why I will NEVER be an elder again
by stillajwexelder inso the po confirmed what many on this board already know.
at latest round of co to elders meeting, the co quoted from the society outline.
any elder or ms who encourages college for his kids or others or who allows his children to go to college will no longer qualify.. he then asked if i was going to take the cos encouragement and reach out again to be an elder and get my hours on the ministry up.. i replied "i will never be an elder again - i strongly approve of further education and college and have been through college myself.
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marmot
Hahahaha! I wonder how this will go over with my "superfine" uncle who desperately wants to be an elder again and not only holds a PhD but *gasp* TEACHES AT A UNIVERSITY!
Serves the smarmy jerk right. -
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Canada: who's from there?
by RAYZORBLADE inwell, since the info by our photos/usernames is not available yet (profile info), i figured, why not give it another go.
the aussies had a go of it, time for the canucks to toss some maple syrup into the forum.
who on this forum is from canada?
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marmot
Born in Rimouski in the wild lands of Eastern Quebec, grew up in and around the southern Montreal region, spent a few years in Winnipeg, now I'm back in Montreal.
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Gossip about you: how far is the farthest it's travelled?
by marmot ini just got a text message today from a friend in calgary asking me why i wasn't going to meetings and why i was having doubts and he proceeded to bring up specific examples.
funny, the only people i've told about my doubts during my fade were my parents, a couple elders and my ex-gilead uncle in order to avoid possible charges of apostasy for spreading my doubts around.
after some careful questioning, i figured out it must have been my uncle spreading the gossip.
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3
Gossip about you: how far is the farthest it's travelled?
by marmot ini just got a text message today from a friend in calgary asking me why i wasn't going to meetings and why i was having doubts and he proceeded to bring up specific examples.
funny, the only people i've told about my doubts during my fade were my parents, a couple elders and my ex-gilead uncle in order to avoid possible charges of apostasy for spreading my doubts around.
after some careful questioning, i figured out it must have been my uncle spreading the gossip.
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marmot
Forgot to add, my friend got the information third-hand from somebody else.
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Gossip about you: how far is the farthest it's travelled?
by marmot ini just got a text message today from a friend in calgary asking me why i wasn't going to meetings and why i was having doubts and he proceeded to bring up specific examples.
funny, the only people i've told about my doubts during my fade were my parents, a couple elders and my ex-gilead uncle in order to avoid possible charges of apostasy for spreading my doubts around.
after some careful questioning, i figured out it must have been my uncle spreading the gossip.
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marmot
I just got a text message today from a friend in Calgary asking me why I wasn't going to meetings and why I was having doubts and he proceeded to bring up specific examples.
Funny, the only people I've told about my doubts during my fade were my parents, a couple elders and my ex-gilead uncle in order to avoid possible charges of apostasy for spreading my doubts around.
After some careful questioning, I figured out it must have been my uncle spreading the gossip. This is based on the private nature of the stuff my friend new about a single conversation I had with my Uncle and no one else.
So gossip about me has traveled roughly 3028 kilometers as the crow flies. Don't ya just love that worldwide brotherhood! -
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The hounders are once again up my arse... As of like, 2 minutes ago...
by cognac inthey told my husband they wanted to meet... tonight.... just what i want to do on a friday night... we just had a sheparding call a month ago with another elder.
i said to my husband, "why don't they just invite the entire body over to the house?
so hubby told them that.
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marmot
I thought "up the arse" was considered uncleanness?
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KING of the NORTH (proof!)
by winnower incan you not see that usa/uk is "king of the north"???????
here is documentation.
remember when we were referred to as western civilization?
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marmot
Conspiracy kooks give me heartburn.