Posts by garybuss

16

For those that've been out of the borg for 25+ yrs

by Jigrigger in

jw
friends

if we were to go back to the borg, would we see any marked difference in the attitudes/environment in the organization?

would it appear more liberal or more strict than it was 20 or more years ago?

or would it appear that not much has changed?.

garybuss

I left in 1974. Every time the Society has a setback they get tougher on the JW's. In the 50's and 60'd we had bands at the assemblies. Late 60's or so the Society made a phonograph record and made us quit the bands. We had a piano at the Kingdom Hall and we had to quit using that and play their record.

We had to quit smoking so there went the smoke break between meetings.

When we had Company Servants and assistants it was a ritual driven business and tended to be predictable and mostly stagnant. Then we switched to the elder management system and then the rotating elder system and the company became ego driven and political. The elder political system provided the motivation and the environment for the current corruption.

Then they started shunning walkaways. Next they continued the conventions but they quit the food. Education has been discouraged by the Society all my life but now they are mounting campaigns to induce those who have managed to accumulate any possessions in spite of the Society's best advise, to gift their assets to the Society itself.

I have been aware of it all by my connections with relatives and others and the Corporation is much un friendlier now than it was in 1974.

I would hate to be a Witness now for sure. Just think of being aware that I might have to die in support of the current fragmented blood medical treatment guidelines. Or shun a cherished relative due to that relative not agreeing with the current viewpoint of the 1914 generation issue. Or defending the Society's viewpoint on alternative military service based on the last Watchtower article on the subject.

Elders using gestapo style tactics, relatives slamming doors and yelling, pedophiles and abusers openly embraced, Kingdom Halls with attached parsonages, obvious failures boldly denied, appeals for donations right in the magazines, all in the last 25 years.

gb

Edited by - garybuss on 24 October 2002 17:56:48

40

what would jesus say if he inspected this place?

by comforter in

jw
friends

woe, woe, woe!

garybuss

He would agree that we have the truth. We have the correct understanding of the year 1914 . . . we know something happened but we don't have a clue what and why. He says that is good enough for him.

He likes that we have all the key doctrines right . . . that we dis-believe in hell . . . that we dis-believe in immortality of the soul . . . that we dis-believe in the trinity. He says those are the main three dis-beliefs for the truth.

He likes it that our families are divided. He says that was his intention.

He says he has indeed returned and we need to expect the call announcing it. He wants to know the area code for Salt Lake City.

53

Give Bill a deserved break!

by Derrick in

jw
friends

islandwoman, i hope you don't take this topic as a personal attack because none such was intended.

in the topic why is bill bowen attacking us?

the topic's author asks about bill bowen, "why is he attacking ray franz, hillary_step and from what i've heard on this board also reinhard lengtat?".

garybuss

Just my 0.02 here . . . I read both Ray's books, have corresponded with him by letter and by phone and I have the most respect and admiration for him and I very much appreciate his efforts. His communication answered many of my questions about the Publishing Corporation that so influenced and directed my thinking, my behavior, my life. I have thanked him and I thank him here again now.

There is still a void in my knowledge and I do not think that is Ray's fault. Ray's books are like he was a guest in a hotel, and eventually he was invited to be on a board of consultants. But the board was not really involved in the actual management of the business. Some of the things remaining unanswered in my mind are:

1. Who decides where the money is used?
2. Who decides where the money is kept?
3. What is the actual worldwide income from operations?
4. How much is left over every year?
5. Who really makes the decisions about building, selling, & investing.
6. How much property does the Society control?
7. How much property and money is held by the Pennsylvania Corporation?
8. Who is the stealth manager with the real power?
9. Where does he live?
10. What is his income including gifts and donations?
11. The writing and service departments obviously receive the directions to write appeals for money and the service department obviously receives directions for issuing policies and statements. Who really directs them?
12. Is there another Rutherford type attorney, a wizard, really running things in the background? Or who?

In my opinion Ray did not address these issues because he does not know.

Does anybody know?

gb

19

FDS has been tipped off ahead of time?!

by greven in

jw
friends

*** w60 7/15 444 staying awake with the "faitful and discreet slave" *** yes, the "faitful and discreet slave" was awake to the coming of 1914. in 1942 the "faitful and discreet slave" guided by unerring spirit made known that the democracies would win world war ii and that there would be a united nations organisation set up.

once again the "faitful and discreet slave" has been tipped off ahead of time.

does anyone have the article this quote is referring to?

garybuss

Me thinks it probably should read like this: "Yes, the "Faitful and Discreet Slave" was awake to the coming of 1914 in 1942."

They had it right . . . just had the period in the wrong place :-)

gb

32

So depressed...(world conditions)

by DanTheMan in

today was one of the hardest days i've had yet since leaving jw.

i was barely able to work, and i have a knot in my stomach.. i look at the world situation and i feel so hopeless and helpless.

knowing there are millions of people outside of the u.s. that, if you were to put a button in front of them that had a label below it that said "kill every man woman and child in the u.s.a." that they wouldn't even hesitate to press it.. i wonder where it will end.

garybuss

One thing I noticed after I left the bad world reminders of the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation sponsored meetings, I still watched the news on TV and read the newspapers. It seemed I needed a bad world fix. I stopped reading the news and watching TV news at all for one year and I just looked at my real world, my home, my job, my city, but no media. My outlook changed a lot.

Now I watch some news and read the paper once a week or so but I am not addicted to bad news like I was as a JW.

There is so little bad news in the world that it can fit into one newspaper. That's all the bad news for 6 billion + people. Good news is so usual and frequent it does not make any news. How many kids made it to school today without any being hurt? Lots! How many people got good news in the mail? or got a raise? or got a good belly laugh? or had lunch with a friend? Lots!

The planet is a beautiful thing and there is so much food and so many beautiful places, like my own backyard. People are friendly and helpful everywhere. If I have an accident 500 miles from home someone comes with lights flashing to help me and take me to a hospital or doctor without even leaving their name or sending me a bill.

Every job is people serving other people. People cook for me and serve me, they clean my clothes, they fix my car and deliver my mail, they mow parks for me to walk in and they pick up the trash and sweep the streets, they open their shops and bake bread for me and some are doctors and nurses and they help me stay healthy. Others like Simon here serve strangers by providing free posting space and others share their experiences so I can enjoy them and it all makes life enjoyable, comfortable, and interesting.

The inability to enjoy life or see the fun and the good might be a sign of depression and may need to be treated by a professional. I hope no one who sees life as doom and gloom accepts that and continues on as if that is fact without checking out the possibility that this just might be a delusion and a symptom that is treatable. Because I see a good world full of nice people.

Happy week everybody,

gb

22

How many would have stayed?

by freedom96 in

jw
friends

my lost new posting topic made me think of this question:.

if the wts was more normal, how many would have stayed?.

was it in fact the teachings that made you leave?

garybuss

The agents of the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation limited my education, induced my parents to drag me out 3 evenings a week and weekends to meetings and fundraising, forced me to dispense with friends, hit, pinched, and poked me, scared me with false predictions, limited medical care and treatment to me, passed medical treatment requirements that resulted in my wife dying a premature death from improper and lack of medical treatment, belly pushed me from a working stocked vending machine at district convention, harassed me for not wearing a necktie to group meeting, instructed my wife to put unpaid literature distribution and group meeting attendance before spending time associating with me, taught my children to see me as bad association and directed them to shun me, encouraged elders to lie to me, made acceptance of their teachings a requirement and then changed those same doctrines.

A team of wild horses could not have gotten me to stay.

gb

18

Divorced! No Grounds!

by Veovus in

my wife recently filed for divorce after four years of marriage and there is no grounds!

in california you can't contest a divorce and it requires only one signiture to do it.

im twenty three and male.

garybuss

and I don't know what to do?

Yes you do!

Welcome!

gb

6

The Wizard

by garybuss in

jw
friends

.

anyone relate to this picture?.

gb.

garybuss

Anyone relate to this picture?

gb

12

Divorce?

by outtahere in

i have a complex situation that i would like some help with..... married, two kids.

my husband and i have had our problems.

married young and all.

garybuss

and see where it goes

And see where what goes? Sounds like you are on a bus.:-)

Marriage is for the tax free transfer of property and for the care of the minor children. It is a business partnership. Happiness and fulfillment are separate issues. Friendship is a separate issue. Sex is a separate issue. Marriages don't go places, they function. People change but they function.

I am against modern marriage but am totally against divorce unless there is criminal behavior, addiction, or neglect.

In my experience the best marriages are those with extreme adversities and/or serious illnesses. Often the worst thing that can happen to a marriage is good health and prosperity.

If they are not experiencing any abuse or financial neglect or addictions, I advise anyone thinking they are having marriage problems to get into personal counseling alone for at least one year before they ever consider looking at the marriage or their partner. Then I suggest both principles go to counseling together as advised by the counselor. Next the whole family needs to be in family counseling.

And the minor children get a vote on any decisions that affect the family (them).

gb

15

The Status Of A "Jehovah's Witness"

by minimus in

jw
friends

a person desires to become baptized.

it could be because they believe they've found the truth, peer pressure, an expectation of "doing the right thing", etc.

whatever the motive, they become baptized jehovah's witnesses.

garybuss

The tactic of trapping juveniles into lifelong servitude or face shunning would not work for the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation if it were not for the cruel and selfish parents willing to shun and snub their own children. Witness children who shun parents and siblings and Witness parents who shun children are the backbone of the cruel and the unkind Jehovah's Witness group.

As soon as enough people learn some basic human respect and start behaving with some decency, the Watch Tower enforcement machine falls apart like a two dollar suitcase in the rain.

When every congregation gets reduced to 6 families and the money stops coming in, it all ends.

It is the Witness people that is wrong with the Watch Tower today. The leaders just do what the people let them do. The people have the power, not the leaders. The people are the rot and the vermin.

gb