Steve_C

Joined

• started 19 topics
• posted 292 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Steve_C

• 
  47

  Excommunication/Disfellowshipping is pagan practice--by request!

  by Atlantis in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  excommunication/disfellowshipping is pagan practice!--by request!

  request from researcher: hi atlantis or n. or whoever!

  one of my friends on the board said that she downloaded the 1947 awake pdf that "bereanbiblestudent and invetigator 74" posted, and in the first issue on page 26, it said that excommunication or disfellowshipping was a pagan practice.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  One more big thanks for posting this!
• 
  41

  WT undergoing "Invisible Growth"

  by Gerard in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i heard that the latest watchtower mag made reference to the borganization undergoing "invisible growth".

  anybody can fill me in with the details and context?

  thanks..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  I tried to convince my girlfriend I had some invisible growth, but she wasn't feeling it.

  LOL
• 
  30

  personal beliefs re: life after death...none since leaving JW.... You?

  by oompa in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i do not have a clue anymore.

  having just accepted my own mortality, what the hey does happen at death?

  i never thought about it before, because i did not have to.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  I was raised a JW and, similiar to Oompa, I was conditioned that I and my sister and mom "may never die." The Big-A was supposed to come before I finished high school. Now, no longer a JW, for the first time I had to consider my own and my family's mortality. Sometimes, when I'm feeling ill or tired, I can imagine the relief of just going to sleep forever. Other times, when I'm energetic and involved in something that makes me happy, I'm sad to think that life has a time limit. I'm not convinced that there is any kind of existence after death. So far I've resigned myself to think that it's a non-existence like before I was born.

  One important thing that has changed since I left the JWs, though, is that I try to be "good" to others now in practical ways, ways that will help them out at the present time, not by preaching some glorious future under the hazy concept of 'the Kingdom.' So I guess my beliefs have changed to a sort of present-day karma thing--help others now, and it will come back to you now--which I feel is basically the 'Golden Rule' that Jesus taught.
• 
  44

  When YOU went out in the field service.....

  by JH in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when you used to go in the field service, did you go out to have 2 more hours on your report, or did you really want to save somebody's life by preaching a message of salvation ?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  It's interesting reading all of these honest comments, especially by the posters who may still be in.

  For myself, FS was a given because my mom got baptized when I was 1 year old. However, as a child, I never enjoyed it. Like many other posters, I hoped each door was a not-at-home, and got a sickening knot in my stomach when I had to talk, even though most people were polite enough to a little kid. I got a reprieve at age 10 when my mom got DF for smoking, so I didn't do much. From time to time a brother in the congregation would start a study with me (I didn't have a dad), but these would last only a couple of studies and fizzle out. Then at age 17 I started studying again in earnest, and went back to FS, which I still didn't like. Anyway, after my own baptism (and dropping out of college...grr ) I started pioneering. I convinced myself that I was actually trying to help people, but only ever felt comfortable when I'd get a (rare) friendly response at the door. Otherwise, I was a clockwatcher trying to get my pioneer hours in.

  I eventually discovered the pioneer tricks, such as long breaks, and that made it a bit more palatable. I pioneered for only a year. In the last two months of that service year I came up with some fanciful ways of making the hours, including handwriting letters v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. I'd write one sentence, take a 'little TV break', then write another sentence, and so on. I got my 1000 hours in for the year that way. The last few years I was in I hated FS so much that I'd always try to get with a "rural car group" which meant lots of driving with little actual people contact.

  In the 25+ years that I was actually associated with the JWs, I had only 6 bible studies, 3 of these were given to me by others, and 3 were with my own kids. I NEVER started one from the door-to-door work. I guess my disinterest showed itself there .
• 
  38

  of weed

  by inkling in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do you know of any current witnesses who smoke marijuana, even rarely?.

  did you ever smoke weed while you were still a witness?

  do you smoke it now?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  Do you know of any current witnesses who smoke marijuana, even rarely? No

  Did you ever smoke weed while you were still a witness? No

  Do you smoke it now? Only about half a dozen times in the past 7 years. It never really did much for me. Plus, I never was a cigarette smoker, so I'd end up coughing too much when I smoked pot. My vices are coffee and chocolate.

  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
• 
  13

  Those Written/Oral Reviews

  by WTWizard in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i can remember those written reviews.

  you got them in the kingdumb misery inserts (potential to cheat on them).

  of course, when you got to the kingdumb hell that night, you were supposed to write the answers on a separate sheet of paper.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  Does anyone have to upload an example of how it was?

  Wow, I moved a couple of months ago, and during my packing I found one of my mom's old written reviews; I think it's dated from the late 60s or early 70s. I was a youngster at that time, and I remember liking those meetings, as it was more like school (somthing normal) and not like a regular meeting (something always unnatural feeling to me as a child).

  I'll have to look in my storage unit and see if I can find it. If so, I'll scan it and post the image for fun.
• 
  24

  BE SARCASTIC...YOUR FAVORITE SCRIPTURE

  by REBORNAGAIN in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "ask and you shall receive.

  " 1 john 3:22, .

  the joke of the day.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  My favorite scripture (but it somehow always made me feel inadequate ) :

  There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. --Ezekiel 23:20 NIV
• 
  50

  When Elders go too Far...

  by BigBloomerz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is just something that really peed me off regarding the elders, is how low they are sinking to get gossip and stuff now, i was in contact with a well trusted friend of mine who used to attend meetings up until 2 years ago, his wife is still in the jw org, he was having a joke around on some text messages with me regarding my man saying "try before you buy" and so on, which i found amusing....lets just say his wife didnt...she snooped on his phone, wrote out the texts he had sent me and gave the transcript to the elders, and now he has to go before a judicial commitee.

  how wrong is that, for a start its an invasion of privacy!

  i was fuming yesterday when i found out.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  Even though this wasn't the point of the OP, I'd like to address the "gay and married with kids" confusion that some posters here have indicated.

  My wife and I were both raised JWs. We married "in the truth" at age 23. However, I had homosexual feelings from an early age (although, of course, I felt horribly guilty about this, being a JW and all). I wanted to fit into the JW and cultural "norm", so I began dating in the congregation and eventually married, hoping that I would be "cured through holy spirit" or whatever. I even went to the elders before I got hitched and told them of my "leanings." Their sage advice? Get married! I did tell my future wife of the one same-sex experience I had, but dismissed it as teen experimentation.

  Flash forward 14 years and three kids later. I "played the part" of theocratic, hetero male, but the marriage was obviously suffering, as was our meeting attendance, etc. I finally came out to my wife in 1999. The real shocker was that she ended up coming out to me also! She too, from her adolescence, felt that she was a lesbian, and had also approached the elders before the wedding, getting the same advice as me...get married. It seems we both wanted to "please Jehovah" (and not buck the prevailing culture) and ended up in a sham marriage. Thanks for the "theocratic direction," oh great body of elders.

  Anyway, just wanted to let the skeptical ones commenting on this thread know that yes, you can be gay and be married with kids, especially if you're part of an organization that tries to control your life. Perhaps in the OP's scenario, the wife of the gay man doesn't divorce because she doesn't have "scriptural grounds"? Perhaps they stay together for the kids? Financial reasons? Alimony/Child Support issues? Could be many reasons.

  Postscript: Although, naturally, there was little passion in our marriage, my ex and I did become the best of friends, and continue to be so, while we continue raising our children together. We left the JWs in 1999 and finally began exploring our true orientations. We're so much happier now; we no longer have to "play straight" and we no longer feel worthless because of JW browbeating/mind control/etc.
• 
  14

  Has the WTS changed its view on carbon dating?

  by Jourles in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i remember back to my high school days when the blue evolution or creation book was all the rage.

  in it, i recall the wts using several reasons as to why we cannot trust carbon dating whatsoever.

  has there been any change in their thinking in the last 15 or so years or any new developments on this front?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  Dating carbon is only allowed if the carbon is baptized and free to marry.

  Heh heh, you made my morning.
• 
  5

  WTS sending "English teachers" to China?

  by Steve_C in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello all, from a newbie.. i haven't been inside a kingdom hall since 1999, so i'm not up to speed with "organizational" stuff.

  i still get curious, though, since my mom and sister are still active witnesses (but don't communicate with me).

  the other day, an old friend from my former congregation (she's the wife in the only family who will still talk with me, even though i was never df'd) came by the house, i assume while making a return visit.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Steve_C

  Hello all, from a newbie.

  I haven't been inside a kingdom hall since 1999, so I'm not up to speed with "organizational" stuff. I still get curious, though, since my mom and sister are still active witnesses (but don't communicate with me). The other day, an old friend from my former congregation (she's the wife in the only family who will still talk with me, even though I was never DF'd) came by the house, I assume while making a return visit. We chatted a bit; I updated her about my plans to teach English in Taiwan in the next few months, whereby she mentioned that the WTS has been training JW's as English teachers and sending them to China, ostensibly to teach, but in reality trying to make JW in-roads through informal preaching. We couldn't talk long, so I didn't get more details.

  I was wondering if anyone else had heard about this. I'm sure it's not something that's published, and I didn't see anything online when I did a cursory search. Perhaps it's just a fanciful tale from a visiting CO?

  It's weird:I know that when I was active, I would have been giddy with the thought that "Jehovah's Organization" would be getting one over on the Chinese gov't., but now the thought of the WTS's duplicity makes me feel sick.