Well, the confrontation I've been trying to avoid happened this afternoon. On my way to my martial arts class with my DF'ed brother, I stopped at 7/11. While I was at the counter an older sister who was one of my best friends while I was still active walked right behind me but didn't see me. Second-guessing myself on whether I should say hello or just leave, the clerk stopped me to sign my debit card receipt and it was too late, she caught me and I felt obligated to talk to her a little if only because she was a very dear friend and she hadn't seen me in a year and a half. Before I tell the story of our conversation, it's worth mentioning I just finished reading Combatting Cult Mind Control, and I realized during this experience that I was talking with someone who is absolutely under mind control by the Watchtower Society.
One telling part of my conversation with this sister is that when I said hello she barely even asked me how I was, she just went right into JW hounding mode and started asking me where I had been and why I hadn't been at the Kingdom Hall for the last year and a half. First she asked me how am I keeping my relationship with Jehovah if I'm not an active Witness and I quoted Romans 10:9 and said that my association with the WT has no bearing on my relationship with God. Then she asked me how am I preaching if I'm not going out in service and I replied that most of my friends know that I'm a Christian and I'll share my views with them if they're interested. Then she asked how I'm not "forsaking the gathering of ourselves" if I'm not coming to the Kingdom Hall and I replied that I have a number of friends that I talk about the Bible and Christianity with. She immediately made the Witness sneer comment "do you really think they're Christians?" and I said "Yes".
Finally I just told her the truth and said that there are some issues(blood primarily, also disfellowshipping and the encouraged golden calf worship of the organization) that I disagree with and cannot conscientiously support because I believe they're wrong. I'm sure most of you can guess the response, she pulled the "don't you believe in the Faithful and Discreet Slave?" card, but I didn't fall for it and just replied that my ultimate loyalty is to Jehovah and the Bible. Next she pulled the "don't you believe Jehovah has an organization and a group of people that he appointed to teach the truth in the Last Days?" and I gave the same reply, that I follow the Bible. She said, "Well, where did you learn the things you know about the Bible?" and I said ,"From the Bible."
She was getting pretty steamed at this point and she said,"Have you joined an apostate group?" Now I know my answer might seem dishonest because I've read all the usual apostate books and I enjoy associating with all you fine ex-JW's on JWD and JWR, but I know that what the Bible calls an apostate is a person who rebels against Christ, so I told her no. She replied,"Well, you sound like it!" Then she asked me where I'm getting my spiritual food from if I'm not associating with the organization and I said,"Well, I have the same Bible I did before, what else do I need?" Finally, she said very sarcastically,"Well, it must be nice to just do it alone, trying to have a relationship with Jehovah by yourself and reading the Bible by yourself and making up your own mind what it means!" I said "Yeah, it really is!" and that was it, she was so mad she stormed out of the store and forgot to pay the clerk!
Of course, most of you can see what's probably coming. She'll go to the hounders and tell them I'm an apostate and I'll get dragged before a kangaroo court. The jokes on them though, because if that does happen I'm prepared to record the whole thing and I'll send a copy to every person in the Kingdom Hall and post it on the Internet.
levids
JoinedPosts by levids
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ran into a sister at 7-11 today
by levids inwell, the confrontation i've been trying to avoid happened this afternoon.
on my way to my martial arts class with my df'ed brother, i stopped at 7/11.
while i was at the counter an older sister who was one of my best friends while i was still active walked right behind me but didn't see me.
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levids
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Things That Irritated You When You Were A JW
by minimus inthere were some witnesses that loved taking notes for every meeting.
whatever you would say, the note takers were busy as a bee writing down every word.
especially if you went out of town to give a talk, certain ones (only sisters) would take their note taking very very seriously.. another thing that used to get to me was when you'd see the same people every assembly on the platform giving a talk or being in a part.
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levids
-Not just the head nodders, the people that would go "mm-hmm" to typical Borg comments, i.e."Didn't todays WT study show us the importance of doing whatever the Faithful and Discreet Slave instructs us to do?"
-The way "helps us to appreciate" was used as a verbal crutch, such as in this typical assembly experience; "What really helps me to appreciate the ministry is how helping others to appreciate the spiritual food we get from the Faithful and Discreet Slave helps them to appreciate the Bible more which helps them to appreciate Jehovah's goodness."
-The Holy Roller families. Every congregation had one, the family that had been in The Truth since Pastor Russell was alive. All the young men went to Bethel, all the young women were pioneers, all the husbands and wives were elders and elderettes, they had all mastered the Witness sneer, and for some reason I couldn't figure out the married ones had like 11 children apiece, which was interesting considering that such theocratic families don't go to college.
-Something that bothered me more during my last year or two in the WT was the way that the real "spiritual" ones in my congregation could quote Society publications better than the Bible when they were asked their opinion on some topic; i.e. "Well, according to the December 8, 1993 Awake! page 11 The Simpsons is an inappropriate program to watch."
-"It might stumble somebody" issues, as if the brother with pseudofolliculitis barbae "wearing a beard" would actually drive someone out of "da troof".
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Kingdom Hall Sign Generator
by reneeisorym inlet's have fun with the church sign generator!!!.
http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/sign11.php.
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VOTE YOUR "SILVER BULLET" QUESTION
by V ini'm quizzing all my sources for the ultimate "silver-bullet" question for a jw at your door.
the best questions will be used in a video series on watchtower comments.
the goal is to help people respond to jws.. the question must be direct and designed to open the jw mind, not necessarily to win an argument.. i would prefer to avoid doctrinal debate such as trinity, cross, even thiest/athiest subjects.
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levids
"If the "Faithful and Discreet Slave" is supposed to feed Christ's domestics, and the FDS is the group of 9000 anointed Jehovah's Witnesses, why do only 9 of them have any authority over the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses? What do the other 8991 members of the Faithful and Discreet Slave do?"
By the way, I love the one about "what does YOUR Christian conscience allow you to do?" That will blow the mind of the average Witness at your door.