Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

40

My experience today

by leaving_quietly in

jw
friends

discussion with wife today led to her questioning whether i believe or not.

i told her that i just can't roll over and accept everything new thing they say just like that.

we were, of course, talking about the "new light".

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

ABibleStudent: "The WTBTS admitted in the January 2013 Watchtower that they have made mistakes?"

I don't have it in front of me, but I think they used "weasel words" and didn't actually admit that it was WTBTS or the FDS. Instead they wrote something like "Jehovah's Witnesses" or put in "some". The tone was more like it was the fault of individual JWs, not WT Corp's fault.

In reality the "individual JWs" to blame would be all WT clergy from the GB down through the COs, continuing through the elders and mindless pawns knocking on doors. Since individual JWs are not allowed to have independent views on anything, it's a sham for them to try to lay the blame on the sheeples.

16

!!!!INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT!!!! this morning. Family member hears TTATT.

by Gojira_101 in

jw
friends

so my husband's brother called him this morning.

i will call his brother earl (fake name :) so earl calls him out of the blue, hubby hasn't talked to him in a few months.

earl was never baptized and left jw's in his later teens and the family has also thought he was a low life and the black sheep of the family.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

What a great experience! I think it should be published in The Watchtower. Print the story, with your husband's name changed to Andre, and send it to the Writing Department.

40

My experience today

by leaving_quietly in

jw
friends

discussion with wife today led to her questioning whether i believe or not.

i told her that i just can't roll over and accept everything new thing they say just like that.

we were, of course, talking about the "new light".

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"At this point, she started saying that I had a mental illness.... she hinted that the marriage did indeed depend on me being a good little witness boy."

That's worth documenting. It sounds like the beginning of more emotional abuse she'll bring up if you dare to even question a word published in WT litteratrash.

20

Quote from this week's WT study

by dissonance_resolved in

"god's servants on earth will not need to defend themselves against aliens from another planet.".

good to know- but strangely no scriptural reference for this gem..

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

I'm with Phizzy. Discovering alien life is more likely than any of WT's predictions.

29

Apostacitis

by Rufus T. Firefly in

apostacitis is a term denoting a condition with which the watchtower society has become thoroughly infected, particularly since the year 1981 when sincere christians who merely resigned from the organization over principled differences in belief became viewed the same as unrepentant wrongdoers (1 cor.

5:11) and as those rejecting the good news about the christ (2 john 9-11).

there was a time when news of one becoming an apostate was so rare among witnesses that it sent shockwaves throughout the organization.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

When I went inactive, it was somewhat distressing for my parents. However, when my dad heard from several JW "friends" that many ex-bethelites have also gone inactive or *gasp* "apostate", my parents were, like, "makes sense". So they realized that it wasn't just them, it was the entire bOrganization.

Apostacitis is certainly a big deal in WT. Of course, it gets so complicated with all their "new light" where yesterday's "apostacy" becomes today's "food at the proper time".

14

INTIMIDATION by threat

by Terry in

what would happen if somebody pointed a gun at you and told you what to do?.

an implied threat would motivate almost every person to do as they were told.. what about in a religious context?

what if a "gun" were pointed at members of a religion?.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

I think their "shun gun" is becoming increasingly ineffective. Although we still see lots of cases where the family will "kick their kids to the curb", those that still have contact with family are on the rise. WT is more than willing to have an elderly JW parent be cared for by a DFd child than have the congregation care for such "charity cases".

Twenty years ago, my parents would have turned me in for apostacy based on the things that I've told them in the past year. But not now. They realize now that my concerns about WT and JWs are valid, and that they certainly don't want to stop talking to me. They've always known that the "silent treatment" never worked on me. If I did something and Dad would give me the silent treatment for it, I was completely indifferent and could give him the silent treatment for far longer... which drove him absolutely crazy. And since most of the local JWs are nutty and/or needy, my parents really don't feel a closeness to any of them. The only time my dad mentioned my disfellowshipping was actually in the context that I'd disassociate myself and how unhappy they'd be if I didn't talk to them. And the whole DF/DA thing would be difficult/embarassing for them to explain to non-JW family and friends.

As I see it, there is often that "turning point" where the "shun gun" is causing far more damage to those still JWs than for those that leave.

27

are the elders waking up too?

by nowwhat? in

we have an older very faithfull elder body and whenever they talk about armegeddon or the end of this system of thiings, they always use "very near, close, soon, etc".

well on the stage one elder when talking about the great tribuation this week , he said "possibly in our lifetime" !!!

that really caught my attention and even my wife's too!

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"it became obvious that the F&DS was wrong about it's understanding of "the generation", thus they had to seek out new understanding from Jehovah their a$sholes."

There DoC, got that corrected for him. Unless...
...has he named his a$shole "Jehovah"?

In which case, their "new understanding from 'Jehovah'" is just "fresh poop".

25

They just won't stop

by Anony Mous in

so ~2 years ago i left the jw cult, i had an exit talk with the elders with the reasons why and they couldn't find a reason to df me.

been happy ever since even though i went through a difficult custody and now divorce proceedings.

now all of a sudden they want to df me.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

How many local JWs do you still have contact with? If you really don't care about the cult anymore, disfellowship them! Send them notice that you've disfellowshipped them in absentia for gossip and slander.

If you still have contact with JWs, tell them individually absolutely everything that is going on. The elders get power from "confidentiality" and can become drunk with the power that they can do whatever the hell they want and you can do nothing because it's all secret. From my own experience back when I was removed as an elder, I leaked nearly every word of the "secret meeting" to my parents and the congregation busybodies, so that the whole sham was an embarrassment to the BoE. I even reported everything that happened to WORLDLY PEOPLE that know JWs and were horrified by the injustice. After that, the elders were all very careful about what they said because they realized I could report it back publicly... and that's exactly what I did. They lost their power. They could no longer secretly threaten, "we have been informed that you did such-and-such", because I would ask, "by whom?", and if they didn't answer, I would speak to everyone I knew about "who is making this accusation without asking me about it first?" I think the elders were relieved when I moved away.

So far, I think that me and my siblings that have faded haven't been pursued like this for a couple of reasons. Two of us have moved far enough away to a big city that nobody could report "wrongdoing". But the faded family that is still local is left alone because the elders can't do the typical "secret intimidation" like described in the OP. For the faders that still live in their territory, they are pretty much left alone because they know if they rock the boat, it's the local JWs that will get seasick when every detail of any such "judical proceedings" spreads like wildfire through the congregation and community.

33

GATED COMMUNITIES IN PUERTO RICO: ACCESS CODES and REMOTES must be provided to the WATCHTOWER CORPORATION by APRIL 23, 2013...

by Calebs Airplane in

this case is in it's 9th year an has been touched upon briefly on and off.. the latest from the federal court is that all gated communites in puerto rico have until april 23 to provide the watchtower corporation full access.... this means the entry code or remote control devices that open the front fence.. this is clearly an act of provocation in order to create "pseudo-persecution" thereby increasing fs hours and "voluntary donations"....

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

And if any crimes were committed inside the gated community, wouldn't WT and the local JWs become suspect? Their "court victory" could quickly lead them to greater liability.

It would be interesting to require WT bethel to give access to exJWs, then we have a series of "slip & fall injuries" where WT becomes liable.

33

GATED COMMUNITIES IN PUERTO RICO: ACCESS CODES and REMOTES must be provided to the WATCHTOWER CORPORATION by APRIL 23, 2013...

by Calebs Airplane in

this case is in it's 9th year an has been touched upon briefly on and off.. the latest from the federal court is that all gated communites in puerto rico have until april 23 to provide the watchtower corporation full access.... this means the entry code or remote control devices that open the front fence.. this is clearly an act of provocation in order to create "pseudo-persecution" thereby increasing fs hours and "voluntary donations"....

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

By the same token, shouldn't WT bethel provide access keys to outsiders? As I recall, Puerto Rico's bethel has a locked front gate and requires access keys to get inside the buildings to knock on the doors of the residents.

So if Watchtower should get full access to all gated communities, shouldn't WT provide keys to Mormons, Catholics, politicians, and anybody else? Shouldn't everyone else have the same freedom of speech?