Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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  26

  Yours Truly Samuel Herd

  by wasblind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  awake july 2013 is a message that sam herd truly believes, it states :.

  " proponents of social unrest would claim ( emphasis mine ) that protest have accomplished the following ".

  " provide relief for the poor.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  As I recall, Herd is diabetic. Instead of relying on doctors and medicine, he should ignore all those "worldlies" with "higher education" and rely on God's Kingdom to fix such health issues.
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  12

  So the straw that broke the camel(my wifes' back)

  by sosoconfused in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so after our incident today i let some time pass so as not to kill the mood and bring up all the annoying watchtower stuff.

  however i said, "babe seriously, i know you were upset about the other issue but you seem to just never want to even think about borg stuff again!

  i am glad - don't get me wrong - but so i can reall understand please tell me what was it that made youjust wash your hands clean so fast?".

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Thanks for sharing. Evidently, WT won't be publishing this experience in their ragazines or relating them at the Discrap Crapvention.
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  9

  Bethel doesn't look after it's own

  by ekruks in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  it's not only springsteen's latest song that is inaccurate, but bethel certainly doesn't look after it's own.. i know it's very easy for us to what to criticise bethel after our experiences, but if we are reasonable with the wbts and approach this with an open mind, can we conlude it's fair how bethelites are treated?.

  i know with any company if an employee breaks the rules, they have to leave.

  being fair, i can't wave a finger at bethel for telling those who break rules, sin, etc., to leave.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  As I look back, a couple of things stand out to me.

  They call it "Bethel Family", and they frequently fall back on that expression. We're MORE than volunteers. We're MORE than employees. We're FAMILY. On that basis, they expected us to give more to bethel than we'd give to anything else... and they expected us to keep the "family secrets." Just as a family will keep certain things quiet about what goes on inside the house, we were expected to keep our mouths shut about shocking disfellowshippings or disasters like construction mishaps. I remember several different lectures and morning worships where Sydlik and others told us how much they needed Lifers and that they were happy to have the privilege of taking care of old members of the family. But then I saw plenty of bethelites put out to pasture with nothing. It's a dysfunctional family.

  Also at bethel, they know how to feed the ego. Being in bethel, we were reminded how special and privileged we were for being there. They couldn't really reward anybody with better pay, working conditions, or other things that you would get from a career. All they could do was build up what a wonderful place bethel was and what an extraordinary thing you were working together for that would take over the world and last forever. They still do the boasting, but for them to be selling off all the real estate and branches shows that WT is past its prime. How can bethel look after its own when it can't look after itself?
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  14

  Gut wrenching situation

  by laverite in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have a close relative who has a baby with a terminal medical condition.

  he could go at any moment or last a few years.

  but the ultimate outcome is that he will die very young.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "We have a hope that a lot of people do not have..."

  A lot of people have a better hope than JWs do. Billions of people believe that their dead loved ones are in heaven or nirvana. The JW "hope" still involves a thousand years of uncertainty.
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  37

  Whats the most damning of the July 15 2013 changes?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a lot of the rank and file at the meetings seem to think some of the changes make more sense but what is the most damning of the changes that may help to wake to some up.

  some thing the rank and file will not first see or understand as a big deal?.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  According to the diagram on pg. 5, the "faithful slave" is appointed over Jesus' belongings immediately before armageddon. This gets very confusing around pg. 25 because it would mean that the "Governing Body" would be appointed over everything in heaven and on earth. But in usual WT fashion, they use smoke and mirrors to try to make the mess come together.

  And in their diagram of events leading up to armageddon, they have forgotten all about the King of the North.

  And they still expect the UN to attack religion? Evidently, Watchtower is still trying to ignore the power and influence of Islam.

  Of course, the bottom line is... don't bother understanding any of this, because WT again proves that whatever they teach today can very easily be replaced tomorrow. No questions asked, because no questions are allowed.
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  88

  Former Long Time Elder, New Member

  by James Jackson in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have served 20 years as an elder, 5 years as an ms. was on the district committee in 2010, held various positions on the district , circuit, and rbc level.

  probably been on more than 100 judicial committees and even an appeals committee.

  was the coordinator in our congregation and deleted because adult child was df ( i kicked him out at the time of his wrongdoing, but that wasn't enough for thr brothers).

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Welcome!
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  287

  What about your vow to Jehovah?

  by a watcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  did you get baptized without being dedicated?.

  why did you allow men to come between you and jehovah?.

  why were you serving jehovah at all?

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "Whenever you vow a vow to God, do not hesitate to pay it...What you vow, pay. Better it is that you vow not than that you vow and do not pay." (Ecc 5:4,5)

  LOL. Love the quote from Ecclesiastes! How about we take a good look at the writer? King Solomon was leader of a "dedicated nation" and was personally given a divine gift of great wisdom... wisdom that told him that worshipping other Gods, as well as banging lots of hot women, getting rich, and collecting fast chariots, was the best course of life!
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  30

  Do you believe Jehovah enjoys watching people suffer and why would you want to worship him?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have to admit i never really thought about this question until one of my classmates challenged me with this very question.

  she made an excellant point and i have to admit i am asking myself the same question does jehovah enjoy watching people suffer.

  the case she brought up was the flood story.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Regarding all the suffering and injustice going on in the world today, it's not a case that Jehovah enjoys watching the suffering, he's just too busy monitoring peoples' sex lives and noticing when they're watching porn to bother with all the innocent people that are dying from violence and disease.
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  37

  Prodigal Son DVD, Seen it? Totally Unrealistic to me. You?

  by Wasanelder Once in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  here's the basic rundown:.

  ok so little jw (21 going on 15) decides to get a job with a computer firm.

  leaves family construction company to do so.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I haven't seen the DVD, but I remember the DC drama. I thought it was a mess because the "moral lessons" weren't clear.

  One of the lessons was supposedly, stay at home and work for your dad rather than for a "worldly" company. Yet, there's nobody in our congregation that had a business to hire their own kids or anyone else. When I voiced that observation, nobody else was able to name a JW family that employed their own kids. So what's the lesson? Most JW kids have to be prepared to go out and get a job working for someone else. Does that make them ALL prodigal sons that are about to fornicate and get in car wrecks?

  Some kids are okay with living with their parents for a while after they graduate. But what if their parents live in Podunk where there are no decent jobs to be had? Is it a sin to move away to where there is better opportunity? What of the cases where the kid has nutso parents that fight all the time? And are the JW kids now required to live with their parents until they get married? Now that's a recipe for kids to rush into disasterous marriages to get out from under their parents' roof.

  Another observation I've made with other WT dramas as well: JWs are bad association! From my recollection of the drama, the kid's parents were kinda goofy and his older brother was a bossy, jerkish, bully. They were all JWs, the kind that would motivate any kid to move far away from them. And the kid he moved in with wasn't "worldly", he was a JW. After this drama, I voiced the observation that this was the type of drama that really fueled the judgmentalism of so many JWs. It set a tone for everybody in the congregation to scrutinized whether the teens were "good" or "evil". A situation like that makes it very easy for the kids to make non-JW "normal" friends, because "they're better and nicer than the 'friends' at the Hall."

  There were one or two other observations I made at the time that I can't recall at the moment.
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  14

  Anyone from Chicago or surrounding area?

  by I Made Jehovah Sad in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  looking for some apostate friends to hang with!!

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Welcome IMJS!