Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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  17

  Any suggestions to help?

  by casio in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok. its been a year since my first post.

  (i wasn't joking when i said it would take a while for any replies!!).

  thanks for all of the kind words of support.. .

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  How acquainted are you and your wife with the WT doctrine/policy on child molestation? I'm not married and have no children, but that issue was what finally snapped my connection to WT doctrine and blindly accepting whatever they said. And in my conversations with my parents when they become blind to reason, that is the issue that I know will end the conversation. With them, we've analyzed and discussed the WT policy enough that they can't agree with the stupid direction that WT Legal Department should be called first if there's a case of even suspected molestation.

  CALL THE POLICE FIRST. GET THE CHILD TO THE HOSPITAL FOR EXAMINATION BY PROFESSIONALS FOR THE WELFARE OF THE CHILD AND PROSECUTION OF THE PERP.

  If WT can't get that right, how "faithful and discreet" can the slave really be? Here's a couple threads I started last summer with some of my tactics:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/253592/1/exJW-Psychology-101-Keeping-Your-Cool-While-Fading#.Uq8qPuIljcw

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/254990/1/exJW-Psychology-102-How-to-Ask-a-Question-When-Questions-Arent-Allowed#.Uq8qIOIljcw
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  33

  DEC 2013 WT Article - Slave for Jehovah - warning: ranting ahead

  by ohnightdivine in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this morning's wt study almost made me vomit, stand up, pick up my bag and rush to the door.. of course it never happened.

  instead, i was able to make some nice drawings on my tablet and notepad.. if you replace the name jehovah with watchtower, or the governing 8 men, it would really make sense.. what's up with all that nonstop guilt-mongering about education and having a decent job?!.

  most people look down on the uneducated, and i remember, when i didn't have a job, nobody cared!.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  VM44, Here's the link to farticle... http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20131015/slave-for-jehovah/
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  46

  My sister died

  by poppers in

  1. social
  2. family

  just got word that my sister died.

  she had surgery for heart valve replacement about 5 weeks ago, and when they opened her up for it they found cancer.

  we had an extra special relationship since i was her "birthday present" when she turned 10 in 1951. this is my second sibling to die of cancer in 14 months..

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  So sorry to hear about the loss of your sister. And so soon after the loss of another sibling. {{poppers}}
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  36

  Prepare for meetings??

  by Jen1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  do you prepare for meetings?

  if i go i spend a few minutes underlinging my books/watchtower.. i have noticed that those who do the micks especially notice when your stuff is not underlined, and comments are made after the meeting, not so gentle hints, about study and preperation!

  in other words i am being told off, its usually the ones who are highly critical of everything i do, sometimes their whole family seems to be straining to see if my stuff is underlined, i know this because i heard the daughter to family wisper her watchtower is not underlined!.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "sometimes their whole family seems to be straining to see if my stuff is underlined"

  Here's what you do, buy some of these in as many colors as you can find:

  

  And highlight the sh!t out every WT, KM, brochure, etc. just as soon as you get them. Highlight your Bible, too. If anyone remarks about your extensive and colorful highlighting, say, "Well, each time I read it, I like to use a different color to highlight the points that stand out. I suppose if I was just rushing through it on a Sunday morning, I'd probably just use a pen and underline. But I get so much more out of it this way."

  For extra brownie points, get some of these:

  

  Write random quotes and Bible verses, then stick them in with the study article. You can restick and reuse them from week-to-week.
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  34

  Did you think Dinosaurs were destroyed in the Flood?

  by LoisLane looking for Superman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in our jw bible, they placed a friendly dinosaur on the inside front cover on the old time map of the middle east.. you look at that, and see where the placement to where the garden of eden is and that was the image i got in my mind.

  dinosaurs lived, but were too big to save in the flood, and besides they had outlived their purpose of fertilizing the earth.

  i feel stupid for the thinking i had when i was 'in'.. is that how you 'thought' when you were 'in'?.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Nonsense! The dinosaurs were wiped out when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem!

  
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  20

  Our teenagers first Christmas tree

  by truthseekeriam in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we had fun putting together our first artificial tree last week, it came out so pretty!

  the lights and cheap ornaments just add to it.. we have been careful to close our blinds at night to avoid our jw neighbors from calling in the elders, that worked for a few days until we decided to go out for an early dinner and yes, i forgot to close the blinds!

  as we drove up to the garage door i could see the tree in the front room and started to freak out a little.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Congrats on the tree. Next year you should do a yard like troubled mind's. If she's not gonna post a link to youtube, I will

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecXME5fffnI

  Next year would be appropriate to put up lights reading "ASK ME ABOUT 1914" since it will be the centennial!
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  43

  Do you look like the apostate they warned you about?

  by Angus Beef in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  after waking up and wanting to get out of this nightmare, the word apostate is really bothering me.

  if i quitely become inactive, fade away will i just be looked at as "always weak".

  i want to scream out how big a fool i was.. and now telling my poor young daughter how wrong i was to bring her up as a jw.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I still remember that early fade stage. Could they tell what I was thinking by looking at me? So I tried to keep my mouth shut and just think. When I was about at your stage, I would go to the meetings and look bored, sad, arrive just as it was starting and leave soon after. I used work and fatigue as an excuse. Once I'd moved away and stopped attending, I was clearly more cheerful and energetic... and prepared for the difficult conversations with my parents that followed. For most of the congregation, I didn't contact them and they didn't contact me.'

  Do I look like the kind of person that JWs demonize as apostates? Nope. I look pretty much the same... just a lot happier.
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  33

  so happy today!!

  by XstuckX in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm married with small children.

  my wife and i both born-in and baptized jws.

  i began my slow drift about a year ago.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Congrats on the Mrs.!

  "In a few years I'll be part owner....if I make it that long and he won't be able to screw me over."

  If he's anything like the 'brothers' I've dealt with, get ready to be screwed over. Even bethel made promises and wanted 'lifers' when I was there. Then there was a change of plans and thousands of late middle-aged bethelites were dumped out into the worst job market in decades with no unemployment benefits, no insurance, no skills, no references.
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  30

  I regret my disassociation.

  by Zoos in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if i knew then what i know now, i might never have disassociated myself.

  i realize all i can do is speculate on what could have been.

  however, when i consider the number of people i might have been able to help by dropping little thought-provoking seeds, i really regret having jumped to the decision to disassociate so quickly.. ive read the accounts of several people on this forum telling of how stressful it is to be in the position that i just described above.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Regardless of whether you DA, DF, or fade, get on with a really good life.

  Technically, the announcement is the same whether you DA or are DFd. The JWs want you to suffer and be miserable without their "love" and their "hope". Want to send a message to your friends? Put on a smile and get on with a fantasitic life!
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  22

  plesase help me: examples of true prophets being wrong

  by nonjwspouse in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  my husband insists all the men chosen to be prophets were inperfect men.

  i agreed.

  i do not agree that what they prophacied about; said was from the word of god; could ever be wrong.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  non,

  If I understand your predicament, it sounds similar with my parents when they try to use the "they're just imperfect men and have made some mistakes in the past." Rather than arguing, I eagerly agree, saying, "I completely agree that they are imperfect and have made mistakes. And they're still imperfect and are making mistakes still today. Based on their track record, I would be making a mistake if I treated them like prophets, because they're very likely to have to overturn the current teachings, perhaps in the very near future."

  Since you're nonJW, you may not quite be able to use my tactics. Rather than approaching a discussion with my parents as a me against them, I phrase it as us deserving better answers from WT. My parents aren't comfortable with the questions, but they understand and respect my point of view.