Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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  39

  Detroit Style Ballroom Dancing

  by KateWild in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  trying to make rcs less of a snorefest.

  not exactly award winning either, but worth a laugh.

  kate xx.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Shouldn't "Detroit Style" entertainment include Eminem?
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  173

  Atlanta Int Convention 2014:The Big Party. Does this look like WT believes Armageddon is coming "soon"?

  by AndDontCallMeShirley in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=potrr2qxhue.

  .. if armageddon is "imminent", why is wt focused on sight-seeing, entertainment, travel, etc.

  instead of preaching and saving people??.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "Listen, obey, and be blessed." That clearly sounded like brainwashing.

  The "see how obedient I am by driving 30 miles to a different metro station" sounded stupid, stupid, stupid. I couldn't imagine wasting that much fuel in order to use the same public transportation right near my house. MARTA rail handles over 200,000 daily riders, so they're well equipt to handle a few thousand JWs riding from the closest stations.

  I guess this is one of those "unquestioningly obey whatever we say even though it seems strange" type of things from WT.
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  176

  JW refuses to provide wedding stationery to Gay couple

  by KateWild in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i was outraged at this and had to post it.. http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/jw-refuses-to-provide-wedding-stationery-to-gay-couple.

  i think she is a hypocrite and i bet she sells her invites to fornicators, or does she ask them if they are having sex before marrige, before she takes their money?.

  i was never like this when i was a jw, it's even more disturbing that she is going to ask her elders what to do.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  mrh: "the JW aren't going around suing business, and they do not have the mainstream media spreading their propaganda."

  JWs aren't suing businesses in the USA because that battle was already fought back in the 50s. WT battled with many school districts, and with cities d2d sales laws, etc. all the way to the Supreme Court. In some cities/states JWs had their wedding plans complicated because their "JW ministers" weren't recognized. Plenty of issues about the rights of JWs to rent, use, or own halls. Even more battles were fought in Canada. Decades have passed since JWs were fighting with police and arguing in court, but it certainly did happen where WT was the weird religious fringe minority fighting against the Catholic/Protestant/Political mainstream. That was the era of my grandparents and when my parents were young, so I heard many of the first-hand accounts that now make me cringe. WT used propaganda in their fight for rights. WT sent young sisters into areas where they knew they would be arrested to make sensational press, etc.

  And now? JWs aren't going around suing businesses because nobody is discriminating against them. The mainstream media isn't spreading their propaganda because nobody really cares that much about WT, and there are plenty of fundy religions that spread media propaganda very similar to the JW message. WT would love the attention that would come with persecuation of JWs. But when they don't salute the flag or celebrate holidays, nobody cares much. Personally, I actually had customers say to me, "I'm sorry I said 'Merry Christmas' to you yesterday. I just forgot that you're a JW and didn't mean to be insensitive to your beliefs." As far as their right to preach, if JWs come knocking, most peeps just don't answer. Others have their "no soliciting" signs because they don't realize its "no trespassing" signs that JWs have to legally avoid. If a town is so blatant to say, "JWs can't preach here" the city can be sued. Most cities/communities have legal counsel that advises security protocol such that JWs can't get in.

  On the flip side, I've known of plenty of cases where JWs are directed to deny service to others. Personally, I was removed as an elder because I didn't turn down a good and reasonable business deal that shouldn't have been an issue. A friend of the family was nearly dfd because he sold his wares to everyone in town... including the local churches. It had never been an issue before, but a CO that had never been gainfully employed carried out a crazed witch-hunt on dozens of responsible small business owners in the circuit.

  Going back to your original statement: "Yes, the LGBT community is worse than the JW. The JW may shun you, but once you deal with that, they leave you alone to live your life. There is no getting away from the LGBT community. If you disagree with them, they will go after you with a passion."

  LGBT is one of many groups that want to establish their civil rights. To say that they are "worse" than the JWs doesn't make sense because JWs have their civil rights. The need for protests and progress didn't end once JWs won the right to not salute the flag and sell litteratrash from door-to-door on Sundays.
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  176

  JW refuses to provide wedding stationery to Gay couple

  by KateWild in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i was outraged at this and had to post it.. http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/blog/jw-refuses-to-provide-wedding-stationery-to-gay-couple.

  i think she is a hypocrite and i bet she sells her invites to fornicators, or does she ask them if they are having sex before marrige, before she takes their money?.

  i was never like this when i was a jw, it's even more disturbing that she is going to ask her elders what to do.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  mrh: "Yes, the LGBT community is worse than the JW. The JW may shun you, but once you deal with that, they leave you alone to live your life. There is no getting away from the LGBT community. If you disagree with them, they will go after you with a passion."

  JWs still come through my neighborhood every couple of months, ringing buzzers, trying to get inside apartment buildings, leaving their invitations and tracts to litter the area. There haven't been carloads of LGBTs going door-to-door around here trying to recruit like the JWs. I have both JW and gay family members, it's only the JWs that don't let me live my life. There is a large LGBT community in my city and it seems very easy to get away from it. But then, I'm not trying to start a battle by disagreeing with their civil rights. So in my experience JWs are much worse than the LGBT community.

  And the irony is that JWs are ready to go to court to insure THEIR rights to tell everyone else that their religions are a scam, the governement is run by the devil, and rocks will soon fall from the sky to smash open the skulls of all non-JWs!
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  49

  Are you complicit if you stay in?

  by mrhhome in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am going to throw down the gaunlet.

  those who know the truth but stay in anyways are complicit in actions of the jehovah witness organization.

  while i am sympathetic to the very difficult choices that they have to make, their unwillingness to confront the jw enables the organization.. some of you may remember my story.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Personally, I appreciate those on this forum who are still in for whatever reason.

  Those who are still elders and post here are in the best position to share with us WT's ugly financial strategies. How would we know anything about their current money-grab if it weren't for the insiders that willingly disclose it here? Those who drag themselves to the Discrap Crapvention are able to recount the mindnumbing dramas and other details that I'm glad I don't have to sit through.

  Thanks to their contributions to this forum, I know what my family is being told by WT, by the COs, etc. It's the absolute best spy network that I pay nothing to benefit from.

  And for the minority of posters on here who are still attending meetings, if they suddenly chose to DA and never set foot in a KH again, it wouldn't somehow end the brainwashing of my friends and family. Rather, it would be a gift to WT if all "closet apostates" left. It would be their dream come true if they could put out an even crazier elders' manual and there wouldn't be anyone to leak it to the web. People like me would lose a valuable source of inside information.

  Consequently, to those of you that are still stuck inside and come here to describe all the craziness inside WT, I say, "Thank You!"
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  25

  Standing on Street Corners, Counting Time - the Impotent Future of Preaching

  by passwordprotected in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you see them all over the place now, 2 or 3 of them standing near a portable display of bible-based literature, chatting to each other.

  counting time.. i've seen them in london, glasgow and cluj (romania).

  the portable display is always the same.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I've seen them setup at various places in the city. Accomplishing nothing.

  The last time I saw them, they were parked between an assortment of other bible-thumpers with signs. Meanwhile, a couple of vans drove down the street with loudspeakers talking about Jeez-us.

  They silently blend into the cacophony of crazies.
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  6

  Jehovah vs. Jehovah - A comparison

  by processor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  getting to know the warrior who gives peace we can learn something about god when we are concerned with people like jacob, who saw god face to face.

  (gen. 32:30) true, moses and aaron, nadab and abihu and seventy of the older men of israel proceeded to go up, and they got to see the god of israel.

  24:9, 10.someone who has seen god face to face surely would be able to teach us many things about him.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  15. Why should we be grateful?

  We can be grateful that Jehovah:

  • Never changes.
  • Changes to suit his purposes.
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  49

  The List, by "Prominent Bethelite"

  by morloc in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i occasionally pop through here to catch up on the latest, but this time i'm going to pop my own post on here.. some of you internet oldsters may even remember this.

  my first experience on the internet regarding discussions about jehovah's witnesses and the watchtower took place on a now-obscure usenet group, before i eventually stumbled across hourglass2.. during those days, there was a poster who went by the name "prominent bethelite," an otherwise anonymous individual whom i remember most for an extensive, exhaustive compilation of date-oriented remarks, predictions, and expectations by the watchtower organization down through the decades of its history.. it became known as "the list" and it's definitely lengthy... but a fascination look at the abundance of errant statements made through the watchtower's history.. if you're curious, it's been available for a long time on hourglass2's site, and can be seen using the link provided below.. the list, compiled by prominent bethelite (1999).

  that's about it for this stop through here.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "14 post in 14 years, I admire you dedication to lurkdom!"

  The way these Last Days keep lasting and lasting, it makes sense to pace yourself!

  I wish there was a way to time travel back through the Internet to wake myself up earlier to TTATT. But, god bless the Internet for finally saving me from the Watchtower Wasteland of false prophecy and bogus chronology.

  ps: Morloc, eh? You wouldn't happen to be related to Sparlock, would you? He's an awesome superhero whose greatest power is to make the evil Jehovah very sad.
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  41

  The CO visit this week he says" In August..."

  by James Jackson in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  up until 5 years ago, the co used to work up their own parts for specfic congregations in their circuits.

  everything is up to script, in other words, every co in the country are givings the same talks in the local congregations they visit.

  what got me to cringe is when he said at the meeting, trying to encourage everyone to pioneer this august; he said :" you know this october it will be 100 years since gods kingdom began ruling, remember what happen when joshua told the israelites to march around jericho on the seventh day, and what happened when they let out a great war cry?

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  He Said :" You know this October it will be 100 years since Gods Kingdom began ruling, remember what happen when Joshua told the Israelites to March around Jericho on the seventh day, and what happened when they let out a great war cry? "

  The difference between 7 days and 100 years is 100 years give or take a week. Whether "this generation" has let out 5,220 or 5,221 "great war cries" every seven days doesn't make them look like any less the false prophets.
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  34

  Hello- new here

  by Kikura in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  been lurking for a while on here and thought i'd jump in.

  a great deal of many thoughtful posts on here but have to say am a bit turned off with the 'rabid apostate' ones!.

  my history- was raised in a divided household, mum converted to jw when pregnant with me back in 1970, dad was never jw but was supportive of taking us to meetings, assemblies etc.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Welcome! ... from all us rabbit apostates!