Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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  5

  What was your experience in school as a Jehovah's Witness youth? What were some of your regrets and how did your peers treat you?

  by adjusted knowledge in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was in the first month of kindergarten on the night my parents had their first bible study with the jehovahs witnesses.

  it was around october and would be my last halloween, christmas, and birthday.

  i cherished those last memories though i cant really recall my last birthday celebration as a child.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  It's been a looong time ago, but there are still some memories.

  There were plenty of regrets and missed opportunities because of being a JW. I wasn't treated terribly bad, but it was enough that I saw 'the world' as a rough and unpleasant place. Unfortunately, it moved me more toward WT, the conditional JW friends, and the hope of the destruction of the 'wicked world' "very soon now"... back in the 70s, then the 80s. Then I made 'spiritual advancement' and went to bethel. Ugh.
  

  Over time, I've tried to put a positive spin on things. During those school years, I focused on studying (rather than having the right friends, the right clothes, the right extra-curricular activities) and was a very good student. Although I didn't get to go on to "higher education" then, I always valued learning and now have my degree.

  I also came from a small rural school system. Although some of my classmates kept in touch with each other and have stayed friends all these years. The majority of us went our different ways and didn't reconnect in any way until Facebook came along. In some sense, I don't feel it's just a matter of not having friends in school because I was a JW. I feel that the JW 'friends' I grew up with were superficial and not real friends.
  
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  23

  When they ask in exasperation; "But what if it IS the Truth?"

  by nicolaou in

  1. social
  2. family

  this is how robert ingersoll responded to a fundamentalist's question, 'what if it's the truth?

  ' back in the 19th century.

  "why," they say to me, "suppose all this should turn out to be true, and you should come to the day of judgement and find all these things to be true.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "What if we picked the wrong religion? Every week we're just making God madder and madder."--Homer Simpson
  
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  28

  1st POST: A romance with a JW

  by myangelface in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am not a jw ...however i began having bible studies (i d call them watchtower studies).

  i was beginning to get lured in and brainwashed into accepting the religion as the true religion...but something inside of me told me there was something odd.

  some time passes and i was invited to a meeting and i accepted.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Focus your time and energy on something more worthwhile than the seduction of a JW fundy.
  

  He admits he loves me now...but eversince that day he hasn´t spoken to me

  Doesn't that tell you something?
  
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  16

  JW's have lost the will to Vacuum

  by runForever in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  despite 2005 being a very popular year for vacuums vacuuming is now very unpopular with 0 mentions- an all time low.. awake magazine:.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Like nature, Watchtower abhors a vacuum!
  

  

  
  
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  13

  Becoming officially inactive

  by All for show in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't want to turn in my token time anymore.

  it's only a few hours counting what we do with the kids.

  i don't want it counted for their skewed statistics- or to just for the sake of doing it.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  What happens when you stop turning in time varies widely depending on your local congregation and elders. I'd suggest not turning in time now and see what happens. If you get a call, make up some numbers.

  Seeing how something like this plays out now, can help you plan your fade going forward.

  BTW, in my case, I stopped attending and turning in time when I moved away. My cards should still be in that congregation... although I wouldn't be surprised if they were 'lost' between CO visits... as the congo secretary I found that an effective way to "simplify" for the next CO report with the inactives just disappearing.
  
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  40

  First Time Post - Long time reader

  by Samaritan At the Well in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  today is my first post on jwd, i was one of jehovahs witness for almost 50 years of my life, i was born into the religion.

  i was baptized at a young age and once i got married i was a very spiritual woman as they would call me.

  my husband and i served as full time pioneers, we traveled abroad and went to international conventions, did some special pioneer service in other states in the us.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  What to wear when shopping for CoC:

  

  
  

  If caught by any JWs, just tell them you're shopping for porn. 99.9% chance they'll respond, "Me too."
  
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  53

  Is Watchtower's stance against education only for North American witnesses

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was reading on a european ex jw forum where some feel that watchtower's railing against higher education is primarily for north america issue.

  this is due that many in usa and canada leave home to leave on campus.

  it was mentioned that many young european jw attend universities and its not frowned on.. i found this odd because i heard what morris and losch said about education in italy.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  While kids moving away to campus is part of the problem, the big problem for WT is that colleges and universities try to teach critical thinking skills. As mentioned by several already, WT wants people who know how to read and perform assigned tasks, but they don't want people who know how to think for themselves and question what they are told or read. Consequently, WT wants the sheeples to stay close to the control of the cong and org. And they want them to make money with skills that they might get from limited classes... but not let them be exposed to the type of thinking that might go with a liberal arts degree.

  In my experience, the only time that JWs will "think critically," is when they want to get around WT directives. In this case, the GB gives the directive for no schooling beyond the minimum, unless it's a "get your plumbing certification" class at a local college. However, plenty of JWs start thinking about reasons to sidestep. As mentioned in the OP, outside the US they can say, "that only applies to America." Plenty of others around here have pursued degrees saying, "It's a skill that bethel is requesting, and I intend to go to bethel." Others, "I'm pioneering and only a part-time student living with my parents. So that's okay."
  
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  35

  Why the Clean out of top Management

  by Poztate in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it has been commented here that "soon" the do's will be history.

  the co level will be "retired" at age 70 and the latest development was that the cobe can not serve after age 80. it would seem that there is a "cull" of top management.

  in secular companys that would signal a radical change of directions ???.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  They want people that look happy, young, and energetic... then make them feel miserable, old, and tired.

  I guess Sanderson would be an exception. He is only a little older than me, but he looks old enough to pass for more like my father's age.
  
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  125

  WTS leader rants against higher education

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on jw tv.

  anthony morris is ranting against higher education.

  he is blaming parents for enrolling their kids in college.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Good catch on that quote Flipper...

  " All credit goes to God in our victories, it is not US and our OWN work , they see God's hand. "

  All the more reason to ditch their legal department with all those university educated attorneys. If it really is god to credit for their victories, shouldn't they back it up with a David vs. Goliath example and have some home-schooled, baptised-at-8, bethel newboy teenagers represent them in court?
  
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  14

  2015 Yearbook Stats analyzed

  by Westenddave in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  increase /.

  total increase /.

  republic of (m-6).

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Very interesting to see it broken down this way. So many of these countries haven't increased enough to make 1 new congregation.
  

  And to see Japan, Cuba, and Poland with such large decreases is so different than their earlier years of growth.