Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

The machete attacker at the New Orleans airport was a JW. He had a history of mental health problems and "refused certain medical care". By that, I assume he refused blood.

16

Hello All!

by ihunt in

jw
friends

i figure it's about time that i stop silently lurking around this community and actually add to the conversation, so here goes a first post.

a little about me-i was born "half-in", that is, my mother has been a witness for the entirety of my life whereas my father has never been.

i was an active part of the congregation (at least for what an unbaptized publisher can do) until i turned 18 and got an opportunity to attend a university (go school!).

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Welcome!

After my freshman year, I returned home to a somewhat nightmarish scene, where a large portion of the community that I had been a part of since my childhood completely ignored my presence solely due to the fact that I had a desire to continue my education (I will say, however, that this was not true of all of them, and that I received some genuine support from unexpected places). That was when I began actively searching for TTATT.

I wouldn't call your scene "nightmarish". Losing some 'friends' because you want an education isn't really losing anything important. Here's a real nightmarish scene: Leaving school to immerse yourself in the world of WT for 2 or 3 decades and then, finally, learn TTATT.

8

Does anyone have a light?

by Slave4_38y in

.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Phizzy: "But how many JW's does it take to change the light bulb ?"

144,000 + Jehovah ... but not Jesus ... so, 144,001

6

PERFECT TITLE : Obsolete building sails heavenward, helping train firefighters

by paulmolark in

jw
friends

http://www.chinookobserver.com/co/local-news/20150320/all-fired-up-obsolete-building-sails-heavenward-helping-train-firefighters.

plans to demolish an aging church created an opportunity for a multi-agency training burn.. .

long beach it was a sunday morning service unlike any other.. on march 15, a few dozen spectators mostly church members gathered to watch a fire training at the kingdom hall of jehovahs witnesses north of long beach.. the burn was made possible through a cooperative arrangement with the local congregation and fire departments in pacific, wahkiakum and cowlitz counties.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Hmmm, how to respond...

Firemen torching a Kingdumb Haul? These MUST be the Last Days!
This is prophetic! 40 years is a "building generation" that overlaps the human generation that was alive in 1914. So the end is going to come before the little kids that attended that KH grow old and die.
Christendom takes pride in their churches that have stood for centuries. JWs take pride in Kingdumb Hauls that are disposable--easily burned to the ground and replaced with new Kingdumb Hauls that are redesigned to not look like old Kingdumb Hauls. They're like Kleenex--pull one out and the next one pops up.
Firemen: "Does anyone have a light?" JW: (hands him latest WT magazine) "Here's the newest light!"

21

Drugs and Alcohol Ruin Your Life

by campaign of hate in

this point was raised in another thread vaguely, and wanted to try and expand on it.. the wt has said (and rightly so in my opinion) "that excessive use of drugs and alcohol can ruin your life".

in my eyes this is a fact.. this is where it starts to get a little suspicious, as they also say (or subtly hint at) "that if you leave the wt you will becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol and will ruin your life".. its almost like a self fulfilling prophecy.

as there are a lot who leave the borg and they do start drinking heavy or smoking, or taking drugs...or whatever.. the wt capitalizes on the fact that people want more freedom, and they subtly ingrain the thought that.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Part of the WT indoctrination is a self-destruct mechanism--leaving the cult will cause us to become an alcoholic, immoral, our family will fall apart, and everything will go so wrong that we may die or wish that we'd die.

As mentioned by others, there are plenty of active JWs that are a mess. With the fear, obligation, and guilt that's heaped on JWs, they can't reason how WT is the real source of unhappiness in their lives.

32

Assembly Assessment increased 300%

by James Jack in

while at the assembly, when reading the financial statement, i noticed our expenses went from $2500 to almost $9500 so i questioned an elder and said that the assessment per publisher is at $10.50 for all in the us branch territory.. he added this helps the society know how much is coming in and helps them plan out future projects!.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Like "New day", I was in a foreign language congregation where the circuit didn't have enough money to cover the cost of the circuit assembly, so letters were sent to each congregation telling them how much they owed.

It was sad. Lots of little kids that were publishers but didn't have jobs to pay for that kind of stuff. I suppose that's another reason that WT is trying to get the kids baptized young. Since they have to be publishers first, you have these 7-year-old baptized publishers that are expected to pay WT for the privilege of sitting in a dreary assembly hall on a beautiful weekend when they should be outside enjoying life.

20

1st time in 30 years no one Baptized at our Assembly

by James Jack in

at our assembly in alabama, no one got baptized, even though we added 3 congregations to our side in the circuit.

just looked at my wife and said wow.. yet ironically, the regular pioneer ranks have increased 45% in the last 5 years!.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Maybe they should start baptizing the literature carts.

64

Mind control.

by New day in

in a recent thread someone mentioned that the wtbts uses mind control techniques.

do you think this is a conscious ploy?

if it is it would mean that the leaders of my religion (i am still an active jw) set out consciously to control people.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

They use mind control and they know it, BUT... they think that it's good for them to do mind control because they have "da troof" and they have to use information control, emotional manipulation, and all kinds of other control tactics in order to "protect" the sheeple from the "mind control" and "independent thinking" of Santa's World.

And they've had articles on cults, but downplayed the way JWs are a cult and focused on things like: "JWs don't have one human leader they unquestioningly follow", "we don't use starvation or physical abuse to control members", "we don't isolate our members on a remote compound." Yet, the facts show that WT uses cult mind control in their own way that will differ from other cults.