Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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  35

  New on here

  by Tony Stark in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hey so i'm new on here.

  just wanted to introduce myself.

  in my 20's and was rasied one, and very popular among the jw community.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Welcome!

  You wrote that you want to get reinstated in order to feel "normal" again, I assume that means you want to regain your "friends" and family. Then what's the plan? Do you want to become an MS and marry a pioneer? Do you plan to fade?
  
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  62

  Well, I asked a question and his answer blew me away

  by Lost his mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  first time, been lurking for years, but i asked my husband who has been studying for 20 plus years if he has ever questioned those that were "teaching" him.

  blew my mind.

  i ask him all the questions that you have asked yourself, but he will not ask them.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Welcome Lost his mind & rebelfighter!

  Watchtower is a 19th century apocalyptic movement that has survived and evolved into the 21st century to become a high control top-down bureaucratic corporation. And if you dare to suggest that something isn't quite right with Watchtower or JWs, you can be sure that their first response will be to BLAME YOU!
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  20

  Orchestral Accompaniment for Singing at Congregation Meetings

  by pixel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  to all congregationsre: orchestral accompaniment for singing at congregation meetings.

  dear brothers:.

  many will find that the newly composed orchestral recordings are more inspiring andconducive to our worship than is piano music alone.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Ah yes, wouldn't a lovely string arrangement be much more appropriate for the current state of WT:
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RcVzevWX4U
  
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  62

  Hello, just introducing myself

  by Miss Behaving in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've just signed up two days ago, but i've been lurking for about a year and a half.

  here's my story if you're interested:.

  my parents converted when they were in their first semester of college.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  My mother died a little bit before I left. I don't know how she would have reacted, but I want to believe that if she had still been here, she wouldn't have rejected me, I want to think that if she had been there, things would have turned out differently.

  ...
  My last prayer was something like: 'Is there someone out there who still gives a damn about us? If you exist, please help me. Please help me to be safe and make a decent life, one that actually helps people.'

  Maybe someone heard me, I seem to be moving in that direction.

  I'm not religious or believe in 'ghosts', but I have to say that after the death of each of my grandparents I felt some kind of internal spiritual awakening. Particularly after the death of one grandmother it was as if a voice was telling me, "You're being deceived. Get out and live a better life." That began my exit from bethel, and eventually from JWland altogether. Maybe it was just my cognitive dissonance speaking louder than usual. Or maybe the dearly departed are permitted one phone call and my grandmother gave me her one call.

  Although I'm an atheist and would tend to point and laugh at my suggestion that your mother gave you a wake-up call from "the other side", I also inherited a tendency toward superstition.

  And my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your mother.
  
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  29

  New arrangement from C.O.

  by Doctor Who in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i think most on here will be familiar with the caller hook up system that many congregations use.

  visit about 2 months ago.

  during our servant and elders meeting he was talking up the importance of meeting attendance and how we "gods spirit appointed men" must take the lead on making every meeting.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  it was found that he had a Playboy stash which he kept hidden in a desk in the library at the Kingdom Hall.

  So when he told his wife he was going to the Kingdumb Haul to do some paperwork, his paperwork was grabbing the porn and heading for the ladies room.

  Oh, and WRT the OP, the haul I was from originally was able to connect only 2 listeners so they would try to limit who could connect. Later they got a conference line. I think they might have tried to restrict it, but the old folks would try to go when they should stay home. Their access code was common knowledge and they sure wanted to be able to count as many as possible, so I can't imagine that they would try to restrict access in any way.
  
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  62

  Hello, just introducing myself

  by Miss Behaving in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've just signed up two days ago, but i've been lurking for about a year and a half.

  here's my story if you're interested:.

  my parents converted when they were in their first semester of college.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Now THAT is an introduction! Welcome to the forum!
  

  Well, I guess that's all. Hope it was helpful for someone.

  I'm sure that's not ALL of it. Having been a devout JW myself, the dubs around me freaked when I went from elder to completely faded. I can only imagine the way the dubs around you FREAKED when you told them it isn't "the truth".

  I wish you the very best in your studies and moving ahead with a true and free life. I hope you're somewhere that you can use meetup or facebook to meet some of the other fine exJWs.

  And again, WELCOME!
  
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  29

  New arrangement from C.O.

  by Doctor Who in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i think most on here will be familiar with the caller hook up system that many congregations use.

  visit about 2 months ago.

  during our servant and elders meeting he was talking up the importance of meeting attendance and how we "gods spirit appointed men" must take the lead on making every meeting.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  We used to have an elder that taped paper over the mirrors in the womens rest room. He also had the speakers wired so the sound was cut off to the bathrooms during the meeting "to prevent loitering".

  Remember when they used to cover the mirrors in the ladies rooms at assemblies? That is where he got his "ideas".

  Ugh! They really should put MORE mirrors up, and full length ones, in the bathrooms so that these things don't happen:
  

  
  
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  160

  "The organisation is imperfect, but it doesn't affect my relationship with Jehovah"

  by Alive! in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've noted active, devoted jw's state the above.. and, it's not a problem for me to remain trusting of god, i just don't trust religions or men.. recently, a member of this forum stated that he remains an active jw, in the family of god's people, wanting to encourage and do good - whilst recognising that the pastoral leaders (the gb) have shipwrecked the faith of many, being unsound scripturally etc, etc.. stop and think about this - the bible says to not follow after those who lie and hurt the faith of "little ones".. the pharisees were accused of traversing over lands and expending much energy to make a single convert - only for that convert to end up worse of than he started off with.. it's one thing to not believe this is the 'truth' and feeling the awful pressure of managing ones life, trying not to lose ones family.. it's quite another thing to declare oneself to be a christian believer of god's jw household, and somehow believe the god of love would use corrupt liars to parade as jesus' brothers in the urgency of last days.

  really?

  and, to then visibly promote faith in corrupt men, and try to bring converts into a place where the rulership is wrong.. some of us are dying from hurt here.......give me a break..

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "The organization is imperfect..."

  It isn't just the organization. It's not just the corporate nature and ever-changing teachings that are imperfect. The GB is imperfect. Everyone in bethel, the branch committees, the DOs, the COs, and the translators are all imperfect. The elders and MSs are all imperfect. Everyone in the congregations are imperfect. And if you brought a beautiful, flawless, newborn baby into the hall, JWs will tell you that baby is an imperfect sinner because about 6000 years ago a naked lady chatted with a talking snake and then ate an apple.

  Obviously, the imperfection doesn't stop with the organization and people in it. The bible is clearly imperfect and crumbles under the slightest scrutiny. Deut 22: 28.29 explains that the punishment for rape was that the victim be sold to the rapist for the price of a slave. Is it any wonder that WT has a problem with child rapists when they worship a Bronze Age god whose "perfect law" made a raped virgin marry her rapist? And the bible has lots of stories that clearly aren't true: the flood, the building materials and sacrifices at Solomon's temple, etc.
  

  Obviously, jehovah is imperfect. Not only is his Big Book of Jewish Fables brimming with make-believe stories, it paints jehovah as a tyrant with serious anger management issues. And strangely, although he could slaughter thousands on a whim, he was powerless when confronted by chariots with iron scythes. (Judges 1:19) A Bronze Age deity just can't be 'perfect' anymore when the Iron Age starts.
  

  ... but it doesn't affect my relationship with Jehovah"

  Having a relationship with that Bronze Age god is the same as having a relationship with any other invisible sky-daddy:

  • "The organization is imperfect, but it doesn't affect my relationship with Zeus"
  • "The organization is imperfect, but it doesn't affect my relationship with Ahura Mazda"
  • "The organization is imperfect, but it doesn't affect my relationship with Santa" (Okay, I guess technically he is a Plastic Age deity.)
    
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  24

  I SAT THROUGH TODAYS WT STUDY WITH A CHEEZER! !

  by brandnew in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  may 10th, the whole study was about covering up their mistakes, and putting it off on "recent refinements of understandings".. you could just look at the elder on stage and know he was not feelin this study.. when a neewbie answered and said" lots of unexpected changes are happening" i about fell outta my seat !

  !

  !.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  < So, this is a cheezer?
  
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  21

  Mother's day according to Joseph Rutherford

  by opusdei1972 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is what the second president of the watchtower society, the channel of god appointed in 1919, wrote about the mother's day:.

  satan would turn the people away from this beautiful symbol, and therefore from god, and cause them to disregard the word of the lord.

  this he does in a very subtle way by organizing what in england and in america, the chief countries of christendom, is called "mother's day".

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  JWs don't need one day on the calendar for mother! Every day is Mothers Day for JWs! Right?

  And by "Mothers Day", I mean a day where door-to-door preaching and literatrash carts are the mother of all time-wasters.
  

  

  "Hi, could you take one of these publications and throw it in the trash around the corner for us so we can finally go home once it's all gone? Thanks!"