Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

39

NEW LIGHT FROM SLO CIRCUIT OVERSEER "Warning, Blood on Doorposts", "The Couple who Missed One Meeting Died With Their Kids, Don't Miss Any!

by Trailer Park Pioneer in

sorry, i messed up before i could put the right title on this new light from our circuit overseer, his visit show's a great desperation in the organization's mindset, adding more anxiety and guilt to jws who already feel they don't measure up!.

hi, i attended the circuit overseers visit and got really angry because our c.o.

gave information coming from the governing body's chief apologists regarding "meeting attendance" and "the couple who missed one meeting and lost their entire family because they did not get the "411" when armageddon was coming!

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Jesus said it would come as a thief in the night. Evidently, Jesus meant that it would come as a meeting at the Kingdumb Haul.

It would be interesting to ask the CO if he meant that the attack on Babylon the Great would begin when the witnesses were at the Kingdom Hall? Because the troof teaches that armageddon begins after the tribulation and the attack on religion, and after a grand and notable cry of peace and security. So it's not like a meeting next week is going to announce "Armageddon begins now and only those in this building would survive." In the story, there were 10 plagues. It wasn't a case that Moses came back to Egypt and met with the Hebrews in their Kingdom Halls and explained during their service meeting that there was only this 10th plague, and there wasn't going to be any announcement to the Egyptians. Nope, the story is that after the earlier plagues, there was warning to everyone when the 10th was coming and what to do.

There is a long list of things yet to be fulfilled before armageddon begins. The old teaching was that false religion would be attacked, and JWs would be attacked but would be able to continue to meet in secret with their congregation book studies. That's sorta been scrapped, eh? In the case of his new story, wouldn't the government agencies be able to go to the KH and round up all the JWs in attendance and exterminate them? In which case, the JWs that met secretly away from the KH would be the ones surviving the tribulation and armageddon.

28

1st POST: A romance with a JW

by myangelface in

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.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

my conclusion is that JWs love half-heartedly ?

You've visited his congregation and commented about them...

The atmosphere was not authentic ...there was people smiling at eachother and greeting eachother but I am a very intuitive person (keen sense of perception) and I could just smell the hipocrasy and the fakeness. Like fake "love"

You can find both fake love and real love among the JWs. And the word "love" can get thrown around in a congregation so that it is meaningless. In case you haven't learned about disfellowshipping, they call it "a loving provision" where every JW will ignore, shun, don't talk to an offender that has been examined by a judicial committee of elders and announced to the congregation as someone to be treated that way... yes, they shun someone supposedly because they love them. I knew plenty of JWs that would tell me that they loved me... but in reality would be ready to throw me under the bus at their first convenience.

Let's summarize: It's a cult.

Besides the control of the religion, his family experience could cause him to behave in such an unloving way after claiming that he loves you.

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

jw
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.

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.

23

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

by nicolaou in

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.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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

28

1st POST: A romance with a JW

by myangelface in

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.

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?

16

JW's have lost the will to Vacuum

by runForever in

jw
friends

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

.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Like nature, Watchtower abhors a vacuum!

13

Becoming officially inactive

by All for show in

jw
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.

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.

40

First Time Post - Long time reader

by Samaritan At the Well in

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.

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."

53

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

by wannaexit in

jw
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.

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."

35

Why the Clean out of top Management

by Poztate in

jw
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 ???.

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.