Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

41

Special Pioneer Sister-in-Law and Husband just got their letter.

by cappytan in

jw
friends

well, my sister-in-law and her husband, special pioneers for only a couple of years, just got their letter.. her comment was along the lines of, "they're having to do this because they forgave all those kingdom hall loans a few years ago and the brothers aren't donating anymore.".

when my wife told me, i laughed so hard i farted.

;).

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Her comment was along the lines of, "They're having to do this because they forgave all those Kingdom Hall loans a few years ago and the brothers aren't donating anymore."

Who is the "They're" and "they" that she is referring to? Doesn't she mean "Jehovah is" and "he"?

Doesn't she believe that Jehovah is directing Watchtower Corporation and he made the decision to forgive the loans? Isn't this all part of His will and purpose?

Well, my sister-in-law and her husband, special pioneers for only a couple of years, just got their letter.

They've had their couple of years as special pioneers, so what do they have to show for it? Did they meet dozens of interested people while working d2d, study with them, and get them dunked? In a couple of years they should have a new congregation filled with new publishers that they brought into "da troof"!

Or maybe Jehovah didn't see that they were fruitful branches, so he lopped them off.

30

Pledge for Global Assistance Arrangement - $15 per publisher!

by nmthinker in

last night our congregation read a letter for the global assistance arrangement combined with the traveling overseer assistance arrangement.

the "recommended" amount was $15 per publisher, which was well over $1000 for our hall.. it seemed steep.

our congregation does not have this type of money.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

An elder, a CO, and a GB member were talking about how they decide to allocate their funds.

When asked, the elder explained that he and his wife take their whole income in $5 bills. They draw a circle on the floor. They throw all the money up in the air and whatever falls inside the circle is donated to the congregation and WWW.

The CO says that he and his wife do very similar with their reimbursements and green handshakes in $5 bills. They draw a circle on the floor. They throw all the money up in the air. But it's what falls outside the circle that gets donated to the society.

The GB member explained that the Governing Body does something very, very similar to these brothers. But they take the society's income in $100 bills. They also draw a circle on the floor. Then they throw all the money up in the air. And whatever Jehovah catches, he can keep!

45

It's official - JWs have least common sense of any religious group in US

by slimboyfat in

some fascinating results in the latest pew research.

(how did i miss this before?

) including that jws rely on their religion the most of any group to tell right from wrong and rely on common sense the least.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

From the stat for meeting attendance, it looks like 15% of these participants are inactive JWs. 5% said they are "living with a partner" as their marital status, so they would be dfd, very faded, or never baptized. I think that explains how there were 14% that use common sense.

53

JW Broadcasting—November 2015

by wifibandit in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i09wzqof4zi.

ha!

that is supposed to make people go back?!

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Only clicked through to catch some scenes. Watching too much would have a laxative effect on me.

A video about making a video. Pretty lame. Looked more like JW donations used to pay for bethel tourists.
Preaching in the remotest part of the earth, eh? Try sending those vans of JWs into Syria and report how the desert god has blessed your work.
Some poor people that were so close to real freedom, but were still deceived by cult propaganda. It's sad when JWs realize something isn't right and begin drifting away, but then get love-bombed back into the cognitive dissonance of obedience to a Bronze Age god that is channeled by some old, fat men in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, some people are really impressed by a storybook about a god that couldn't conquer enemies with iron chariot wheels.

Caught this line late in the video about how the other bethel heavies will be trotted out to read the teleprompter on the boredcast:

"We are sure you will enjoy this new arrangement."

More like, "We are going to tell you the only way you are allowed to feel. You will unquestioningly pretend to enjoy whatever rubbish we keep putting out for you."

13

Finding homes for the former 'bethelites' and 'special pioneers'

by Esse quam videri in

since the liberal government has been elected in canada, it seems that people are looking to the future with a little more optimism and hope.

it is only human nature that with change, we would think that the change would be for the better.

the courts have ruled, in canada, that it is unconstitutional to deny the homeless the right to sleep in parks.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Maybe all those former bethelites and special pioneers could move to Canada!

105

New Watchtower Propaganda and hate speech destroying families (Feb 2016 WT)

by Daniel1555 in

the following is a paragraph from the new february study watchtower article "learn from jehovah's loyal servants.".

7 a conflict of loyalties may arise when a close relative is disfellowshipped.

for example, a sister named anne [1] received a telephone call from her disfellowshipped mother.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

The writers that come up with this stuff live in the isolated world of bethel. When living in a like-minded hive of WT drones, disfellowshipping sounds fine.

But out in the real world where ordinary JWs have to work with and live around nonJWs, the disfellowshipping practice screams "cult!"

The situation described in this article would easily be surrounded by nonJW family members, neighbors, friends, acquaintances, and onlookers. Although WT can issue the command that nobody ask any questions about the judicial meeting and that nobody talk to the dfd, that certainly doesn't apply to all those nonJWs. And when the mother in this WT story recounts what has transpired and shows what the daughter wrote in the letter to any nonJW, what are they going to think? "What a bitch of a daughter in a stupid church. Poor mother."

I've talked to fellow students, coworkers, and my therapist about this JC and df practice. Of course they find it disgusting and lose any respect for JWs that they previously had. So the GB can keep ordering the sheeple to preach, but I know plenty of people that will never listen because they are aware of this unloving practice of this captive cult.

9

Awake Cover

by Watchtower-Free in

.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Naked, wet, and rubbing your entire body with slippery soap--these are all the tools of Satan the Devil!

Baptism is the only contact with water that true Christians need. It's the example that Jesus set. He got wet all over when he was baptized. Other than that there was hand and feet washing, but nothing in between. Later the bible records in detail that he used his superpowers to avoid contact with water by walking over top of the water instead of getting wet by swimming.

24

About 'Regular' Pioneers

by Gayle in

jw
friends

now that district overseers have been deleted, now that bethelites are being devalued and increasingly dismissed, now that special pioneers are being deleted in u.s., and maybe elsewhere gradually.

who would have ever thought?.

yet, now what is the value to be a regular pioneer to the org?

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

the org. doesn't have to pay anything for them.

And the org gets what they pay for.

I suppose they create some extra hype in congregations and some may get others to go in service more.

I knew plenty of pioneers that created hype and took bragging rights about their position, yet they had no "progressive" bible studies and rarely went out with the "average" publishers on the weekend. Their specialty was finding studies in the local jail and driving around during weekdays counting their time.

Do RPs donate financially much to the org?

Most that I knew didn't have much to donate financially and considered their time preaching as their donation.

48

Where has all the money gone?

by gingerbread in

jw
friends

a number of years ago when i was still active, our service group was having a coffee break with the visiting circuit overseer.

during the conversation he mentioned that the "society" was now being run like a business.

being raised in the "truth" i thought that rather odd (and my eyes began to be opened!

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

OTWO: The problem would be self correcting if the printing corporation recognized the drying up of money for literature and reduced spending. But it could not reduce it fast enough.

Agreed. And as WT reduced spending with cheaper publications, fewer magazines, and cutting the magazine pages in half, the donations from publishers would easily decrease into a downward spiral. With every cutting of cost that publishers could see, why would they keep donating the same?

And with no defined price on the publications and DVDs, it's completely at the whim of the sheeple to donate or not donate for the stuff. And with their shift away from printing and toward online content, expenses will continue and income will continue the decline. Who pays for web content that it freely available? Who donates money to YouTube or Facebook?

The old publication sales and profit model has completely collapsed.

23

Halloween / Birthday celebration

by River Song in

new to the board, first time posting a topic.

i just wanted to say how refreshing and sometimes funny it has been lurking here.

so much so that i decided to sign up to this message board.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Welcome!