Gordy

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Posts by Gordy

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  38

  The coldness of Watchtowerism thread

  by Brummie in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  when my dad died on november 9th none of my jw family turned to comfort my mother, no phone calls no cards no words of comfort.

  its over a month now and still they havent made any contact.

  it doesnt really matter since they are all jws on my moms side but dads side of the family are catholic so they were all there to give the strength needed to cope.

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  Gordy

  (((Brummie and mother)))

  Brummie sorry to hear about what happened. But many of us exJWs are not surprised.

  It was the totally lack of love and suppport, at a time my family and I needed it, that set me on the road out. After being a JW at the time for 25 years, and believing in "Jehovahs loving organisation"

  I had attemted suicide, diagnosed with "acute clinical depression" , spent weeks in psychiatric hospital.
  What did they do. Held a Judicial Committee, privately reproved, removed as a Min Servant.
  Counsel on how to get over this the usual cure-all they give "attend meetings and go on field service"

  Six months on and I'm not showing any signs of "improvement" they get my wife to make me leave the family home, because I was a "spiritual danger" to the family. Even had to attend another congregation.

  This as I said set me on road to leaving, after 3 years, and a lot of research, I stopped attending meetings, then another 2 years I DA'd.
  Incidentally in all this time I never had a single visit by any Elder.

  That was 2001, my JW wife and two JW daughters have not spoken to me since.
  This June one of those daughters got married I was not invited to the wedding, though I could sit at the back as long as I was "discreet", not allowed to attend reception though.

  I use my personal experience and those of others when I speak to people about JWs.
  Because many people just think of JWs as those "nice people" who knock on their doors etc.
  It needs to be made known the darker side of this organisation.
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  28

  Ordained Ministers of J.W. part 1

  by bobld in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  baptisms are usually performed at assemblies.at the conclusion of the baptism talk,the baptism candidates are asked two q.affirmative answers qualifies the candidates as ordained ministers of j.w..we all have seen some candidates as young as 13 years,some as young as 12 years and even some as young as 9 years old.now in the eyes of the wbts these are qualified ordained ministers.. to my way of thinking these ordained ministers should be qualified to give sound advise or council.example,a 17 year old teenage boy has a problem with masturbation and is seeking advise.do you think he would receive sound advise on his masturbation problem from a 9 year old ordained minister of j.w.

  (girl).in other religions this ordained minister would be qualified but i don't think a j.w.

  is.. bob.

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  Gordy

  If we are going by personal experences mine are there is usually one teenager getting baptised, one very elderly lady that needs help down the steps and a quite a few middle-aged studies.

  experiences are not fact so anyone got any real stats to back up their generalisations?

  Then you should move to were I live in the Merseyside area. In my experience of 30 years as a JW I saw many a child being baptised. In fact they became more prevelant as the years went by.

  Have a look as this video

  http://youtube.com/v/9l8ELIQEdZE

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/165182/1/WT-Comments-Child-Baptism-VIDEO
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  10

  Missed meeting = don't know which blood components we can't have! AAAAH!

  by sd-7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  actually, my mom just said something like that to me, because i missed last week's meeting.

  in my own account of our conversation, here's what happened:.

  "i had an interesting discussion with mom about the blood issue.

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  Gordy

  I became a JW in 1971 back then back then "blood was blood" none of this fractions stuff, it was all forbidden. Then in recent years all this fractions etc, and what you can and cannot have has come about.

  I've always thought how much JWs pick on the medical side of blood, emphasising how "dangerous" having a blood transfusion is. Yes, but there is a "dangerous" side to any medical procedure.

  If as the JWs say that having blood is "unscriptural" then why can they not just stick with that. But when you speak to a JW they have to bring in the "dangerous" medical side. Which to my mind should have no bearing on whether blood is forbidden by scripture. What if having a blood transfusion etc, was totally the safest medical treatment you could have. How would they then justify their stance on blood, just on scripture. Basically they know they could not , so they have to "demonise" having blood, to support their beliefs.
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  28

  Ordained Ministers of J.W. part 1

  by bobld in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  baptisms are usually performed at assemblies.at the conclusion of the baptism talk,the baptism candidates are asked two q.affirmative answers qualifies the candidates as ordained ministers of j.w..we all have seen some candidates as young as 13 years,some as young as 12 years and even some as young as 9 years old.now in the eyes of the wbts these are qualified ordained ministers.. to my way of thinking these ordained ministers should be qualified to give sound advise or council.example,a 17 year old teenage boy has a problem with masturbation and is seeking advise.do you think he would receive sound advise on his masturbation problem from a 9 year old ordained minister of j.w.

  (girl).in other religions this ordained minister would be qualified but i don't think a j.w.

  is.. bob.

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  Gordy

  Reinna

  and if a baby is christened at a few months old what decision have they made?

  They are not being made an "ordained minister" are they. Plus they will have the freedom to decide later if they want to continue in that religion, and not fear being shunned if they leave.

  young baptisms do happen but they are exceptions rather than the norm.

  It is quite common, in my years as a JW I saw children as young as 8 being baptised. At one assembly, about 3-4 years ago, it was only children being baptised, the average age was 12 the oldest was 16.

  rather my children thinking of baptism at 14....Children thrown into early adulthood because of a worlds obsession with sexuality

  "Thinking" yes .... the WT calls getting baptised to be "the biggest decision you will make in your life" yet they expect immature children to make that decision. Even at 16 it is a big decision to make, yet if that 16 yr old wanted to get married they would be told to wait till they were older and more mature to make that decision.

  Also as to children thrown into adulthood , when baptised they will be expected to behave as adults and following all the rules and regulations laid down by the Watchtower.
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  23

  No One to Carry On!

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i recall the 'core' families that made up our little congregation in the 60's and 70's.

  i had not thought about it, but the very vast majority of those families have left zero members carrying on the 'legacy' of the 'troof'.

  here is the way it breaks down - the names have been changed to protect the innocent [or guilty].. the colsons in 1970 - dad, mom and two sons.

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  Gordy

  In my own family. ten years ago, Myself, wife and seven children, 4 children baptised.

  Now only wife and two daughters are JWs. Myself, one son, one daughter both DA'd, three children never became JWs all left home.

  In these past years I have heard of those families, who back then you would have said were "spiritually strong", but now only one or two are still in.

  I have heard of four guys who were Elders when I left, guys I grow up in "truth" with. JW brothers who had parts on assemblies and conventions, pioneers etc. Now they have all left , two did so over paedophile issue.

  Every so often I will hear that "brother or sister X has stopped going to meetings etc.

  Congregations that once had average Sunday meeting attendances of 130-150, are now down to 80-90, or for one congregation down to about 30-40.

  In a Kingdom Hall built in the late 1980's to seat up to 300, ready for the "great increase", now they are lucky to get a quarter of that.

  I recall an Elder, who was at a childrens party my wife and I held, saying about the children, "If we don't keep this young ones, the organisation is finished." Then was getting on for 20 years ago now. I thought what an odd thing to say. Yet when I think about the children who were at that party, I would say only a quarter or less, of them are JWs.

  What did one survey say about JWs, something like that only about a third of those brought up as JWs, become JWs.
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  61

  What the Family Worship Evening Arrangement Really Entails

  by cantleave in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as most people here know the combined book study allows an evening for "family worship".. the co visits march - august 2009 is really focussing on this.

  if a jdub family head doesn't do a full evening of family worship and uses this time to do recreational activities he is as guilty as isrealite who didn't use the sabbath for worship.

  the result, will of course be same as the unfaithful isrealite, death!!!!!!!!!

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  Gordy

  So are we basing this "Family Worship Evening" on what one CO has said ?

  Knowing CO's from past expereince, here in Britain, most of them seem to make up their own rules. They get direction from Bethel on what to tells congregations, but depending on the CO some "embellish" and add their own little piece. Then of course the CO being believed to be the Governing Body's representative all the JWs run round doing as he says.

  Calling it "Family Worship Evening" is no different from what I knew it as the "Family Study Evening" where we chose a book or magazine article to study. As for the 4 hours thing, well I believe that is a load of rubbish. It was an effort, and I speak for all JW families I knew, to get a family to do one hour never mind four.

  They take away a one hour meeting and want to replace it with fours hours of study?? .

  As for the Elders visiting everyone, aren't they supposed to do that anyway? Does that include those with no family?

  In the years (30) that I was a JW and had my family, we probably got visited about 6-7 times. I recall one sister saying she had been in the congregation 22 years and never had an Elder over the doorstep.

  I can see this as being one of those "Yes we must do that." and ending in 2-3 months.
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  148

  "Remember, nobody can REALLY love you unless they know and love Jehovah first."

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "unless they know and love jehovah first.

  they love "jehovah".

  they discuss how to make sure that though they are in charge, everyone doesn't see them, they see the great and powerful jehovah.... oh.

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  Gordy

  The thing with JWs is that when they use the term "know Jehovah" they mean "taking in knowledge", that is, all that the Watchtower tells them to believe about Jehovah.

  If they did "know Jehovah" then they would know He would be horrified at such a statement. What happened to "love your enemies" and "God so LOVED the world" he sent his son. If Jehovah loved the world so much, why can't JWs.

  Thousands of real Christians everyday show love, by giving their time to help others, whether in some third world country hospital or school etc, or just their next door neighbour. Regardless of that other persons race, religion or colour.

  Because they believe God showed love to them and He expects it to be passed on to others, no matter who they are.

  I can see this subject coming up in some Watchtower study in the coming months, where it will be emphasised.
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  20

  Any DF'd or DA'd people ever get visits from Elders?

  by drew sagan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just saw the thread from otwo talking about the call he got from an elder who wanted to meet up.

  it go me thinking about my own situation.

  me and my wife have been gone for a while.

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  Gordy

  I stopped attending meetings etc in August 1999.

  I waited for the expected Elders call, and waited, and waited, and waited.

  No phone call, no letter, no visit.

  Not even when the Memorial came round the following year, not even an invite slip, posted through door.

  It was September 2001 before any Elder called. The reason, because they were having a campaign to get "inactive" ones back, because of falling numbers.

  It was that, that made me decide to Disassociate, if all I was was just someone to back up the numbers, it showed what they really thought of their members. No interest in what I was doing the previous two years, or concern about me personally.

  If they had they would have found Ihad become a Christian and been attending a Pentecostal church since March 2000.
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  24

  What statements really shocked you when you first came to this board?

  by JimmyPage in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one in particular stands out to me.

  a poster referred to the governments turning on religion as "an old jw myth".

  i thought it was a downright blasphemous thing to say!

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  Gordy

  No one statement.

  Just the vicious remarks of some towards those who still had a faith.
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  6

  Growing up with Religious Hypocrisy

  by Hope4Others in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i guess i was lucky in away that my father was never a jw when i grew up, my mother a jw she tried her best although she tried mostly to force us to go to meetings and get us involved when my dad was not around.. the thing i recall the most with my mom was how she was easily influenced by other witnesses.

  she would do things out of character sometimes things that were just not her.

  normally she was calm and easy going.

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  Gordy

  As a visiting speaker to our church last Sunday said,

  "If you want to find a hypocrite, go to a church, they're full of them."