Posts by HalfWayThere

6

.....YOU MIGHT JUST BE AN ELDER IF......

by LuciousJ in

jw
friends

if you get off sitting in a room with the door closed so you can ask a young woman what position she had sex in........you might just be an elder.

if your highest degree is janitorial but at night you are the "massa".........you might just be an elder!

if you walk around during the meetings and whisper in several mens' ears.....you might be an elder.

HalfWayThere

If you don't have to face a JC for a serious sin because it happened more than 2 or 3 years ago....

14

If I went back would I get DF'd because I married an non-JW?

by HalfWayThere in

jw
friends

i'm getting married in a couple of weeks and my mother is under alot of pressure not to go because i've been living with my fiance.

my 3 jw sisters are not attending the wedding and i feel that my mum will be under continued pressure not to have contact with me after the wedding.

so i'm thinking of a plan... what if i went back to the meetings just so that my mum can feel 'ok' about having contact with me and so she can tell my sisters to back off.

Hi sspo, sunshineToo.

Sorry I must have confused you by saying 'fiance' - I should have said 'fiancee' as in female. (Didn't know there was a difference til I just googled it!) If I was marrying another guy, I think I'd have even more to worry about if I went back to the meetings! lol

I am baptized. Haven't stepped inside a hall for 5 years though.

My g/f is not a fan of the JW's especially since seeing what my mum is going through over the wedding, but she'd play along if the elders ever came around to see me. I would try to minimize the contact they have with her though cause I really wouldn't want to put her through all that BS.

14

If I went back would I get DF'd because I married an non-JW?

by HalfWayThere in

jw
friends

i'm getting married in a couple of weeks and my mother is under alot of pressure not to go because i've been living with my fiance.

my 3 jw sisters are not attending the wedding and i feel that my mum will be under continued pressure not to have contact with me after the wedding.

so i'm thinking of a plan... what if i went back to the meetings just so that my mum can feel 'ok' about having contact with me and so she can tell my sisters to back off.

HalfWayThere

Thanks Inquisitor.

I didn't think the marrying part would be a problem either. I'm more concerned as to how they will consider the horizontal gymnastics that they will be certain happened before the wedding. I can imagine them asking when the first occurrence was etc, which would be hard to stomach. I could say it didn't begin until I moved in and then, after the engagement, realizing the error of my ways, my fiance and I talked and decided to behave ourselves until the wedding. Yeah right! But they might believe that bull if I act sincere.

As for speaking against the org, I might be able to suck up to the egos enough for them to believe it was a mistake during a time that I was 'spiritually weak'. I think I'll have to study up on the JW-speak - I've forgotten alot of it in 5 years.

14

If I went back would I get DF'd because I married an non-JW?

by HalfWayThere in

jw
friends

i'm getting married in a couple of weeks and my mother is under alot of pressure not to go because i've been living with my fiance.

my 3 jw sisters are not attending the wedding and i feel that my mum will be under continued pressure not to have contact with me after the wedding.

so i'm thinking of a plan... what if i went back to the meetings just so that my mum can feel 'ok' about having contact with me and so she can tell my sisters to back off.

HalfWayThere

Hi everyone,

I'm getting married in a couple of weeks and my mother is under alot of pressure not to go because I've been living with my fiance. My 3 JW sisters are not attending the wedding and I feel that my mum will be under continued pressure not to have contact with me after the wedding.

So I'm thinking of a plan... what if I went back to the meetings just so that my mum can feel 'ok' about having contact with me and so she can tell my sisters to back off. Now don't get me wrong, I dread the thought of attending another meeting but maybe a memorial here, sunday meeting there, would be enough ammo for my mum to defend herself. Actually, it might even be a little fun to play the insider.

I'm just wondering though what the elders would have in mind for me if I set foot in the hall? I have lived with my fiance for about the past year, and I have openly criticized the org to my family (oops!) so I would have those issues to face. Has anyone here (or their partners) gone back and had to face similar 'judgement' for things they did while out?

I know I'll have to lie my arse off and say that I was wrong to criticize the spirit-directed, never-wrong, would-never-lie-to-us, org and swear that I believe they have the 'troof'. And I would have to somehow weasel my way out of the whole lived-together thing. What do you think I would have to say to convince them I was 'safe' to let back into the cong? What do you think my chances are?

Thanks heaps,

HalfWayThere

22

Are some people better off staying in the WTS?

by HalfWayThere in

jw
friends

i read this forum alot.

though i don't post very often, i thought i would share the following thoughts.

my mother is 70, and lives alone (my parents separated and divorced about 23 years ago).

HalfWayThere

earthtone:

Unfortunately I don't think my sisters would listen. Two of them rang me on Saturday to tell me their decision - they are stuck in JW mentality. There is no 'compromising Jehovah's standard for our own conveniece' as one of them said. They're not liberal JW's and as far as they are concerned there is no room for compromise.

No, my mum doesn't ask about the society's failings, but its hard to keep my mouth shut when she says that armageddon is 'so close' and hopes that one day I will come back. But I will try harder to bite my tongue in the future.

Highlander:

I can only wish! But considering no-one saw the light when my dad DA'd, I don't see anything being different if my mum did it. And besides, I often get the impression that my sisters feel the need to 'help' my mum see the right thing to do as she can be quite liberal at times, so I don't think they would have any respect for her opinions of the org is she left it.

parakeet:

I don't blame you for being afraid of being cutoff from your family. I sometimes wish that I had kept my mouth shut and just gone inactive so as to not tear my family apart even more. I think you did the right thing.

22

Are some people better off staying in the WTS?

by HalfWayThere in

jw
friends

i read this forum alot.

though i don't post very often, i thought i would share the following thoughts.

my mother is 70, and lives alone (my parents separated and divorced about 23 years ago).

HalfWayThere

I read this forum alot. Though I don't post very often, I thought I would share the following thoughts.

My mother is 70, and lives alone (my parents separated and divorced about 23 years ago). She is still active (especially in mind) and able to look after herself, but her health is failing and she has had a few "mini-strokes" of late and is likely to suffer more severe problems in the near future. My three JW sisters do well in taking her to hospital and doctors appointments (which I can't do as I work full-time). She is a social creature and enjoys hosting the book-study in her home on Thursday nights and the field service meeting on Saturday morning, though she can no longer go out door knocking due to her bad health. She occasionally babysits my sisters' children and enjoys being close to her daughters and their grandchildren.

So all in all my mothers entire life is the WTS and her family. I left the religion 6 years ago (I have 2 brothers who were never baptized and despise the religion too) and from time to time my mum and I end up debating my choice to leave, and I'm always open as to what I really think. Since announcing to my family that I had proposed to my non-JW girlfriend of 2 years, my mum has been under alot of pressure from my sisters to not attend the reception, as they had decided not to, because my DA-ed father will be there. Now my sisters have also decided not to attend the ceremony either because of some point made at the recent DC (something to do with the fact that I'm living with my fiance and could have 'corrected' the situation along time ago), and are now trying to convince mum that she shouldn't be going either, though she is standing firm in her decision to go.

All this has really brought my opinions of the religion to the forefront again, resulting in a lively discussion on the phone with my mum last night. After the conversation ended I began to think what would happen if my mum was ever to see what a load of crap the WTS is. Her whole life would crumble around her and even though my mum is a strong woman, I don't see her surviving that - losing social contact with her daughters and grandchildren, losing her JW friends. She doesn't drive, so she would have no life.

It pains me that she is being put through the wringer just because she wants to attend her sons wedding and enjoy the day, but on the other hand I now feel like I shouldn't express my opinions to her anymore - I'm afraid that maybe one day a crack might appear in her tough shell and she'll actually listen to what I'm saying. And then everything in her world would fall apart.

So my thought is: Maybe some people are better off staying in the WTS, despite all the crap, because its just not worth putting them through all the pain of leaving. Ignorance is bliss and all that.

Has anyone else faced a similar situation, where you wish a family or friend could see the light, but know that they wouldn't survive coming out of it? What do you think?

Owen.

10

The Exclusive Brethren: JW's on steroids in Oz

by HalfWayThere in

jw
friends

heard a story on the radio (triplej) about a religion in australia called the exclusive brethren.

when the story was being introduced i thought they were talking about jw's, but then it all sounded much worse:.

link: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/s1594232.htm.

HalfWayThere

Heard a story on the radio (TripleJ) about a religion in Australia called the Exclusive Brethren. When the story was being introduced I thought they were talking about JW's, but then it all sounded much worse:

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/s1594232.htm

The Exclusive Brethren are a religious group who forbids their members from voting... but are taking out ads in the Tasmanian newspapers telling non believers how to vote. 'Rob' told Steve Cannane that the exclusive brethren talking about the greens destroying the social fabric was the ultimate in hypocrisy. He claims that the Exclusive Brethren destroys people and families, have no respect for women and absolute contempt for anyone not in their religious group, and do all this while enjoying the benefit of charitable status from our government.

MP3: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/mp3s/brethren.mp3

....And follow-up on the original story:

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/s1625880.htm

Recently on Hack we heard about a group of people who'd been trying to get people to vote against the Greens in the last Tasmanian election. Now a lot of people like to have their say during political campaigns... but what was different about these guys is that they don't vote. In fact they belong to a group called The Exclusive Brethren, a religious sect which believes in living apart from the rest of the world. That means they don't mix with non-Brethren, they don't use mobiles or watch films, and they think that the internet, like the media, is filth. Since then we've received lots of emails and phone calls from people who used to be in the Exclusive Brethren, telling stories of a secretive and strict religion which punishes people if they disagree by isolating them, or even worse, separating them from their families.

MP3: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/mp3s/breathrencontinued.mp3

Kind of made me realise that even if we managed to bring down the WTS, there will be similar, if not worse, religions like the above popping up anyway

- Owen.

10

Interesting show on Australian TV last night about religion

by HalfWayThere in

jw
friends

i haven't posted on here in ages, though i read the board quite often, but i thought the following was worth meantioning..... .

there was a show on sbs last night called "insight".

i didn't catch all of it, but it was about churches such as hillsong (www.hillsong.com) that, in their teachings, encourage their members to acquire wealth and financial success.

HalfWayThere

I haven't posted on here in ages, though I read the board quite often, but I thought the following was worth meantioning....

There was a show on SBS last night called "Insight". I didn't catch all of it, but it was about churches such as Hillsong (www.hillsong.com) that, in their teachings, encourage their members to acquire wealth and financial success. The report mentioned how that church had just completed a AU$25M convention hall, and how the head pastors all live luxuriously because of the church's success. One disturbing scene was footage of the Australian Prime Minister John Howard opening the convention hall, and the Head Pastor thanking him for taking time out of his busy week to visit them (blah blah blah). Its sickening to hear churches suck up to politicans like that. (Pictures --> http://www.hillsong.com/church/building/bin/view.pl?sitename=building&page=opening&showbuilding=true)

The most interesting part of the program was a comment from a researcher who is writing a book about churches that gain finanically from their tax-free status without giving anything back to the community in the way of charity. He said (paraphrasing from memory here) that there are churches that have been operating in Australia for quite some time, with members numbering in the 60 to 70 thousand, whose collected donations remain tax-free, and that the wealth of these churches will only continue to grow, yet they do nothing to put that money back into the comminuty by doing charitable work. To me it almost sounded like he was speaking of the WTS in Australia, as they have around that number of publishers. It was quite a good observation for him to make and I think it would be an effective way to hurt the WTS by getting that info out to relevant government departments here in oz.

Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to catch the name of that researcher, or the name of the book he is writing. Perhaps he'll make meantion of the WTS in it? The show is being repeated at 4pm today (Friday). Maybe someone in oz can watch/tape it and get that info, as I'll be stuck at work.

Owen (HalfWayThere)

22

2002 District Convention Schedule

by proandcon in

jw
friends

1050 song 151 and announcements.

205 song 92.

205 song 158.

HalfWayThere

Can anyone tell me the venue and dates for the Brisbane (Australia) District Convention this year? Thanks!

10

conscious

by msil in

blown around, swept across and tossed.... where do i look?

why do i feel so lost?.

i dont even know..... will i know the answer when it arrives?.

HalfWayThere

Where is the storm?
Look where you have not looked. Go where you have not been.
Because you have no home.
That which you do not know. How can you know it?

You will know it when it comes.
Up is not down. Down is not up.
Yes it is. Yes thats confusing too.
No, you're dumb. You're a clown for asking all these questions.

Yep, I think so. It's all relative really.
When you no longer feel sad. By doing whatever makes you happy.
Pain is a combination of mind and body - one would not feel pain if it weren't for the other.
Die.