Posts by hillary

45

Persuasion: Did we forget what we learned as JWs?

by larc in

jw
friends

as jws we learned a lot about persuasion and how to get people to accept our ideas.

we had role plays on over coming objections.

we were taught how to anticipate typical questions and respond to them.

I'm facing a new dilemma...

by Stash Daytripper in

jw
friends

i have been floating on these boards for close to a week now.

kudos to all you peeps who actively search out the real truth and make it apparent to everyone.

i posted my personal story earlier, hopefully those that read it will understand my dilemma now.... do i try to convert my brother out of the organization?.

hillary_step

Hello,

This is an important post that deserves careful analysis.

It is owing to the many experiences that I have seen of XJW's lives falling apart after their exit from the WTS that I believe that reform rather than destruction of the WTS is a healthier goal.

Many XJW's when asked by an emerging JW 'What do I do now?', answer by saying 'Why should you need to do anything' - get out and live. This ignores the fact that to exit from a such a tight support system offered by the WTS into a vacuum, can actually be a very dangerous journey, a journey that needs careful planning

Most JW's, especially those raised as such, have lives that are interwoven with WTS theology and often lack the life-skills necessary to survive intact without the shadow of the WTS looming over their lives.

To illustrate. I have in recent times been talking to a CO who now has severe doubts about the veracity of the Organization that he works for. All his family from wife to many uncles are WTS adherents. He admitted that he cannot live without them and as such is staying within the WTS despite knowledge of its failures. I know him very well, he functions admirably within the confines of a religious system but would collapse without one.

My advise to him and others in similar position is to prepare a life for yourself, secretly if necessary before you leave the WTS. Plan well and much pain can be avoided.

As to the good that the WTS achieves, well of course it does. All religions have good and bad aspects but ask yourself; if a medicine worked for 20% of people but had harmful side effects for the remaining 80% would it get FDA approval?

Best regards - HS

2

Bird Seed

by Trilobite in

jw
friends

sometimes we forget how hard some of those hailstones of congealed truth from the society really are.

note how the society essentially states that because humans nuke and napalm each other that we should not be surprised that so too would god.. t.. *** w56 8/1 465 jehovah's message against gog of magog ***.

16 in the wake of armageddons carnage, disease and pestilence from the rot and decay would plague the survivors were it not for the fact that jehovah sends forth an invitation to the birds and beasts to attend this great slaughter.

hillary_step

Trilobite,

Once thing is certain, Fred Franz readers could always tell what happened when he went to sleep after four large scotches and half a pound of cheese.

Best regards - HS

23

Forgiving the Governing Body

by Derrick in

jw
friends

as a baptized jehovah's witness, i have been tested over the years by those very ones who claim they are entrusted with my soul.

i'll digress a moment to state that one strong theory that has deeply troubled me over the years, centers around their transformation over a century into a caricaturistic representation of christendom.

(refer definition of caricature at http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=caricature for clarification.).

hillary_step

Derrick,

An interesting post.

When a person discovers that they have been cleverly manipulated into believing an ideology that they were prepared to sacrifice absolutely everything for, the subsequent shock to the emotional system cannot be underestimated.

We look for all kinds of reasons as to why this has happened to us and the one that you describe above that involves demons and a grand conspiracy is certainly an exotic choice of reason to make, but I fear that the real reasons are far less exciting.

We were suckered - we need to face that issue. Something within ourselves allowed it to happen - we need to face that issue also. It is almost like a ‘rape’, an emotional rape, that looking back we could have prevented and it really pains us to realize this.

My advise ( which you have not asked for!) is to pick over the remains of your life, take what good you learned from your days with the WTS ( and there was certainly some good learned ) leave behind the rest and move on.

Kind regards - HS

5

Page 151

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

just got this from me limey friends:-)).

who has disassociated themselves?

who are no longer jehovahs witnesses?.

hillary_step

Ozzie,

Imagine the collective sigh of relief of 6 billion people, let alone the trees, when they cannot place magazines for 3 months ( dependant on repentance of course ).

HS

40

What Do You Do?

by hillary_step in

jw
friends

i link to this board a couple of times a day, sometimes in the early hours and there is always a flurry of activity, often from an enclave of veterans.

i wonder, are you all in prison?

i understand the pc's are allowed in some facilities.. do you all work?

hillary_step

Ozzie,

I'm a mole burrowing under Bethel.

lol - I suspect that you are banging head-first into a Great Crowd down there these days.

HS

5

Page 151

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

just got this from me limey friends:-)).

who has disassociated themselves?

who are no longer jehovahs witnesses?.

hillary_step

Randy,

If they fight the DA process and appeal it, I hope that the Judicial Committee formed take into account that they have been leading a double life, at least in this respect, for many years.

They have been very, very, naughty little chappies - HS

40

What Do You Do?

by hillary_step in

jw
friends

i link to this board a couple of times a day, sometimes in the early hours and there is always a flurry of activity, often from an enclave of veterans.

i wonder, are you all in prison?

i understand the pc's are allowed in some facilities.. do you all work?

hillary_step

Hi Six,

What kind of photography do you do?

HS

40

What Do You Do?

by hillary_step in

jw
friends

i link to this board a couple of times a day, sometimes in the early hours and there is always a flurry of activity, often from an enclave of veterans.

i wonder, are you all in prison?

i understand the pc's are allowed in some facilities.. do you all work?

hillary_step

Hi Eman,

lol - Jeffrey Archer! I hear he finally got his. Rather reminds me of the words of another political rake Horatio Bottomley, jailed for fraud in the 1920's. A visitor passed his cell as he stitched his mailbags and remarked 'Ah, Bottomley, sewing?' - No Sir, he replied 'reaping'.

As to my work, music, art, reviews, books, some published poetry occasionally. These days I really just work for the taxman. In my trade you have a good year and pay tax on it for the next ten!

Best regards - HS

34

Overweight JWs -- on the increase?

by Seeker in

jw
friends

yes, i know, the title is a pun.

it was deliberate.. i can recall in the 1970s seeing very few overweight jws.

in fact, i used to think (in my arrogant jw manner) that this was a sign of how jws were better at self-control than worldly people.

hillary_step

lol

naked greed

I guess that is what happens to those infected by the 'me-fat generation'

HS

hillary_step

Posts by hillary_step