Babylon the Great Employee

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Posts by Babylon the Great Employee

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  3

  Ever been made to convince unbelieving parent to let you go to meetings?

  by grizzly32 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my parents divorced when i was about 6 and my mom married someone studying who became my stepfather.

  we became one big happy disfunctional/tyrannical family with stepdad as dictator.

  he thought it was important for me and my sister to get to meetings even while with our unbelieving dad.

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  Not me, but my cousins. My aunt is DF'd and my grandparents still saw quite a bit of my two cousins (although they never spoke to my aunt). My younger (girl) cousin never really bought into it after a certain age (I think the whole not celebrating Christmas thing was a deterrent), but my older (boy) cousin did buy into it. It caused him a lot of turmoil as a child because he would go to meetings with our grandparents (I have no idea why my aunt allowed it, other than my cousin begged and pleaded and she gave in), and he was often very upset after a good dose of indoctrinization because he believed the things they said (like his mother would die at Armageddon). When my grandparents moved to be closer to us (they wanted to be closer to their son in "the truth" during their retirement, because they couldn't possibly ask anything of the DF'd daughter!), my cousin would spend part of his summer with them, and he'd go back home asking to be taken to meetings and again telling his mom how she was going to be destroyed. Fortunately, he finally wised up and isn't involved in it anymore, of course way too late to avoid the emotional scarring. I know he feels bad about the way he treated his mom as a child.
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  24

  Uncaring Attitude of the Society

  by donny in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i just read the account of a an elderly lady who passed out in a distict convention in canada today (06/20/08).

  it seems that as some of the attendees were trying to help by doing cpr, the "brother" on the platform a few feet away speaking did not even pause.

  when his talk ended a few minutes later and the lady was still being tended too, the platform folks just announced the next speaker as if nothing was happening.

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  If I remember correctly, that's actually policy. They won't disturb the proceedings for any reason, whatsoever. I'm pretty sure if there was a hurricane or an earthquake, the windbag at the podium would still be talking instead of directing people to safety.
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  30

  My Pioneer Wedding =Didn't get much money/gifts from invited Brothers!

  by Witness 007 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  didn't have much money...everyone wanted to come, so i reluctantly invited many.

  we had lots of good food and nice bottles of wine, white and red.

  so it cost a bit to set up....my soon to be wife said: "don't worry, your a pioneer, i'm sure the brothers will be generous with their gifts!

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  I'm also in the south, and one of the tackiest things ever is actually opening presents at the reception. It's not just a JW thing here, I've seen it done at Baptist weddings as well (really, when there's no alcohol, what else are you going to do?). But I guess that prevents people from giving you really crappy gifts/being cheap, since everyone else will see it too. You know JW's are all about appearances. </p>

  I'm surprised there were JW weddings with alcohol though. I guess the south is just too conservative; even though JW's were allowed to drink, it was very discouraged to "get together" and drink in large crowds like weddings.
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  13

  My Dad Told Me I'll Never Retire...But I Should Still Have a 401k

  by B_Deserter in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  he was telling me that by 2020, none of "this" (the weeeerld) is going to be here, but it's still a good idea to have a 401(k) because you can use it for other things, like a down payment on a house or something.

  then he started talking about how he never thought he would retire, and now he's faced with it.

  i just kind of thought that was funny.

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  Before I got married, I disclosed to my husband very clearly that his mother-in-law will be living with us someday. My mother's never had a 401(k) or had any savings. Why do you need retirement when the system of things will be ending any minute now? We're going to be supporting her in her old age. </p>

  I too was told I would never make it to adulthood, and here I am, almost 30 and a parent myself. (With 6-figure student loan debt since my parents also didn't bother to save for college.) The system of things will definitely end before our sun burns out in a few billion years, I'm sure of it.
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  14

  Being shunned by JW's who you know have done worse than you

  by milligal in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  okay-here's one i was thinking about the other day-after reading some of your posts.

  have you ever been shunned by a jw who you know was doing (or had done) some really devious things?

  for instance when i was df'd the first person to give me the five minute long evil eye at the grocery store was a sister who had five children by two different fathers and a sixth child who was molotto (she was white) and she insisted that she had no idea why he came out so dark skinned.....she was never df'd.

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  My story is not quite as awful but much more ordinary. I got shunned without even being DF'd (I was never baptized, I was an unbaptized publisher), and without even officially leaving The Lies. My best JW friend growing up had always dated "worldly" guys (and messed around with a few worldly guys), and had "worldly" friends. Her mom was much more permissive (my parents were hard-*sses), even encouraging the behavior, so my friend got to go to dances and football games and such, got to watch rated R movies, all sorts of normal teenage stuff. I never told on her, and she never got found out. However, at 18 she got engaged to a JW guy her mom found for her from another congregation (seriously, it was practically an arranged marriage), so she was set to marry him like a good little witness and finally go legit. I was supposed to be maid of honor, had tried on dresses and everything. Just as I'm about to order the dress, they decided that I shouldn't be in the wedding, because I'm too "worldly." (At the time, I had a non-JW boyfriend, although I hadn't officially left The Lies yet.) No one else knew how "worldly" I was, other than I wasn't going to meetings regularly, so it wasn't even about appearances. I didn't even get invited to the wedding, in fact. The last time I ran into her, she actually spoke to me, but honestly I didn't even know what to say to her. Like, I haven't seen you for over a decade, you certainly haven't bothered to talk to me during that time, what's there to say? I was polite, but just without words, really.
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  14

  JW Women

  by Quester55 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  why are there so many old women in jw world who are so down on men?

  my divorce will be finalized next month, it hurt me, but it was and is an unfortunate circumstance of life.

  but among the jw women it was assumed that i was happy my marriage had ended so now i would have more time for meetings and field service.

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  My mom is one of those bitter JW women. She'll never remarry, because she "can't" marry a non-JW (even though she was once in love with one a few years ago) and she won't marry another JW man. I remember (how f'd up is this?) sitting in on my parents' shepherding calls on their marriage when I was like 10 years old. My mother was told my father was the "head of the household" and she had to listen to what he said. If he wanted sex, she had to give it to him. She shouldn't argue with him or question his decisions. She had to start appreciating him because he was a "good provider" (because making money so the JW wife doesn't have to work makes the JW man excellent husband material).

  Even as a child, I knew there was no way I was ever marrying one of those misogynist jerkoffs. No way. I know not all JW men ascribe to such backwards thinking on gender roles, but when the elders start butting into your marriage and telling you when your husband wants sex, you'd better put out, run away quickly!
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  61

  Does Someone Have to be Religious to Be a Good Person?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is something my wife and i were discussing the other day .

  in a general view of religious people - most religious people feel it makes them holier, better, or on a higher moral plane claiming to worship god in an organized religion.

  in the jehovah's witnesses view - the outside world is evil, and they claim that if you get away from their religion , and " fall away" a person is doomed to go astray, doing various sundry things like murder, adultery, stealing, orgies, because " they claim " that they have fallen " out of " god's favor.

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  I don't think people are generally "good" or "bad," they're just people. Some are better than others. Some are downright lousy. And some are incredible. But all of us are flawed. Not all of us recognize it.

  My idea of "good" is to live a life of love, respect, kindness and charity. I don't always succeed, but those are my goals. Being a Christian helps me clarify those goals, but it does not make me "good." I look to Jesus as an example, but there are many examples of great people. I know many "good" people who are atheists, agnostics, pagans, Muslims, Jews, Christians of various sects, even JWs. And I know rotten people of all of those groups too!
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  12

  Jury Duty

  by HappyDad in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone ever done jury duty?.

  even as a dub i thought jury duty would be a "different" experience.

  but of course, we were "encouraged" .

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  I hope you enjoy it! I've never served on a real jury, although sadly I would probably get scratched anyway if I got called. I've been through several trials though, I still think it's exciting.
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  46

  !!!Now I have really seen it all... Watchtower Jewelry!!!!

  by Princess Daisy Boo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sitting at home on a friday night - browsing through all the jw groups on facebook and this catches my eye.... we help support our full-time ministry with this website.

  please have a look at the "watchtower" -style pins and pendants.

  with a link to this website http://jeffreydesign.com/index.php?main_page=index&cpath=7 aside from the fact that it really ain't pretty, how pukeworthy is this??

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  Not only is it ugly, but the WTBTS will probably initiate a lawsuit for infringement of their intellectual property rights. :P
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  16

  prayers and thoughts needed

  by little witch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my daughter's family have lossed every possession in the midwest (indiana) flood.

  i request your thoughts, prayers, candles, blessings to their family.

  my daughter is due to give birth to my grandson any day now, and they have a one year old.

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  Babylon the Great Employee

  Is there a local charity in your community we can donate to? Or is aid coming mainly from the Red Cross?