Posts by BonaFide

20

This year's drama of the prodigal son

by JimmyPage in

jw
friends

this year's prodigal son drama is like a "cult 101" class.

if you leave "the truth" (tm) bad things will happen to you- you will end up in a car wreck because your friends will be driving drunk.

no witnesses ever drive under the influence!

BonaFide

There are several threads on this. It was very sad for me to see the audience buying into the drama. Afterwards, many said how "realistic" it was.

BF

38

What UNUSUAL MARRIAGES have you seen among JW's?

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

these are couples that i know personally.. a brother i know married a sister 36 years older than him.

he was 35, she was 71. they are still married 5 years later.

they do not get along, and they make that known to the entire hall.. a brother that has been married twice and is 50 years old recently married a 19-year old.

Two couples in my old Hall when I was growing up were great friends. Well, when they were all in their 50's, the husband of one sister died. Then shortly after, the wife of the other brother died. You know the result, they married each other.

The problem was the congregation. Everyone took sides on what would happen in the resurrection when the resurrected mates saw what the two surviving ones had done. Especially since ALL of their families were Witnesses.

BF

78

Crazy JW chaperon Stories

by superman in

jw
friends

the jw's must not trust their members or at least don't have too much faith in them when it comes to being alone around member of the opposite sex.

i can remember one time in particular from when i was a teenager that still makes me laugh today.. when i was younger i used to go out in service on a regular basis during the week when i had summer break.

one time when i met for service there were only two other people that showed up.

BonaFide

I think the chaperone thing might actually result in MORE fooling around. Witnesses are conditioned to have a chaperone around at all times so they won't sin. They think they WILL sin if they don't have one. So the minute they are alone for some reason, WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENS?

BF

56

My experience at the District Convention today - Appreciate your comments

by BonaFide in

i know i am the one to constantly harp on this board how the organization has lost its "swagger" and the baptism and attendance is going down, and people are waking up.. not so fast.. the audience cried, i mean a lot of people cried when they played some of the songs from the new songbook.

some had bethel singers who sounded pretty good singing them.

so many after the program were saying how touched they were.. then the new release of the book showing how the book of acts prefigures the organization today.

BonaFide

I was touched also by the drama. Until I started to think about what they actually said.

Afterwards I was talking to a sister in the truth for 40 years. She said the drama was so great because it was realistic. I said I agree some of the words were modern expressions. But how many young people have a father in the truth? How many have a pioneer fund waiting for them? How many wouldn't be disfellowshipped for what he did?

She just got upset, I ruined it for her. She said she always likes to look for the positive things. I said I am not being negative, facts are neither positive nor negative. But she still looked upset.

BF

25

For those that were/are SINGLE in the ORGANIZATION, did anyone encourage you to marry a WEIRD JW?

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

bizzybee's comment about the elders encouraging her at 19 to marry the 40+ yr old widow with 4 kids made me remember similar stuff.. the elders encouraged me as a young brother to stay single.

some of the younger sisters seemed to like me, but the friends in the congregations i visited always wanted me to marry the weird ones.

they called them "spiritual.

BonaFide

Yea, really, maybe I WAS THE WEIRD ONE. I will say that the QUIET brothers were viewed as more SPIRITUAL, whereas the LOUD brothers like me were often viewed as IMMATURE. When I became a missionary, that helped my reputation.

BF

32

What happens if you show up at the DC with no badge?

by JeffT in

jw
friends

i'm thinking of going to one this summer to research an article i want to write.

back in my time anybody could just walk in, but some recent threads sound like that might be hard to do.

i'm also going to try to get a local paper to give me one time press credentials.

BonaFide

I went to the District Convention this past Sunday. No badge. I agree with the other posters, almost 40% of the people there had no badge. Just look bored and you will fit right in.

BF

32

Did people DONATE for the literature when you went out in service?

by BonaFide in

i think i got a donation maybe once or twice here in the states.

most of the friends don't ask for a donation.

in south america, more people donated, but i think it's because it was phrased differently, we used to say, "you can give whatever you want for this magazine.

BonaFide

I think I got a donation maybe once or twice here in the States. Most of the friends don't ask for a donation. In South America, more people donated, but I think it's because it was phrased differently, we used to say, "You can give whatever you want for this magazine." The Branch allowed it.

And you? What is your experience? Don't you think the donations have gone WAY DOWN since 1990?

BF

56

My experience at the District Convention today - Appreciate your comments

by BonaFide in

i know i am the one to constantly harp on this board how the organization has lost its "swagger" and the baptism and attendance is going down, and people are waking up.. not so fast.. the audience cried, i mean a lot of people cried when they played some of the songs from the new songbook.

some had bethel singers who sounded pretty good singing them.

so many after the program were saying how touched they were.. then the new release of the book showing how the book of acts prefigures the organization today.

BonaFide

Ok Scotty77, I am going to get C of C. And AllElse, I like those questions. One elder I know gives all those Daniel talks, he loves to research on the Internet. We will see...

25

For those that were/are SINGLE in the ORGANIZATION, did anyone encourage you to marry a WEIRD JW?

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

bizzybee's comment about the elders encouraging her at 19 to marry the 40+ yr old widow with 4 kids made me remember similar stuff.. the elders encouraged me as a young brother to stay single.

some of the younger sisters seemed to like me, but the friends in the congregations i visited always wanted me to marry the weird ones.

they called them "spiritual.

BonaFide

What H? Man I thought I was the only one set up with uglies and oldies and weirdies.

BF

25

For those that were/are SINGLE in the ORGANIZATION, did anyone encourage you to marry a WEIRD JW?

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

bizzybee's comment about the elders encouraging her at 19 to marry the 40+ yr old widow with 4 kids made me remember similar stuff.. the elders encouraged me as a young brother to stay single.

some of the younger sisters seemed to like me, but the friends in the congregations i visited always wanted me to marry the weird ones.

they called them "spiritual.

BonaFide

BizzyBee's comment about the elders encouraging her at 19 to marry the 40+ yr old widow with 4 kids made me remember similar stuff.

The elders encouraged me as a young brother to stay single. Until I was 28 and a C.O. Some of the younger sisters seemed to like me, but the friends in the congregations I visited always wanted me to marry THE WEIRD ONES. They called them "Spiritual." I told them I didn't need help finding a sister, but they kept trying. One sister they recommended seemed like she never bathed. Another one didn't believe in deodorant, she used a ROCK that she carried in service. Another sister had been divorced TWICE but she played the KINGDOM SONGS on her guitar and THAT'S WHAT THE FRIENDS THOUGHT WAS GOOD FOR MARRIAGE MATERIAL. Uh, sorry, no.

Not that I am great, but I like to try and get the girl myself.

And the cute ones? Some of the friends HATED the cute sisters, criticizing their style of dress and implying they were "impure." One sister told me to stay away from a certain sister because she hadn't been raised in the truth.

There was a beautiful Filipino sister I met once who was interviewed at a circuit assembly I attended while here on vacation. Everyone was talking about her. About a month later, she disassociated herself and moved away.

Anyway, and YOU? Any stories about WEIRD PEOPLE trying to marry you?

BF