so there i was earlier today, enjoying a spot of lunch in a pleasant little cafe whilst out shopping, when up came a fella i vaguely recognised from the dim and distant past just as i was tucking into my highland soup with bread roll and butter..
"i would never ignore you you know".. "eh?
what" i ventured wondering wtf is this all about.
Better late than never.
Maybe the sentiment expressed is no real solace to the OP, (and maybe his absence from your life no real loss, either!)
Nevertheless, I have come to view every act of rebellion and disobedience to the Tower as good signs.
May there be many more to follow...
just went to the assembly yesterday and during the final talk the circuit overseer said:.
'sure, there are some adults baptised here and there, but do you want to know something wonderful?
the vast majority of those getting baptized are teens and preteens!
Well dropping the reports is a one-time event. One cut of the knife, by basically admitting that the numbers are (and will continue to) look REALLY BAD...
But then it's over and done with.
To keep publishing the reports is to open the ORG up to a continual humiliation, and the longer bad numbers are published, the less damage Option #1 saves them.
I reckon they will opt to keep publishing but lie as needed to support their narratives.
i think everyone has the freedom to protest, they also have freedom of speech, these are two fundamental things that make america amazing.
but thinking rationally about what is going on with the nfl, therefore, i have an unfavorable opinion of the league, and the players, not their right to free speech, but their motive and execution of it.
constitutional freedom to protest ends at the workplace door too.
There exists an old adage, that 'you don't shit where you eat'.
There's a good chance that these protests are a tactical error, and this will bear itself out before too long.
Putting aside the merits of the protesters assertions, average working-class people resent being preached at during their entertainment - by millionaires, to boot!
I know that heavy-handed moralizing about wrongs I've never committed failed to be a selling point for the JW religion...might not sell so well for the NFL players.
when parents say all the things we've done for you and your not doing anything for us in return like going to meetings, witnessing, answering up etc... how do you respond to parents?.
Sorry to hear about the situation. Yes, they will try any angle to strong-arm you back into the 'religion'. That's how I knew it was the right choice to leave. The religion is so wonderful for you, it must be shoved down your throat.
When met with similar tactics, I said (to paraphrase), 'I simply don't believe (some/all) of the doctrines. What would you have me do? Profess belief in things I don't believe? I could lie to the elders and the congregation; I could fool them. Shall I lie to Jehovah? Fool Him?'
(Silence)
It is simply amazing just how little critical thought and analysis goes into a thing that wields so much control over their lives.
first, a word about the watchtower’s financial position: nobody (outside the watchtower organization) knows.
the wtbs is not required to disclose its finances, and doesn’t.
we can speculate, but that is all we are doing.
I wonder if the EOTWT speculation is, at least in part, fueled by that which us 'disaffected' or former JWs hope to gain by such a scenario.
In my own case, I find myself hoping for a future where former relationships with family and friends are restored...except this time we're all rational and carry on with an understanding that there was a high-control cult formerly running/ruining our lives. la-dee-da. I am a dolt for indulging this stuff.
I think the OP is astute in pointing out the real costs; the likelihood that any EOTWT scenario (while applauded near & far) will have a catastrophic psychological/emotional fallout on these very same people that I am hoping to reunite with! There is simply no 'End of WT' scenario that would leave these true-believers intact as the people I remember them to be.
This is a done deal. Even if the WT closes shop tomorrow, the costs are sunk. I (we) will likely never have our relationships back with the WTs adherents, even after the master is gone.
Perhaps it's better to root for EOTWT, not on the basis of a past that cannot be recovered, but on the basis of the future, where this garbage isn't out there, lurking, waiting to ruin lives and inflict pain on all it can touch.
if watchtower has no reason to df ones.
they have just become inactive.
do you all think wt will begin a witch hunt (df'ing) for these inactive ones?
I don't think it's necessary for them to go after "inactive" JWs. The cult mind control is so strong that indoctrinated JWs pre-emptively shun any who are less "spiritual" than they are, even if there was no announcement.
Yes, this is a good observation. The JWs 'shoot their wounded'...the attrition losses must be staggering. How long could this go on?
once i left ,i was done.
in over 10 years i didn't return except for my mother's funeral.
did you ever re enter the kh after you left?.
I tried a couple of memorials and assemblies after I formally 'left'. I'm sure I only did so because it made people happy to hold onto 'hope' for me.
When I realized that I really didn't believe any of this shit, it was just impossible to sit there anymore.
After all, why should I bear the burden of living a lie just to make people happy...when these people didn't really give a toss about me (apart of me being a witness)?
I know there are folks mentally 'out' but physically 'in', and I offer no judgement of the decisions of anyone else...but when I realized that I had no meaningful relationships within the cult that could stand on their own, well then, I guess my happiness and my life are too valuable to squander for the sake of someone else's delusions...
The years have gone by, and only verified my decision to break cleanly from the cult.
all the old magazines that are on the carts now have gone ?.
I would imagine that, before too long, more 'new' magazines, tracts, whatever...will be there...
Printed out at the 'publishers' expense...
if they controlled a nation they would stone their kids to death , which seems harsh but its nothing compared to the solitary confinement they emotionally and physically bestow on their own children.
i think they have ticked every box as to the rejection of their children except killing them, they leave that for god ..
Even that last part they leave to God...begrudgingly.
They're screwing themselves, though it will take a long time to bear itself out.
So we know that the majority of kids raised in the cult eventually leave (I've heard anywhere from 2/3 to 80% - but the precise number doesn't matter, only that it's LARGE!)
Many dubs have meager educations, meager careers, meager earnings, and therefore meager retirement.
It'd be a real shame if the State wasn't up to the task in taking care of elderly dubs in their golden years. Further shame if these very same needy folks done chased away most of their progeny, on account of a hokey religious cult, after all...
...and spent their old age alone and in poverty of both coin and spirit...
This is the hand the JW religion is dealing out to it's strident believers.
I suppose they could further narrow the definition of 'necessary family business'...and enthusiastically enforce it. But I suppose there might be a natural limit to this approach, because it may hit home for too many families of elders and therefore be unenforceable beyond that which is done, now...
in the last week i have had three visits from brothers.
so 6 witnesses in all as they come in pairs.
now considering i used to go to the meetings, sit by myself and literally no one talked to me - ever - why the concern all of a sudden?.
This will ultimately be a test of your will and endurance.
If you can weather the discomfort in the short term, you will outlast them. Their 'concern' for you will prove remarkably short-lived, especially if you don't throw them a bone by expressing any interest in the religion.
If you are trying to maintain relationships with believing JWs at the same time...now that could be working against you, because you would be continuously exposing yourself to their agenda.
If someone offends you in your own home, telling them so may have a chilling effect.
