i am pimo, but now have 40+ years of being a jw as i was raised in a 3rd generation family of witnesses and continue to fake my way through things - fading as i can.. for the vast majority of my time as a jw, the meetings were the central focus for all jws to get teaching, association, information and so on.
nothing was more important than being at the meetings!
over the last 20 years starting with the elimination of the weekly book study in homes and continuing down to today - my opinion is that the value/purpose of the weekly meetings continues to be diluted or minimized.
It's quite interesting to see the conflicting interests within the JW Organization work against each other; seeking some resolution (however impermanent).
Regular meetings and the lateral enforcement of JW rules that regular association allows....vs....
'We need the damn $$ from the sale of Kingdom Halls!'
It can't go all one way and still maintain the illusion of religion. It'll settle somewhere, for a new JW reality, (which, truth-be-told, is always sliding around anyhow).
i posted what follows elsewhere but thought it might be of interest here as well.
my forst posting here so i apologize in advance if this is not in the correct place.. a tribute to ray franz (on what would have been his 98th birthday) and to ed dunlap, his collaborator.
last week would have marked the 98th birthday of a man for whom most of us here have high regard.
Nobody seems to be able to fill his shoes, and it shows.
The brutal irony is anyone presenting the vision and charisma that the Organization desperately needs, will invariably pose a threat to the current power structure within. There’s no way anyone of any real talent and consequence could be tolerated in there. Anyone like Franz would have to be immediately subjugated upon discovery, lest these powers end up in the ‘wrong’ hands. If these talents can’t be made to serve the current rulers then this person would be promptly expelled. The talents that the Organization needs for its health and future have been rendered anathema to it.
hopefully the wording makes its point here, this was for a class assignment.
i think i owe it to myself to start speaking up about things now that i've woken up and this may be a start to it.
underground we brought our sins to the elders, groveling at their feet and professing repentance.
I was 'born-in', I like your term of being born 'into darkness'. I am continuing to linger on the notion that those of us born 'into darkness' and yet somehow find our way out...we are made of remarkable stuff.
You mention 'losing no form of home'. This caught my attention, because even though I've been out for many years, I've maintained relationships with JW relatives up until now. Lately, the fatigue of dealing with crazy people has been getting to me, and for the first time, I've really considered cutting them off and calling them 'dead' to me.
And I consider what has been familiar to me: my old house, dealing with mother/grandmother, old beliefs that wounded MANY with lasting damage and NO benefit. And though these people and places have been familiar to be, they contain for me NO COMFORT OF HOME. And I find that I am bereft of such a thing, entirely. And I have little to lose, but perhaps much, much to gain, by walking forward out of the reach of such...
as sgt pepper sang, "it was 20 years ago today" ... that i made my first post on my first forum.. i obviously didn't put too much thought into what it should say although i must have burned 45 posts testing things and was too lazy to reset the counter before going live (?):.
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/46/welcome.
but somehow, it worked and grew and here we all are, 20 years on.
Happy 20th! And thanks for everything!
The amount of good this site has done is...
absolutely...
INCALCULABLE
And we're not done, yet...
over at jw talk they're saying because they're having to hold the upcoming memorial at home, they dont need to actually have the emblems.
apparently, listening to or watching the talk is the thing that counts.. "do this in rememberence of me" apparently means watching tony morris on your phone give a talk.. this begs the question... "what's the point?
".
Doesn't even matter if the emblems ARE present.
The 'Great Crowd' is not part of the New Covenant.
Jesus Christ is not their mediator.
Christianity is useless to them.
do you think any higher ups know that much of the doctrine they teach is bunk?
thinking back to the time of raymond franz, how he pointed out specifically numerous teachings that the churches really did have right all along, and really any of the hidden mic apostacy trials you listen to on youtube, you see that even when inconvenient bible teachings are proven, the elders just try to sweep it under the rug and move on.
i think i remember franz saying how one of the gb approached him somewhat sympathetically, but there was nothing he could do.. whether you believe in the bible or not, there are some basic beliefs common among most denominations because they're just so plainly stated, such things as heavenly life for all christians, no central authority structure, minimal use of god's name, etc.
Do you think any of the GB have different beliefs?
Of course.
How is their official doctrine established? Don't they have a voting system?
If all these guys had identical thoughts/ideas, there'd be nothing to vote on.
Have they not already laid the groundwork for warming those seats with non-anointed company men?
Helpers?
I think they have their 'continuation of religious government' plan already worked out.
Anyways, if these guys are not really calling the shots and are just figureheads (as has been asserted), then I don't know anything would change upon their demise. The same sinister forces would likely be in play behind scenes.
Best we can hope for is a strong personality to rise up and try to take control. I think we are due for a schism.
a guy i was great friend with in my teens 'phoned me out of the blue today, and brought back a lot of fond memories, he was df'd, because he was a very naughty boy lol, but as he said, as is common with a lot of us exes, he took a long time to grow up.
he spoke of my parents, who despite being jw's, were lovely people, they took him in to our home when his mum was in hospital for some weeks, he also spoke of the good times we had as kids, and how his parents were good to him, and made him what he is today despite being jw's.. we sometimes do not give credit where it is due, my parents made me a lover of truth, but it is real truth i espouse now of course.. perhaps this kind of view of our upbringing is more positive than concentrating on all the downsides of what is basically an evil cult ?
looking at the (very few) positives can perhaps help us heal ?.
It's nice to reconnect to those we leave behind. Circumstances demand that sacrifices are made, once we commit to a life outside the JW cult. My exit cost me my relationships with folks that I had real feeling for. I still think of them often.
Of course, it has occurred to me that I did not hold the same value for them, as they did for me. For if I did hold such value, why did our 'friendships' end (or at least go on extended hiatus) - waiting for some ultimate paradigm shift on somebody's part that would allow our 'friendship' to resume?
So, yeah...growing up within WT will provide you with some associates you can call 'friends', however, such is conditional to membership in the group. When such connections persist beyond the limitations of the JW cult, this is a pleasant surprise.
i know there is a huge college/university lobby here in the us that lives off of students paying, in some cases, enormous amounts of money just to attend.. putting politics aside, if that is possible, (and i am not a bernie sanders guy by any means), but how can we pay for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school, and then throw a huge debt to someone who wants to continue learning?
can't the us (public and state universities) afford four more years for young people to get on a career path without having to, in some cases, take out a mortgage/loan more than the cost of some homes?
then, (and nothing against immigrants, i am married to one), but then the us has to "import" students from other countries to fill the needs that we should be supplying here.
I think Human Resource (HR) Managers want to protect their butts when hiring.
I think there's a lot of merit to this...^^^
Nevertheless, after having sit through literally several dozens of group interviews over the past 2 years, I am still convinced that the best practice/policy is to simply
...hire the BEST AVAILABLE CANDIDATE
regardless of whether they have the (perceived) ideal academic credentials, or not.
Every time we let someone's degree win them a job, it has been a bad choice. Meanwhile, better employees have slipped thru our fingers.
The degree is just the cover charge to get you into the interview...
i know there is a huge college/university lobby here in the us that lives off of students paying, in some cases, enormous amounts of money just to attend.. putting politics aside, if that is possible, (and i am not a bernie sanders guy by any means), but how can we pay for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, high school, and then throw a huge debt to someone who wants to continue learning?
can't the us (public and state universities) afford four more years for young people to get on a career path without having to, in some cases, take out a mortgage/loan more than the cost of some homes?
then, (and nothing against immigrants, i am married to one), but then the us has to "import" students from other countries to fill the needs that we should be supplying here.
I think he's saying that
competence without college is >
college without competence
Bear in mind, all of these high-paying professions still require specialized training, and you'd likely need to demonstrate immediate competence to even start on-the-job training.
