Yes, and I hope that any men that are studying or start in near future get a look at this article and see that any niceness shown to them was really about 1. counting time, and 2. finding a potential person to take over or share the responsibilities that are burdening those already in postitions of responsibility.
startingovernow
JoinedPosts by startingovernow
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54
Is The WTS Getting Desperate for Males? KM Aug 2009
by Hopscotch injust thought this article was interesting in view of what has been said in the last couple of years on the forum about the declining number of elders and servants and those reaching out.
add to that the large percentage of young teenage boys who leave 'the truth'.
i can't ever remember this much space in a km being devoted to converting men.. para 2 states: "when a family head accepts the truth, he often influences others in the family to join him in pure worship".
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As a JW Did other Witnesses Annoy you by Condemning " Worldly Music" ?
by flipper ini know i got bothered by all the self righteous music police who would condemn me or others for our awesome record collections from early years as a teenager .
several experiences were really quite odd .
one brother came up to me saying i was wrong to listen to the moody blues " nights in white satin "!
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startingovernow
Yes, even though I was legally an adult, I had a "sister" look through my music and start looking for something wrong. She just about fell over when she saw the title of Erasure's "Witch in the Ditch." I don't know what makes me more mad, the fact that she felt like she has a right to point out any "bad" music I owned, or that I didn't know enough to say that "music is a personal choice, please keep your opinions to yourself." To this day I don't really know what the song was really about, if anything, and it doesn't really bother me. It's like saying just because witches are bad (if that is what one believes) that we shouldn't even say the word. Trouble is, this sister loved the Disney movie, Alladin. And she loved the Chicago song "Stay the Night" and said it was a "cute" song, even though it is all about being alone with a member of the opposite sex. The more I think about situations like this I'm reminded how far from learning the Bible I got when I was with JWs. It was more about rules - following them, policing them, and hoping one didn't get caught breaking them.
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When Did You First Get Exposed To "Apostate" Info? How Did It Affect You?
by minimus inas a kid, i used to read all the watchtowers of the 40s and 50s to see how the present day information developed from its original "thought".
i was exposed to many eye opening statements but i swept them under the carpet (although it stayed in the recesses of my brain) until the time was right.. so for me, it was a gradual thing.. how were you affected by your first encounters with "apostate" material?
?.
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startingovernow
My first read was CofC - reading it changed my life. Just about all the things that made me miserable as a JW were explained once I realized that the Society is not God's earthly organization and that it was not God I was serving all those years, but rather a group of men who could really care less about me, especially when I started having difficulties that slowed my "service" down.
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Ladies, do you talk too much?
by asilentone inplease do not beat me up for asking that kind of question!
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startingovernow
Oh, sweetface, your avatar is sure to trigger nightmares for me tonight...
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When you were in, did you have the Watchtower study underlined?
by asilentone inwhat happens if you don't?
did they treat you differently?.
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startingovernow
Yes, not only highligted, but cited scriptures written in the margins and prepared comments written out. That is how I was taught to do it. And yes, on the rare times I didn't have time to prepare, I quickly made it look like I had. Such a shame-based group, isn't it.
I did not, however like to mark up my KMs since it made them look too messy to me. Wouldn't you know, a sister saw my unmarked KM and said, "What, you don't study the KM?" Even though it was none of her business, I explained that yes I had studied it, just didn't like to mark it up (this was before the CD-Rom so as far as I knew would always be my only copy). Her response? A glare that indicated disapproval/disbelief that I had indeed prepared.
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I need some good responses to the excuse "The elders are imperfect"
by BonaFide inplease make them simple, i have noticed that some of my friends can only stand logic for about 30 seconds before they start changing the subject.
i need some good questions, or points to make them think.
i have tried my own, but i need a better response.. here are the comments my friends have made:.
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startingovernow
If you control the information someone recieves, you restrict his free ability to think for himself . -By depending on the elders (not questioning their decision, excusing wrong and questionable actions on imperfection, not doing one's own research outside the publications) JWs are left to be led by people who will not take accountability for what they teach, say, and do.,
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Imperfection isn't the problem. The problem is accountability.
by AllTimeJeff inthis was such a profound statement on another thread that i think it bears some further thought, esp because the governing body tends to put their head in the sand as to how their current teachings and dogma do harm to their sheep.
we will come back to current teachings in a minute.. first of all, this is how jehovah's witnesses are taught to view their leaders.
from the july 1, 2007 wt "humbly submitting to loving shepherds".
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startingovernow
Exactly. And I sure hope that if I was still in and saw the articles you posted I would have hand the sense to question why the GB feels the need to repeatedly tell their people that they need to trust and follow them. Now that my vision is clear, it's amazing to me that they have the audacity to claim that God is using them at all.
Sadly, the accountability issue is not just a problem with the GB and elders. It trickles down to every member of JWs. They are supposed to be one united brotherhood, therer to help each other, especially in times of need. How many times have I heard the words and actions of JWs excused by imperfection? Too many to count. The last time a JW tried to use this line on me to excuse the actions of others in the congregation, I finally told her, everyone is imperfect, even "worldly" people, but it's only among JWs that the imperfection excuse is expected to make everything OK. I mean, really, if I had a "worldly" person come to my house to fix a pipe, but they screwed things up even more and now my house is flooded and everything is destroyed, would I just say, "that's OK, I know your imperfect, everyone makes mistakes" and not try to get compensated or fitting repairs? No, I would not. So why do JWs expect me to excuse the damage done by those called "brother" and "sister," after all, the damage they and the GB have done have been much worse than any plumber has done.
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How many of you knew about the"Jesus is not your Mediator" teaching when you were JWs??
by Lady Liberty inhi everyone.... just curious how many of you knew when you were active, about the societys official teaching regarding jesus the mediator.
i was floored to find in my research, that they teach jesus is the mediator for the 144,000 only.
and it is only by our association with them that we might have salvation.. i don't know about you guys but i was blown away when i learned they taught this.
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startingovernow
I knew, but didn't understand the full significance. Oddly enough, it was a C.O. that pointed it out (early '90s). He admitted that someone out in service asked him if he believed Jesus was his mediator and the C.O. said yes! Then the guy showed him an article from the Society saying otherwise! He shared this point with us as a warning that we need to know what we as JWs believe. Once I learned from my Bible study conductor that I wasn't going go heaven, sadly I didn't know to question the details, like this one.
Now that I look back, I wonder if it was an ex-JW or someone acquainted with "apostates" that the C.O. met at the door. Sadly, he didn't question the validity of the teaching, and he certainly didn't encourage us to think about what the policy on the mediator meant for us. His point was simply that we should keep up with what the GB says is proper understanding of the Bible.
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Is there any info on the different emotions one goes through after leaving a cult?
by jambon1 inthanks in advance.. j.
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startingovernow
Check out the book, "Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships"
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Things you wouldn't admit to when you were a JW
by startingover inremember when the speaker from another congregation didn't show up?
i can still feel the good feeling it gave me at the thought of being able to go home early.
and all through the wt, every time the door opened i remember subtlely sneaking a peak to see if it was the speaker, and when it was just a latecomer, it kept my hopes up that he wouldn't show.
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startingovernow
When I was unprepared or knew I might be at the door of someone who might ask me a question I didn't know, I was glad no one answered.
The few times it snowed so badly there was no meeting, I was glad I didn't have to go out.
When I wasn't put in a certain person's car group, I was secretly glad.
When I had to move to another city for job reasons, I was glad I didn't have to go to the same congregation anymore.