just put your handle in a post on this thread.. hb.
Quote from Ynot
Thousands have learned:
That is exactly how I feel about this board Ynot. It was lurking here for a lot of last year that helped me in a big way to make the decision that leaving JWs was the right thing to do.
Hopscotch
for all those that read my post from the other day, i have been asked that if i am to miss any meetings i must call one particular elder per his request.
so on sunday i woke up and decided to stay home from the meeting and test my theory that this guy is on a power trip.
i "had a headache" which in all reality was a small hangover from the night before.
rockmehardplace - when my husband was an elder (secretary) the PO was a power tripper who, like your elder, told my husband he had to phone him if he was going to be absent from a meeting. This was even if my husband didn't have a part or a scheduled elders meeting. It was all about control. It's been my contention for a long time that there are many JW elders who would never have made it to a position of authority or status in the 'world' due to lack of education, talent and thinking ability etc, but in the WTS they are able to obtain this just by playing the game well. And it's often, in my opinion, those who know deep down they would never have made it anywhere else that cling to and flaunt the so called power being an elder gives them.
By the way it was the years my husband was an elder that really opened his eyes to what goes on in the organisation. 'It was the straw that broke the camels back' for him. About five years before we started our fade (3 1/2 - 4 years ago) we moved to another area and he refused to be reappointed. I faded before him really but it was coming to this site last year and reading the stories and insider information that confirmed for him so much of what he knew was wrong in the organisation.
Hopscotch
Parents started studying in 1964 when I was 5.
I was babtized in 1975 at 16.
Disillusionment started around 1997.
Started fading 2005.
Last Memorial attended 2007.
Still officially just an inactive pub. not da'd or df'd - probably because I am full time carer for devout JW mum in law who's other son is in writing dept in Brooklyn. Too inconvenient for them to df us at moment. Over 40 years wasted in the org.
Hopscotch
On page 4 in the field service highlights it mentions that in February the number of bible studies reported was the highest number in Australia for a number of years. What do you think is the reason for this? It mentions something about the newly arranged Special Day for offering Bible Studies but could it also/or be something to do with the thing about mums being able to count time also for the family bible study - making it an easy way for both mum and dad to get time in without leaving the house. It doesn't specify what percentage of those 25,429 studies are actual studies with people in the territory.
Hopscotch
OK Here it is although it is the Australian version
Hopscotch
1975 was getting close......1975 was the topic of the day,for any jw during that time......our vancouver bc assembly was in full swing.......pretty jw girls wandered the area looking for cute guys like me!..lol!!
......my best friends annointed,apostate dad,was outside the assembly with a bullhorn..telling everyone about wbt$ lies..we all thought he was crazy,we were right!..lol!
!........................jw assemblys in those days,were huge events..nothing like today..local media always showed up.................it was the 2nd day of the assembly..the 2nd day had ended..we went home and turned the tv,to the new`s..............the local tv station was covering our assembly..the announcer said jw`s believed armageddon would be here by 1975......right at that moment,i knew i did`nt believe that.....i was supposed to believe it,but i did`nt..................have you ever had a similar experience,with any jehovah`s witness beliefs?.....................................outlaw.
About 5 or 6 years before I began fading there was an incident going on in our congregation. There was a huge amount of inappropriate behaviour from an elder and a ministerial servant in our congregation. It would take pages to tell it all. Anyway, there was a secret revolt of sorts by a lot of the publishers and the other ministerial servants and elders (there were only 5 servants and 3 elders altogether in the congregation to start with). It ended up that there was going to be a hearing by a society appointed elder from another congregation and anybody that wanted to could give evidence. During the lead up to the hearing there was so much secret stuff going on - sisters getting together in the toilet during the meetings and planning what they were going to say at the hearing, or getting others involved and talking them into going along to give evidence. The same thing was happening with brothers. I was aware of so much of this going on as my hubby was one of the ms's in the so-called revolt. Many came around to our house to get their evidence together.
I remember sitting at a Sunday meeting watching some of the goings on during this time period when the thought hit me - there is no way that jehovah's spirit and jesus etc are running these congregations and making sure they are clean. It was ridiculous.
Anyway the hearing was held and the two got a rap over the knuckles. Well during the course of that evening nearly all the other elders and servants rang the PO and resigned. So the next morning there was another hearing with the two and they were told to quit or be deleted. They stood down. All the revolters (about 75% of the congretation) were happy and the rest thought it was unfair - they were the friends of the elder and servant. We were assured that the elder who had to stand down would never be made an elder again - at least for 5 years. That was from the bethel appointed elder leading the hearing. Well guess what - the deleted elder upped and move to another congregation and before 18 months were up he was appointed elder again and in a short time was the PO.
That was the nail in the coffin for me as far as the WT teaching that elders and servants are appointed by god's holy spirit. It was all downhill for me from there as far as believing the WT lies.
Hopscotch
in this public edition of the watchtower it uses an illustration of a piece of furniture to help explain why jehovah tolerated polygamy.. but the more interesting point i thought was the reasoning in the first paragraph in the second column about jehovah warning his people when they strayed from his standards.
it says "however, he knew in advance that his people would often fail to obey even the most basic of commands, such as the one against idolatry.
(exodus 32:9).
In this public edition of the watchtower it uses an illustration of a piece of furniture to help explain why jehovah tolerated polygamy.
But the more interesting point I thought was the reasoning in the first paragraph in the second column about jehovah warning his people when they strayed from his standards. It says "However, he knew in advance that his people would often fail to obey even the most basic of commands, such as the one against idolatry. (Exodus 32:9). If they would struggle to obey so basic a law, how would they fare with a law against polygamy? With his perfect grasp of human nature, Jehovah saw that it was not yet the time to forbid that practice, which was already long-established in those days. Had he done so, Satan would have found a very easy means of seducing them into sin."
Is it just me or do others feel that there is something wrong with this so called reasoning. If the Isrealites were his so-called 'chosen people' why was he constantly setting them up for failure if "he knew in advance they would fail to obey even the most basic of commands"?
Below is the scan of the article.
Hopscotch
when i attended a support-group meeting in february [2009], someone in the group brought a wtbts magazine with a very odd "questions from readers" on the back.
[may have been the jw version of feb. 2009 watchtower??].
the "questions from readers" was something to the effect of "are jehovah's witnesses allowed to eat fats?
Sorry can't work out how to show the actual scan on here
Hopscotch
when i attended a support-group meeting in february [2009], someone in the group brought a wtbts magazine with a very odd "questions from readers" on the back.
[may have been the jw version of feb. 2009 watchtower??].
the "questions from readers" was something to the effect of "are jehovah's witnesses allowed to eat fats?
Zid this was in the Dec 08 WT.
Here is the scan.
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu148/hopscotch_09/QuestionsfromReaders1209.jpg
Hopscotch
maybe eventually the wts will adapt and change and try to go mainstream.. as 'new shite' shines brightly then;.
maybe eventually celebrating birthdays and even christmas will be 'allowed' without too many repercussions.. maybe eventually the 'blood' issue will fade away and 'brothers' wil be allowed the whole lot of fractions together at the same time.. maybe eventually disfellowshipping and particularly shunning will be seen as unloving and done away with.. personally i would rather this wouldn't happen.. i would prefer to see the wts collapse in the mire even with all the emotional fallout there would be to those still in having their crutches pulled away from them.. i don't want the wts to modify and adapt and go more gentle on the rank and file.. i want them to get more harsh with the brothers.. i want it to go down, not along.. am i being too cruel to those still in?.
would the more loving caring attitude be to hope that the wts changes for the better?.
I would like to seem them collapse in a heap. That is all they deserve after the damage they have done to the lives of so many of their faithful followers.
There's the big stuff like those who have died from the no blood transfusion and no organ transplant policies etc. And the suicides of those who were shunned by their families or abused by JW pedophiles. The poor brothers and sisters in Malawi who were horribly tortured and murdered for following the WTS hypocritical political card policy. The extent of the WTS bloodguilt of innocent lives is huge
Then there are those who obeyed the no higher education directives years and years ago and as a result were condemned to lowly paying jobs for the rest of their working life. There are those who made no plans financially for the future and are now facing a bleak retirement with no money or health insurance to fall back on. There are those who followed the don't have children directive and have died or are dying of old age, bitter and childless, or are now past childbearing age and are full of regrets.
There are those of us who are being shunned completely by our families because we decided we didn't want to live the JW lie anymore. And then there is the enormous psychological damage and depression caused by living most of your life believing you will never grow old and will live forever only to find that you have grown old and are going to die. And the depression and sadness caused by the realisation that you put your whole life on hold, leaving all your dreams unfulfilled, just to be a bookseller and a statistic for a deceitful publishing company the WTS.
Hopscotch
