yesterday as our family entered the parking lot of our kh, we realized it was not our congregation entering.
soon afterward we remembered that this week was our co visit and we had missed the tuesday night meeting.
i think it's the first time in over 20 years that i missed a meeting with the co. tonight is our bookstudy/co talk, i wonder if anyone will ask where we were (not likely, everyone is so over us).. it's weird though because a large part of me could care less, and we were laughing about it all the way home.
Perfectly normal. We went through the same feelings for several months, but 2 weeks ago we missed the entire CO visit for the first time and we barely even noticed. Now a Tuesday night passes and we don't even think about the meeting. Same with sleeping in Saturday and Sunday!
However, missing the Memorial and DC next year may be different because they're both such important events in JW land.
a co-worker of mine whose, wife and daughters are jehovahs witnesses, told me about situation that his oldest daughter finds abhorrent.
he said that a close friend of his daughter was found dead in a car the other day.
she was in her early 30's and had been a lifelong jw.
I haven't experienced this situation, but this is another proof of how wicked the WTS is. And this from a religion that points to the "lack of natural affection" in the world as a sign that we're living in the last days. I've seen no other organization promote such a sick hatred for family members.
hi everyone... you might remember me from the username 'darklighter' ... if you don't, no big.
i used to post on here about a year ago.
i was stuck inside the watchtower corporation, with everone around me still believing.
Congrats on your new-found freedom. I hope that will be me some day.
Sorry about losing your wife over this. Your situation sounds similar to ours, as my wife's non-jw extended family who we previously had almost no contact with have welcomed us with open arms and have shown unconditional love.
We should celebrate as the WTS has lost another of its top performers.
i just had a chat with a friend i haven't seen for a while.
he knows we're inactive.
he was trying to encourage us by relating what he heard at the convention, saying "the end is near" and then proceeded to tell me that what stood out the most was how many times the society emphasized "family worship" night at the convention.. it got me thinking, why did they get rid of the book study arrangement in private homes if they're so keen on forcing people to have family worship night?
Most of the JWs we know haven't even considered actually having the "Family Worship Evening". Since it's not actively enforced most dubs will just do what any other normal people would do with a free evening. I don't know how the WT could have expected otherwise.
Of course, if asked on a shepherding visit if they were having their FWE, they would say they are.
i think that my upbringing made me the person that i am today---for good and bad.
even though i was raised a witness, i don't think that my upbringing was bad.. your thoughts, please..
My parents raised me with good morals and principles, and for this I'm grateful. At least a part of that can be attributed to the org.
However, as an adult I still am quite bitter that I was raised in a very isolated environment. Of course there were no birthdays or any other celebrations and parties that children enjoy. But I was prohibited from having anything to do with my school friends after school or on weekends, and I mean absolutely NOTHING. This would have been not so bad if I was able to hang out with JW kids, but there were none that lived nearby, and the majority that lived in the next town were "bad association". As an adult, I am now very socially awkward and I have low self-esteem when it comes to meeting and interacting with other people. My wife and I have been spending more and more time with "worldly" people and it is helping, but I think it will take me years to become a well adjusted sociable adult.
in a recent thread i started on music i couldn't help noticing how many had to throw their alleged " worldly music " out because parents, or elders told them their music brought them " under the influence of demons ", or listening to music was how " the demons got inside us ".
this superstitious belief that " satan " is to blame for each witnesses demise is really a passing of the buck of responsibility so it sidesteps real issues involved.. for example : check these familiar expressions out we all heard while we were jehovah's witnesses .. .
1. if a person was stumbled and said, " i don't want to go to meetings anymore.
My mother in law is the ultimate example of this. Anything that could go wrong with any JW or JW family, she immediately claims that Satan is causing them trouble to make them stop serving Jehovah. If my wife and I miss a meeting she says "Satans wants you to miss the meeting". Or if we disagree with something she says "That's what Satan wants you to think".
Wait until she finds out we are both inactive and haven't been to a meeting since our DC June 12-14. How do you reason with someone who insists on blaming an invisible person for everything, and putting blind trust in an organization? She has no proof of either, but her "faith" can not be shaken.
this movie is getting a 98 percent approval rating on rotten tomatoes so far.
hell, even the vatican gave its blessing!
(okay, so maybe they approved of hitler, too lol- at least that's what the wt always claimed).
I'm looking forward to watching the HP movie this weekend.
Regarding Disney movies: in the town we used to live in there was a very outspoken elder who regularly included Disney movies in his public talks - because they featured magic they were "not appropriate" content for a Christian to watch. He didn't let his kids watch Dinsey movies or anything else that even other JW kids got to do. So naturally, they left home early and did everything they could to make up for their horrible childhood.
one of the principal problems the wts has is, how do they motivate the rank & file witnesses to do more in the preaching work?.
over the past 3-4 years, one thing they have tried is a series of "special" field service campaigns.
two or three times a year, there is a concerted effort made to cover all the congregation's territory with district convention invitations, memorial invitations, "special" tracts, etc.. but, in effect, with these special campaigns comes along a subliminal message that the society expects, indeed demands, that it will be a colossal failure.. for example, consider the campaign to invite the public to the district convention.
When I was still an active publisher, I loved these "special campaigns". It amounted to 3 or 4 weeks in a row where you were not expected to really talk to anyone, read a scripture, or get involved in a lengthy conversation. Because we had to "cover our territory". That's really the only way that success is measured during these campaigns.
dailypress.comhamptonjehovah's witnesses at hampton convention urge all to 'keep on the watch'by prue salasky.
9:35 pm edt, july 9, 2009. the first of two district conventions for jehovah's witnesses in southeastern virginia starts today at the hampton coliseum.
this weekend's gathering, which is expected to draw a crowd of 5,500, takes place over three days.. .
Most of this is the usual JW PR stuff.
But I love this quote:
What a loving arrangement! You can attend our convention and bring your own lunch!
she starts out with some banal stuff about where they want to move, etc, then, she launches into this:.
that brings up something i wanted to tell you in person but itseems that i am not going to be able to do that very soon.
i amhoping to throw some light on what has happened within our familyesp during the time we were over there.. it has become very apparent to us now that during that time period from early spring on, in 200[x], satan launched an all-out attack on our family, son.
That letter was insane, but all of us who are or have been JWs can understand since we probably harbored similar thoughts, even if we wouldn't have expressed them the way your mom did. When my mom finds out that my wife and I are inactive and have stopped attending meetings altogether I can see similar letters coming my way. It is obvious that your mom loves you deeply and cares for you as a son, and is not just displaying the artificial love that the WTS encourages JWs to have towards non-believers.
Your reply is very loving and respectful.