Posts by VIII

29

A recent antiwitnessing experience

by john.prestor in

i shared one of these before in which my approach left something to be desired, and i got some flack for that, and rightly so.

so if this story doesn't go over well i won't share another... but given how it ended, i just had to share.... a few days ago i took a trip to a nearby city by bus.

in the about 20-30 minute window between my connecting buses i walked over to a mcdonald's and got a cup of coffee, and when i came back to the little bus station i saw a literature cart sitting unmanned near the doors.

VIII

john.prestor, I understand your frustration. Believe me. I do.

I just sent that story about the crazy JWs who thought it was Armageddon to my Mom and relatives (all JWs) and told them to text or call me before doing the same thing...I hope they understand the emoticons I attached...

I have tried for years to get my Mom and other relatives to wake up. It is hopeless. Even a BIL who was never in is entrapped. He listens to the crap and now thinks if he gets in he will see his recently deceased wife in the New System. Very sad. When a Cult has control of your emotions (and all family interactions) you will bow to it.

I don't and if they cut me off-I am better off. They are of the "we don't care if you're DAd, DFd, etc. we'll ignore" school of thought, so I'm lucky I guess. However, highly dysfunctional so I could do without all the drama and Armageddon, Great Tribulation talk when I do talk to them. It consumes them. They are NUTZ.

30

Baby it’s cold outside...Is That Song Offensive To Ypu?

by minimus in

jw
friends

to think that this classic song is “offensive “.... is absolutely ridiculous!.

VIII

I like that song.

I love rock and roll from the 60s to now. Listening to some of the lyrics from some of my favorite songs makes me blush. Now. I didn't care then and I can sing every verse in the car as I drive along.

If anyone goes after every song (and they could), we will have no songs left!

I won't even start on Rap and that genre. I've only heard a little, however, the #MeToo people need to look into that and perhaps start a campaign to clean that up.

29

A recent antiwitnessing experience

by john.prestor in

i shared one of these before in which my approach left something to be desired, and i got some flack for that, and rightly so.

so if this story doesn't go over well i won't share another... but given how it ended, i just had to share.... a few days ago i took a trip to a nearby city by bus.

in the about 20-30 minute window between my connecting buses i walked over to a mcdonald's and got a cup of coffee, and when i came back to the little bus station i saw a literature cart sitting unmanned near the doors.

VIII

Trying to get a JW to listen to an anti-JW message is tough enough. When they are confronted with any anti-JW message they immediately go into "You must be 1) An Apostate, 2) Demonized, 3) Influenced by Satan-see 2, 4) Evil Worldly, etc.

They will not listen. Why bother? You don't influence the people around the JWs and very few, if any, people around will care. People going on their day will care less.

21

Certain JWs

by Holden Caufield in

do you ever miss jw's as an ex jw..

VIII

I don't miss any of them. A bunch of self-righteous hypocrites. When I have visited my Mother back in the home city and we've gone out, we've encountered local JWs I grew up with. They will look through me like I'm invisible. Won't say hello or acknowledge me. I am not DFd or Disassociated. Just a fader.

That said, I hear from one of them daily.

Yes, daily. My Mother. She calls me at least once and depending on her need to chatter to someone, up to 11 times a day. She has run off all members of the JWs as friends, all other JW family and pretty much has no one to speak to except me, her Apostate child left! How is that for funny?!

70

The Reasons for Cart Witnessing

by Simon in

whatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.

the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.

now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.

VIII

I have to agree.

I see them around everywhere I go. In front of courthouses. In front of Malls, inside of Malls; anywhere they are allowed to set up and not get chased off.

They do seem disengaged and not really interested in actually getting their literature into people's hands. Much more interested in sipping, chatting, looking at their phones or tablets and basically just hanging out.

It does work out for all.

On a side note, my Mom is still going "door to door"...she tells me she and whatever friend she can wrestle up are going to businesses and doctors offices because they "love to get the JW literature for their offices". I held off on the gagging sound and asking if they are putting it in the bathroom stall as a backup for when the TP runs out. She does this every Saturday to fulfill her required hours for the month. And to make Jehovah happy of course.

22

Kingdom Hall burned down

by mann377 in

jw
friends

i hear that a hall was burned down in washington state.

was shot at numerous times.

is the wbts that desperate to merge congo's and collect insurance money and now the land has no building on it the land can be sold with no demo expense.

VIII

If you read the comments on the Washington Post article, it is scary how little information there is about the JWs. No one knows their views on gays, the subjection of women, child abuse, the no blood policy, the imminent destruction of all of them at Armageddon (and the JOY the JWs feel about that), etc.

If the base level views of the JWs were known, people wouldn't put out comments like: "They seem like really nice, humble people. They are always doing good for someone". WTF?! Doing good for who?

I hope the perp is caught. I hope it's not an EX-JW as it gives us all a bad name. I do not feel that shooting, burning or doing anything like this does any good at all.

37

My sister passed away this evening

by smiddy3 in

it was only about two months ago she was diagnosed with lung cancer and she was a non smoker .. she was never a jw and she never held it against me that i was for 33 years.. we had a good relationship even though we lived in different states about 2000 miles apart,.. tears are rolling down my cheeks as i type this .

r.i.p.

sylvia .

VIII

Very sorry for your loss smiddy.

27

My story

by Leeny in

i came across this website when i was looking for some emotional/mental support lately as i was summoned by elders to explain someone’s report on me saying “i’m promoting homosexuality”.

i’m inactive, not attending meetings or associating with jw outside of my biological family for almost 2 years now.. yes i am gay (you can judge away) and yes it is in a direct contrast to the scriptures, no arguement about it.. i was brought up in a jw family.

my dad is a typical zealot, he literally talks or thinks about the bible 24/7.

VIII

Hi Lenny, welcome!

I, like many went through many of the things you've been experiencing. While I'm not gay and I know that add a whole level of complexity to your situation in the eyes of the JWs, I can say that 1) not meeting with the Elders is the safer choice and 2) moving out ASAP is the best.

I was baptized when I was 12 and only did it to make my Mom happy. Oh, and 1975 and Armageddon were right around the corner so I needed to survive the Great Tribulation and all. I guess that tribulation was smaller than anticipated, huh? 😂

i faded in college and they never pursued me in spite of having DFd everyone else in my immediate family. My Mom got reinstated and still talks to me so we just let sleeping dogs lie. She encourages me to return and I use vague language to avoid telling her it's a crock of poop.

Again, welcome and don't let them bully or guilt you into going back, freedom from the cult is awesome!

14

Someone had been attempting to destroy Kingdom Halls in Thurston county washington state.

by Crazyguy in

and has finally succeeded in burning one to the ground.

.

VIII

This was just on GMA and the local Sheriff is calling it a Hate Crime.

My Mom has already left me a voice mail asking if I saw the news...this is going to lead to her telling me the Persecution has started, I need to return, Satan has really upped his game and they will have to go underground. 😱

i hope they catch the idiot, jerk who is targeting the dubs and I really hope it's not an EX.

8

My bucket list letter to my sons, 41 years after leaving WT

by FatFreek 2005 in

several months ago i finally sent them a letter.

they are from the group of die-hards that continue to shun their father.

the following is a paste of part of the first page.

VIII

I have to agree with Good JW.

I loved all of your reasoning behind the 1975 fiasco. I was a little older than your sons and understand all that happened. My parents also broke up about the same time for similar reasons. It took years to get to know my father and as we were just getting to a better place he dropped dead of a heart attack. Try again. Send them a heartfelt letter telling them about you, why you love them, about your love for them and why you need to see them. They need to get some sense of who you are now.