who i am is inconsequential.
it's safe to say, however, that i am between a rock and a hard place.
or perhaps...a watchtower and a hard place, more accurately.. i was raised a jw--mom got baptized same day i turned 4 (in 1986), alleged that 'satan got to' me because i wanted to do fun stuff on my birthday rather than go to the convention to see her get baptized.
Welcome, partner! I, too, am still maintaining something of a facade for the sake of family. It sucks. But at least you know your own mind and you know the "truth about the truth." You can do the slow fade, as I am, akin to pulling a bandaid off hair by hair.
This is a good place to be. You will learn lots.
his article was published by f18news on: 23 july 2009. russia: jehovah's witness lawyers deported for defending extremism cases?by geraldine fagan, forum 18 news service <http://www.forum18.org>.
four lawyers defending jehovah's witnesses have been deported since march, forum 18 news service has learned.
a leaflet by a traditional mari el pagan priest is among the latest additions to the federal list of extremist materials, meaning it is banned throughout russia.
I'm disconcerted by the level of support voiced here for Russia's chilling suppression of basic freedoms. No one--not Moonies, not Seventh Day Adventists, not JWs--should be subjected to this level of oppression. Russia persecutes JWs today, and tomorrow it will be Mormons or Buddhists or homosexuals or...hmm, Jews maybe? Anyone care to remember events from WWII Germany? Who are any of us to decide who should be entitled to fundamental human rights? Take it away from anyone--and you take it away from everyone.
There are legitimate ways to shed light on cults or other kinds of organizations that cause problems, but denying due process and resorting to physical abuse isn't among them. This report is nothing to be cheered.
hello all, i have been lurking, looking, reading, and digesting for around 2 years and it seems the time is right to post.
i recently had one of those moments at the kindom hall where i found myself looking around thinking "am i the only one who gets it, why doesn't anyone else have this puzzled look on their face?".
said during is second talk to the congregation "all of our food, our magazines, and all our wonderful books, and videos come from/through these 9 men".
Welcome, swa--looking forward to hearing your story!
Wow! I've never heard it expressed so plainly. Seems like the official take on the FDS is slowly but steadily shifting to being just the GB. Still, hearing a CO state it so forthrightly from the platform is fascinating.
any takers?.
.....and if so....did he give a talk at johnson city tennessee this year?.
This is a weird thread. Anyway, as far as the roll call, Kamloops, BC got Lett.
i believe i did in 1974, but i was just coming into the org and didn't realize the significance of the part he played.. it was a sunday at a stadium on the campus of the university of alabama in tuscaloosa.
all the "friends" were almost beside themselves with excitement, so looking back, it must have been f. w. franz!.
i'd worked until 6 pm that saturday night, had a one year old teething child, and had to arise at 3 am to get ready for the bus trip.. when we arrived, the weather had turned colder, the stadium was quite warm, and i fell asleep a few minutes into the talk.
I heard him in either Toronto or Montreal when I was a little girl. He had a very nasal, kind of high pitched voice and went way, way over, like 45 minutes or something. Either at the same ass'y or another one (I heard him more than once), he gave a concluding prayer that was, no kidding, around 15 minutes long. I was really little but I remember feeling sorry for people holding babies.
hobo ken and i were chatting about this yesterday.. the wts has past experience of losing vast numbers of members very quickly.
from their post-25 and post-75 experiences they will know how best to prepare their organisational structure to remain afloat when they experience another exodus.. we're only 5 years from the 100 year anniversary of ct russell walking into the dining room and announcing the gentile times had ended.
since then, millions of people have molded and adjusted their lives and personal expectations based on the date 1914. the wts must know that 2015 is going to bring with it one or two upset jws.... so, is the wts preparing for a mass exodus right now?.
Good comments all. What I noticed at the DC was that, while dates were shied away from, other than occasional mentions of 1914, the word "imminent" (regarding Arm's approach) was used repeatedly. It seems like they are trying to get people--or keep people--all a-foam with anticipation. "Soon," "very soon," etc. were used over and over. I remember looking around at the scribbling notetakers and thinking, "C'mon guys, don't you remember hearing these same words over the last few decades."
But that's the handy thing with such words. It can stay "imminent" indefinitely, especially if your critical thinking skills are on the blink. Like another poster said, many will continue to quietly pack up and leave while a hardcore sector will just keep hoping...
for the month of.
november: what does the bible really teach?
if householders already have the book, publishers may offer any 192-page book published prior to 1992. translation: "we have too many old books, help us get rid of them".
Question: What's the opposite of old inventory?
Answer: New light!
all things jw and xjw and even xxjw are beginning to bore me.
tonight, in an effort to stimulate my interest, i cruised back thru threads of the past month or so.
while i found a couple topics of mild interest, and a couple more in which i found it worth effort to make personal comment, i was mostly bored.. i have come to grips with my past religious history.
As addictions go, you could do worse.
i read an article about japans ageing population, about how some towns have lost a lot of their population since the 1960s,leaving a largely aging population..
Many European countries would be in exactly the same situation, were it not for their high numbers of immigrants. Ditto the US, though African Americans' higher birthrate is also a mitigating factor. Japan is an eerily homogenous place, with almost nil immigration allowed. They are cutting their own throats economically and culturally, unless they don't make some big changes real soon.
i am not criticizing those who have gone through depression or a traumatic experience.
nor am i criticizing those who were raised as a witness as i was.. but i am curious to know if any of you have seen a person from the territory, not a relative of a witness, no recent tragedies or emotional problems, not a young runaway, not a drug user, but an educated adult who began a study with jehovah's witnesses, and eventually got baptized.. when i was a missionary, i met a gilead couple who had been in their assignment for 19 years.
i asked them about that.
jwfacts, should that be "don't get baptised"? Yes, I've noticed a similar phenomenon. My mother will talk about a particular wonderful study, etc. and I'll ask, "Do they speak English?" and every time, the wonderful study is a recent immigrant who's just learning English. Educated, balanced English speakers? Not so much. About a month ago, I heard about someone like that from a friend who lives 600 miles away. That's it.
