Coffehouse Girl, Hadit, leaving wt: Thanks so much for your kind responses. I'm feeling WAY BETTER today--that was just a momentary wave of bitterness that I have been able to shrug off. I can't tell you how much I appreciate hearing from people who are also of the Conscious Class!!! Have an awesome weekend!
Cadellin
JoinedPosts by Cadellin
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5
Even Mermaids Get the Blues
by Cadellin infeeling particularly down today--got an email sent to me showing a pic of a friend of mine (not close but we knew each other well when kids) w/her aging parents, standing proudly beside her 11 year old daughter who had just got baptized (3 generations--parents, nearing 80, my friend late 40's and her 11 year old daughter).
they're all beaming wildly, dressed up in their best dist assem.
clothes.
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Challenges Facing the Watchtower Org
by eric356 inive been thinking about the future of the watchtower organization and the challenges it faces in coming decades.
its difficult to address the issue without allowing personal feelings affect the analysis.
many people seem to think that the society will collapse fairly soon, based mostly on the fact that the person dislikes the leadership or cant understand how others can believe the doctrine.
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Cadellin
The WT fills a specific niche: high-commitment, high-control, high-social cohesion. Each member gives up a lot to be a member: time, freedom, worldly relationships. In return they are part of a special "select" group that is very tight knit. The high levels of commitment demanded increases social pressure to conform and keeps everything together. It also eliminates free-loaders who would want to be part of a social group but don't put much back in. Everybody reinforces the faith of everyone else. Those who doubt and may mislead others are segregated and removed.
That's the best description I've ever read of this religion. I think you've summed it up perfectly, especially w/respect to being "part of a special select group that is very tight knit." That's it--that's the controlling factor as to why people join and stay, or at least , a significant one. High commitment=high conformity. I think that's also why we probably won't see a JW-lite version, where birthdays, etc. are allowed. As has been mentioned, that dilutes the brand, leading to feelings of reduced commitment and less special-ness.
That said, I'm not sure where they'll go next because, as has already been noted, they'll have to do something in the years to come. I have a family member in Bethel who said that smaller English congs are merging all over the place, that "it's the trend now," and this was confirmed by another family member visiting friends in Canada. Yet its the English speakers, along with members in other developed nations, such as Japan and England, etc., that bankroll this business. And those are the countries where growth is flatlining-- the math isn't terribly hard. What's worse is that of those actually coming in and staying in, the majority are women who, organizationally, are useless (in WT land).
My prediction? Well, guess, really. I suspect we'll see a retrenchment, a hardening of the standards, a swerve to even more control and conservatism as a reaction to mounting losses. I'd point to the heightened rhetoric against higher ed and even partaking in such innocuous celebrations as "Friendship Day" at school, along with the recent clamping down on women who are translating sign w/o a headcovering and the 2009 DC mantra on "Imminent!" And it'll probably go on for some years. The growth in foreign languages here in the US and in Canada, and exploding growth in SA and Africa will keep the WT ball rolling for some time and they might have to rely more on electronic versions just to save money.
Eventually, after the ranks begin to seriously dwindle and still no big A--and I'm projecting 20 to 30 years--maybe the GB will resort to JW 2.0 I'm hoping by then I won't give a sh*t.
Cheers, folks, and Happy Friday
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phoebed story - part 2
by phoebed inokay guys, i have a little time on my hand ( a little).. as i was going through public school, the persecutions and ostracism remained.
it was a very difficult thing to be a jw kid in comunism.
parents could not "homeschool" like in us, which i am sure my mother would have done if she could.
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Cadellin
Phoebed--you get right back here, missy!! Don't leave us dangling...
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Friday Fun Post 11/12/10
by OnTheWayOut inpost something just for fun.
vids, photos, images, a quick joke.
it's friday, get your freak out.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqy7b4jpjmw&feature=fvw.
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Cadellin
This just makes me happy:
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"Before the Generation ... of 1914 Passes Away"
by doinmypart inthat quote must be embarrassing for the wts, so i figured i'd post it.
it appeared on the inside cover of every awake magazine until a few years ago.. a few weeks ago i attended the funeral of someone born in 1916, she was 94 years old.
i don't know anyone born before or on 1914.. governing body are you ashamed?
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Cadellin
What makes me furious is that they haven't changed their strategy at all--the 2009 DC was all about how Armaggedon is "imminent!" They said it over and over in virtually every talk--IMMINENT, IMMINENT, IMMINENT. I asked my husband "Okay, so what does Imminent mean?" It means, according to any good dictionary, "about to take place," or "immediate." So if a year goes by, does that mean they were lying? What about two years? Five years? At what point, I asked my elder husband, does "imminent" start to be a lie??? He gave me an aporian stare. (this is tangental but "aporia" is my new word. It means "speechless." )
Then, this year's DC--nothing. Zip. Not a word about "imminent."
I think the WT epitomizes the worst kind of jerk-off, sadistic rhetoric.
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Biblical Prophecies written BEFORE fulfillment
by brotherdan insatan and nvl recommended that i start this thread.
i'm not sure anyone will have interest.
but one of the things that proves to me that the bible is accurate is the prophecies that were written before the fullfillment, in detal.
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Cadellin
Leo, you're awesome! Thank you for sharing this information.
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Even Mermaids Get the Blues
by Cadellin infeeling particularly down today--got an email sent to me showing a pic of a friend of mine (not close but we knew each other well when kids) w/her aging parents, standing proudly beside her 11 year old daughter who had just got baptized (3 generations--parents, nearing 80, my friend late 40's and her 11 year old daughter).
they're all beaming wildly, dressed up in their best dist assem.
clothes.
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Cadellin
CHG--thanks for the cheering words. You are right--pitures can lie and I happen to know the hostility and cold-heartedness that this family has displayed to each other over the years. Still, I feel so bad for this sweet little girl who's only doing what she's been told every single day of her short life is the ONLY right thing to do.
Yes, I am glad to be of the "conscious class." Thank God for you and everyone on this site...
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What Are "Feel Good" Songs That You Like?
by minimus in"i love you more today than yesterday" by the one hit spiral staircase always makes me feel good when i hear it!.
what's a "feel good" song that makes you smile or brightens up your day?.
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Cadellin
Thank you, minimus, for this thread which is lifting the spirits of this blue mermaid...
Sheryl Crow, "Soak up the Sun"--great vid too!!! (Of course, I like the water parts the best!!)
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Even Mermaids Get the Blues
by Cadellin infeeling particularly down today--got an email sent to me showing a pic of a friend of mine (not close but we knew each other well when kids) w/her aging parents, standing proudly beside her 11 year old daughter who had just got baptized (3 generations--parents, nearing 80, my friend late 40's and her 11 year old daughter).
they're all beaming wildly, dressed up in their best dist assem.
clothes.
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Cadellin
Hi all:
Feeling particularly down today--got an email sent to me showing a pic of a friend of mine (not close but we knew each other well when kids) w/her aging parents, standing proudly beside her 11 year old daughter who had just got baptized (3 generations--parents, nearing 80, my friend late 40's and her 11 year old daughter). They're all beaming wildly, dressed up in their best Dist Assem. clothes. The little girl is in the center, with her scrubbed face, tidy hair and knee-length skirt. This pic brought a cloud of despair down on my head--I just kept thinking what's wrong with ME? I can see this religion for what it is, but here are decent, smart, rational people I've known my whole life--and they're still in it and now have pushed this poor little 11 year old into it too!
Honestly, folks, I know you all speak of people leaving left and right but when I look back on my fam and friends (I'm born-in, btw, as are virtually all the people of whom I speak) I see them and their kids all doing "the Truth" gangbusters, right across the board. Even some of the ones I knew as a teen who were partying wildly while I was plodding along dutifully in the ministry are now back and reg pioneering. I don't get, some days--I JUST DON'T GET IT!!! And then I feel like some kind of warped monster...
I will never be free of this religion. And sometimes I just want to die.
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My Gay Experience @ 25 Columbia Heights
by laverite ini haven't shared this experience on here before (at least i don't think i have).
as many of you have gathered from my avatar (and from my big fat mouth that won't shut up), i am gay.
i do have an interesting gay experience right outside of the worldwide borg headquarters of the watchtower corp from about 17 years ago.. i'd just started graduate school -- had just finished my first year.
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Cadellin
laverite, I find this totally believable. I've been with members of my extended family (all super-JWs) when they've used pejorative terms to refer to the queer community and thought to myself they have absolutely no awareness of how intolerant and bigoted they sound. I think younger people have more understanding of hate speech b/c of being in public school but some of the older ones--who still refer to grown women as "girls" and those of Mediterranean descent as "wops"--honestly have no idea how awful they sound or how offended anyone overhearing (who wasn't a JW--ha!) would be...