well here i am in the uk cold and windy but happy to see 'home' for a few weeks.. bought me and ipad to keep in touch.. was greeted by my family like i had never left all active witnesses and all aware i no longer believe, they have the blood thicker than water attitude.. my oldest sister tells me that the elders were 'asking about you' and that she accidentally said i would be visiting.. keep in mind that i left 17 years ago and they are still waiting to see how they can de-humiliate themselves for what they did and i guess they will never give up.
i sat there thinking, shepered the flock?
what is it about elders and getting even and revenge?
Too bad there isn't a such thing as "Double Jeopardy" in the JW's.
Sorry you're still having to deal with this BS. Personally, I wouldn't have even taken the call. I've refused to speak with or meet with elders when they've either come calling or called on the phone or gave a family member a message asking me to call them or meet with them. They don't own us. We owe them nothing.
I LOVE your strategy, though! You will be available on the 20th... You'll just be available back in the states LMAO.
alright.....i've had some alcohol.....and i'm not drunk..but slightly buzzed... and i've caved into my guilty secret... i hate to say it.....i really do, adn most of you wont understand this....but.......i just want to say......cradle of filth is a great awesome band.
it's like scream-o, death, gothic metalness that pieces and connects so much for me.
i havn't heard them since 2006, but.....man....it's my guilty secret...... .
As long as we're talking about gothic/metal bands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sMALbhJU6M&ob=av2e
One of my favorites...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFwYJYl5GUQ&ob=av2e
Voices, I've never heard of that band, but I like their sound. I'll have to listen to some more of their stuff!
yes a brother was interrigated by the s.s elders in a local ethnic cong.
for getting arrested while driving under the influence of alcohol....to save his privleges he says that he had no alcohol at all, but did drink from an old bottle of coke which must have "fermented" into alcohol in his stomach...... maybe one of the best bullcrap stories i ever heard.....we need more honest elders like him in jehovahs "clean organisation..
OMG, BP! I need that!! LOL how convenient!
thinking about witnesses in the past, when the witness work was banned, they went underground, continuing to meet and deliver tracts under cover of night.. all this due to their reasoning that they will obey cesar's law only when it doesn't conflict with god's commandments, such as "preach to all people".
now we see the watchtower telling it's membership to respect "no trespassing" or "no solicitating" messages, as well as condo bylaws that prohibit door to door visits.. watching them bend more and more to comply with cesar's law to give up preaching so that they don't get fines.
they've become more concerned with protecting their legal interests and money stockpile that the witness work is now more of a token activity to keep people busy.. one thing i don't know is, have they lightened up on phone witnesses with the introduction of the national do not call list?.
My apartment complex is also a "No Soliciting" environment. We have a security company that makes the rounds in the parking lot several times a day. The closest we've gotten is a neighbor from the complex across the way came and gave a few of us a schedule for her church. No pushing and trying to get us to take literature or anything. Just "Hey this is our church, you're welcome to join us, have a nice day". Other than that, it's only local restaurants leaving delivery menus lol.
I remember when they first instituted the "proceed at your own risk" policy regarding Private Property and No Trespassing signs. A few older brothers I knew would still go... One sister forced me to go to a door with her where signs were clearly posted all along the driveway (it was a long driveway, winding through about an acre of woods...the signs were posted every other tree practically...). I kept telling her we shouldn't be going there, they clearly didn't want to be bothered. She pooh-pooh'ed my concern. "They don't mean US, they mean salesmen and stuff like that...". We got hollered at, threatened, and told to leave and never come back. On one particular morning, another sister ended up placing a book with the homeowner (I really hate the word "householder"...), but when we tried to come back, her husband ran us off and told us they "don't want that shit".
I think JW's today are more concerned about the number of hours they put in (and where they can cheat and get more to make their time slip look better) than actually talking to people and discussing the bible.
Think about it:
They are trained with short, canned presentations. They are not so much trained with "conversation stoppers" anymore. I haven't seen much focus on that in a long time. They carry the Reasoning book, but rarely crack it open...when they do, they pretty much just read off what's on the printed page. There is no brain work there. But, if there is objection, they will usually say "Have a nice day" and leave without asking why. Years ago, I remember my own mother speaking to people and asking what was the reason for their objection and then trying to use that tactic to further speak with them. I haven't seen that happen in a long time. A person who wants a REAL discussion of the bible and what it actually says is like the boogeyman to a JW. A good number of them knock and hope no one is at home, much less someone who may "think" they know the bible. When that happens, the JW goes into "we're not here to argue" mode. Or worse, they treat the homeowner as if they are an apostate and run away. There are a number of YouTube videos where this is the case. The homeowner was never a JW, just happens to know a lot about their beliefs...yet they are still called an apostate when they bring up different points about the JW religion. JW's are afraid to talk to people nowadays because if it involves anything more than handing them a Watchtower or studying with someone malleable from the Bible Teach book, they can't handle it. It's why they present Watchtower publications and use only one or two scriptures to show that they read the bible. They don't want to DISCUSS the bible. They want to discuss Watchtower doctrines. When someone isn't open to discussing that, but WILL discuss the bible, the JW's find themselves lost in most cases.
Russell would roll over in his grave...
yes a brother was interrigated by the s.s elders in a local ethnic cong.
for getting arrested while driving under the influence of alcohol....to save his privleges he says that he had no alcohol at all, but did drink from an old bottle of coke which must have "fermented" into alcohol in his stomach...... maybe one of the best bullcrap stories i ever heard.....we need more honest elders like him in jehovahs "clean organisation..
I don't know about fermented, but apparently he was definitely pickled enough to get some attention...
Pickle Me Elmo...
had to work tonight so me and other staff went outside to watch the distant fireworks....a sister shot passed me at 11:55 pm she said she was going home early to avoid the "happy new year greetings.
" i waited till she left and the yelled happy new year guys!
but, no booze, no music...at least i'll be paid well.. so happy new year guys!!!!!!!
Happy New Year 007! It's still Saturday 12/31 here. BF is working tonight, so he can relate to how you feel...but as you said, at least the pay is good! He worked Christmas, too... Which is good because we have some things coming up that the money will definitely be needed for (moving into a bigger apartment and such).
a few comments from muddy waters and mummatron on another thread peaked my curiosity and led me to revisit some of the illustrations in the my book of bible stories.
i don't appear to have my old copy from when i was a child (thankfully), so i checked out the images over on watchtower.org where the entire book can be read online.
the images below are taken from what is displayed on that website, although it wouldn't surprise me if there are equally awful images that haven't been used.. so which of the images below are the most grotesque and inappropriate for children?
@ Black Sheep: LMAO I meant through the actual ear CANAL, not the LOBE lol
a few comments from muddy waters and mummatron on another thread peaked my curiosity and led me to revisit some of the illustrations in the my book of bible stories.
i don't appear to have my old copy from when i was a child (thankfully), so i checked out the images over on watchtower.org where the entire book can be read online.
the images below are taken from what is displayed on that website, although it wouldn't surprise me if there are equally awful images that haven't been used.. so which of the images below are the most grotesque and inappropriate for children?
Oh yeah, the tent spike through the ear! That one gave me the creeps...
I'd say the ones that I hated the most were the ones that were bloody...not the threat of violence, but the result of it. The stabbing in Enoch's day, the knock on the noggin for Abel...
Jesus on the upright-pole-that-makes-us-different-from-other-religions... Which leads me to ask...would you rather be burned at the stake, or beheaded? Me? I've always preferred a hot steak to a cold chop...*nyuk nyuk*
http://www.facebook.com/pages/jehovahs-witnesses-news-library-history-videos-talks-illustrations/252294947042.
this is so funny, but typical of jws.
you can't ask a question of them without getting attacked.
Yeah the ridiculous questions about the Royal Wedding...
"Is there a difference between "attending a church wedding" and viewing the Royal Wedding on HDTV?" I don't know why a high definition TV would make a big friggin' difference, but okay...
On a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best) how would you rate Kate's dress? Ummm...if we're not supposed to watch the Royal Wedding, why would we give a shit?
I did, however, make a comment about the continuing rise in Memorial Partakers...
the directv guy came by today to install our new dvr.
a pretty simple install as i already installed the telephone line, and the amp/switch box is about 5 feet below where the extra line needs to run.. .
so all the installer needs to do is give us the new dvr receiver, run one coax line, plug it all in and leave.. .
I thought this was a cut and paste right from the start...I didn't think he himself actually had the experience. I thought he just forgot to include the link...The last sentence gave it away for me...The entire post was spelled correctly, with the exception of that one line. Plus the thread title seemed like a headline.
ANYWAY, I know of plenty of JW's who used their jobs or classes as an avenue to preach. Thankfully, they were spoken to about this behavior, but they were still able to use them covertly as recruitment avenues... A quick "Well, I have something for you to read in my car...*wink wink nudge nudge*". My mother was one of these. Embarrassed the crap out of me wherever we went. If we were out at a restaurant, she'd leave something with the waitress. If we were out in a group setting with my then-worldly dad, she'd "strike up a conversation" and bring it around to religion or the bible with people I was friends with and completely embarrass me. She'd embarrass my dad, too...He forbade her from bringing literature when we went out. We worked together twice in my life and she made our workplaces hostile by bothering people with religion...people turned on her and then on me, even though I didn't say a peep about it. I was guilty by association. It got to the point after she quit both jobs that I would just go along to get along...sort-of participating in holidays and whatnot just so I wouldn't be associated with her Watchtower-wagging (can't really call it bible-thumping, now can we?).
I was in class with a JW that was in my congregation and OMG was she annoying! When I was alone with some of my fellow classmates (who became workmates after), they would talk about her and how "self-righteous" she seemed. Some of the men would swear, tell off-color jokes, etc and she'd eye them and say "You know, I really don't appreciate that kind of talk..." and proceed to launch into a lecture about how she was a JW and she didn't speak that way or give ear to those who do. They would just roll their eyes. When we were alone, they'd say "If she doesn't appreciate that kind of talk, she can fuckin' walk away..." I explained to them the reasons behind her attitude and they asked me how I knew LOL. I told them I'd known her since I was a kid and was raised in her religion and it's a bunch of bullshit. I proceeded to regale them with tales from here on the boards, as well as my own experience. Needless to say, they won't be listening to any JW crap thanks to me! She herself yanked me aside after class one day and begged me not to tell anyone I was a Witless (she had heard me swearing lol. I guess being so upset at myself for screwing up and shouting "SHIT!" was a bit tell-tale...). Apparently my language wasn't "befitting of someone who claims to represent Jehoober". Yet you wouldn't hear her say "boo" to a Ministerial Servant who called another brother an ASSHOLE right in the hall!
These people are vultures, plain and simple. They find a way to get in, then they circle until they can find a good spot to land and peck away at you.
