Mattieu

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Posts by Mattieu

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  73

  Do you hate America because it's where wts was born?

  by rebel8 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wonder if some of the palpable anti-american anger is because it's where wts was born.. i'm not interested in political views.

  heard ya loud and clear, over and over.

  i'm also not interested in posts about how stupid americans/their culture is and how smart the rest of the world is.

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  Mattieu

  Hi rebel8, I know exactly what you meant by your question and no I do not hate America (cannot wait to get there, have met many American JW’s and cannot wait to do the whole route 66 thing).

  There was a time here (in Oz) when jw’s were just put in the same basket as many other American evangelist religions. I will never forget a newly baptised sister back in 1985 asking the field service group why all the letters to the editor in the W/T were from America? I piped up that we are an American religion, I said that quite innocently and naively as that is where we had our beginning and our printing operations were based.

  Boy, did I cop it out the back room the next Tuesday night from the heavies! If only I knew what I know now…. But I’m sure those bully elders got their jollies by verbally harassing a 16year old pioneer whose whole life didn’t extend beyond the society…

  So, no we do not hate America or Americans, though sometimes something will happen and we will just shake our head and say “only in America!” (insert all things JW here)
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  21

  Did You're Being A Witness Influence You Regarding Marriage or Being Single?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did you get married or stay single because you were a jehovah's witness?.

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  Mattieu

  JWs HAVE to marry at an earlier age or risk sinning.

  Minimus, I would agree. It was overly strict in my congo growing up as a teenager, I could not even talk to a sister at the k/hall without Elders wanting to know what the conversation was about and copping a lecture of being "passed the bloom of youth"! I met my future wife who also pioneering, before the elders "approved us" as being able to get to know one another better, we had to make a commitment that we were getting to know one another better with a view to marriage.

  This put undue pressure on us and yes though we got married and are still happily married, we both look back and know we would do things differently and never be but under that ridiculous pressure nor put up with these so called mature men and their unscriptural personal views.

  Side point - out of that whole body of elders who strictly enforced the w/t laws and their own Pharisaic views, not one of them is still serving, they are all still dubs but not elders as they couldn’t even meet their own standards….

  Sorry for ranting, that whole period of my life still gets me annoyed (not at my gorgeous wife, but at the whole society/elder actions of the late 80’s early 90’s), Mattieu.
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  76

  My Father has just past away

  by caliber in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yes my father has passed on sunday.... all my family brothers, sister, in-laws are jws .

  it is occasions like this that.

  make me see why i and countless others are just faders .. not taking that bold step of disassociation .

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  Mattieu

  Sorry for you loss, thinking of you & your family.
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  26

  JW Board Game?

  by veen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i seem to remember a board game in my youth that was in some way endorsed by the jw powers that be.

  there were shekel's involved etc.

  any idea's what this was?.

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  Mattieu

  Here in Australia, there was a BORED game made by a well known JW family called “The Race for Life” us kids were forced to play it back in the early 80’s. My Mum still has her game. Nothing worse than young ones getting together on a Sat night to “prepare” the w/t then have fun playing the race for life.

  And yes, the family who made this game did very well out of it $$$$
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  18

  Marilyn Chambers dead

  by John Doe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  before my time, but some of you older gents may remember her:.

  .

  http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-marilyn-chambers,0,2934276.story.

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  Mattieu

  No, never knew of her, though I wish we had some one selling soap powder like her down under…..

  If you look at picture #9 on the LA Times website, check out the cameraman in the background, full porn mo and giving her the big up n down look! Reminds me of an elder I know in neighbouring cong…
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  23

  Worldly Mannerisms That Dubs Avoids

  by Yizuman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know some mannerisms to avoid such as when someone sneezes, dubs don't say, "bless you" or "god bless you" for sacrilious reasons.. so the question is, what worldly mannerisms do dubs avoid?.

  yiz.

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  Mattieu

  Cheers!

  I have been rebellious for the last several years by always saying cheers, whenever I have a glass of wine. My wife and I even clink glasses when we say it. We would get a few occasional comments from some j-dubs, though I would always ask them where in the bible does it say not to say cheers or clink glasses? Even the W/T reasoning on it is ludicrous…

  Cheers, Mattieu. (and no I am not drinking right now, only 3:40pm in sunny Melbourne and still at work, though in another 4 hours………cheers!)
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  15

  Another Newbie...

  by CrazyBlonde in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking for a while, just joined.

  nice to see there are so many others out there who feel/felt how i feel.... long story short - i was born into it, started having doubts about age 6, but what can you do when you have over controlling parents whose only goal is to make you a pioneer and ship you off to bethel so you can be like your goody-two-shoe brothers.

  suffered through my school years being bullied with no friends - parents made sure that i was very different from other kids inc how i dressed and even what i ate to the point where i was apparently known as the ugly hippie.

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  Mattieu

  Hi CrazyBlonde, nice to read you story and welcome, still a newbie myself (born in too and at age of 40 finally feel free). Cheers, Mattieu
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  77

  May 15th WT- " Wife's Dedication to Jehovah more Important than Marriage "

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wanted to make just a thread for this statement of mind control as it was very blatant .

  in the may 15th witness only wt under the article "husbands, imitate christ's love !

  " it states, " if you are a christian husband, remember that your wife is also your christian sister.

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  Mattieu

  Does that principle apply to christian wives baptised before 1985 when they changed the dedication vows? In regards to servicing other elders wives, that assignment would definitely beat the heck out of being the territory servant!

  Mattieu….
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  53

  Did anyone in your congregation have "perfume allergies"?

  by BonaFide in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  over the years, in the congregations i have been in, there have been 4 different people with "perfume or cologne allergies.

  anyway, they would always sit in the library, and at the bookstudy some years ago one sister would sit outside and comment through the window!

  another sister would sometimes wear a white "surgical" mask in the hall.. the congregation i am attending now has a sister like that.

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  Mattieu

  BF, there is a bro in our hall who has allergies, he took up the entire 2 nd school room at the memorial, only those not wearing perfumes/colognes were allowed in there. What’s funny is that he catches a train to work every day with another JW who along with most of the other passengers are wearing perfumes, yet this has no effect on him at all. This “allergy” applies to only spiritual scents.

  The wife of our former C/O has many genuine allergies & dietary needs and an announcement would be made to the congo the week before the visit reminding us not to wear perfumes/after shaves for the week of the visit! She used to laugh about it with us and no one really minded as she was such a genuinely nice sister. Though I always used to wonder should we have warned all the householders she was going to meet during the week not to wear any colognes when they open the door for her…..

  Mattieu.

  PS - I have allergies too, so not knocking those of us with them…..
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  10

  Wierd story! I was Harrased by Witnesses before attending the Memorial!!

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  afew days before the memorial the phone calls started.....i even had a long message left on my answering machine while me and my wife were "busy" in the bedroom.....it was very distracting.

  i could hear "memorial blah blah if you want to go blah blah or call this number sister blah blah she went on for five minutes!...the next afternoon because i shift work i was having a snooze before the memorial and knock knock knock......i get up blurred eyes and all and yes witnesses reminding me for the 100th time there is a memorial on..."sorry i'll let you go back to sleep.

  " at the memorial this same brother yells at me from his car in the dark carpark.

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  Mattieu

  Hi Witness 007,

  Our k/halls are not to far away from each other. In fact, I am certain from some of your earlier posts that our territory borders meet along the Yarra river somewhere!

  And yes, I got the insincere love bombing/missing you/great to see you with your family/hope to see you more often crap as well!

  Mattieu.