i've posted here on and off for the past couple of years, but i've never revealed my reasons behind leaving the watchtower.. when i was younger, i was brought up in the faith (i don't call it the 'truth' anymore for reasons i will explain later).
my father had not long died (he was not a jw) my mother had been converted in 1984.. like many, as a young child i often found the meetings boring.
i used to dread them and in particular the conventions.
Hi James (can I call you slasher?),
Thanks for posting your story, looking forward to hearing more from you. I can certainly relate to the part of being "overlooked". Sadly its not the holy spirit that appoints, but rather its who brown noses the most or is "in" with the big boys.
I hope all works out with your daughter.
Cheers, Mattieu.
hi, i am flying into sydney on business this wednesday & thursday, anyone want to catch up for drinks on either of those nights?
.
mattieu..........
Hi BP - North or south? I will be doing the Newcastle to Port Maqaurie run next month if that is in your vicinity.
FSM - Brisvegas & Gold Coast coming up shortly!
Mattieu...
hey... how's everyone?.
i'm a new guy here... so a bit about me.. i was raised as a jw.
my parents started studying when i was a baby, so it's all i knew growing up.
Hi Joeblow,
Welcome & I am glad you joined the board. All the best for the journey ahead!
Mattieu..........
his reaction at the knowledge that he was mortal - was yours similar when you recognized that you would die?.
on some level it seems very difficult as a human being to accept one's mortality.
though we may acknowledge it verbally, we submerge our heads in the figurative sand when it comes to realistic acceptance.
Hi AK Jeff,
I enjoyed your comments on the subject, though I am a bit like Dissed, though reaching 40 and leaving the Borg was a real slap in the face in accepting the fact that I will grow old & die. It is a difficult subject, particularly as a “born in” who was never going to make it to school.
Mattieu....
hi, i am flying into sydney on business this wednesday & thursday, anyone want to catch up for drinks on either of those nights?
.
mattieu..........
Hi, I am flying into Sydney on business this Wednesday & Thursday, anyone want to catch up for drinks on either of those nights?
Mattieu.........
i've been lurking for quite a while but i finally gave in to my "apostate" heart and joined!
i'm so excited!.
Hi CoC,
Welcome, I can relate to so many aspects of your post, you will be suprised as to how many of us are/have struggled with the same feelings.
Mattieu....
karl adams from brooklyn bethel did it for 3 hours in the 80's.
i never went to the restroom, i never got up from my seat during his very long talk.
i did enjoy his talk back then.
Longest Talk - Viv Mouritz from the Australian Bethel, he has the concluding talk at every District Convention. He is a good speaker, though getting on in years now. He always departs from the talk outline and spends 15 minutes talking about how deep we are in the end of time, relates over exaggerated experiences that generate lots of oooh's and aah's from the audience. He spends the last 5 minutes of every talk using his Darth Vader voice to whip up urgency & guilt feelings that we are not doing enough for Jehovah.
We used to have a running bet on how many times he could illicit audience clapping, he used to average about 20-25 rounds of clapping every talk!
Longest Prayer - Br Franz at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds back in 1988 or 89 where he gave a “special” talk, I sat down halfway through his final prayer.
newbie, born-in, 30+ yrs, still trying to decide what i believe since all my options are now open...i can say i no longer feel the need to follow men.... i've lurked here for quite a while and enjoyed the ramblings of many, so since i'm now a member here are some of my ramblings.. it makes me sad that so many people will continue to do something just because they feel they have too much time and/or energy invested to stop and make a course correction, even if they see it's leading nowhere or to an undesirable end.
it also saddens me how some people are so preprogrammed to follow what others say that they feel extremely uncomfortable changing their views, deep seated or not, even when presented with uncontrovertable evidence that their views are at best unproven, and at worst simply not possible or even plausible.. but i also realize, that just like in the sci-fi fantasy world of the matrix, some sheeple just are not mentally prepared to leave their fantasy world.
it works for them, and who am i to tell them how they should live.
Hi SFM,
I enjoyed your 1st post, welcome.
Mattieu....
Hi Styler1fan,
Welcome and I look forward to hearing more from you.
Mattieu...
i remember the whole process of selecting a host city for australias last international convention.
the australian bethel played the nsw government against the victorian.
it was so similar to choosing an olympic city and the big boys from bethel knew how to play the game.
Some people I know who went to the last International in South Africa, were slightly peed off as their accommodation package included 3 nights accommodation with a local J-dub family during the actual convention dates.
They did the math and worked out that they actually were paying for these nights with the local families! Local families volunteered to open their homes, society charges visiting brothers & sisters for utilising this aspect of brotherly love.
Dozy & Sir82, I used to reason the same when I saw these “advertorials” on host cities in the WT & Awake, how on earth could that be “food at the proper time?”
It was about that time I openly compared the Awake magazine to the Readers Digest.
Mattieu....
