Posts by Mattieu

26

Fiji Bethel Scandal

by Mattieu in

does anyone remember the scandal that rocked fiji in appx early 1992?

i have searched this site and found no reference to it.

so, hoping someone here might remember the finer details and whatever happened to the guilty culprits....... my best mate was in the australian bethel at the time, and on a trip back home to melbourne he caught up with me and told me most of the details.

Mattieu

Does anyone remember the scandal that rocked Fiji in appx early 1992? I have searched this site and found no reference to it. So, hoping someone here might remember the finer details and whatever happened to the guilty culprits......

My best mate was in the Australian bethel at the time, and on a trip back home to Melbourne he caught up with me and told me most of the details. From memory the entire Fijian branch comittee was removed and df'd. They were supposed to have been smudging the books and adding in phantom publishers to make the country report card look good. If someone could check the old year books or w/t's, I think you will find they went through a stage where they kept having record publisher peaks month after month. I remember those peaks being mentioned in the Australan k/m at the time.

At the time, (not sure if this system is still in place) third world countries like Fiji, were getting monetary grants on a per publisher basis, so by pushing up the publisher figures, more $$$ was coming into the Fijian branch. The comittee members then went out with the excess funds and bought each other brand new luxury cars and fine clothing for them and lovely lady wives.... Local brothers in Suva were "stumbled" by the excessive luxuries that was beiing shown and started to grumble. Things came undone on a zone visit and all got revealed.

The brother sent from Sydney to clean up the mess from a legal viewpoint was best mates with my mate (lots of mates i know) and spilled all over a drink when he returned to Australia. A special pioneer couple I know were sent from Melbourne to serve a c/o in Fiji, I caught up with them when I went to Fiji in 97 and when I asked him about it, he said they dont talk about it anymore. I did tour bethel in Suva and found all the bethelites to be really nice native Fijians, sincere, genuine and not having much material possesions (our tour guide was wearing a coke t-shirt and yes I have the photo!) so the buying of brand new cars would have gone down like Michael Jackson taking the emblems...

So if anyone knows more, do tell.

Mattieu.

41

How common is swinging among JWs?

by JimmyPage in

jw
friends

my wife and i recently heard about two couples we know who switched partners in the past.

we then got to talking about a different couple we ate dinner with a while back who i thought gave off the vibe of wanting to swing.

my wife said she got that vibe too... thus the question: how common is this in wt-land?.

Mattieu

Hopscotch,

Sounds like they were eating to much of Flo's scones! Which part of Oz are you in?

Mattieu............ in sunny Melbourne, nah, grey and raining today!

41

How common is swinging among JWs?

by JimmyPage in

jw
friends

my wife and i recently heard about two couples we know who switched partners in the past.

we then got to talking about a different couple we ate dinner with a while back who i thought gave off the vibe of wanting to swing.

my wife said she got that vibe too... thus the question: how common is this in wt-land?.

Mattieu

Penny2, funny but true!!! I was actually on the phone to my mate (sort of a fader) in Adelaide this morning. I know a few in/from Adelaide that I am sure you would know of too. Do you know of the scandals that rocked Kanagroo Island a number of years ago?

Mattieu

41

How common is swinging among JWs?

by JimmyPage in

jw
friends

my wife and i recently heard about two couples we know who switched partners in the past.

we then got to talking about a different couple we ate dinner with a while back who i thought gave off the vibe of wanting to swing.

my wife said she got that vibe too... thus the question: how common is this in wt-land?.

Mattieu

There have been quite a few documented cases of swinging down under.... and in Australia too!

I know 2 c/o's who got the chop due to personal shepherding calls on the circuit. Though it doesnt count as swinging as the c/o's wife wasnt playing the game. One of the c/o's had 7 women in 7 different congos and no I am not making that one up!!! He got caught out after giving a talk at a district convention in Melbourne back around 1991. He was giving the usual holier than thou talk including the danger of immorality. One of the sisters he was knocking on doors with (she lived in Albury NSW), felt so ashamed she went to the convention chairmans office and poured her heart out to one of the visiting bethel bros.

It all came to a head (no pun intended) and the c/o was df'd, left his wife and moved to Western Australia with one of the sisters he was sleeping with (from Kyabram Victoria). I should stop here but it gets juicier...... All of the sisters he was sleeping with were single sisters/single mums. The son of the sister the c/o ran away with was my mate, he was pioneering too and shattered as his mum was now df'd and his mum later married that c/o, so his mum and new step dad were both df'd.

To help the small congregation in Kyabram get over the controversy, bethel sent down from Sydney a young couple who were both pioneering and hubby was elder. My mate was an m/s and only pioneer in this country congo. Yep you guessed it, my mate and the wife of this pioneer elder soon started doing rv's in secluded country areas (she offered more than a shoulder to cry on!) Him - df'd, she - reproved and went back to Sydney with hubby in tow (he left her in the end).

The other c/o that I know of was a newly appointed c/o who loved himself way tooooo much..... (he was my boss at the assemblies) He left Melbourne with his wife bound for his first assignment in sunny Perth. Oh oh, dearie me, attending one of these congregations in his circuit was a married sister that he fooled around with some 25 years ago when they were both single. Whatever shall we do?? I know, lets take up from where we left of! Which they did, it only lasted a few weeks before she confessed and he was removed halfway through a visit. Shortest ever stint as a c/o in Australia (3 months).

Good times, good times......

6

Fun Stuff: Buzz Word Bingo - JW Style

by Heaven in

jw
friends

soooo... since i'm still on 'probation', i have a lotta time to kill in between my 24-hour sentences until i am once again, allowed to enter the inner sanctum.

so i've been busy... .

i'm gonna need some help with this but thought i'd show you my first rough draft... let me know what you think.

Mattieu

Heaven,

I yelled out BINGO! during the opening prayer, does that count???

Mattieu.

33

Tell us about the offbeat people you have had in your congregation

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

we had a brother once in my sisters' hall who would preach downtown with old watchtowers and awakes, i mean like 15 year old magazines, and he would sell them above cost.

even after the donation system went info effect, he would still sell them.

the elders tried to talk to him about it, but he could never really have a normal conversation.

Mattieu

During a Sunday w/t study article on "Masturbation" a single brother in his mid twenties put his hand up (in the air) and said how much this article has helped him overcum his addiction to masturbation!!!! Needless to say, no-one wanted to touch the microphone after he handed it back.... We went back to his apartment after the meeting with a CSI blue UV torch, man that guy wasnt joking when he said he was addickted!

We also had an rv come to the hall who suffered from epilepsy, he kept on having seizures on a Tuesday night at the hall and I mean every Tuesday night. It got to the point where all us attendents knew the paremedics on a first name basis. An elder asks this r/v why he is having seizures only a Tuesday night, the r/v said 'the demons tell me not to take my medication on a Tuesday"

I have lots more loony tune stories, though will be identified too easily if I keep going!

Stay sane, Mattieu.

7

Watching the Clock

by The Berean in

jw
friends

do jws frequently report more time devoted to their ministry than actually spent perhaps for image reasons or to keep other people happy?.

Mattieu

YES! It's all about keeping up appearances, I should know, I was guilty as charged officer.....

We have a mix of rural and suburban territory ( I say we, though I no longer go), during Auxillary pioneer months, car loads will go from a suburban r/v to a rural one maybe 40 minutes away, loiter around, have a coffee then return to another suburban r/v then even back to a rural one, just for the sake of "putting in a big day for Jehovah".

The last time I was an auxillary pioneer, I stopped going out halfway during the month and said to my wife how corrupt it is, I couldnt do it anymore as it wasn't heartfelt service.... Still put down the 50 hours on the report though....... From that time till I faded, I rarely put a report in even if I did go out. Putting in a report is such a wank.....

Mattieu.

118

I need proof for my wife that NW Translation is not correct

by Albert Einstein in

what scriptures would you reccomend, to prove nwt is not reliable?.

please help, i need a reason for my wife to start reading other translation.

i want to start chronological reading of nt with her, to show her wtbs is not a mediator for us.. thanks.

Mattieu

Hey, while all you scholars (written respectfully) are all on this thread, could you help me out with the NWT of the scripture where Jesus promised the criminal on his deathbed that he would be with him in paradise???

I too need proof for wifey that the NWT translation is incorrect on this one.

With much appreciation, Mattieu.

33

From 'Everlasting Life' to just a few more years. How did you handle the realisation that you WOULD die?

by nicolaou in

the thing is, a lot of us thought we'd never die.

do you comprehend what a truly massive mind-fuck that is?

when i was embroiled in doubts and knew i was heading 'out of the truth' i remember waves of nausea hitting me.

Mattieu

As a born in and growing up with the promise of living forever and that I would never finish school/get a job/become a man/get married/have children and so on.......... it has left me feeling flat and disillusioned too. I turned 40 earlier this year and now find myself in the 40-50 age bracket when filling out forms! How depressing (no offense to anyone in the 50+ age braket, really!!)

It's just that it wasn't supposed to go on this long, they promised! When I started my fade, wifey began saying I am going to die at the Big A (guilt trip thing), I said no, I am going to die in this system, like my children will and the next 10 generations will.

Now though, I amstarting to deal with reality, soometing they never taught me growing up (hmm, that may explain my sense of humour)

Mattieu.

11

Flashes of SH**TE !

by iknowall558 in

w t b & t s.. in my opinion this stands for we teach bull & talk shit.

anyone have any "favourites" from amongst the many flashes of light from the org.?

i've chosen this one........rev 14 : 20 this apparently referred to the publishing of the finished mystery book and foretold that the 1600 furlongs represented the distance from where it was written (scranton, pennsylvania), to where it was published (wt headquarters in brooklyn, ny)...provided you travelled by way of the lackawana railroad and hobo ken's ferry.

Mattieu

Truthsetsonefree, seriously, I am laughing so much at the moment really! I havent laughed that much since I watched Monty Python or Benny Hill!!!!

C'mon, "are you jerking my chain" (Jim carey - Cable Guy). OK, still laughing, deep breath as I want to get serious, no, still laughing, hang on, side pains, oh man.... can't type...

Riiiiiight, ok, no ok. Truthsetsonefree, dont take it personal that I am still laughing, oh god, oops, blasphemy. ok, just because i'm Australian doesn't mean I'm guliible!! Ok, juts re-read your post and started laughing again! Oh, I though I had heard it all.

Right TSOF - It's 12:16pm on a sunny/cloudy Saturday afternoon in Melbourne.I am heading home from work in about an hour and will check for myself once I dig out the book in the garage, it could be a little dusty. I probably can not log in at home (wifey does not know I look at this site let alone am a registered user now!)

But when I find it, I am sure you will hear me laughing all te way to NY.

Right, still big breaths, thanks so much for the laugh, just what I needed.

mattieu! (still smiling)