Posts by cattails

71

Notes from my Judicial Committee (I was DF'ed at the end)

by notverylikely in

these are the details of my disfellowshipping.

the names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.

my errors are not hidden in an attempt to make me look better, this simply is a presentation of the facts that led up to the disfellowshipping and a re-telling of the contents of the meeting.. .

cattails

I just re-read my post and it does sound judgmental without having the whole story.

It brings up nightmares of growing up in a divided home feeling betrayed by someone you loved as a parent, then having a JW step-dad, and all the feelings that I just didn't know deal with as a kid. Also I might add I've been feeling really in the dumps about some things and Notvery's post just hit the right buttons to set me off.

If apologies are in order, please accept mine for not thinking things through before responding to your post. I immediately jumped to the conclusions brought up from my own experience, I shouldn't have done that and I apologize.

I still think that cheating on someone is just awful and leaves a big mess behind for family involved on both sides of the marriage and if kids are in the middle then even worse.

There's always got to be a better alternative, if I find it I guess I'd become a multi millionaire psychologist author, unfortunately I don't have the answer either.

Peace.

23

Kingdom Song Hangover

by Eiben Scrood in

jw
friends

aside from a song or two at the memorial the last few years, i haven't been exposed to any kingdom songs in a long time (5+ years) yet certain lyrics keep popping into my head quite frequently.. "there is joy in the service for all, it's the work jesus did you'll recall".

"soon there'll be great banqueting in which the meek will share, this good news of the kingdom let us preach".

"on many occasions god spoke long ago by means of his prophets on earth here below".

cattails

I really hate that they changed the wording and melodies of some songs.

It's would have been bearable if they came out with new songs that had fresh melodies, but to change old songs and music is just very disgusting and manipulative.

Then to be reminded to "practice" for the CO's visit and for the Assemblies, so we'll be prepared to sing "well". It DISGUSTS me!

That said, there's melodies that will pop in my mind and are hard to get of my head.

On funny thing happened years ago when I was a teenager.

A very young, little brother was in the row in front and the song that tells of Jesus actions and sacrifice then goes "For this Christ was exalted..."

The little guy liked to sing at the top of his voice, and was a good little reader and commenter at meetings, a little genius, but this time he sang with all his might...

"FOR THISSSS CHRIST WAS EXHAUUUSSSTED!" which made sense since Jesus was mention as doing all these things in the previous stanzas. Right?

And I just couldn't keep it together for the rest of the song, people all around were similng and smirking and trying their best to keep singing along as the little brother kept on singing his heart out.

It was precious.

21

The borg and eggshells...

by VampireDCLXV in

"do not hurry yourself in your spirit to become offended, for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones.

" ecclesiastes 7:9. have you noticed: .

how so many witlesses get their nose out of joint if you make a wisecrack/joke that's even the slightest bit off color or heretical?

cattails

How easy it is to simply offend and piss them off?

Yeah, good point and I think it's because most JWs have more in common with Pharisees than Christians. That's the fruitage of the JW religion, thanks to the Watchtower and it's many by-laws.

65

New elders' manual - a few more details

by sir82 in

jw
friends

per a recent boe letter:.

-- new manual will be softcover.

-- elders can keep their old elder manual if they choose.

cattails

Brazen = not afraid of a false prophet WTS and its Governing Body

Brazen = not cowering before some good-ol'-boy judicial committee made up of underqualified independent agents.

Brazen = speaking your mind about the nonsense that the WTS prints and the many doctrinal filp-flops they've made a crucial part of the JW religion dogma.

40

The fundamental flaw with the WTBTS as "God's Organization"?

by Essan in

there are countless issues that people have with the society and which together have led to many people realizing that it is not what it claims and pretends to be.

these include things like the secret un affiliation, contradictory and hypocritical stances, (malawi vs mexico vs un/ngo), the ever changing blood policy and ever changing doctrine, failed predictions for armageddon etc, etc, etc.. but what is the consensus about what the fundamental flaw is?.

what i mean is, many jw's hear about these various issues and manage to make endless excuses for them, even though this involves gross hypocrisy and excusing the society for things they would never excuse in other religions and which the society itself has ruthless condemned other religions for over almost 100 years.

cattails

I think people fall for all kinds of scams. People are gullible, I sure was.

Some people learn from being ripped off and abused that it isn't any fun and it's harmful to them to get scammed.

Some people who get scammed in turn scam others. The WTS is a pure and simple scam.

They claim to be "God's Channel on Earth" but it is the people who believe this scam that really give this WT Organization its power, its strength in turn to enslave other victims to their scam.

7

SALT documentary

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

i watched this documentary on pbs over the weekend, it's pretty awesome if you can watch.. purps.

synopsisin his search for somewhere i could point my camera into pure space, award-winning photographer murray fredericks began making annual solo camping trips to remote lake eyre and its salt flats in south australia.

these trips have yielded remarkable photos of a boundless, desolate yet beautiful environment where sky, water and land merge.

cattails

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

4

JW Retirement...

by sabastious in

...doesn't exist.. if you are so old or sick that you can't physically go out in the field ministry then they have the 15 minutes a month provision.. but what about people who have been doing it for 50 years?

what if they are just tired and want to retire?

just a though that popped into my brain while reading a post here.. "wicked" worldly organizations have retirement plans because they want to honor the members that gave them decades of service.... -sab.

cattails

One of the most disheartening things that's ever happened to me as a JW is having people "in the world" make comments about JW's in front of me of how disgraceful it is to force elderly and feeble people to go peddling tracts and magazines for the WTS, usually these people didn't know I was a JW too. It's happened to me several times in different situations, the "world" notices how we treat older ones and what they're made to do. It is a crying shame!

19

I Went to the KH on Saturday

by snowbird in

i needed to get a picture of my daughter all dressed up in her bridesmaid gown.. she looked lovely - tastefully made up and just radiant.. i stepped across the threshold and felt ... nothing.. i saw some people from back in the day who did not recognize me, or pretended they didn't.. that was just fine.. unless my daughter opts for a kh wedding, i'm done for good.. thanks to y'all for listening.. syl.

cattails

Any event at the KH is a propaganda opportunity for the WTS.

A wedding, a funeral, any of the meetings... all propaganda opportunities at the cost of lost precious moments in a person's life, like a marriage, or the sad and painful loss of a dear one, if the event happens at a Kingdom Hall, the WTS makes sure the event is hijacked for their purposes and profit. Shame on the WTS!

28

Interesting quote on leadership - what do you think re: the Governing Body?

by sir82 in

jw
friends

today i read a newspaper columnist who wrote something that caught my attention:.

"...obedience is a natural response to effective leadership, and this is true regardless of whether the people being led are adults or children.".

now, think about the gb.. virtually every wt "study edition" contains at least one, if not several, reminders about how we should "obey the gb".. dozens of the songs in the new song book extol how worthy of obedience & devotion the gb is.. each assembly & convention features dozens of reminders on how important it is to be obedient & submissive to the gb.. service meeting parts routinely offer "loving reminders" of how jws should obey the gb re: conventions, literature, donations, etc.. .

cattails

"...obedience is a natural response to effective leadership, and this is true regardless of whether the people being led are adults or children."

I think the quote is a stupid management tool. A "natural response"??? What in nature is natural about obedience and effective leadership? The winners in any war in history make write the history books, don't they? I don't think effective leadership is what made Hitler rise to power. I don't think either of our two Bush presidents were "effective leaders" but people obeyed, and look at the messes left behind.

No, the quote is just a bunch of words that sound good, nature is dirty, nature is organic, nature is "not knowing whether the best will win". You can assume you know nature but the truth is nature isn't bound by what we think, it has it's own laws and they're not ours to use in controlling nature. Human plans fail and there's no perfect leadership, the inefective leadership is exposed because "chance and unforeseen occurrences" befall us all.

71

Notes from my Judicial Committee (I was DF'ed at the end)

by notverylikely in

these are the details of my disfellowshipping.

the names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.

my errors are not hidden in an attempt to make me look better, this simply is a presentation of the facts that led up to the disfellowshipping and a re-telling of the contents of the meeting.. .

cattails

Notvery,

I did not like reading your post. I did not like what you did. I don't know you but you know you did a morally wrong thing.

And... disagreeing with the WTS isn't an excuse to cheat on your wife. I'm sorry for your situation, but you made your other bed and slept in it.

I feel awkward being judgmental, but I don't think the elders in the JC should have cried and hugged you, you did the nasty and deserved the kicking in the butt for it.

If someone reconnects with a Facebook friend who was an old flame and suddenly the WTS is a liar... well the WTS has always been a liar, and maybe working on a hobby car in the garage may have given one jollies enough to empty out the anger at the cult rather than victimize someone who shared vows of love and caring with. Hypothetically speaking even if this isn't your case I'm just trying to make a point. Please understand that I agree you have a right to make a mess out of your own life, but I think by doing what you did you made a mess of your wife's life too, and this may be real tough for her to forgive or forget.

You were victimized by the WTS and it's control over your life, and you took it out on your wife by making her the victim in your betrayal of her trust and the promise of sharing your lives with one another.

All right, I don't want to go on, I don't care if I get crucified for telling you what I just wrote, I think you agree that it wasn't pretty and I can't find any sympathy for what you did. If the elders hugged you after DF'ing you, shame on the hypocrites, they should have more respect and brotherly love for the wife you left.

I said my peace.

Cats.