freddo

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Posts by freddo

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  45

  The story of my exit

  by mrsObfuscate in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i have been lurking here for about 6 months, and being the last day of the year, and ready to start the new one afresh, i want to share the story of our exit from the org.

  i have found the personal experiences of others of immeasurable value, (and its been a while since a good exit story has been posted) that i hope this can be of benefit to at least someone.. .

  my mother became a jehovahs witness when i was about 9 or 10. i remember initially hating all of the new sanctions put on our lives (no birthdays and christmas anymore) but for some reason i soon after joined her in attending the meetings and eventually got baptized at the age of 14. my staunch catholic father converted a couple of years later.

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  freddo

  Mrs. Obfuscate. Thank you.

  Please stay and post more. It is very encouraging.

  It is invaluable to have someone around here who wasn't personally affected by child abuse to feel so strongly about the ARC.
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  15

  Bill Cosby charged with sexual assault

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  news just released in the uk on the bbc news website.

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  freddo

  News just released in the UK on the BBC news website.
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  28

  Predictions for 2016

  by LevelThePlayingField in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, it's that time of year again.

  here's a few of my predictions.

  ) no armageddon.

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  freddo

  Worldwide

  1) As mentioned - no more WT Library on CD/DVD.

  2) Peak to Peak publishers will drop - if reported honestly.

  3) Child Abuse matters will take a bigger toll.

  4) Trolley Carts will prove just as fruitless.

  5) JWTV will make more people wake up.

  6) Re-assigned Bethelites will be more wary about taking on privileges.

  7) More Hall sales and money grabbing.

  8) Aux Pioneering at 30 hours - open all year round starting in March

  U.K.

  All the above will apply especially no 2 "peak to peak" drop which happened this year and no 3 with the charity commission investigation into jw handling of child abuse.

  The only ones coming in other than "born-ins" will be nutters, fruitcakes and weirdos.

  Baptisms will be low but may rebound a bit from the low "post 2014" year just reported.

  My circuit

  A kingdom Hall with just one congregation may be sold off. I don't think we will lose a congregation this year but it will be moved in with another hall.

  I hear that at least three reassigned bethelite couples will be assigned to congregations in our circuit as regular (i.e. no money, you're on your own) pioneers.

  More elders/MS resigning/removed.

  My Congregation

  I think an older elder and/or MS will die or be incapacitated - no one in particular, just that we've got two over 80 and three over 75.

  Can't see any "appointments" this year (maybe a young buck towards the end of the year but he could go either way) unless someone moves in. One "nice but dim" MS looks like he might even be asked to fall on his sword.

  Can't see any baptisms either.

  Even lower meeting attendance averages - reporting about 65 out of 90 at present.

  More apathy, judicials, boredom and slacking off.

  
  
  
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  44

  Governing Body Letter details things that "have never been done before." - Really?

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  [note: copy/pasted this with permission from reddit.].

  once each year, the governing body writes a direct letter to the congregation members included in the yearbook.

  in his annual message to the catholic faithful (urbi et orbi) delivered on christmas day, the pope spoke about world peace, terrorism, and the refugee crisis.

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  freddo

  And while removing their tattoos and obeying Leviticus 19 v 28 they completely ignored Leviticus 19 v 27. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to give their experience on the assembly platform ...
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  18

  A call for JW lurkers to set matters straight!!!!!

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  not all are jw's here, think about the time you could get.

  i know you are checking.

  don't be shy, no one will ever know.

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  freddo

  You're a lost cause rebelfighter!
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  33

  Creative day 7000 years, is this correct and how did the Org come up with this idea?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  any body know?

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  freddo

  I have in front of me the old "green bible" - this one revised in "1970 C.E." - on page 1461 there is the "table of the books of the bible". The columns show name of book/writer/place written/writing completed/time covered.

  In the "Time Covered (B.C.E.)" column for Genesis it says:-

  After 1:2: (meaning Ch1 v 2)

  46,026 - 1657

  I also have in front of me a deluxe 1984 revision.

  In the 1984 revision we have:

  "In the beginning" to 1657

  As the creative days become more embarrassing the awkward dates are dropped.

  I surmise that 46,026 is 6 creative days at 7000 = 42,000 plus the 4026 BCE date given for Adam's creation at the end of the sixth day. Add the final creative day (of god's rest) of 7000 years and we get to Blondie's 49,000 years, bringing us to the end of the 1000 year reign in 2975 C.E. (1975 CE being the start of it.)

  Oh how all this bollocks made sense to me as a teenager who liked to read. Can you imagine today's jw youngsters wading through this lot?
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  6

  Another pervert hidden by his congregation.

  by BelleStar in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  jehovah's witness strangled girls and was getting away with it for over 20 years.

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  freddo

  @Bluesbrother

  I feel your pain. Been there, worn the T-shirt. Still appalled.
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  12

  Witness wedding questions

  by snugglebunny in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just wondering about witness weddings and what is and isn't acceptable these days.

  i know that toasts are a no-no, but i'm wondering about other things, such as:.

  is it ok to have a best man?.

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  freddo

  A wedding in jw-land? It is a huge minefield with even more mines being laid as each decade goes by.
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  24

  Do our loved pets come back when we do?

  by Nichole in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have recently started studying and im really enjoying learning all about the truth!

  i am a huge animal lover and have my dog trixie for 11 years now, i got her when i was 12 years old and she has been the best friend and companion, i am so lucky and grateful to have her at my side every single day!

  i get worried a lot about what will happen when the time comes that she has to leave me, anytime i even think about it i start to cry because it would break my heart not to have her with me anymore!

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  freddo

  Hello Nichole!

  My first reaction to seeing you post was overwhelming sadness. You sound a lovely open honest - dare I say naive - young lady and you're asking the sort of question I asked around about the age of ten. With no happy answer.

  I hate to burst your bubble and I hope you don't run away but I'm afraid "the truth" is not all it's cracked up to be. I've been baptised over 35 years and have been a min serv, an elder and seen "behind the scenes" of the promises of paradise and millions now living will never die.

  I've seen families shun their loved ones because they have put the governing body in place of everyone and everything else including the bible and Jesus and their own consciences. I'm ashamed to say I even encouraged it myself before I "awoke". I've seen parents willing to let their child die for want of a blood transfusion. I even, as a teenager made a "similar stand" myself. I believed it all wholeheartedly.

  Please check everything out - it's not lies from Satan - the Australian Royal Commission investigating child abuse case study 29 - Jehovah's Witnesses. The Candace Conti child abuse case.

  Read "Crisis of Conscience" by Raymond Franz an ex-governing body member who dared use his bible trained conscience to question hypocrisy and inconsistency.

  Please find the 1969 May 22nd Awake where readers were told "young people" needed to face the fact that they would not have a career in this old system because the "end" would be here within a few years. Also the May 15th 1984 Watchtower about the generation that saw 1914 "would by no means pass away."

  Do not get embroiled in this sham of a religion. Just google the above.

  Run. However nice the smiles; however nice your partner's dad. They are deluded and wrong. If it seems to good to be true then it is.

  Please ask any question you like.
  
  
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  20

  Statistics - Spreadsheets - Opinion

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, spent a fair bit of time on the stats.. the 2010-2015 numbers are available here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0bwv5uvzb3-67axpzavk0m0nttfe&usp=sharing.

  also there are spreadsheets of: ratios, peak-pubs, and the best is a combo of ratios, peak pubs & average pubs.. you can play with these by "select all" and "sort" according to your preference.. if you would like any other combination, i would try to create it and post it for you.. of interest:.

  as has been noted, the biggest standout of 2015 is the increase of only 18k in peak pubs while having 260k baptized.

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  freddo

  In my micro-climate 40% of the congregation's do less than 5 hours per month immune to any "encouragement" or "guilt trips". I hear that about 10% of are persistently "irregular". About 10% of the publishers "listen in on the phone" and do about an hour or less - put in by the secretary.

  We have about five ex elders sat in the audience and I guess half of those are in the 5 hour/ low answering group. The older zealous "1975" generation elders are dying or limited by age.

  In the past three years we have had two older ones go inactive, one older one disassociate (apostasy) and five teenagers "not progress to baptism" and leave or become memorial attenders only. I only recall one teenager baptised.

  The "zealous pioneer ones" and the "important elders wives" spend a huge mount of time on a nearby city's trolley carts wasting their efforts. This leaves the 40% to do the door to door work which also produces zero.

  The only new people we see are weirdos who don't work or who don't wash and the occasional semi-apostate who turns up for a public talk every two months and disappears!

  Oh and loads of depression and meds among all age groups. Jehovah's happy people don'cha know!