well, well, that was quite a heartfelt welcome on this site four days ago.
thank you all for the encouraging replies.
one of them was this one from magnum: "hey now, don't just pop your head in and disappear.
@Toesup
And they have huge offices - like a suite really with a massive desk, sofa, big office chair. All overlooking (now) a prime New York area - and soon a luxury apartment over a remote controlled lake.
And power. Power with toadies and flunkies to do your bidding.
1st class flights around the world, staying in prime hotels, chauffeur driven and being butt-kissed by local branch heavies that want to stay in their relatively comfy and powerful positions.
so it's official, i am happy to report that we merged with another congregation having the same problem.
why is it good news???
because people are either waking up, fading or just not buying into this organization any longer or walking away.... i think many young ones are just not buying into it as much, i see many in the congregation i go to very depressed and some i know personally going thru major depression especially the young "sisters" in their early 20s.... .
Good news from the south Welsh borders of the U.K. here -
Sometimes they disband a cong. Sometimes they sell a hall and move a complete cong. into share with another.
Just heard that Abergavenny - south east Wales UK - has had its hall closed and they've had to bunk up (i.e. share k. hall) with Ebbw Vale 10 miles away. Lots of very unhappy bunnies there! This is fresh news to me although it may have happened in late 2015.
On the other hand also in 2015 late last year Cinderford on the Gloucestershire/south east Wales border has been disbanded and the publishers split up among nearby halls. (No KH sold in this case)
This means Lydney (now incorporating half of Cinderford) has the hall to itself. And Chepstow, ten miles down the road has a hall to itself as it lost it's sister congregation Caldicot who were moved to the Newport hall in 2014.
Chepstow is now rumoured to be on the hit-list and to be moved in to use Lydney's hall.
And of course it was reported on here that in September 2015, just over the Bristol Channel in England - Portishead and Clevedon lost their hall. Clevedon moved in its entirety to the Weston-super-Mare hall and shares with 3 other congregations. Portishead got disbanded among nearby congs.
Wonderous expansion is truly taking place!
If Britain branch reports an increase next year then I know they "lie like a carpet" in the publisher figures.
i have been lurking on the site for a few months and thought it about time i plucked up the courage to step out of the shadows and say hello.. i am in the process of fading after realizing all is not right with the organization i had trusted implicitly for over 40 years.
there have always been 'truths' i have struggled to accept entirely, even as a child, but was confident that trusting in jehovah, building my faith and remaining patient would be enough to settle any nagging doubts that remained, so i pushed any inconsistencies to the back of my mind and concentrated on being the best witness that i could be.. over the last few years, however, i have been preoccupied with a number of crises in my family and stepping back slightly from 'theocratic' activity has allowed me to re evaluate a number of concerns and research sources other than the sanitized wt publications.. my eyes are now wide open - i found things which have appalled me and left me feeling extremely let down and disappointed by people i had really trusted.. i tried gently raising a few subjects with my mum (who was baptized early '70s and still remains a staunch wt supporter) but she will hear no criticism of the organization.
i understand this because the best part of her life has been invested in the religion and to acknowledge it may have got things wrong would be to recognize the last 40 years have been a vain waste.
@Hi contra ... and welcome.
Keep on keeping it positive, light and fluffy.
A little story. A few months ago I just decided I didn't want to go to the meeting so I just said to my wife "Bit of a sore throat I'll have one off."
Wife: "You going to listen on the phonelink?" (She knows I never do.)
Freddo: (Laughing) "No, I'm gonna watch the telly (TV) and sit by the fire."
Wife goes to meeting.
Next day is a lovely autumn day and I decide to get up early and get some work done in the garden. I'm just getting some work gear out of my car and up drives our Service Overseer from doing early morning trolley work with a young MS sat alongside.
S.O. winds down the window, grins at me and calls out "you don't look very unwell to me" (meaning I hadn't been at the meeting).
Freddo: "Why did you think I was unwell?"
S.O. "XXXX (my wife) said you weren't feeling too good."
Freddo: (Looking puzzled) "No ... I just wanted one off so I watched the telly, had a whisky and went to bed about ten o'clock so I could start work on the garden early as it's such a glorious day."
S.O. and MS (Fixed grins and not knowing what to say.)
Freddo: "Anyway, I'd better get to it - my jobs won't do themselves! Have a good one. 'Bye."
Don't explain yourself. Ever.
waiting on higher resolution photos from wifibandit.. but here is the (redacted) notification from the company.
apparently they take photos with a potato.. (the billboard directs folks to http://jwawake.com ).
"were" was correct.
as a pre-awakened ms, i heard of 2 stories that i found very shocking at the time.
please keep in mind, i was following wt blindly at the time and was part of what i thought was the true religion.
the first shocking story was when i attended a large meeting for elders and ministerial servants covering our circuit.
Michael Porter - Zealous Pioneer and Min. Servant then London Bethelite and Service Overseer in London, Mill Hill congregation - also notorious JW paedophile - in the UK.
Knew him. Knew most of his victims.
is it just me or does it seem like a large portion of first born children leave the "truth" or find ttatt?
its weird for me, but of all the other people out i know (only about 20 ish) they are all first borns, and usually the wife is as well.
just looking at this from a different lens and curious if others see the same.
Just having had a little think about this about a couple of dozen that come to mind.
No. I think it is evenly split.
just want to take a moment and mention how exceptional the moderator is here @simon.
been on many many forums and you'll be pressed to find a more fair person.
he creates a safe environment where the chicanery is a minimum.
Hadriel wins the "I brung the shiny-est apple for da teecher!" award.
j/k Hadriel - Simon does a very good job indeed.
they could try this:.
.
hey ya'll!
i have been lurking for years on this site and others but never had the courage to post anything.
actually i was afraid of posting on an apostate site in the event i was wrong.
Hello Stepford wife,
Best of luck to you. You've got loads of good advice to plough through.
How old is your daughter?
>>the bible reveals that jehovah issaddened when people pursue a wick-ed course and ‘the inclination of theirthoughts is only bad all the time.’ (readgenesis 6:5, 6.
) from this we can per-ceive that sexual fantasizing is wrongbecause it can lead to serious sin that isforbidden in the scriptures and is out ofharmony with jehovah’s way of think-ing.the disciple james wrote: “the wis-dom from above is first of all pure, thenpeaceable, reasonable, ready to obey,full of mercy and good fruits, impar-tial, not hypocritical.” (jas.
3:17) beingaware of this, we should be moved toreject entertainment that fuels impurethoughts and inclinations.
Remember a few years ago they started banging on (fnaaar, fnaaar) about porn and what kind of porn was "judicial" and what type wasn't but needed counsel?
So now MS/Elder brother "guilty conscience" comes (fnaar, fnaar) forward and confesses to wanking to porn. (Of course for every one that does another ten wank to porn and keep it between them and Jee-ho-vah)
Whole body now "need to know" he has a problem. What he's been wanking to? And how often? Let's assign two brothers to find out more. Even if it's low grade he may well get removed; if it's deemed judicial he'll will definitely get removed and even worse if it's kiddie porn they'll be on the blower to bethel to find out if they need to report him to the authorities. (which of course they should.)
So more and more peoples porn habits get known to the body of elders. They all realise that they aren't the only ones with "this problem" and they spend too much time thinking about it.
And if you think about it ....
The grapevine tells me that in my own hall at least one MS and one Elder have been deleted (at least in part) for this since the letter came out.
