Posts by freddo

22

What Do You Do if the Household Does Not Celebrate?

by BluesBrother in

jw
friends

it is christmas morning ....the weather outside looks cold grey and dismal (typical britain in winter ) the house is quiet as my wife gets on with something.

.... the street is silent, as dead as the grave.

the tv is full of the purile nonsense that fills airtime this time of year .

i am 12 years old and im confused because my mam is leaving the truth after 12 years and i want to celebrate xmas but she still doesnt believe that should do it coz even though shes realised society has lied about things she still believes in god.

im unsure whether i believe in god or not but i havent really looked into it much ..

freddo

Your mum will be up and down a bit - or a lot - depending how stable and balanced she is. You are now starting to be able to make some of your own choices. Have you got a good network of "sensible" friends at school who won't do dumb things? Any sensible adult relatives?

All youngsters (and most adults) do some dumb things - the trick is to avoid the really dumb things!

Welcome.

6

The Exponential Growth In Technology Spell A Rapid End For Bronze Age Diety Cults Like The Watchtower

by Brokeback Watchtower in

as information floods the airwaves and available at one's finger tips in privacy.

thanks to incognito browsers one can do a search and keep it from family members with ease.

pretty soon one should be able to go to any kingdom hall and see very few youths only long time older ones.

freddo

Yup. The oldies are dying off. In my hall we lost 3 over 70's last service year and 1 already in this service year. There's another I don't think will last more than a few months too.

In that time we've had one younger guy move in.

No-one has become a new publisher or got baptised in the last three years.

In fact I can think of two unbaptised publishers announced as "no longer" and one who has purposely faded.

All going slowly South in our hall.

52

What Made You Decide To Finally Leave The Organization?

by minimus in

jw
friends

was there one certain event or was it more a cumulative thing?.

freddo

Cumulative. 1995 generation change was a biggie but in my mind of course even (under the old rules) then this system might go on to 2000 or even 2014.

Stupidity upon stupidity was added to doctrine or "guidelines" and I resigned as an elder. Jborg sealed the deal for me with its electric church and pappy videos and cartoons. After a year or two I was pretty stagnant and in for family.

Overlapping Splane-generations was the final straw.

Now I am part way through a fade.

27

Encounter with a long time elder. (Jehovah's happy people)

by freddo in

jw
friends

so i'm at work and go to my vehicle parked outside the empty property i'm working at and an elderly man comes out of next door and we recognise each other from when we were elders in the same circuit.

he is early 80's in age, a jw since the 1960's and so the next generation in age up from me.. he's an outwardly jolly sort and asks how i am etc.

(knows i'm not an elder but thinks i'm pimi) and asks if i want a cup of tea so i go in and sit in his kitchen for my lunchbreak and have a chat.. i have a little fish around and ask about how jw's in his hall are.

freddo

now what? wrote: (bold added by me)

"The 1960's were very turbulent times. It sure looked like bible prophecy was being fulfilled. If the end was to come surely it would have by that time. And when it didn't happen in 1975 the conventional wisdom for most was ,so what if we have to wait a few more years we have the absolute promise that the 1914 generation would not pass away. Goes to show you can make the bible say whatever you want"

That, in a nutshell is EXACTLY why so many of us carried on (or are now hanging on). Brilliantly put ...

27

Encounter with a long time elder. (Jehovah's happy people)

by freddo in

jw
friends

so i'm at work and go to my vehicle parked outside the empty property i'm working at and an elderly man comes out of next door and we recognise each other from when we were elders in the same circuit.

he is early 80's in age, a jw since the 1960's and so the next generation in age up from me.. he's an outwardly jolly sort and asks how i am etc.

(knows i'm not an elder but thinks i'm pimi) and asks if i want a cup of tea so i go in and sit in his kitchen for my lunchbreak and have a chat.. i have a little fish around and ask about how jw's in his hall are.

freddo

I think you can hold both views and there is merit in both.

This chap - and many like him - came in as a young man of about 30 with young kids. He'd witnessed - like my parents - WW2/Cuban missile crisis/JFK shot/Nuclear arms race/civil unrest/Vietnam etc.

Some old gentlemanly geezer calls by and shows him its all prophesied (*King of the North = USSR/South = USA/UK - The Generation - 1975 etc.) and he can have a wonderful future for his kids.

No internet. Not much in the public libraries on JW's. Like so many others he fell for it hook line and sinker. But note his brother did too and yet he is now virtually inactive.

16

Find Local Friends

by BiggerRed in

jw
friends

i am located in kentucky.

i have faded out of the watchtower and i am just learning the truth about the truth.

i am trying to find new friends to talk to.

freddo

Nope - UK here!

Welcome anyway and talk away ... we can be your on line friends BiggerRed!

Tell us a bit about your situation.

27

Encounter with a long time elder. (Jehovah's happy people)

by freddo in

jw
friends

so i'm at work and go to my vehicle parked outside the empty property i'm working at and an elderly man comes out of next door and we recognise each other from when we were elders in the same circuit.

he is early 80's in age, a jw since the 1960's and so the next generation in age up from me.. he's an outwardly jolly sort and asks how i am etc.

(knows i'm not an elder but thinks i'm pimi) and asks if i want a cup of tea so i go in and sit in his kitchen for my lunchbreak and have a chat.. i have a little fish around and ask about how jw's in his hall are.

freddo

So I'm at work and go to my vehicle parked outside the empty property I'm working at and an elderly man comes out of next door and we recognise each other from when we were elders in the same circuit. He is early 80's in age, a JW since the 1960's and so the next generation in age up from me.

He's an outwardly jolly sort and asks how I am etc. (knows I'm not an elder but thinks I'm PIMI) and asks if I want a cup of tea so I go in and sit in his kitchen for my lunchbreak and have a chat.

I have a little fish around and ask about how JW's in his hall are. Here's the cut down version ...

Me: Whatever happened to Tim H? (MS aged 40 - son of P.O. as was - with young family that I knew had gone inactive a few years ago)

Him: Well they just stopped coming - they told the school they were no longer practicing jw's apparently. And his father-in-law's gone too. Almost seemed deliberate to me. (Sounds like a clever fade to Freddo!)

Me: Really? Did they Disassociate?

Him: No just went inactive. And Pete McK and his family have gone too?

Me: Don't recognise the name.

Him: Yes you do - bricklayer - moved away to XXX - celebrate Xmas the lot. New congregation elders not interested in catching up with them.

Me: Oh yes. How long ago did they stop coming?

Him: Two years. DON'T THEY KNOW ARMAGEDDON'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF US? The world's never been so bad!

Me: (Laughing) I dunno - when you were a kid you had to be evacuated from (CITY) because of the German bombing. My Aunt lost her job when her department store got flattened!

Him: That's true! You do make me smile Freddo!

Me: We've been saying the end is coming for a long time mind!

Him: (Laughs) Yes! And we'll carry on telling them eh? - (He reflects) Actually, my kids (early to mid 50's) weren't going to leave school!

Me: How they doing?

Him: He tells me how it's going - the son - walking stick heavily overweight - depressed not holding down a job. Daughter - Depressed - her husband not working has M.E.

Me: Wow! They're younger than me and not doing so well then?

Him: No! (Sadly) What we need is the new system to put it all right; that's what we're all hanging on for aren't we?

Me: Chin up - you and (wife) seem ok. How's your brother?

Him: Almost inactive, I can't understand it.

Me: (Cheerfully) Well thanks for the update on Jehovah's happy people! Keep smiling!

Him: (Smiling ruefully) You've got to Freddo ... otherwise you'd cry.

29

if pre 1975 you said "The system will still be here late 2017" what would be the J.W's reaction?

by karter in

jw
friends

one word for it.....apostate!

!.

freddo

I remember there was a character in our hall in the early 1970's who was one of these older brothers who was zealous in the ministry but never seemed to qualify as a MS or Elder. An outspoken type who didn't sit well with the cliques and P.O. and his cronies.

One reason I believe was that he said (in the early 70's) "don't serve to a date brothers and sisters - this generation could go on 70 or 80 years from 1914 so we may need to run the race like a marathon until 1984 or 1994."

We all thought he was bordering on apostasy or at least completely out of line with the (then) current thinking.

He is of course dead and gone - died in the late 1980's as part of the generation that did indeed pass away.

17

Visited My Grandfather

by Saethydd in

my grandfather is a longtime jw with advanced parkinson's.

on the advice of a good friend mine who is inactive but not "out" i went to visit him monday and we talked for awhile.

his health isn't well, but he was happy to see me.

freddo

Saethydd - good for you. Go and visit granddad and ignore the cunning shunts.

Stan - I hope you "tweaked your daughter's nose" over that self righteousness on her part.

But maybe you're more grown up than me!