Leolaia -
Here is the original discussion on the first Shadow Elder article here on JWN...
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/182302/1/An-Elder-wrote-anomously
this was a very moving story just posted on another ex jw site please read it's good .
elder reveals his secretjanuary 28th, 2011. by shadow elder, jr.. a few weeks ago, my father and i were out working together in the door-to-door preaching work.
that morning only four of us showed up at the kingdom hall my dad and i, and a married brother and sister.
Leolaia -
Here is the original discussion on the first Shadow Elder article here on JWN...
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/182302/1/An-Elder-wrote-anomously
this was a very moving story just posted on another ex jw site please read it's good .
elder reveals his secretjanuary 28th, 2011. by shadow elder, jr.. a few weeks ago, my father and i were out working together in the door-to-door preaching work.
that morning only four of us showed up at the kingdom hall my dad and i, and a married brother and sister.
BTW - thanks HHGoat for bringing this article to the attention of JWN. I know that the young man who wrote it will be very happy to see that some of you really enjoyed it. Maybe he'll write more in the future as he finds his eventual path out of the Borg.
Balsam - thank you as well. Your comment validates what I think we've all known for some time. There are a lot of elders and R&F JWs who are in, not because they want to be, but they give up their freedom just to keep their families together and close to each other.
But we all know that's why the WT enforces the DF and DA shunning rules so heavily. They know that if they ever let up and really let Jehovah's Witnesses follow their own consciences in the matter of who they will associate with, probably 35 to 70% would head for the Kingdom Hall doors and never come back.
JV
this was a very moving story just posted on another ex jw site please read it's good .
elder reveals his secretjanuary 28th, 2011. by shadow elder, jr.. a few weeks ago, my father and i were out working together in the door-to-door preaching work.
that morning only four of us showed up at the kingdom hall my dad and i, and a married brother and sister.
Sir82 and bigmouth --
I can assure you that the article is legitimate. "Shadow Elder" emailed me and asked me if his son could submit an article for Ex-JW.com because he wanted to tell the story "about the day I got the nerve to tell him what I'd done. My son is not a kid - he will be 21 this year - and is very mature for his age. Of all of my sons, he has always been the most serious and dedicated about serving Jehovah. My other sons could care less one way or the other because they haven't been baptized, and I'm definitely not pushing them to make that commitment."
I agreed to read the young man's draft. It was actually much longer and more detailed, so I asked him to focus on just one or two incidents, which he did (the coffee shop and the library computer). His father helped him to do the rough edit on the story. But it was the young man's words and point of view entirely. As the editor, I also did some minor work on the grammar and punctuation, and replaced a couple of words - just the usual thing an editor does.
So I'm sorry if it doesn't pass your "smell test." Shadow Elder's article from 2009 was also ravaged by several JWN posters, but that is to be expected. That's what the members of this forum enjoy doing. Shadow managed to live with those critics and I'm sure his son will survive your comments and criticism as well. He even mentioned those comments in this story.
I thought the young man did an admirable job describing how his father built up the nerve that morning in the coffee shop. I think the father's warning about what would happen to the family if his son told anyone was well placed and applicable. Remember, Shadow is trying desperately to keep his family together - so I think that would be something a father would tell his 21 year old son - although I'm sure the young man had already figured that out.
Oh, and the "Gee" word? Yes, the WT considers that a curse word, but that doesn't mean it isn't used. Please note that he also used the word "freaking" as well in his version of the story. I think we can give him a pass on language. We are not the Governing Body.
In any case, thanks for your comments and interest in the story. I'm sure that Shadow is very proud of his son's writing talents.
JV
Editor @ Ex-JW.com
this was a very moving story just posted on another ex jw site please read it's good .
elder reveals his secretjanuary 28th, 2011. by shadow elder, jr.. a few weeks ago, my father and i were out working together in the door-to-door preaching work.
that morning only four of us showed up at the kingdom hall my dad and i, and a married brother and sister.
Anne Marie - PM me for the permissions.
a lot of talk has centered around information dispensed at the recent km schools.
many brothers feel there is a "tightening up" taking place.
i had a recent experience that you may find interesting.. after the meeting i was working with our cobe on some congregation tasks when out of nowhere he said, "have you looked up any extra information about higher education since the km school?
Mad Sweeney - did you get my PM?
i tried to find it, but it's gone.
as well as the jehovah's witness fb page.
it seems in the recent weeks those sites became "overrun" with apostates and were no longer encouraging.
Wasblind - thanks for the update. Makes total sense why they would start using it.
Just wondering, though. Is it in common use now among JWs? Or is this something specific to the younger generation or to a particular geographic area?
J V
this is my very first post here at jwn.
i have been "lurking" here for a few months as i have slowly faded over the past year.
so i figured it was time to become a full blown jw opposer, and i tell you it couldnt feel better!.
Crank, Welcome!
You'll learn far more about the JW religion here than you ever did at a Kingdom Hall or going to an assembly.
And that's the Truth!
JV
come 2014 even some dubs must start to ask wtf jesus has been doing for one hundred years, and there is a big potential for many to leave.. what more will the wt bull**it (writing) department come out with to keep the poor little drones feeding the hive, and maintaining the gb's rock-star life-style ?.
the over-lapping generation tripe will be getting on for five years old by then, surely "noo lite" will shine that makes the big a even closer or somesuch ?.
come on chaps, those poor saps in writing need your best ideas.
Thanks to Six Screens of the Watchtower, and some other sites, I can't look at a JW publication graphic any longer without seeing subliminal images.
It is very curious the way they draw the folds in their characters' clothes. As someone has mentioned on an earlier post, look at any photo and you will rarely if ever see horizontal or angular folds, especially when someone is standing up. Folds tend to be vertical and creases and wrinkles will tend to disappear as the cloth is pulled down by gravity.
I know, this is off subject, but hey - I saw porn! I know I did!
JV
come 2014 even some dubs must start to ask wtf jesus has been doing for one hundred years, and there is a big potential for many to leave.. what more will the wt bull**it (writing) department come out with to keep the poor little drones feeding the hive, and maintaining the gb's rock-star life-style ?.
the over-lapping generation tripe will be getting on for five years old by then, surely "noo lite" will shine that makes the big a even closer or somesuch ?.
come on chaps, those poor saps in writing need your best ideas.
Kurtbethel,
Is that image of JC in his throne from a WT graphic? I just wondered because I think I see some porn buried in it. Of course I see porn in everything - even porn. Let me take a closer look...
Looks to me like a tiny naked lady lying in his lap !
Jesus has two left hands!!!
That proves that no one can "sit on the right hand of Jesus," because he doesn't have a "right hand!"
JV
........and not decreasing, and 1935 hasn't shut up the heavenly hope..... then maybe folks are hearing the invitation at john 6:35-59....... "i am the bread of life!
he that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood (communion) has everlasting life, and a resurrection.
unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.
They have so many classes and rankings now that they've given up even trying to use the word "class" anymore. -- Mad Sweeney
Mad Sweeny - you have a PM