Posts by Juan Viejo2

26

How big is/was your congregation?

by DeeDubs in

our publisher count was about 130-135.

Juan Viejo2

Mary is absolutely correct. Up until 1990, Kingdom Halls were built to serve a community once the existing KH was getting too crowded. As cities and towns expanded and grew, new Kingdom Halls were built to serve the suburbs and growing nearby cities. But it seemed that the best size for a KH was a population of 80-130 total publishers and their family members.

In the late 1950s, as dedicated publishers left their home congregations "to go where the need was greater," KHs were built with smaller populations in mind. The goal was to put a Kingdom Hall in as many towns as possible so that non-JWs would be more inclined to come to public talks and the Memorial meeting.

Now Kingdom Halls are being built as little assembly halls, some actually having two or more congregations meeting with simultaneous or overlapping times. Some areas have multiple congregations meeting in the same KH, but on different week nights and staggered Sunday meetings. I understand that a few even have the traditional Sunday meetings on Saturdays.

One interesting development is the introduction of Sunday morning meetings. Growing up, Sunday AMs were field service hours, as were Saturday AMs. I really doubt that they have moved service hours to Sunday afternoons after the WT study in those areas.

One last development: Many KHs won their zoning variances based on past history of one evening meeting per week and a 2-3 hour meeting on Sunday afternoons or evenings. Now they are merging Kingdom Halls, so that there are meetings almost every night, plus ALL DAY Sundays and some Saturdays. I'm sure the neighbors did not expect all that additional traffic and street parking in their quiet residential areas.

Way to go, WT! Piss off the neighbors, why don't you?

JV

41

Elder Just Told His Son I Am Sick Of This Religion !! And Reveals His Secret

by Hairyhegoat in

jw
friends

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.

Juan Viejo2

Baba Yaga-

Thanks for the suggestions...

Shadow and Jr. ARE reading this thread and tell me that they are loving it. Hopefully they will take your suggestions and discover better ways to approach Mom and their siblings.

I personally think that they are on the right track. Hopefully when they succeed and decide to leave the Kingdom Hall behind forever, they both will come on this site and share their story in person with you all.

In the meantime, I'm asking them to keep me up to date and share stories about their successes and failures.

Shadow repeated what he said in his story: They will leave when they are ready and on THEIR schedule. Not the WT's or ours.

They are hoping that something the WT does or some other external incident occurs will provide them with the opportunity they are hoping for. Maybe the WT will predict something for 2014, or disband the GB and appoint some single man as commander-in-chief, head honcho, or "FaithFul, the Discreet Slave/Master". It could happen.

JV

88

To all you apostates out there - aka failed JW's

by donnye in

by opening this post, you are admitting that you are failures - well done!

lol.

i must say, i have had so much fun on this site - some real laugh out loud moments for my friends and i to enjoy.. no need to respond - i am busy pioneering from tomorrow, so will no longer have time on my hands to sit at my pc enjoying laughing at your pathetic comments.

Juan Viejo2

As we pseudo bandidos would say,

ADIOS!

98

New Light

by Spade in

i've noticed quite a few dissidents of jehovah's organization that have left with some fixation on jehovah's witnesses concept of new light.

i really don't understand.

the antiquity of religion may be historically educational, but not always personally illuminating.

Juan Viejo2

New light means that as we go forward we will have a broader understanding of the details and nuances of the Bible's teachings.

What the Bible means is that it like being in a room where more lamps are added and the room gets brighter and everyone can see clearer.

What the Watchtower means is that the bulbs keeping burning out and new ones have to replace them. That the lamps quit working and new ones are made to replace them. That someone forgot to pay the electric bill and God has turned off the power.

Sorry - new light? Hardly...

JV

88

To all you apostates out there - aka failed JW's

by donnye in

by opening this post, you are admitting that you are failures - well done!

lol.

i must say, i have had so much fun on this site - some real laugh out loud moments for my friends and i to enjoy.. no need to respond - i am busy pioneering from tomorrow, so will no longer have time on my hands to sit at my pc enjoying laughing at your pathetic comments.

Juan Viejo2

Donnye,

Good luck. Have fun. See ya. Your wish is your reward. Welcome back to the Tower of Brooklyn (or Walkill, or Patterson, or whatever).

The rest of us will watch you from a distance, thankful that we're not you - thankful that we've seen the light and don't have to knock on doors, repeat nearly word for word canned and outlined speeches, or have to sit through mind (and butt) numbing meetings.

For the life of me, I have no idea why you sound so happy. Wonder how happy you will be in a couple of years when you look back at this time when you made your decision to become a non-paid book and magazine salesman for a failing publishing company.

JV

41

Elder Just Told His Son I Am Sick Of This Religion !! And Reveals His Secret

by Hairyhegoat in

jw
friends

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.

Juan Viejo2

Bohm - I think their computer problem is that they only have one, it's in the living room or den at home, and it's hard to get on it privately for very long. I think the WT made a suggestion like that - not letting the kids have computers in their rooms where they could be out of sight and maybe able to access porn. I get the impression that the household has been run very theocratically and mom keeps a watchful eye.

I think their plan is to try to get the support of the two unbaptized brothers. That would then put them in the position of outnumbering mom 4 to 1. Dad could pull rank on her eventually. Maybe the older son would find shunning his whole family too painful, and at least give them a listen, and then maybe being won over eventually. If they all DA, (although the dad might be DF'd for apostacy considering his article, if they ever found out that he wrote it), mom might just go inactive being outnumbered and not wanting to lose her family.

If I remember right, Shadow Elder Sr. mentioned that he had to go to the library on his lunch hour to send his article to me. I got the distinct impression he did not send it from home. So Firefox would not be a solution to their problem, I'm afraid. Maybe they could both get iPad or Droid phones and send their emails from them, but trying to type out a long story on one of those small virtual keyboards could be labor (and time) intensive.

JV

29

Having the Circuit Oversear over for dinner...was it like a royal visit for you??

by Witness 007 in

i rang a sister who i haven't spoken to for years who said "she couldn't talk since she was cooking for the c.o and his wife who have special dietary needs......was this like a royal visits at your cong and whats with the "we can't eat flour, or yeast" or blah blah blah!

!.

Juan Viejo2

My family would always put our name on the list to invite the COs over for lunch or dinner.

Some were so appreciative and loved it when my mom would cook up some pan-fried chicken, pre-sweetened ice tea, mashed potatoes, and cornbread. She'd finish up with a chocolate pudding pie. These were the things we loved to eat and just about all of our friends enjoyed that menu too. So for us it was a great meal shared with friends, no matter what their position.

But some COs and their wives would act offended - like, hey, were not YOUR family - WE'RE SPECIAL. We expect steak, or ham, or a pasta plate with caesar salad. And "pudding pie"? How low class is that? They acted like my mother had been disrespectful to them.

One CO (I think he went up higher, but I lost track) was Lester Dugan. Some of you may have heard or remember him from the 1960s. His mother lived in our congregation's area. When he was in town, we'd always invite him and his mother over for dinner. We could serve tuna sandwiches and Pringles Chips and he'd act so pleased and happy. He just loved my parents and he was always so appreciative. My dad always gave him a green handshake - even though we couldn't afford it - because he was such a loving man and brought such joy into our home. I hope he didn't change, as so many do, as he got higher up in the Society. Anyone know what happened to him?

JV

37

Dinner With a Pioneer Couple Last Night

by dontplaceliterature in

jw
friends

my wife and i had dinner with a pioneer couple last night that we've been friends with for a long time.

they are both nice people, with the wife having a few dashes of pretentiousness mixed in.. usually when we are together, they always talk about pioneering, which makes some sense as it's the primary focus of thier lives.

however, it has gotten progressively more dominate in conversation over the last couple of years, to the point of being annoying.

Juan Viejo2

Cofty -

You are so right. When I was a kid pioneers had to get 100 hours, Specials were 150 (but I think they got to count meetings when they gave talks, led the WT and book studies, etc.) I think vacation pioneers were either 50 or 70 hours at the time, but my brain has dried up since the 1960s, so I don't remember for sure.

As a teenage regular publisher, though, I would go out 2 hours each Saturday and Sunday every weekend and sometimes for an hour before the book study on Tuesday night. That would give me about 20 hours per month. I was considered a superpub by everyone in the congregation, so I was giving public talks, was a frequent Watchtower Study reader, and was a Book Study servant by the time I was 20 years old.

What the others in the congregation did not know was much of that was under duress. My parents forced us to go out every Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday night. I had no choice. Even though I had an early morning paper route, I was expected to be home, showered and dressed for service by 9 AM. My father gave me a break once in a while if the newspapers were late or the weather was particularly nasty, but even so, I rarely got under 12-14 hours a month.

I was clearly one of the rising young stars in the Riverside, California congregation. Like I said, much of the time it was under duress. So when my parents left the area to go "serve where the need was greater," I stayed behind, got married and began to slow down and fade completely. My hours dropped from 16-20 per month at age 19 to zero by the time I was 22.

I look at the hours required to be an elder or MS now and think they wouldn't even be considered "average" publishers back in the day. In fact most would be facing regular counseling. I personally know of one COBOE that turns in well under 10 hours a month, and most of those hours are suspect.

If I had to do over again, knowing what I know, I'd go along with Trevor, and just use a sharp pencil and give them whatever hours they wanted to keep them off my back.

JV

5

Does anyone remember?

by Slidin Fast in

startfragment.

way back in the 70s there were a couple of pictures that caused a stir.

there was obviously a bit of humour or a subversive element in the art department.. one was in the live forever book a picture of a happy family with a satanic ram ornament.

Juan Viejo2

I think these are discussed at some length over at koolaid-man's website at SixScreens. I think these little messages are all over the WT art - I think there are some folks in the art department that have wicked senses of humor and like to put these things in like "easter eggs" on DVDs and software apps. They need something to break up the boredom of what they are doing.

Is there anyone on this forum that served in the Bethel art department that might shed some light?

I doubt if any of those little bits are intended to be subliminal (mind affecting) art - I just think that some of the artists are jerking the WT's chain and having some fun.

JV

26

What to do with old Wat books, volumns...?

by pontoon in

jw
friends

Juan Viejo2

There might be some forum members who would like to buy some of your stuff. PM me and I can make a couple of suggestions. Or, if the price is right, I might buy them myself. My wife will stop sleeping with me and I'd have to keep them in the garage attic out of sight, but they might come in handy for some future research I have planned.

JV