sd-7

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Posts by sd-7

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  40

  Former Long Time Elder - Judicial Committees

  by James Jackson in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  when i first was appointed as an elder, i could not wait to be on a judicial committee.

  it semed like most hearings invovled middle age men and women cheating on their mates because either they had married early or felt that were being neglected by their mate.

  most times i felt i need to take a long hot shower after a hearing.. the toughest part was seeing these sweet young children grow up in "the truth", and now you are about to judge their future based on their repentance.

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  sd-7

  sosoconfused, Doubting Bro--thanks. I guess I overdid it there. I've actually had the chance to talk to or text at least a couple of ex-elders, and found them to be interesting, decent people. I'd probably have a root beer with them if I was the kind who went places and did things with humans other than my immediately family (some of whom are probably only still there because it's three squares and a roof they don't have to pay for). And I guess the fact is, even one or two of the elders on my JC seemed at least decent enough to come up and invite me to return to meetings when I came to pick up my family. I guess it's just...I've encountered more elders like the chairman of my JC than the compassionate, relatable kind. I'll get over it. --sd-7
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  27

  Many ex-JWs have never read Combating Cult Mind Control

  by Londo111 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the general public knows far too little about cults and mind control...and this is reflective of many ex-jws as well.

  when i meet up with former jws, either in person or on the phone, im surprised that the majority have never read combating cult mind control.

  of course, i am sure many former jws do not want to read yet another publication.

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  sd-7

  But Freedom of Mind is available on the Kindle, and I'm sure it has the same basic info. I think that ought to be enough. --sd-7
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  17

  When You Were A Witness Did You Tattle? Snoop?

  by OneStepOut93 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  were you one of the witnesses that tattled and tried to find people doing "wrong"?.

  or did you ever tattle on someone and regretted it later?

  would you take it back?.

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  sd-7

  No. Even as a full believer, I did not agree with the idea of spying on each other or ratting each other out. I figured, if we're all Christians here, it's not up to me to handle confessing on someone's behalf--they need to own their own decisions. If a person committed a crime, that's one thing. But I see a JW painting a church or eating a birthday cake, I'm just going to pretend I didn't see it....

  --sd-7
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  27

  Many ex-JWs have never read Combating Cult Mind Control

  by Londo111 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the general public knows far too little about cults and mind control...and this is reflective of many ex-jws as well.

  when i meet up with former jws, either in person or on the phone, im surprised that the majority have never read combating cult mind control.

  of course, i am sure many former jws do not want to read yet another publication.

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  sd-7

  I won’t name names, because I’m not at liberty to say. But a member of this forum, who was awakened to TTATT, whose posts I enjoyed, succumbed to the intense emotional blackmail from family, and is proclaiming he was wrong and diving back into the Org. He has begun shunning as well.

  Wow. I know the pull can be powerful, wanting to connect with family. It can be torture to have the world so upside down. But after having personally experienced how painful shunning can be--both to people who are still on the inside and as someone who is on the outside--I couldn't do that again. I'd have to find ways around the Thought Police even if I went back. But I just hate what was and is being done to people so much that there's no way. After starting down this road it's hard to imagine not being thorough enough to make sure the beast stays dead, you know what I mean? Knowledge--more and more reading and broadening your mind--is the only way. And even then it's still tough. Emotionally I still feel very vulnerable. So it does require a mental vigilance to leave and stay out.

  --sd-7
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  94

  14 months after printing the "Steve and Selma" article, guess what the Society's latest Awake is about...

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you guessed it.... .

  http://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=pdf&issue=201304&output=html&pub=g&langwritten=e&option=trgchlzrqvnyvrxf&txtcmslang=e.

  cedars.

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  sd-7

  'The beatings will continue until morale improves' sounds like the message here.

  It's peculiar. Common sense would override in every other situation. If you were coming down the same street every day and got beat up by someone, even if they didn't leave any marks, you might decide, if you could, to just take a different route home, or maybe call the cops, or something else rational. But you come home and get beat every day, and the Watchtower's grand plan for you is wait until it becomes a death match, and THEN leave. (Guess they had to ban self-defense to avoid a scenario like the movie 'Enough', too...)

  The fact that people will ignore even basic survival instincts on account of this literature is an indication of just how dangerous it really is.

  --sd-7
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  39

  Anyone who's seen 'Man of Steel', can we talk about SPOILER-related stuff?

  by sd-7 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  if the title of the thread wasn't enough, spoiler alert.. spoiler alert.. .

  okay...so...that said, i haven't seen the movie, which would be a paradox except that i read the novelization.

  so...how'd you feel about the way it ended?

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  sd-7

  But no, while it bothers me, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. It's not like he went all Michael Bay on us and cast like, Kate Upton as Lois Lane. So...I'll forgive him eventually.

  --sd-7
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  39

  Anyone who's seen 'Man of Steel', can we talk about SPOILER-related stuff?

  by sd-7 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  if the title of the thread wasn't enough, spoiler alert.. spoiler alert.. .

  okay...so...that said, i haven't seen the movie, which would be a paradox except that i read the novelization.

  so...how'd you feel about the way it ended?

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  sd-7

  I was just thinking of this again, because I read an article that said Christopher Nolan was against the ending, but David S. Goyer and Zack Snyder wanted it. Snyder explained it by saying that basically, since this is an origin story, Superman doesn't have a code about killing, and how could he get that idea unless he faced a situation where he had to kill someone? Something like that. I kind of see what he's saying.

  But it's still questionable reasoning because they could easily have written that into one of the scenes with Jonathan Kent telling him to be careful how he uses his strength because he could kill someone without even trying hard. (Like the scene with the bullies trying to get him to fight, for instance.)

  Despite that, I do think if that's how Snyder views it, it is something that he did at least think about seriously and talk about with the rest of the team beforehand. I think, while I still hate him for it, I do expect to see this become an issue worth mentioning in the next film. If it's not mentioned, he's an even bigger idiot than I thought. Thank you for effing up Superman. Go make 'Sucker Punch 2'. No, really, I want to see it.

  --sd-7
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  27

  We are "On the doorstep of the New World" (Awake!)

  by Splash in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  anyone see that quote in the latest magazine?.

  in full it says:.

  "since the things are happening today that jesus told us about, we know that we are right at the very doorstep of the new world, the world to come.

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  sd-7

  The 100-Year Doorstep, the 100-Year Battle of Armageddon, the Last 35,520 Days...I mean, this could make a great, long-running TV show.

  100 years ago was no time to be spiritually drowsy. The end was at hand!

  --sd-7
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  40

  Former Long Time Elder - Judicial Committees

  by James Jackson in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  when i first was appointed as an elder, i could not wait to be on a judicial committee.

  it semed like most hearings invovled middle age men and women cheating on their mates because either they had married early or felt that were being neglected by their mate.

  most times i felt i need to take a long hot shower after a hearing.. the toughest part was seeing these sweet young children grow up in "the truth", and now you are about to judge their future based on their repentance.

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  sd-7

  To this day, it's still very hard, as someone who has never been an elder, to fully grasp elders' perspective. Even folks on here who were once elders--I'm still having difficulty being able to forgive even the ones who have awakened. Maybe it's wrong to feel that way and it's nothing personal against any of you. I think it's just...I can remember trying my best to pour my heart out to them in the distant past and feeling like they were utterly useless. Their responses were either devoid of compassion and even basic Christian decency or something I could have read in the Watchtower myself.

  I only ever saw them as policemen, or prison guards. They always seemed aloof, different, in a way that...well, seemed devoid of what I imagined exemplary Christians would look like. They were always hustling here and there, or meeting together like Knights of the Round Table, and they'd greet you and you wondered if they were mind-readers or had X-ray vision so you said little and stayed out of trouble. I did get to deal with the congregation accounts for awhile so it gave me a chance to work a little closer with them. (The accounts were always a mess, needlessly hard to reconcile, and frankly it was either that WT's accounting instructions made no sense or we just weren't following them, or maybe both. And I say that as an accountant myself [not that I care much for accounting, but that's another story].)

  But they generally seemed joyless. Looking at their lives (not so much their flaws, though they had plenty, but the quality of their lives in terms of 'do they look happy?'), I realized I did not want to be an elder. What person of conscience could sit in judgment of his fellowman and not second-guess himself, wonder if he really made the right choice? And you have to choose to cut this person off from their whole world. I couldn't sleep at night knowing I'd done that.

  I figured that people who could had to have something wrong inside, something missing. Something that should be there the most for men entrusted with judging.

  It wasn't until my own judicial committee that I finally saw the true face of the organization, and of what elders can be. They don't and can't hear what you are saying. They don't know who you are and can't know who you are. Their job is just that, a job. Hired men looking after the sheep. Maybe even hired wolves looking after the sheep. There aren't even bones left when they're done. There seems to be no consciousness of what they are doing to people. PEOPLE.

  Maybe I'm just too sensitive a person, but...how could you do it? Does it bother you now?

  I feel that elders were among the most active participants in the spiritual and emotional abuse of millions of people. We all had our part, all of our hands are dirty. I don't think I'll ever feel clean again.

  I guess it's something I have to figure out how to deal with. I'm proud of the ex-elders (or even current elders) who have awakened and have done their best to show conscience and compassion. Maybe it's really that I'm ashamed I was part of this, too, though not as an elder. I don't know.

  Sorry, I got carried away. Sounds like some pretty crazy stories you guys had to deal with. It never ceases to amaze me.

  --sd-7
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  33

  Human Apostates and the Power of the Internet

  by SeventhSojourn in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs
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  sd-7

  LOL @ wasblind!

  ----sd-7