Posts by life is to short

46

Candace Conti v. Watchtower | March 11, 2013 | Watchtower Society Appeal Dismissed For Failure To File Opening Brief

by jwleaks in

edit correction:.

the court web site lisiting reflects the following below, but we have been informed that the watchtower society has been given yet another extension until march 26, 2013.. the below post will be left as is, for those who may have wondered what happened.. .

congratulations candace conti.

life is to short

That is what I was thinking March 26th is the Memorial. Maybe they are waiting on Jehovah!

LITS

32

Part 1 of the 2013 Conti and Simons interview now on YouTube (questions posed by JWN members)

by cedars in

a while back we ran a "competition" whereby people could pose questions of candace conti and rick simons for them to answer in a video.. there were so many questions that we needed to do a series rather than just one video.

this first instalment is now on youtube.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhvfefpig4a.

here are the questions that were answered.... (to rick, asked by "exwhyzee") is there a possibility that part of the ruling, if you overcome the appeal, will be that the society must make an announcement outlining the details of the case to its members, as well as an apology to candace?.

life is to short

Thank you so much it really means a lot to have people like you Cedars on this board that are doing such a great job in letting us know what is happening.

I cannot express in words how much your posts and insight have meant to me, the way you reason and come to cconclusions on matters helps explain things so much easier for me and it has really helped me to reason with my husband, in fact he just watched this YouTube with me and thought it was very well done yet he is now getting ready to go to the meeting. Not that long ago he would never have even thought of watching something like this.

Just thank you so much for all of your hard work. I know you are helping people to see the TTATT better.

LITS

25

The Time is More Important than Results

by OnTheWayOut in

on my way in to work this morning (saturday), at 6:05 am on a commercial business street in chicago, i saw two sisters and a brother bundled up in winter clothes and doing "street work.

" it wasn't that cold, so i guess they started even earlier when they needed their scarf and gloves.

there was absolutely nobody else walking and all the businesses were closed.

life is to short

That is what I truly hated about service. I really bought into it being a life saving work and I thought everyone else in the religion did too. I remember right in the middle of my awaking because of the pedophiles in my hall and I was still trying desperately to believe it was the "truth" I went out in service during the CO's visit and he used the illustration of our preaching work would be like our seeing a house on fire with people inside not knowing that their house was burning up. The CO said we would do what ever it took to wake up the people inside, to get them out, to save their lives. This is what we are doing by going door to door we are telling them this world is on fire and they need to wake up. This was in 2009. I remember thinking finally a CO that gets it. Oh how stupid I was it was all just hype.

Now looking back at all the times I went out in service it was just wasted time like you mentioned and I totally knew it and I tried to get the JW's I was with to do more but I was was helpless, no one wanted to really talk to anyone. I was always so frustrated.

I remember street work. It got so bad in the city I live in that the shops downtown started to complain as there were so many JW's just loitering around that the JW city overseer had to put a stop to it and assign congregations a day or two to do street work.

But the worst was when I pioneered. We lived in the country because a CO had asked my husband to go where the need was great. It was so much just a waste of time, gas, etc. We would meet for service pile five if not six people into our small Honda Civic which would be bottoming out at ever bump because of the weight. We would make a call in the small town we lived in to start our time then travel 70 to 80 miles over to the river where we would work the rule territory. I would be lucky if I got out of the car two times in the day and I was always stuck in the middle of the backseat because everyone was so huge and I was the smallest one. I just hated it with people pressing in on me from both side, and this one "brother" who would insist on sitting in my front seat would crank the heat up as high as he could. My husband did not want to offend him by asking he to keep it cooler. I would just be so sick to my stomach. We would spend five to six hours beating the heck out of our car then we would drive back home make a call and be able to count 8 to 10 hours. We burned through gas like it was water no one gave us a dime to help out. We put over 30,000 miles on a year on the car and I worked 30 to 35 hours a week just to pay for it all. I begged my husband to help change things but I was told it was the way it was at least the Angles saw what we were doing even if we never talked to anyone.

I was totally going crazy. I am a very active person who needs to fill full-filled in what ever I do and wasting my money this was was not full-filling in any way. When more elders moved into the hall I went to them and then the CO begging them to talk to the grocery store or anything to see if we could do a sort of street work in our small town but they thought that it would look silly. I was like and having five to six people in a small Honda Civic driving aimlessly looks sane???????????? And plus how are we saving lives???????? When we were not talking to anyone???????

I know realize that it is all just hot air, just talk about their thinking it is a life saving work. That CO in 2009 was just as much of a time waster as any of the others. His speach about the burning house was just a stupid ploy to make him feel better. He loved his coffee breaks more they trying to get people out of that burning house.

They just fool themselves and pat themselves on their backs thinking they are special when they are making total fools of themselves.

LITS

44

Evil Elderettes, the true Hounds of Hell!

by Bubblegum Apotheosis in

my wife was told a brother was going to be disfellowshiped, "how do you know this is going to happen?

" sister so-so said "he was not repentant or humble to the brother's kindness.

" instead of engaging into a heated debate, she knew who the leak was, so-so's husband.

life is to short

It was the same for me Magwitch. In many ways I was glad as the last thing I wanted was to no all the dirt, but it hurt because it was like he had this whole other life that was more important than anything especially me and I knew nothing of life which he spent a huge amount of time with. Our marriage was second, I was second. If he was needed he went no matter what our plans were or if I needed him, the congregation came first always.

It was like living with a man who had another wife and I was the second wife lesser on his priorities. And it really hurt when others in the hall assumed I knew everything and would try to get the dirt out of me or they would make snorky remarks about elder's wives gossiping.

LITS

55

The CO asked for money tonight at the meeting.

by life is to short in

i was shocked i do not know why as i have read that the co's were doing this but to hear it with my own ears was unbelievable.

i do not go to the meetings but my husband still does and this week is the co's visit.

i decided that i would listen in to his talk; i swear i have lost some brain cells by doing it but anywho.. he started out by talking about the old story that has been in the wt many times about a little boy who was seven and raised a chicken and gave the money to the society.

life is to short

Sorry Jeffro about the mistake of "three quarters of a million dollars per publisher per month." is what I meant. I was trying to put this up before my husband got home and I made a mistake. I meant only three quarters of a million per month not publisher.

Splash: The CO also used the 'widows two coins application' but it was kind of drowned out by his penny, dime and chicken story.

But what amazed me the most about last night was when my husband came home from the meetings, I brought up how I had never heard such pleading for money from the stage and my husband said he did not get that at all from the talk.

I then brought out that the CO kind of made a fool out of himself about the chicken story as the little boy was happy that the chicken was a rooster as it brought in a dollar and then the CO joked that rooster must be worth more and thus Jehovah let it turn out that way. Roosters are never worth more then hens as the hens are the ones who make you the money by laying eggs. Roosters from what I remember as a kid are usually used for stew meet and not that valuable, but Jehovah made this chicken a rooster. My husband did say he caught that mistake.

OK so I went off the subject but it was just so stupid and clearly the CO was pushing for money. I am thinking maybe its always been this way and I just did not notice while I was in but now that I have stopped going to meetings when I do listen in it hits me harder in the face how they do plead for money.

I have unknown to my husband been going to a local church with a friend of mine and never once in the eight to nine times I have been to the church have I heard them plead for money like I have at the KH. I even went on a woman's retreat with my friend and it cost $150.00 for three days, $50.00 a day but we got a place to stay and wonderful food so really it was not as much as an assembly would cost. The interesting thing was that if you could not afford it you could still go, the church picked up the bill for that women. I had never been offered even a ride to go to the assembly when I was single and very poor. I had to save and take the bus one time over 300 miles while the older elders drove with only their wives in the empty cars.

The church I have went to has been overly kind to me when I have ween people even are starting to know me by name. And I know also they help their memeber when they are in need. Also on a side note when my husband and I first moved into the congregation he is still attending there was a MS who would go to the local store and get all the day old bread then he would take it to the KH and "give it away" from his car only you had to pay him for his gas that it cost him to drive to the store to pick up the bread which he was asking about $5.00 per person if you took anything from him. The elders did put a stop to it as they felt he was using Jehovah's house to make money. One elder totally flipped out over it, funny this same elder said nothing about pedophiles going door to door yet he flipped out about bread. OK I am digressing again.

So the first time I went to this church they had the same day old bread that this brother used to get sitting on a table in the commons room where they also serve coffee and cookies after the service. So I asked my friend what was up with the bread and how much did it cost to get it as I saw many family's taking it. She told me NOTHING. I said what about the gas it cost to go get it. She said it does not cost that much to go get it and one of the members of the church goes to the store to get the bread to help the members of the church who are poor or need some help it's all free. I was just shocked.

That MS really had a gig going at five dollars a person he was making about $20.00 a meeting. I only took the bread once or twice as he would try to make you feel guilty if you didn't take it as he had went out of his way to get it, I am sure that was why the elders stopped it but still it is amazing the differences between the JW's and this church which by the way is just three blocks from the KH.

LITS

PS please forgive my spelling Jefffro or anyone else as I am not that great of speller especially after not posting much for awhile sorry.

55

The CO asked for money tonight at the meeting.

by life is to short in

i was shocked i do not know why as i have read that the co's were doing this but to hear it with my own ears was unbelievable.

i do not go to the meetings but my husband still does and this week is the co's visit.

i decided that i would listen in to his talk; i swear i have lost some brain cells by doing it but anywho.. he started out by talking about the old story that has been in the wt many times about a little boy who was seven and raised a chicken and gave the money to the society.

life is to short

I was shocked I do not know why as I have read that the CO's were doing this but to hear it with my own ears was unbelievable. I do not go to the meetings but my husband still does and this week is the CO's visit. I decided that I would listen in to his talk; I swear I have lost some brain cells by doing it but anywho.

He started out by talking about the old story that has been in the WT many times about a little boy who was seven and raised a chicken and gave the money to the Society. The CO went on and on and on about how wonderful that was and how we here in the US have so much and how that dollar that little boy gave could have feed his family, etc but no he gave it all to Jehovah. How we here in the US throw away stuff that the little boy would love to have. Plus what we have really is Jehovah's anyway right? So why should we hold back from giving to Him.

Now if that was not bad enough he does stop. He goes on about our giving our time in field service etc, but then he went back to the money part and he said when he was a little boy a CO told him to pick up every penny if he saw it while he was in service and put it in the contribution box. He then laughed and said that a penny is really nothing to day and he was dating himself, but if we find a dime on the street and there always seems to be money that people just throw down out in the streets, so if every publisher would just put one dime into the box each month it would add up to three quarters of a million dollars per publisher per month.

He went on and on about how many publisher there were 7 plus million. What I was thinking is what about the publishers in the country's where they are supper poor and they cannot afford to give a dime, and there is not money just laying on the streets like we have here in the rich US.

It was all just a huge guilt trip. It was so amazing they have to be hurting for money to have the CO's giving this talk.

LITS

19

Loving sister passed away and guess what and elder said...?

by suavojr in

jw
friends

the cycle continues.... two weeks ago a loving and fragile sister passed away due to her age and chronic health, she only had one son and 2 grandsons.

(she was the only jw in her family)when my wife gave me the sad news we immediately went over to the hospital to give some words of comfort to the grieving family.. .

what happened next was another cruel example of works for salvation vs. good deeds from love.

life is to short

When I was on my way to the hospital after getting a call that my elder husband had just had a major heart attack at work and I did not know what kind of conduction he was in I called the PO's COBE's home while I was driving in a state of schock to let the COBE know that my husband would not be able to conduct the school that night.

I got his wife instead on the phone, now mind you I was an elder's wife also, I told her I was driving to the hospital not knowing what conduction my husband was in. She did not miss a beat but said "I cannot help you I have to go out in service today!"

As long as I live I will never forget how those words stung me. It was like she had hit me in the face with ice cold water. My husband was in the ICU for three days and this fellow elder's wife never came up or called. Even the hospital chaplin was schocked by how alone I was in the hospital, the Chaplin said she could not beleive that memebers of my religion were not there for me.

LITS

16

Trailer for 2013 Candace Conti / Rick Simons interview, now on YouTube

by cedars in

hi guys.

i have uploaded the following trailer for a forthcoming series of interview videos.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8ebwpjm6wa.

the interview, which was filmed on 10th february 2013, was based on questions provided by posters from this forum, specifically from this thread.... .

life is to short

Thank you so much.

LITS

43

May 15 2013 WT: "REAL elders skip meals and lose sleep!"

by cedars in

finally we have the society's expectations of elders in print.. this is from page 9 of the may 15th study edition.... "as indicated by the experiences of the apostle paul, our ministry may result in sleepless nights and times without food.

(2 cor.

6:5) these expressions paint a vivid picture of self-sacrifice and may well remind us of pioneers who give their ministry first place in life while supporting themselves financially.

life is to short

When my husband was an elder he jumped when ever anyone needed him. When we were newly married we did not have a marriage he was gone all the time, taking care of the flock. He used to tell me that if I did not like it I should never have married an elder, I did not know being married to an elder meant that I was dirt to everyone in the hall.

I was young and stupid, I thought I was his wife and that I mattered some, I did not matter when it came to the congregation, I was always second or third or so down the line. My needs never played any part in our marriage only the needs of the hall. I was not asking for a lot just dinner once a week together would have been nice but he was the only elder for most of the first four years of our marriage and I was way down the list of people who mattered.

Then he had a major heart attack while he was conducting the school. The other elders let me drive him alone to the hospital and only one elder and his wife came up to the hospital afterwords. NO one called the next day to see how I was doing much less my husband. They had him back conducting the school the next week even though it had been a major heart attack and he had, had surgery to put a stent in his heart.

His second major heart attack two years letter I called the PO's Cobe's wife while I was driving to the hospital and she told me she could not come to the hospital to be with me as she had to go out in service. No one came and the Chaplin who meant me at the door was shocked to learn I was a JW. She told me she had never seen anyone who belonged to a church be left alone like I was as no one came up to be with me. My husband was the school overseer at the time.

Also when I was first married the CO told me that I could have a husband in the new system as Jehovah needed him now when I talked to the CO about what I hard time I was having being newly married and never having any time together.

And just one more point one of the reasons his health is not so great I feel is that he did not have the money for good food when he pioneered which was for 17 years, as he was a window washer and lived on nothing to pioneer. Granted he has other factors that caused his heart attack but not having money for food was not a help. He ate as cheep as he could.

LITS

77

Distrust and paranoia among faders

by cedars in

jw
friends

hi guys.

i'm interested in knowing whether any other faders out there ever find themselves feeling a little paranoid about establishing contact with other faders or former jws, just in case the unthinkable happens and things turn sour.. personally, i'm now fairly comfortable with the idea that i will be disfellowshipped or disassociated within the next year or so.

i see it as inevitable, and an essential transition in order to do what i want to do with my life.

life is to short

I learned my lesson the hard way here on JWN. Last year I had a poster ask for a WT, we pm'ed back and forth seems she lived in my city and knew many of the same people I did. I thought she was OK she seemed really nice and sane in her pm's. Then one day I made a post and she totally came unglued, totally attacking me in my post, she would not stop just kept coming at me attacking who I was as a poster, etc.

It totally unnerved me as I am not df'ed nor do I want to be. I love JWN but you truly have to be careful. I have not a clue what set this person off but it scared me. I am really gun shy now even to post after that.

LITS