Congratulations! My wife and I beat you by a few of months. Our DA letter went out March 18, 1989.
Posts by JeffT
-
36It's my 25th yr anniversary of freedom
by rebel8 inapproximately 25 yrs ago today, i left the borg forever.. .
thank you jwn/jwd for helping me heal by listening to me.
there are not many greater gifts than freedom..
-
-
-
33
Just Curious About Something
by EmptyInside insorry,couldn't think of a better title for this post,without it being long.. i was thinking this morning,if ex-jws, who were born into the group less likely to join another religion after leaving.
vs. the witnesses who belonged to a church before joining the religion.. from my own prespective,being raised a witness,i have no intention of joining any religion.
and it seems that born-ins are less likely to join a religion after leaving the cult.. in my own experience,i think it's religious burn-out to tell the truth.
-
-
JeffT
I tinkered with a number of religions before becoming an unchurched Christian in 1972 (was 21). I started studying with JW's about a year later and was baptized in 1973. My wife's story is similar, although she had a firmer background with main stream churches. When we left in 1989 we joined an independent church which we attended (and my wife worked there) until 2009. After a fracas over her job, we left and have not been back to any church since. I'm still a Christian, but feel no need to adhere to, or attend, any particular church.
-
88
Why Are People Anti-Semitic?
by minimus ini seriously don't get it.. some people truly hate`jews.. and it's not just jews.... gays, christians, blacks, mexicans, etc.
are on the list.. intolerance is a terrible thing..
-
-
JeffT
Some people hate Jews.
Some people conflate disagreement with Israel with hatred of Jews.
Some people hate blacks.
Some people conflate disagreement with current President's policies with racism.
It's all part of an unwellingness to see individuals and engage individuals instead of groups. I think our current identity politics in the US, as practiced by all parties, contributes to the problem. I can't put my hands on the exact quote (it was in a library book I read recently) in a letter to his wife just before the civil war William Tecumseh Sherman complained about newspaper reporters inflaming local opinions and whipping up a frenzy to the point where no one could talk about the situation rationally.
Hustler against Playboy
Jerk. You guys always leave out Penthouse.
-
17
My mother listed me as a Jehovah's Witness at the Hospital for a pending emergency surgery
by adjusted knowledge ini've been having some medical issues recently and had to check into the emgerceny hospital.
when they admitted me the registar asked my mother my religion.
she told them jehovah's witness.
-
-
JeffT
Assuming your in the United States, unless your unconscious or otherwise unable to answer questions about your health history the hospital has no business asking anybody else personal questions. You might ask to speak to some one from hospital admin about the issue. I would minimize discussion of the family religious issues and simply point out that you may have medical issues your mother doesn't know about and they should talk to you not here.
My guess is that whoever took the information probably didn't have any reason to believe your mother would would not give an accurate answer. Of course, that person has no knowledge of how sneaky JW's can be such situations.
-
33
What Would It Take To Prove......
by metatron ina hypothetical question.. at a minimum, what evidence would it take to prove that the society is trying to quietly shed publishers?.
now, i don't think we have evidence of this yet but that doesn't mean it could never happen.
we must consider where the trends of magazine/literature cuts, branch office sales, coerced contributions, bethel/do layoffs, and emphasis on jw.org lead us.. otoh, you might argue that there would never be a deliberate move to get rid of them, just moves that discreetly abandon them.
-
-
JeffT
I had not thought of this aspect of what they're doing before. However, for a couple of years I've thought they were not very interested in new recruits. Sure, they're still doing field service of some sort; but the material they are presenting does not appear to be serious about attracting new members. I've been reviewing available assembly programs and most of that is aimed at internal issues, not the public. In fact most of it would send anybody with the brains God gave gravel running away screaming.
As noted above, the real wealth of the WTBS resides in its real estate. If they can push out a bunch of the "weaker" R&F concentrate the hard core in fewer Halls and sell the rest, the stand to make a pile of money.
-
7
Sharknado 2
by keyser soze inhas anyone, yet, had a chance to watch this glorious epic?
it is truly a flawless work of art.. i know what you're thinking: it couldn't possibly pack the punch of the original, or surpass it in scope or magnitude.
but you would be wrong.
-
-
JeffT
No way "Megashark vs Giant Octopus" is the best of them all. Most accurate depiction of a battleship firing its main guns, ever. And Megashark eating the 747 out of the sky is truly scary. Great acting, superb cinamatography, good story, what else can you want? They even brought back Debbie Gibson.
-
59
Is their a new holocaust in the making ? Are jews being made the scapegoats again ?
by smiddy inmass immigration in the world "seems" to have led to a rise in anti -semitism in the west.
france now has more than six million muslims.. germany now has four million muslims.
the netherlands has almost one million muslims .
-
-
JeffT
Others need a chance to progress as well.
Hamas has no interest in progress.
+1
Or as Robert A. Heinlen put it in one of his books "The problem with trying to appeal to someone's higher nature is that he may not have one."
edited to add: So we should all quit complaining and wait for the Watchtower to make more progress?
-
59
Is their a new holocaust in the making ? Are jews being made the scapegoats again ?
by smiddy inmass immigration in the world "seems" to have led to a rise in anti -semitism in the west.
france now has more than six million muslims.. germany now has four million muslims.
the netherlands has almost one million muslims .
-
-
JeffT
Point to ponder: What one city in the mid east has a gay pride parade? Which mid east country has the most liberal policy toward same sex marriage? Which countries execute LGBTQ people?
I'm sorry, I don't understand why liberals support oppressive fundamentalist theocracies in a fight with the only place that even remotely looks like a liberal state in the region.
-
-
-
JeffT
being "black balled" by any fraternity group is still a stigma.
Only to members of the fraternity.
Nobody else gives a $***, especially when the fraternity as viewed as lunatics or worse by the rest of the world. I spend a lot of time on a discussion board devoted to politics and military history. The guys there (for whom I have a tremendous amount of respect) all know I'm an XJW and all of them regard my exit as a a badge of honor and courage (they've used those words), which strikes me as over the top, but I'll take it.
-
-
-
JeffT
The only event that might make it even noticable would the arrival of a letter telling me about.