Posts by nugget

80

hello. pls help. getting married soon. afraid i won't be happy because wtbts said so.

by seasickbumblebee in

alshello.

i'm a practicing jw.

finally decided to create an account to see whether you could all help me.. so i am engaged to this wonderful wonderful man and in three months time we'll be married.

nugget

If you were not witnesses then nothing you did would have been considered inappropriate between two adults and certainly not unsurprising between an engaged couple. You confessed some of what you did to the elders and they also did not deem it worthy of anything other than a reproof.

You need to talk to your fiancee about what he is thinking at this time. This level of paranoia and guilt is unhealthy in a relationship. After all if you are to be married then you need a level of maturity that neither of you are demonstrating. It is very easy when placed under such scrutiny for love to turn into dislike. It is easy to look at the other person and see in them the cause of your woe. Has the balance of your relationship changed and is it worth calling a halt to proceedings to allow you both to determine whether you want to go ahead.

If he is already convinced that the marriage is doomed then what sort of wedding day will it be? You are adults not children and as adults you take responsibility for your own choices. It will certainly be unlikely to succeed if you constantly involve elders in the intimate side of marriage. A husband needs to know his own mind and be prepared to stand up for you, not throw you under the bus to satisfy his ideas of what is nice and to salve his conscience. You also need to think about your own self worth and self respect, how much humiliation are you prepared to take for this wimp.

I would take time to evaluate whether this can ever work.

31

Protest at district convention in Budapest, Hungary

by cedars in

jw
friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihncqunkq94.

whatever your thoughts on the shouting, displaying a simple web address is an extremely effective and non-confrontational way of getting the message across - and in this case it looks like hundreds if not thousands of witnesses saw it.. .

cedars.

nugget

They all seemed very good natured about it which was nice to see and their happy demeanor was a change from the intensity and serious approach to some other protests of this nature. I think it would have been useful if the message was printed on both sides of the banner so pedestrians walking past could also read it.

It was a shame that there was no translation as I would have been fascinated to hear what some of the wirnesses were saying although I think I could have given it an educated guess.

3

Pranksters Help Homeless Man

by Badfish in

this video was posted by a prank youtube channel i'm subscribed to.

i promise you won't be disappointed.. .

http://youtu.be/rsiooxg_gmo.

nugget

People are not as one dimensional as the watchtower suggests. These boys did a good thing helping Martin and treating him like a person even if it was a brief encounter in his life. Hopefully it will have long term benefits for him and not just a happy memory.

43

Remarkably stupid point in this week's Jeremiah book study - Jehovah's loving kindness

by sir82 in

jw
friends

the whole jeremiah book is an abomination, but a point in this week's study exceeded even its usual standards of inanity.. from page 144, paragraph 10:.

in our day, god continues to show loving-kindness in ways that directly benefit his worshippers.

consider the matter of prayer.

nugget

So he takes note of what exactly?

Note that bro so and so is still suffering, still a believer although nothing has happened to ease his burden. If you plan to do nothing why take note? What is the purpose of prayer?

It seems so cruel that he never tires of hearing how much we suffer. It reads like he gets pleasure from the prolonged suffering of believers. Who ever wrote this is a total idiot.

62

7/15 WT- Insane, Far Fetched, Narcissistic "New Light " about the FDS

by flipper in

jw
friends

i know this article has been discussed, re-hashed upside down in past threads.

but there were at least 2 points i discovered in here that i felt were pertinent and important to bring out concerning the total control and narcissistic tendencies that these wt leaders possess on the governing body, i.e.

alleged " faithful slave " .

nugget

I love the way they slip in that in recent decades the faithful slave has been identified as the Gb. Decades or rather in the last few months when things didn't seem to be working out as planned and they needed to distance themselves from all the crazies taking the emblems. This creates the idea that this has been the doctrine for some time and any loyal JW will think that nothing has really changed.

It is also clever the way that they say that humble annointed sisters would not want positions of oversight. This means that any annointed sister who questions their role instantly becomes proud and haughty and by association not annointed.

In historic versions of the watchtower, the belongings were more closely associated with the people now it is the material assets that mean the most and the people are really responsible for their own faith . They provide materials for preaching and teaching but nowhere do they suggest that they have a personal interest in the health and well being of the faithful. So there is no physical care component to the role of the faithful and discreet slave. It says alot that they care more for physical structures and material things.

So this relationship is all one way traffic. Jws give them their loyalty and assets and they in return give them 5 tracts at an assembly and a load of talks people will sleep through.

50

Really enjoyed the CONvention....why?

by punkofnice in

i remember when i was a mind cleansed(tm) jw i would listen to the talks when i wasn't napping.. on the long tiring drive home i'd say how i ''enjoyed(tm)'' the sessions and felt ''encouraged(tm)''.. .....and yet i couldn't recall a single ''point(tm)'' made.

i couldn't remember what it was that actually made me feel good.. on one occasion i asked the family what they found ''encouraging(tm)'' or interesting.. tumble weed.

no examples.

nugget

In the past the talks would often have an interesting introduction and good illustrations supporting the scriptures. However they cut the length of the talks and reduced he introduction to an opening sentence so the talks just became dry scriptural rants. There was no self expression or an opportunity for the speaker to inject any personality into the material. I remembered nothing and began to feel that it was better to wait for the watchtowers to come along and explain it all.

When you take an autistic child to an assembly you need it to be worth your while and they never were.

59

In 12 Lines or Less: GIVE US YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY POETICALLY

by Terry in

jw
friends

autobiography.

forever began at the day of my birth, but, it turns out that it was a lie,.

i am who i am when nobody's watching, then nothing is there to deny.. .

nugget

I study the Bible to please my mum

To be noticed not to be a mistake.

Put off baptism as long as I could to please my Dad

Gave up on a life outside my narrow faith.

Married for love to please myself

Struggled to be a good christian wife

content to fit the accepted mould

To satisfy my husbands theocratic life

Had children to spite my God

I saw my life replayed in theirs

I knew then that things must change

I gave them freedom instead of prayers.

46

I Just Had A Big Fat Bomb Drop On My Head and It Leaves Alot Of Questions

by TotallyADD in

jw
friends

when i got home from work this afternoon my wife was standing near the door looking at me and said you need to sit down i have some hard news to tell you.

so i sat down and she began saying my brother called and i imminently ask if my mom had died.

she said no but my mother told my brother a deep family secrect that no one knows about.

nugget

Depends on a lot. Remember your brother will be all about reputation of the society and your father and that may be influencing his choices. You do not necessarily have to share his reticence. It is also true that if your half brother was aware he had other half siblings he could have made contact but he would be in a very awkward position as he was the illegitamate child and might feel uncomfortable doing so.

My impulse would be to make discreet enquiries and see if you can track him down. Check he is not listed in the press as a con man, mass murderer or armed robber. I don't know how old you are or how old your half brother is but life is short. If you decide to press ahead you can always send a letter as a non intrusive way of making contact. He may be happy to make contact and you may gain a half brother. He may not wish to make contact and you will have neither lost or gained.

153

Shocking talk from 2013 District Convention urges parents to shun disfellowshipped children

by cedars in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yldwe_6jsu.

.

cedars.

nugget

God wants loyalty he wants to be put before a father, mother and children.

The wrongdoer changed his relationship with Jehovah and the family. It is their fault that we no longer speak to them. So the fact that the society directs family members not to associate with them is irrelevant. The fact that the disfellowshipped one still has affection for family and is not shunning them is irrelevent.

If he had remained faithful he would have a relationship with his family. So his relationship with family is conditional on shared belief. There is no relationship seperate from the religion no unconditional love.

Respect the decision. Even when it hasd been arbitrary and unjust.

Wanting to associate with family is a motivating factor to reinstatement. So belief in god is not necessary to be reinstated.

Even young oners who are disfellowshipped have a weak relationship with Jehovah. What the heck, young ones who are not old enough to marry or vote are made responsible for their own shunning because their relationship was weak. If it was so weak why didn't the elders detect this and refuse permission for them to get baptised in the first place.

When reinstated how would you feel if they asked why weren't you loyal to Jehovah. So in this fictitious world the newly reinstated person chastises their parents for a lack of loyalty. What if they never choose to be reinstated?

If we have greater affection for family members than for Jesus we are not worthy of him. I would suggest that anyone who expects their followers to be cold and hard hearted is not worthy of worship.

I like the way this talk centres around loyalty to God and Jesus rather than loyalty to the GB. In any other setting it is loyalty to the GB that is most important but in order to hate family members you have to go straight to the top.

39

Help!! Don't know where to start

by ILoveTTATT in

jw
friends

ok so to start... i am still an active jw... but only because i cannot get out yet... i am slowly planning to get out.... i should really read hassan's cult control book... it seems like i am getting everything wrong in trying to help the people i know to know ttatt.. so i will need your help, all of you dear people.. my current, actual beliefs are pretty much agnostic... no belief in any particular dogma, but i believe there is a higher power out there.... there are so many things on my mind... for example,.

1. the fact that no nt manuscript contains the name "jehovah".

2. the blood doctrine.

nugget

People have to be in the right place mentally to hear what you are trying to tell them. Otherwise cult programming rasserts itselft and they just repeat the same old platitudes and are reassured again.

Try to connect to the authentic person rather than talk about doctrine. Ask if they were not in the organisation what might they have done, what career may they have pursued etc

Talk to them about other high control groups, the techniques they use etc.

Look at threads here where people have successfully engaged with witnesses and the tools they have used.

If they mention doctrine to you ask them to explain it. Don't tell them stuff ask them to explain stuff to you. Don't let them gloss over the facts or uncomfortable truths ask them to provide evidence to you.