Posts by MrMonroe

71

I would like to hear your experiences with being SHUNNED

by jwfacts in

i am going to put together a page of short experiences of how shunning has affected exjws.

you do not have to be disfellowshipped, even if you were shunned after being marked or after fading.

all comments are welcome, such as who shunned you, how long since family have spoken to you, what your situation is, why you are being shunned and how it has made you feel.

MrMonroe

My wife and I had been missing more and more meetings until we finally decided never to return. Since then many "friends" have stopped talking to us. One elder who, like me, is a father of children at the local primary school, stood just metres away from me after school waiting for his kids to appear at the door. He saw me, but turned away. I'd bumped into his wife a few weeks earlier at the supermarket; she turned away, pretending she hadn't seen me.

Other "friends" in a city where we used to live phoned us around memorial time two years in a row encouraging us to go to the memorial. No call this year, so I presume they're not talking to us any more. Weird thing is these are all people who studied a WT in January last year praising JWs for seeking out the wandering sheep. To this day none of them know why we stopped attending meetings. Were we sick? Did we have family problems? A financial crisis? Did we have doubts about God, or doubts about some doctrines? None of them actually wanted to find out. They let us go, stopped talking to us and almost certainly started talking about us.

Funny thing is last year we went to a local restaurant with friends who we'd told of our experiences about leaving the cult. As luck would have it, there was a table full of 25 or so JWs who had obviously been to an assembly that day. We were given a table at the rear of the restaurant near the door to the toilets. One by one they all walked past us to use the loo -- all sheepishly ignoring us, except for one decent guy who paused for a quick handshake and chat. Our friends at the table were shocked and appalled, especially because they knew none of those people knew why we had stopped attending.

For a long time we dreaded doing anything, like putting up Xmas decorations, that might lead to us being DFd. The way we see it now, who cares? What difference would it make anyway? They started shunning us when we stopped going to the meetings.

16

Crazy stuff in the neighborhood

by sooner7nc in

there's a sheriff's deputy in the road behind my house checking cars as we speak.

this guy escaped the police about 5 blocks from our house.. thanks god for 1911's, gold dots, and mossbergs.

oh and don't forget door locks.. http://mineralwellsindex.com/homepage/x2114029827/officials-investigate-reported-child-kidnapping.

MrMonroe

It's obviously important for your self-esteem that you are able to insult other people, so I won't deprive you of that satisfaction. Insult me again if you like if it makes you feel better about yourself.

As to your repeated "welcome to the board" statement, it sounds like you're trying to intimidate a newcomer by saying I'm worthless and you can tell me to go f*** myself if you want and that's the accepted conduct here. I think most members here would be unimpressed by your bullying and belligerent chest-beating behaviour.

You say it's "an American thing" to respond with obscenity and aggression. I suspect it's just you. But really I'm not interested.

4

What's your favorite song as of now? And why? Getting to know each other :)

by confliction in

jw
friends

mine is god given by nine inch nails.

when i first heard it, it startled me at how closely the lyrics related to the org.... to me it sounds like you bring a bible study to the hall, and you basically hurry him to believe you, change their life to fit your definitions, and get baptized because the end is so near (no more time to waste).

step into the light.

MrMonroe

How about the best songs for a Witness? A song from Van Morrison's Wavelength album: "Kingdom Hall". Or maybe Roy Orbison's "Working for the Man". Police's "Every Breath You Take" (I'll be watching you ...)

16

Crazy stuff in the neighborhood

by sooner7nc in

there's a sheriff's deputy in the road behind my house checking cars as we speak.

this guy escaped the police about 5 blocks from our house.. thanks god for 1911's, gold dots, and mossbergs.

oh and don't forget door locks.. http://mineralwellsindex.com/homepage/x2114029827/officials-investigate-reported-child-kidnapping.

MrMonroe

It was just an observation, sooner. I'd be crapping myself as well in your situation, but I couldn't help but notice how you referred to your armoury in such admiring terms. I might have a baseball bat or a knife to protect myself in the same situation, but I don't think I'd be purring over the brand names of them.

From a country far from the USA, it seems a rather unfortunate obsession Americans have -- not only with their guns, but their "right" to have guns. Every few weeks there's another news story of people going crazy with guns and taking the lives of innocent people. That's an American thing too. And maybe it's an American thing to respond to a simple observation with a "Go f*** yourself" and an additional insult about me being thick headed. Nice.

14

listening to an uncomfortable talk / demonstration.

by man in black in

jw
friends

i was thinking this afternoon about a sister who was married to a witness guy who worked pt, they had one 5 yr. old boy.

and a 1 yr. old girl.. one evening at the tms she was giving talk # 3, and halfway through the talk she stopped, looked a little flustered, and said "i can't do this anymore".

she proceeded to get off the stage, and walked out of the hall with her husband looking very red - faced while he was gathering up the kids.. shortly afterwards, she was df'ed and left her husband for another guy.. back then i was just mortified regarding what she said, ( along with most of the congregation) but now i understand her position.. another extreme demonstration was in the late 1980's.

MrMonroe

A fossilized old elder in one congregation I endured gave a public talk about why parents should never give their children chocolate or worcestshire sauce before bed because it "irritates the body openings" and they "comfort themselves" in bed. He explained that when he was a boy he always had to sleep with his arms outside the sheets so he wasn't tempted, and encouraged young ones to do the same. It was the most squirmworthy talk I've ever sat through.

Another congregation the WT conductor cracked up laughing over an experience in the WT and had the whole congo in fits. No one could give an answer because it was like everyone was on laughing gas. The only person who wasn't laughing was the pious WT reader who was glaring at everyone from the stage. Another time the guys doing the stage set a chair too close to the edge for the talk 3. The woman doing it sat down, then pushed it back slightly and wernt over backwards off the edge. Very modest undies she was wearing too, as I recall.

16

Crazy stuff in the neighborhood

by sooner7nc in

there's a sheriff's deputy in the road behind my house checking cars as we speak.

this guy escaped the police about 5 blocks from our house.. thanks god for 1911's, gold dots, and mossbergs.

oh and don't forget door locks.. http://mineralwellsindex.com/homepage/x2114029827/officials-investigate-reported-child-kidnapping.

MrMonroe

Is it just an American thing to boast about what firearms one owns? I don't get it.

48

GB member David Splane says Jehovah had already chosen the organization in 1916

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

in the new dvd governing body member david splane discusses the fact that the bible students did not simply disappear after russell died in 1916. he says this is because jehovah had already chosen the organization to do his work.. this is not a work of man, this is a work of jehovah god.

it's evident that jehovah had already chosen this organization, because of the faithfulness and the sincerity of the men behind it.

it's obvious that jehovah had already chosen this organization to get his work done.

MrMonroe

It is evident that the WTS has altered its view several times on when God chose it as his channel. On none of those occasions has it declared that it was a change of doctrine; one date simply supplanted another.

So when did the inspection and selection take place? Take your pick:

(a) 1879. (After discussing an 1882 Watchtower that discussed God's name and identity): "In many ways the evidence was beginning to accumulate that, of all the early voices heard, Jehovah had chosen the publication we now call The Watchtower to be used as a channel through which to bring to the world of mankind a revelation of the divine will and, through the words revealed in its columns, to begin a division of the world's population into those who would do the divine will and those who would not. For this reason 1879 was a turning point in the work. This little group, headed by C.T. Russell, had now been tested and had been found fit to undertake the great preliminary campaign leading up to the climax expected in 1914." (Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, 1959, page 22).

(c) 1914. "Whom did Jesus appoint to feed his followers in the first century? And whom did he find still faithfully doing so when he returned in Kingdom power in 1914?" (Organized to do Jehovah's Will, 2005, page 16). "On his return in Kingdom power in the year 1914, did Christ find a “faithful and discreet slave” class providing spiritual “food,” or information? Yes, he found such a “slave” made up of the remaining ones on earth of his 144,000 “brothers.” And since 1914 millions of persons have accepted the “food” they provide. (Live Forever, 1989, page 193).

(c) 1918."In 1918, when Jesus Christ inspected those claiming to be his slaves, he found an international group of Christians publishing Bible truths for use both inside the congregation and outside in the preaching work. In 1919 it truly turned out to be as Christ had foretold: “Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you, He will appoint him over all his belongings.” (The Watchtower, March 15, 1990, page 14). "Thus, when the Lord’s day dawned in October 1914, there were still true Christians on earth. It appears that Jehovah came to his spiritual temple for judgment about three and a half years later, in 1918, accompanied by Jesus as his “messenger of the covenant.” It was time for the Master to reject finally the false Christians and to appoint ‘the faithful and discreet slave over all his belongings.’" (Revelation: Its Grand Climax, 1988, page 31).

(b) 1919. "Since the 'master' found the remaining ones of this body faithfully and discreetly giving out 'food supplies' when he arrived for inspection in 1919, he appointed them 'over all his belongings.' The facts show that since 1919 this 'steward' has faithfully cared for these 'belongings'." (The Watchtower, September 15, 1983, page 19). "When the enthroned Lord Jesus inspected his household in 1919, he found the group of Christians associated with the Watchtower magazine loyally striving to “keep on the watch” with the help of spiritual “food at the proper time.”" (The Watchtower, December 1, 1984, page 17).

For a religion that insists it knows the truth, and needs to nail down every specific detail of it, this is a pretty extraordinary trail of evidence. Did anyone in the org notice? Did anyone care?

19

Being a long time Witness is like shopping at Costco

by exwhyzee in

jw
friends

after shopping at costco for years and years, i just realized i don't even check the prices anymore to compare them to those at other stores.

somewhere along the way i got into the habbit of assuming that they always have the best prices and best products.

it dawned on me that it's sort of like that with being a witness especially if you were raised as that way.

MrMonroe

I agree with you. I was one of the few who were "contacted at the doors", began studying the Live Forever book and got baptised. The first couple of years were actually good (though I see now how much of a zombie I was already becoming). The next five years were miserable but I persisted, the following 12 years were even more miserable and my wife and I finally came to the realization that we could actually just walk away. And so we did.

In all my time in the religion I know that it was very unusual for someone to actually join the religion rather than be raised in it. Although I considered myself studious while I was in it, I was only studying what the WTS told me. Only at the end, and afterwards, did I actually start reading books by Franz, Penton and others and then went back to reading the stuff Russell and Rutherford wrote, and later delved into more recent WTs and read them with a completely different view. I wonder, "Did I really read that stuff? How could I not have seen through it?"

The recent comments by people going to the current DC are quite revealing -- people sitting with glazed eyes through the final talk as the new interpretation of the generation teaching is provided. No one is actually listening! Of those raised in the religion, NONE take any objective view of what they're being taught and all just plod along, not realizing how fraudulent the whole teaching is and not realizing what freedom there is outside this control system. Many don't even realize how much they are being controlled and would deny it if confronted with the evidence.

I go through stages of feeling a bit sorry for Witnesses, but for the most part I'm not. They all have the responsibility of examining their own beliefs and lifestyle (as the WTS tells them to do!!) and deciding who is control of their lives and why. They simply choose not to. The September 1 WT article on deception (page 10) should be a wake up call to them all, but for them it is easier to be part of the pack and follow lamely as they're told what to do next.

I find it very frustrating that former close friends in the org pity us for leaving. One condemned my wife for being a hypocrite for not going to the memorial after we left. She said she told another friend we'd left and that friend cried. That friend, needless to say, has done nothing to contact us to have a chat. Witnesses are too well trained by the fear and suspicion about "apostates" to do that. In the end, it's not so much sad as sick.

58

Straight from the September Watchtower. How can they print this without blushing?

by nicolaou in

the watchtower september 1, 2010 11. .

the dangers of being deceived (page 10/11).

to deceive, says one dictionary, means to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.

MrMonroe

OK, fess up. Which JW.Net member is working as a mole in the Writing Department?

43

Observations since the book study arrangement finished

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

does anyone have any interesting observations since the book study arrangement in private homes finished?.

are jws happier with the extra night off?

do they miss the book study?

MrMonroe

Isn't it odd that we're all left to surmise on the real reason they ditched the Thursday meeting. Any time the "org" made a decision -- change literature to a donation basis, shorten the Sunday public talk -- it always became a guessing game of the real reason, because you'd guarantee they'd never ever, ever say. Any decision was always cloaked with such super-spiritual, pious reasoning that you knew they were covering something up.

Why was it that they could never be honest and open with everyone? Why was there always an understanding that there were always no-go areas in conversations? We all knew that some things were the province of "the brothers" or "the society" and could never be discussed, let alone questioned.