Jewel

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Posts by Jewel

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  119

  An experiment: Open House for Demons

  by return of parakeet in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i feel cheated that never, not once, as a dub or as a ex-dub, did i experience the presence, manifestation, or just-things-flying-around, of demons.

  not so much as a teacup levitating from its saucer.

  no inexplicable cold spots.

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  Jewel

  I haven't been a Witness for years and I'm certainly not a Christian, but Ouija Boards still scare the heck out of me...
• 
  10

  Just dropped my Mom off at the Kingdom Hall...

  by Jewel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we live about half an hour from the kingdom hall.

  we had some snow last night and the roads are a little "iffy".

  i didn't want my 83 yo mother driving on her own so i brought her in and dropped her off.

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  Jewel

  We live about half an hour from the Kingdom Hall. We had some snow last night and the roads are a little "iffy". I didn't want my 83 yo mother driving on her own so I brought her in and dropped her off. Some thoughts:

  1. I told her I'd drop her off, but I wasn't going to "sit in". She said that going to the meeting wouldn't hurt me. She was wrong about that.

  2. When we drove into the parking lot and there were people walking in with their book bags and dress coats, I literally felt a little nauseous.

  3. There is a tiny, tiny part of me that feels sad. While the elders were a bunch of egomaniacal douches when I was a good Witness girl in my teens, there were lots of wonderful people in our congregation who functioned as an extended family for us. Since I didn't really have any worldly friends in school, that was also where I spent time with my peers. I wonder what happened to some of them.

  4. There is a much bigger part of me that is VERY glad that I'm sitting here at McDonald's sipping a Coke and getting some paperwork done.

  5. I wonder if I should feel guilty for serving as an enabler for this cult. But, my mom is 83, has been a Witness most of her adult life, depends on her congregation as her own social outlet, and clings to this goofy religion like it's a lifeline. So, I'm an enabler.

  6. I wonder why the heck McDonald's does provide wi-fi but does not provide any electrical outlets.
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  147

  Weird "new world" artwork from the 2013 calendar

  by cedars in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother-in-law has a strange obsession with calendars, and orders the society's calendar each year.

  this year's calendar is especially weird.

  it features images depicting future events - in particular, the society's vision of the new world order.. i've taken the opportunity to scan some of the images for you all to check out.. please note - there are captions for each of the images, but i don't have the english language version of the calendar so i'd rather just quote the scripture used so as not to reveal which country i'm in.. .

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  Jewel

  Why are those kids being allowed to wander around in Sept/Oct? Shouldn't somebody take them back to the bathroom and smack them around?
• 
  91

  What Was Your "Status" Within The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  were you a sought after associate?.

  were you often invisible?.

  did other witnesses view you as "exemplary"?.

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  Jewel

  Very good Witness girl...then marked for going to college. Gradually faded in my early 20's. I was never disfellowshipped so I continue to represent a conundrum to my Witness relatives at family events..."should we talk to her?"
• 
  147

  Weird "new world" artwork from the 2013 calendar

  by cedars in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother-in-law has a strange obsession with calendars, and orders the society's calendar each year.

  this year's calendar is especially weird.

  it features images depicting future events - in particular, the society's vision of the new world order.. i've taken the opportunity to scan some of the images for you all to check out.. please note - there are captions for each of the images, but i don't have the english language version of the calendar so i'd rather just quote the scripture used so as not to reveal which country i'm in.. .

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  Jewel

  And caftan manufacturers are going to make it through...
• 
  81

  Would Elders You Knew Have Ordered Stonings If They Could Have?

  by Cold Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for those of you who used to be jws, or who are active, if the society was in charge of the earth, how many people do you think you would have seen stoned during your lifetimes?

  i realize some elders can be zealous about their work, but if they'd actually had administrative authority to have kh members stoned to death, how many elders did you know who would have been zealous enough to really order them?.

  did you know any elders who would have ordered stonings, even if the condemned people had been willing to repent?.

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  Jewel

  Yes. "All I said to my wife was, 'That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah...'"

  I'll take two pointy rocks, a flat one, and a bag of gravel.
• 
  147

  Weird "new world" artwork from the 2013 calendar

  by cedars in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother-in-law has a strange obsession with calendars, and orders the society's calendar each year.

  this year's calendar is especially weird.

  it features images depicting future events - in particular, the society's vision of the new world order.. i've taken the opportunity to scan some of the images for you all to check out.. please note - there are captions for each of the images, but i don't have the english language version of the calendar so i'd rather just quote the scripture used so as not to reveal which country i'm in.. .

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  Jewel

  Apparently there WILL be architectural courses in the New Order...
• 
  33

  Did you ever have any real weirdos ? in your congregation who were Elders ?

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .....some of the things he did and got away with , to me now is unbeleivable , and maybe to you.. in all fairness he was well versed in the bible and very clever how he used it to put a critic to rest at the doors and in one instance when i was witnessing with him , he demoralised a pastor of his church .and i was impressed at that time.. but he had some strange ways , he was always looking for someone to break gods laws so to speak .he did set himself up as the policeman for enforcing gods law on the congregations .

  ( this is my description ) he was known to stand outside bros/sis.

  homes to see if he could find something incriminating against them .

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  Jewel

  I don't think I've ever known an elder who wasn't a tin-pot despot or a weirdo or some creepy combination of both...
• 
  51

  This generation will by now means pass away..."

  by Jewel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i haven't been to a meeting (other than some cousins' weddings) for well over twenty years.

  i've always wondered what the fds was going to do with the "generations" thing once pretty much everybody who had been alive in 1914 is gone.

  i get that they've come up with some "new light" about this topic, but when i ask my mom (who's still in) i only get "well, the new understanding is complicated...".

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• 

  Jewel

  Thank you all for your info, thoughts, and links.

  Holy CATS...this IS absolutely inane. I remember seemingly endless bookstudies during the 70's in which we dissected the math in the Old Testament prophets, manipulating it so that it led to 1914 and then...the generation doctine. I remember an illustration of the "feet of clay" passage with everything labeled so that the "feet of clay" started in 1914 and then led to...the generation doctrine. I remember being told that my baby brother would never have to start school in "This System" because the end would come soon because "...this generation will by no means pass away..." (He's in his 40's). I remember giving multiple talks about the generation thing in the Ministry School in the 70's. I remember my elder uncle giving a Sunday talk about this topic (multiple times because we'd sometimes go to other congregations when he was the speaker there).

  How can anyone who was a JW then buy this now? I mean, we're not talking about some tangential teaching...this was one of the foundations of the whole doctine, for Pete's Sake!

  No wonder Mom doesn't want to talk about this...
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  51

  This generation will by now means pass away..."

  by Jewel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i haven't been to a meeting (other than some cousins' weddings) for well over twenty years.

  i've always wondered what the fds was going to do with the "generations" thing once pretty much everybody who had been alive in 1914 is gone.

  i get that they've come up with some "new light" about this topic, but when i ask my mom (who's still in) i only get "well, the new understanding is complicated...".

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• 

  Jewel

  I haven't been to a meeting (other than some cousins' weddings) for well over twenty years. I've always wondered what the FDS was going to do with the "generations" thing once pretty much everybody who had been alive in 1914 is gone. I get that they've come up with some "new light" about this topic, but when I ask my mom (who's still in) I only get "Well, the new understanding is complicated..."

  I take this to mean that either she honestly doesn't understand the new explanation (unlikely, she's pretty sharp) or she can see (in her heart of hearts) that it really doesn't make sense and she doesnt' want to try to explain it because putting it in words will make is sound inane. I don't want to ask anyone else in my extended family that is still "in" because I don't want my curiousity mistaken for "interest"...I've had to fend off more that a few attempts to set me up as a bible-study in the last 20 years.

  Can any of you give me the short and sweet version of the "new light" (and I mean that in the most sarcastic way possible) on this issue?