Posts by MMXIV

18

Cognitive dissonance... help!

by ele_lux in

something strange (maybe not) is happening to me.

when i come here, or get online and find proof that jehovah's witnesses are not "the truth", or when i talk to my brother and really think stuff through, i'm absolutely convinced that i'm doing the right thing by leaving before i get older and waste more of my life.. but when i'm tired or scared or in some other way not fully active in thought, i still feel guilty and fearful that armageddon will come and i'll regret this.. i had expected that the moment i consciously and in use of reason convinced my self that this wasn't the truth, i'd be mentally free from it.

but i still feel its grip on the back of my mind.. what can i do to get rid of that dissonance (or whatever it's called)?.

MMXIV

Hi ele_lux,

You've raised some really good reasonable questions. I was thinking about the situation you raised in mexico. That's pretty saddening and sorry that's the environment you have to live in or hear about in the news.

For my own experience I luckily live in a fairly safe place - I don't ever worry about violence. In terms of things getting worse I think back to my childhood:

I look around my environment now and there are parks with lots of children's play areas - that didn't exist when I was a child. The quality of housing is far better than when I was young - I now want for nothing. The quality of health care has improved so much - in fact life is so good there are economic issues due to people living a lot longer. My JW relatives say life was so much better 100 years ago. When I ask if they would like to live with outdoor toilets, without electricity or modern medicine they quickly retract their statements.

mmxiv

97

Are you suspicious of LURKERS?

by VampireDCLXV in

jw
friends

we all know they're here but we don't really know who they are.. they are people who sign up here and then never comment (or rarely ever do).. doesn't that make any of you regulars here at the very least a tiny bit suspicious?.

why would a person sign up to a forum like this and then never say a damn thing?

it seems to me that there is a primary reason why some folks sign up and then never comment on anything: to spy.

MMXIV

This is a great thread V665.

No more suspicious of a lurker than someone who can have 1700 posts in the first 3 months on JWN

Mattieu, the dates are American so V665 has been posting for a whole 8 months. Hmmm sounds like he's been slacking somewhat in his post count. V665, please consider this as loving council to make more of an effort to be regular in your upbuilding comments on JWN. OMG I've just had a relapse

ReallyTrulyAthena, you're worth waiting for every time.

NobleHeart, warm welcome

Lurkers constrain what I write. I hold a lot back although that's been second nature for decades in the borg. In the truth it's a small world.

mmxiv

96

Challenges Facing the Watchtower Org

by eric356 in

ive been thinking about the future of the watchtower organization and the challenges it faces in coming decades.

its difficult to address the issue without allowing personal feelings affect the analysis.

many people seem to think that the society will collapse fairly soon, based mostly on the fact that the person dislikes the leadership or cant understand how others can believe the doctrine.

MMXIV

eric356,

I like it. I agree with your current appraisal of number 1 although I might add that the WTS has always been happy to differentiate itself. It wants to be different. I believe they will continue to primarily be a publishing and printing organisation well into the future when printed material is not the norm. They will be retro but it doesn't cost a lot to produce leaflets. They have already shifted significantly from magazine and books (incl. bible) printers to magazine and leaflet printers (with a few books).

It all depends on the financial model - if they can afford to print leaflets and put these in the hands of door to door recruiters - they will. They will never be able to coerce many people to join without human persuasion.

(editing for spelling - too much wine)

mmxiv

13

Change in membership rolls Norway

by InquiryMan in

the watchtower society in norway has voluntarily and on their own initiative reduced their membership rolls in order to fit to the world wide practice of witnesses when it comes to membership enrollment.. now, they only incluce baptized members, not children and non-baptized publishers in the number they report to the authorities.

as a registered faith community, jws, alike with all other registered religious and philosophical communities, receive support from the government.

that is calculated on basis of the number of members... in times past they included children, thus making the membership into some 15,000, whereas now they report just slightly above 11,000. the money paid is a sort of repayment of taxes paid by inhabitants, as norway has a state church.

MMXIV

The WTS goes to considerable lengths to ensure it does not have to pay any more tax than absolutely necessary. It has gone to court in numerous countries to protect their tax exempt status. It moves it's printing operations around the world where possible to avoid paying tax.

Is it likely they voluntarily gave up an element of this tax credit system without being told to? Never.

So if I read it right then there is a financial incentive for each congregation to not disfellowship it's members. Baptised witnesses who are not df'd or ds'd but become inactive will still attract the subsidy unless they join another religion.

If 1000 JW's fade, become inactive yet do not get a closure of enrolement, over the next 10 years that's worth $600,000. If I was the DO for Norway I'd be telling the elders to not chase up anyone that became inactive, whether they committed a sin or not.

mmxiv

108

I WAS CAUGHT emailing a pdf copy of the New Elders Book

by Smoky in

jw
friends

i sent a .pdf to a few friends and one of them betrayed me and forward it to a elder i know, along with the emails of the recipients.

i cant believe i was so naive to think that i can trust someone..stupid.

i have not talked to the "benedict arnold" yet, but hopefully soon.

MMXIV

LITS - I bet that shouldn't be announced from the platform. It seems the further away from bethel you are the lower the standards. If you were further away still they might hand out left over books to the sisters or ask for volunteer sisters to help with their binding

Smoky - you were standing over a corpse with a smoking gun in your hand - you got style to talk your way out of that one

mmxiv

10

Hi All...

by bite me in

jw
friends

well, its been a while since i've posted anything.

its been a rough year; i will slowly go into detail at another time.

i've been browsing threads here and there and as things catch my attention.

MMXIV

Hi Bite me,

I've joined in the last year and getting to know a few on here. Some are also facing tough times like Podo (although don't feel too sorry for him - he's still doing better than his football team ).

Let us know how you're doing in your own time.

I got hit by the whole Smuf thing when I was a kid - great name

mmxiv

50

Hi Everyone! My introduction.

by cherrypye in

jw
friends

i am a former dub, born and raised and left at the age of 18. i was baptised at nine, aux pioneer, regular pioneer and around 16 started to see the light.

my parents give me the heave-ho the day i hit 18 (at midnight, to be precise.

) i was marked at 17 for dating a "worldly".

MMXIV

Welcome Cherrypye,

I'm sitting at my desk shaking my head. Your story doesn't sound out of the ordinary for this weird JW world yet I am still surprised that anyone has had to go through what you have.

You have shown incredible commitment in working so hard for an organisation at such a young age. That shouldn't be forgotten. If you had worked for a proper charity your efforts would still be recognised today. You would still be treated with respect if you ever walked through the doors of that charity and thanked for all your hard work and what it had achieved. It would have been something you could be very proud of.

Instead you are being punished in an unloving way because you don't want to carry on. In fact you are almost being penalised for having been so zealous. If you'd never got baptised or at least had never pioneered your leaving would probably have been easier and you might not be treated so badly by your family.

What I find more than a little shocking is that you are allowed to commit to something at the age of 9. By 16 you have changed your mind yet there is no way to get out of that lifelong contract. It's as if you sold yourself into slavery, never to be a free person again as far as your family are concerned.

How you responded at the funeral is exactly how I would hope to if that situation does one day arise for me. I have clocked that. Thank you.

Parents who treat their children the way you are being treated is unloving, controlling and selfish. It's certainly is not what Jesus would have done. It seems they have tried every way to punish you.

Don't agree to see the elders under any circumstances. If they try and see you then cite the funeral - that you never want to see them again.

Show your family love (for your own wellbeing) and also start to train them not to preach to you. When they do preach counter it with a question that makes them think - they won't like that.

mmxiv

6

what is going on?

by drawcad_1 in

jw
friends

just started attending a new congregation with my wife (very much a believer) and have noticed a lot of complacency.

during the weekdays service meetings it is only pioneers and auxileries that show up.

on weekends a typical service group that has 30 people assigned to it only has 6 show up.

MMXIV

My heart goes out to those that have been dealt bad advice so that in the years of plenty have wasted their time on FS rather than getting an education and now when times are hard fall into financial hardship. I have less sympathy for the elders who chose to pressure people out of an education or full time job. I have no sympathy for the GB who will rejoice at economic instability so they can claim how bad the world is and look forward to more recruits.

mmxiv

28

Does anybody in London know anything about this???

by brizzzy in

jw
friends

i'm a californian, but a good friend in london just texted me saying there's a blitz of about 50 jehovah's witnesses in croydon right outside of where she's eating loaded up with watchtowers and setting up a stall and a speaker with a megaphone.

she also says that some of them are women in wheelchairs and that they're rolling in front of passers by and blocking them when they try to ignore them.

she says all of the pedestrians are telling them to fuck off and leave them alone because they're not interested in a cult, haha.. is this something new that the society is encouraging over there (or even more scary, everywhere?

MMXIV

Welcome activeJW - thanks for contributing!

mmxiv

28

Does anybody in London know anything about this???

by brizzzy in

jw
friends

i'm a californian, but a good friend in london just texted me saying there's a blitz of about 50 jehovah's witnesses in croydon right outside of where she's eating loaded up with watchtowers and setting up a stall and a speaker with a megaphone.

she also says that some of them are women in wheelchairs and that they're rolling in front of passers by and blocking them when they try to ignore them.

she says all of the pedestrians are telling them to fuck off and leave them alone because they're not interested in a cult, haha.. is this something new that the society is encouraging over there (or even more scary, everywhere?

MMXIV

As I said, legally the cannot preach on the mall or the areas leading to it and I doubt the JWs would of broken the law to do this - plus the fact no ministry was done from end of September 2009 to January 2010

I've seen tables with W/T, Awakes and brochures on them in other cities in the UK - just last weekend I saw one. There was no large scale attempt at street witnessing along with it though.

Many years ago I was involved in street witnessing where 20 or more of us were out - people were crossing the roads in desperation to get away

mmxiv