Posts by joelbear

25

Were You Really HAPPY in the borg.???

by Latte in

jw
friends

when you were in the borg.

in all honesty, could you say that you were h.a.p.p.y?

i mean really happy.

joelbear

I loved having Bible Studies at people's homes because I loved to teach. When I was a kid, I also loved placing magazines and Truth books, I must have placed 1000 of them. As I grew older, I began to dislike the door to door work and stopped offering any publication that I couldn't start a study with.

I loved witness get togethers. We had a blast at ours when I was a teenager. We played some great games and had some great times. We used to play this game called Poor Kitty. One person had to get down on the floor and pretend to be a cat. He/she would go around and the other players would have to pet them on the head three times and say poor kitty without smiling or laughing. If they smiled, they had to be the kitty. I was great at this game. My secret weapon was crippled cat which always broke them up.

I hated meetings and assemblies because I hated to sit still. Very rarely did a talk interest me. There were not many good speakers. I liked giving talks and reading the Watchtower for the Watchtower study. I am a good public speaker and loved the attention too. I hated intermission time at assemblies too. All my friends were busy trying to find husbands or wives which left me on the outside. Assemblies brought out different characteristics among the witnesses I knew. I remember assemblies as popularity contests.

I hated being different in school. Between being a JW and a homo, I got tons of abuse at school and was often frightened that I might be beaten up or hurt. It never came to that, but I was verbally threatened almost daily.

Like Jimmy Buffett says, Somes of its magic and some of its tragic.

All in all, what made me unhappy was my family life more so than my witness life. None of my family behaved the way witnesses were supposed to, yet they insisted on perfection for me. It was this hypocrisy and other hypocrisy that I saw that led me to say adios.

hugerroooss

Joel

41

back to basics

by cnn77 in

jw
friends

as soeone raised in the truth my whole life i am struggling with a basic doctrinal issue.

the issue has to do with universal sovreignty and the ransom sacrifice.

let me try to illustrate by way of analogy:.

joelbear

Interesting thread.

Why allow the issue of universal sovereignty to come down to the actions of two beings, Adam and Eve. Also, doesn't the faithfulness of the angels who did not rebel against God prove his universal sovereignty without humans even being involved. Why, at least, didn't god create millions of people at once instead of putting all the sovereignty eggs in just 2 baskets. It is totally illogical.

Is the loyalty of fleshly creatures more valuable than that of spirit creatures?

I see no way of explaining this.

Joel

113

Please Respond To Survey! 25 more needed please.

by Big Jim in

jw
friends

it seems like to me the majority of people who are in the truth, are were in the truth was a result of either a family member are a friend witnessing to them and not many seem to have been found in the door to door work.. from my years of associating with the borg i cannot recall many coming in the truth from the door to door work.. how were you sucked in?

for me it was my aunt who has now even though i am not disfellowshipped decided to write me out of her will to the tune of about $150,000.00 (maybe i should hang around a couple more years)dont think i will.. please respond .

thanks.

joelbear

I would say 95% of the witnesses I knew were 2nd or 3rd generation or either the cousins or other distant relatives of people who were witnesses.

My mother brought in all her brothers and sisters. My dad brought in none of his. I knew lots of large families who were witnesses who were related to everyone in the circuit by blood or marriage.

The org's growth rate for the last 30 years or so has matched the world population growth rate. Its been 1 witness to 1000 humans for a while.

hugs

Joel

51

When did you think Armageddon would come?

by comment in

jw
friends

i was just thinking about this.

having been raised "in the truth" post-1975, i didn't grow up with any specific year in mind.

yes, there was the notion of "this generation will by no means pass away," but by the time i was old enough to think about that concept, the people who were born in 1914 (to stretch it out as far as possible, as the society ultimately did) were still only in their 60's.

joelbear

Well, I guess you can try to explain away 25% of the world's population, but if the scripture is true, this good news of the kingdom (which witnesses define as their message) must be preached in all the inhabited earth before the end can come. Their definition of preaching is door to door person to person contact. Also, if its to be a thorough witness, you would have to reach people more than once as they do here in the US. There are still people in the US who don't have a clue what witnesses believe since they haven't been reached yet after 120 years and 100 million new people are added every year.

41

My apeal of disfellowshiping letter

by D wiltshire in

jw
friends

the first question is:.

i ask you would paul even think of doing such as thing as the wt has done here?????

i asked them not to keep double-talking me but to just come out and say what the charges are.

joelbear

I was 15.

I remember that I didn't answer the questions because I knew I would be at best not telling the whole truth.

To me that means I was never dedicated and therefore can't really be disfellowshipped now. In reality I was just a scared 15 year old that got cooled off during a hot summer convention.

Joel

2

Jehovahs Witness.Com (IT's GREAAAAAT)

by Big Jim in

jw
friends

i have only been actively participating on this board for a few months, i can tell you it has really been a great thing for me to be able to read the many post of the people on this board who have made a choice to stand up and speak out about all the injustice that the wbts has been guilty of.. i really appreciate the people on this board who spend probally a lot of time researching issues and making the facts available to all to read and check out themselves.. i believe we all have something unique to offer, it may be something as simple as statement as to what helped them to see the real light about the organization.

as for me i have been able to print information with solid facts and references that is going to help me with my letter to the local elders concerning my disassociating myself from this monster they call the truth.

i have been away for about five years now, for the first three or four years i did not spend hardly anytime at all on line looking things up.

joelbear

I agree and congratulate those here who take the time to post thought provoking concepts and encourage people to live a positive good life.

I vote for as much of this as possible.

hugs

Joel

51

When did you think Armageddon would come?

by comment in

jw
friends

i was just thinking about this.

having been raised "in the truth" post-1975, i didn't grow up with any specific year in mind.

yes, there was the notion of "this generation will by no means pass away," but by the time i was old enough to think about that concept, the people who were born in 1914 (to stretch it out as far as possible, as the society ultimately did) were still only in their 60's.

joelbear

If you go by Matthew 24:14 then the end is waaaay off since witnesses are nowhere close to having reached all the inhabited earth with a witness. That is, if you consider China and basically all of the Muslim and Hindu world inhabited.

Joel

15

Supplement to Justice #15 - Parking Lot

by Amazing in

jw
friends

hellow everyone: there were a number of responses to justice #15 about the parking lot dfing.

i decided to make a new post to deal with these related but different issues.. first, the purpose of the post was not so much about rushing to judgment, but to show that the process is flawed, and the reflective question at the end shows that i was disturbed as to why we allowed these events to develop the way we do, especially over matters that really are not all that serious.. second, your follow-up comments also bring out some good additional concerns.

i will address those that seem to be of greatest concern.

joelbear

The real error in all of these situations is the concept of men judging men. It is impossible for 1,2,3 or 6 humans to judge the heart and/or state of repentance of another person.

If there is a god, JW elders and others who have stood in judgement of their fellow humans will be judged most harshly.

hugs

Joel

16

JW's And Risque Mnemonics.

by Englishman in

jw
friends

do folk in the united states use mnemonics as we do here in the uk?.

just in case youre wondering, a mnemonic is a method by which it becomes easy to remember something, especially if it involves a table or sequence.

most uk mnemonics have a vulgar or sexual connotation, so their use is somewhat frowned upon in jw circles.. when number 2 son was studying geology, it was essential that he remembered the hardness order of various minerals.

joelbear

ROY G BIV was easier for me to remember as far as spectrum colors

I also had APE SLAG for memorizing the 7 deadly sins.

None of these seem very risque though.

joel

12

who would you trust

by joelbear in

jw
friends

taking the watchtower society out of the equation.. who would you trust more based on your history with them, the witnesses you have known throughout your life or the people you have interacted with here on this board?.

i wish people nothing but peace, but i certainly hope people have another source of peace and support in their life than this group of people offers.

joel

joelbear

Hi Dedalus,

You make some excellent points that I agree with.

I am not asking anyone to be fake. I am saying, all of us, including myself, should keep in mind the affect our words, including our angry words, have on others and choose the most productive way of dealing with situations, including taking conversations private when appropriate.

hugs

Joel