Posts by ana

29

Suppose a worldly person knows too much about the WTS

by dgp in

jw
friends

suppose a practicing and, to all appearances, true jw knew a worldly person (me) knows a lot more about the wts than the typical jw would expect.

i mean, the person knows the wts's structure, the general information about the basic theories (chronology, other sheep, the flocks, the anointed...).

i believe that this jw would immediately suspect that the worldly has visited "apostate" sites.

ana_dote

well....if they didn't immediately suspect you of having an alternative source of information (aka apostasy)....then I would think they would be intimidated as hell LOL

I always felt like an idiot whenever I came across someone in the ministry with a college education in theology or anyone who knew anything about history and the bible.

I kind of relate it to how dumb america is as opposed to other countries. I've spoken with people from all over the world and they always seem to know the current events on a world level, even having more knowledge about what was going on in the states than I ever would. They just always seemed more highly (or simply just better) educated than americans.

So...in my opinion....JW's are the dumb america in the scenario lol

(sorry if I offend anyone by saying americans are dumb, but come on.....what average american knows who the prime minister of Canada even is??...and yes, I'm american and humbly/honestly admit my stupidity lol)

Bottom line tho...I think they would be skeptical of where you got your "information" from....and might even ask you such a question....but I would think that only the most self-righteous "knowledgeable" individual would dare debate anything with you, as I would think most JW's would feel too inadequately qualified to hold their own in such a discussion.

16

Are You Still Interested in Looking for Truth?

by cameo-d in

what are our origins?

what has this life all been for?

is there anything after this life?

ana_dote

I too find myself very disillusioned at the moment....but I enjoy having different discussions with my friend sighco about the meanings of various scriptures and such.

I haven't really takent the time yet to focus my energies on looking for A truth, if there is such a thing.

20

Did you feel alone amongst the great crowd of JW's?

by highdose in

jw
friends

like there you were at an assembly maybe, everyone seems to be swarming with freinds, and you are the one left out unwanted and made to feel like you don't belong there?.

ana_dote

ahh yes.....ever the invisible wallflower. Formerly a social butterfly....although my parents probably only ever "allowed" that because I was a pioneer at the time.

As a single adult living on my own, I've attended two other congregations at different times and even attended my "home" congregation off an on during different moving/living situations.

I found this statement ENTIRELY accurate: "they ignored me once I was no longer one of the team".

For YEARSSS I have struggled HUGELY with the heavy feeling of not belonging or fitting in with these people, knowing I could never be like some of my peers who had already accomplished the "great privilege" of helping out in foreign countries, moving where the need was greater, joining a foreign language group, or attending international conventions, etc. I've always felt less of a christian than those around me and nobody did a thing to prove me wrong. In fact, their actions only encouraged it.

The last year that I was still a JW, I was living with my parents, going through difficult depressions/medication changes/etc. I didn't USUALLY go out of my way to associate at the meetings. I would ride with my parents (which meant usually being the first ones there....awkward) and I would just go and sit in my seat until the meeting started. I found it so stupid that hardly anybody would ever come up to talk to me. If I was a stranger in the congregation, that would be one thing. But I friggin GREW UP with these people! I'd gone from childhood, to teenager, to adult, pioneering for a bit within the congregation even. And yet hardly ANYONE would come say hi to me??? Granted, they always said from the platform that we ourselves should be proactive in associating with people, but I ALSO recall them telling people that if they saw someone just sitting there, they should go out of their way to talk to them.

Some friends. Some spiritual "family".

Even the congregations I was a part of in my independence.....if I wasn't an avid commenter and over-active in the ministry, I meant nothing to them. Which really toys with your emotions and feelings of acceptance when you're like me - someone who goes through phases of being uber-zealous and then inactive. One month I could get auxilliary hours and the next, 2 hours. But if I wasn't doing the auxilliary thing, they didn't give a crap.

grr...ok now I find myself rambling....sorry lol

It's just complete crap. Unless YOU do all the work, you are completely ignored and overlooked. By EVERYONE. Well...at least...that was my experience.

6

A few Random Memorial Observations:

by zarco in

jw
friends

john 3:16 was highlighted for several minutes by the speaker.

the new world translation: for god loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.new jerusalem bible "yes, god loved the world so much, that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him, may not die but have eternal life.

"the obvious difference is that the speaker used john 3:16 as a guilt trip for those to do more.... exercise faith when the real meaning of the scripture seems much different.

ana_dote

"The speaker also mentioned how simple the celebration was and commented and apologized for how long it took to pass the emblems – two congregations met together."

I guess in my area there were THREE congregations that decided to meet together! Personally, I think two is the MAXIMUM that should ever meet together and, even then, only if they are small congregations! I'm sure that will all that blitz work they do of the territory, they probably had a decent amount of visitors....I can't possibly imagine how it could have taken place in a timely manner. Passing the emblems to THAT many people at once is just ridiculous IMO.

6

New System Property Rights and Animals

by cameo-d in

jw
friends

a jw told me that in the new system when all the "good people" who have ever lived return to live on the earth again, that there will be enough land on the earth that everyone will get about 1 acre to live on.

is this a wt teaching?.

in the system we have now, the number of animals you are allowed to have depends (in some places) on the amount of acreage you have.

ana_dote

personally, I think there are going to be SOME individuals (like myself) who would find THAT much space a bit boring....what I mean is that I like the concept of suburbs and situations where there are people who live close to one another. If it truly was a worldwide brotherhood of perfection and peace, I would want to party it up (or "associate" for those of you who find "party" to have an unrealistic/negative connotation lol) and not have to travel hours or days by horse or whatever just to get to the party! :-P

Honestly, people can speculate and calculate and hypothesize all they want....but there is absolutely NO WAY to have ANY clue as to how things would be in the "new system". It's all just guesses and wishful thinking.

6

TWAS Nisan 14 and....

by SixofNine in

jw
friends

...and... and, uh, that's about all i remember from that song.. .

.

"take, eat, the escargot represents the speed with which i will return"..

ana_dote

lol i'm not exactly sure what that says about us Six.... ;-P

8

i just have a question...

by peaches in

jw
friends

do active jehovahs witnesses have a forum like we do here?????

thanks.....

ana_dote

they keep trying to create them on the sly.....but eventually it gets popular because all the witness folks realize how retarded and unrealistic it is to "widen out" your associations in person only and then the WTBTS has a part on some meeting or assembly about how dangerous it is because you don't REALLY know who you're talking to...blah blah blahhhhh.

so i'm sure there's probably a secret one or 20 floating around out there, but you'll never find one that's not either blatantly bashed by the brothers or at the very least "frowned upon".

I used to be on a couple different JW dating sites until one started charging money and then the other one was reamed up and down at an assembly and I felt guilty for bein on it. That one eventually started charging too. I wasn't lookin for dates, but just to meet people. I actually ended up becoming really good friends with a couple people from those sites. Of course....it's kind of funny that now those same individuals don't want to "associate" with me online anymore because of my decision to not be a JW. Almost seems like a double standard without directly being one. *shrug* screw em.

6

TWAS Nisan 14 and....

by SixofNine in

jw
friends

...and... and, uh, that's about all i remember from that song.. .

.

"take, eat, the escargot represents the speed with which i will return"..

ana_dote

ooh wait! I know this one! It goes like this:

Twas nisan 14 and......all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!!! RIGHT???? I'm almost POSITIVE that's how it went, right??

64

Hello..this is my story..

by Lozhasleft in

jw
friends

i'm pleased to have found this site...i've browsed a little ...read quite a lot and gasped at some stories, giggled at the one liners and nodded in recognition of others' strong opinions and can relate to a great deal.. i'll try and keep my intro as brief as possible for anyone kind enough to listen.. i got involved with the witnesses in the late 70's in the uk.

i was in my early 20s and had had a love and fascination for the bible since my difficult childhood.

i soon brought my life into 'line' although it took a long time for me to pack up the smoking which didnt go down well in those days when 6 months of study should have been enough and if you hadnt cracked it then it was suggested that you were some kind of loser.... i reared my 4 children in the 'truth' as well as i could but i cant claim that we were a 'strong' family in their terms...just muddled along really..my husband at the time was a very difficult and abusive man and home life wasnt easy for any of us with his anger, jealousy and violence.

ana_dote

wow! what a story!

You know, I too have always doubted the concept of the "annointed" only being selected from the lineage of JW's. If it is true that the purpose of the annointed is to share as co-rulers with Christ, governing wisely over all of humankind.....I find it hard to believe that there aren't individuals OUTSIDE the organization who possess rulership qualities that far surpass the average JW. Think of all the different people who have such enormous hearts for helping humanity in any way possible, or perhaps individuals with a greater sense of justice or mercy than your average person. It just seems so unlikely that they would ONLY come from JW's. Out of 7 billion people worldwide, you're really going to try to say only a few million were only ever eligible for the position and that it was sealed a long time ago and there's no way that anyone else could come along who possess the qualities looked for in a co-ruler of Christ? It seems a bit silly to me....*shrug*

I can sympathize to a small extent with having an angry and abusive male in the home who most people in the congregation just view as the fun-loving MS. With the exception of severe physical abuse, that was my dad. At some point soon I hope to write out and post my JW story, which I'm sure will include a bit more detail on that, but yeah....I'm sorry you had to go through all that!!!!

And I'm very glad that your relationship with God remained strong despite all the confusing rejections from people who were supposed to be representing your God and supporting you in your new found position.

Congratulations on finding a happier way of life!!!

35

Did you feel embarassed explaining the Memorial to people?

by lepermessiah in

jw
friends

i did...... by the time you were done, they looked at you like you were from another planet.. it was the "you actually believe all of this?

" look.. .

ana_dote

oh man i had the weirdest but most interesting experience with this at work today!

last year when I was an active JW I would witness to certain coworkers and we've built up a rapport on the religion level. Well this one coworker knows I don't go anymore and such...but there's actually another JW we work with and he gives her the magazines all the time (she claims she loves them tho, but has no interesting in becoming a JW lol). I guess he invited her to the memorial and she said she would try to go. So she messages me at work to ask if I had a jw bible with me that she could borrow, since she doesn't have one and wanted to read along with the same wording. Well the conversation went on about different things and then for some reason I felt compelled to "warn" her not to partake of the emblems unless she wanted people lookin at her like she was crazy lol this led to her wanting to know why she couldn't partake and me trying to explain the JW belief that only 144,00 go to heaven, that they alone should partake and that they also happen to only be JW's. LOLOL AWKWARRRRD. she was all like "well I'm going to heaven...who are they to say who does and doesn't go?! that's the Lord's judgement!", etc. Then, since her work day was over, she clocked out and actually spent another half hour talking to me in my office about how messed up it all is. I told her that i thought she should still go, just to see what it was like....only cuz she's been to the meetings before and likes them. She is very set in her baptist ways and will never leave, but she likes certain things about the meetings and literature I guess. But maybe she's actually studying them the RIGHT way....picking and choosing what applies to the reality of your relationship with God and dismissing any society BS.

At any rate, it was kind of interesting trying to explain it from the "outsider" perspective I now have, as opposed to the non-thinking rhetoric I was trained to automatically respond with. She kept sayin "see? that's why JW's have such a bad rep"...and this time all I could do was agree.

OH! and does anyone else think this sounds ridiculous??:

I've heard of maybe two congregations joining together and renting an auditorium...but has anyone heard of THREE congregations doing that???? I thought one of the intentions of an orderly memorial was not to keep people there for an excessive time period. How on EARTH do they expect to pass the emblems to all the members of THREE congregations plus each congregation's visitors in an appropriate amount of time???? I don't see how the elders let that one get by. Bunch of lazy brothers maybe. Ridiculous.

ana_dote

Posts by ana_dote