cope with discouragement.
when holy spirit.
(b) what can power from jehovah help.
Its not so much that some of the principles or points in these types of studies aren't valid.....
Its that you will get ZERO help from an elder or anyone else in this organization. If people heard what elders say in the "B school" during elder meetings, they would never go to them. Most of them could care less.
as i sit down and type this i have realized that if i could have seen into the future and known that this post would need to be created (for my own peace of mind anyway) i know i would have never given the jws a minute of my time.
a little background: i have been a jw for 20 years and found a wonderful woman in the religion she was a pioneer when i met her, an elders girl but that did not matter to me , it was and always has been her compassion and love for people that endeared me to her and we have been happily married for almost my 20 year tenure as a jw.
we have several children one of them is a teenage boy.
My heart bleeds for you my friend.
I have to also confess that my heart is permanently destroyed because I was an elder for 11 years...... I saw this sort of stuff all the time. I went into the night to get the PO's son who was attempting suicide (his parents threw him out for backing out of being an unbaptized publisher), I've listened to children tell they elder fathers never studied with them, that they knew nothing..... I've gone out on hunts to find other elders daughters in men's apartments...... the list goes on.
Its so sick that this religion treats children this way...... it gives me raging anger.
Imagine Jesus treating the woman at the well in John 4 this way. Or Mary Magdalene......or the woman with the flow of blood in Mark 5.
Somehow this crazy cult gets rational people to become crazed haters of their own family. I'm truly sorry.
i am curious as to what the members here look like.
be totally honest now.
not everyone looks like a knockout or mr. buff.... .
I get George Cloony all the time
many become and remain witnesses because of the hope of living in a paradise earth.
for those who have left how did you cope with the loss of this hope?
or do you still have this hope?.
I struggle with it.
I admittedly do not know what to believe.
The Paradise was never my motive....however, the thought of it helped me make decisions that ultimately damaged me greatly.
I do still believe the Bible and the example set by Christ.
my wife and i had dinner with a pioneer couple last night that we've been friends with for a long time.
they are both nice people, with the wife having a few dashes of pretentiousness mixed in.. usually when we are together, they always talk about pioneering, which makes some sense as it's the primary focus of thier lives.
however, it has gotten progressively more dominate in conversation over the last couple of years, to the point of being annoying.
The true story to pioneering is how many would do it without being called a "pioneer" and getting their name announced.
Answer: almost zero to none.
I've seen it. The motives are so messed up;.
elders are not allowed to bring tape recorders to elder school or elders-only type meetings.
elders can only take hand notes, usually inside the wide margins inside the elder's book.
i think the watch tower society is hanging the elders out to dry.. 1) being an elder is an important job, let's face it.
Baltar,...
I was shocked enough that I looked around the room at the other elders...........not one was acting surprised.
I will never forget that moment. It blew my mind.
elders are not allowed to bring tape recorders to elder school or elders-only type meetings.
elders can only take hand notes, usually inside the wide margins inside the elder's book.
i think the watch tower society is hanging the elders out to dry.. 1) being an elder is an important job, let's face it.
It was at my last KM School that a light bulb went on in my head.
The brother from Bethel gave a talk where he related a story of meeting one of the Governing Body members in the elevator.....a conversation ensued......and the GB member said "..........you know we just guess at it all and see what happens?"
He said it right from the stage.
I remember closing my Flock book and just staring in disbelief.
i wanted to dedicate this posts to just talking about the emotional scars we all have had or maybe still have.
was there a gap of time between you thinking you didn't want to continue and actually, consciously, deciding to no longer continue as on of jws?
it's amazing to me the strong hold this religion puts on you.
My truthful response?
RAW ANGER
I want a piece of someone's @$$ ..... and even my fellow elders in the are know it.
I just came to the realization today, ;......after finishing Captives of a Concept.... that I was one of those JW's that knew nothing about my religion. That I have been in a cult for 37 years. Nonetheless, I was marched on to stages big and small to teach others for years. All the nagging doubts I had about a lack of love were my gut telling me to RUN and get my family out with me. Unfortunately, they are still in.
I've even gone to a therapist to do something with all my anger. A wasted youth.....skipped an education.....a torn apart family. The time putting up with disrespectful, mentally ill District Overseers. The list is long.
My emotion.....is anger. Then I get super tired........and I realize I'm frozen. I just sit here looking out the window. No friends. No social life. I'm completely lost..........and have no idea what to do about it.
you may remember my recent experiance with two jw's at my door.
they lied non stop to me and even when i pointed out their lies they still did not tell the truth.. do they really think that they will win people into their cult by lying to them?
don't they think about what will happen when the person finds out they have been lying to them?.
They lie all the time.
6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.”
Organization, blood, beards, oral sex, dates, "generations", observances, school activities, holding your mate while praying at the Kindom Hall.....on and on and on and on and on and on and on............
They justified it in their minds a long, long time ago. Then they pull people in for 2 meetings a week to pound it into their heads.
hey guys, i'm compiling some hard drives full of films and tv series.
i've come to a bit of an impasse.
i've got hundreds of films, with all the obvious choices.
Here is my list of must haves:
