Posts by not a captive

22

A sister from an old congregation wants to talk to me tomorrow....

by not a captive in

it is peculiar.

she called the woman i work for to set up a visit after noon tomorrow to talk to me.. i don't know this sister very well.

she is from a congregation i attended about six years ago.

not a captive

This is a late posting, it being 1:30 A.M. (family stuff) And this end is as strange as its beginning.

The sister had phoned( again through my employer) during my absence to a physical therapy session with the little boy I am caring for. She sited a problem in her own work preventing her visit. But again she spoke through my employer to say that she loved me and was concerned for me.

I told my employer that it was unsettling to have the matter end without knowing what was behind it. So later after my work I called this sister and got her voice mail. I told her I appreciated her concern and willingness to talk considering I am disassociated. I would be glad to talk to her if she wishes to although I understand that she may not. She has not yet returned my call.

My employer feels sure that the sister wanted to try to "fix me".

I may never know what this whole bizarre non-event was about. But when I think about it I am struck at how indirect life did become for me too when I was a fully involved Witness. We often have to make our conversation conform to the direction of the FDS. This sister may have had a natural impulse to talk or to try to save me. Or maybe she just wanted a bit of curiousity satisfied. It would have been as easy for her to get my number as it was for me to get hers--I even called her. But Witnesses do learn to be passive in some ways and it is called "obedience".

I am disappointed not to know what this was about.

4

What are the chances...

by Strider Arekksu in

talked to some elders about my doubts, actually confimation that the wts bible logic was extremely flawed.

wanted me to think it over, but i said i was admant about what i felt and would be crazy to deny it.

it's been about a month sense i last went... due to more important things in my life, however, my dad is being an idiot and wants to still go to determine if they are true or not even though i already gave him enough proof that they are a joke, he keeps using the excuse of "if they teach the people good habits it can't be all bad.

not a captive

Ynot and Black Sheep and Mental have it right. Feeling as you do, if you go to meetings it will make you have to do something. It will make you ill to sit and just take it and take it.

The bit about the Irish is perfect.--"Come to thoughtfreedom with the WTS"

Good advise, Chris . I'm talking to a JW today and I will try to have her tell me how God and I benefit from lies in the name of unified worship.

Hang on to your conscience, Strider. Don't let them cage it. That is the main thing. You are fine.

159

Getting into Arguments with JW's...

by ForbiddenFruit in

i'm trying to fade away, but i sometimes find myself in discussions or arguments with jw family/friends/white haired virgin elders.

now, i usually have them beat on things but i'm not very experienced, so i was thinking if you guys could help me put together a list of completely unanswerable questions to pose to my jw friends/family/elders so they can stop bugging me.

if i keep asking them questions they simply cannot answer, then they might leave them alone.

not a captive

This is like jumping on to a moving train.

22

A sister from an old congregation wants to talk to me tomorrow....

by not a captive in

it is peculiar.

she called the woman i work for to set up a visit after noon tomorrow to talk to me.. i don't know this sister very well.

she is from a congregation i attended about six years ago.

not a captive

Dear dgp, It is odd that the sister didn't talk to me. P.S. I'm getting old, but I'm still a "she". Someday I'll freshen up my avatar's poofy pink hair and fix her make-up.

I'm hitting the sack now. I thought a while before posting this. I gather that some who stop in at JWN go on after a while. I am so thankful that there is such a caring community of people to share this stuff with. I love that we can kick ideas around ---------but there is nobody trying to crush you on this board. I am so glad. Thanks for being there. Thanks.

I'll check in tomorrow. And I have re-read each post and will take care. Maeve

22

A sister from an old congregation wants to talk to me tomorrow....

by not a captive in

it is peculiar.

she called the woman i work for to set up a visit after noon tomorrow to talk to me.. i don't know this sister very well.

she is from a congregation i attended about six years ago.

not a captive

It is peculiar. She called the woman I work for to set up a visit after noon tomorrow to talk to me.

I don't know this sister very well. She is from a congregation I attended about six years ago. This sister has known the woman I work for(not a JW) for several years. A month ago she had stopped to visit the family while I was working there. She asked how I was doing. I looked her straight in the eye and told her I was doing great. I wasn't attending meetings and I had DA'd myself. She was shocked and assumed I could have no sound reasons for leaving.

In fairness, I let the sister know that the elders had told me not to discuss the matter-- that I had been gagged as long as I was a Witness. But I told her I wasn't bound anymore and would be glad to answer any questions she had---if she really wanted me to answer them.She kind of played at guessing if I had wanted to celebrate holidays, etc. I told her that in the end I had to choose between loyalty to God or the Organization. She didn't talk to me the rest of the visit.

What she intends to do tomorrow is beyond me. The woman I work for said she didn't know what to say to this sister except "Come on and just play it by ear, she'll be working tomorrow."

I just thought those who have concern for family and friends who are still "in" might be interested in what can possibly transpire.

I'm disassociated and she is "overstepping the elders" isn't she? Not that I care! Isn't this strange?

43

2010 - NO District Convention For Me - WoooHoooo! Anybody Else?

by mentallyfree31 in

i have attended district conventions since i was a little kid every year.

now that i have woken up from the wt nightmare, this will be my first year to miss a district convention!

and it feels so liberating!

not a captive

This is my first anniversary of not going to Convention.

140

I HAVE JUST BEEN APPOINTED AS A MINISTERIAL SERVANT.

by african GB Member in

after being reinstated in 2008, i was finally appointed ms last night.. i am so excited now that i have a certain measure of 'power'.. ex-ms's/elders, what types of challenges come with this priviledge?.

what will be expected from me?.

not a captive

It's army talk for "Kitchen Police" (meaning you peel potatoes for an army)---or has that changed since I was a kid?

23

So, Who Really DOES Write the WT? ( A LONG But Worthy Post)

by AGuest in

jw
friends

" 1 john 2:26-28. .

"when the time comes to clarify a spiritual matter in our day, holy spirit helps responsible representatives of "the faithful and discreet slave" at world headquarters to discern deep truths that were not previously understood.

nor does it say, "helps the governing body.

not a captive

Shelby,

Thank you for putting this out there. Their faith program makes me retch.

I wrote the Branch at this exact time last year, May 10, 2009, to settle something the elders could not. I had stopped going to meetings after the 2009 Memorial pending a resolution of the matter because the elders had forbidden me to talk to any other JWs on the topic which had to do with my conscientious rejection of an important and recurring error in the literature.

August 31, 2009 was the date of the Branch response. I went to the elders to discuss it a month later. I pointed out that I had sent a letter to the Branch and signed it with my name. My life as a Witnesswas at stake. In return I received a fat letter signed by whom? Not the Faithful Slave. But who were they? It was signed:

Your brothers in Jehovah's service, Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

The response had been farmed out to other "sheep"like myself, something I had not wanted. Years previous to this, I had mentioned my thoughts to an older JW. Her son worked in the writing department. She in turn in a phone conversation with him mentioned my scripture investigation to him and she relayed his response: "Has she checked to see what the literature says?" That was when I knew I was alone. He was on the writing committee and all he would do was endorse old news; recycle/reuse. The writing committee would only run anything I sent them through the filter of old writings without giving it a thought or a prayer. It wasn't their place, was it?

I told the the elders that I gave my name, but a corporation had answered me.

I was told that I had better watch out, I was on thin ice.

The entire experience thoroughly opened my eyes, little by little. I am out now and, well, the light does get brighter the further away I get from the Organization.

Again, thanks for the post. Maeve

42

Sister in my Congregation claims Jehovah always answers her prayers....including her new skirt and shoes for $20 bucks???

by Witness 007 in

to show you how dumb and shallow my congregation is a one of our "deeper" sisters claimed in field services that "jehovah answers all my prayers...like last week i wanted a new skirt and shoes for field service but only had $20 dollars....and would you believe i found them!!!

now i for one though well, why didn't you pray or the oil pipe in the mexican gulf to dry up...or food for the poor in haiti.

other pioneers tell of vegetables falling off trucks just when they had nothing for dinner???

not a captive

Maybe he didn't answer her prayer, really. She had to pay for them after all.

159

Getting into Arguments with JW's...

by ForbiddenFruit in

i'm trying to fade away, but i sometimes find myself in discussions or arguments with jw family/friends/white haired virgin elders.

now, i usually have them beat on things but i'm not very experienced, so i was thinking if you guys could help me put together a list of completely unanswerable questions to pose to my jw friends/family/elders so they can stop bugging me.

if i keep asking them questions they simply cannot answer, then they might leave them alone.

not a captive

In looking at the difference between "sacrifice" and "burnt offering" and why Jesus' Father would not have commanded Abraham to do both:

Been thinking... the difficulty of communicating a thought from one human to another (marriage is like that too) is so much evident in our discussion. Don't you see how God would have over-run Abraham's thought processes to instil His meaning--that would have been violating the essences of what listening is. God had to present a dilemna to Abraham that Jesus spoke of later:" 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, And the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead but of the living." Matt. 22:32

Just a thought . Not done thinking. Gotta go to work now.

Maeve