Thanks for all the comments, great to know that I'm not the only one thinking how boring they all were - I think the worst was the "comprehension" session (ie the WT). The longest of the week and the one where I always wanted to be somewhere else...
captain
JoinedPosts by captain
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12
Meeting Day
by captain inhas anyone ever had that dreaded "meeting day" feeling where you know you are going to waste two hours or more of your life - not to mention on the weekends where you can't go away for a whole day somewhere because you have fs on saturday, then a meeting on sunday?
or when you know you have to catch up on work etc but you know that with weekly fs pressures plus the meeting you have lost six hours before the weekend has even started?.
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What drove you? Love or Fear?
by fade_away inthis has probably been discussed here before, but i'm new so sue me.. i think the religion of jehovah's witnesses has been an amazing but tragic social experiment proving that the mind is most vulnerable to brainwashing when it's in an unhealthy state.
it seems to attract the bipolar, schizophrenic, depressive, and the paranoid.
it preys on negative emotions like sorrow and fear.
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captain
The thing is that the publications all say that we should have a "healthy fear" of displeasing God (and by extension the elders who are God's appoointed shepherds and judges in the congregation) but at the same time we should love him.
It was often likened by the fear a child has of displeasing a parent... however my parents would never have a third party discipline me on their behalf. And they wouldn't cut off all contact with my family and firends no matter how bad anything was that I did.
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Meeting Day
by captain inhas anyone ever had that dreaded "meeting day" feeling where you know you are going to waste two hours or more of your life - not to mention on the weekends where you can't go away for a whole day somewhere because you have fs on saturday, then a meeting on sunday?
or when you know you have to catch up on work etc but you know that with weekly fs pressures plus the meeting you have lost six hours before the weekend has even started?.
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captain
AND (I'm on a roll now) miseryloveselders and Av8orn think about this one ...
1. The brothers who work full time (theoretically) make larger donations
2. The visiting celebrity from another country or area travels bethel's expense, which ultimately is sourced from our donations. They also tend to take a few of their "vacation" days as well.
3. We then have to give up our own time or take time off work to listen to said brother
So it's effectively a double whammy.
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12
Meeting Day
by captain inhas anyone ever had that dreaded "meeting day" feeling where you know you are going to waste two hours or more of your life - not to mention on the weekends where you can't go away for a whole day somewhere because you have fs on saturday, then a meeting on sunday?
or when you know you have to catch up on work etc but you know that with weekly fs pressures plus the meeting you have lost six hours before the weekend has even started?.
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captain
I forgot about hoping for bad weather on an all day service day... a chance to catch up on the stuff you need to do (or even just to catch up on some sleep debt) guilt free!
Or even hoping to get severely ill on an assembly weekend...
Or when they announce there's going to be an extra meeting on a Saturday night (yay!) or even a whole saturday afternoon because there's a visiting "celebrity" (such as a bethel bigshot or a zone visit... not to suggest such ones are seeking more "prominence" than anyone else of course!! That's what "Christendom" does right?)
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12
Meeting Day
by captain inhas anyone ever had that dreaded "meeting day" feeling where you know you are going to waste two hours or more of your life - not to mention on the weekends where you can't go away for a whole day somewhere because you have fs on saturday, then a meeting on sunday?
or when you know you have to catch up on work etc but you know that with weekly fs pressures plus the meeting you have lost six hours before the weekend has even started?.
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captain
Has anyone ever had that dreaded "meeting day" feeling where you know you are going to waste two hours or more of your life - not to mention on the weekends where you can't go away for a whole day somewhere because you have FS on Saturday, then a meeting on Sunday? Or when you know you have to catch up on work etc but you know that with weekly FS pressures plus the meeting you have lost six hours before the weekend has even started?
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captain
There is no easy strategy that I've found. Bite your lip and bear it and hold on to the precious few true family and friends you find in there.
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promoting Satanism to the young
by Weeping inone of the top songs of the 70's was "hotel california" by the eagles.
most people have no idea the song refers to the church of satan, which happens to be located in a converted hotel on california street.
on the inside of the album cover, looking down on the festivities, is anton lavey, the founder of the church of satan and author of the satanic bible!
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captain
Sorrry a bit off topic but I love those articles about how evil pac man and space invaders were.
As for the music, get some perspective - it's a form of artistic expression. Saying it is designed to draw us to the Devil is just the kind of paranoid delusional rubbish that we were spoon fed as kids to keep us in a perpetual state of fear.
AussieOz hear hear. Give me Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Cream over any Kingdom Melody. The newer Kingdom Melodies are more about mind control than any rock songs have ever been.
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19
How did you treat people?
by captain indo you ever feel guilty about the way you pre-judged others when you were a drone?.
i feel guilty about it every day!
people's lives are so complex, we know so little of their personal struggles and "thorns in the flesh" yet we're conditioned to prejudge on a checklist of criteria published by a few men in new york.
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captain
Do you ever feel guilty about the way you pre-judged others when you were a drone?
I feel guilty about it every day!
People's lives are so complex, we know so little of their personal struggles and "thorns in the flesh" yet we're conditioned to prejudge on a checklist of criteria published by a few men in New York.
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Have any of you had experiences with a spouse who puts loyalty to thier parents and the organisation over you?
by captain ini'm going through this at the moment and very disillusioned - especially when i find that people who i thought were my good friends (read: elders) are actually siding with my spouse..
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captain
And here's another thing - it's frowned upon to sit on a jury, right? The reason being that we don't know the full situation or the facts so we may be bloodguilty by condemning someone innocent...judicial committeee anyone?
OK Vent officially over.
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Have any of you had experiences with a spouse who puts loyalty to thier parents and the organisation over you?
by captain ini'm going through this at the moment and very disillusioned - especially when i find that people who i thought were my good friends (read: elders) are actually siding with my spouse..
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captain
Thanks again all for your posts. ONTHEWAYOUT - Amen - this experience has really taught me who my real friends are and who like to live life by a rule book and forget the 'weightier things of the law' - namely to have love for your neighbor. YKNOT - To answer your questions - no idea, no idea and no idea! UNDERCOVER - I know there's no easy answers, but knowing that others have gone through (and are still going through) similar experiences is comforting to know. Unfortunately it's taken my own experience to open my eyes to how I've probably "demonised" others in the past who may have been going through similar struggles but of course have been unsupported in their struggle and have thus experienced the same kind of disillusionment I am now experiencing. I mean how difficult is it to open up about anything - especially when you're self medicating with alcohol - when the next thing that happens is a judicial committee? It'd be like going to an AA meeting, admitting that that you got drunk, then them saying - "we'll have sit with you to go through that night, with three officials, and if we think that you don't have the right attitude you'll still be able to come to AA but you won't be allowed to speak to anyone or associate with anyone in the group outside of AA. Oh and we can't do it now, so we'll do it in three weeks time. Thanks for coming to see us though, we're really here to help you. Ok it's late gotta go. See you in three weeks." I mean, yeah, that's going to help.