Posts by ambersun

37

Did you pick-up many people for the meetings??

by karter in

i was a regular taxi for alot of people.. we (wife & family) pick up one sister and her 2 children for many years ...he husband had walked out on her and we did'nt mind.. however when we were asked by the cobe wife to pick up and elderly and infermed bro a 3 day assembly (we had 3 young children) i said no.. we pased her and her daughter traviling alone to the assembly.. .

ambersun

My dad was the unofficial congregation free taxi service back in the 60s. We had the group study in our house and there were several elderly sisters without transport who came to our group, and often to our family Watchtower study evening. They all lived miles apart from each other. Dad would have to do the rounds picking them all up (nobody else ever offered) then taking them all home again. It was all taken for granted that it was their right to be taxied about to and from the meetings without having to pay, after all it was 'Jehovah' who was providing for them.

There was never any divine intervention when Dad went to refill the car's empty tank though, or heavenly help in maintaining his poor overworked car. No, it was 'Jehovah' who was providing, even though it was always Dad's wallet that suffered.

27

Skirts and trousers (pants if you're in the US)

by Chariklo in

just what is it that the watchtower thinks is so much more modest and respectful to jehovah about wearing a skirt instead of trousers?

that is, unless you live in a culture that has trousers as the norm for women, as in india.. something today brought this to my mind.

i can't even remember what it was, but it led to thinking again about this.

ambersun

The advice for skirt wearing females to limit the time they are exposed to the cold is a laugh, how can you do that when you are a full time pioneer with 100 hours to get in? I can remember one particular freezing winter in the UK back in the 1960s when I ended up with a kidney infection and pneumonia through pioneering in sub zero temperatures wearing the obligatory skirts and thin tights when every non JW female would not dream of appearing out of doors for long periods without wearing warm woolly trousers/pants. Back in those days, you couldn't even buy the thick 60 denier tights that are available today.

19

Had a visit from JW's yesterday.

by exwhyzee in

jw
friends

it took almost 3 years after we quietly left our last meeting (memorial 2008) before anyone came looking for us.

after nearly 25 years raising our family in the same hall and it was as if we didn't exist anymore.. that happened about a year ago but yesterday the boys and our daughter in law were here and were all having a late breakfast and lounging around in our robes an p.j's having a nice morning.

we were sitting at the kitchen table looking out the sliding glass door at one of those summer rains where it just buckets down all of a sudden.

ambersun

It made me smile to think of JWs feeling the need to explain to former congregation members of 25 years standing that conventions are open to the general public, as though you had never known that before. Surely as former friends they would realise that you must obviously have spent years going door to door telling the general public about the conventions, exactly as they were doing yesterday.

It never ceases to amaze me how often JWs treat us former dubs as if we are either suffering from amnesia or completely lost our marbles. After all, in their brainwashed minds what other reason could we possibly have for leaving "The Truth?" It must be really confusing to them when they see us all so happy and contented in our new WT free lives when they are all trained to believe we are all living miserable empty existences.

Even though I was a regular pioneer for years and the daughter of an elder, I still have to endure kind hearted JWs feeling the need to explain even the most basic teachings to me as if I had either forgotten or maybe spent my JW years in a total daze. I just smile sweetly and remind them that I actually already know all that they are carefully trying to explain to me, but I am not interested thank you, and perfectly happy to be free of it all. Very bewildering for the poor souls.

78

Cheery new Awake! cover - should make it easy to place...

by cedars in

.

ambersun

Looking at that picture I wondered where all the screaming, terrified people were and the little children, puppies and kittens especially that cute little girl with plaits then I realised she is probably still locked in her bedroom fending off that 6 foot middle aged pervert as per WT instructions. Or am I being just a bit too cinical here?

67

What was the weirdest thing ever said to you as a JW?

by falseprophet in

jw
friends

i was about 8-10 years old and twice i had people tell me that i should not pioneer but to go to bethel because i "was governing body material".. one was a co and another a do.. i didn't even believe in god, never have so that makes it weird!.

what wierd things were told?.

ambersun

Ooh where to start, I have so many!

I think one of the best examples is the time when I went to visit my Mom and one of her friends came round who immediately launched into a full scale verbal attack, yelling and screaming at me for leaving "The Truth" and did I realise what I had done to my poor mother.

I calmly told her the last thing I wanted to do was hurt my Mom which is why I had stayed in "The Truth" as long as I had done, but as I didn't believe it was "The Truth" I couldn't keep up the pretence any longer.

Her reply was that it didn't matter what I believed, I should belong to the religion my mother had chosen for me . She then went on to emphasize her point by saying how heartbroken her own mother had been when she left the catholic faith.

Hmmmm, so following along that line of reasoning, shouldn't she revert back to catholicism? She stuttered for a few seconds before agreeing with me and saying "Yes"

58

How did you long-timers do it before the internet / Ray Franz books / abundant information?

by irondork in

jw
friends

with all the tools and information at the disposal of newly awakened ones, it's still no easy task coming to terms with the magnitude of it all.

it still takes a lot of gut-wrenching time and effort to get to the point where you are sure you made the right decision to leave.. .

how did you long-timers (old-timers, respectfully) manage it without crisis of conscience, christian freedom, jwn, jwfacts, freeminds, access to thousands of fellow survivors with stories just like yours?.

ambersun

Alarm bells started ringing for me when it was announced from the platform that we were to hand in any books written by Russell or Rutherford to be destroyed on a bonfire as the teachings were out of date and therefore misleading and could lead to stumble people . This was back in the early 1970s I think. I had never seen any of these books and was curious as to why they were considered to be so dangerous.

One day I was sent to help care for a very elderly brother of the Remnant and he had a bookshelf full of literature by Russell and Rutherford that had escaped the destruction. I spent several hours reading through them and was absolutely SHOCKED by the changes that had taken place in the basic Society teachings since the days of Russell. This was supposed to be the religion chosen by Jesus to be nearest to the truth, that he wanted to represent him on earth, yet almost every basic doctrine had been changed!!! It was also a huge shock to learn that Russell was a Pyramidologist.

I had to keep all this to myself for fear of getting into trouble for reading it, but the seeds of doubt were well and truly set. Without the internet I had no idea other witnesses also had doubts so I lived with them for years making excuses not to go to meetings whenever possible and starting to fade, having to put up with being called 'weak' by the congregation. Eventually I plucked up the courage to tell my practically born-in husband that I couldn't stand it any longer as it was all lies. To my absolute relief he also started to fade soon after that and moving to a new location helped us to complete our fade. I still had no idea there were others out there going through the same trauma as us as there was no way of knowing without the internet, and certainly no help or counselling available.

36

The real truth is that you know you've recovered when you stop caring about JW's

by gubberningbody in

jw
friends

it's perhaps sad, but perhaps a bit of wisdom to come to realize how insignificant jws really are.. .

you finally get to the point where you don't even care what happens to the borg one way or another.. .

this said after almost four years..

ambersun

I can never stop caring for a very good reason. Whenever I look a my lovely young JW nephews and nieces with their lives ahead of them, yet not being able to think for themselves or get an acceptable career other than pioneering, and with the sure knowledge that one day they will hit retirement age with no pension and maybe realise too late that it was all a sham,

I want to yell at them to wake up and smell the coffee! Yet I can't do that without ringing their apostate warning bells.

I HAVE to keep caring so I can be there if any one of them DOES wake up and needs their dotty old aunt who would know only too well what they were going through. Maybe for that reason alone it is good if I never fully recover.

61

Brits

by NewChapter in

jw
friends

i hear americans called yanks---and it never even made me blink an eye.

so i'm not sure---and almost used the term brits a minute ago and edited to say british people.

so tell me----is it offensive?

ambersun

I'm an English Brit and I certainly don't hate you NewChapter

Brit is just an abbreviation of the word British so I don't see how anyone could be offended by the term.

20

Has anybody given any thought for Calebs freind ?

by smiddy in

jw
friends

after all, this unidentified freind of caleb gives him a toy, which calebs mom finds objectionable , shouldn`t she just have said to caleb ,give it back to your freind ?

and not dump it in the trash can ?

what sort of a message does that send to caleb (or any other children who watch this video ) calebs mom should have acknowledged that his freind gave him a present, and it should be appreciated , not to disrespectfully throw it away in the trash can with no thought to the giver of the present.. smiddy.

ambersun

not to disrespectfully throw it away in the trash can with no thought to the giver of the present.

I think this is the part of the video that disturbs me most. It highlights the JW view of 'worldly' people being of no importance except to be preached at.

Any normal mother would have questioned Caleb being given an expensive gift from another small child. Had his friend actually given it to him, or had Caleb begged his friend to lend it to him, to be returned the next day? Or, had Caleb actually stolen it from his little friend? After all, he seems an intelligent child and may have already learned that stealing or borrowing was the only way he could ever get his hands on a desirable toy such as Sparlock. His parents sure as hell would never buy him one!

It just gives me great pleasure to imagine Caleb's friend's furious parents turning up on the doorstep with their tearful son in tow, and demanding that Caleb's mother pays for a replacement Sparlock!!

33

November KM do not upset the branch with with your relatives or friends trying to get them to become JW's.

by life is to short in

i just thought that the question box of the november km was strange the way it was worded.

i tried to scan it but could not get it to come up so i will type it out.. ("who should fill out coupons and internet requests?.

our publications often contain coupons that can be filled out and sent to the branch office to request literature or a visit from jehovah's witnesses.

ambersun

Publisher who have received a notice to call on someone who did not personally request a visit have found themselves in an awkward position when the individual expressed irritation.

So, let me get this right. They are claiming it is wrong to put publishers in an 'awkward position' by making them call on people who did not request a visit and expressed irritation, yet this is exactly what they expect the rank and file to do on a daily basis. It does not make sense.

Encouraging publishers to go out en masse at Christmas when people are in the middle of opening presents or enjoying their Christmas dinner is also fine apparently, even though the householder most certainly did not request a visit on that day.

Talk about feeling awkward, I wished the ground would open up and swallow me sometimes. I can remember only too clearly the number of times I was yelled and sworn at by furious householders wearing party hats, and feeling embarrassed as I knew I would feel exactly the same if the situation was reversed.

Unbelievable!!