I have just spent the past hour reading the blog in question in JW Survey (going off at a tangent to the links to Anthony Morris III and those hilarious videos on utube lol). Most enlightening and fascinating! The comments from none JWs were, as you say, very interesting. Thank you so much for that, Cedars.
ambersun
JoinedPosts by ambersun
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Secular forum reacts to FDS "new light"
by cedars init's a short discussion, but it's interesting to see an outsider's perspective on the "new light.".
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=251464.
cedars.
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My 66th birthday is today!!
by Terry inonce i was little boy in fort worth, texas living with my maw maw and paw paw and mommy.. then, i was an 18 year old 6'4'' skinny 165lb religious nut being dipped in a baptismal during a local assembly.. suddenly, i was 20 and listening to a jail cell door clang behind me as a conscientious objector.. wow!
23 years old and put on parole until my 6 years sentence was ended!
i got married to a nice jw girl and had 3 kids!.
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ambersun
Happy Birthday Terry, and many more of them
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Pioneering - the best job in the world!
by MMXIV inhow often did i hear those words at circuit or district assemblies - that pioneering was the best job in the world?
how often did i hear a fake job advert for pioneering where there was 100% job satisfaction working for the most powerful person in the universe and you'd get to travel the world and live forever.... i've done both jobs and would say that the job advert should more honestly read like this:.
secular job.
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ambersun
This is such a brilliant thread, it is bringing back memories that I have suppressed or forgotten about for such a long time that I have suddenly realised that I need to amend a comment I made on my last post. When I said I never pioneered again, that is not quite true.
After the incident with the CO I actually found myself a full time job and proved so good at it that I worked my way up the ladder very quickly and was being groomed for a top position within the company. All was going well in my life for once! I absolutely loved that job, I was earning good money for the first time in my life, using my skills, and I was happy!
Then the alarm bells started ringing in my mother's head. My success was the result of the DEVIL leading me astray and putting temptation in my way. It had nothing at all to do with my personal talents and capabilities! She seemed to be constantly praying about it in front of me before I left for work in the morning or came home at night then kept on and on asking me if I had given my notice in yet.
I never got that position in the company because I was 'persuaded' to give up my job and return to pioneering before the devil could do any more damage. I kept the letter from my boss, following my resignation, for a long time. It spelled out in no uncertain terms what an idiot I was to give up such a good job and that I would never get that opportunity again. How right they were! I only pioneered for a short while second time round which is why I had forgotten about it until now. I couldn't stomach it any more.
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Pioneering - the best job in the world!
by MMXIV inhow often did i hear those words at circuit or district assemblies - that pioneering was the best job in the world?
how often did i hear a fake job advert for pioneering where there was 100% job satisfaction working for the most powerful person in the universe and you'd get to travel the world and live forever.... i've done both jobs and would say that the job advert should more honestly read like this:.
secular job.
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ambersun
Thanks for your comments MMXIV. As you say, far from any loyalty being rewarded, it was often just the opposite. Single sisters in particular had no status in the congregation and regardless of how many hours we put into the ministry each month we were still just lowly sisters with no say in the congregation other than to answer up at the Watchtower study and take part in those silly little plays sisters had to perform during the Theocratic Ministry School. There wasn't even a pioneer school to go to in those days, at least I was never invited to attend one!
Elders wives seemed to think they could order us about and rule our lives and the CO's wife interferred with my life to such an extent on one particular occasion that I became quite ill and depressed. As she was also a pioneer I found myself working with her a lot and as a result she seemed to think she had a lot of say over how I lived my life and who I chose to be friends with.
After a period of time I stopped pioneering due to bad health and depression and could hardly bear to go out on the ministry at all. I was in big trouble with the CO one month when I had only put in 2 hours. He had a private meeting with me after the service meeting one night and instead of any concern or sympathy he told me that my lack of enthusiasm for the ministry and feelings of depression were because I obviously had a guilty concience and needed to sort myself out and that my low hours were a sign of Jehovah's spirit not being with me or something like that. I was stunned. I was on the verge of tears but he just got up and walked away without a backwards glance. Never, ever did he or anyone else congratulate me for all the time I had spent as a full time pioneer!! Needless to say I never pioneered again after that and already had serious doubts about the 'Truth'.
Sorry if this has gone very slightly off topic, I just felt the need for a little rant .
Better now
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Pioneering - the best job in the world!
by MMXIV inhow often did i hear those words at circuit or district assemblies - that pioneering was the best job in the world?
how often did i hear a fake job advert for pioneering where there was 100% job satisfaction working for the most powerful person in the universe and you'd get to travel the world and live forever.... i've done both jobs and would say that the job advert should more honestly read like this:.
secular job.
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ambersun
Just Lois you have a PM x
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Pioneering - the best job in the world!
by MMXIV inhow often did i hear those words at circuit or district assemblies - that pioneering was the best job in the world?
how often did i hear a fake job advert for pioneering where there was 100% job satisfaction working for the most powerful person in the universe and you'd get to travel the world and live forever.... i've done both jobs and would say that the job advert should more honestly read like this:.
secular job.
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ambersun
I have just read cobaltcupcake's blog which has brough back so many memories, but here is a brief (edited to say well, maybe not quite so brief ) summary of my experience of pioneering - the best job in the world.
Well, as I entered my teenage years my plans and expectations for the future were as far as you could get from how they turned out to be. I had a grammar school education with prospects of university ahead of me and two parents who were determined to ensure I made the best of my opportunities and ended up with a good, fulfilling career.
During the middle of my teenage years a JW started working at the same company as my father. Within 6 months, our entire family were attending meetings, going out in service and studying for baptism. Things were done very quickly in those days as armageddon was soooooo close!
By the end of my teenage years all thoughts of a glittering career had long since gone. It was the late 1960s and all young people were obliged to pioneer whether they wanted to or not, otherwise they would not get through armageddon. My mother put so much pressure on me that I gave in and did it. Anything for a quiet life. I was a full time pioneer (100 hours a month in those days), doing a part time cleaning job, feet often so covered in blisters that every step was painful (I couldn't afford driving lessons let alone a car) but I had to keep going. Despite the powers that be saying that you should only work in twos, I often had no choice but to work alone in order to get my hours in, if nobody was available to come out and work with me. Some of the houses I called on as a teenage girl were quite dodgy to say the least and it is a wonder I survived unscathed. I was invited in by alcoholics, men showing an unusual interest in discussing religion, and many other dodgy situations that would make your hair stand on end. Fortunately I had enough common sense to turn down most offers to go inside the house and made a hasty retreat saying I would return with a man to talk to them. They amazingly lost interest at that point.
My parents were not worried about all these dangers as "the angels are looking after you".
As a direct result of long hours out in all weathers followed by evenings spent in overheated kingdom halls full of people with coughs and colds, I developed chronic bronchitis and asthma. "Never mind", my parents would say, "in the New System (which is coming sooooon) you will be able to fulfill your ambitions and your bronchial problems will have gone because we will all be perfect!!!" Don't worry that you are pennyless with barely enough money to afford the obligatory tights all sisters must wear to the meetings. I was even told off by a fellow pioneer for having a savings account! I only had a few pounds in it for extreme emergencies, but it was showing a lack of faith to even have THAT!
I am now in my 60s living off a basic state pension and thinking of all those lost opportunities.
Yes, keep on pioneering - it is the best job in the world!!
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Weird "new world" artwork from the 2013 calendar
by cedars inmy mother-in-law has a strange obsession with calendars, and orders the society's calendar each year.
this year's calendar is especially weird.
it features images depicting future events - in particular, the society's vision of the new world order.. i've taken the opportunity to scan some of the images for you all to check out.. please note - there are captions for each of the images, but i don't have the english language version of the calendar so i'd rather just quote the scripture used so as not to reveal which country i'm in.. .
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ambersun
Oh yes, cedars, bring it on!!!
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Weird "new world" artwork from the 2013 calendar
by cedars inmy mother-in-law has a strange obsession with calendars, and orders the society's calendar each year.
this year's calendar is especially weird.
it features images depicting future events - in particular, the society's vision of the new world order.. i've taken the opportunity to scan some of the images for you all to check out.. please note - there are captions for each of the images, but i don't have the english language version of the calendar so i'd rather just quote the scripture used so as not to reveal which country i'm in.. .
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ambersun
Great thread by the way cedars!
I just love that last picture! I wonder where they got their inspiration from?
Flash.........ah, ahhhhhhhhhh.............saviour of the universe.................
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Weird "new world" artwork from the 2013 calendar
by cedars inmy mother-in-law has a strange obsession with calendars, and orders the society's calendar each year.
this year's calendar is especially weird.
it features images depicting future events - in particular, the society's vision of the new world order.. i've taken the opportunity to scan some of the images for you all to check out.. please note - there are captions for each of the images, but i don't have the english language version of the calendar so i'd rather just quote the scripture used so as not to reveal which country i'm in.. .
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ambersun
I was talking to a JW the other day and the conversation turned to the extremes in weather, as some parts of the world are experiencing blizzards while others are coping with heatwaves and forest fires. She told me it be lovely when that won't happen any more (no more extremes in temperature).
I was puzzled until I saw these pictures, she obviously has this calendar on her wall and believes that in the New System everwhere will be one nice tropical temperature wherever you live on the earth. After all, the GB in their wisdom have chosen not to show any nasty snow or ice anywhere.
All I can say is, poor polar bears and poor penguins
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Old time JW's did some very devout JW's refuse to eat pizza with pepperroni because they believed "blood" was in the pepperroni?
by booker-t ini have never heard this before until i read a life story of an ex-jws and how some jws in the past refused to eat pepperoni pizza because they thought blood was in pepperoni.
i do know some elderly jw sisters would complain about eating steak if it bled while cooking.
has anybody else heard of this pizza nonsense?.
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ambersun
Here in the UK during the 60s and early 70s I can remember being told to check every packet and tin for the word lecithin before buying it. Rumour had it that manufacturers even sneaked blood into ice cream and I can remember dubs going up to ice cream vendors asking if there was any blood in it before buying. I may have actually done it myself (ahem). The looks of stunned disbelief on the vendors' and customers' faces was hilarious!
My mil once asked a butcher if his turkeys had been bled or strangled before buying one. He burst out laughing and asked her if she could imagine the poor person having the job of strangling full grown turkeys. You really couldn't blame people for thinking JWs were nut jobs!!
Some sisters in my congregation were convinced the powers that be would start injecting fruit and vegetables with blood in order to try and starve Jehovah's people to death, and that would be our tribulation. You couldn't make this stuff up