Posts by exwhyzee

19

I finally watched Saturday Night Fever

by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

jw
friends

i remember back when the movie came out how it was condemned by wt.

cos, dos, elders, all ranted against the movie.

other than the profanity, travolta adjusting himself in his undies, some violence, sex, and drug stuff, it was not "bad".

exwhyzee

I was at Bethel during that time period. Everything was Disco, the Bee Gees,Earth Wind and Fire etc...even at certain JW weddings. Your post reminded me of something that happened while I was there in NY in 1976. I was always a pretty good dancer so it was a good time period for me. I went to an amazing wedding one Saturday in the Bronx on a humid summer night. The people in attendance were mostly black and hispanic. The lights went down and it was non stop dancing. Somehow all us good little Witnesses knew the latest worldly dance moves. A sister got up and sang "Inseperable" by Natalie Cole and it gave you goosebumps to hear her voice. I was wearing my nicest clothes that night. A nicely cut dark green jacket, an open necked quiana shirt and a pair light tan colored wide legged cuffed pants and platform shoes (not too high) all of which I had gotten in Europe the summer before I went to Bethel. I danced all evening with a girl I met named Zan, we didn't talk that much because it was so loud but we danced like we had known eachother for years. I'm not really someone who sweats too much but it was so hot and humid that any movement at all made you stickey. Everyone's faces were shiney, Zans bare shoulders were damp and everyone was just sort of clamy but nobody cared. I danced with Zan until the bitter end and walked from the dark reception hall to the the Subway station a few blocks away. Compared to the crowded dance floor I noticed the street was refreshingly cool. Going down the stairs to the platform below and I noticed people were looking at me oddly. When I borded the well lit train I saw a group of cute girls my age checking me out( I thought) but they were kinda giggling too it seemed. I casually gave myself the once over and saw to my horror that my light tan pants were soaking wet all around the waist area and the moisture had sort of wicked downward making dark streaks that looked like I'd wet my pants. All I could think to do was to take my jacket off and tie it around my waist. The girls really giggled when I did that but they were pretty nice, I told them I'd been at a wedding and explained that I had been dancing all evening. They seemed like they were looking for somewhere to go for fun that summer night but of course they weren't JW's so it didn't even enter my head to ask where they were headed.

With all the dire warnings about the wicked world, they rubbed much of the sparkle of youth out of our lives. Still they couldn't vanquish all of my fresh youthfull outlook. I managed to have a pretty good time for myself back then but still I look back on how much I missed out on and how my narrow JW circumstances made me miss opportunities and experiences that are only available to the young. Anyway, years later I dared to see Sat. Night Fever I liked the music but I wondered what all the fuss was about...I was expecting it to be much more shocking.

14

Is this really a balanced life?

by ShawnS in

jw
friends

my husband who was raised as a witness & has recently considered getting baptised brought home a "personal study schedule".

this study schedule was given to him by an elder and clearly states at the top "do not post to any electronic service such as the internet" - that alone makes me wonder - why are they hiding it??.

anyway, the schedule breaks down every day, clearly states how much time you should be spending reading the bible & jw literature each day through the week.

exwhyzee

talks" on Sunday are generally appropriate for all ages. When an Elder is giving a talk and words in the talk such as RAPE & ADULTERY & INCEST are used....sorry but I don't think those are words that should be used in the presence of small children.

I agree. Those of us who grew up in the truth and heard about the horrors of the comming persecution we'd be undergoing and the destruction of all our school mates and neighbors or even ourselves if we didn't tow the line. We'd return from the meeting with a head full of fear of the future.

At one Sunday Watchtower study I recall a little girl raising her hand and giving us all a rundown on the difference between Circumcision of the heart and literal Circumcision. I often wondered what a visitor might think hearing a child talk about such matters.

28

Why Did Ray Franz Still Go On Field Service?

by BroMac in

jw
friends

in his book he says he still went out on field service.. why would he do that?

i'm finding it so hard to go out, i only take my bible.. .

bromac.

exwhyzee

Does anyone know Franz personally? I find it hard to believe by the way his books were written?

He was my Entrants School conductor for many months in Bethel shortly before it all hit the fan. And I shared weekly meals with he and his wife every few months. I could tell back then that something was bothering him, it was as if he beleived what he was doing yet something he couldn't quite put his finger on yet, was wrong. When I read his book I could hear his kindly and wise voice. I beleive every word he said. He put into words what I couldn't formulate.It all suddenly made sense to me and I knew from being a long time Witness and having been at Bethel he was absolutely telling the truth about what went on. The tone or voice you hear in the book is just how he was. Gentle kind and honest. Even when he was speaking against the WT he did it as kindly as he could and yet get his side of the story told. You'd have to have spent time in Bethel to really know how it was and know he was absolutely correct in his assertions.

62

Do You Ever Feel Invisible?

by Broken Promises in

jw
friends

i'm walking around the street or shopping mall.

people almost walk into me.

umm, can't you see that a person is only inches away from your body?.

exwhyzee

I think the feeling you describe is part of being human. (at least that's what I tell myself) Best not to take it too personally(easy to say). I know that if one gets an idea in their head about something, it can "color" everything and almost cause one seek out proof that ones idea is correct.

I guess as long as you can still see yourself in the mirror....things are lookin' up !

To me you are one of the stand outs on this board.

28

Why Did Ray Franz Still Go On Field Service?

by BroMac in

jw
friends

in his book he says he still went out on field service.. why would he do that?

i'm finding it so hard to go out, i only take my bible.. .

bromac.

exwhyzee

There are many times in life when one has to "go through the motions" until one figures out what to do or until there is no other choice but to make a big change. Looking back it seems to me that many JW's are in that state. They are in agreement with enough of the teachings, or believe they should be in agreement with all of them and feel they are to blame because they aren't or their life is so intertwined with it that leaving is just not in the cards for them. Only when there is some crisis or when they are seriously wronged does the house of cards collapse and change is unavoidable. Ray Franz was ousted. I don't know if he continued in the preaching work after that, but if he did it was likely because it was a way of life for him and he still felt compelled to spread God's word. I don't know where he would direct those who showed intrest. Perhaps he would have just encouraged them to read their Bibles or studied it with them and left it in God's hands to take it from there.

For him to have been reinstated he'd have had to acknowledge some wrongdoing on his part and admit his actions were those of an Apostate. Because of his former position, they'd likely have required him to make some sort of public apology. (example) We had a Bethelite who was made by the GB or whomever, to fly to the west coast to apologize to our congregation for breaking off an engagement with one of the sisters there.

234

Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs

by Lady Lee in

thw wts likes to play games with their statistics.

one interesting but truly tragic is the number of jwhovah's witnesses who commit suicie.. now i suspect that if a person commits suicide shortly before or after they are disfellowshipped then the elders would say that person wasn't a witness or that they had done something so terrible that they were too guilty to admit it and by their action of committing suicide they pretty much declared they were no longer a jw.. yup fancy talk to make sure any crap didn't fall on them.. so my question.. do you know of cases like this?

if so then can you answer a few more questions.. had this person been dfed or in real danger of being dfed or whatever the equivalent is if they were never baptized?.

exwhyzee

6 JWs (myself included) vs 1 incest survivor.

This is what happens when amatures dare to dabble in what should be handled by highly trained professionals.

Sorry Lady Lee that you were among the scores of victims who could have been spared this experience had they been treated adequately.

234

Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs

by Lady Lee in

thw wts likes to play games with their statistics.

one interesting but truly tragic is the number of jwhovah's witnesses who commit suicie.. now i suspect that if a person commits suicide shortly before or after they are disfellowshipped then the elders would say that person wasn't a witness or that they had done something so terrible that they were too guilty to admit it and by their action of committing suicide they pretty much declared they were no longer a jw.. yup fancy talk to make sure any crap didn't fall on them.. so my question.. do you know of cases like this?

if so then can you answer a few more questions.. had this person been dfed or in real danger of being dfed or whatever the equivalent is if they were never baptized?.

exwhyzee

Good comment Fernando...you nailed it !

234

Suicide - How many do you know within the JWs

by Lady Lee in

thw wts likes to play games with their statistics.

one interesting but truly tragic is the number of jwhovah's witnesses who commit suicie.. now i suspect that if a person commits suicide shortly before or after they are disfellowshipped then the elders would say that person wasn't a witness or that they had done something so terrible that they were too guilty to admit it and by their action of committing suicide they pretty much declared they were no longer a jw.. yup fancy talk to make sure any crap didn't fall on them.. so my question.. do you know of cases like this?

if so then can you answer a few more questions.. had this person been dfed or in real danger of being dfed or whatever the equivalent is if they were never baptized?.

exwhyzee

Many of us here have been spared from the utter aloneness and isolation one suffers when leaving the Organization for whatever reason.(I faded) By visiting this site we managed to bolster our fragile psyche and gained strength from the experieces of others here that mirrored our own. One can only imagine what it would have been like to loose your entire support system without the help of anyone as thousands before us did. No one in the world understands what our experience was like better than another former JW. How many of those visiting this site were spared from going the route of suicide? Hard to say but you know there were more than a few.

The only JW I knew who chose suicide was also the only actual "new" person I knew who was baptized in our hall in the 25 years I was there. The rest were young people who grew up in JW families. This guy married a former JW girl who had been DF'd and when she returned, he followed. Try as he may, he just couldn't live the JW life long term. He became a MS and tried very hard but left after a few years. His buisness failed after that, he suffered a few setbacks in his health. He felt like a failure on all counts and took a lethal dose of pain medication. I can't say for sure, but knowing him, I'm sure part of the guilt from dropping out of the TRUTH, played a part in his downward spiral.

I often think back and cringe about those who I was supposed to shun over the years. Thankfully I never felt the need to punish anyone like that but I went along with the practice just the same.

18

An educated persons perception of the watchtower magazine

by Aussie Oz in

the other day (australia day bbq actually) i somehhow got to discussing jws with some of my wifes extended family.

one of them, quite well educated and academic mentioned she was given a wt (no awake to go with it) when they called.. she commented that as she read some of it, it struck her how it was going on about pedaphiles and homosexuals a lot and secondly how every thing they said was not backed up by any legitimate research nor data, just random % this or that to support the flimsy arguments.. her comment was that this was the most un-academic, poorly written journal she had ever read and without going any further, threw it in the trash!.

the sheeple migh lap up the recycled vomit in that rag, but the public aint fooled.. the family laughed heartily when i informed them of the jw belief that the wt and awake!

exwhyzee

The public magazines and other literature serve a couple purposes, one of which is to provide the JWs with something to occupy their time with

by peddling it to the public.

Very true...in fact I've heard it stated from the platform that the Ministry was as much for OUR good as it is for the good of the public.

When you think of how many decades they have been printing Bible based literature you'd think they'd have covered every conceivable topic by now and could have a dozen or so Bethelites churn out copies of what they already have written. They wouldn't need millions of dollars worth of properties to house factory workers and a farm to raise food to feed all of them. The Bible hasn't changed....why do they need to keep updating the way it is explained ?

2

Readers of the simplified edition will not live forever!

by processor in

jw
friends

isn't that what the covers are indicating?.

the regular cover:.

the simplified cover:.

exwhyzee

They have to reel them in one step at a time. No sense scaring them off by introducing the concept of living forever until you've first hooked them with the notion that they are God's mouthpiece.

Full Fledge JW's bought into the idea of living forever and don't know how to function without that hope even if they on some level know it's not going to happen. They need constant reminders to keep the fantasy alive.