Posts by exwhyzee

10

JW prayers

by Laika in

listen, i know many of you saw the word 'prayer' in the thread title and are just itching to write a post about how prayer never works, sorry to disappoint, but whether or not prayer works is not the point of this post.. jws do believe that prayer works, and as such, what they tend to pray about is, i think, quite revealing about their general attitudes toward other people.. i have heard thousands of public prayers by jws, some of you may have heard tens of thousands.

i obviously cannot remember them all, but my experience tells me that never, or at least rarely (i guess there are always exceptions to the rule) would a jw pray for the solution of a general problem such as asking jehovah to help the homeless, asking jehovah to bring peace in a wartorn country, or asking jehovah to bring about fairness to the oppressed, except as such problems may effect other jws, or except by means of 'the kingdom', which is supposed to solve said problems by wiping out all those suffering them.

they may pray for direct help for members of the congregation going through major problems, but i rarely hear a jw offer to say a personal prayer for someone going through a hard time.

exwhyzee

I have heard JW's pray for the Brothers and Sisters where the preaching work is under ban or where persecution is going on but never for the general population or other Christians who may also be suffering. The difference I see between local Chruch members and the local JW Congragations I've attended is that JW's, to my knowledge, won't rally together on a local level to get support for injustices or aid to Congragation members that are in some sort of trouble.

For example. Locally there was an elderly man (non JW) who went on a photography trip to Mexico with his Teenage Grandson, they both were into photography. They apparently were taking random photos everywhere they stopped. While at a shop in a small village picking up some snacks, they photographed the Mexican girl who was working behind the counter. On their way out of town, the local Police stopped them and accused them of taking illegal photos of minors and threw them in the local jail. The were to be held until they either paid a hefty fine or until a trial could be held and apparently that can take up to a year. The Grandfather was in need of his medications and the local authorities wouldn't allow him any medical treatment. The Grandfather attended a Church here in our area. The local Church members organized a public rally to raise funds to help him and they went to the media and the State Governor and Senator to bring attention to this case and demand help, which they received. The attention this case received from the media and U.S Government officials embarrased/convinced the Mexican officials to let the two travelers go.

If I were in the same situation when I was a JW, I can't imagine the Elders or local congragation members knowing what to do or even feeling the need to come to my aid. The last thing they'd want to do is bring any attention to themselves by going to the media. (mush't kick up a fuss in case it might shed a bad light on the organization). Nor do I think any one of them would organize a public fund raising or even know the process for enlisting the help of the Governor or Senator. They'd probably hesitate to do anything without first running it by Brooklyn and Brooklyn would probably tell them not to get involved. I could be wrong but after being a lifelong JW my sense is you'd be on your own unless this had something to do with the ministry. A prayer is probably all you'd get and it wouldn't be a public one from the platform.

38

The experience that changed my life

by hijosdelawatch in

i have been lurking for a long time here and i think i'm prepared to speak about this experience openly.. .

i was born in a jw family and i grew up as the average jehovah's witness does.

even being very young, i helped with the territories and other work in the congregation.

exwhyzee

Hijosdealwatch:

I'm so glad your Mom made it. My Dad wasn't a baptized JW but signed the no blood paperwork before going into surgery based upon what he was taught in his free home bible study. A few day's after his operation, he began declining and it was discovered that he was bleeding out. By the time they realized this, his blood count was too low to go back into surgery to fix the problem without having a transfusion. At this point he was in and out of consciousness and couldn't undo his directive. My younger sister was sitting at the end of his bed , waiting for us to arrive and keeping watch hoping his blood count would improve. Suddenly he bolted upright. With tubes and monitors intact, he scrambled toward her and grabbed on to her pleading for help then immediately died as she tried to hold him up and screamed for help. She has never been the same after this. We walked into the room moments after it happened and were shoved out of the door along with my hysterical sister, trying to figure out what had just happened and doing what we could to keepi her from passing out. I looked over my shoulder and saw what they were doing to try to revive him and it wasn't pretty.

About 2 years after all this happened, the good folks at the Watchtower decided that taking blood fractions would be ok. This may have been enough to save him had they made this ruling in time. Had he known this change was in store, he'd have realized that these men don't really know what they are talking about and would never have signed the no blood directive. If I could only do it over again, knowing what I know now, I'd have given him my blood straight out of my arm if I could....let Jehovah kill me for trying to save my Father.

You did the right thing, if your Mom would have died, those elders would carry on with their lives and your mom would be just a distant memory to them while you lived with the agony of knowing you made a call that wasn't yours to make. Not only because of your age and because it was you Mom's responsibility to sign her blood card, but it would have been forgery for you to have signed it.

After my Dad died, the brothers said "Even though your Father wasn't a baptized Witness, he died faithful to Jehovah so he'll surely be resurrected into the new system" We asked them if we could hold our Father's memorial at the Kingdom Hall but they said no because he wasn't baptized. I was furious. Apparently Jehovah would let him into the new system for dying "faithful" but he wasn't legit enough for us to have a memorial at the Kingdom Hall.

This was a close call for you and I'm so glad things turned out well. Thanks for sharing this with us.

What did your Mom say about the whole forgery thing when she found out?

53

Today is my birthday

by Gojira_101 in

jw
friends

well so far it is a fantastic day!

i know my grandma isn't going to call me like she does every year to say she is happy i was born.

you know the jw form of wishing someone a happy birthday.

exwhyzee

Happy Birthday Shyla...did you know it's a scientific fact that the longer you live, the more of these birthdays you will have ?

15

It's just dirty laundry...

by Vidiot in

i make my living off the rank-and-file,.

i'm a bit of an expert, and i do it in style,.

if you wanna stay a while,.

exwhyzee

Vi...I am impressed. The jingle is good. Do you have any music to go with it?

Here Ya Go ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0xr31XbSOU

10

Anyone else buy one of those Pocket Hoses seen on TV?

by Glander in

we bought 2. loved them.

worked as advertised... for about a month.

first one developed a big bulge and popped.

exwhyzee

How much would you pay for a quality prouduct like this ???? Wait ....don't answer ! Because if you call in the next 5 minutes, you'll also receive not one, not two, but three Ginsu knives and a Bamboo Vegetable steamer !

(I'm glad you posted this....I was on the verge of thinking about becomming interested in getting one.)

11

Mormon's using the web to escape their cult.

by cantleave in

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/us/some-mormons-search-the-web-and-find-doubt.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

when fellow believers in sweden first began coming to him with information from the internet that contradicted the churchs history and teachings, he dismissed it as anti-mormon propaganda, the whisperings of lucifer.

he asked his superiors for help in responding to the members doubts, and when they seemed to only sidestep the questions, mr. mattsson began his own investigation.. but when he discovered credible evidence that the churchs founder, joseph smith, was a polygamist and that thebook of mormon and other scriptures were rife with historical anomalies, mr. mattsson said he felt that the foundation on which he had built his life began to crumble.. around the world and in the united states, where the faith was founded, the mormon church is grappling with a wave of doubt and disillusionment among members who encountered information on the internet that sabotaged what they were taught about their faith, according to interviews with dozens of mormons and those who study the church.. i felt like i had an earthquake under my feet, said mr. mattsson, now an emeritus area authority.

exwhyzee

I encourage everyone to read the comments of others who have viewd this Video. (the example below says it all, for me)

“I was just in a bubble, and we felt so happy,”

That is exactly the question we must all answer -- is it better to stay in the bubble and be happy? Or to face the truth?

7

Field Service meetings

by Freeof1914 in

jw
friends

hope all if you are well.

just a couple if updates i don't post much, but i constantly read.

i am now disfellowshipped and i am seperated from my wife and rebuilding from the bottom.

exwhyzee

I was also thinking about the whole "sales" aspect of being a JW. Then I remembered how they had an "offer for the month" and the "Magazine Subscription" campaigns. They had demos. on how to fill out the yellow and blue subscription forms, how to lead the householder into not only accepting the latest magazines but also signing up for a years subscription of BOTH Wt and Awake magazines. I never could bring myself to ask anyone if they wanted one. I couldn't understand why they thought a non JW would want to read let alone have a subscription to the Watchtower which is full of "inside" subjects, terms and training and instruction in congregational matters.

My JW friend once jokingly said "There are people out there who would buy a white washed grave if you came to their door with it " In a way he was right, like all sales, it's a numbers game, the more people they get out there pushing the product, the more chances there are that someone will go for it, no matter what it is.

3

Hairyhegoat

by exwhyzee in

jw
friends

anybody heard from hairyhegoat since he and his family moved to austrailia 5 months ago?

i wonder how they are making out ?.

exwhyzee

Thanks Bigmac. I was on Vacation in OZ just about the time they arrived there. Too bad things didn't work out for them. It would be interesting to hear the story of their adventure though. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wondered how things went.

3

Hairyhegoat

by exwhyzee in

jw
friends

anybody heard from hairyhegoat since he and his family moved to austrailia 5 months ago?

i wonder how they are making out ?.

exwhyzee

Anybody heard from Hairyhegoat since he and his family moved to Austrailia 5 months ago? I wonder how they are making out ?

38

Humility test - I shall have it ready when JW knocking on my door.

by Mr Fool in

jw should put humility high on their list.

therefore i will let them do this test after a small talk:.

.

exwhyzee

The humility the Watchtower Organization calls for is one where you put your own thoughts and or doubts aside and totally believe whatever they tell you. Humility comes into play again when later they change their teachings and you are required to humbly forget what they said was true before and accept the new truth and never bring it up again.