i thought i was back on the jw radar after my jw daughter had a local elder call on me back in 2011 - but apparently not.
he obviously didn't let his elders know i lived here, no record was kept for posterity and just called my daughter telling her that her " dad has differences with the organization " because he never called back on me as he promised to talk again.
as i'm just inactive for 10 years.. so these two older jw ladys come knocking yesterday - one lady about 57 and the other lady older about 71 yrs.old ( i asked how long they had been jw's and told me they both have been in 30 years.
On the way back to the car the older Sister said to the younger one ...." Gasp.... I'll bet he's the guy that poor Sister Zealous ran into at the gas station a couple of weeks ago !"
The few chances I've had to mention the Candace Conti case to JW's, I've thrown in the comment. "Why do you suppose you, as a representative of this organization, haven't been informed about this landmark case from your leaders?? "
i may be suffering twice for having left the jehovah's witnesses and watching my jw wife and other family members stay in.
once for the changed situation (or loss) and another time for expecting to make progress in getting over it.. the 1969 book on death and dying by elisabeth kubler-ross introduced us to the kubler-ross model , commonly referred to as the " five stages of grief.
" they are very helpful, but the original idea of the book and the hypothesis was that when a person is faced with the reality of impending death , he or she will experience a series of emotional stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.. it isn't always the case, but those stages are often felt by terminally ill patients.
It's difficult for many to reach an actual closure while being shunned or have family members still in the organization, because it's death by a thousand cuts they are dealing with here.
it irks me when i read in the watchtower do not use secular sources or the internet to do research... but in that very same wt it will quote a secular source or literature to prove a point!
how hypocritical!!!
it's all apart of their limited information mind control!
Does anyone know where there's a quote in the literature saying not to use secular sources ? That would be handy to have at hand when speaking to a JW about the inconsistencies of their leaders.
I had forgotten about this until your post but when I was about 7 or 8 I wanted a bookbag of my own so much that I dismantled an old portable record player I got myself for about 50 cents at a second hand shop and used the case as a book bag. It was 2'x2' wooden box and was covered in brown vinyl and was square and bulky but I thought it was pretty great. I put pencils, pens and paper and all my meeting books in it . I can't imagine what people thought when they saw this little kid hauling this hollowed out record player, into the Kingdom Hall. I sat in the first seat in the row so I could put it out in the asile like the grown up brothers did. The only problem was it was really heavy and you couldn't just open it up in place without it flopping open and everything spilling out into the asile. It had two latches on the top that each made a loud snap whenever I opened it. I had to haul it up bumping and banging on the seat in front of me and put it in my lap and hold it flat everythime I needed someting . Looking back I think it must have been an embarrasment to my Mom when someone gave her an old one for me to use.
It's these kind of things that make me feel sad for that little boy who was so willing and was trying so hard to be a part of the odd world he found himself in. Instead of him being exposed to fun and useful activities that would be of use in his future, he was walking around with a record player full of Bible literature and was being taught that the world, including his own non JW father, was going to be destroyed any minute.
I'll leave the childhood "tribulation" nightmares for another time.
i just totalled the amount of time i have spent going to meetings/.
travelling to and attending assemblies, field service, etc etc, over my 60 years.. it came to nearly 4 years.
.
Not only do I regret my lost childhood and youth spent in this religion, I wish I could have the evenings and sunny weekends back with my 2 little boys that was wasted with them wearing little suits sitting still in a windowless building listening to religious fanatic brainwash eachother.
My wife's large immediate family is all JW's...pioneers, elders, bethelites etc. However two of her siblings (and their kids) are shunned because they left the orginization when they were teens and went on to get educations, marry and have families of thier own. Some of my Wife's Uncles and their families are all JW's....pioneers, elders , missionaries etc. A total of 12 of their family members including grandchildren who were never JW's, are cut out of everything for simply not attending anymore when they turned 18.
At the big Family reunion recently, it was very noticable (especially at picture time), how all the older "worldly" relatives had all of thier kids and grandkids around them....Everyone of the JW's families were torn apart, many didn't attend not wanting to be shunned, others did attend but couldn't speak to eachother. One of the older Aunties point blank asked her JW sister in law (30 year full time poineer) in front of everyone, what the name of her new grandchild is. The JW sister in law didn't even know the name of the new baby or his 3 year old brother. The Auntie went on to talk about this sister in law's grandchildren and how cute they are and what a good mother they have etc. It was such a shameful thing to witness but it was really telling about how much damage has been done to this particular family. These are kind loving and good people who all used get along with and love one another but the religion has broken them all up and it has been going on for decades. Such a bad Witness....no one is impressed with this kind of religious devotion.
The dent they put in the "pie pan" of this family is far reaching and won't ever smooth out.
i have heard so many good things about this film and i am really hoping to see it myself!
it will be playing soon near me, in grand rapids, michigan.
if anyone else is interested in attending the link is below!
Crmsisl.....where did it play in Seattle? Do you know if it will be playing again?
with the watchtower having a 25million monthly print, here is the breakdown.
1 tree will make 8,333 sheets of paper.
each watchtower, atleast the last i had, had around 16 sheets.
Most of the rain forrests are being cut down to make way for grazing land for the cattle that are raised to serve the Beef industry. Most paper is made from trees that were farmed/planted specifically for the production of paper. Lots of fast growing Cottonwood tree farms in my area of Washington State, but yeah....think of all the power,ink,water etc used to harvest the trees,produce the paper, print on it and transport it to the consumer and driven from door to door. The Bible hasn't changed but somehow they've managed to make it necessary to print information about it on a twice monthly basis for a hundred years.
everybody knows it's going to pass.
nobody ever asks if possibly that much money for the circuit overseer's whatever isn't a bit too much, or whatever else the congregation is being asked to agree to.
then the call to raise your hand if in favor of doing the "right thing.
It would be great to raise you hand and make a motion that the resolution be tabled until the Watchtower Society demonstrates, in the form of a detailed financial report, why it is in need of further donations from the flock, especially in light of the recent sell-off of multi million dollar NY realestate and the closure of Kingdom Halls and Branch offices world wide.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/29/pastor-shot-killed-during-louisiana-church-service/.
Are you meaning that it cannot happen or has already happened inside a kingdom hall before?
Click on this link below that CalebsAirplane provided. Apparently the Holy Spirit was "offline" when this happened.
