Posts by exwhyzee

53

2014 DC: Fewer, but larger venues in the U.S.

by doinmypart in

jw
friends

in the u.s. there are fewer venues this year, but they will be held in larger facilities.

as long as i can remember my family travelled no more than 2 hours to attend and in the last few years the dc was local (within a few minutes travel).

this year my family is driving 6 hours to a major u.s. city.

exwhyzee

The last few District Conventions I attended in the "Dome" near here, were in comparrison to the old days, like depressing Ghost Towns. Whole sections of empty seats and others that were sparsley populated. In corridors that were once hard to get through, there was only a smattering of people. The lower floor was filled with old folks whom I remembered from back when they were young. There were so many disabled ones there as well. Sunday was somewhat better.

I'm guessing they're wanting to really "pack em' in" to not only save money but also to give the impression that the orgainzation is made up of a mighty throng rather than a dwindling and aging populace. It would be so much more encouraging to those who are still going these days.

37

BIG conversation with the missus MKII. Ended well. Wish I could argue better!

by Captain Blithering in

jw
friends

well, had a loooooooong conversation with the missus again after being accused of being overly critical of the borg.. .

i stated that i thought the borg was marvellous, full of really good people, (in our experience, it has been so far), but that i had difficulty with the dogmatic stance we had on certain issues that we couldn't possibly be sure about, and that if i were to vocalise any of these issues and unrepentantly not change my thinking, then i could be df'd for that, which i view as an unloving bullying tactic.

organ transplants, vaccinations, (jah will resurrect, don't worry), new understandings of the fads and generations etc... particularly the thought that only jw's will be saved.

exwhyzee

You sound you have a reasonable wife. I think your idea of leaving things out for her to find herself is a good idea. Sometimes you need to give them an "out" and a way to save face until they are in a place where they are wiling to consider the possibility that your points have some merit. My wife came around quite quickly because I'd ask her questions about things that weren't making sense to me anymore. I'd let her know when she expained her understanding of things to me, that I could see her point and then I'd show her the alternate explanation I wondered about and then I'd leave it at that. Pretty soon she started hearing the holes in the logic being taught from the platform on her own after I had stopped going to meetings.

One thing you might remind your wife of (if you haven't already) is that JW's beleive the end is near and it is imperative that each Witness spend as much time as posslibe in spreading the "life saving" message from door to door. They believe that anyone not heading their message and not getting themselves out of Babylon the Great will share in her destruction which could happen any day now. They believe they could lose their own lives if they don't participate fully in spreading the message. To believe this and to go around publicly recommending ones way of life to others, is to also say that you yourself and those in your religion have it made and everyone else had better make some big changes....quickly.

Ask her if she thinks whether or not people who have no religion at all or don't belong to a church will be spared at Armageddon since technically they aren't part of Babylon the great.

Ask her if a person would be better off at Armageddon if they had never heard the "message" at all compared to someone who did hear the "message" at all and refused to accept the "truth".

Ask her if she had to guess, who besides Jehovah's Witnesses, have a good shot at surviving Armageddon.

Ask her if because of all the recent changes in the Societies understanding of certain doctrines, whether all the Witnesses from the past who died believing they were worshipping god in Truth, were in fact displeasing to Jehovah since they went around teaching things that are now considered falsehoods.

16

My mother tried to "friend"me...my reply

by mzmmom in

so strange that last night my experience was bothering me so much i posted about it here.

this morning my mother sent me a friend request after 20 months of no communication from her.

i replied in a message.. this is what i wrote:.

exwhyzee

It's interesting how some JW's expect you to just come running back and be so grateful that they threw you a crumb after being so hateful for so long. Anything could have happened to you or your family while she took her time to forgive you or whatever it is she is trying to do. No thanks to her, you have a nice family and you are all safe and sound.

I also find it interesting that your Mom "friended" you a day after you made your post here about having been "thrown away" and also that she did this on New Years Day or Eve which is also the 100 year anniversary of the oh so important 1914 date.

It's a long shot I know but do you suppose she or someone else you know, could be lurking on here and saw your post and figured out who you were ? Or what if, because of the 100 years of waiting, on the part of JW's, she's having second thoughts about their history of failed prophecies and is also rethinking the whole shunning thing?

Either way, I think you have the upper hand in this situation now. I like how you let her know that you weren't even sure if her contacting you was intentional and might even have been done by mistake. If she's ready to start treating you decently, the ball is in her court but it's up to you to take it or leave it. For better or worse, you only get one Mom so who knows it might be worth another shot.....I'm just sayin'.

11

Simon the Spoiler!!!!

by cantleave in

jw
friends

i can't believe he used the term "the late brian griffin" in a thread, causing me to google if he meant the the brian griffin i know and love.. it seems it's true :-(.

exwhyzee

Do dog's have 9 lives ?

53

Who wants to live forever?

by Doug Mason in

what will living be like after 5 billion years?.

doug.

exwhyzee

Every morning I open the back door and let my dog outside and every morning he's acts like it's the first time he's ever been out there. He explores every inch of it with all the gusto he can muster. To me, in order for everlasting life to be bearable, there would have to be some kind of shift in how one experiences time, and there would have to be a change in ones memory and attention span as well. My dog remembers things when he see's them but I'm sure he doesn't think about anything specifically unless it's right in front of him. He lives in the absolute moment, doesn't plan ahead or think about the past. I think we'd have to be like that to some degree. Kids are sort of like that in that they don't have a complete concept of time or of the future. Back when I believed in the Adam and Eve story, I used to think that maybe part of the innocence they lost when they sinned, was the childlike concept of time.

Growing up as a JW I was force fed the notion that I wasn't even going to graduate highschool before the New System arrived let alone get old enough to die from old age. I don't think I'd have expected such a thing had the adults in my life not held out everlasting life as something I should want.

Now I don't really want to live forever but I don't necessarily want to die either. Good thing it's out of my hands because I wouldn't be able to decide. These days I'm trying to be more like my dog by living in the moment more and not expecting too much out of life. Now that I've quit going to those meetings where the bad in the world is the main topic and where you are encouraged to live your life in suspended animation until armageddon , I find that I'm much more content and less aprehensive about the future.

26

Feb 2014 WT Study article

by molybdenum in

the caption under the picture in the first article.

hail christthe glorious king!says:.

birds will be called on to cleanse the earth (see paragraph 18).

exwhyzee

If I may stick my beak in for a moment, but when it comes to these droppings, from The Goose That laid The Golden Egg, (AKA the Governing Body) it's better for the Watchtower Society if most JW's continue to take a birds eye view of their literature rather than peck away at the misleading teachings they encounter therein. There'd be little left to line their bird cages and they'd run the risk of flying the coop and migrating away altogether.

5

Help from 60's/70's music fanatics... if any are still alive (joking)

by confusedandalone in

about 5 years ago an older friend of mine passed away.

this guy was into music in an almost unhealthy fashion which was the one thing we really had in common.

he died in 2008 and when he passed his wife said he wanted me to have all of his old music.

exwhyzee

Make sure anything you buy has the output-input jacks you need.

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/ele/4185331332.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/ele/4206525074.html

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/ele/4202177202.html

21

Planning your RETIREMENT. Can anyone remember Watch Tower encouraging, in anyway, it's members to plan ahead for this eventual reality?

by LoisLane looking for Superman in

i cannot think of one article written for jehovah's witnesses that deals with this important issue.. your retirement.. .

the governing body makes sure everyone looks after the gb's needs.

the gb will be moving to their new lakeside estate in 3 years.. what about everyone else below the 8 gb and their wives???.

exwhyzee

I remember being kina' blown away(and annoyed) back in the late 90's when during one of the Watchtower studies, they used that scripture that says something about "Be wise just as the nations are wise" and they were encouraging us to be wise by putting away money for an inheritance for our children. I had always been (quietly) investing in my work pension and IRA's (thank goodness) up to that time even though the 1914 generation was in their 80's and not expected to live much longer. Since I had also been (falsely) told since childhood that I'd never graduate from High School before the end came, I wasn't about to be burned again. Anyway, here they were, after all their talk about the closeness of the end, now making it sound like the future of this system wasn't as doubtful as they once thought it was, so ya better put something away for your kids so that in the likely event the new system didn't arrive before you kicked off....you'd have something to leave your them. I remember turning to my wife during this study and she just rolled her eyes and looked disgusted.

Or trust in the organization died a "death by a thousand cuts" and this was just one of them.

22

The JWs are like people who read Science FIction

by VM44 in

...and then think that they have a science education!.

exwhyzee

Studying the Watchtower and thinking you're a Bible Student is like reading the Readers Digest Condensed Version of the U.S. Space Program and then thinking you're an expert in Space Travel.

20

I think they're trying to shake off the Watchtower...

by gingerbread in

jw
friends

we had another couple over this weekend.

after taking a reasonable hike in the woods, we came back to the house, made a fire and began to talk a bit.

these folks are long time friends of ours and are (like us) slowly easing out of the kingdom hall.

exwhyzee

An interesting thought was raised by the hubby. He says that the Org. seems to be distancing itself from it's Watchtower past - erasing C.T. Russell from the Faithful Slave 'class', putting up banners on the buildings in New York with JW.org (instead of Watchtower),

Maybe they're funneling thier WTBTS funds /real estate holdings, into a newly formed organization/corperation so that if they loose the Candace Conti verdict (and others) they wont loose their shirts . With the new JW.org branding, they might be able to distance themselves somewhat from their own past and tainted image of WATCHTOWER if the child molestation appeal is lost.