Posts by jws

53

The dumbest thing I did as a witness

by Vivamus in

jw
friends

when i was 14 or so, my attention got directed to queen.

and i loved them.

i'd save my allowance to buy cd's, posters, books etc from them.

jws

One non-music dumb thing I did was break up with a great girlfriend because she was "worldly". Had dated "wordly" girls on the side, but never expected anything long-lasting. When one relationship lasted the entire summer, it got me to questioning who I wanted to end up with when I did get married. I decided I couldn't have a serious relationship with anyone who wasn't a JW, so I had to break up. Not saying she was "the one" or that we would have lasted - and maybe with my age (19), it was probably better not to get attached. But I hurt her and in retrospect, it seems cruel. And it was for a stupid reason. Now I'm so thankful I didn't end up married to a JW.

I also felt pretty dumb having lunch-time studies at work with other JWs there. What a bunch of dorks we must have looked like.

As for records, I was into AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Prince, and others. I love Queen now, but when I was a teen, Queen had a somewhat bad reputation even among "worldly" kids because of Freddy Mercury being gay. I'm not defending this stuff, but at the time, you didn't want to be caught liking "gay" bands or you'd be called "gay" too. And I'm sure you know how cruel kids can be. Didn't dare want to do anything else to make them not like you. Being JW and different was bad enough. Again, no offense intended over the gay thing. That's just the way things were at the schools I went to when I was a teen. Don't care what his preferences were anymore.

But, having some of those heavy metal albums, we never thought to trash them. Even after CDs came along and old LPs were out-dated, I still wanted to keep them - the art of album cover art just has never been the same with 5 inch CD covers. So, I've got a lot of these old LPs stored away at my dad's. On a visit back home, my sister and her husband stay with him. My brother-in-law decides to take all of our LPs and put them out in the garage. He feels some of them are demonic and he felt some sort of strange feeling when they were in the same house as him. Apparently demons attacking or something. I'm so glad he didn't smash them. Still have them and now they're in my home. I don't feel anything strange, but I did leave the JWs...

23

Evil slaving at District Conventions.

by avishai in

jw
friends

anyone plan on clowning these fools at their conventions?

i don't necessarily mean shouting, holding placards, etc.

but i do mean putting evidence of their covering up child molesting around.

jws

Along the lines of Aztec's suggestion, how about something like business cards with this site's address on it? The name alone "jehovahs-witness.com" almost sounds like it'd be something legit for JWs. Put them on car windows. They'd be small enough that their security might not notice them. And, it's plain and simple. No hint as to anything anti-JW. They'll have to actually come to the site to see what it's all about. Where, in the privacy of their own homes, they may not recoil and may stick around and read a few postings.

Don't know about the JW-like brochure. The majority of JWs aren't going to be tricked into thinking it's one of theirs and read it. They know their own literature - and most of them (I suspect) don't read it unless they need to. Unless they thought it was an advanced copy of a new release. In which case, if they release a tract, you could go to an earlier assembly and get one and mock it up so it still looks real. People who might have heard about it from other JWs might see it and go for it, anxious to soak up any new light, and feel privileged to have it before the release.

Aside from that, even something that has their slogans may interest them. They'd know it wasn't theirs, but might be intruiged by some other people having similar beliefs and read it to see what it's about. If I was a JW and saw a brochure that said something about living forever in paradise, I'd be going, hey, that sounds like us. Who are these people? And I would read over it to see how similar they are.

1

Virtual Worlds

by jws in

jw
friends

grand theft auto vice city just came out for the pc and i was amazed at how far these virtual worlds have come.

it may not be the biggest city in the world, but i'm amazed at the detail and how you can just sort of go around and interact.

i was thinking how much this reminded me of miami.

jws

Grand Theft Auto Vice City just came out for the PC and I was amazed at how far these virtual worlds have come. It may not be the biggest city in the world, but I'm amazed at the detail and how you can just sort of go around and interact. I was thinking how much this reminded me of Miami. It was almost like a deja vu and got me to thinking how much closer it is to being there than original games. It's a way for me to have fun in a Miami-like city without the hotel and air fare. To pretend to be surrounded by the sites of a city I can't enjoy every day.

Got me to thinking. Somebody should write a virtual "New World" for JWs. Garden setting, lions and lambs that you can walk up to and interact with. Everyone moderately dressed, and Kingdom halls to go to, etc. Maybe like a cross between the Sims and a virtual world game like GTA. Except no missions. Nothing to do but walk around, live life, look at the plants and animals and say nice things to each other.

Sounds to me like that would get boring pretty quick. Wonder if JWs would be dissapointed if they actually got to spend some virtual time in their "New World".

15

Should parents be held responsible in hazing?

by freedom96 in

jw
friends

i imagine most of you have heard or seen the footage of the hazing in which girls were beaten at a high school.. the ones guilty of this crime have been formally charged as adults.

after reading reports and viewing the video, i believe the authorities rightfully charged them.

i don't think there has been much debate on whether or not those kids are guilty.. the question i have heard out there is whether or not the authorities should charge the parents because their kids were involved?.

jws

I think that sort of thing is absurd and can give way too much power to the kid.

I know as a kid I did plenty of things my parents didn't know about. And that's because they would have disapproved of what I was doing so I had to go behind their back. They were doing their part, but they can't know everything. What kind of justice would it be to punish them for an act that they would disapprove of and had no knowledge I was doing?

And what's more, it give the kid an awful lot of power. Don't like the rules your parents are laying down, go do something bad and get them in trouble, further causing divisions between families, furthering problems. In at least some parts of Texas (maybe all), parents can get fined if their kids are late for school. So what happens if you drive your kid there, drop him off, and then, because you refused to buy him the latest video game, he decides not to go in and be late to punish you?

Even kids should be responsible for their own actions. Maybe bad parenting is at play. But you can't solve this by punishing parents because both good and bad parents will be hurt. It's the person who commits the crime that needs to be punished.

23

Has the Society ever considered night witnessing?

by Holey_Cheeses*King_of_the juice. in

jw
friends

it could have merit.. consider - we have night tennis, night golf and a host of other nighttime activities that have proven successful.

so why couldn't the org arrange for a nightshift of witlessing?

those people that are recorded as nahs during the day, would surely be at home in the evening, and, the later the brothers called, the better chance they would have of finding someone at home.. i'm sure there would be many honest hearted individuals who would welcome being woken at 3 a.m. for a solid discussion of fable principles at their front door.

jws

I remember when I was putting in the 60 hours a month (though they never let me have the official aux pioneer title). I'd go out with another pioneer at night. We'd hit places like laundromats sometimes until about 11pm. At the time, when I cared about such things, it was a great way to have a full-time job and get in 4-5 hours/night on the non-meeting nights. Sometimes it was even pretty easy. Nobody at the laundromat, leave a couple of old mags, and move on.

14

Dramas

by In_between_days in

jw
friends

one of the funniest things i will ever remember as a jw are the "big dramas" at the assemblys.

it was amazing how everyone would sit through the torture of the infinate talks and "skits" with an incredibly bored look on their faces, yet when the drama got closer, the apathetic faces piped up, became animated, excited.

it was, as far as i could see the "best of the worst" piece of the programme, and by god, even though i spent almost the entire time at the assemblies outside feeding ducks, i was always in one of the front rows for the drama.

jws

My memory may be a little bit faulty on all the dramas. But what I remember as a kid in the 70's, was a lot more Bible-Era dramas. Then they started mixing them with modern-day dramas: part old/part modern, and then even entirely modern-day dramas.

I didn't like the modern ones, but always liked the costumed ones. They were probably all pretty pathetic productions, but anything was better than those boring talks.

Something I seem to remember is all the period dramas being old-testament stories. Maybe I'm forgetting, but I don't seem to recall a single one involving Jesus. Did they feel it was blasphemy to play Jesus?

12

Ahhh yes...DISTRICT CONVENTION TIME IS HERE.....

by jimbob in

jw
friends

yes, summer is almost here, and this will be my very first summer that i will not be attending a district convention.

since the wife and i left the borg last august, i have looked forward to a summer, free from conventions.

at last that time has arrived.

jws

I remember being a kid of about 10 and somebody passing out mock-watchtowers at a convention. At the time, being a fan of parodies of all sorts, I wanted to get one, not really certain what it was, but my parents wouldn't let me near them. When my parents tried to explain who it was and what was in it, it did make me all the more curious. Being raised JW, I assumed we had the truth and that nobody could really offer any valid argument against us. So I was curious. What could they possibly have to say against us? Surely it could easily be refuted. Wouldn't it be good to get a copy so that I can study and respond to these things? Never did get a hold of one, but kept an eye out for them at every district covention I went to afterwards until I was about 22.

Also heard about Ray Franz when he left the Society, and was curious to read his book for the same reasons. Exactly what could he possibly have to say? But, being about 14 or 15 and not having online booksellers back then, there was no way I knew of to find or order it. When I was about 23, and found a way to get the book, I had no qualms about it. My curiosity about it had been brewing for years.

To sum it up, people like these that let me know that there even is another side of the coin and planted the seeds of curiosity in me, even if I never did get to read the literature they were passing out.

3

Is it Earthlink or shunning?

by jws in

jw
friends

been having a problem the last several months.

i set up and pay for a monthly earthlink service in his name so that i can e-mail him family updates, pictures of the kids, etc.

he's not exactly computer savy, so it's his wife that actually downloads all the e-mail.

jws

Thanks for the tips. I don't usually use IE/Outlook, but I can give that a shot. I suppose it also depends on the mail tool the person on the other end uses and whether it responds to the receipt confirmation. I can almost guarantee that my unix-based mail program doesn't acknowledge such things.

I'll find out when I call this weekend whether they got my last 2 e-mails or whether I have to start exploring ways to catch her deleting them.

19

JW Superstitions

by sandy in

jw
friends

yesterday i got home and i realized i accidentally brought a necklace with a cross on it from my boyfriend's house.. it was in a regular brown paper bag i put some of my things in.

i was lying in bed last night thinking about it wondering if i should take it outside.

i was afraid the demons were going to invade my house.. i decided to leave my tv on all night because we all know the demons will not bother you if your light or tv is on.

jws

I also remember superstitions about not saying certain words, like "Jeez", or "by Jove", or I think even "jeepers, creepers".

42

Bad Elder Stories

by shamus in

jw
friends

.

what was the worst elder that you ever had to deal with?

i will post my story in a second...

jws

I remember there was a couple of teenagers from our hall that began dating around age 17. They seemed to hit it off well and everyone expected wedding bells in another year or so. But that all came to a shocking end when he was disfellowshipped and she was reproved. From the talks that followed, there was apparently some "dry humping" involved.

Now she was an elder's daughter, which explains the lesser punishment. He wasn't as fortunate and times were hard for him. I heard updates on him through friends (since I couldn't talk to him). He tried awfully hard to get reinstated, but they would use any excuse to hold against him. Once his car broke down during a snowstorm and he walked the rest of the way to make it to the kingdom hall. They chided him for being late and held it against him. But he was being, as far as I could tell, very upstanding and doing everything he could to get reinstated.

Meanwhile, while he was DFed, his girlfriend found some dork from another hall and got married so fast it would make your head spin. Knowing what she was like and this guy, it looked like a total setup and a very mismatched one. Early 80's, picture the Farrah haircut, very outgoing and sexy, matched up with a shy, lanky, nerd. Meanwhile, the guy got tired of trying and gave up, filled with anger and frustration. Fast forward a few years, said girl again tries to enter his life. Turns out, she's been cheating on her husband regularly. But mr. disfellowshipped turned her away. Who had the better morals and who probably should have been punished instead?

Aside from the occasional elder being a hardass, this whole incident led me to believe these elders were part of a conspiracy to protect their own. To go easy on the one elder's daughter and not DF her and then to keep her boyfriend out of the picture until her parents could get her married off.