Rescripting_myself

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Posts by Rescripting_myself

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  36

  How many former JW witness current this forum

  by PyroJoe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it tough.

  feelings are without explaination.

  please allow me to feel others in grief.

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  Rescripting_myself

  Brought up since age 6 in 1969/70 by recently converted JW parents. Never trully believed most of the really important teachings of the org but then did not know what else to believe. Got baptized at age 12. At 21 confided in an "elder" I respected that I felt I did not really understand the meaning of my baptism and felt it was meaningless and a nullity for me. He gave me the the stock JW leadership answer that what I needed was more prayer, "personal study", regular meeting attendance and "field service". I did the most I could to follow his "counsel" including reading virtually every piece of literature published by WTBTS I could lay hold of. I continued with my mental struggle with the faith amidst problems with the org till age 37 when through the intenet the intellectual problems I had with WTBTS teachings were validated by what I learned in ex-JW sites and through reading "Crisis of Conscience" by Ray Franz, "Apocalypse Delayed" by Jim Penton and a lot of other literature. I made my intellectual break with WTBTS then but took no further overt action since I was already disfellowshiped for infringing on one of their many rules though I was on the verge of getting reinstated after having held three hearings with a "judicial committee" that had been constituted to deal with my "plea" for reinstatement.

  Following my intellectual break with WTBTS, I did not persue reinstatement. It's over 5 years since then. I'm still dealing with the consequences of the many years I lost leading a dead end life and missing on real living including not persuing my educational dreams and aspirations, career, marriage, raising a family, generating and accumulating wealth and persuing what I thought best for myself.

  How old r u pyro? If u r still in your teens or twenties, u could still create the life that u would like to live. It's not too late. It's not like it was for people like Ed Dunlap who were d'fd and forced out of bethel at 69 years of age after a lifetime wasted and little opportunity of creating a new life for themselves.

  I believe there r literally thousands and thousands of ex-witnesses on this and other sites and many more who r not on any site. U therefore have a lot of company.

  Best wishes in your new journey.

  RM
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  21

  Why the WT says you should read their older books!

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  watchtower may 15, 1957 pp.313-315 appreciating basic christian publications: .

  their zeal for knowledge may even prompt them to dig back into things that were published long before they came into the truth, expanding and deepening their understanding, and ever growing in christian maturity.

  do you dig into our older publications to expand and deepen your knowledge on subjects about which questions arise?

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  Rescripting_myself

  This was written in 1957 nearly 50 years ago. I remember on some of the threads here or on some of the ex-JW websites that after the summer of 1980 crisis culminating in the expulsion of Raymond Franz and others, congregations were asked to ask JWs with much older publications to return them so they could be donated to newer congregations' libraries. The donated publications were however destroyed as The WTS only wanted them returned to remove them from circulation showing how scared they are at the possibility of JWs reading the publications. Anybody who can confirm this or who has more details on it?
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  39

  The Watchtower's Great Game of "Jenga" and Exposure

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jenga is a simple game in which wooden blocks are neatly piled up - and then removed, one by one, until one person ( the person who loses.

  the game) makes the pile collapse.. it is tempting to see the organization in the same way - making small but significant "removals" over time.

  they pull out food service.

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  Rescripting_myself

  I find this name of the game interesting coming as I do from Nairobi, Kenya where the Swahili language is widely spoken. "Jenga" is the Swahili language equivalent of the English word "Build"! Any connection?

  RM
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  16

  THE CELESTIAL ORGANIZATION HAS MOVED AND WE ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND…

  by _Atlas in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the celestial organization has moved and we are being left behind.

  first the awake was going to a monthly issue.. buildings are being sold.. then came the 2005 service report and the stagnating figures around the globe.. then we all heard about the 2,500 bethelites sent packing off brooklyn and the 1,000s on the international branches.. when i first read the news i though they were sending out 2,500+ new apostates to the street.. i started to wonder how will they both address the simplifications and cost cutting and urge the rank and file to do more without pulling the big armageddon card out, since this has backfired on multiple occasions.

  downsizing and activity were mutually exclusive imho.. well they are certainly clever.

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  Rescripting_myself

  Danny,

  I did not get to know of the changes you refer to i.e

  - Awake being issued monthly

  -Bethelites being sent home

  -Disposal of assets.

  Where can I get the information?
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  38

  Society's recall of older books

  by rekless in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anybody remember when the wtbts ask all the congregations to bring back all the old outdated books.

  i think it was in the late eighties.

  there was an announcement from the podium, return old books so they could be returned to new york.. i was too lazy to go through my books and take them in.

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  Rescripting_myself

  I did not know that WTS recalled the books. Something interesting that I did about a year and a half ago. I called our local WTS branch committee coordinator (?) (I'm unsure of the current correct title - is it coordinator or chairman?) and told him that I had come across all the Russel era WTS publications and if he would be interested. He did not give me a direct answer and left the matter hanging. Now that I have learned that WTS recalled all old publications has made me add up two and two together for an understanding of part of the reason why he avoided the subject.

  RM
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  10

  Blood Issue: Will Literature Be Destroyed?

  by metatron in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i understand that one immediate effect of the "big news" about the watchtower's possible liability on blood transfusion will be.

  that elders are ordered to destroy all copies of previous directives on blood.

  however, this limited response seems inadequate.

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  Rescripting_myself

  Thanks rebel for the direction.
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  10

  Blood Issue: Will Literature Be Destroyed?

  by metatron in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i understand that one immediate effect of the "big news" about the watchtower's possible liability on blood transfusion will be.

  that elders are ordered to destroy all copies of previous directives on blood.

  however, this limited response seems inadequate.

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  Rescripting_myself

  I'm not aware of what this "Big News" is. Metatron or someone else, please brief me.
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  25

  Is it always ethical to try to help someone get out?

  by wanderlustguy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is it ever better or ethical to let someone go on believing in the truth even though it is a lie?

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  Rescripting_myself

  I've given a lot of thought to this question. I don't think it is ALWAYS ethical principally because not everyone can handle the trauma that can be occasioned by the realization.

  In my case when I learned the truth about about the basis of my then JW faith following a deliberate search of the internet, I entered a most painful phase of my life and though I'm far much better psycho-emotionally than immediately after I came to the realization in Aug 2000, I've still some way to go 5 years down the line before I can claim to feel fully healthy. Living in the so called third world, I've not had any support that I can talk of from direct personal interaction with other ex-JWs.

  I've also seen the pain that my assisting my parents and siblings out has caused some of them especially my parents and most of all my father whom I suspect is full of recriminations for having gotten the rest of us involved from 1969 and for having wasted his life and long periods of ours.

  So my 2 cents worth of opinion is that as much as is prudent, we should do the most we can to assist loved ones out the WT's chains but with the caveat that the decision to or not to try and help any particular individual should be taken only after very careful consideration with the overiding concern being the overall and long term welfare of the person we are considering to help.

  RM
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  27

  Long time apostate, first time poster.

  by mtbatoon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  just found this site today and as well as being amused, concerned and shocked at some of the stuff i?ve found here, reading the bios and posts of other ex jw?s has in a way made me feel a little bit less alone in the world.

  don?t get me wrong, i?m not an emotionally scared loner, it?s like i?ve finally found someone else to stand outside morning assemble with.

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  Rescripting_myself

  Welcome Mt. It was interesting to chat with u.
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  30

  My Gay Life

  by joelbear in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it seems millenia ago that homosexuals dared not declare that fact about them out loud for fear of being imprisoned, beaten to death or at least ostracized by society.

  true, some are still ostracized, some are still beaten but more and more they are simply becoming a part of the social fabric of families, communities and society as a whole.. was it just 1969 that a handful of drag queens decided enough was enough and refused to meekly be led off to jail for the night simply for socializing with each other in a bar in new york city.

  i was 11 years old when that happened and was just beginning to understand that i myself was a homosexual.

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  Rescripting_myself

  Joel, that's a moving and awesome story. It demonstrates what freedom to accept one's identity and to choose the lifestyle that conforms with that identity is. The freedom to be who one is without interference from others especially because being oneself is an inalienable right of each of us. Nobody has any right to prescribe an identity for another person much less the right to try and require, coerce or force another to assume the prescribed identity.

  I'm happy for u for having found and accepted yourself against great odds!

  Though my problems with JWism had nothing to do with my sexual orientation, in principle I suffered similar hurt in that my deepest feelings of what one's vocation in life should be was at great variance with what the wtbts taught. I did whatever I could to see and to do things the wtbts way which resulted in massive cognitive dissonance of which I was not consciously of. This led to severe depression, the effects of which I'm still struggling with nearly 4 years after I gained conscious awareness of what had happened to me and said goodbye to JWism.

  R_M