Posts by Hoffnung

61

Wow, This is Getting Tougher!

by Franklin Massey in

jw
friends

i'm having a really hard time giving my meeting parts.

i had a service meeting part this week and i could hardly get through it.

i am no longer convinced of some of the things jws teach and so i try to either eliminate those things from my parts, or reword them so that i'm not speaking about that which i do not personally believe.

Hoffnung

"I almost slipped and gave what would have been a controversial personal opinion."

Nice to read how fast things are changing for you. If you don't want this slips happen again, you will have to rehearse more. On the other hand, you are in a unique position, you might as well use this opportunity to the full. You might plan ahead for reversing slips without really disproving them. We have a MS in our congo who is quite an expert in this. In the discussion of the famous WT 15/09/2010 article, after the par 8, he answered: "You could say now that the Governing body members are the leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses as the pope is for Catholics, but that is not the case." Things like these might help some of your congo to wake up as well. On another occasion he mentioned that there was a 'widespread controversy in the "world" about the year the babylonians destroyed Jerusalem'. This might help others to start doing their own research. If you are a COBOE you can assign yourselves whatever you want, and otherwise you can change with other elders parts you cannot give. In worst case faking depression and 'fear of the platform' might provide a way out.

I am very happy I was not a MS any more when I woke up. I cannot get myself to preach to strangers "the good news" any more, let alone defend doctrines I have come to despise from the platform. No matter which way you decide, more effort will be required. The least you will have to do is research every assignment as soon as you know of it, and if you cannot do it, swap with another elder, for whatever reason (project at work, holiday,etc..).

49

The 'Last days' of the Watchtower Society - any truth in this?

by callitquits76 in

jw
friends

i have heard this said a lot lately.

is it wishful thinking?

6 screens of the wt has this as their website banner but that website is like a tabloid newspaper..

Hoffnung

Honestly, I see them on track to become a cult like the mormons or scientology. Paid clergy, thiting, the whole nine yards. Pretty soon they will demand fix donations from congregations and publishers. The continuous "Worship the Governing Body" is a sign on the wall. It is going to get more weird every month. I do not see them turning to mainstream christianity anytime soon. So far it is grip-tightening as far as the eye can see. Do more, do more, do more, it is not enough, to get 'Gods underserved kindness' you have to deserve it, if you are not pioneering at least for 2 years you won't make it to the new system, etc. What is developing is an extremely gullible group of witnesses who accept everything (literally) what the GB writes. This 'switching off' the brain that I see going on in all the congo's here I find the most frightening I have noticed in a long time.

23

After Reinstatement

by NewChapter in

jw
friends

i never had anyone close to me d'fd when i was still in my jw daze.

but i know that once it happens, good friends are crushed and desperately want that person reinstated.

when they are reinstated, there is a lot of (quiet) celebration.

Hoffnung

"afterwards, friendships just never seemed to truly recover. It looked like the df process ruined the friendships even after reinstatement."

This also my experience. I think the fear of attaching themselves too strong to somebody who once "left", is putting a strain on relationships (he could do it again). It should not be forgotten that the R&F believe that only unrepentant ones get DF'ed, that the punishment is deserved. They will never know how far away this is from reality.

From the reinstated point of view, I also have to say that the shunning by family and friends is not easy to forget either. Being confronted with the fact that their love is conditional, is holding me back from getting too close with them as well.

67

last day at the kingdom hall

by ex-Special Pioneer in

jw
friends

prologue.

get out shouted the audience you must be ashamed of yourself.

the crowd was in a hysterical state, every time that we tried to say something we were silenced by the clapping and screams which got louder and louder of the majority of the two hundred people in attendance.

Hoffnung

Hi Paul,

please carry on with your story! I am hungry for more. I feel there is no reason at all to doubt your story.

Hoffnung

57

The story of Punkofnice. It was the 'Overlapping' that finally got me out!

by punkofnice in

why i am now a faded apostate after the ridiculous overlapping teaching!.

i was raised in the trooooooooooth and both my parents were pioneers.

over the years i pioneered, was an ms and finally an elder.

Hoffnung

CFS was something I had repeatedly seen in JW women but never thought it to be unusual.

So true. Lots of sisters I know cope with depression, panic attacks, CFS, fybromalgia, etc. And also a lot of brothers are coping with depressions and psycho based food intolerances. Everybody looks tired and IS tired. All the guilt and the continuous 'do-more! the-end-is-near! (despite the overlapping generation) It is just 30 hours to aux pion in april, you have to do it!' is driving this poor people to their limits all the time. So many burn-outs. Wholesome theocratic activities, my A$$...

13

Just Received This Email From "Knocking" Director

by DarioKehl in

jw
friends

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #1440fc} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929; min-height: 16.0px} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929; min-height: 16.0px} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline}.

knocking update.

february 2011. www.knocking.org.

Hoffnung

One premature death as this one is one too much. It is really sad Seth could only extend his life another 3 more years. I feel sorry for his wife, baby and parents. I still find quite heroic to give up one of your organs to save a life, as his father did.

The emotions left aside 'knocking' is indeed biased, definitely in favor of the watchtower. But maybe to have at least some effect on the 'faithful' it might be necessary, an unbiased docu might get all their defenses up straightaway. It will get slandered by the elders from the platform to prevent the R&F from watching. I watched 'Knocking' when I was still a 'believer', encouraged to do so by the 'friends', and it was one of the contributing factors on reconsidering the value of preaching Door to door. Believe it or not, I was quite ignorant about how 'agressive' field service is experienced by the public in general. After having watched it, I could not understand why elders and others encouraged us to watch it, I did not think it was so positive for us, witnesses. If this was the most 'positive' the world could produce about the Witnesses, what else is out there we don't know about? If it would be generally known among witnesses that the filmmaker was gay, way less witnesses would have watched. It is quite funny the society concealed this fact. clearly double standards, but what can we expect... from Gods sole Channel of Communication...

74

CO's putting the screws on elder bodies, and ministerial servants to auxilliary pioneer this April.

by miseryloveselders in

jw
friends

i have such a love/hate, 50/50 relationship with this organization any more, but a letter was read to the elders and ministerial servants that has pushed me to the 30/70 range in favor of hate, if even momentarily.

most of you if not all are aware of the auxilliary pioneering initiative for this upcoming april.

it's no secret that i'm not real fond of pioneering as its unscriptural for one thing.

Hoffnung

I just wish I hadda come across all this information before I got baptized. I could have avoided a whole lot of unneccesary stress and nonsense.

I could not write it better.

64

Why I Eventually Left

by itscrap&theyknowit! in

jw
friends

i am new to this but, for years, i was already out.

don't know where to start.

as i have read the many posting, i'm not alone in my feelings.

Hoffnung

Wow, what a 1st post! Welcome here. There definitely are lots of women like you in the org. You must be a strong woman to hold it out for so many years. It really is too sad it lasted for so long. Are you reading post here for some time? Feel free to vent your emotions in writing. Who could not understand this feelings of anger about all the wasted time and energy, whereas life could have been so different? Writing stuff can be therapeutic in some ways. I wish you all the best and hope to read some more from you in the near future.

Hoffnung

16

What the law says...

by TD in

...is not always what the law actually means.. that idea might sound like doublethink at first, but it's a basic principle of every legal system and there are several very valid reasons for this.. first: a simple, mechanical reading of law can run counter to what the law was actually intended to accomplish.

here's a simple example to illustrate this:.

there are certain plants in the american southwest that are protected by law.

Hoffnung

Thank you for making this difference about what is not a breach of the sabbath law. The ideas could be applied on many rigid society rules, and this thread could go into many directions. Of course logic reasoning, an honest interest in the human aspects of life and a good measure of common sense are required. Sadly, these qualities are quite rare in bodies of elders these days.

101

The Danger of Credulous Research of Jehovah's Witnesses on the Internet

by Spade in

http://www.watchtower21.org/2011/02/danger-of-naive-and-credulous-research.html.

it's been my experience so far, that anything a person wants to find out about jehovahs witnesses, they can find out from jehovahs witnesses.

any and all information ever published by jehovah witnesses is accessible to all.

Hoffnung

Hi Spade, If your behind this article on that website, you make some very interesting statements to say the least, unfortunately not all that honest. Let me quote:

It's been my experience so far, that anything a person wants to find out about Jehovah’s Witnesses, they can find out from Jehovah’s Witnesses. Any and all information ever published by Jehovah Witnesses is accessible to all.

If that is true, then why does the WT Library CD-ROM does not contain the books & bound volumes from before 1950? Why are they not present in the KH libraries? Why is the Aid-to-bible-understanding not on the cd-rom, nor the organization book (which you only can obtain once you express your desire to become a publisher), nor the Shepherd-the-Flock book or the Pioneer book? Quite recently I was discouraged by a close family member from looking into older publications from the society, repeating the society's viewpoint. Why does the society discourage people from looking into their own history?

Good educators present all sides of an issue and encourage discussion

So where is your presentation from the non-JW side of the discussion? I am afraid you have called yourself a bad educator. Just as TD mentioned, Rutherford had quite a bad health, and therefore spent the winters in California.

I am a Witness for decades, as are my parents. Having gone to all the meetings in all these years, having spent many days in building Kingdom Halls & Bethel homes, having an elder as father and being an appointed man myself, has learned me very little about Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the years. I learned a lot more in the last few months doing research on the internet.