hello forum.
i started this topic because i had been thinking recently about a story that i had heard many times in different congregations over the years.
kind of a jw urban legend if you will.
Great stories and replies. I've enjoyed reading about your own thoughts and experiences. It helps me feel some sort of connection. I've felt so disconnected from people. This forum is really my only outlet to try and do that. I've often thought that most exjws are closer to the picture of love and brotherhood than anything I encountered in a KH....Thanks for that.
TB-
it seems britain has voted to leave the eu in a move of total madness!
the markets are already in free fall and the moronic bigots who campaigned for this are celebrating the demise of our country .. i can't see how a 49-51% split can be democratic?
there is still the postal vote to come in, maybe there's hope in that?
Here's a link to some voting statistics concerning Brexit: LINK
TB-
what things did (do) you or someone you know do in the kingdom hall that was a no-no?.
i remember in the 80s when, during the meeting, three friends and i were breakdancing in the foyer.
3 out of 4 us are happily out of that organization.. as i was trudging through my fade and attending meetings, i sometimes dwelled on how much time and money i wasted during my years as a jw.
I'm not sure if this qualifies... People who used to mark tons of seats with watchtowers at assemblies used to make me see red. Especially since there were announcements saying to only mark seats for the people in your car group.
I'd see like ten or more seats all with WTs draped on them. Fuck, that still pisses me off just thinking about it. Well, I'd look around to make sure nobody was watching, then I'd remove all of them. Soon new arrivals would claim the seats. It was fun to see the original seat saver come back and find all the seats he marked with other people in them, camped out. He'd be like "Hey! These seats are mine! What is going on here?" and I'd be like "Well, they weren't marked a few minutes ago when we got here...I saw the attendants removing WT's over there though. Looks like you'll need to go find somewhere else to sit, because I'm here now".
I only did it out of a sense of justice toward those poor elderly ones and for the young families with small kids in mind. Plus, how many times had I not been able to find a decent seat because some asshole marked them all up? Plenty. So I guess part of it was for revenge. Yeah, I had to lie a little, but it didn't bother my conscience. I felt like I was doing the right thing.
TB-
i just frightened a jehovah’s witness lady half out of her wits!.
i just frightened a sweet jehovah’s witness lady half out of her wits.... .
she took off like a sprinter at the sound of a starter pistol!.
Great gobs of goose shit, that was the funniest experience I've heard in a long time. Terrific writing Terry. Thanks for sharing this. I bet she went home and took a shower to wash the apostate residue off.
TB-
what i'm looking for specifically is things that are "pagan" in the sense they predate christianity (or i guess judiasm to cover the ole mosaic code), that jw's allow or do.
the ones that come to mind are below.. rings - rings seem to originate in egypt.
for wedding ceremonies it became a symbol of "ownership" in rome.. pinatas - looks like possibly it originated in china as a part of the new year and a request for luck, and catholics later turned it into a beating of temptation type thing.. anything else?.
Christianity
The word 'Christian' was coined by Pagans.
The first followers of Christ borrowed Jewish terms to describe themselves, such as 'believers' and 'disciples' .Two of the early missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, went to work spreading the Gospel in the Pagan metropolis of Antioch, where the locals derisively called them 'Christians'.
TB-
i used to try really hard to fit in when i was an active, true blue jw.
somehow it hardly ever paid off.
time after time i attempted to mingle and make jw friends.
Many of us have been the bastard at a family reunion...
TB-
hello forum.
i started this topic because i had been thinking recently about a story that i had heard many times in different congregations over the years.
kind of a jw urban legend if you will.
I once knew a sister named Patricia Zoll. She was mentally ill, and had a controlling and very abusive non-JW husband. My wife and I were very understanding of her situation and tried to help her any way we could. My wife, an E.R. nurse, had even treated her in the E.R. because of being beaten with an axe handle by her husband (a real piece if shit).
It's one case in which the elders actually helped her get away from him. She went to stay with a relative. But being a co-dependent, mentally ill person she came back to her husband. After she came back, the elders and congregation totally abandoned her.
I was horrified the day a friend called to tell me she had committed suicide. Before she killed herself, I saw her one day. She was walking up the road out of town headed for the dam. I offered her a ride, but she said she was just out walking for exercise. Turns out, she was really headed there in contemplation of killing herself. Building up the stamina to walk the several miles to the dam.
They found poor Patricia in the water at the bottom of the spillway. She had continually bashed into the concrete all the way down. But the fall isn't what killed her. They found a lot of water in her lungs meaning that she actually drowned.
Her god didn't save her. Her brothers and sisters didn't save her. But I know I tried to help her. It seems that if Jehovah knows when a small bird dies, and how many hairs we have on our heads, that he would have been there for someone like her who was in so much pain and anguish that she was about kill herself. I am glad her suffering is over.
God plays hide and seek you see. He hides, and people do the seeking.
TB-
i have this thing.
i don't know why it is or how to stop it.
every time i happen to daydream about something positive from my childhood, some related cult aspect comes to mind and extinguishes it like a candle is being blown out.. for a while, i thought this was anger and resentment causing me to want to find an excuse to be angry (not that i need one).
In you mind, go back to that fateful day and slap the living shit out of him. Seriously. I think I know what you are talking about. Personally for me, it's my parents disowning me and the way they treated me that ruins almost all of the few childhood memories I can actually remember.
Sometimes I go back in my mind to the day my dad talked to JWs for the first time. In my time travel fantasy I hug my dad and tearfully beg him to throw away the magazines he got that day, then I punch him right in the nuts...
I'm sorry you have to experience this. I think you should look for a good counselor. They might be able to suggest some coping strategies that will help. Mine was off the cuff and I didn't mean to make light of you situation.
TB-
my partner has been going to the adelaide law courts recently and as she goes thru the topham mall she has said hello to the jw cart ladies on her way ,well, today one of the ladies she observed went around the corner from the cart and lit up a ciggy...so naughty.. my partner has never been a witness but she knows i was once and asked me if they were allowed to smoke now.. jeez they get up to some naughty stuff when they are lounging around on their phones ,must be the devils tools corrupting them ha ha.
Who can blame the poor JW lady for sneaking a smoke? Gotta do something to relieve the stress of living a JW life. I think more JWs should have a secret vice. It's quite liberating actually....As long as no one finds out!
TB-
P.S. Wouldnt it be cool if she lit up a doobie instead of a cigarette?
hello forum.
i started this topic because i had been thinking recently about a story that i had heard many times in different congregations over the years.
kind of a jw urban legend if you will.
Wow 3rdgen! Could your mother's experience have been the basis for the story I heard? Very interesting. Thank you for sharing that! If so, the story spread all the way to Atlanta...
TB-
