I've been lucky that mine has in the last year, both parents and all six children and some of our spouses.
Just wondering.
LittleMac
JoinedPosts by LittleMac
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36
Are they going to keep lowering the bar to be appointed an MS or Elder???
by karter inmy mother told me of 2 young guys that have been appointed elders.. i could'nt belive it these guys have zero life experance and both their wifes walked out on them after a few years of marrage.. another one cooked his brain on drugs and his talks are painfull to listen to....all over the place and stumbles through them.. .
is it due to alot of young ones (60 to 70%) leaving and the pool to pick from is getting smaller so lowering the bar is the only way???
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LittleMac
Thanks Ryan the Shaman. Yes. Doesn't that suck? And for being honest. It must happen over and over again. Punitive studying, reproof, to fix you only in that fantasy world called the Jehovahs Witnesses.
As if trying "the marijuana" is one of the worst things you could do. It's absolutely amazing to me now how programmed my or anyone elses responses were to anything that smacked of "the world" i.e. actual real life.
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36
Are they going to keep lowering the bar to be appointed an MS or Elder???
by karter inmy mother told me of 2 young guys that have been appointed elders.. i could'nt belive it these guys have zero life experance and both their wifes walked out on them after a few years of marrage.. another one cooked his brain on drugs and his talks are painfull to listen to....all over the place and stumbles through them.. .
is it due to alot of young ones (60 to 70%) leaving and the pool to pick from is getting smaller so lowering the bar is the only way???
?.
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LittleMac
In the hall I was last associated with, there were/are several young guys, like 25-39, that were the mike handlers, mag counters, grass cutters, who were supposed to be groomed to be MS or elders? someday, the elders were all 50-85 yrs. old. I used to care about getting noticed, try to keep the kids sitting still, giving answers, driving in service all of the time, cleaning the hall, even did the accounts for a month before they gave it to an appointed brother, then finally I gave up. (Finding out it wasn't the Truth was the real came later on)
As I was on my way out, they finally appointed another brother and then another recently both who were my friends but it just seemed so arbitrary, like they said to themselves " oh this guy left, man, maybe we better throw these guys a bone so they dont give up and leave too."
What was so funny is that in this area that I live in, it is so apparrent that the brothers are just playing games, playing favorites.
I moved into the area, had been an MS, "served" at Patterson, married, had a full time, attended all of the meetings, 8-12 in service regular, never said no to anything asked of me, even asked to conduct book study when it was still going on. Still no appointment.
A guy who was studying with a pioneer elder in the hall, was a real go getter, and a friend of mine at the time, studies, gets baptized, wife gets baptized, and appointed as an Ms in a period of like 4 yrs.
Well finally they ask me if I could serve, and thinking that this must be the spirit led direction, I confess that I had looked at porn recently. I just figured that they would see it was my nature to be totally up front about things. My naivete was never more apparent as it was then. I trusted these guys to be understanding and instead they played the game and treated it as an admission of guilt and so I was sidelined for the rest of the time I was a witness. (Another 7 yrs.) Ah, anyway, I grew up to perform for the praise and the pat-on- the-back in the kingdom hell. It's how I was raised and got praise and approval from pretty fanatical parents during all that time, too.
About a year ago, when that study article, Brothers, Can You Reach Out? was being done on a Sunday, I was sitting next to my wife just fuming inside and not embarrassed to let it show. I was beginning to realize finally that it was abuse of power and manipulation of people.
Apparently being honest and forthright gets you shit-canned.
Damn, that felt good! But what feels even better is to never ever have to go back and look to schmucks like that for approval. F**K you!
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Do you ever fantasize...
by i_drank_the_wine in...about funny revenge plots on the jw's?.
- dressing up properly, going to a random memorial where the people don't know you, and "partaking of the emblems".
- going to a random kingdom hall where the people don't know you, give a couple "real" jw comments to earn trust / cred., give a third comment that contains the "f" curse in it, then act like nothing happened.
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LittleMac
LOL! My kid just asked me what I'm laughing at. Sounds like you've spent MANY an hour seated so long that your dress pants are sticking to your legs, enduring all of the speak. Could picture Will Ferrell pulling these off-
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For some who need a little help deciding what to believe
by itsibitsybrainbutbigenoughtosmellarat in.
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LittleMac
Oh the secret missing page from the "Mankind's Search for God" book!
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Led Zeppelin/ Robert Plant / Jimmy Page -Fav. Songs ? U-Tubes Welcome !
by flipper in.
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/babe-im-gonna-leave-you-jimmy-page-and-robert-plant-live-in/dce5e2fd2b694a80d19bdce5e2fd2b694a80d19b-960291931640?q=you-tube+robert+plant+babe+i'm+gonna+leave+you&form=vire6.
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LittleMac
When I was a Patterson Bethelite, whenever Zep was on the radio, I'd turn it up to feel my authentic self recharging.
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What Actually Made You Leave The Organization?
by minimus inmany of us needed time to get away from this religion.
i took the course of fading and it's worked pretty well for me.
after i saw sooooo many silly rules being enforced, i needed to get out!.
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LittleMac
I grew up in a family very closely connected, maybe a little codepedent even , but after my youngest sister, 21 at the time, went through some rough emotional treatment from the elders in a removal from pioneering and then disfellowshipping over really trivial stuff, it caused my parents so much anxiety that my mom sought some relief by looking on the internet to see if anyone else had had similar experiences and that was the crack in the dam. About six months later, my brother took me out to a pub and 'broke the news' asking me if I knew that Russell was a Mason, 1914 was made up, etc, etc. Initially, it made complete sense to me, but like emotional and mental crazy glue, it took me almost another year before I attended my last meeting. Thankfully, my entire family came out. Mom, Dad, 2 boys and 4 girls.
It's funny, the one thing that made total sense to me was when Mom asked me, "Do you think that people really need us to carry magazines to them with articles in them that they could just look online to read?" i.e. The Elusive Sea-Monkey or Making Goat Cheese- is it for you?
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June Service Meeting part: Marriage, separation and divorce
by Quarterback ini'm curious as to why this is a national topic for a service meeting part?
has anyone any thoughts on this?.
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LittleMac
My own opinion but, the rules are changing, religio/socially, regarding marriage compared to thirty years ago. Information that is available via books and articles and internet so readily today, has become looked at more seriously by even the Witnesses. Back then, it was dismissed as "pop" psychology or "the order of the day" but people are becoming aware of things like personality disorders, sexual incompatibility, and abusive personalities especially in men who grew up supported by the "theocratic" order of things pertaining to women. Talking to a therapist is now sought after and accepted, so people in the organization are realizing that maybe there is a serious problem with their marriage on a human, real, level and now they are going for the change rather than waiting on Jehovah or suffering in silence.
In the last ten years, I've seen about a half dozen or so marriages "in the truth" split up and it was almost always the girl who left first. I think due to problems ignored too long and there you go, they've had enough.
If this has happened around me say, in my circuit, which is a generally conservative one in eastern PA, USA, I can only imagine what the ripple effect is throughout the US or world?
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1 year since my last meeting!
by Alfred ini just realized that today marks my first year since attending a meeting at the kh... i really wanted to celebrate this day but it just creeped up and its kinda late now... i guess i'll celebrate tomorrow night instead.. but i wanted to log in to thank everyone who has helped me with their valuable insight and perspective... i came to this site with a typical judgemental jw mentality and now i can say i'm completely rid of all that... i now value everyone's opinions and talk more freely with people i used to consider "worldly"... what a completely freeing experience!.
the hardest part of my exit from the cult was convincing my wife... that took about 6 months and i nearly gave up... thank god she eventually woke up.. also, in the past year i've read.... gentile times reconsideredcombatting mind controlcrisis of conscience*in search of christian freedomapocalypse delayed*3 books out of the 7 "studies in the scriptures"5 rutherford books*i met 2 of the people mentioned in crisis of conscience and apocalypse delayed and had dinner with them recently... hoping to build that relationship further.. i've also sent about 26 emails to several elders on a variety of subjects and 6 letters to the brooklyn and i'm still not da's or df'd!
none of these emails or letters changed anything but it helped me purge.... i could go on and on but it's the same story you've probably read a thousand times already.. anyway, if it wasn't for all the support and encouragement i received on this site (as well as randy's site and barbara's site), i wouldn't be where i am today.. so a big thank you to you all!!!.
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LittleMac
Wow, that's great Alfred. Just curious, what made you finally delve into the 'apostate' world?
Also, it is 1 yr. for me since me and my family since we last went in 'service', I'm now proud to say.
I began reading Apocalypse Delayed on google books about a year and half ago and couldn't stop reading it. I found it to be absolutely fascinating and well written. I would literally shake as I read it. I mean I never allowed myself to go near anything other than Jw.org. But long story short, my parents let me in on their shared secret, that the org was not what we thought for my ENTIRE life and now all bets were off.
Good luck to you and your new endeavors!