L_A_Big_Dawg

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Posts by L_A_Big_Dawg

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  54

  Letter For Judicial Hearing 6-6-02

  by silentlambs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  attorney at law.

  6-6-02. draffenville congregation of jehovahs witnesses.

  attn: george bandarra .

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  Bill,

  You are in my and many peoples' prayers.

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
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  9

  My Story

  by L_A_Big_Dawg in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am not sure if i am posting this in the correct forum.

  if not i am sure i will be told.. while, i have hit this site from time-to-time in the past, i have never really frequented it.

  until recently.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  I am not sure if I am posting this in the correct forum. If not I am sure I will be told.

  While, I have hit this site from time-to-time in the past, I have never really frequented it. Until recently. What has caused me to do this was the Dateline segment. What I have found is a great forum for me to interact others like me. I am looking forward to the day when I can meet some ex-JWs face-to-face.

  I wish to post my experience, and hopefully not bore you fine people to death. However, telling people my story is somewhat theraputic for me, and maybe it might help someone out there.

  My story with the Org. begins when I was adopted into a JW family. I was 6 months old at that time. I grew up typical for a JW I guess. My father was always an elder, he still is (more to come on that later). Always involved in the Circuit and District assemblies (mostly heading cleaning or food service). WHen I was 5 we moved to northern New Mexico. I had asthma really bad and rather than have me on constant meds my parents decided that leaving Los Angeles was a better idea. My grandparents had moved up there and started a lunch wagon in Taos, NM that was turning a good profit. They needed help, and my dad was happy to go where "the need was great."

  While there, I started school and the usual ridicle that one recieves when you are different (no flag salute, no holidays, no birthdays). However, I took the ridicle, and smiled because they were not picking on me, but on Jehovah. I was really a model JW as a kid. Always in service, I placed magazines, and made return visits. I even had my own magazine route. Then my dad got another idea, this time to move to northern California. We moved to Red Bluff, CA.

  It was there, starting junior high, that I met JW kids that were, well, underground. At the Hall they were model JWs, but outside of that realm they were something else. I wanting to be accepted took the first step to the "Dark Side." During this time, I smoked (cigarettes & tobacco), began listening to heavy metal, changed my appearance (to the best of my ability), and even began entertaining thoughts that the Org. was not the end-all-be-all of religion.

  For the next three and a half years, I lived a double life. With the JW adults I was considered an exemplary kid. I voiced all the right attitudes, Bethel/MS/Elder goals, but deep inside I didn't really want it. Then at the age 15 I made my biggest mistake.

  I decided to get baptized. Why? Because my dad was giving the baptism talk at this circuit assembly. I figured it would be good for my cover. I had been getting pressure, from my parents, certain Elders, and the Org. I had to find a way to get them off my back, and I figured this was the best way. Unfortunately, about 6 Months after I got baptized, one of the JW kids i bought my Pot from was arrested by the police, and in the subsequent Judicial Committee, promptly let the cat out of the bag on everyone that he had done any dirty deed with. I was summoned to the Committee meeting, and questioned. I confessed did the repentance thing (no tears though) and was privately reproved. Whether or not my father ahd any pull in this matter, I do not know. However, a number of persons, including the snitch, were publicly reproved. Evidently, the group was doing things that I didn't even know about.

  What kind of worked out for me, was that my grandmother in New Mexico got sick and almost died. My grandfather couldn't run the lunch wagon by himself, so my mom talked my dad into moving back. Well, back we go to Taos, and I get a clean slate, sort of with a new congregation.

  Well, certain skills that I had picked up in California got refined, and perfected in New Mexico. I continued my charade as a good JW. However, in school (high school now) it was totally different. Some of the skills I mastered, were shoplifting, selling Pot, and bookmaking. THese skills made it easy for me to maintain a cash flow, tht helped out during a time when money was short. I managed to tell my "clients" that if they saw me at their door to just be cool and not say anything. My cover was never blown by a "worldly" person.

  Well, all of that changed right before I graduated from high school. My best friend, whom I thought would never confess (he had a "worldly" girlfriend that he was quite "familiar" with), blow the lid on me, and other teens in the Congregation. I was almost DF'd, but instead put on public reproof. I gave up the illicite activities, except for bookmaking (I just made too much money on that). A couple were DF'd, and my friend walked out with a private reproof. That accelerated my journey into the "Dark Side."

  During this time, I was taking an "honors" level English class in school. The teacher was acually encouraging us to think for ourselves. To read and experience other philosophies. I looked into estern philosophy, but I found them to be lacking, in that they did not jive with the real world. However, at this time I was not ready to look into Christianity. After all the clergy in Christendom was corrupt and the laity hypocritical.

  Then the teacher had us look at religious philosophy. She assigned us to look at religions that were different from what we practiced. The religions were assigned randomly and I got Protestant Christianity. I informed the teacher that I would be doing my paper on JWs, and she said no, pick a more "main stream" denomination. I was in a pickle. How do I find out about "Babylon the Great"? Well, I started watching a religious TV. THis show featured Dr. Walter Martin. Well It just so happened that when I started watching this program, that this Dr. Martin fellow was speaking on JWs. A subject he professed great knowledge of. Wanting to disprove his allegations against the Org. I looked into my dad's personal library, as well as the Congregation's library. When I was asked why I was doing this by my dad and the elders, I told them I was doing research for school ( a lie?).

  To facilitate the researsh on Protestantism, I asked another teacher, who was well known as a Bible-thumper (and a Baptist) to help me out. Which she did. I was shocked by what I found. First the things this Dr. Martin fellow were true. The changed dates, the changed doctrines, etc. My faith in the Org. was shaken. On the other hand the things I was learning about Protestantism; reading about Luther, Calvin, Knox, Edwards, the Wesleys. The real truth behind the historic Christian doctrines, these began to resonate deep within me. I finishe d the report and got an A. However, my internal conflict was just beginning.

  WHen I finally graduated from school, I began working, and left a lot of things hanging, specifically my research on the Org. I just wanted to work, and save enough money to get out of Taos, and move to Los Angeles.

  That I did, and while here in L.A. I began to go out and ask questions of Christians. WHat I found was that for the most part they were great persons that knew nothing of what they believed. Disheartened, I placed all my doubts back in a box and went back to the JWs. Well, as things turned out, I got back in. I went whole hog into the JWs, and eventually moved back to New Mexico. While there I did everything that I was expected to do, I began to pioneer, and eventually the time came when I was up for MS when the CO came to visit. Unfortunately for me, there were forces at work. The father of the guy that "snitched" on us there in Taos, was still very upset that I got public reproof but his son got DF'd. He kept me from becoming a MS. At that point I said, "Forget it" and began my final drift into the "Dark Side."

  I moved back to Los Angeles, and began a life of practical atheism. I lived my life like there was going to be a Day of Judgement. Then I hired a lady that was Christian. I began to ask her questions she could not answer. She introduced me to her father who at the time was an Assistant Pastor of a small pentecostal church in Glendale, CA. We talked many imes, and he helped me go from knowledge of Christianity to assent, or intellectual belief as to the truth of Christianity.

  The final step in my juorney, came when he invited me to an evangelistic outreach. The speaker was a former gang memeber of some note, and it was at this outreach that I began to trust in the work of Jesus Christ. The journey was long and often harrowing, but it was worth it. Even at the expense of my parents, and my family, it was worth it. Because I have found many more fathers, and mothers, and family. I have seen many people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, and I wouldn't change that for the world. I was able to teach these young Christians in classes. Able to help Christians to present what and why they believe in Christianity.

  I have met many of the finest minds in Christian scholarship, and have come away with my faith strengthened, nowing that that Christianity is not what the JWs make it out to be. Yes, I lost my religion, but I found something so much better, God.

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
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  99

  Dateline discussed openly in our congregation

  by TheMatrix in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yesterday, the presiding overseer (elder h) read the letter from the christian congregation of jehovahs witnesses (us branch) regarding their policy on child abuse.

  all scriptures were also looked up and read.. elder h is a very prepared brother.

  he is a gilead graduate and served as a missionary for about 7 years in kenya before coming home because of illness.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  Matrix,

  While I am new here, I am very familiar with the JW tendancy to "strecth the truth" (no pun intended). Many a time, in my association with the JWs (son of a PO, City Overseer, and sub-CO), I have heard something that was said at a Hall, and repeated "verbatim." When the matter was researched and verified, it appeared that the message was blown out in the JW "grapevne."

  While I do not doubt the sincerity of Elder H (there are good men in the elder bodies of many Congs.). I, however, seriously doubt your ability to remember said monologe from the platform. By the way, I am trained in memory techniques, and even I would have a hard time remembering verbatim a monologue of such length without some assistance from a tape recorder.

  However, this reasoned and compassionate response in your particular Congregation, is not what I have found in my dealings with JWs. Most of the JWs tend to attack the person leveling the charges as "apostates." They refuse to even consider the fact that these persons are not "out to get" the Org. but rather are in this for some financial gain, or worse some attempt to gain fame.

  It is my sincere prayer, that many JWs will "Awake" from their Org. imposed mental complacency and relize that salvation is not in an Org. but in the person and work of a man from Nazareth over 2,000 years ago.

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
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  169

  X-JWs Who are now bible Christians

  by clash_city_rockers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi folks,.

  i'm just sort of taking role call to all those x-dubs who are now brothers and sisters in christ.

  i think it is wise for us to rise up and be counted so that we know who each other are.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  Personally I find clash & hilary a bit too sarcastic for my tastes. Therefore, I pay no mind either of you. You both sound like little children arguing of whose sandbox to play in.

  Clash, Paul stated that even if Christ is preached in contention he was supportive of it.

  Hilary, Paul also said that if anyone, even an angel from heaven preaches another gospel then that person is anathema, or damned to the lowest hell.

  Without some type of standard, Christian doctrine becomes a hodge-podge of whatever is convienent for the believer....hmmm sounds like modern evangelicalism.

  Lastly, in my mind, and backed up by Dr. Robert Morey, there are only two doctrines that must be affirmed by a Christian.

  Read Romans 10:9 & 10...For those with out a bible handy it says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as LORD, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you shall be saved" (my paraphrase). According to Paul, the bare minimum for salvation is belief in the diety of Christ and the bodily resurrection of Him from the dead. All other beliefs are just window dressing.

  Have fun and play nice

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
• 
  169

  X-JWs Who are now bible Christians

  by clash_city_rockers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi folks,.

  i'm just sort of taking role call to all those x-dubs who are now brothers and sisters in christ.

  i think it is wise for us to rise up and be counted so that we know who each other are.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  Tried Glendale Pres. Good but dry in worship.

  Grace Community. I prefer a more Calvinistic bent on my teaching. I disliked his book The Gospel According to Jesus.

  Encino is too far from me.

  Going to Dr. Bob's church Sunday. I attended his monday night classes in Orange Co.

  Actually I'm looking for ex-Dubs to chat with, make friendship etc. in the Glendale/Pasadena/Northeast L.A> area:)

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
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  1

  Looking for x-dubs NE L.A. or Taos, NM

  by L_A_Big_Dawg in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am loooking for any x-dubs in ne los angeles, glendale, pasadena for correspondense.. i am also looking for any from taos, nm.. "that's me in the corner.

  that's me in the spotlight, losing my religion.

  " rem.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  Hi all,

  I am loooking for any x-dubs in NE Los Angeles, Glendale, Pasadena for correspondense.

  I am also looking for any from Taos, NM.

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
• 
  169

  X-JWs Who are now bible Christians

  by clash_city_rockers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi folks,.

  i'm just sort of taking role call to all those x-dubs who are now brothers and sisters in christ.

  i think it is wise for us to rise up and be counted so that we know who each other are.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  I am an Ex-Dub, now Christian. Looking for Ex-Dubs, now Christian in the Northeast L.A./Glendale/Pasadena area.

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
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  17

  World Cup : USA shocks Portugal

  by Gopher in

  1. social
  2. physical

  first senegal stuns france with an opening-game victory.. now the usa beats portugal 3-2 in a first-round game.

  and, one of portugal's goals was the result of an american "own goal".

  i saw a couple of beee-autiful crossing passes that resulted in american goals.. this brand of football, with its unexpected surprises, may actually become fun to watch!!.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  OLE...OLE...OLE, OLE...OLE...OLE

  USA???????

  WOO HOO

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
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  21

  The Sum of All Fears

  by patio34 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  has anyone had a chance to see this yet?

  i give it a top rating and enjoyed it very much.

  it's not getting rave reviews, but my friend and i really thought it was good!.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  As a Tom Clancy fanatic, I have to put in my $0.02.

  I may not see this movie, mainly because this movie does not follow the storyline of the books. In this book, the protagonists are Arabs not neo-Nazis. Secondly, there is no character known as Cabot (Morgan Freeman). Third, Jack Ryan is married and has the scond child (John Jr.) prior to the start of this book. Fourth, John Clark in this book is older than Jack Ryan. John Clark is a Vietnam vet, with Special Forces traing from said conflict.

  Whether I see this movie will depend on the lack of other movies to see. I read the book, and if you want my humble opinion, take the $8 or $9 and buy the paperback...you'll find that your money is better spent that way.

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg
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  15

  Raymond Franz

  by obiwan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  has anyone read the book crisis of conscience?i want to get it,but i would like to know if the information is helpful.. wow it's a wide open world,use your.

  own thoughts.

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  L_A_Big_Dawg

  Be prepared to have your socks knocked off your tootsies.

  I'll grant you that the information is almost 2 decades old, but you'll get an insight into how things worked, and may still work in the Org.

  Happy reading.

  "That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight, losing my religion." REM

  And thank God I lost my religion.

  The Big Dawg