Leander

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Posts by Leander

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  11

  1 slowfade 2 go please (thanks 4 the advice)

  by Leander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thanks to everyone who contributed to the earlier post i made today.

  after a few hours of consideration i believe the slow fade probably is the best choice for my situation.

  by just gradually reducing my meeting attendance i can still maintain contacts with friends and family and still find liberation from the tower.

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  Leander

  Out4good - It sounds like your wife put you thru hell and back. How are things going for you now?
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  11

  1 slowfade 2 go please (thanks 4 the advice)

  by Leander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thanks to everyone who contributed to the earlier post i made today.

  after a few hours of consideration i believe the slow fade probably is the best choice for my situation.

  by just gradually reducing my meeting attendance i can still maintain contacts with friends and family and still find liberation from the tower.

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  Leander

  Thanks to everyone who contributed to the earlier post I made today. After a few hours of consideration I believe the slow fade probably is the best choice for my situation. By just gradually reducing my meeting attendance I can still maintain contacts with friends and family and still find liberation from the tower.

  Another thing that works out to my benefit and I did'nt even realize it, is that my new job is much further away and will require me to work later hours. This will serve as an effective reason for me to step down as a MS and obtain a reprieve from school assignments and service meeting parts. I can't beleive how well this will work out for me and I almost did'nt see it. In fact this evening I plan on contacting the school overseer (my brother-in-law) to temporarily (read: indefinite) remove me from the school schedule.

  Once again thanks guys I appreciate the advice

  On a sad note I just found out one of my sister-in-laws had a miscarriage today. She was 4 months into her pregnancy.
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  33

  4 more days till I leave the Watchtower

  by Leander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in a few more days i'll be making my departure from the wts, part of me is relieved and yet another part of me is dreading the drama i'll be going through shortly.

  i've been trying to prepare myself for the deluge of questions that i know are sure to come from my family.

  my wife will be the first person i tell obviously and then i'll tell my mother and younger brother.

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  Leander

  Roybatty - I gave a lot of thought to just DA'ing myself and being done with it, but I think the way I going about it now will be much easier for me.

  Simwitness - thanks for that info, especially the baptism questions and the scripture. my argument will be airtight

  Amazing - great suggestions, I think you're right about the need to talk with my Mom face to face. Maybe I'll get the both of them together and just make a brief announcement. *sigh* I'm not looking forward to that at all
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  9

  It has come to our attention... JW Child Molester

  by i8emallup in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  front page of asbury park press tuesday, may 14.. http://www.app.com/.

  molestation case leads to church fight .

  published in the asbury park press 5/14/02 .

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  Leander

  Semonian said the church does not have specific rules against talking to the media, but churches could take action against those who disrupt the unity of the church.

  
  It is just me or is the statement basically saying the unity of the church supercedes everything else even the safety of children
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  33

  4 more days till I leave the Watchtower

  by Leander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in a few more days i'll be making my departure from the wts, part of me is relieved and yet another part of me is dreading the drama i'll be going through shortly.

  i've been trying to prepare myself for the deluge of questions that i know are sure to come from my family.

  my wife will be the first person i tell obviously and then i'll tell my mother and younger brother.

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  Leander

  Here's a somewhat interesting story.

  Last night I went to the healthclub with a brother who was a former elder in my congregation. He's about 20 years older than myself but in excellent condition. He just recently returned from Las Vegas with his family, they had moved from the suburbs of Chicago the previous year. He was relating some of the experiences that he had in Las Vegas that made him decide to move back to Chicago. Apparently the friends there were very cliquish (sp?) and despite being in the congregation for almost a year this brother and his family were still treated as outsiders although they were all in good standing. While he was telling me this story I could'nt help but to think how can this really be Gods organization when incidents like this are probably going on in the WTS all over the world.

  Later that evening as we were leaving the gym he offered me some encouragement. Apparently news had gotten around to him that I had been considering leaving the religion and looking at apostate information late last year. (this was about the time I first joined the forum here) He did'nt specifically mention anything about apostates but from the tone of the conversation it was obvious that he had been informed about my doubts. So anyway he was basically trying to encourage me which I did appreciate but it only made me sad that a good person like him was so taken by this religion that he could'nt see anything else.

  Its really interesting that people always use the phrase "the organization is perfect its just the people with the flaws". But then you have to stop and think who really is the organization? Is it God or is it men? Would God be mistaken about blood and resurrection issues? Would God forget his own date set for armaggeddon? Would God allow his organization be sullied with thousands of incidents of child abuse?
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  33

  4 more days till I leave the Watchtower

  by Leander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in a few more days i'll be making my departure from the wts, part of me is relieved and yet another part of me is dreading the drama i'll be going through shortly.

  i've been trying to prepare myself for the deluge of questions that i know are sure to come from my family.

  my wife will be the first person i tell obviously and then i'll tell my mother and younger brother.

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  Leander

  I almost forgot, I would like to thank everyone for their advice and kind words in the past weeks. I received quite a bit of feedback to my questions and posts on this board and although I have'nt been able to reply to each and every one I do appreciate the responses.
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  33

  4 more days till I leave the Watchtower

  by Leander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in a few more days i'll be making my departure from the wts, part of me is relieved and yet another part of me is dreading the drama i'll be going through shortly.

  i've been trying to prepare myself for the deluge of questions that i know are sure to come from my family.

  my wife will be the first person i tell obviously and then i'll tell my mother and younger brother.

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  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Leander

  In a few more days I'll be making my departure from the WTS, part of me is relieved and yet another part of me is dreading the drama I'll be going through shortly. I've been trying to prepare myself for the deluge of questions that I know are sure to come from my family. My wife will be the first person I tell obviously and then I'll tell my mother and younger brother. I'm contemplating just writing a letter to my mother for the initial announcement, she tends to get emotional and I'm really dreading even telling her at all but unfortunately I'll have to let her know eventually.

  I've decided I won't DA myself but I am planning on drafting a letter stating that I will be stepping down as minsterial servant and from all theocratic school and service meeting assignments. Heres what the letter will look like:

  To the Congregation Elder Body,

  I, (my name) as of May, 19th 2002 am resigning from the duties of Ministerial Servant with the (my congregation) in Harvey, Illinois. I would also like to request that all future theocratic school and service meeting parts no longer be assigned to me. I do not wish to discuss the reasons for these decisions at this time.

  signed (my name)

  Its a short letter but it should state my intentions and allow me to make an exit with a minimal amount of fuss. (hopefully) I'm wondering though since the elders all know that I had been studying up on apostate websites a few months ago, can they take any action against me?

  Also I've asked these questions before in previous posts but I would like to ask them again. I want to be well prepared for the questions that I get from my family. Basically I'm expecting them to ask me questions like these:

  What other religion or organization are doing the work of JWs?

  What other religions teach the hope of an earthly kingdom and have also discarded false doctrines? (hellfire, trinity, immortal soul, etc.)

  I kinda expect those 2 questions right of the bat. I want to quickly answer them and then move right into several reasons why the WTS is not different from any other religion. I'm thinking of briefly commenting on the following topics:

  1. - Numerous failed expectations and also insisting that others put faith in these expectations or else face expulsion from the congregation. (Note: I'm specifically using the word expectations in this argumentation because some people automatically go on the defensive when they hear the word prophecy or prediction. And just as an additional question are there any older publications of where the WTS has repeatedly written that the congregations MUST follow their direction and counsel? If I can find that kind of information then it will have much more impact when I list the numerous failed expectations (read: predictions))

  2. - Swaying back and forth on bibical truths (I'll begin this argument stating that in the past God's representatives never changed the truth from one understanding to another and then back again. Such as views on blood, marital sex, aspects of the resurrection, etc.)

  3. - Christ said that you will know you are my people by the love you have among one another (I'll point out how true christian love is not just limited to JWs. In fact there are many cases where many within the WTS show themselves to have a lack of christian love.)

  4. Christ warned us to look for those who claim to know the time of the end (I forget exactly where that scripture is, if someone happens to know which one it is please let me know. I think this may be one of the strongest arguments I can make. As far as I am aware of no other religion has made more end time predictions than the WTS. Can anyone substantiate that?)
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  6

  The Numbers - Psychdigg

  by Amazing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  psychdigg: your post below complains about bill bownen using fake numbers and false predictions.

  you then only discuss some generalized numbers in an unspecific way.. law of large numbers: in case you are not familiar with this concept, it is used in science and engineering.

  it is most often applied in the insurance and market research industries.

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  Leander

  Thanks for the insight, I had been wondering about those numbers and how they were obtained. I'm still curious about this file, maybe Bill will eventually disclose the source of this information in the near future.
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  56

  Hyghlandyr's Announcement

  by Hyghlandyr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have finally gotten around to giving a cursory synopsis of my story, life before and after being one of jehovahs witnesses.. it contains the "f" word.

  i have thus placed it into the adult and disagreements forum.

  i have also placed it there since there are people who do not like my philosophies or what i write.

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  Leander

  Hygh that is an incredible story, you've been thru a lot and still managed to retain your sanity. (your are sane right? JK) Thanks for sharing
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  7

  I blew off another meeting, I may leave sooner...

  by Leander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ... than i expected.

  i just could'nt bear to go sit in the meeting today for 2 boring hours.

  it just drives me to the point of rage when i think about how the wts shoots off this spiel about how we have to attend meeting upon meeting and put in a seemingly infinite amount of field service hours to please god.

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  Leander

  ... than I expected. I just could'nt bear to go sit in the meeting today for 2 boring hours. It just drives me to the point of rage when I think about how the WTS shoots off this spiel about how we HAVE to attend meeting upon meeting and put in a seemingly infinite amount of field service hours to please God. Then theres the circuit conventions, district conventions, special day talks, memorial talks, visits from the overseer, pioneer meetings, elder meetins, ministerial servant meetings. I just can't take this bullshit anymore. I could have swore Christ said that his load is'nt a burden. Maybe the society did'nt have that scripture in mind when they decided to print boatloads of their own interpetations of the bible.

  I'm sick of elders nagging me because they don't think I put in enough hours, I'm sick of drone like congregation members probing me for an excuse when I miss a meeting, I'm even more sick of rushing to get cleaned up and dressed for meetings after I've spent 10+ hours at the job.

  Just this morning I was standing out in the rain like an idiot trying to do return visits when I should have been at home like a sensible person. I just can't deal with this religion anymore. I'm trying my best to just hang in there until the end of the week, my wedding anniversary is in 5 days and I did'nt want to spoil it for my wife with an announcement that I know she's gonna freak out over.

  It feels good to vent a little bit, even if its only on the internet