"We need to talk".
"Ok,-" and then never be available or if you get cornered, be on your way to an appointment.
avoid, avoid avoid
wife and i have not reported a single hour of fs in 3-4 months.
while my wife is mostly doing for me (positive thing), i know she would have rather done it.
elder asked me to turn in my fs report this past week and then he added... "we need to talk".
"We need to talk".
"Ok,-" and then never be available or if you get cornered, be on your way to an appointment.
avoid, avoid avoid
from so many posts and conversations on here, you'd think over 1/2 the posters here possess doctorates in theology, physics, biology, etc.
i'm curious aside from the books and research people have done here, what degrees they have.
to start, i just got an aa and going straight through full time to an mba.
this is my first year i will not attend memorial.
to be honest if it wasn't for my husband i would probably be going still.
he says what's the point, don't be one of those people who doesn't give a sh** but just shows there face once a year.
I will be going. As a 4th generation born-in with a true-believer regular pioneer for a mom, it's the last vestige that signals "I'm not a danger to your spirituality".
While I haven't attended meetings in about 7 years, this is one hour of my life once a year that keeps things easy for me. I usually have a martini or two before I go, attend, chit-chat and then leave and have another drink.
its worth it for me and I feel I get a big return on my investment in terms of social grease for the rest of the year.
I have to say though that the more " out" I am the more ridiculous they sound. It may get to the point where I can't stand it any more and I will join you all in the non-attendee group.
i've been looking on this site for some time but never posted.
i'll give a little about myself, but not too much.
i'm a ex-bethelite ( brooklyn )and currently serving as an elder (10 years) (thinking about stepping down) on the service committee.
I have a friend who is exactly as described in the OP. He thinks most of it is crap, but is "hedging his bets." I don't think the whole thing is bad, but I don't think I could ever assimilate back in now that I've been out for the last 7 years. It would make my life easier on many levels, but I just can't.
george bernard shaw once said: .
"all great truths begin as blasphemies" .
why not check out the following link to see if such a thing spoken of by mr. shaw, could not be soooo true, even in our day and time.. click here to see: link to newspaper article discussing genesis 3:15 and jehovah's witnesses.
jwvictims has done an excellent but disturbing article on how jw's feel about the child abuse problem.. http://jwvictims.org/2013/11/23/jehovahs-witnesses-caught-laughing-at-child-rape-accusers/.
That quote in the upper left corner: "When we get into things that could ignite a controversy, I'm gonna quote our publications. So you'll have to take it up with God."
How is it that their representatives - FROM THE GOVERNING BODY - can make a statement like that - IN PUBLIC - and then claim they do not present themselves as inspired by God?? How can you be "God's Channel" except for when you get something wrong, and then, well, you know, "we're just imperfect men," and "the light just get's brighter and brighter..."
Such a mindf*ck.
i recall that some years ago the wt stated that not all offences need to be reported to the elders, but that confessing serious sins to another person who was not an elder could suffice.
the article stated that this did not include sexual offences and that these must be reported to the elders.. can anyone throw any light on this please?.
(originally posted march, 2014)anyone who has awakened to ttatt and has conscientiously left the organization--especially a once-prominent, highly-regarded, studious believer from a prominent multi-generational tribe of jws-- after decades of devout, high-profile "serve-us," who continues to put in an annual appearance at the memorial thoroughly subverts and undermines, by this one act, any hope s/he may entertain that his/her departure will stir family or former friends to question the whole watchtower bamboozle.
by this one concession s/he assigns him-/herself by every single jw to their handy and dimissive purgatory: the "spiritually-weak.".
nothing blasts a louder, clearer, and more deliberate message to the jws who personally knew you and those familiar with your jw bona fides that you are not merely "not making the meetings," "inactive," or "spiritually-weak," but that there is a conscientious reason you have rejected the entire watchtower society life than choosing to forego what they know you once believed to be jehovah's must-attend, one-and-only, holy/sacred event of the year for his people, the lord's evening meal.. you hand them the very justification they so relish to self-righteously label you as a "submarine witness" deserving of jehovah's, and more importantly, their judgement.
I agree - in that it is the last remnant by which a person signals their detachment from the WT.
That is exactly why I go. Not going may lead people to think I'm "dangerous" to their spirituality (which I'm not). So for me, it is an hour out of my life that keeps my relationship with people I care about intact.
I don't put any energy into worrying about what people think about me when I go. I go because it makes my life easier.
And I find that being respectful of other people's beliefs works too. Isn't that what we want - to be respected? Then it is my opinion that we must respect them to be respected.
I went to the link on JW- Talk - boy, they are quick to jump on the victim and not the perp. And no mention that Conti was going to let it go until it was found out that he went to jail for molesting another child because the fact that he was a molester was not public information inside the congregation.
To me - that is one of the biggest issues - that the information that someone was a molester is not shared in any way with the congregation and that people are encouraged to trust each other.
The other big issue is that they don't feel any ordinary obligation to report it to the police but only do so if required by state law - even then I'm not sure they do - don't these men have any conscience?
On top of all that - keep them dumb and uneducated so they can't determine for themselves the real issues. 😥
fading and not "outing" yourself.. what are your thoughts on it?.
i ask, because i just received a scathing personal message on facebook from a person who read my latest book and in it i describe myself as a fader.
i was not dfd and i did not da myself.
There is a difference between being honest and being private. Fading doesn't make you dishonest. That's called being *ahem* discreet *ahem about a private matter. JWs have no personal boundaries since they've been trained out of them so they view being private as hiding something.
As for the person calling you names on FB, I would delete them off the page for inappropriate behavior If they did that to one of the other commenters on the page, isn't that what you would do? Certainly you deserve the same respect