If you are trying to get reinstated, it might be good just to play nice. It's annoying, but there isn't anything to say they can't come by, they are elders, so they are probably checking up on you. You have to play along if you want to win the game.
Posts by bafh
-
27Unbelievable! Is this even allowed? Two elders from my hall RANDOMLY stopped by my apartment!
by macys inok wow.
i am really really pissed.
i had to really hold back and bite my tongue.
-
-
-
38
Fading is never 100% successful is it?
by nicolaou inmum phoned last night to see how we all are.
after fifteen years away from meetings and my old jw life you'd think my fade could be called 'successful' and for the most part it is.
.. my resentment at being lied to and having wasted over thirty years of my life has left me like a glass of water full to the brim, it only takes a tap to make a mess.
-
-
bafh
It's over when you are over it. It's not what happens to us, it is how we respond.
Therapy helps a lot.
-
6
2016 2-29-BOE-Skills Questionnaire!
by Atlantis in2016 skills questionnaire boe, instructions, and form combined in this pdf... http://we.tl/tffkalsixb.
.. .. atlantis!.
-
-
bafh
That is sort of a stupid questionnaire. It's really more like an inventory - 10 attorneys in Oregon, 9 CPAs, in California, etc. It doesn't say, "Hey, we need ______. What (if any) is your experience in this area?"
Heaven forbid they show a "need".
-
18
Are JW Celebrities Getting paid to say they are JW?
by Luther bertrand ini have always wondered why prince and michael jackson stayed in good standing for some of the stuff they released as jws?
or how the williams sisters could stay in sports without all the bs?
after all the revelations about the org that i have heard... i wonder if they are paid and the reason they get away with it is that they are pr strategies and really they could give a crap about the org?
-
-
bafh
It's my understanding that the Williams sisters were never baptized, so there isn't anything for them to be condemned about. Michael Jackson eventually disassociated himself in the late 80s/early 90s.
As far as Prince goes, he was "in" - my mom went to a concert he gave soon after his baptism, and he started "preaching" from the stage. Perhaps his faith has, like many people, "weakened" aka he's come to his senses.
-
15
Protest for Mandatory Reporting?
by Luther bertrand inon another thread, i have been having a discussion about protests in connection with watchtower policy.
one of the biggest and more re-occuring rebuttals to protesting at kingdom halls and assemblies is that it does two things: 1. it re-enforces the apostate "mentally diseased" narrative heaped on the xjw community by the gb 2. it causes people to withdraw and get closer to the borg.. what if we as a group took the protest to city halls and government authorities to raise awareness of the need for mandatory reporting laws, rather than protesting @jw events?
hell even geoffry jackson, when he gave his testimony at the arc, agreed that it would be "helpful".
-
-
bafh
What needs to happen it seems is more clear guidelines around mandatory reporting as it applies to religious groups. Given the recent lawsuit where the WT claimed to have an exception due to clergy-laity privilege when a child and parent reported abuse, there needs to be legislation that is explicit and requires that all religious affiliates are mandatory reporters and to explicitly define the clergy-laity privilege as applying to the admittance of guilt, and not the reporting of a crime. -
28
2016-1-12-BOE--Mentioning Donation Arrangement to Householder!
by Atlantis in2016-1-12-boe.
"apply yourself to the field ministry," the "initial call" assignmentdirects the student to mention the donation arrangement..http://postimg.org/image/tayz8pawn/..atlantis!
-
-
bafh
It has been a long standing practice to mention the donation arrangement at the door - at least that is how it was when they first stopped charging for literature and went to a donation basis - we were instructed to mention it at every door, and with every visit.
The "we don't take collections or pass the plate, we just ask for donations at the door and hound you with accounting "reports" " dance has been long standing.
-
57
Any ExJw Millenials here? If not which Gen do you fall under?
by Hidethevelociraptors inif anyone had to guess, what do you think the average age of the community actually is?.
are more millennials actually waking up or is it pretty even amongst previous generations as well?
.
-
-
bafh
Gen X. BOOYAH! -
40
WT Study 1/10/16 Encouraging Child Baptism And More Nonsense
by JW_Rogue ini've noticed that each wt lesson really only has one or two points they want remembered.
normally they build up to these by about the third subheading.
this week's lesson though was different, the main point was insidiously made through an experience in the first paragraph:.
-
-
bafh
I was 16 and consider it coersion because the peer and family pressure was so intense. It was not a "choice" since not getting baptized was NOT an option. -
32
New WT pdf tells children to report. Irony?
by wifibandit inpdf.
why won't watchtower tell abusers "i'm going to tell on you!
" and follow through with the proper authorities?
-
-
bafh
If they tell, what will be done? Nothing. So what is the point?
This is purely a CYA move in all respects.
-
42
Why does it seem to be unhappy people who are attracted to the JWs?
by new boy ini have had time to think about this........... i was an attendent for many years.......... and looking up and down the rows at every family that was seating there in the khs........... no one was happy!.
i think of my mother (who brought this religion into our house)......she was one of the most unhappy and miserable people you would ever meet!
she was a spiritual orphan with few friends and no real family to speak of.. she got the "good news" back in 1950, that "the world" was a bad place and god, would soon be killing most everyone......she was thrilled!...............
-
-
bafh
In my experience spirituality tends to promote growth, self-awareness, responsibility...religiosity tends to promote dependence, and victimhood.
If you don't want to be responsible for how your life turns out, then religion is the answer because it tells you: 1) whatever bad is happening is not your fault and 2) someone (GOD) is coming to rescue you.
Spiritual people I know who are also religious tend to not hold extreme views of good/evil, right/wrong or to shift the blame to someone else when things don't turn out. They also don't expect that they can just sit on their hands and wait for someone else to rescue them. Instead, they promote the idea that we are all responsible for ourselves, and the community. They look for and see the good in people, and support them to be their better selves. In fact, many of them seem to hold the view that God expects you to live up to your potential.
Especially among JWs, the viewpoint that "this world is so horrible" seems to comfort them because they think the worse it gets, or the worse they perceive it to be - the closer everyone is to having things get better because God is going to wipe it all out and start over. This outlook, I think, accounts for the reason why JWs put everything on hold - I won't __________ until the New System. In the New System, I'll learn to (cook, play music, dance, etc) Understandably then, the majority of their expenditure of time, energy and focus is on "surviving" to the end.
The reason why people are't happy is that their needs aren't being met. I'm a firm believer in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Look at the chart below. Most JWs function on very low levels. In fact, instead of meeting the needs of individuals, the material and organization is structured to invalidate a person's experiences, telling them that meeting their needs is wrong, and that the reason they are unhappy is because something is fundamentally wrong with them (they ARE sinful) and that this "wicked system of things" is stacked against them.
.
As I was doing some research related to Maslow, I remembered the account of the Sermon on the Mount. The first thing Jesus did with that crowd was feed them. I've always wondered why he would do that. Then I saw Maslow's chart. Of course, if people's physical needs aren't met -hungry, thirsty, need to pee - they can't sustain attention to more sophisticated needs like spirituality. I don't even know if this story is true, but I think it is very insightful into human nature. If it is true, and it was put there as an instruction - it is even more telling that JWs do not follow this example in any real way - they do not have homeless shelters, food banks, etc. They blantantly ignore the example of the man they proclaim to follow.
Following the organization's lead, a person proves their Christianity by having a hard life. JWs tend to be uneducated and low skilled workers. So they are in fact working harder than people with education and skills because what they can do is less valuable to the marketplace. In this way, their perception becomes their reality. On top of that, they are trained to ignore or devalue any good that may exist in the world - what is accomplished by non-profits, individuals or evidence of basic human good. They focus on and see the bad, ignore the good.
Their need for love and belonging is meet in a community where approval is conditional based on an individual's willingness to replace their own judgment with that of another (parents, elders, the organization). Their need for safety (emotional and sometimes physical) is in jeopardy because if an individual relies on their own judgment they no longer "belong". JWs are discouraged from individuality, self-esteem, or acknowledgement of skills and talents. JWs are not allowed to pursue (at least not openly) the natural process of self-actualization.
It would be nice to see JWs be able to get to a place where they can both acknowledge and promote the good that humans do. I would like to see a system that meets the needs of everyone by doing good for others, demonstrating Christian qualities in their everyday lives to draw people - speaking to the potential they hold instead of condemning them for the wrong they do.
My burning question is: as Christians, why can't we work to accomplish the good we can while we wait for something better? Is this not the example of all the great leaders in history? Mother Theresa, Ghandi, MLK, and even Jesus?
My conclusion is that the reason people are unhappy is that JWs fail to meet the real and current needs of individuals while at the same time holding out a vague, narrow and abstract promise of the opportunity to self-actualize. People are drawn to their own potential, they just don't understand it's right in front of them, even now.