Posts by RevLeFrench

19

Witness having a hay day

by d in

jw
friends

for those that are still going to the meetings.what are they saying about eygpt, libya and tunisa and the labor protests in the united states and the increasing gas prices.are they all fired up with end times fodder.tell me your thoughts.

d.

RevLeFrench

what about all the earthquakes that are happening in NZ and Japan? That always get the big 'A' chat going.

8

My sisters family

by RevLeFrench in

jw
friends

i found this site and thought i would let some people know of my experiences.. my sister is a baptised witness and had a bash at getting me to join.

she thought it would help straighten me out and save me, (i had been a very naughty boy and had just been released for a very serious crime where i hurt some people).. i have always had an interest in theology and have always believed in a god, i just didnt like him that much because i blamed him for things that had gone wrong in my life.. the first meeting i want to was horrible.

an elders wife ran up to me and was saying how lovely it was to see me there and i told her exactly what she could do in some very colourful language.

RevLeFrench

Hi, thank you all for the welcome!

Yes I was bad and very stupid back then. I have changed a lot and although now and again I growl a bit, I take a walk for half an hour and tell myself to stop being an idiot and Im good. It was a case of de-programming myself from a lifetime of being taught to be aggressive.

I will checkout those books, Thank you. I bought 'crisis of conscience' but have not read it myself yet.

8

My sisters family

by RevLeFrench in

jw
friends

i found this site and thought i would let some people know of my experiences.. my sister is a baptised witness and had a bash at getting me to join.

she thought it would help straighten me out and save me, (i had been a very naughty boy and had just been released for a very serious crime where i hurt some people).. i have always had an interest in theology and have always believed in a god, i just didnt like him that much because i blamed him for things that had gone wrong in my life.. the first meeting i want to was horrible.

an elders wife ran up to me and was saying how lovely it was to see me there and i told her exactly what she could do in some very colourful language.

RevLeFrench

Hi Everyone!

I found this site and thought I would let some people know of my experiences.

My sister is a baptised witness and had a bash at getting me to join. She thought it would help straighten me out and save me, (I had been a very naughty boy and had just been released for a very serious crime where I hurt some people).

I have always had an interest in theology and have always believed in a god, I just didnt like him that much because i blamed him for things that had gone wrong in my life.

The first meeting I want to was horrible. An elders wife ran up to me and was saying how lovely it was to see me there and I told her exactly what she could do in some very colourful language. My sister wasnt surprised at my action but was extremely embarressed!

I kept going and got right into it but I couldnt read a watchtower. I didnt like the way it was written with all the 'true christians do what we say', used to really annoy me. I used to fall asleep a lot in the 2nd half of the meeting but always claimed to be 'deep in prayer' if anyone pointed it out. I turned a lot of things around in my life and managed to control my anger for the first time. I was taken in by an elder who worked really hard on me. A few years later and I was working for him (My sister is an accountant and I was a Private Investigator but was helping with the accounts). As I was looking at the accounts I could see a lot of things wrong and told my sister to stop working as I could see we would not get paid for this work. I was already tens of thousands of pounds down as a few people had gone bankrupt on me and i was really struggling so I didnt want to lose more money, I just couldnt afford it.

The elder, John, said he was getting a tax refund and "promised to Jehovah!" that he would pay me. I took his oath and cracked on, not taking work from other places to complete these accounts works (3 years worth!)

Accounts complete, tax refund issued, I recieved nothing. I wanted to kill the guy and was fuming. I had already uncovered fraud in his accounts and spotted some pretty wierd things going on (He was going 'up North to sell nappies' but never had paper work and had photos of him with another woman) and I started to look into him a bit closer. I discovered a lot and he was in a financial mess even though he had plenty of cash coming in.

I kept asking for payment and he basically told me to get lost. I took it to the elders, they done nothing. I cannot remember everything but we ended up on the phone and he was crying, thelling me how poor he was and he was going to lose his house. I explained that I was angry because he had lied to me and everyone else by saying he didnt owe me anything. Long story short, I wiped the debt for him. 10 days later he bought a brand new mercedes.....

It rocked me completely. There where a lot of rumours going around the congregation about me, most were lies, some were true but I knew they had got the ture ones by accident because I had never told anyone about parts of my past! I decided the only way to build my faith was to start at the beginning and build from there. I managed to get hold of some old JW books and all the watchtowers from 1879-1949. I read through them all and was left with more questions than answers. There was a war in my own head as I was reading things that didnt add up. I discovered so much and I urge everone to do the same.

I started pointing things out to my sister but she wouldnt listen. The more I tried to show her, the less she would listen and it would end in an arguement. After 3 years, I said something that hit a chord with her. I dont remember exactly what it was but it was about how the watchtowers are written and the psychology and propaganda in them. She started to notice it herself and we would chat about it. It was really slow and hard work but little by little I could see the walls coming down. She has 2 daughters and a son. The son has grown and moved away, he hates religion with a passion. The two girls are with her, one is baptised and refuses to listen to anything negative, the other stopped going as soon as her mum did.

My sister wont leave because her daughter threatened to move out and live with other witnesses. She doesnt go to many meetings now, just enough to keep people off her back. Her daughter get lots of problems with witnesses trying to bully her and I always jump in and wave a big spikey stick around so they leave her alone but she still goes back.

If anyone has any ideas on a different way of reaching my niece, that would be good.

I still have a belief in G-d. It stops me from biting peoples heads off which is good and I have to thank the witnesses for that. I would love to see John the elder again and give him a big hug! He was DF'd a while ago when they finally done something about him leading a double life. I have a lot to thank him for, Without him I would never have looked or researched things for myself.