Posts by Bucholz

20

Pre-cleaning the district convention venue

by hoser in

jw
friends

this year as with every previous year a letter was read on how we can honor jehovah by helping to clean the stadium where the district convention is held.. does the watchtower get a break on the rent if the dubs do a major cleaning of the stadium?

sounds like slave labour to me.. .

hoser.

Bucholz

You know, in the city where I live, the dubs have an agreement with the owners of the Stadium used for District Conventions, where they are allowed to use the Stadium rent-free if the come clean it up twice or three times a year, usually before the beginning of the season. This is public knowledge though.

66

"The END is soooooo close"

by Phizzy in

i notice reported in a number of posts that this seems to a bit of a mantra with the dubbies now, more so than ever in the past.. is this because they are getting desperate for the life they live as jw's to change ?

they don't really want to end their days with the constant drudgery of the jw life still going on, they want something different, but must "wait on jehovah".

sigh.. i wonder if this is a small opportunity for us to sow some small, niggling doubt, why not ask, when they spew out the "it is soooo close" nonsense:.

Bucholz

It seems like the people who say this is the most are the ones who have been in the WT the longest. I remember one of the older CO's always emphasizing that "the end would come during our lifetime'. Another old timer told me once Satan knows he has NO TIME LEFT. Still another time the visiting speaker asked if we remembered how in the 80's we always thought the end was around the corner, and how it was already here. I was like WTF?

7

BREAKING FREE is going to cost....

by Terry in

breaking free is going to cost plenty!

family, friends, reputation, purpose in life and self-accusations.. .

the very same brain that gets you in to the religion is what you are stuck with when you get out.

Bucholz

BREAKING FREE might just be the most difficult thing in life, but it's totally worth it in the long run!

13

A little update

by Bucholz in

hello everybody, even though i don't post a lot, i visit and read the threads on this site quite frequently.. wanted to give you a little update and ask for some advice at the same time.

since my exit, about 2 years ago, everything had been almost perfect.

i was living on my own, making new friends, elders from my old hall weren't bothering me at all, i was enjoying life.

Bucholz

Thank you for your replies guys. Read all your suggestions and I agree, I think my brother is too young right now to understand what goes on in the Watchtower. I guess there's not a lot I can do about the 'lovebombing' either.

The negative effect the WT can have on people's lives still surprises me. Just yesterday my little brother had one of his friends from school come over to play videogames and soccer. As soon as he left, his mother (my mother) went crazy. She started talking to him about how we must have friends who "love Jehovah" and that he already sees them everyday at school blah blah blah. They're freakin' 10 years old for God's sake!!

What worries me is that my brother had been living a pretty happy and balanced life, and now all of this. Thanks for all your replies again. I'll keep you posted.

13

A little update

by Bucholz in

hello everybody, even though i don't post a lot, i visit and read the threads on this site quite frequently.. wanted to give you a little update and ask for some advice at the same time.

since my exit, about 2 years ago, everything had been almost perfect.

i was living on my own, making new friends, elders from my old hall weren't bothering me at all, i was enjoying life.

Bucholz

Hello everybody, even though I don't post a lot, I visit and read the threads on this site quite frequently.

Wanted to give you a little update and ask for some advice at the same time. Since my exit, about 2 years ago, everything had been almost perfect. I was living on my own, making new friends, elders from my old hall weren't bothering me at all, I was enjoying life. I was living in my mother's house, mind you, since she was living with her new husband, along with 2 siblings.

Then about 6 months ago she decided to move back in, and since it's a big house and I was getting to see my brother again (he's 10), I didnt see the need to move out. At the beginning everything was great, my mother respected my decision not to attend meetings anymore since she wasn´t attending meetings herself, and her husband is a good enough likable guy.

But then it happened. She attended the Memorial, and for some reason she started attendind meetings once again. I guess all the loveboming worked on her husband as well, since he started studying with a brother from that hall. My little brother has started going out in field service for the 1st time in his life, and he excitedly told me he had just enrolled in the TMS, and was going to give his first talk in June. They have made it a habit to go out in field service every Saturday morning and on Sundays a brother from the hall and his wife come over to conduct the study with my mother´s husband.

Needless to say, this has been an unpleasant and difficult experience for me. My mother is starting to say I'm a bad influence and she has started limiting the time my little brother spends with me. Once she went as far as to say that she would "pick up my remains after Armaggedon". It is also not a pleasant experience to come home and find them singing "theocratic" songs as part of their family worship night. This Sunday I got home to find 3 witness families having lunch in the dining room, and even though I´m not disfellowshipped they know I don't attend meetings anymore and well, you know how that goes, awkward as hell.

It is really tempting to just move out, since I have the means to do so, but Im worried about my brother. What would you do? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

38

100 Years of Disappointment on the Horizon

by mrquik in

jw
friends

even as an elder, i had doubts as to this being "the one true religion".

i personally had chosen 2014 as one of those "make or break" dates.

fortunately, i left years ago.

Bucholz

I remember when I asked my mom in 1996 if this 'New Light' meant the End could come in several more decades, or even centuries, considering they were basically dropping the 1914 "Generation that will not pass away" teaching. She gave me the usual response, that 'The light gets brighter', blah blah blah. Did I mention I was 10 years old at the time?

Even though I haven't set foot in a KH in 2 years, I've been thinking a lot about what 2014 will mean for those still in. After all, it's 100 years! Another thing I have noticed (sister still in) is that they're mentioning the 1914 date less and less with every passing year. Will people wake up? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

630

SAD news about OOMPA......

by redredrose in

jw
friends

our friend, oompa, has passed away.

just recieved the news a couple of hours ago, and have almost no details.

it happened today or yesterday, he took his own life.

Bucholz

So sad to hear about this. RIP. He will be missed. :(

49

Baptisms decreased critical 26.9% in Mexico

by Gayle in

jw
friends

for 2011, jws in mexico had the lowest baptism number in years, a critical 26.9% decrease from 2010. something is going there!?.

.

Bucholz

[QUOTE] Lets give the Mexicans credit. They probably said "Overlap generation, WTF is that?" [/QUOTE]

Mexican here. That's exactly what happened to me, one of the main reasons I left. I remember when I was a kid witnesses showed A LOT more zeal, for example, many pioneered, even though most regular pioneers here don't have cars. We, rank and file publishers would go out in the ministry for 3 hours at a time.

Now all of that is gone, you can really sense a lack of zeal and a growing disillusionment among the JW's here.

17