Posts by Chariklo

45

How Many Here Were Ever "Hit On" By A JW?

by minimus in

jw
friends

did you ever get hit on by a member of the " christian congregation" ???.

ever get hit on by an elder, pioneer or ms?.

UK Protest against the Watch Tower

by cantleave in

jw
friends

http://ex-jw.com/2012-memorial-protest-planned-in-uk.

just seen this.....anyone here going?.

it doesn't appeal to me, but if this type of protest floats your boat,,,,,.

Chariklo

I was actually trying to be really positive, Phizzy.

I want it to work. What I mean is, anyone who is involved....get hold of some media, Tweet, shove it on FB, tag it cleverly, ring the BBC and local radio, find a JW sob story, do what it takes!

I don't mean you personally, but whoever. Anyone.

11

Stopped Dead Again.

by truthseeker1969 in

as many of you are aware my brother who is an elder, shared with me another "shut this down moment" in a jc.

a brother who was to go before another body of elders told them that since they had contacted his former congregation they had lost their ecclesiastical privelege and that information they had is now subject to the data protection law including records etc.

when he was told he could not take notes he told the elders the same that they had to abide by the same non scriptural mandate.. apparently it was enough to shut the proceedings down until they called the "mother ship" for instructions.. they were told not to proceed with anything at this time until they got back to the elders.. my brother who hates jc totally said that more and more they are finding people quoting the law to them and the elders are backing off, not sure about the us where they can do anything they please but in the uk the dpa has really messed things up for the society.

Chariklo

What kind of info goes onto the record cards?

When I became an unbaptised publisher 12 months ago, I was asked to sign a disclaimer which said the card was a property of the WT, I think, though I don't remember exactly. At that time I thought it was all wonderful, all exactly what God wanted for us.

I was a wide eyed idiot!

I'd like to know what gets written down, though. I assumed it would be publishing record etc, in fact, that was what I was told. And also, because I did ask, I was told that if, for instance, I went 6 months without getting anyone studying or with a poor publishing record, then the elders would be able to come and see me to give me any help and encouragement I needed.

I did think that was a bit odd, but at that point took it at face value.

41

The elders want to see me also

by MsGrowingGirl20 in

jw
friends

i mentioned a few times,that in terms of making my time for the past few months have been really difficult.simply because i cant teach something i don't fully believe...so my service has gone down,i used to comment a lot--haven't done that in a while----meeting attendance like normal but now i don't stay back after...or come early...or help with cleaning..... .

so some weeks ago the cobo asked me a completely irrelevant and in no way helpful question---"you did't think that i notice how upset you look these days----that's not a fruitage of god's spirit!".

yeah so today he saw me and asked me a series of question....all which i gave really short answers to...long story short--he says that he would like for me to meet wih the rest of the elders after memorial........ .

Chariklo

Why not be ill and put them off while you sort your thoughts out?

13

FCUK and KFC and JW.org

by usualusername in

jw
friends

in the uk kentucky fried chicken rebranded to kfc.

customers did not like the work fried apparently.

french connection uk found out by accident that fcuk resonated with customers in a big way.. .

Chariklo

For real impact add the big A word. That'll do it.

12

UK Protest against the Watch Tower

by cantleave in

jw
friends

http://ex-jw.com/2012-memorial-protest-planned-in-uk.

just seen this.....anyone here going?.

it doesn't appeal to me, but if this type of protest floats your boat,,,,,.

Chariklo

You have to MAKE the media interested, Oz. Enable it to be interested. Spoonfeed it at first.

PS getting the support of a particular journalist, or even better, an influential paper or radio or TV programme, is a big help.

12

UK Protest against the Watch Tower

by cantleave in

jw
friends

http://ex-jw.com/2012-memorial-protest-planned-in-uk.

just seen this.....anyone here going?.

it doesn't appeal to me, but if this type of protest floats your boat,,,,,.

Chariklo

The trouble with this is it's not enough.

For a protest to work, i.e. be effective and make an impact enough to give tangible results, it needs the fullest possible publicity, reaching the widest number opf people. It needs focus and organisation, but most of all, word of mouth. I'm just thinking on the hoof here.

The media. Ideally it would be part of a larger, longer campaign. It would have to go beyond the JW/ex-JW community. It could. The general public is heartily sick of knocks at the door and manipulative literature proclaiming bizarre doctrines.

Required: Media publicity at a high level. Local radio at least. Preferably, personal contact with a TV/radio/newspaper investigative journalist. (Pipedream: Louis Theroux) Twitter-Facebook-Blogs-all carefully tagged and with the savvy to go viral.

Organisation: For something this ambitious it needs organisation.

Televisual incident. Possibly this demo/protest could be the start, and it could provide that, but it needs to be BIG. The drawback is that JW's are all scared, because of the friends and family thing and because of the power of the elders. Are a majority of ex-JW's angry enough yet?

Worldwide synchronisation? This could be a possibility, as with the global 99% Occupy Wall Street idea. A synchronised gobal protest outside every JW HQ could make a bit of an impact. Perhaps. But only on a large scale. Organisation, planning and time required.

There are many drawbacks. The public as a whole view JW's en-masse as "Jehovah's", at least in the UK, and everyone in the organisation, according to the public mind, is tarred with the brush that properly belongs to the WT itself and to the die-hards. So it really needs a growing groundswell of articulate opposition, and real public widespread media interest. The blood issue provides one component. Child abuse another, though it's not exclusive to the WT. Brainwashing a third. Loss of liberty, the list goes on.

So what I'm saying is, it has great possibilities, and it certainly goes way beyond an identifying mark or signal at a Convention, but do the participants want it to be effective, or not, and if not, why do it?

So if it's going to be done, identify the aims, do it right.

Edit: Probably, that means, do it big.

45

Biting off more than they can chew - why I think the Society's internet approach is good for us, bad for them...

by cedars in

i've been giving some thought to the society's latest decision to reduce the size of the awake, and relaunch jw.org as a revamped site - intended for bringing in yet more converts.

for those who missed it, here is the relevant part of the leaked letter to elders discussing these changes.... the internet is a technology that jehovahs organization is using to good advantage to spread the good news to all corners of the earth.

consider the impact our web sites are having.

Chariklo

Perhaps the faithful slave is becoming a split personality?

Last summer, the "watchman class" were "deeply concerned" at the number of people spending time on the internet, the cause of great evil.

Then, in February, page 5 of the Awake gives an account of how social networking could have helped keep people in touch after the earthquake and tsunami. "So much time could have been saved by social ntworking. Within minutes everyone could have been brought up to date."

A complete about-turn.

Now, they're talking of relying more and more on the web, of maximising their internet potential through a revamped website. Is this the Watchman class again? Or maybe some hi-tec youngsters? Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing?

Older and younger members of the congregation here see the internet as evil, and warn anyone from researching about the Watchtower because Satan sends us to apostate sites he controls. Naturally.

The coming months could be interesting!

29

Need some good parenting advice...

by diana netherton in

jw
friends

i have a son who will be 20 in may.

he's, by all accounts, what you would consider the.

"perfect child.

Chariklo

Diana,

I too can speak from the experience of having 3 grown sons, and I'm going to say basically what others have said. And really, it goes for daughters too.

Once they're nearing 20, (and often much younger) in most cases to tell them what a great opportunity this is AND to go ahead and book it all up and ring his boss is likely to be the biggest turn off you could imagine. Even before I read what the others said I was thining, this young man does know what he wants...he wants to stay where he is and do his own thing...or at least, he doesn't want you or anyone to tell him what to do any more.

Have you asked him what he wants to do? I think, if it was me, I'd sit down and say you feel you've been a biut interfering. I'd apologise, but explain that it was such an opportunity and that you got all excited for him and just couldn't stop yourself going ahead and booking the ticket as a surprise for him. And then I'd ask how he feels about it.

What did the boss actually say to you? I mean, did he cave in and say ok, or was he a bit worried about how he was going to manage? I've had sons who've done their own thing. One walked out of higher education at about that age. For some time he did what seemed like very ordinary jobs, but then through sheer hard work he got noticed and before we knew it he had a very interesting job indeed. He's done incredibly well for himself.

Boys are often very late starters, or late developers. They may be a long way into their twenties, even approaching 30, before they see clearly what they want to do. The very worst thing you can do is push. The best thing you can do is support, and always be there and willing to listen. Don't offer advice until its clear that it's wanted.

Believe me, that approach can be hard at first, but it is well worth it when they ring you up and just want to talk to Mum and get your input about something tricky, as my oldest son did this evening.

29

Watchtower views on Homosexuality

by ttm1988 in

afternoon all,.

a bit on my background.

i studied with the jw's a while ago in my teens, was acitve in meetings, and all the other things good witnesses do.

Chariklo

They have always stated that the practice be condemned not the person, but I have never known a gay person be treated as anything more than out cast. I have never seen a gay person being appointed an MS or an Elder, even when they are exemplary in conduct.

Cantleave, in the local congregation here there are a number of gay men, but not actively so now. Elders have told me of this, and done so almost proudly, showing how people are willing to change and give up their previous wicked ways.

Meanwhile, the ex-gays...yes, i do know who at least some of them are...operate the sound and the camera system for the car park etc. Being naturally cynical, I can't help but wonder if they're all as "ex" as the elders think, but of course they may be, because they all seem throughly indoctrinated and so would have the fear of Jehovah's wrath...

But David was screwing Jonathan...

Supposition, mP, not proved.