You have to find some way to coast-by until you can make your next move. I am a freaking elder coasting. I do 10 minute parts in like 6 minutes. 15 minute parts in like 10. Service always invloves a stop by the hall because I forgot something or an errand I need to do because of a deadline. If I can work in an "encouraging visit" with someone, I definitely am up for that. By "encouraging visit" i mean a visit where I say absolutely nothing about the religion. Lol... i comment like once every other meeting. I miss like one out of three meetings prob.
xjwsrock
JoinedPosts by xjwsrock
-
17
Emotionally very ill but can't face consequences of leaving
by Isambard Crater ini'm a new member so wanted to say 'hi'.
i live in the u.k, was born in, fell away as an unbaptised publisher, got baptised in my 30s for reasons i'm retrospectively unsure of, and lost my faith about five years ago around the time of the original a.r.c.
now, being unable to leave is making me physically, emotionally and mentally ill.. i'm not strong enough to da and live with the family consequences, and despite having several good friends outside the faith, none of them could support me in an active way as such.
-
-
23
How deep is the rot?
by JeffT inby now it seems obvious that the gb and other leaders of the wtbs are corrupt.
the pedo scandal and various financial schemes are sustained by either lack of concern or greed at the top.
my question is how far down the food chain does this go?
-
xjwsrock
I agree with many statements above. To add to ToesUp comment, I will say that they (elders) aren't allowed very many other outlets to be a 'big boy'. It's a sick twisted abusive web. It's like weak personalities are set up to fail in this religion.
I am an elder still. How much longer who knows. I have set a definite line in the calendar sand, though. Summer of next year. I have been hoping for progress with the wife but I am starting to lose hope for that. She literally knows no other way to think and is so damn trained to revolt against "negative speech". Anyway I digress..
To answer the opening question, it falls into yet another category where you have to resist black-and-white thinking. There is no one size fits all with this stuff. Each individual elder and each individual publisher is their own person with their own level of "awakeness" and/or delusion. If they are awake and still serving, it may be for self-serving greedy reasons or it may make them physically ill at times to go along with the deception in an effort to win over family. The religion teaches us all to be huge fakes at the kingdom hall. So who knows who anybody really is or what anybody really believes.
Most on my elder body are pretty bought-in it seems. I see some dissension occasionally but not much. They are all scared of the next guy up the chain. These guys are committed to being elders for life it appears. Never do you hear a peep about stepping aside. It is a big part of their identity.
With that said there are obviously people up the chain that are complete con-artists. Some CO's I would say are. I have met a few that had a funny look in their eye, if you follow me. Some are all about the financial advantages.
That reminds me. I knew an elder once (one of the bad ones). If you pressed him on something incriminating or suspicious, he would stop talking, turn, and simply walk off to avoid answering the question or addressing the subject. LOL. .. Funny to think about now. I knew him before I was awake. He was definitely awake then and working the system.
-
1
The Field Ministry Experience I Would Love to See
by xjwsrock inimagine this exchange in the door-to-door ministry:.
.... jw: hello my name is tom, i'm with a group stopping by briefly.... householder: i'm sorry let me interrupt you right there... i know all about you people.. jw: oh really... what do you mean?.
householder: you are that wierdo cult that believes in all sorts of delusional tripe... how can you let them con you like that?.
-
xjwsrock
Imagine this exchange in the door-to-door ministry:
...
Jw: Hello my name is Tom, I'm with a group stopping by briefly...
Householder: I'm sorry let me interrupt you right there... I know all about you people.
Jw: Oh really... what do you mean?
Householder: You are that wierdo cult that believes in all sorts of delusional tripe... How can you let them CON you like that?
Jw: Oh no ... I'm sure you must be mistaken.. you see there are many people out there that spread lies about us to turn people against us...
Householder: Trust me I know what you believe. It's the same basic story-line of all creepy cult religions.
Jw: I'm positive you're mistaken, please tell me what you heard so that I can set the record straight.
Householder: Ok, no problem... Let me take a minute and explain what I heard... and please correct me if I'm wrong..
You believe that your group is the one and only special group hand-picked by God Almighty. One day soon a spaceship will come and rescue you from this planet that has been judged and sentenced to extermination. You will be taken to a faraway planet where you will be given new bodies and live like gods for all eternity. You will enjoy eternal youth and happiness in an Utopian setting of blissful tranquility. This will be your reward for being God's chosen torch-bearers of righteousness. Meanwhile planet earth and all those that refused to listen-to and join your group will be destroyed in a ball of galactic fire...
So how did I do? How close did I get?
Jw: (Laughing) Oh my god, NO. No. No. No.... We don't believe anything like that! I can't believe someone told you that.
Householder: Oh really?
Jw: No we are Christians! We believe Jesus died for our sins and his coming Kingdom will bring wonderful blessings to Mankind.
Householder: Oh man... I'm sorry... Well I guess you could understand my initial reaction when you knocked at my door..
Jw: Oh yes. I do understand. Whoever believes that crap needs to have their head examined!
Householder: I AGREE COMPLETELY! Now go get your head examined!
Jw: What? I'm confused.
Householder: Like I said I know exactly what you believe. Substitute Armageddon for the Spaceship and Paradise for the New Planet and it's basically exactly what you believe. You're in a CULT Dumbass! Now get off my property!
Jw: (Deer in headlights)
...
Oh to dream :)
-
11
Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 3-12-2017 WT Study (FREE WILL)
by blondie inexcellent general website: www.jwfacts.com .
bible translations www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible .
wt publications http://www.a2z.org/wtarchive/archive.htm (old).
-
xjwsrock
Thanks Blondie. They continue to exploit the uneducated. I think the point of this article is to convince mentally imprisoned cult members that they're actually free. Laughable insanity.
"You're not enslaved cult members doing the bidding of a sleazy corporation corrupted by power and money..... no no .... you are beautiful creatures of free will that have sacrificed that freedom to serve God."
Pretty simple scam really. Get people to do what you want by telling them God wants them to to it. Oh and God put them in charge of telling people what he wants of course. Lol.
It would be funny if it wasn't such criminal con-artistry.
-
18
Navigating the "real world"
by Minerva inalthough i haven't called myself a witness in almost 15 years, i'm still married to one (which has it's own set of challenges and is fodder for a completely different post).
i haven't spent a lot of time on forums with other ex-jws either, but thought i would throw this question out to you all because it's something i still struggle with.... particularly for those of you who were raised in or were in the religion for many years - what has it been like for you to navigate the work world?
i would be a 3rd generation jw on one side of my family and a 4th generation on the other side -- the hardest thing for me has been just knowing how to act and behave, especially among co-workers.
-
xjwsrock
Could be that you feel in constant limbo because of your spouse still in the religion. It might be how you're wired up though. I haven't read it, but there is a new study out about smart people needing to be alone more. You can google it up pretty easy.
-
18
Navigating the "real world"
by Minerva inalthough i haven't called myself a witness in almost 15 years, i'm still married to one (which has it's own set of challenges and is fodder for a completely different post).
i haven't spent a lot of time on forums with other ex-jws either, but thought i would throw this question out to you all because it's something i still struggle with.... particularly for those of you who were raised in or were in the religion for many years - what has it been like for you to navigate the work world?
i would be a 3rd generation jw on one side of my family and a 4th generation on the other side -- the hardest thing for me has been just knowing how to act and behave, especially among co-workers.
-
xjwsrock
I have two thoughts.
One is that being normal may not completely be in the cards since you aren't going to relate to your co-workers foundational experiences in life. Catholic school, holidays, playing sports, after school clubs, church youth groups, girlfriends, boyfriends, trying pot, going to prom, etc.
My second thought is that a person that grew up in another country would prob not have those experiences either but may still feel normal.
I guess I would need you to define what normal is or what abnormal is in your situation.
-
13
Imperfect Spiritual Food
by berrygerry inthe feb 2017 wt is being reviewed here because of the "neither inspired nor infallible" potential of the gb.. https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6237447308443648/major-doctrinal-changes-must-on-way.
this indeed has been stated in the past.. an equally interesting phrase in that paragraph is: "of course, jesus did not tell us that his faithful slave would produce perfect spiritual food.".
again, wt is using the "jesus never said" line.. what would make more sense is: "jesus never said that the food would be imperfect or harmless.".
-
xjwsrock
Fallible men intermittently backed by the infallible Creator.
In other words bull shit.
-
114
"The G.B. is neither inspired nor infallible"
by smiddy inthat admission in the feb.17 ,study edition of the watchtower , " who is leading gods people today ?
" "the governing body is neither inspired, nor infallible, therefore it (they/we) can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction .".
have the many jehovahs witnesses past and present who have lost their lives by refusing blood transfusions due to the prohibition on blood tranfusions by jehovahs witnesses really got the sense of this statement ?.
-
xjwsrock
When a JW tells you that the GB are humble men who don't claim to be infallible or inspired, ask them to name one current WT teaching they think is wrong.
Their silence will speak volumes.Brilliant.
The mental pretzel goes like this, though. "We know we are wrong about stuff but we have to wait on Jehovah to sort it out in his due time."
Blind irrational allegiance - and they think it proves their FAITH. It's a diabolical deception. Also they are convinced that their door to door sales activity was prophesied by God. What do you do with that?
You have to laugh to not cry........
-
80
Major Doctrinal Changes Must Be On The Way
by notsurewheretogo inthe statement in the article "who is leading gods people today?
" in the feb 17th study edition of the wt is very interesting.. it states: ""the g.b.
is neither inspired nor infallible" ..we can err .in doctrinal matters....".
-
xjwsrock
It's CYA of some sort. I think JWLeaks made a good point that it could be an organizational change.
They are effing up everywhere so there's no telling.
-
80
Major Doctrinal Changes Must Be On The Way
by notsurewheretogo inthe statement in the article "who is leading gods people today?
" in the feb 17th study edition of the wt is very interesting.. it states: ""the g.b.
is neither inspired nor infallible" ..we can err .in doctrinal matters....".
-
xjwsrock
On the 1914 topic....
There is a precedent already for moving the Last Days and they love past precedent in this organization.
The original Last Days beginning date was 1799 and then moved to 1914. So this religion has already taken the liberty of allowing the entire Last Days to roll forward 115 years.
Since we are only 102 years into this round, I don't see 1914 being messed with anytime soon.