Posts by aristeas

77

Board Dynamics

by snowbird in

jw
friends

very few posters on friday and saturday nights.. heavy traffic on mondays and tuesdays - nights, also.. moderate amount on sundays, wednesdays, and thursdays.. syl.

.

aristeas

Wow—now this thread was very revealing as to the group that's active here

Snowbird, are you the admin here?

25

Yet another newbie....

by breakfast of champions in

jw
friends

been lurking since last august and figured i'd sign up.

history (although i feel like i've read this experience 100 times on.

this board already):.

I understand what you are going through. I went through it over 20 years ago—seeing the ineptitude and lack of thruthfulness from the GB on down to the local level. I agree with Quandry: take it slow, be gentle to your wife. Remember how Jesus said he had many things to tell his disciples but they couldn't yet take it (John) and that he taught them only as far as they could listen (Mark). Just keep your faith in Jehovah up, however you can do it! Prayer is real important. We will all just have to see how things all work out

Cheers & welcome aboard. I'm new here too.

51

Are more long standing JW's leaving?

by cantleave in

jw
friends

at one time, it seemed that the majority of those leaving, were young ones brought up in the cult.. from what i can see now (at least on here), there seems to be a high number of 20+ baptised members years leaving.. has this always been the case?

it might be i just didn't notice from my parochial view from the kingdom hall!.

or are there really more long standing jw's leaving now, than ever before?.

aristeas

A highly productive thread.

Alfred, LOVED your pic! Many thx!

37

Are JW EX elders in need of our contempt or sympathy ?

by eruption in

jw
friends

point 1. not so long i would have strung them all up and hanged them.. point 2. these guys were the real succers, not only did they become jw,s, they embraced and adopted the cults teachings, and to some extent subjugated thier familys happiness, and thier own,to elevate themselves, and achieve status and recieve privellages, ie not have a f-----g life.

point 3 they had the onerus task of making sense, of the ever changing (truths) and having to teach that crap to the rest of us, and cope with the subsequent questionings that would invariably follow.. point 4.they had to take the lead in (sales) distributing literature.

point 5.they were the authoritarian face of the society, and a lot of people, (myself included ) thought they were jumped up janitors and window cleaners with a chip on thier shoulders.

aristeas

Falcon & flipper are spot on—it must be case-by-case, not either-or. Look at how many of us left and got enlightened. What if you'd strung us up? We'd have died still deceived!

EE's comment is also good:
'Whoever is in a perceived place of authority will always get abuse and looked down, deserved or not.' Kudos for your insight.

OTWO:

You too make some right on observations. It was rare to find an elder who actually liked the field service & those who did were of a different breed. I loved your 'They took the lead in sending the sales force out.'

sizemik & eruption:

Sorry for all the bad experiences you had. I guess I was more fortunate, but I did know some real power-hungry, non-spiritual idiot elders. Working with them was awful. I suffered more from their widespread gross incompetence tho.

sizemik: nice to see your revised statement! Healing is important . . .

6

UR thoughts on ogranizational changes solicited

by aristeas in

jw
friends

i first posted this as a reply in my first post thread, but then realized it will get more reading if i post it anew.

sorry for the redundancy.. i've been mulling over some of the recent changes in the organization (henceforth, o).

here are a few ideas.

aristeas

sd-7

Loved your 'drones'!

Yeah, RF was good on the heavies' view of 'the ordinairies.' I'd seen that first-hand many times. They call it 'spiritual maturity' to view them that way . . .

Thx to all for your insights & opinions—really appreciated. I'm just trying to figure out what's been going on after being away for 20 years. I gratefully acknowledge all help.

75

Elder body removed Watchtower letter

by Marvin Shilmer in

jw
friends

elder body removed watchtower letter.

an elder body was removed last year in california.

most folks have never seen a watchtower letter breaking this news.

aristeas

I've got to thank Marv and Mad S again for this stuff. I've been getting into it—it takes a lot of time to digest it all & figure out what's going on.

This looks like it might well become a MAJOR headache for the WTS. It will be worth keeping tabs on to be sure. Maybe a lot of naïve people, including the plaintiffs, will have to wake up to reality.

6

UR thoughts on ogranizational changes solicited

by aristeas in

jw
friends

i first posted this as a reply in my first post thread, but then realized it will get more reading if i post it anew.

sorry for the redundancy.. i've been mulling over some of the recent changes in the organization (henceforth, o).

here are a few ideas.

aristeas

Thx, Scott. When I conducted book studies years ago, the number of brothers (males) was small. I guess it must have gotten even fewer.

Evidently not too many others care about commenting on this.

75

Elder body removed Watchtower letter

by Marvin Shilmer in

jw
friends

elder body removed watchtower letter.

an elder body was removed last year in california.

most folks have never seen a watchtower letter breaking this news.

aristeas

There's some interesting stuff here. If yo go to p. 36 it appears that the WTS is attempting to avoid paying some new taxes to Caesar (actually Calif.). What about giving him/them his/their due per Jesus' words?

75

Elder body removed Watchtower letter

by Marvin Shilmer in

jw
friends

elder body removed watchtower letter.

an elder body was removed last year in california.

most folks have never seen a watchtower letter breaking this news.

aristeas

Thx for this share.

75

Unrest in the Governing Body

by JWFreak in

jw
friends

one of the many questions that i am asked is what are the current gb members like, who are the hardliners and who are more moderate.. because of my previous job, at a european bethel, i had dealings with most of them with the exception of sam herd.. these are my observations of my conversations with them and how others who had dealings with them.. other ex bethelites may have contrary views to mine, but i would be surprised.. i had spent a lot of time with splane, lett and morris.

hardliners.

david splane, without doubt the one who commands the most respect and attention.

aristeas

New here, but picking up on some good stuff. I'm not here to gripe but to glean what I can about the big O.

JWF, your thread and comments are VERY MUCH appreciated.

I am wondering, however, how your observations on Pierce jibe with Barb Anderson's portrayal of him. Are you familiar with her statements?

Which Bethel were you in?

James_woods:

Since the current GB members were all hand picked by Ted Jaracz, NO, there is no R Franz, D Sydlik, or L Berry there. Those guys were his nemeses! Berry was Knorr's man who removed TJ as branch servant in Australia back in the 60-70s, so TJ never forgave him. Berry, who ran the Writing Dept., also had a bachelor's degree, and you can see from recent reports how the current GB members have been ranting against that! I think Barb A (?) has related that things were so bad between TJ and DS that at 'get-togethers' in Bethelites' rooms, DS would leave if TJ showed up!

There doesn't seem to be anyone even remotely competent to think & write anything other than 'meeting the needs of the bros.' anymore. I remember one Writing Dept. bro. telling me some years ago how they needed some real scholarly types but how there was opposition to that. And that was while Sydlik and Berry were still alive. With no liberal GBers now, you can just imagine how they think: 'Research the truth? We already have it, brother! No need to research it.'

Anyway, it's all changed now. TJ's thinking rules thru his selected protegés, and that rules out anything theological.

Room 215:

Spot on! Did Karl Adams die? I've been out of it for a while.

Glad to be here and finding folks who want to do more than complain. (No put down on complaining though—we all know there's plenty of valid reason for that!)

Cheers.