Posts by ekruks

17

The Truman Show, a movie that JW's must hate.

by moshe in

jw
friends

the truman show is on tbs tonight and i know, it's been mentioned before here, but it has to be a movie that gives jw's the creeps.

jw's know something is not right in the wt fantasy land, but until they have that epiphany, that the wt has lied to them, the jw is just left with a niggly feeling of "something is just not right" in the back of their mind.

now when jim carrey- truman burbank- figures it out and becomes self aware of the lie, everyone around him tries to redirect his focus away from his epiphany , then convince him he is the only one who see's a problem.

ekruks

" everyone around him tries to redirect his focus away from his epiphany "

I particularly identified with this bit

32

The biggest lie

by sizemik in

jw
friends

it's the biggest lie that's ever been told .

a lie i've heard more than any other .

all through my life i keep hearing it.. everybody tells it .

ekruks

I don't know if I am scared of death exactly, other than if it would be painful, but rather, it's the shortness of life that is sad.

28

If You Have Had the CO or DO Stay With You...

by A question in

jw
friends

for those of you who have had the co/do stay with you for the week:.

how was the experience?.

how did they spend their free time?

ekruks

Next time there is an assembly item on reaching out, perhaps we could hack the sound system!! lol heehee

Reaching Out by NERO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJVQJ4-n_cA

28

If You Have Had the CO or DO Stay With You...

by A question in

jw
friends

for those of you who have had the co/do stay with you for the week:.

how was the experience?.

how did they spend their free time?

ekruks

@Vidgun - Well, I guess that makes me a girl's man :/ because I am very empathetic, but I agree with you guys, there didn't seem to be much empathy in the cong.

@sabastious well, he was very happy, but not very sensitive, seemed to have few emotions, and just lived in his little world of whatever the Watchtower said he should think, and that was exactly how he would see things - he didn't seem to be able, or perhaps willing, to look 'outside of the box'.

I don't think it was his fault; it's what the Watchtower does to you - it stops you thinking for yourself. Met him again when I was an adult, and I noticed that he can be a very cold in dealing with people, sticking to what the Watchtower/DO etc. says, blind to peoples' feelings.

He was fun, constantly cracking jokes, even doing practical jokes, but he seemed to have no idea where to draw a limit, often with little regard for the feelings of the 'victim' - he did offend a few, so a bit selfish, but if someone just spends everyday banging doors, well, it's going to affect you - we know!

He was a bit surpised when we kids played a practical joke on him at a meeting; won't say what because I'm sure many remember, and it might give away who I am and I want to keep contact with my family. Fortunately, the CO thought it was funny, but some elders still look down on me for it.

Yes, I agree - I wouldn't say the circuit overseer job is exactly mentally-challenging. Just lots of paperwork; forms, etc.. I have been 'groomed' at times by MTS brothers, and encouraged to 'reach out' by many elders, have appointed men in the family, family in Bethel, met many missionaries, but despite all this talk of hard work, and things being so difficult, what I noticed is that a lot of things are really hyped up.

The job of the secretary is time-consuming, and tedious, downright boring, hence no elder really wants it other than to be on the Service Committee, but not exactly difficult. The jobs of CoBE and service overseer seem to be the most aspired to, and well, they are clearly highest positions of leadership in a Kingdumb Hell, but actually require little work.

In one foreign-language group, which had a serious shortage of appointed men, I was looking after territory, but the service overseer didn't get involved in the foreign ministry. I was assigned various tasks he would do. It wasn't that difficult. I had to make sure the maps were together (well, I was also doing territory anyway), work with those that struggled on the ministry (big deal if you are a pioneer! got to do those hours somehow!), and have a schedule of ministry groups of which I conducted most of them. I did some shepherding with another pioneer, because we were the only 'spiritually strong' ones who knew the lingo.

Ok, there are a few more things, such as make sure the literature and magazines were being ordered for the ministry, in line with offers for the month, etc., but we had no servants in our group, so I just did these myself. It's time-consuming, but it's not 'rocket science'.

It really used to annoy me when if I asked an elder what I had to do to reach out to be one, he would say to wait for a while, to gain experience, to be ready, that they would train me in time, and I would be thinking, I'm doing it already, just without the title! It seemed to me that they were protecting their positions. Too much about power.

I just read the pages in the Organized book, that little green one, and also some Kingdom Ministry articles and did what they said. I then started to notice that most service overseers like to give the impression they are amazing, but don't seem to be sure what they are doing, bumbling along, disorganised, often not doing parts of their assignments, and found it even harder to look up to them.

There was more politics than work; I think the difficult was putting up with all the stress. After that, I didn't see the elders as so hard-working; well some were working hard to provide for their family, and being an elder really was trying to do too much, perhaps proud.

43

When You See A Witness What's Your First Reaction?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i saw a few mindlessly working a neighborhood as i was driving the other day.

they looked so unhappy, just walking in baby steps, looking like zombies..

ekruks

My first thought is to get away from them fast, hope they didn't see me.
Also, feel sorry for them, and wonder how grown-ups can believe this stuff. I fell for it as a kid, but when I left home, it suddenly seemed so stupid so spend hours knocking doors when I was struggling to pay rent.

21

Friends... life after JW

by ekruks in

jw
friends

have awakened to what fooo-king sh1t (sorry!

) i've been living in these last years.... well since i was born.... i am left if quite a weird state.

i have some weird friends.... jws.... i used to think they were normal.

ekruks

I have come to realize that my relatives NEED the JWs for hope, as facing real problems would be too much for them to handle.

That sounds familiar.
The problem is they find it very traumatic if I don't rush to every meeting, because it means I am not a good associate. They want to associate with me, and find it very stressful. The pain it puts upon them makes me feel bad, even selfish, as they worry I will die at Armageddon. This is blatantly very traumatic for them, rather as if I have died, and I worry about the effect this has upon them.

40

Weird JW Dreams

by MrFreeze in

i think it's a given that most of us who have left, have had dreams about still being jw's or doing jw related things, even years after we left.

i had one of those last night.

it involved getting a hotel for the next district convention and then it skipped ahead to when i was attending.

ekruks

@PaintedAtToeNail - we'd have to report how many waves the surfed each month, how hours spent surfing Surf-elders won't take the bad surfers out for lessons We will all donate to the mysterious Water Beach & Sand Society, which will never explain to use what they actually do with the money, and send us petty rules on the styles of surfboards and wetsuits, banning from the beach anyone who dares swim on non-official beaches

28

If You Have Had the CO or DO Stay With You...

by A question in

jw
friends

for those of you who have had the co/do stay with you for the week:.

how was the experience?.

how did they spend their free time?

ekruks

She got that from the Young People Ask book chapter which says romantic novels don't encourage singleness?

40

Weird JW Dreams

by MrFreeze in

i think it's a given that most of us who have left, have had dreams about still being jw's or doing jw related things, even years after we left.

i had one of those last night.

it involved getting a hotel for the next district convention and then it skipped ahead to when i was attending.

ekruks

I like your play on the name of Beth-Serim
Is this 'surfing where the need is great' ? Oh, sorry, 'serving' - I forgot that we are servants of the GB.

I'm sure a religion that included obligatory surfing every Saturday morning would be a real hit !!
Though, it would stop me sleeping at night!

9

2011 Count: 4 are out, 2 are in

by Quarterback in

with all of the announcements made in our kh this year, we have announced 4 da' s and only 2 that got baptised.

the 2 baptised were born into the jw family.

we also lost 4 elders, and 1 ms.. what was the count for your kh for 2011?.

ekruks

Well, even if no one is 'converted' to the faith, there can still be growth, or enough to sustain the numbers, depending on how many have kids, and how many of those are indoctrinated or shy enough to go along with things and get baptised. Hell, I've never really bought the idea of a God, but got baptised because it was the done thing; home-schooled, etc., sheltered life back then.

For the organisation to shrink, more must leave (death, DFd, DAd, etc.) then are baptised.
The title of this thread suggests such.

It does seem that congregations are not growing in the Western world !!
There is veyr little increase in the numbers of congregations, and for each new one I rarely hear of, well, often two are merged somewhere. It seems that there isn't exactly shrinking of numbers, but just a maintaining of the current numbers.

This means no growth, but means the Watchtower isn't fading.
It's psychological control of people is strong - we all know! For some people, it's difficult to live without a God, etc.. they can't cope.

The fact remains though, that most growth takes place in the 3rd world, where education standards are generally lower, which means people are more vulnerable to manipulation/cults, etc.. Also, the foreign-language fields within first world countries do have some growth, but usually it's an increase for the country JWs move to, but a decrease for their last congregations in the country they came from.

Overall, for the small rise in 3rd world countries, which looks good in the overall growth figures of JWs (some pathetically small figure, but better than many churches!), 'the Truth' is very stagnant/static in the West.

It will avoid shrinking, if:

1) A JW kid get's baptised for each JW that dies/DF'd/DA'd/goes inactive. Most parents have two kids, so both kids have to get baptised to replace them, but about 60% of JW kids leave 'the Truth'. I suppose the one or two getting baptised helps. But when you go to an assembly of 10 congregations, and only see JW kids get baptised, well, it's obvious, few are getting converted, despite all that ministry that is supposedly happening (I wonder how many fake their hours/ministry - I have a number of times after the bubble burst) !!

2) DA'd and DF'd must not be too high. With JWs dying, doing inactive, or facing a JC quite often, I wonder how numbers stay as they are. Perhaps many DA'd and DF'd people return, but not that I have noticed.