My moment came one day about 1995. Something strange happened to me while I was in field service. I was going door to door in Tigard Oregon. I ring the door bell, like I have done thousands of times before. How many people have I talked to after forty years of “spreading the good news” who knows? This door was very different, at least the person behind it was. A pleasant looking blond haired man came to the door. He was in his late thirties and a slight smile on his face. I launched into my three minute sermon. He just stood there smiling. So I pulled out the “Watchtower and Awake” magazines and show him some stupid article about who knows what. After rambling on for minutes I finally asked him, what he thought. He stood there for a moment then he got a smile on his face and said. “I’m so grateful I don’t believe like you.” I stood there not knowing what to say. Then he said it again. “I’m so glad I don’t believe like you do.” I stood there with a strange look on my face and he said. “Wait here.” He turned and came back with a Watchtower in his hand. He also had with him what looked like his twelve year old son. Then he opened the watchtower up and read from it. “Your magazine says here. This is your magazine isn’t it?” I nodded yes. “It says here and I quote your magazine. ‘In view of the times we are living, it might be wise to not to have children because of the times we are living in.’ So, you see if I believed the same way you and your religion does, I would have never known the pleasure of my son here.” He put his hand on his sons head and smiled at us and said “Good bye.” I had nothing to say. He stepped back and shut his door. I thought to myself he was right.
new boy
JoinedPosts by new boy
-
41
That One Defining Moment That Changed Your Life.
by new boy init seems that many times in life there is a moment or an action that changes your whole world.
it could be just a look that someone gives you.. many times it can be something rather small.
something hardly noticeable by anyone but you.
-
-
-
41
That One Defining Moment That Changed Your Life.
by new boy init seems that many times in life there is a moment or an action that changes your whole world.
it could be just a look that someone gives you.. many times it can be something rather small.
something hardly noticeable by anyone but you.
-
-
new boy
It seems that many times in life there is a moment or an action that changes your whole world. It could be just a look that someone gives you.
Many times it can be something rather small. Something hardly noticeable by anyone but you. However when it happens you know you have crossed over into a whole other world. You have come to one of those huge defining moments in your life. A line has been crossed.
Like in the movie "Doctor Zhivago" when he had seen enough and turned his horse in another direction and left not caring if he was caught or not.
Or even when a marriage ends. Years of yelling and screaming and unhappiness ends one day because you didn't load the dishwasher properly. It wasn't the dishwasher and how it was loaded. It was everything that lead up to that moment!
My marriage was over years before that one moment came for me.
As they say it was "The straw that broke the camel's back."
That moment that tells you that you have been living a lie. That moment that tells you that you are done.
Done with the job, the relationship, the religion or sadly with life itself.
For a lack of a nail the shoe was lost. For the lack of a shoe the horse was lost. For the lack of a horse the rider was lost. For the lack of a rider the battle was lost.
What has been your defining moments?
-
12
"West World" and The Jehovah Witnesses
by new boy insitting there watching the new hbo series last night, i couldn't help but laugh and think about the similarities.
the creators (the gods) and the hosts (their creations) have an interesting relationship.. the "hosts" are programmed to have free thinking but only up to a point.
just like the witnesses.
-
-
new boy
Sitting there watching the new HBO series last night, I couldn't help but laugh and think about the similarities.
The creators (the gods) and the hosts (their creations) have an interesting relationship.
The "hosts" are programmed to have free thinking but only up to a point. Just like the Witnesses. They make you believe that you have free will but do you? The only thing you ever study is their information. Even their Watchtower study, is people lining up their magazines, raising their hands and regurgitating the same information right back to them. If you do add some information other than what is printed you might get a frown or a weird look.
How ironic, was the part in the show that showed what happened to a "host" when they would go through some horrific experience and the creators or "gods" would just erase their memory of it!
The same crazy thing the Jehovah's Witnesses hope for!
Well, Sister Jones your parents and four kids all dead at Armageddon because they refused to follow god's rules. However the good news is, god in his loving kindness and (programming) mercy will erase every memory of them from your mind.
Yes! So you can now enjoy paradise without those pesky thoughts about all your loved ones.
Wow.... those creators/gods think of everything.
-
21
November Broadcast - truly evil
by iwasblind inhi there i don't watch much of the propaganda on jw.org anymore but i did catch the november broadcast.. i think these guys are either evil or controlled by someone who is incredibly skilled at mind control.. firstly, they establish their authority by saying "everything" else is a lie - you can't trust media or anyone.
"there is no inspiration today.." but they somehow have the direct connection with god - yuck.. then, they proceed with that disgusting "shunning" drama - but now it is not called shunning, (around 24 mins) the mother said... "if we were to stand between levi and the discipline he needs we would in affect be blocking an expression of jehovah's love from reaching him...".
i am so angry at this, what a load.
-
-
new boy
"if we were to stand between Levi and the discipline he needs we would in affect be blocking an expression of Jehovah's love from reaching him..."
"And of course if Levi doesn't respond to this loving expression then god in his mercy and love will have no choice but to destroy him. However the good news is, god in his mercy and love will erase Levi's memory from our minds."
-
8
A Change in Weather
by compound complex incontinual rain, at long last, has ended another typically hot and dry summer, one that gave every appearance of extending far into a protracted indian summer.
yet, october was unusually wet.
this thanksgiving week promises daily rain.. an unforeseen sadness is creeping gradually, insidiously into the fabric of my life.
-
-
new boy
The end of a story and the beginning of another,
Maybe with the death of summer we too know our days are numbered.
-
1
"50 Years a Watchtower Slave" Chapter 5 Part A
by new boy inchapter 5. the end of the world is coming.. funny no matter how strange your life is, it’s easy to get used to it.
my life seemed pretty normal back then.
life in the nineteen fifties was pretty simple.
-
-
new boy
Chapter 5
The end of the world is coming.
Funny no matter how strange your life is, it’s easy to get used to it. My life seemed pretty normal back then. Life in the Nineteen Fifties was pretty simple. As a kid it was school, meetings at the Kingdom Hall and field service. One of the fun things to do happened twice a year. They were called “Circuit Assemblies.” All the congregations in a circuit would meet for a four day assembly. Because of the financial hardship on everyone they were shorten to three days. Now they are only two days. They would rent a building somewhere central in the area, 800 to a thousand people would show up. Sometimes we would travel to different cities and get a hotel or motel there. Now, not all the witnesses have to rent buildings in different towns. They have built “Assembly Halls.” These large buildings that are owned by the society and are set up perfectly to handle their conventions. Even though they have been paid off for many years, the brothers are still encouraged to contribute as if there was money still owing on the buildings.
The meetings are pretty much the same as the ones in the Kingdom Hall. There are talks about how to be more effective in the “field service” and how to get more converts. “The Ministry School” helps everyone to be a better public speakers. It’s not unusual to see a child of ten years old or less standing before a thousand people and giving a five minute bible sermon. There were talks about the evils of materialism and the sin of immorality. There are always talks about the “Last Days” and how we are so close to god’s day of vengeance. There are experiences about how people found the truth. They call their faith “The Truth.” So you are either in “The Truth” or out of “The Truth.”
There are talks about being “A Pioneer.” A full time minister for the Lord. This is something all young adults were encouraged to do. “Yes, it is time to serve the Lord. The end is coming very soon.” In the late nineteen sixties the society started talking about “1975.” The witnesses have predicted the end of the world as we know it many times over the years. This date was pushed almost as hard as 1914 was.
The conventions provide “spiritual food” to the “brothers and sisters.” They also provide an opportunity to meet other witnesses from other parts of the state. Everyone is dressed up in their finest attire. It’s also an opportunity to meet members of the opposite sex.
Another thing the Witnesses had besides the circuit assemblies was big district and international assemblies. In 1958 my whole family went to “The Divine Will” International convention in New York City. This convention toped them all. This was the biggest convention of all for the Witnesses. New York City has never had a convention like this one before or since. Most the Witnesses in the United States and thousands of Witnesses from 122 countries from around the world came to New York City.
This was an eight day assembly. We set in the sun for hours on end, listening to talk after talk. Most of us dressed up with white shirts and ties on. Some of the “brothers” never took off their dress coats. They told us that we needed to make a favorable impression on all the outsiders. Yes, we were all good Witnesses and would do anything to get more “spiritual food” including sweating our asses off.
It started every day at nine fifteen in the morning and went to nine at night. It could go even longer, if “Brother Knorr” the president of the society decided to give one of his famous concluding prayers. Over 100,000 people standing there after twelve exhausting hours with crying babies. We were all praying too! We were praying for him to finally say the word “amen.” So we could all get out of there and get on those hot subway trains for our commute home. Some people didn’t get back to their accommodations until 11:00 or 12:00 at night. Many of the poorer “brothers” had to go all the way to New Jersey to their tents in camp grounds. Then it was up at 6:00 in the morning to do it all again. For Knorr and his crew it was a 15 minute limo ride back to their luxury accommodations at Bethel.
The last day was Sunday August 3rd there was so many people there that they let us sit on the playing field. We ended up sitting in the middle of center field of Yankee Stadium, listening to Brother Knorr telling us how Jehovah would make the Earth into one big paradise, one day very soon. The final attendance there ended up being over 258,000, including the polo grounds. Yes, Knorr gave the mother of all prayers at the end. It was almost like he didn’t want to let us go. Almost sixty years ago and Yankee Stadium has never broken that attendance record. Also no one has ever broken the record for the longest prayer ever given there either.
The conventions is where they would release their new publications. These books would be bought to be read and studied at the congregation book study. Eventually they would be taken from door to door to be placed in the hands of those who wanted to get the “good news” for a small donation. The books were never sold, that could be illegal in some states. Instead people were asked to make a small contribution or donation to help defray the printing cost. A lot of the time the witnesses would buy their literature at the Kingdom Hall and just give it away to people they met.
They would release two to three books every year. The society has written hundreds of these Bible study aids over the years. The witnesses could hardly wait to get these books. They desperately wanted to get the “new truths” or as the society calls it “new light.”
Every week we would meet in a private home for a one hour meeting called, you guessed it “The Book Study.” These books would be studied line by line, paragraph by paragraph. We would study only ten to fifteen paragraphs a week, looking for hidden treasure in every word. Sometimes it would take years to get through these books.
I’ll never forget one of the books that we got back there in 1958. It was called “From Paradise lost to Paradise Regained.” book. There are drawings in it of god’s final war called “Armageddon.” In this book the society drew pictures of buildings falling down on people as they run around in terror. One picture had the Earth opening up and people falling into this large chasm. It showed a dog and a little girl trying to hold her doll as they fell into the open abyss. Thank god we couldn’t see her face. I was only nine years old but thought Jehovah is not messing around. I needed to get with the program or god could kill my dog.
-
25
My oldest friend, Quincy Roberts, Ex-JW died last night at age 66
by TerryWalstrom inthe first time i walked into a kingdom hall, i was about 15 years old.
i shook hands with a 12-year-old named quincy.
as time passed and we grew older, quincy hung out with us older j-dubs.
-
-
new boy
Looks like we both lost a friend this last week. At our age it's all part of the journey of life.
He was a lucky man to have a friend like you!
-
2
Jim Pipkorn is dead.
by new boy inhe had been in poor health for quite awhile, with a bad heart.
i was trying to call him for over a week with no response.
last sunday night i had a dream about him.
-
-
new boy
Maybe someone else here may have known him.
He had been in poor health for quite awhile, with a bad heart. I was trying to call him for over a week with no response.
Last Sunday night I had a dream about him. I have never dreamt about Jim ever before. As he came to me I said "You have made your transition! Yes." he said. "Wow" I said "They let you come back this soon?" He didn't say anything. Then he said "They sold my trailer.".....crazy.
The next morning I knew he was gone. I called the trailer park where he was living and they confirmed his death.
He was a strange and wonderful person. Crazy in many respects.
He died alone in a small trailer in Sierra Vista Arizona. No funeral and no friends. I was one of his few friends and I wasn't a very good one at that. I lived in Arizona for 4 years and never went to see he even once.
He was one of the first people I met at bethel, the first day I got there.
As chance would have it, we ended up working in the bethel laundry together.
He is mentioned many times in my "new boy" stories of bethel.
He hadn't been to a JW meeting in over 35 years.
He was one of these sad people who couldn't live as a Jehovah's Witness yet couldn't make the break away from the angry god Jehovah.
Like many out there he created his own religion were he believed in Jehovah but just not his organization.
RIP Jim
-
1
"50 Years a Watchtower Slave" Chapter 4
by new boy inchapter 4. part of becoming a jehovah’s witnesses was finding out how evil the holidays are.
4. publisher.
a person that puts in a minimum of 100 hours a month (hours have been lowered over the years) in field service a month.
-
-
new boy
Chapter 4
Part of becoming a Jehovah’s Witnesses was finding out how evil the holidays are. The little old ladies told my mom that it seems Satan was behind the whole holiday thing, him and his pagan friends. Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Birthdays, Valentine’s Day, and Independence Day. Anything that had any fun involved was something he probably started. Since the world was so bad, it was important to stay away from any of its influences. It’s really a closed society. Unless they are Jehovah’s Witnesses, friends outside the faith are highly discouraged. To marry a nonbeliever is even worse.
My mom loved her new religion. She brought us kids up to love it too and we did. By the time I was in my teens I was a full blown self-righteous Jehovah’s Witnesses. My father never did fully embrace it. He told me years later that the day he got baptized he knew it was the biggest mistake of his life. That didn’t stop him from doing it. My Dad never could stand up to my Mother. He would always say “Just give in for the sack of peace.” So he got baptized to please my mother. It worked for a while.
Once you get baptized that means you agree to all their rules. My father wasn’t big on rules but he went along “for the sack of peace.”
So for many years we were classic Jehovah’s Witnesses family. We would go to the kingdom hall (this is what the building is called, where they have their many meetings) three times a week. Two hours on Thursdays where they had the “Ministry school” and “Service Meetings.” Two hours and fifteen minutes on Sundays when they had the “Public Talk” and “Watchtower Study.” We would also go to a private home on Tuesdays night for what is called the “Book study.” We would meet there every Saturday mornings to organize our “Field Service” activity. Yes, four days out of every seven we involved with some kind of church activity. As my mother would say “An empty mind is the devil’s work shop.” The church leaders knew it was important to keep you busy in the lord’s work too. No time to think if you are keep busy. Smart guys those church leaders.
Field Service is the door to door activity where they try to sell their thought system to other people. Of course they would call it something different. They would call it “The Spreading the good the news.” What is the good news? Put simply, “It is warning people of the coming destruction of the current system of things. After this destruction god would bring his government to the Earth and make it a paradise. The ones who survive this war would live in peace with perfect bodies and never die.”
Spreading this good news was the most important thing a person could do. The concept was that we were saving people’s lives. Just like in the time of Noah, they needed to repent and take advantage of the opportunity to get saved by joining god’s only true religion on Earth. Which just so happens to be the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Men, women and children all went from door to door, spreading the message. The minimum requirement was ten hours a month back then. Each person who did this was called a “Publisher.”
They said we are all the same in god’s eyes. That everyone is equal. To prove this they call everyone “Brother and Sister.” Sadly, this really isn’t the case. There are those who are definitely thought better of then others. That being said, this is a partial list of their rankings as a Jehovah’s Witnesses in every congregation around the world. This rank does make a difference in how people treat and respect you. These are some of the rankings as of 2001. They have changed a little since then.
1. Unbaptized, irregular, publisher. Someone that is going out in field service inconsistently and is not baptized yet. This rank is OK if you are a child, not if you are an adult.
2. Inactive Publisher. Someone is baptized and who has not gone out in field service for over six months. This person is “weak spiritually” and should be avoided.
3. Irregular Publisher. Someone is baptized who might miss a full month of field service every now and then. This person is also weak spiritually but not as bad as inactive publisher.
4. Publisher. Someone who never misses a month in field service. This person is in “good standing.”
5. Axillary Pioneer. Someone who is putting in a minimum of 60 hours (hours have been lowered over the years) in field service a month. This is a super charged publisher and is admired by others.
6. Pioneer. A person that puts in a minimum of 100 hours a month (hours have been lowered over the years) in field service a month. Except for being an Elder this is the highest rank in the congregation.
7. Special Pioneer. Someone who puts in a minimum of 150 hours (hours have been lowered over the years) in field service a month. There are very few of these around, if any.
8. Ministerial servant. Any males who want to be made into an Elder someday must first be a ministerial servant. The do all the jobs in the Kingdom hall that the Elders don’t have time to do, or want to do.
9. Book study overseer. This position is held by a ministerial servant or Elder.
10. Elders. This is the most respected position a male can have in the congregation. In a congregation of hundred there are anywhere from three to ten of these.
11. Elder’s wife. This position technically has no power, if you believe men never listen to their wives.
So as you can see there is a definite pecking order going on here. Though they say they are all equal in god’s eyes they definitely don’t look at each other in the same way. It’s a male dominated religion with women and children coming in second and third.
Women can be publishers, axillary pioneers and pioneers. Women are not allowed to be ministerial servants or elders. In fact a male elder in the kingdom hall can be removed as such, if his wife is not “submissive” enough to him or to any other males in the kingdom hall.
So you have ten or more different rankings in a congregation of less than 150 people. Most everyone knows his ranking and the rankings of those around you.
There are other rankings outside the local congregation.
1. City Overseer. He (males only) is in charge of the whole city. These are cities with many congregations in them.
2. Circuit Overseer. He (males only) is in charge of 12 to 15 different congregations or one circuit.
3. District Overseer. He (males only) is charge of 12 to 15 circuits.
4. Zone Overseer. He (males only) is in charge of a whole country.
5. Gilead Student. A missionary assigned to a foreign country. These can be male or female.
6. Bethelite. A worker at one of the worldwide headquarters. These can be male or female. There are too many rankings to even mention here. Service department, writing department, kitchen, laundry etc. etc.
7. The “governing body” (males only) ten to twenty “Bethel Elders” who run the whole organization. They are appointed to do this by Holy Spirit or god. Though they say they are just imperfect men, (false modesty) their word is law.
They purposely keep their congregations small, usually 100 to 140 people. This way they can keep better tabs on you and better tabs on each other. “Big brother” is always watching. The elder’s job is to keep the congregation clean and free from any wrong doing. Someone can be “marked” as “bad association” thus adding one more category to their long list.
If you missed more than a couple of meetings or too much field service, you might get a phone call or a visit from someone making sure you were “OK” and not spiritually sick.
It’s a tight nit group. With everyone “knowing” a lot of everyone else’s business. Part of the fun in going out in Field service is catching up on all the gossip. Even though this is discouraged, it has always been done. Your “car group” was the best place to find out what was really going on in the kingdom hall.
Whether you are god’s chosen people or not, people just feel better knowing they are doing better than others. It’s like saying “see god what a good person I’m.” Plus it’s really fun to have some piece of information that others don’t have, some little piece of dirt. It’s just human nature. Though most of it harmless, a lot of it can be real nasty stuff. Yes, the “Brothers and Sisters” know way too much about their “Brothers and Sisters.”
One big happy family.
-
14
The cleaning bug
by Steel ini have a wife that literally cleans the house 24 7. it's hard on our marriage, our son has no natural affection for her.
if we go to an assembly she literally spends two days waxing and polishing the car.
she hand washes all the clothes before go into the washing machine because no machine could ever do as good a job as her.
-
-
new boy
How's the sex? Usually the neat freaks are terrible in the bedroom.