This reminds me of the "street witnessing" that became so popular in the suburbs I lived in. Pioneers would stand in front of the coffee shop that was 1 miles from the Kingdom Hall for about an hour before the meeting for field service. They would just stand by the entrance like a statue while holding the latest Watchtower/Awake in their hand. I tried it once. The manager of the shop came out and asked us not to stand so close to the entrance. Fortunately, I never did that again. It was absolutely pointless other than getting 20 hours of field service in a month. Yeah, 1 hour a day X 5 days a week X 4 weeks a month = 20 hours!
truth_b_known
JoinedPosts by truth_b_known
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30
I Saw 2 JWs Doing Nothing With Their Cart Today
by minimus inmy girlfriend and i were walking along a seaside boulevard and lo and behold!
2 jws were standing by the pathway.
they made eye contact and said hello.
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Anyone know what this sculpture is of the "torture stake?"
by charity7 inhey guys!
i'm new on this site and am a non jw here married to a jw.
my husband's family are active members and they daily post articles on facebook from jw.org which i know is meant for me to see and read.
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truth_b_known
It looks like the poor fellow is not impaled to the tree, but bound to it by straps.
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Heartbroken...advice please
by SPARKLEY ini am a non-jw and have been in an unhappy marriage for a few years now.
i met a nice man at work, we had a laugh together and got to know each other.
we were both really attracted to each other.
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truth_b_known
Sparkley:
This man is caught up in a cult that controls every aspect of one's life. This cult uses fear and guilt to control you. First, all of your relationships and support are to be fellow members of this cult. Then, if you violate one of their man-made rules, they will figuratively brand you in a practice they refer to as "disfellowshipping."
When a member is disfellowshipped it is made public to the rest of the members. No member, not even family, can speak with this person or render aid. When a member is disfellowshipped their entire life is turned upside down. This arrangement is considered "loving" in the cult and a tool to "readjust" the violator's way of thinking. Some members who are disfellowshipped desire to return to their regular status and can after a period of time, but only if they stop committing their "sin" and "repent".
Semitic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) use sex as a tool to control people. It is a well known fact that the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses who are disfellowshipped are done so for violating sex related beliefs. The number one sex related belief is that sex is to be had only between people who are married to each other.
One reason that this male companion of yours may be acting weird is that, deep down inside, he wants to return to being an active Jehovah's Witness. This would mean he would have to cut off all social ties with you, but especially in engaging in any form of physical intimacy. Sending sex related text messages to a married woman would be grounds for disfellowshipping on its own.
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Three congregations dissolved and a kingdom hall sold within a 50 mile radius in my area...
by UNCONDITIONAL LOVE inhas anyone else heard of these situations with congregations and halls in your area?
i thought the ground breaking mandatory pledge a little while ago was to keep up with "immense" growth?
how soon they forget... looks really bleak for the future of the wbats, the jw gravy train seems to be coming to a slow and agonizing yet inevitable stop.
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truth_b_known
If you don't mind me asking - what area is this?
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My awkward elders hearing
by Andamormonjustbelieves ini was baptized when i was 14 years old.
i hadn't had any real relationship with a girl up to that point.
but when i started going to high school i learnt the joys of experimenting with girls, so i did not stay a faithful member of the congregation for long.
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truth_b_known
I've always found the practice of elders in a judicial committee involving fornication asking for detailed descriptions. Fornication is fornication. The more important questions would be -
How many times before you confessed?
Did you come to use or did someone else report you?
My story is similar to many - My JC was for fornication involving my wife and I. The incident happened just before we were married (engaged and wedding date was set). We went to the elders about 2 months after we were married.
I was completely floored! We were treated totally different than I expected. We were told by these 3 elders that they believed we were truly repentant, but they then said we had to be punished. Punished?!? First time offense that technically CANNOT be repeated! We lost all privileges. 2 weeks later, one of the elders on our JC who happened to also be our Book Study overseer asks me to read at the Book Study. WTF?!?
This truly opened my eyes. I knew then that the who process was BS.
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The true cost of being raised as a witness
by stuckinarut2 inhow do you view your upbringing as a witness?.
most of us who were raised as witnesses would appreciate that some aspects of our upbringing were ok. a foundation and measure of stability came with it.. but, it struck me too, that we also lost so very much!
and we lost a lot of potential.. by this i mean, we need to look at not just what we lost, or what was deprived of us, but what that ended up costing us as adults into the future.. if i take $10 from you, you have lost just $10.. but, if you were going to use that $10 to buy something that would end up earning you $1000, then i actually took $1000 from you!.
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truth_b_known
A strong moral code and the ability to study/read was the only positive takeaways for me. When I was in the sixth grade I tested at a high school senior reading level. I was fortunate that my college years were in the 90's when some higher education was approved of. I did go my own way. I ended up graduating with 2 degrees rather than just taking some college computer courses.
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In Your Opinion Do Today's Elders Recognize That The Religion Is BS?
by minimus ini always wondered that while i was in especially when i was an elder.
i recognize that some people,elders included are brain-dead.
but do you think that the average older today knows it's all nonsense?
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truth_b_known
I grew up with a brother who went to Bethel, came back, and was appointed as an elder at a very young age. At a Circuit Assembly he gave a talk that had the usual "Armageddon is right around the corner" message. He walked off the stage and immediately said to my friend, "Armageddon is decades away."
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New "Become Jehovah's Friend" Video - The Ransom
by pale.emperor in: https://www.jw.org/en/publications/videos/#mediaitems/allvideos/pub-pk_e_26_video.
sickening propaganda for our young ones.
they've laid off on the "armageddon will be here soon" angle and now it's all about "hope".
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truth_b_known
You can't have it both ways.
Either we admonish our youth to forgo an education and a career in a high paying job to concentrate on the ministry because Armageddon is almost here or...
You better get an education an a high paying job with a great 401K plan because we hope the end is soon, but it may not be in your lifetime.
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Craziest thing you ever did during intermission at a Circuit Assembly
by Esse quam videri in1970 - there was a local drag strip a few miles away from the hall rented for the circuit assembly.
i was 18 , tim o. was 16 and wayne d. was 18. wayne had a 1955 chevy 4 door, 6 cylinder and fresh paint job.
tim had his dad'ss 1965 chevy half ton.
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truth_b_known
I just recall a CA that, on Sunday, was an NFL playoff game that the local team was in. I was on parking lot patrol. I laughed at how many brothers snuck off to their cars during the afternoon session to listen to the game on their radio. Keep in mind that this was pre-smart phone days.
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Sparlock is making his rounds again
by stillin ini was at the meeting last night and the dreadful video about caleb and sparlock was forced upon the audience.
honestly, i had forgotten how bad it was.
the mother's manipulative over-reaction and caleb's acceptance that his toy was evil.
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truth_b_known
I remember how Harry Potter was the Sparlock of my time. Yet everyone in the congregation was lining up to see all the Lord of the Rings movies. My wife could not understand that. This is so typical of the religion.