Posts by OrangeBlossom

42

boob jobs and sisters

by jurs in

jw
friends

warning: this is a very shallow post.

now that i'm out, i'm trying to see the humor of my past life as a jw.

when i was new in the truth , only baptized 4 months, i became good friends with this one sister.

OK, I have to join this one. I will confess, I had a boob job after my 3rd child. Not to show off to anyone, just for me. Call me vain if you will but up until I had kids I had a pretty nice set. Then breast-feeding took them away. They looked like 2 tube socks, it totally grossed me out when I looked in the mirror. I didn't even want my husband to see them, even tho he said they looked fine to him. I guess he's always had a thing for tube socks. Anyway, probably 30 sisters in my area had them done, all by the same doc. I mainly did it for me, no one else and I have never regretted it.

So let the beatings begin!

23

Question for any elder/recent ex-elder

by OrangeBlossom in

jw
friends

the elders keep dropping by every couple of saturday's after bookstudy to check on us and try to encourage us back to meetings.

it has worked out that my husband has been gone when they visit so they keep coming back hoping to catch him sometime.

anyway, i told my hubby that we should at least go to the meetings once a week to keep them off our trail, which i went this past thursday night and wouldn't you know it the one elder approached me and mentioned that they still want to sit down with us and go over an article on meeting attendance.

OrangeBlossom

Thanks for all the input. Some wondered why we just don't fade away. We tried that but have too much family around us that are still in, makes it too hard right now.

23

Question for any elder/recent ex-elder

by OrangeBlossom in

jw
friends

the elders keep dropping by every couple of saturday's after bookstudy to check on us and try to encourage us back to meetings.

it has worked out that my husband has been gone when they visit so they keep coming back hoping to catch him sometime.

anyway, i told my hubby that we should at least go to the meetings once a week to keep them off our trail, which i went this past thursday night and wouldn't you know it the one elder approached me and mentioned that they still want to sit down with us and go over an article on meeting attendance.

OrangeBlossom

I need help!!! The elders keep dropping by every couple of Saturday's after bookstudy to check on us and try to encourage us back to meetings. It has worked out that my husband has been gone when they visit so they keep coming back hoping to catch him sometime. Anyway, I told my hubby that we should at least go to the meetings once a week to keep them off our trail, which I went this past Thursday night and wouldn't you know it the one elder approached me and mentioned that they still want to sit down with us and go over an article on meeting attendance. My question is this...Is there any way we can ask them to stop coming by or anything we can say to get them off our backs? Something polite so that they don't start looking for something to bring us in judicially?

What kills me is back when I still believed it was the truth, no elder gave a rat's ass about us, in fact, we were labeled as "spiritual losers," and "nobody's." Friends of ours would tell us what was said about us and those are exact words, btw. Others would tell us that the elders warned them about associating with us because we were spiritually weak. At the time I was cut to the heart by this, but now I see them for what they really are...power-hungry, self-righteous hypocrits.

I know that not all elders are like that, but the majority around here are. I think that is why I started investigating things and doubting in the first place. How can men "appointed by holy spirit" treat even the spiritually weak that way. We did not doing anything wrong, just missed meetings occasionally and only put a few hours in field service a month. We don't drink or party excessively, don't use foul language, steal, or lie (like some elders I know), but yet we were considered "bad association." Typical!

36

Report on Jacksonville losing WT convention

by expatbrit in

jw
friends

city loses big convention .

by bill johnson, special to the daily record.

wash your car, it will rain.

OrangeBlossom

"I don't see it. When it's in your town, you don't have to travel but everybody else does. When it's in another town, you have to travel but the people who live there don't. Sending thousands of Jacksonvillians to Tampa also means thousands of Tampons won't have to travel. It balances out"

Not quite! Tampa has always had conventions there and often overcrowded at that. Now add all the Jacksonville folk that now have to travel to Georgia and Tampa and you have more overcrowding. Besides, you are talking dozens of congregations in Jacksonville alone that now have to go elsewhere. It doesn't really matter to me, I'm trying to figure out a way not to go at all this year. I'm hoping to catch a summer-long flu bug or something. Pray for me!

36

Report on Jacksonville losing WT convention

by expatbrit in

jw
friends

city loses big convention .

by bill johnson, special to the daily record.

wash your car, it will rain.

OrangeBlossom

Thanks expatbrit.

I thought of this after my last post. Several years ago, for a couple of years, we had the convention in my area but because the arena people wanted to leave the concessions open, (which would conflict with the crappy burritos the society served) they would not have it there anymore. The funny thing is, had the society agreed to have it there anyway, the majority of witnesses would have still supported the crappy burritos out of loyalty and the arena would have gotten the message that it was not advantageous to insist on having their concessions open. So we had to travel to Jacksonville. Then the society did away with food altogether. It seemed the society was more interested in having it their way than considering the needs of the R&F. I guess things have not changed.

36

Report on Jacksonville losing WT convention

by expatbrit in

jw
friends

city loses big convention .

by bill johnson, special to the daily record.

wash your car, it will rain.

OrangeBlossom

I find this really interesting being from Central Florida and having gone to the Jacksonville District Assembly each year since I was a teenager. When we found out that we were assigned to St. Petersburg I lost my dinner. But, and here is what is interesting, it was put to the R&F that the reason for the switch was due to the colliseum not being available. Could someone please post the link to that article if it was available on the net. I would really like to print it out and show to some of my family members who are die-hard dubs.

Thank you ever so kindly!

8

A People For His Name???

by Big Jim in

jw
friends

anyone care to comment on this scripture quote!

OrangeBlossom

Since his true name is Yahweh and not the artificial form, Jehovah, I guess a people for his name would not be Jehovah's Witnesses.

OB

"By doubting we come at truth!" ---Cicero

8

The handwriting on the wall

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

the best leading indicator of the jw membership count is the baptism count as it directly measures the efficiency of the field service.

the baptism numbers represent the combined result of total hours, total literature, and total bible studies; it is the most reliable predictor of future membership counts.. and this is what has the wtbts worried.

they see the handwriting on the wall in nearly all of the developed countires and also some lesser developed countries.

OrangeBlossom

quote:
"Baptism numbers are more closely related to the number of youth who have been raised in the "truth" getting baptised."

I find that part of the problem in my neck of the woods (southeastern US). I know for my part, none of my 4 children are baptised, the oldest 2 are now adults and want nothing to do with the organization. Unfortunately, they want nothing to do with God, the bible or religion in general. They've seen too much hypocrisy. My oldest calls the Kingdom Hall the "go to learn how to be a hyporcrit place." Most of their friends, however, are kids that grew up in witness families and are no longer associated or disfellowshipped/disassociated.

16

Dreams: Portals to the Afterlife?

by Mulan in

jw
friends

now this is a neat subject!!

i am a genealogy freak, and have researched my family back to the middle ages and beyond, on both sides.

i so much want to know about them, and what they looked like, and how they lived, that i have dreamed it.

OrangeBlossom

It is really strange that this topic posted at this time. 2 nights ago I had a really intense dream of being with my father. It was actually traumatic because I was re-living his sickness and death. I woke up crying and continued upset for some time. However, at the same time I was comforted by being with my dad again. For those that do not know, he disassociated himself about 10 years before his death. I, at the time, being the good little dub wouldn't have much to do with him. A few years after his death, I started having doubts, probably seeds planted by him. Anyway, I kept having this internal nagging to keep searching about whether or not I had "the truth." For some reason I have often felt like my dad was somehow encouraging me to keep digging. The part of me that was raised a JW, however keeps telling me that he is sleeping in the grave.

The only person in my family that I have confided in about my true feelings is my older brother who has been inactive for years. I told him that I have tremendous guilt over the lost years of association with my dad and that I must have really hurt him. I use to be really close with my dad. Anyway, my brother told me that dad always felt that I would eventually come around. So a small part of me feels that if there is an afterlife, I feel like my dad is responsible for opening my eyes.

And now this post appears. Thanks!

20

DECEPTIVE JW ELDERS - CASE#2

by Amazing in

jw
friends

deceptive jw elders case#2 .

appointing spiritually qualified men to take the lead and serve as elders and overseers has been a feature of watch tower congregational organization since about 1972. jws were told in talks at conventions, in literature, and finally in the two versions of the organization book that the biblical criteria is used when elders meet to consider some men for appointment as an elder.

jws are also told that these qualified men are already appointed first by holy spirit, and then as the congregation is lead by that spirit to recognize them, the elders meeting is a confirmation of what god has done.

OrangeBlossom

Very interesting post, my husband and I have always had a problem with "spirit appointed elders." Case in point...

My husband was in business with someone who was a real butt-kisser at the hall, perfect meeting attendance, high hours on his service report (inflated) very friendly, personable, you get the picture. However, away from the hall, he was known in the business world as one of the biggest liars around. Actually, the guy was a pathalogical liar. Anyway, it wasn't too long after he moved into a new congregation that he was appointed a MS. He must have suspected they were considering him because a few nights before the CO came around he asked my husband not to reveal certain things to the other elders that he had been doing, such as, lying, stealing, saying the "F" word constantly, etc. My husband was already hanging on to "the truth" by a thread and when they announced him as a MS, we both wanted to puke.

To make matters worse, he was appointed an elder a couple of years after that and remains one to this day.

At that point, I think we both had confirmed for us that elders are not appointed by holy spirit, but, merely personality and politics.