Posts by JakeM2012

22

No Natural Affection...

by lostinnj83 in

my latest encounter with my mom has me furious and i needed a place to vent:.

i don't post alot but for anyone who has read any of my posts knows that while i have been struggling for some time, i am still an active jw working towards leaving.. anyway, i got into a car accident yesterday.

fortunately i am well enough to type this up so for that i am greatful.

JakeM2012

lostinnj83,

Thank you for sharing your experience and I hope that you recover soon from the accident. I am also sorry for the internal family turmoil from a supposed "christian family". Graciously, this experience helps me appreciate that I am not alone in the continued SAGA of a multitude of Jehovah's Witness's dysfunctional families. Your experience helps me appreciate that these are learned traits from the "mother" organization.

The reason I comment is that, similar to your situation, I had a motorcycle accident over two months ago (Recent) which I probably should be dead, but I lived, (Dammit). I was coming home from work out of state for the weekend. I spend five days in the hospital, 4 of them in ICU, (Intensive Care Unity).

Within a few days after exiting the Intenvsive Care Unite of the hospital with minimal recovery, I tried calling my Mom (only parent living), and left messages on her cell phone and her landline answering maching indicating I had someting important to tell her, and to please call me. (I did not want to unnecessary alarm her) That is a total of two messages She has not returned my calls to date.

The reason I post this is to substantiate and agree that many families of Jehovah's Witnesses are "dysfunctional" to say the least. I'm not "whinning" about Mother and am not an ungrateful son, I sincerely appreciate all of her sacrifices. However, because of the WTBTS organizations continued preaching of hate, I believe that many of Jehovah's Witnesses have lost the last shreds of what might be called "natural affection".

37

Great News!

by haboob48 in

well i do not post here very much and usually what i have to say........well...isn't that important!

but......i am the proud grandmother of twin girls as of august 10!

i am so proud of my daughter, who is 25, just gave birth to twin girls.........no painkillers........nothing!

JakeM2012

Congratulations Haboob48, this is VERY exciting. Enjoy your grandchildren! Wow, just WOW!!!.

26

Off to tell the family...

by Gypsy Sam in

jw
friends

the day i've been waiting for is here.

i'm flying home to see family and some old friends, most of whom are jw.

since learning ttatt a few months back, i came to the decision i would have to tell my parents that we are no longer active and don't have any plans to return.

JakeM2012

Gypsy Sam, interesting update, thank you. I wouldn't rock the boat, sometimes family will just bury in the sand as they might be having doubts also. With some witnesses, just the fact that we are 4 months away from 2014 is too much to talk about.

27

Integrity over living a lie....

by Happier in

jw
friends

hey to everyone here... so i have never been one for writing much of my feelings down for other people to see.

this however has become so important to me and i may be able to help someone who dares go looking for answers some place other than the jw.org website.

first of all i would like to thank anybody and everybody who had the courage enough to write their experience in the organisation.

JakeM2012

Happier,

Thank you so much for telling your story. I am so sorry to hear of your situation. Please, do not think that you experience is insignificant. You have been treated horribly. Many are abused mentally and some are abused physically. I wish the best for you and your family, and your welcome to contact any of us personally via email for more support or collectively here. Many of us have struggled with healing, you will find others here with similar experience.

16

Advertising the District Assembly on the Radio

by RubaDub in

is this just a local practice to south florida or is it done in other areas too?.

i'm driving to work last week and on one of the most popular radio stations (primarily talk and politics) they were advertising the district assembly in west palm beach florida for next week.. it was about a 30 second spot and was the typical "everyone is invited ... no collections taken" .... etc.

etc.. is this common in other areas ???.

JakeM2012

Desireous of change, That is the ticket... One elder in our hall was in charge of "news service" (I believe it was called), the local elder handling it would send a short message to radio and TV stations and sometimes as a service to the community they would make the announcement. No guarantee of home many times, etc, generally it was a one-time deal. But as pointed out by RO it did more advertising than all the invitations cramed in the door. Most radio stations will handle community service announcements. You can be sure that WTBTS isn't paying a dime.

9

Charitable Planning/Brochure is here

by stephenw20 in

jw
friends

namaste........ i recieved my brochure the other day from the legal department of the wtbts in patterson ny.. i have not had devoted time to look at all 32 pages with the most critcal eye, but will share my most immediate observations.... first, we are not talking about some newspaper type document.

in my opinion, it is the finest layout and printing job done by the society to date.

JakeM2012

Thanks Julia, After briefly reviewing the brochure, Probably good tax friendly advice at the time of printing advice in 2000, 14 years ago. WTBTS is using their tax free status as a charity to intercept funds that the government would receive, uhmmm, make the most out of your giving. Interesting that the brochure hasn't been updated since 2000 because U.S. Tax laws have changed alot since 2000. For instance, this is an excerpt from an article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2013/01/02/after-the-fiscal-cliff-deal-estate-and-gift-tax-explained/

"Who has to pay federal estate tax? Once you’re worth more than a certain amount, taxes shrink your estate. Under the 2010 tax law, we can each transfer up to $5 million tax-free during life or at death. That figure is called the basic exclusion amount , and it is adjusted for inflation. In 2012 it was raised to $5.12 million per person. The new tax law does not change how much you can pass tax-free. On Jan. 11 the IRS announced that, with the inflation adjustment, the estate tax exclusion amount for deaths in 2013 would be $5.25 million."

"How does this relate to lifetime gifts? The lifetime gift tax exclusion and the estate tax exclusion are expressed as a total amount – currently $5.25 million per person – and it is possible to use this exclusion (sometimes called the “unified credit”) to transfer assets at either stage or a combination of the two. If you exceed the limit, you (or your heirs) will owe tax of up to 40%."

"The IRS expects you to keep a running tally and report these gifts so it will know how much has already been used up when you die. For example, if you have used $1 million of the exclusion to make taxable lifetime gifts, the unused exclusion if you die in 2013 will be $4.25 million, rather than $5.25 million."

"Here too, couples get a special break: they can share the basic exclusion during life (this process is called gift-splitting) and give more to the kids now, tax-free. But of course this also reduces how much of the tax-free amount will be available when they die, either for their own use or to be carried over by the survivor." (Bold/italics added)

13

New York Tourist Crap Highlights The Watchtower buildings in Brooklyn

by steve2 in

jw
friends

well i'm a day shy of having spent one week in new york - my first time.

what a dazzlingly vibrant and noisy city - one that never sleeps.

new yorkers rightly proclaim this metropolis as one of a kind.

JakeM2012

Thanks Steve for the update.

25

Your Baptism

by Aunt Fancy in

jw
friends

we have been going through our literature and throwing away a lot of it which feels great.

my hubby came cross the program from my baptism in 1986. the divine peace dc held in the astrodome in houston, tx.

he always wrote the attendance and the amount baptized so on that day there were 30,894 in attendance nd 531 baptized!

JakeM2012

Aunt Fancy, I was in attendance at your baptism in 1986 at Astrodome.

30

Black Friday Stampedes VS. District Convention Morning Gate Openings

by Mr. Falcon in

has anyone had a jw rant to them around christmas time about how "horrible" it is to be a "worldly" person at that time of year?.

certian jws love to use the infamous black friday shopping riots that tend to occur as examples to back up this argument.

now, while those incidents are indeed disgraceful, they are hardly isolated to the "world".. among my "priveliges" was to be an attendant at a few district conventions.

JakeM2012

Black Friday, or even the running of the bulls. You figure out who is the bulls??...

10

Do you think the Watchtower corporation can be "helped" to come clean?

by Fernando in

it seems all humans and groups suffer from the universal problem of being able to see what is wrong with others, but not themselves.. so how to "help"?.

maybe some paraphrasing of what the watchtower has written about others, which equally applies to them?

*** w09 6/1 p. 9 they loved the word of god ***[ray franz' book "in search of christian freedom"] was not welcomed by the [watchtower corporation].

JakeM2012

I can truthfully say that I have NOT seen a jackass or donkey turned into a great horse. WTBTS will not tolerate reformation. Keep dreaming.