The PO when I was growing up was pretty cool. He wasn't born into this. He knew a lot about counter culture and old b movies. The TMSO was a nice dude, never do I recall him ever giving a W. I see him near daily and wave every time. Once a friend of mine said he called him over to drink a couple beers and argue about religion , said he came right over. One of my best friends was a former elder who stepped down when his wife left him long before I was born. He was 73 I was 15. He became an elder again after getting remarried at 74. But most of those old dudes... You know the ones who drive Buicks because they still remember the deal the GB made with Buick an eon ago... they would corner you in the hall and bore you to death, maybe the occasional lecture. I think I got so far out there they kinda even quit paying attention, plus I never winced or backed down from a stance, and could always more than hold my own with watchtower reasoning about how there wasn't a problem...Hell all those guys must me dead by now. Are there still plenty of Buicks in the parking lot?
FaithLess
JoinedPosts by FaithLess
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22
Did You Have Good Relationships With The Elders?
by minimus inmy experience was that most jws wanted to have an elder “friend” just in case they got into any “trouble “.kinda like knowing that certain cop who might get you out of a jam.
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of course there was another group who did everything they could to either kiss the elders’ ass or stonewall them anytime they came snooping around.. how did you and the “older men” get along?.
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From reddit...How old were you when you became a publisher?
by Biahi ini was six, not given any choice.
i remember being in the old kh, and my dad told me the brothers wanted to talk to me in the back...i was terrified.
i actually thought they knew i didn’t want to be a dub, my dad told them to just add me as a publisher, so no back room meeting.
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FaithLess
Also, thanks for the analogy of generational overlap. I'd read that on here a couple times and was getting ready to ask. I could have received no better explanation.
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18
From reddit...How old were you when you became a publisher?
by Biahi ini was six, not given any choice.
i remember being in the old kh, and my dad told me the brothers wanted to talk to me in the back...i was terrified.
i actually thought they knew i didn’t want to be a dub, my dad told them to just add me as a publisher, so no back room meeting.
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FaithLess
I was 8 maybe 9 but had been giving the pitch 'they are 25 cents' for years previous to that... Pretty sure until they became 25 cents apiece but didn't become a publisher until sometime after that. I hadn't given any kind of pitch, or talked to anyone at the door for quite a long time before that. I remember their being pressure to sign up... From my parents. Can't recall any particular instance, just remember that to be the case. I do recall that I stopped offering the magazines to people because I got a little older than 5 and started realizing the whole thing was bullshit. I remember asking my mom questions that really got hollow answers. She was spot on with what she was supposed to say to questions like that, but I shrugged off her answers the way I felt my questions were being blown off, but they weren't. Hell, mom would take the time and break out whatever literature addressed my query, look up all the scriptures with me... But it never felt like anyone was hearing me. I'd be left still pondering whatever I'd ask, think over the replies and come to the conclusion, that was all bullshit, it makes no sense. One or two years later at school, age ten, they did a round of standardized testing, then did a round of testing for certain kids they thought may be eligible for the gifted program in our district. I was the only kid in my class to pass and was enrolled. We had class once a week at the junior high school. The curriculum consisted of computer programming, delivering speeches, research projects, etc... But really it was always about critical thinking and problem solving. I had already felt like a real tool after having become a publisher and joining the theocratic ministry school, telling strangers, and people in the congregation alike about topics in which I did not believe and in some instances had contrary beliefs. Years in the gifted program made this feeling much worse. I was taught to digest information given to me break it down analyze it's validity and then research why it is or isn't so. There weren't many scholarly texts around the house, or at the poor county school district, but the program was independently funded by the state outside of the state educational funding. We visited many research libraries. At 11 we did a unit on space. A unit consisted of a simulation, or entire classroom board game with knowledge of the topic advancing your team and a research report with oral presentation. I chose black holes. I learned a lot about space time and read books by Steven Hawking. No one around the house or congregation had much to comment on things I was learning that made sense, and could be substantiated by mathematics and classroom simulation. Nothing I ever read in the Bible made sense not could be proven outside of it's thin leather cover. I read it three times, outside of the congregational Bible reading before I determined that outside of SOME wisdom in the form of personal advice that there was nothing of value in it's antiquated and contradictory text. Also no one wanted to hear how Christianity in general, let alone the wtbts, were more the work of Paul and nearly nothing of it's structure, bigotry or dogma came from any letters that were printed in red... Well not in the NWT, but others I read. No one wanted to hear a 12 year old kid talk about how distorted some of the NWT word choices were after just a remedial inspection of the diaglot. For instance, trees have branches, I'd say, a stake is far from a tree, a cross is more like a tree.... Gets you labeled as a hard case.
This kinda thing went on until age 17, when I couldn't handle the hypocrite role anymore and dropped off both rosters. My parents still drug me around in the field ministry until I was 18... Prolly would have tried after that too. Six months shy of my 18th, dad and I were into it about my behavior, which I assure you was not anything a normal parent would have raised an eyebrow at. He says, if you leave the house today, don't come back. No problem. It got easier all the time.