Posts by likeabird

6

Were you a meeter and greeter or a background observer?

by likeabird in

jw
friends

i've noticed how on newbie threads everyone jumps in to say hello, even other newbies.. it got me wondering.. when you were in, were you the type to greet all the newcomers and visiting bros and siss, or would you stay in the background and wait a few meetings to manage to go over to say hello?.

i'm not particularly anti-social, but as a foreigner, meeting new people meant they felt they had the right to interrogate me on my life story in the first five minutes of the acquaintance just because they could see i wasn't one of them.

being assigned to preach with a newcomer was torturous and i would shut my eyes waiting for the interrogation to start.. so anyway, that's what made me fall into the latter group.

likeabird

I've noticed how on newbie threads everyone jumps in to say hello, even other newbies.

It got me wondering.

When you were in, were you the type to greet all the newcomers and visiting bros and siss, or would you stay in the background and wait a few meetings to manage to go over to say hello?

I was the latter. I'm not particularly anti-social, but as a foreigner, meeting new people meant they felt they had the right to interrogate me on my life story in the first five minutes of the acquaintance just because they could see I wasn't one of them. Being assigned to preach with a newcomer was torturous and I would shut my eyes waiting for the interrogation to start.

So anyway, that's what made me fall into the latter group. What about you?

16

What kind of books do you like to read?

by tornapart in

jw
friends

when i was younger i enjoyed reading thrillers.

i've always enjoyed reading history books, particularly of my own country.

these days i enjoy reading books from the best seller list.

likeabird

It is a truly amazing story of an ordinary person that did extraordinary things in response to unusual circumstances.

Even more amazing is the story of the person who wrote the book. I read her first book, so will probably read this one some time too.

16

What kind of books do you like to read?

by tornapart in

jw
friends

when i was younger i enjoyed reading thrillers.

i've always enjoyed reading history books, particularly of my own country.

these days i enjoy reading books from the best seller list.

likeabird

Besides all the books I've had to read for school, I love reading life stories, particularly of people from cultures we may know little above, people who have lived under totalitarian regimes, people who have got over extreme difficulties. Also enjoy various fiction when there is a distinct and unique writing style.

178

Honest survey question on effectiveness of 'apostacy'

by Simon in

jw
friends

it seems like lots of people have big dreams of 'destroying the watchtower'.

it's usually linked to a story of how they were wronged and want some revenge.

do these 'in your face' attempts to convince people that the truth isn't the truth really have an effect?.

likeabird

I would say that what gets you in in the first place (or convinces you to stay in if you are born-in) is also what will get you out.

For me it was two things.

First, the (what I firmly believed at the time to be) logic of the prophecies. When it was suggested to me that the dates might be out of sync, I checked them in encyclopedias. Seeing they were wrong and then double checking the WT pubs to discover they actually backed up the encyclopedias (indirectly, of course).

At this point I stopped believing but still didn't detach myself from the borg. I do a ton of research to check everything els, but solely relied on WT pubs and sources such as encyclopedias to do it. I adamently refused to touch anything "apostate". I had to check everything myself. I figured if WT got me into this in the first place, they could get me out. Those were my terms.

Second, I was always proud of the fact the borg was so "clean". In service when the subject of child abuse in the Catholic church came up I would proudly say that if I was in a religion that covered up child abuse like they did in the Catholic church, then I would leave. I couldn't understand why people would stay in such a religion. All the fuss made in the borg even for pornography only confirmed in my mind that child abuse would never be tolerated.

Shortly (a few months after I had stopped believing in everything), a friend convinced me* (I was still refusing to touch anything "apostate") to watch an extract from a documentary showing an interview by Barbara Anderson talking about her experience in bethel and the problem of child abuse in the borg. I immediately read her life story and then spent the next few days reading the different accounts of people on silent lambs and with tears in my eyes.

By discovering that not only child abuse existed but was covered up in the religion I had been born into, devoted my whole life to and literally sacrificed everything to, my relationship with that religion was permanently and totally severed.

It was only at this point that I had no problem looking at ex-JW sites, watching their videos and reading as much as I could.

(*The only thing that convinced me to watch Barbara's interview in the first place was because I knew that someone who had got where she had got in the organization, would never throw it away lightly or give up her whole life work just like that.)

20

How many Kingdom Halls have you went to in your lifetime?

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

for me, i think i went to 20 kingdom halls in my lifetime.

just a guess.

.

likeabird

Around 50. Never had a vacation from the borg.

95

Emergency relief fund for the Philippines. How will it work.

by joe134cd in

i was just thinking it will be interesting to see how the wts emergency relief fund will operate in the philippines.

ok it worked well with the storm in florida, with cashing in on the insurance cheques.

sorry to generalize, but americans have the disposable income, and the insurance polices for things like this - a thing the wtbts finds very attractive.

likeabird

As we speak, aid is already in place and on its way. (From external organizations and governments, etc)

Let's see in a few months if WT tries to spin things like they were the first there to help everybody.

18

JW came to door

by gma-tired2 in

jws don't waste time talking today.

she knocked on door, husband answered, she said were doing a world wide work and shoved a pamplet in his hand and left.

i remember the days when we actually try to get the householders in a conversation.

likeabird

JWs don't waste time talking today. She knocked on door, husband answered, she said were doing a world wide work and shoved a pamplet in his hand and left. I remember the days when we actually try to get the householders in a conversation. Today it is hit and run.

That was one of the first nails in the coffin for me, though unfortunately I didn't realise that at the time. I used to hate the fact that literature would be pushed without the slightest interest shown to the householder or effort made to engage them in a minimum of conversation. Just watching those around me do that made me shut down inside.

At times I did manage to start up a pretty good conversation and would decide to either leave nothing or just a small tract, as the door was about to close I would suddenly see my preaching partner practically empty the contents of their bag into the householders hands (no joke). That ensured I never called back on people and basically let everyone else get on with it.

Working with people who had an endless supply of calls seemed a safe route until you would take a crowded elevator with them and they would announce, in a loud voice to everyone inside that they were engaging in God's work and sharing the good news of the Kingdom. Hiding in the far corner of the elevator didn't work either. I would hear my voice called from the other side to open my bag and give all the nice blank faced ladies and gentlemen whatever WashTowels I could find inside. I never saw such a lack of precipitation for what was on offer, but somehow my bag was always lighter on the way home.

This went on for years. The ministry became truly unbearable. Don't even start me on the subject of studies. Let's just say not having to preach anymore is wonderful.

Enjoy your next four years of peace!

16

what have you learned since leaving ?

by man in black in

jw
friends

since leaving the jw religion,what can you say that you have learned about life/people in a positive way that you probably would have never experienced.

if you had remained a witness ?.

my story is regarding this :.

likeabird

I have learned that no matter what you have done for this organization, no matter what you have done for the brothers, no matter what sacrifices you may have made along the way, when you are sick and laying on your death bed, there will only be a handful of people, typically family, that will even care.

Don't even have to be on your death bed to discover that!

You're lucky if you have even a handful of people, even family, who care - most of whom are probably just hounders imagining they are doing their "job".

The female sex counts for absolutely nothing (in the borg) regardless of how much they may have devoted their lives to "mother" (ironically a female term!), they could just as well be invisible.

If you pray, good things may happen. If you stop praying, wonderful things do happen.

Life is breathtaking. Life is amazing. It is wonderful to actually be living...instead of waiting and watching life go by.

18

Where you the door knocker encourager in your congregation?

by jam in

to be honest i figured until i received some pleasure, enjoyment.

in waking people up on their day off, there was no way i was going.

to pressure anyone else to do the same.

likeabird

The only time I felt good about field service was when it was over.

Spot on!

5

Only In the Kingom Hall, Public Reproof For Porn and Private Reproof for Pedophilia!

by SanLuisObispoTruthSeeker in

.

i know of two cases of private reproof for child sex offenders and after reading john cedars story, it sicken's me to admitt we actually reproved brothers for porn both private and pubically.

porn is so minor compared to the horrible sins we covered over, what is wrong with this group of false teachers who are being lead by the blind?.

likeabird

I don't remember the exact term for this, but the public reproof for porn is a distraction method. Like a smokescreen.

By making such a big thing of porn, it becomes unimaginable in the minds of the sheeples that the pedophilia even exists in the borg, else they would hear of it. Or so they think.