I will probably attend for my family's sake. They've been supportive of me, and I feel it's a way for me to show respect for their beliefs. If they shunned me, I definitely would not bother.
brokethechain
JoinedPosts by brokethechain
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43
May 15 2013 WT: "REAL elders skip meals and lose sleep!"
by cedars infinally we have the society's expectations of elders in print.. this is from page 9 of the may 15th study edition.... "as indicated by the experiences of the apostle paul, our ministry may result in sleepless nights and times without food.
(2 cor.
6:5) these expressions paint a vivid picture of self-sacrifice and may well remind us of pioneers who give their ministry first place in life while supporting themselves financially.
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brokethechain
@ cobaltcupcake. My experience married to an elder was similar, and he also ended up burning out.
I know there's been a lot of elder bashing on this thread, but my experience over a couple of decades in several congregations and having been married to an elder for several years has been this:
There are a few power-tripping elders who are nosy, meddle into everyone's business and dominate the other elders on the body. Usually the power-tripping ones are P.O./Coordinator. The majority of elders I knew were genuinely trying to help and genuinely cared about the congregation.
I know my husband and I regularly bought groceries or medicine for elderly ones, planned outings with single parent families and visited/called people who were sick.
My husband did spend sleepless nights worrying about how the decisions that the body of elders had made (the coordinator) was going to affect the ones involved. He even tried speaking to the CO / the branch because of how the coordinator was handling different situations. Of course, he was just told to leave it in Jeh's hands and to keep being humble. I found out later that it didn't only bother him, but it bothered the other elders on the body. Their hands were tied. Decisions weren't even being made by a majority vote - the dominating coordinator who felt was in charge won.
As an elder's wife, I often ate dinner alone. He'd be tied up on hour long telephone calls and long meetings. He hated all of it but felt guilty for being "selfish" and for not appreciating this "privilege". Not all elders are in it for the prestige/power. Some feel like they can't justify saying no. And they really want to help. I feel really sad for most elders. They actually do give up so much, and, for what?
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51
As a JW, how did you feel about shunning?
by jwfacts ini am interested in the answers for a new poll.
also, feel free to suggest other options, wording etc.agreed in full with the watchtower guidelinesagreed with shunning in general, but not for familywas stumbled by this practice but shunned as instructeddid not agree with the practice and secretly associated with disfellowshipped people .
for me personally, i did not agree with the practice and secretly associated with disfellowshipped people, even whilst at bethel.
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brokethechain
I was always disturbed by the practice, but I tried not to think about it. No one close to me had been DF's or DA'd. I shunned as instructed. Then a teenager in my cong. got DF'd, and I realized how wacked it was to be instructed to shun a kid. I woke up that month.
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What Was Your "Status" Within The Organization?
by minimus inwere you a sought after associate?.
were you often invisible?.
did other witnesses view you as "exemplary"?.
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brokethechain
From exemplary to lower than scum overnight.
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When you were a jw....Christmas day...
by carla inwhen you were a jw did you get together with family or other jw's on christmas day?
most people have off so it would be convenient.
in my mind, if you got together with family or jw's shared a meal or drinks, perhaps watched a movie or played games you did celebrate the day.
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brokethechain
I remember we had super fun parties on New Year's for a few consecutive years. Then we got a local needs and that was done.
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Anyone Else from Canada?
by Miss 8572 ini'm really intrigued by that fact that i may know some of you and yet not know that i know you.
i just want to know how many people from canada are here.
if you don't mind and don't care about posting your province (cause i'm too timid to) we could all get an idea of just how many canucks are really out there.
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brokethechain
Maritimer living in Montreal
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After A Day In Field Service, Did You Get Euphoric Or A Spiritual High?
by ÁrbolesdeArabia ini know this might sound silly but field service did provide a strange type of good feelings after i was done.
i called this the "halo-effect" because i felt so "righteous, obedient and good" for taking the weirdos or "the friends" in my station wagon.
vans and station wagon owners in the congregations often get used hard, pile up seven whacks and your off!
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brokethechain
I did until I started doubting. While a believer, I felt so good about having spent my morning/day doing such grandiose never to be repeated work. I'm sure loads of times I was out just for the hours and it was a drudgery, but loads of times I do actually remember feeling like I had just cured someone's cancer. Then the doubts started creeping in, and it was the worst activity in the world.
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When you were a jw....Christmas day...
by carla inwhen you were a jw did you get together with family or other jw's on christmas day?
most people have off so it would be convenient.
in my mind, if you got together with family or jw's shared a meal or drinks, perhaps watched a movie or played games you did celebrate the day.
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brokethechain
Usually we slept in then had a big brunch at someone's house. Brunch with luxuries, like champagne and oj, lots of fruits and luxury fruits. Basically we celebrated xmas without the tree/music/decorations. Not much different than now for me, except I go to the xmas parties.
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COs and other org heavies - Interest in secular entertainment?
by A question inin any conversations and dealings you had with organization 'heavies' or their wives, such as cos, dos, missionaries, and so forth, did they ever have a lot of interest in any kind of secular entertainment (movies, tv shows, fiction books, and so forth)?
or did they always discuss only 'spiritual interests'?.
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brokethechain
LOL I heard that "pg=pure garbage, pg-13 to the 13th degree" from some oddball brother too.
There were some that really seemed to only be interested in cult-stuff like visiting bethels and going to international conventions.
But most of them seemed to be normal humans with normal interests but probably felt the pressure to keep up the appearance so that they can be "encouraging". I've watched movies with COs, talked about sports, travel, literature. I don't know where they found the time to pursue other interests though...
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If you could leave the truth again what would you do differently?
by usualusername inif you could leave the truth again what would you do differently?.
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uun .
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brokethechain
I never left the "truth".
I left an organization run by men that I had believed my entire life was the "truth".
The only thing I would have done differently is avoid talking about ANY of my doubts / issues with the WT with ANY JW except for my spouse.
I'm fairly happy with how I left.