Posts by SloppyJoe

40

Have You Ever Met...Or KNOW...a GB Member?

by Cold Steel in

if so, what is your experience?

i've seen only a few talks by gb members and would like to hear what they're like.

are they personable, aloof, humble, arrogant?

SloppyJoe

I met Lyman swingle and took a picture when I was a kid. I also met barber seemed very old and frail. Current members I have met are pierce, Morris, herd, and splane. All were nice and courteous to me.

28

"They're only human!" (the most common defence of the Governing Body)

by Watchtower-Free in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkjk3eyd7ee.

SloppyJoe

Well I haven't seen a punishment for the GB as SFPW indicated Moses received. Maybe they won't be allowed in heaven just like Moses didn't enter the promise land. What dya think SFPW?

52

What was your "Aha!" moment?

by Hortenzie in

for me it was when i learned that gb makes their decisions by 2/3 majority vote, not by direction of holy spirit..

SloppyJoe

I was barely a teenager but the change of the generation in 1995 made me for the first time realize they have no clue about how close the end was. All that did was open the door to research everything. Na true aha moment was later on about ten years ago when I almost landed myself in a JC for casual comments that made people think. I realized then that it was nothing more than a shell.

20

Assembly resolutions - did anyone ever take them seriously?

by LogCon in

is there any site that has the assembly resolutions for download?.

SloppyJoe

I remember some if them and thinking they were stupid even before I was questioning anything. My mom would always look and make sure I clapped or said "aye".

14

Changing tides

by d in

i think we are witnessing major events in our time period.look at the snoweden situation and the continuing arab spring and the issue of income inequality.we are seeing that people are questioning the old values and briging up new ones.i belieive we are also approaching a much more secular world as well.. people today are a lot more skeptical of those in power than before and this all part of a change in our values.look at as well the advancement of science and technology.we are able to treat illness once thought uncurable.the future does not look bleak despite what the jw's say.yes we have been thorugh wars ad famines and illness but we are treating those things fast.according to the u.n they plan to cut world poverty in half.. this is good..

SloppyJoe

Sfpw, I forgot to add in my post about celebrating holidays that I also enjoy rated r movies! In fact some of the best movies I have ever seen are rated r. amazingly after seeing the violence and hearing profanity I still have never beat my wife, cursed at her, or even threatened her! I also have committed no acts of violence under law. I realize that I must have an extreme resistance to these movies but they will continue to break me down leading to my wife or someone near me receiving a black eye one day.

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.

SloppyJoe

Well I can't speak for this tragedy but being present for hurricane Katrina and then later hurricane Ike, JWs were nowhere to be found. Lots of food and clothing donations made from other churches and private groups, but again I never saw one donation or assistance made by any JWs.

In Texas when the New Orleans residents were bussed to large warehouses I saw one JW carry a watchtower around on display. I don't know if he was preaching or trying to find any witnesses but I never saw an outcome as the rest of us were actually doing work to help.

32

Overheard some JWs on the train today- going to be interesting this year

by lrkr in

cruising down to the city this afternoon we were behind a group of j-dubs on the train.

part of the conversation centered around the "generation" teaching.

all of them clearly trying to wrap their heads around it.

SloppyJoe

SFPW, if JWs don't serve the organization with a stopwatch, why do they constantly reinforce how close the end is and how you must believe that it is? I really don't care if you believe in the organization or not. But since you are even here it indicates you think just a tad more than a typical JW.

With that being said even if you won't admit it on here, you have to see they are backing themselves into another corner with their current generation teaching which will yet again require another revision in the future. By then new JWs will be strung along not realizing how many JWs were brought into the organization being taught that the stop watch had to run out by 1994. Or how they changed it a few more times in the next twenty years, and then have to change it again since the overlapping generation teaching is 0 percent biblical and will run its useful course as well.

102

Since leaving the truth, do you celebrate holidays, and does your participation in such bring you happiness?

by Stand for Pure Worship in

jw
friends

i ask this respectfully, and do so after watching a favorite show of mine's season opener which had a new years storyline.

hollywood tends to make movies and television show episodes centered around holiday themes appear warm and blissful.

while i'm thankful to have never participated in such holidays, i can't deny my curiosity about ex-jws that do celebrate.

SloppyJoe

My wife and I buy each other gifts for Christmas. Since I was born in I never celebrated any holiday until in my 30s. Celebrating christmas was absolutely fun. When you stop and think about giving gifts, it actually is very enjoyable to watch my wife's excitement as she was born in as well. I used to say how glad I was that I did not celebrate Christmas. All the gift buying and work it had to be. Turns out it is quite enjoyable.

I love celebrating our birthdays as well.

7

Relationship with fellow fader?

by Kool Jo in

i'm just curious....what would be the pros and cons of dating or even marrying someone who is fading or fully aware of ttatt?.

although i'm not in this situation, i've always wondered about it...for example...you're reaching near that age, your parents, friends, family members, others in the congregation are giving you hints that it's time for you to get married...you don't wanna marry anyone that the congregation/parents recommend because they're fully indoctrinated, so you make up some excuse that you're not ready blah blah blah, even though you long for companionship....you then meet a fader or someone who knows that the wtbs in crap...what would be the pros and the cons...and could it work?.

peace.

SloppyJoe

So I am exactly this situation. As you can see I have been a member here for many years but married a baptized witness about four years ago. I learned ttatt and that actually held me back from dating sisters. I would put many feelers out just to see where they were and if they questioned things. I probably did not date three or four girls because I knew I would be miserable. My wife i put feelers out and she responded to them. As time went on she herself would be more vocal about things she didn't believe than I would be. She ended up getting baptized out of pressure from her parents. I'm any case I have been able to talk to her and show her things that most people would have turned me into the elders for. In her case showing here the ttatt only reinforced what she had started to believe on her own. I made sure I knew she did not believe it was the truth before we got married. Presently she reads crisis of conscience on her ipad during the meetings. We make up hours for our field service report and skip meetings. Why do we go ? Both of our entire families are still in. I think it works because we both understand our situation. So it can work but I certainly agree with posts above that it can be very risky.

187

The reason behind why the ex-JW community can never match Jehovah's Witnesses' success.

by Stand for Pure Worship in

jw
friends

an average of five kingdom halls being constructed daily, almost 8 million brothers and sisters, dissemination of bible literature in 595 languages, 111,795 congregations worldwide, distribution of 179 million bibles available in 116 languages, 239 countries where jehovah's witnesses have a presence, etc.. need i go on?.

on the other hand........... crisis of conscience, freeminds, the awaa, jw.net, ummmmmm........hmmm........idk six screens or something?

not exactly working out for you guys.

SloppyJoe

I haven't read this thread so maybe it has been said but isn't Jehovah's Witnesses success surviving Armageddon? The field service hours, meeting attendance, carrying microphones, doing the sound, setting up the stage, passing out literature, counting contributions, reading from the stage, giving demonstrations from the stage, giving talks on the theocratic ministry school, door security, being an attendant, commenting at meetings, cutting the kingdom hall grass, being a parking attendant at the memorial, passing the emblems at the memorial, having a part at an assembly, converting new members, shoveling snow on the sidewalk and parking lot, conducting the meeting for field service, saying a public prayer, saying a prayer before or after a meeting, counting the meeting attendance, those are all the things you do to demonstrate how good your chances are of surviving Armageddon. But as far as I can tell, until Armageddon comes and Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones left on earth to clean it up and rebuild it, they haven't successfully accomplished anything.