Posts by FadeToBlack

11

UBER-WITNESS: THE ELITE FORCE . . . a study in how a fanatic is created

by Terry in

at what point in the average person's life does he/she reach a crossroads between purposeful pursuit of a life's goal and mad fanaticism?.

we have all known these automatons; these uber-witnesses.. we might even have been one ourselves!.

the uber-witness can make an excuse for any watchtower mistake at the crack of a whip!.

FadeToBlack

Do you know why you were susceptible?

That is the $64,000 question that has been bouncing around in my head for quite some time. From an outsider's POV, at the age of 18 (back in 1975), I had it made. Full scholarship to UVA (University of Virginia), star athlete in track, all the girls... I lacked nothing, or so I thought. I wasn't raised a witness. How could I end up wasting over 30 years of my life in a cult? I'll try to write out how I 'think' it happened over the weekend (offline) and post it later. And the really sad thing is that I was never 'all-in'.

Always enjoy your thought-provoking posts. Not sure most of the time how to reply...

27

Elder Appointments

by MaybeSo in

doing some research as to what qualifications someone needs to meet to become an elder, i came up with one conclusion: it's who you know and is very subjective.. funny thing is too, if you searc the wt online library there are not recent articles that describe and outline the requirements.

which makes me think that there were too many requirements and as we all know, it is based now on how close you are with the current co and not necessarily on being a model jw in the congo.

so the borg decided to leave it up all to the co and not tell the rest what to look for on these appointed men.. you could do your hours, be early to the meetings, be prepared, keep your car and house clean, family in good reputation, etc but if you are in the circle then you can forget it.

FadeToBlack

I would never have made a good elder. I was too concerned with actually helping people that needed help. I think my biggest penalty was that I did not comment enough at meetings.

70

DINOSAURS - What do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe?

by Bloody Hotdogs! in

as part of my deconversion catharsis, i have been building a(nother) website to highlight some of the more ridiculous jw beliefs.

im a looong way from done, but i wanted some early feedback on one article: dinosaurs.

http://www.jwbeliefs.com/dinosaurs/.

FadeToBlack

While the JW's have backed away publicly from the earth is only 6000 years old and they do admit that the earth is however many billions of years old, they still hang onto the idea that life and the creative days in genesis are still only (possibly) some 10's of thousands of years (very generous of them). As mentioned above, most JW's have no idea what the current teaching is and frankly don't care.

Same stance regarding regarding things like pyramids of Giza. General hand waving but avoiding the topic (as in: some say the pyramids of Giza were built xxxx years ago). So sad, so dishonest. This is what frustrated me the most: why can't we dsicuss the available evidence?

60

Pat Condell on Britain's Cultural Crisis

by cofty in

a scandal is brewing in the uk.

for many years gangs of asian men engaged in rape and torture of young girls who were in the "so-called" care system.

it is believed there were around 1,400 victims in north west england, focussed on the town of rotherham.. if reports are to be believed, social workers, police and the cpc knew it was happening and everybody failed to act for one simple reason.

FadeToBlack

Ok. Thanks for clearing that up. Uk could be a pretty cool place with all the diversity but it seems that there is in fact, some benefit to living in a predominantly white, Catholic country (Poland). I just need to make sure that all the neighbors know I am no longer a JW because when we first got here, I was. And they knew it.

60

Pat Condell on Britain's Cultural Crisis

by cofty in

a scandal is brewing in the uk.

for many years gangs of asian men engaged in rape and torture of young girls who were in the "so-called" care system.

it is believed there were around 1,400 victims in north west england, focussed on the town of rotherham.. if reports are to be believed, social workers, police and the cpc knew it was happening and everybody failed to act for one simple reason.

FadeToBlack

Just curious.... Are the people investigating this in the UK afraid of being labeled racists, or are they just afraid of Muslims in general (as in getting your head chopped off)?

10

Those of you stuck in with kids&question about spouse

by All for show in

jw
friends

it is killing me now that i am awake, having kids in school and having to be jws.

birthdays, christmas, thanksgiving, having to go home or be left out because their teachers know they are witnesses and/or have kids from the school in their class or grade.

it's a small town so the other jws in the hall know what's going on since their kids are in the same school.

FadeToBlack

I agree with Apognophos. He is sitting on the fence. He needs some help to break out of that 'comfort zone'. The organ transplant issue might be a good topic to encourage him to investigate.

I don't agree with the don't push it suggestions. Why make the children suffer for possibly several more years especially when he isn't even fully on-board? Maybe you should read the scripture JW's often refer to when they have to deal with fence sitters...

10

Those of you stuck in with kids&question about spouse

by All for show in

jw
friends

it is killing me now that i am awake, having kids in school and having to be jws.

birthdays, christmas, thanksgiving, having to go home or be left out because their teachers know they are witnesses and/or have kids from the school in their class or grade.

it's a small town so the other jws in the hall know what's going on since their kids are in the same school.

FadeToBlack

You are so close to the rest of your life. Hang in there. If he needs an event to experience the dark side of the borg, find some recent teaching that he can't accept and ask him to present his ideas to the elder body. For example: new understanding of 'this generation' or the impossibilty of a global flood in 2370BCE. For me, the biggest issue was that I wasn't allowed to disagree with anything. That is not a search for 'truth'.

You need to push him to 'man-up' for your children's sake.

37

How did you feel when you got baptised? Seriously....

by stuckinarut2 in

so recently, several over-righteous ones in the cong were discussing "how amazing it felt when they got baptised".

statements like "how awesome did it feel as you got raised back out of the water?!".

or the classic "i felt so close to jehovah as i came out of the pool"!.

FadeToBlack

Big letdown. I never even did the dedication prayer that is supposed to be done before making that public declaration. Shouldn't that have been a reason to stop and ask WTF am I doing? I wish I could kick myself in the ass for being so pathetic.

I also clearly remember the dude going down the line looking for good 'how did you come into the truth' stories. He would ask a couple of basic questions and then move on down the line if your story wasn't potential Year-book material.

So many ignored warning signs...

9

HOW will YOU end?

by Terry in

jw
friends

a couple of years back, a friend of mine who is a former baptist preacher (dub horn) began.

visiting a rehabilitation hospital.

the irony of this was not lost on me.

FadeToBlack

Great stuff as usual Terry. I think for a lot of us this is where an explicit DNR is important. I have already made it clear it clear to my wife if she sees me face down in the dirt in the gardens out back, just leave me there. The only thing I dread is having a stroke and waking up in a ward where I can't speak and people are forced to clean me up occasionally.

28

Best scriptures for countering TOMO III's comment about "inactive ones"??

by DATA-DOG in

what do you say, bible gurus???

a relative asked me what i thought of the zone visit.

i am in the process of gathering my thoughts.

FadeToBlack

What more is necessary than what eyeuse2badub said? I can't tell you how many company-men totally avoided such needy ones (too busy handing out invitations to attend the memorial in one case). To be fair, I have also seen the other side, but they were by far in the minority and not destined for advancement. But, they did care....