My mum and sister actually said to me that Tony Morris (aka Tight Pants Tony) is a cutie and what a lovely brother he is...I almost projectile vomited on the spot.
krejames
JoinedPosts by krejames
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30
"Brother Lett is like a big cuddly teddy bear!"
by purrpurr ini had this said to me the other day by a jw who is fully brain washed.
it gave me shivers to think is that really how the r&f perceive the gb?
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"And what happened next was simply unbelievable!"
by Terry ini always sit in the same spot, just outside starbucks in a vestibule area with a table in the air-conditioned space.
i say "always," but not today.. somebody with two laptops and a table filled with business ledgers was in "my" favorite spot!.
so, i took a tiny wooden table inside the coffee shop on a long padded bench next to 3 other identical tables.. as the clickbait banner ads like to say: "and what happened next was simply unbelievable!".
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krejames
Nice one! In fact, bloody marvellous, ego trip or not - you held that mirror up and forced them to look at the hypocrites looking back at them... -
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Just for the record Vincent Toole and Terrence Obrien you are both lying SOBs
by joe134cd ini just thought i would mention this on the off chance they might be lurking here.
the two quotes are.
(1)vincent toole ="i've never heard of the term 'theocratic warfare'".
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krejames
Shunning of inactive ones is a bit hit and miss, I would say. You'll always get some who will say "hi" and some who will panic because they're not sure what to do and some who are outrightly self righteous and shun to their heart's content.
My own experience is that I get polite greetings and the odd text message from people who used to be close friends. But the aim is always to get me back to the meetings. Would they want to arrange a trip to the pub or cinema just to hang out? Probably not - unless it was also a backdoor method of trying to get me back to the hall.
That said, I do get the occasional letter from two dear older sisters in my old congregation. One of them always makes a point of inviting me around for coffee and cake and tells me that her husband (who is not a witness) says "hi".
My immediate family, to their credit, are playing the game very well and haven;t shunned me and don't ask me about my lifestyle. But the relationship has changed and not positively. My mum blames "bad association" for my spiritual "demise"...
The bottom-line is, shunning or no shunning, we ARE viewed negatively if we leave. It's impossible not to be. We are either pitied, patronised, judged or viewed as weak. We are not their equal anymore....
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This too Shall Pass (RC Commission vs WTS)
by undercover inwhile i'm glad that the practices of the wts are under review and the australian commission is taking them to task, i'm not really expecting huge changes in the long run.
oh, they may have to agree to some changes in how they report crimes brought to elders' attention, but this excitement over the supposed expose of wt practices shall pass, and jws will soon be canvassing neighborhoods and rolling their carts, looking for converts.
conventions will go on.
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krejames
Totally agree that we need to make the most of this opportunity to get people to think! This whole thing has just left me speechless - the JWs have come off looking like incompetent, arrogant and foolish all at the same time.
An old bible study who still texts me from time to time (he stopped studying when I stopped going to the meetings), sent me a message this week to say that two brothers from my old congregation stopped by and he had a long chat with them. Said how nice they were etc.
I said to him that I would be interested to know what they make of everything that's going on in Australia (and explained). I'm sure he will be getting another call from them and I really hope he asks them about it. It wouldn't surprise me if none of the local JWs know anything about it. My mum certainly hasn't mentioned it (but then it's not "upbuilding" is it?). ;)
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What is their official explanation for not allowing beards?
by keyser soze ini ask because my gf, who knows all about my jw upbringing, convinced me to grow a goatee, just to see how it looks.
we both decided it looked good so i decided to keep it.
i tried to explain to her that as a jw, i wasn't allowed to grow one, but then drew a blank when she asked me why.
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krejames
Hi all - long time since I posted but I always enjoy reading the topics. Yes, guilty of lurking. But as this is a favourite topic of mine I just couldn't resist ;) ......
I don't think the whole beard thing is such a big thing in the UK anymore - so as someone said earlier in the thread, it depends where in the world you are...but there is indeed a ban on the beard for convention and assembly speakers.
I grew up in a liberal congregation too. I grew a goatee when I was about 25, and none of the elders said anything negative. I think they secretly liked it. I remember the Presiding Overseer ( as coordinators were then known) saying something along the lines of "some people say brothers shouldn't have beards, but that's only if they grow long. Yours is well trimmed".
BUT the sisters and non-appointed men were a different story. it was the sisters that used to tell me to shave it off. One sister from another congregation came to our book study one time and was shocked I was allowed to read the paragraphs. She also told me in no uncertain terms to shave it off (that was before she herself stopped going to the meetings after her elder-husband had an affair). Another brother (not elder or MS) who had always taken a disliking to me used it as yet another excuse to criticise me.
I did give in and shave it off eventually until I moved to a new congregation and did exactly what James Mixon suggested:
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"A thought, for you guys still stuck in the organization for whatever reason,
grow a beard. You can't get DF, you don't have to prepare for parts for the meetings, no FS..You will not be ask to do anything."
Didn't work! I was appointed as a ministerial servant! Admittedly at one point I was asked whether I wanted to give a talk at the assembly and warned about the proviso of no beards for speakers. I declined.
Just to support what others have said - I was told it had its roots in the hippie movement, whereas in Italy it has its roots as being an identifier for communists (again probably about 50 years ago, so no relevance to the modern world!)
Pharasaical? much? lol
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Resistance is NOT futile!
by Bonsai inall i want from this life is to be able to wash windows at bethel.. my story.. when i was fresh out of high school and pioneering, i said those exact words to my friends and family.
all i wanted to do was be at the core of the organization where it was the safest.
i gleefully told people that i'd gladly spend the rest of my life washing windows, waiting tables, doing laundry or cleaning bathrooms.
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krejames
Enjoyed reading your story. Thanks for posting it up. Wishing you all the best. x -
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Article on the JWs in The Guardian
by scotsman inhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/jehovahs-witnesses-evangelism-church-god-armageddon.
poor jane schofield, she was rather fabulous..
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krejames
Well balanced article. Positive enough for JWs to read without feeling guilty but contains enough thought-provoking comments to linger with the thinkers.... -
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My Issue: How To Step Down As A MS Without Getting Noticed
by JW_Rogue inso that other thread was fun but now i need some help with something.
i was born in the truth most of my family is in.
although they aren't outwardly super spiritual i doubt any of them would ever leave.
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krejames
In my case a judicial committee did the trick 😂 -
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I had breakfast with 50+ JWs on Sunday
by zimunzucz inwe pulled into a hotel parking lot saturday around 6pm on the return leg of a wonderful family vacation to new england - an then fate stepped in---a man in a suit got out of a car with the rest of a picture perfect family.
i immediately noticed all the name tags--- and my blood pressure spiked 50pts- damn!!
i was booked in a 4 story hotel full of jws-- the only time they took off the name tags was in the swimming pool- they were so proud of themselves.. at 6:30 am the hot water went cold in the wife's shower- what do you expect on the 4th floor when a herd of jws is trying to get ready at the same time?
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krejames
WOW! Full of admiration here. That was brave. -
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The UN Security Council is a disgrace
by fukitol inthe syrian conflict and lack of action by the un basically proves to me the un is a failed model.. that prick bashar's army is dropping barrels bombs on schools, hospitals, killing little children etc, but russia and china with their vested geo-political interests just veto any resolution proposed by the un security council to intervene.. circa 5 years of suffering by millions of women and children living in deprivation and misery in refugee camps, with all manner of atrocities and war crimes still occurring in syria itself.
all the meanwhile this disgusting asshole bashar and his military cronies continue in power and live in luxury.. it absolutely breaks my heart and makes me sick to my stomach.
i don't give a toss about all the rationalisations and counter-arguments people may make defending the bashar regime.. as far as i'm concerned, the un security council is a broken and failed entity, a spineless, essentially corrupt model with grossly conflicting vested interests that are blockading fundamental moral and humane principles and obligations enshrined in it's charter.
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krejames
The mess in the middle east is largely of the West's making (US and UK). We financed what became ISIS during the Afghan war to fight the Russians. We interfered with Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein for our own economic interests (interestingly Saddam Hussein protected Christians) now the place is one bigger violent cess pool than it ever was under Saddam. We helped the Libyans to rise against their government, creating a power vacuum, giving ISIS another territory in which to flourish. When the terrified population try and make their escape to Europe, from the hell we helped create, we have journalists like Katie Hopkins saying those immigrants are cockroaches and we should set the gunships on them (at least the UN waded in on that one and rightly pointed out that this was the same kind of language used in 1930s Germany and 1990s Rwanda).
And then, as you say, there's Syria who shares an interest in defeating ISIS, so to that extent Bashar is useful to the West, though they can't officially be seen to work with him to defeat them.
The whole thing is one big tsunami of violence with no obvious solution. Yes the UN model is not working in this situation, but I think the problem is too big for it to deal with when the cause of the problems are its most influencial and powerful members. The hell that the people of Syria are going through is probably seen as being the lesser of the evils when taking ISIS into consideration.
I guess none of us know the true story and all of the causes - we only know what we read and watch - but I don't see this as something for which the UN can realistically do anything to bring it to an end - and until someone comes up with an alternative model to the UN, there isn't an easy answer. (This is where the JWs would say "what we need is one big world government" ). Meanwhile we feel distressed and impotent at the suffering we see in that region and, if we're from the US or Europe, more than a little ashamed that the lack of solution probably has something to do with protecting the lifestyle we currently enjoy.