Posts by Scully

14

JW sighting while shopping

by Scully in

i was out today at the grocery store, picking up a few things for the weekend, when just beyond the pineapples, i spotted a jw lady i was once friends with.. i wasn't interested in engaging in conversation, so i just continued picking out fruit, when out of the corner of my eye, i see her look at me and recognize me.

she looked like she was panicking, and then darted behind a pillar in the store, trying to hide from me!.

my dd was with me and noticed what happened.

Scully

redvip2000

That's priceless!

How do you report to the Elders™ that you saw someone in a nudie bar without implicating yourself?? LOLOL

14

JW sighting while shopping

by Scully in

i was out today at the grocery store, picking up a few things for the weekend, when just beyond the pineapples, i spotted a jw lady i was once friends with.. i wasn't interested in engaging in conversation, so i just continued picking out fruit, when out of the corner of my eye, i see her look at me and recognize me.

she looked like she was panicking, and then darted behind a pillar in the store, trying to hide from me!.

my dd was with me and noticed what happened.

Scully

I was out today at the grocery store, picking up a few things for the weekend, when just beyond the pineapples, I spotted a JW lady I was once friends with.

I wasn't interested in engaging in conversation, so I just continued picking out fruit, when out of the corner of my eye, I see her look at me and recognize me. She looked like she was panicking, and then darted behind a pillar in the store, trying to hide from me!

My DD was with me and noticed what happened. She said "WTF is her problem?"

Now I have an earworm going, that's making me laugh myself silly:

"WE'RE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, WE SPEAK OUT IN FEARLESSNESS" (unless your initials are RM)... 'blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!"

30

CAH closing down in upstate NY

by oppostate in

yet another circuit assembly hall is going to be sold off!.

they've been reducing the amount of congregations assigned to meet there and using the times when it isn't in use to make repairs.

elders have now been informed that they are selling off the property and buildings and that circuits would be assigned to attend other sites, twice as far, three or four hours away, like montreal.

Scully

That's the Modus Operandi of the WTS, isn't it?

Get JWs to finance and build properties, and then sell the properties for big profit.

Impose additional hardships on the JWs who finance and build the properties that are sold off, such as long distance travel to Circuit Assemblies™, additional expense for fuel/hotel/meals, possibly acquiring a passport to travel outside the country, etc.

I really hope that some people refuse to attend because of this.

13

What do Lady Gaga, Liberace, and Geoffrey Jackson all have in common?

by jwleaks in

jw
friends

left to right: lady gaga, liberace, geoffrey jackson.

.

Scully

They like wearing dead animals?

30

Seriously condsidering disasscoiating

by Ashley L. in

jw
friends

i am seriously considering disassociating myself.

i want to do this because i no longer consider myself one of jehovah's witnesses.

i no longer consider jehovah as my god and i am in a new religion now.

Scully

Look at it this way. When you resign from a job with a formal letter, it is considered a legal document terminating your employment of your own volition. It may impact your ability to collect unemployment insurance benefits (it does where I live). But the employer is not allowed to say negative things about you, your performance, etc. as an employee, because it would leave them open to charges of slander if you found out about it.

When you write a letter to Disassociate™ from the JWs, it is considered a legal document, terminating your association with the JWs of your own volition. What happens after that is (a) an announcement from the Platform™ stating that you are No Longer One of Jehovah's Witnesses™, and (b) every JW you have ever known will be required to shun you. The announcement itself is a form of slander, because while no reason for your segregation is given, every JW assumes that it is for some kind of wrongdoing, such as fornication, adultery or even apostasy. Nobody there will ever know if you have an ethical issue with the policies of the WTS or if you disagree with an interpretation of the Bible, that perhaps others have too. It's just assumed that you are an Unrepentant Sinner™.

The WT rule to write a letter of Disassociation™ is like an unloaded firearm pointed at your head. An unloaded gun is a threat without substance. The letter itself is the ammunition they will use to destroy you. The letter is key, and it's up to you whether you want to give them the ammunition. Personally, I wouldn't - and haven't for over 20 years. I still have a relationship with JW relatives. Other JWs... I couldn't care less whether or not they talk to me, they were fair weather friends at best.

PS: In case you are ever approached by two Elders™ and are asked whether you consider yourself to be One of Jehovah's Witnesses™, tell them that your relationship with Jehovah is just fine. Do not answer their question. You don't owe them an answer... they do not have authority over you, except in their own opinion. It's a loaded question: If you say Yes, they can Invite™ you to a Judicial Committee; If you say No, it's as good as a DA letter and they will make an announcement at the next Meeting™.

9

Bloodlust

by berrygerry in

i'm about half-way through the novel "watch how we walk," written in 2013 by a born-in, jennifer lovegrove.. absolutely worthwhile read.. does this paragraph sum up jw-land?.

"i was paranoid again, like i had been back home, as though someone was scrutinizing and judging me.

although i was alone, it reminded me of being at the kingdom hall.

Scully

I honestly found the book to be a bit over the top... either that or there were a lot of really juicy scandals in her family's congregation. Seriously, there were some fundamental misrepresentations regarding how Meetings™ were conducted, and how JWs speak with one another.

I've been in about half a dozen congregations in my 25 years of being a JW, and in total there might have been 1 person per year being DFd, on average. It certainly wasn't a regular thing to the point that you'd be paranoid about being the next one expelled.

13

JW Articles Loaded with Intentional Imbedded Misleading Clauses...

by freemindfade in

this makes me fume while i sit listening to this at the sunday beeting.... "hence, an elder who is tenderly compassionate does not try to control the sheep, making rules or using guilt to pressure them to do more when their circumstances do not permit them to.-w15 2/15 pp.

5-9. now this sentence makes the elders sound like they should not control, use guilt to pressure etc... but then it has a qualifying statement no one seems to hear.

when their circumstances do no permit them to.

Scully

Oh and by the way, the WTS might be saying that they don't want Elders™ to use guilt trips or pressure tactics on JWs, because the WTS already has the market cornered on that.

13

JW Articles Loaded with Intentional Imbedded Misleading Clauses...

by freemindfade in

this makes me fume while i sit listening to this at the sunday beeting.... "hence, an elder who is tenderly compassionate does not try to control the sheep, making rules or using guilt to pressure them to do more when their circumstances do not permit them to.-w15 2/15 pp.

5-9. now this sentence makes the elders sound like they should not control, use guilt to pressure etc... but then it has a qualifying statement no one seems to hear.

when their circumstances do no permit them to.

Scully

It points very clearly to a fundamental problem among the JWs: they do NOT know the circumstances of their fellow JWs all that well. They don't have time because they are too focused on their own Meeting Attendance™ and getting their Personal Study™ done and making sure their own Field Service™ hours are up to expectations. Socializing is not actively encouraged by the WTS, so that strong friendships are forged, but rather superficial JW-centric acquaintances.

Have you ever noticed that once someone moves away from the Congregation™, that very soon they are forgotten? That phone calls dwindle off, and visiting is confined to superficial chatter at Circuit Assemblies™ and District Conventions™. If I had a dollar for every time a former JW Friend™ told me they missed me, but they've been far Too Busy In the Truth™ to call, I'd have about $250.

How on earth is anyone able to have the kind of knowledge about others necessary to know what their "circumstances permit" without opportunities for and encouragement of the kind of social activities that promote strong bonds with others?

145

Why attack?

by newqatarjob in

as someone brought up as a jw and been an elder and been disfellowshipped (twice!!!

) i find it difficult to understand why ex jws have to attack the religion, yes religion, not cult or sect.

i am no longer disfellowshipped just do not want to practice anymore.

Scully

newqatarjob:

Why attack, indeed? Does the WTS hold back from its criticism of other belief systems, most notably the Catholic Church, including policies (such as aiding and abetting pedophile priests by moving them to other parishes rather than removing them from office) that are just plain wrong? They don't, do they? And I don't think they're wrong in doing so, except for the fact that their own egregious errors and massively poor judgement don't exactly recommend them highly as an organization so squeaky clean that it is above similar reproach.

Are we, as exJWs, guilty of Persecution™ when we criticize the WTS? I don't think so. The fact that they criticize other religions makes them fair game actually. What was it that Jesus said?

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." - Matthew 7:1-5

And look at this excerpt from the WTS itself:

It is not persecution for an informed person to expose a certain religion as being false. - WT 11/15/63

21

How Radicalised are Jehovah's Witnesses?

by snugglebunny in

back in the early 70's, the wt stated that all persons who had lived and died would be resurrected after armageddon.

only non believers would be killed at armageddon, never to return.

in short, if you died before the big a, you were guaranteed to return.. this gave rise amongst several ex's to concerns that their well-meaning jw parents might just consider the possibilty of having their offspring "lovingly" bumped off so as to ensure their resurrection!.

Scully

I have wondered for the past 20 years or so whether the WTS would ever cross the line. This was published in the Watchtower in 1957:

*** Nov 15, 1952 Watchtower ***

We are not living today among theocratic nations where such members of our fleshly family relationship could be exterminated for apostasy from God and his theocratic organization, as was possible and was ordered in the nation of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai and in the land of Palestine. "Thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him to death with stones, because he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, . . . And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee."-Deut. 13:6-11, AS.

Being limited by the laws of the worldly nation in which we live and also by the laws of God through Jesus Christ, we can take action against apostates only to a certain extent, that is, consistent with both sets of laws. The law of the land and God's law through Christ forbid us to kill apostates, even though they be members of our own flesh-and-blood family relationship.

***

Yes, I do feel that the day may come when the WTS will "suggest" that the time has come for True Christians™ to act out their Theocratic™ fantasies of wiping out Apostates™. It wouldn't take much. They've already laid the groundwork by saying that they were going to tell JWs to do things that they may not understand or find hard to accept. The WTS already expect JWs to allow beloved spouses, children and other family members to die for lack of blood transfusions. That, in itself, is beyond comprehension and hard to accept because it is a passive form of homicide. Yet, when faced with this Test of Integrity™ how many JWs have gone along with it? It would be exactly the same with active forms of homicide. All the WTS has to do is say it is a Test of Integrity™ or a Test of Loyalty™, and there would be lots of JWs who would be more than willing to comply.