Flip,
I'm sure it happens. There are lots of jerk elders out there, who have no sense of limits or decency.
S4
for having too much contact with her df'd son!.
she's a loyal, long time witness in her seventies, with a "non-believing" husband.
she harms nobody with her bevavior.
Flip,
I'm sure it happens. There are lots of jerk elders out there, who have no sense of limits or decency.
S4
so as an elder, if you have left or are fading now, what specific things made you change your mind?
is there some thing that most regular meeting goers would not be privy to that made you change?
i know that you had your elder book, was there stuff in there that was out of line that made you stop and go "no way!"?.
Open Mind wrote: "You realize how very human and political the behind the scenes operations are."
Exactly. There is nothing all that dramatic, just the realization that this is a very human organization being run by people who think they are guided by god. That can be scary.
You also come to realize that, while there are some very good people in the org, a good many of the elders are not very competent. There are people out there making life and death decisions for others, and a lot of them should NOT be in that position.
As an elder, and especially one who gets a lot of privileges, you get to see how the sausage is really made.
S4
i know i'm setting myself up here, but here it goes.
first of all if you want to crack funnies about this or jokes, that's perfectly cool, it's alright, i don't mind.
however this is a true story from what happened in may and my motive for writing about this is not just humor, but i want to see if anybody else has experienced what my son went through while being in the mountains or anywhere.
Been an interesting thread, but I have to say I remain very skeptical. I've lived in rural and even isolated, mountain areas for all my life, and I've heard noises in the woods that would scare you to death. My current house is set right up against a large section of forestland, and the other night I was awakened by sounds that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
I couldn't readily identify it - but I know that animals like screech owls, bobcats and cougars can make some incredible noises in the night woods. Even insects and smaller birds. The woods are very often a noisy place.
We know that a good deal of the Bigfoot evidence was a total hoax perpetrated by one of the early Bigfoot hunters. That all came out a few years ago. It's the complete lack of hard evidence for a creature supposedly located in highly trafficed areas that makes me extremely wary of Bigfoot siteings.
If that pile of Bigfoot poop was really that, your son should have taken samples - that's one of the most important lines of direct evidence. Scatology is a pretty well established science. They're using it to identify if the Eastern Cougar has re-established itself here in Vermont. That being said, it's not always easy to identify scat by sight. A bear who's been eating grubs might have quite different scat from when it has been gorging itself on berries!
I also know what tricks the mind and eye can play on a person - my own have screwed with me on many occasions! I'm in no way calling your son a liar - not at all. I just require more evidence than that. I hope he finds more.
S4
how do you "freelance"?
do you send your articles to several magazines at one time?
if you get multiple "nibbles", do you pick one or publish in several?.
I made my living as a freelancer for about 7 years. For the past five years, I've been the assistant editor or editor of a weekly newspaper with 27,000 circulation. I'm also the editor of a new monthly magazine and contributing editor for the past 7 years to another monthly magazine. About a quarter of my income is freelance now.
It's not always the same for every magazine, but you usually start with a query letter - send them an idea you have for an article along with your qualifications as a writer - where you've been published in particular. You can see examples of those kinds of letters in Writer's Market. You can sometimes submit multiple query letters, but you need to let everyone know that. Do the query first, then do the article once you have an interested magazine.
Depending on the market, a lot of writers I know take one idea and sell it to three or four different magazines and do seperate articles for each one. For example, a good friend is a music writer, and he'll do a profile of a band for one magazine, a concert review for another, a CD review, and maybe a 10-questions kind of piece with one of the band members for yet another magazine.
I've had about 20 magazine articles published this year, but I'm at a point now where I'm a known quantity with some magazines, so I haven't sent out a query letter in quite a few years. The editors just call or e-mail me and ask me to do the piece. They know what they are going to get. That's the best arrangement to work out.
PM me if I can be of help and I'll let you know how to get in touch with me.
S4
i have been battling an incurable illness and will be able to post less and less.
i will post my email, and any help you cna asend my way will be appreciated.
there is treatment but no cure and no cancer yet.
Blondie,
So very sorry to read this. You're like a pillar on this board. All my best.
If your age is accurate under your avatar, we're within a few months of being exactly the same age.
S4
post 1 of 1. since 22-aug-07.
newbie.
united states, connecticut(the post below was in response to the thread "have jws ruined your life.
Hey Min - wiseass!
S4
i just came across a thread from 2002, (i'll link it here in the next post), about congregations in upstate ny, many that were with a vt circuit i was in for many years.
in there i wrote the following about a infamous pedophile case involving an elder, don nicholson.
here was part of one of my posts on that thread.
Brojo, matwater and annalice,
Thanks for responding. Yeah, those brothers were all in construction, if I remember, and doing very well materially. Dave Tennant owned his own plane - it was the one he died in, trying to land not too far from where I live right now, in bad weather. He, his daughter, who I think might have been pregnant, and son in law all died.
I also remember Jack Ashenbach, though I'd have to hear more to stir my memory. I don't recall Carol Kruger, but Bob Grew sounds familiar.
I have heard that Dave Tenant's wife left the Witnesses. Does anyone know about that? She - like all of them - was a pretty woman. I liked the Tenants a lot, and my wife and I had a fun evening at one district convention having a few drinks with them in our hotel bar.
Matwater - I'll PM you back. I remember your family.
S4
i used to post there a lot, and would like to check out some of those old posts.
.
anyone know where h2o is or where the archives can be found?
I was Seeker4 on there as well. It was a lot like JWD, and we had some riproaring discussions on there, same as here.
For me, it was a lifesaver.
S4
for having too much contact with her df'd son!.
she's a loyal, long time witness in her seventies, with a "non-believing" husband.
she harms nobody with her bevavior.
Flip This,
Both Min and I were elders with a lot of experience, and the quote from Mary backs up what we know - family members are not disfellowshipped for associating with close DFed family.
You may be talking in general and not about family members, which is true. But that is not the case in general, and if it is true that this elderly sister was, that would be very unusual, which is why I asked how changeling knows this for sure.
S4
i just came across a thread from 2002, (i'll link it here in the next post), about congregations in upstate ny, many that were with a vt circuit i was in for many years.
in there i wrote the following about a infamous pedophile case involving an elder, don nicholson.
here was part of one of my posts on that thread.
Here is the link to that long (6 pages) thread about upstate NY congregations.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/26418/1.ashx
S4