Posts by Seeker4

12

Turning the page

by DJK in

jw
friends

a journey started some time ago brought me to a place called the jwd.

interesting, fun and informative, i needed to stay a while.

i found answers here, all that i had relevent to the cult known as jehovah's witnesses.

Seeker4

DJK,

Thanks for being here and I wish you the ultimate success in your life - finding and living your passion.

Unlike you, I wanted to believe there was a creator who had our best interests in mind. I don't believe in one due to the total lack of evidence, not for lack of wanting.

I do have to say this though about these "all or nothing, I'm leaving" threads.

Why?

It's like saying, "I've met all these great people, I've helped some and many have helped me. But that's it. Goodbye forever!"

If you want to spend less time here, great, or just check in from time to time, awesome. But I find this need on the part of some for a grand announcement of leaving forever disturbing and unnecessary. It reminds me in a perverse way of disfellowshipping. Some may think it's unhealthy to be on this board (I totally disagree with that), whereas I think it's unhealthy to tell a bunch of your friends, "So long, it's been good to know ya, but you'll never hear from me again!" What's with that?!

S4

13

J-Dubs in music (references)

by Burger Time in

jw
friends

anyone know of musical references?

one of my favorite bands the eels has a song called "jehovah's witness"...here are the lyrics (oh and i am not making this up i swear)

jehovah's witness leave me alone jehovah's witness i'm not at home keep on a-knockin' and ringin' the bells knockin' your way straight to hell

Seeker4

I couldn't find the CD, but Jimmy Buffet had a song about "Armageddon somethin something knocking at the doors" - it had to do with people always being negative and seeing the bad side of things. It was a direct reference to the JWs. A CD from maybe 10-12 years ago.

S4

77

Japan closes 638 Congregations!!!!! Why???

by Witness 007 in

japan since the 1970''s has had amazing publisher increases!

every year the number of witnesses shot up by many thousands.

this peaked in 1998, since then the number of witnesses and congregations has continued to drop!.

Seeker4

Hey SNG! Good to hear from you!

I agree with the lack of men, technology and education ideas. I've been following and discussing this trend online for nearly a decade, and it always comes down to that.

I remember Bethel's Fred Rusk telling me about his trips to Japan in the 1980s to set up and train blood liason committees, and he remarked how efficient, intelligent and obedient the Japanese were. This was in the middle of that time when Japan and S.Korea were setting new growth records every month, with much of that growth coming from women. That ended, and there has been a leveling off and steady decline since the mid-1990s.

I'd add that the doctrine changes of the mid-90s, especially the 1914 generation change, created a turning point in WTS growth. It coincided with the advent of the Internet and its quick adoption by questioning Witnesses worldwide to discuss problems in the WTS.

That resulted in no-growth and then a decline in most of Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US - all countries where everyone has access to the Net. I know I was really disturbed by the 1914 generation thing, and when I found the Internet and ex-JW sites accessible from the local library, I was on my way out real fast! There are lots of us here like that.

S4

35

Life and times of Metaspy

by metaspy in

i am going to tell my story, it will probably be the dumbest thing to do.. especially since i am trying to fade.

however, recently i have decided that i need to get.

the ball rolling a little faster.

Seeker4

Your story sounds all too familiar. I was 15 and my to-be-wife was 13 when we started going together. We married when she turned 18. My best JW friend was 24 when he married his JW girlfriend - she was 16! And all with the blessings of the parents!

This is the typical, meddling interference of JW elders that drives people crazy. It's an insane crossing of boundaries.

I worked at a middle school for a few years when I was first married - kids from 6th to 8th grade. There were lots of girls there who could have passed for much, much older. It was sort of strange to realize that at 12 years old, this would be the best that some of these girls would ever look.

I met the half sister of my girlfriend's daughter a few years ago. She was movie star beautiful in face and form. We were making small talk and she talked about the fact that she would be graduating in a couple of weeks and I asked her what college she'd be going to. She told me she was graduating from 8th grade! This girl could have passed for being in her 20s easily.

It's sort of a short trip from lusty male to horndog to dirty old man to pedophile when what looks like a beautiful woman turns out to be a little girl.

S4

14

The Infamous September 2007 Our Kingdom Ministry

by TooBad TooSad in

jw
friends

on the front page of the km in the branch letter it was proudly annouced that 51 million kingdom news.

the best example that they could point to to show the success of this work was after.

receiving a copy, an inactive sister had trouble sleeping.

Seeker4

I would say Oompa is right - if it's the US OKM it would only have the US figures, which works out. Each publisher got 50 tracts, there are about a million US JWs, so that comes out to 50 million placed.

What this translates accurately as is this: 50 million tracts got left in doors, hallways, laundrymats and trash bins. Maybe 1 million were actually left with people. NO ONE that I know who got a tract actually spoke to anyone - they were all left in their doors.

S4

27

I'M NEW WISHED IWOULD HAVE FOUND THIS SITE A LONG TIME AGO

by okiesooner1966 in

here is part of my story until i have more time.

i am know 30 years old, i have been married for almost 9 years to someone who has no relgous ties at all.

i was baptized when i was 19 due to pressure from my family, they wanted me to to get baptized when i was 16. i think i may hold the record for most comitee meetings probably about 20, i was publilcly reproved and disassociated.

Seeker4

Welcome and vent away - you'll have a lot of company on this site!

S4

9

Dub w/soul patch?

by La Capra in

i was at the gym this morning, pouring myself a cup of coffee and i noticed a sweaty man sitting at a table reading what looked like the small version of the maroon deluxe nwt (the one made out of pig leather that were all the rage in the early 90's before the "donation arrangement").

(for anyone who cares, he was in revelation.

) it also appeared that he had a colorful tract or magazine and the daily text book (are those spiral bound now?

Seeker4

Facial hair rules among the JWs is a fiasco, more dependent on personal prejeudice among the elders than anything else.

Brothers with soul patches were ususally black, including our old district convention overseer. It was a running joke when I was a Witness that the black brothers could get away with tons more stuff when it came to dress and grooming!

S4

43

We are new here. Hi everybody.

by outofthebox in

jw
friends

hi guys,.

we are several people sharing this new account.

we hope you don't mind.

Seeker4

Welcome, though your question is pretty silly. Why a virginity test? Since they take very, very, very few single sisters, how would they be able to tell with the guys? Hopefully none of the married couples they accept are virgins - if so they've got some serious problems!

They do ask a lot of personal questions, and homosexuality is definitely part of that. Homosexuality has been a big problem at Bethel, and so they try to be super careful. But I've known many a Bethelite who was homosexual - likely not a practicing one, but how long can someone live like that?

S4

97

Mr. Flipper's Son Hears and Sees Bigfoot- I'm Serious, Not Joking

by flipper in

jw
friends

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.

Seeker4

As regards Flipper's claim of abundant scientific evidence for Bigfoot, here's a quote from the topic in Wikipedia:

"Mainstream scientists and academics overwhelmingly "discount the existence of Bigfoot because the evidence supporting belief in the survival of a prehistoric, bipedal, apelike creature of such dimensions is scant".[5]. In addition to the lack of evidence, they cite the fact that while Bigfoot is alleged to live in regions unusual for a large, nonhuman primate, i.e., temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere, all other recognized nonhuman apes are found in the tropics, Africa, continental Asia or nearby islands. The great apes have never been found in the fossil record in the Americas, and no Bigfoot bones or bodies have been found."

The most Bigfoot has going for it is that a few scientists are "sympathetic" toward the idea that there might be such a thing.

Sorry - the evidence just isn't there, and I don't think someone taking a skeptic for a stroll through the wilderness will make a difference. If it was that easy, we'd have all the Bigfoot evidence we'd need.

S4

9

name change??

by isaacaustin in

in the post on faith vs accurate knowledge writetoknow posted this:.

"upon gaining this accurate knowledge of the scriptures they can then be baptized into the organization of jehovahs witnesses.

although that organization may presently be under going a name change do to recent sex scandals plaguing the group.".

Seeker4

My guess is that writetoknow was not mentioning a rumor nor speculating, but simply being iroinic.

S4