Posts by Spiral

31

Question for those still attending the Kingdom Hall

by ToesUp in

jw
friends

this a question more out of curiosity, because we have not stepped foot in a kh in 3 years.. how is the attendance at the meetings/assemblies?

i know the answer will vary due to location.. are you (especially elders) receiving any notification or communication from bethel or co's that there is an upsurge of people that are simply disappearing or out right dis associating?.

thanks, in advance, for your feedback!

Spiral

The hall I have to go to is always half empty. I think a lot of people make an excuse and just dial in .... no new ones to see to justify the number of "studies" they are claiming. Absolutely no energy whatsoever.

From what I hear the circuit assembly does better, but I suspect a lot of people are not going to the summer "regional" convention - at least not every day. Easy to say you went (have to travel far out of town where we are) but not really go. Who would know? It's not like anyone is really talking about what they heard that was so wonderful after the fact.

And the same problem IgnoranceIsBliss mentioned earlier, most of the elders are old, the two young ones lacking speaking talent, so I don't know what will happen to this group in a few years.

55

Would you have married your spouse if you weren't both JWs?

by 3rdgen in

jw
friends

ok, i've had some wine, but i'm curious.

objectively speaking, but for the religion, did you have enough in common with your spouse to have met and married as non believers?

Spiral

No, because we would have never met.

Mr. Spiral and I have had this conversation before (again, the wine helps) and agree we probably wouldn't have considered ourselves compatible if we had met, although we would have been friends.

If I hadn't been a witness I would have been off to college, as would have Mr. Spiral. But his interests are very different than mine so we probably wouldn't have crossed paths.

But, we've had a great marriage and have stayed together 30 plus years. We were just incredibly lucky it worked out for us. Also incredibly lucky that we both realized TTATT independently, but at about the same time. We are in total agreement about that.

I know a couple of people who got married because they were told they couldn't break off their engagements without being DF'd. (What the h*&^ is an engagement even for then, anyway!) Both have been through bitter divorces. Same for many we knew that were just far to young to be getting married.

The cult and families in the cult exert considerable control on who you can meet, and who you pick, and why you think you need to be married in the first place. Therefore it does not surprise me when I see divorces, and obviously unhappy couples.

74

What song explains what you have gone through in life?

by brandnew in

jw
friends

this is mine....watch "coolio ft. l.v - gangsta's paradise (official music video)" on youtubehttps://youtu.be/cpgbzylnz7c

Spiral

It's My Life - Bon Jovi

It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life

30

Has anyone noticed the JW movies are trying to normalise their lifestyle?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

having watched the prodigal son returns movie produced by the organization and a recent mini-clip of a brother in london who is shown jogging and doing normal everyday things while wanting to "reach out" it occurred to me that the organization is trying to normalize their bizarre lifestyle and beliefs for the benefit of non-witnesses.. what do i mean by normalization?

they try to make the witnesses look like just another christian denomination who are reasonable while their members live and enjoy normal lives that appear to be within the mainstream.. they do this by not mentioning anything to do with higher education, armageddon or the urgency of the end of the world nor is their discussion or mention of the blood issue.

these are things mentioned often at kingdom halls and in study articles.. watching the prodigal son returns, the family appears to live a normal life, going to meetings and studying.

Spiral

This is a great thread! I can't stomach watching those movies all the way through but I think it's entirely possible that they are trying to "normalize" their appearance - somewhat. Of course, they don't really know what "normal" would be.

In my area I would say the elder body is most middle class (left overs from those good economic years where you could actually make a living on one income) and those ones are old (75+).

There is one younger elder and two (or three?, not sure) MS that are younger, and they are poooooooor as church mice. The younger elder is in his 50s and pretty much never left home. (sad) A couple of other brothers who are trying to be MS are poor.

What pioneers we have are all poor, on assistance and just making by in old cars.

But poverty doesn't look very good in a movie, does it? I have had people tell me that all JWs are cleaners or window washers (and this was not in a positive way), so it makes sense that they would want to move away from that stereotype.

19

Word spreading back home

by BeautifulMind in

you all know how much jws loooove to gossip.

so...i just finished a email conversation with one of my self-righteous, super jw relatives back home.

let me preface this conversation by saying this relative is someone i don't communicate with, at all.

Spiral

I've had a similar experience twice. I just delete any emails from them without response.

Funny how how the simple concept of "we've made our [own] decision, it's not for us" is so unfathomable to them.

42

Today's Daily Text - Being Uneducated And Ordinary... WTF!!!

by Divergent in

jw
friends

thursday, march 3. they were uneducated and ordinary men.—acts 4:13.. in recent years, the spiritual instruction provided by jehovah’s organization has reflected an increased emphasis on simplicity and clarity.

consider three examples.

first, there is the simplified edition of the watchtower.

Spiral

This is so insulting to the rank and file, but they eat it up. So nice to know that being uneducated and unable to think for yourself is a virtue.

Growing up, the JWs were always proud of "learning" (granted, their type of learning, but still) and studying. I knew a brother that had notebooks full of his notes explaining various prophecies. He was a bit of a celeb in the congregation because of his studies. I wonder what he thinks of all of this dumbing down of doctrine.

44

This is Just getting Ridiculous and out of hand with the Borg

by MrsR-Awaken in

jw
friends

saw this on reddit it was posted by user morgan_sparlock .

to me honestly this would of been prohibited 10 years ago, but now every dub is obsessed with this website, it's everywhere even a damn iphone cover... ooh they don't approve of idolatry ooh no they don't accept cross veneration thats bullshit to me!!!

its getting to a point that they are venerating this website (company logo) it's their version of the cross.

Spiral

I think some JWs felt emotionally left out in the last decade ..... look at what the fundy evangelical super TV church congregations get to do! We want to do that too! Now they are getting their wish. Just what I am seeing here locally - a very specific (READ: needy) mindset. But here that's almost all that's left in the congregation.

92

So Proud of Pops

by brandnew in

jw
friends

ok so a car pulls up to the house and 3 eldurrs from my dads congo come up.

they come in and have thee nerve to ask me to step out so they can speak to pops!!!!

this is the good part.....pops says...and i quote " whatever needs to be said..can be said in front of my son".

Spiral

BN, THAT was Awesome!!

One of the elders asked my Mom to donate a large acreage (that my Dad inherited from his family) to the bOrg at his FUNERAL! My Mom immediately said no. I am thinking they had asked before and my Dad (not a JW) had told her to not donate it - ever.

So happy to see your Dad was smart and refused to ask you to step out (REALLY?!?!?). Disgraceful! Oh wait, of course, because we are talking about the bOrg!

21

Finding time

by Jordandemm in

jw
friends

is it possible to full time pioneer while working a full time job without making up the hours?

i know of a brother who recently got married too a pioneer the guy was really desperate to get married because his wife despite her many 'spiritual credentials' has very few christ-like qualities unfortunately, anyway that's besides the point.

he is a pioneer now and i'm sure he will be a ms soon the organisation likes that type of stuff the 'pioneer couple' so it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Spiral

I know some people who -literally - get up, start writing a letter (for leaving at a not-at-home) and then proceed to count the hours during the day, as long as they pause intermittently to give someone a tract, etc. So a Saturday can be 9 hours of time if you drag it along like that. They seem to think its okay.

31

Midweek meeting

by loneranger in

jw
friends

almost two months into the change in format of the mid week meeting from the school and service meeting format to the christian life and ministry (clam) format.

in my congregation, seems attendance is down 10-15% over the normally low attendance for the mid week meeting before the change.

some indicate that the meeting under the clam format is very "intense"...you really need to study and research to be able to participate or get anything out of the meetings.

Spiral

It's just so much more boring than even the "school" was! How did they manage that? Attendance is down and participation is low.

I think people just can't stand any of it any more. But I don't think it's "intense", it's like it's designed for the brain dead, super boring and sad.