Skimmer

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Posts by Skimmer

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  22

  Newly DF'd/DA'd

  by praying_mantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  over a year ago i divorced my husband.

  he is the son of an elder, was addicted to pornography, and started doing drugs before i called it quits.

  since then, i have met someone else.

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  Skimmer

  Hello praying_mantis, and welcome to the discussion board.

  Many of us here know all too well how you are feeling. Although the details may differ from case to case, it's all still pretty much the same and you'll see this more clearly as time passes.

  Do not worry if you are DA'ed, DF'ed, declared apostate, or just silently shunned. You are not responsible for what goes on inside of the elders' heads. But you are responsible for what goes on inside your head, and you are being irresponsible if you allow others to control your thoughts.

  You are now in the process of finding out which friends are real and which are just hypocrites. It can be tough, but it's better to know than to engage in self deception.
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  24

  since i sent my DA letter

  by jurs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  things have certainly been eventful since i sent my da letter.

  it hasn't been announced at the meeting yet, but plenty seem to know!!!!!

  monday a pioneer sister called me.

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  Skimmer

  Hello jurs:

  Who knows? Perhaps you have started Sister Pioneer onto the path to the real truth.
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  29

  Did the elders keep secret files on us?

  by XJWBill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  howdy all,.

  i've recently discovered all the great ex-jw sites on the internet, and i've enjoyed reading other people's stories.

  but a few passing comments in some stories have made me wonder: do or did the elders keep files on individuals in each congregation?

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  Skimmer

  Of course the WTBTS keeps secret files on its members. How else could they run a police state?

  At the local level, there is the "congregation file". This contains just about everything of note including member contact information, service records, reproof records, DA/DF records, committee meeting notes, and copies of correspondence with the branch office. Also, local financial records not connected with an individual are kept there.

  At the branch level, all of the DA/DF records are permanently stored, even after a member's death. So much for the spirit of forgiveness. Probably, all correspondence records are kept as well except for those purposely destroyed due to fear of legal discovery.

  The DA/DF records (WTBTS Forms S-77/S-79) no doubt contain plenty of juicy details for certain cases. This may change (may have already changed?) so that Brooklyn won't get caught in cover-ups of known wrongdoing if their records are subpoenaed.

  A while back, Brooklyn hired some information security IT specialists to help keep their secrets secret. You may draw your own conclusions as to why they felt this was necessary; my guess is that they are afraid of moles inside of Bethel.

  For some locales outside the United States, the rules are a bit different due to legal restrictions on unwelcome record keeping.
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  2

  Charitable Giving/Strange Bedfellows

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it turns out that the wtbts got some help in setting up its charitable giving program.

  they bought a package deal from the folks at planned giving resources: http://www.pgresources.com/clientlist.html.

  i see that there are a couple of hundred organizations on the client list, including the national rifle association of which i am a member.

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  Skimmer

  Please do not feed the troll.
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  2

  Charitable Giving/Strange Bedfellows

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it turns out that the wtbts got some help in setting up its charitable giving program.

  they bought a package deal from the folks at planned giving resources: http://www.pgresources.com/clientlist.html.

  i see that there are a couple of hundred organizations on the client list, including the national rifle association of which i am a member.

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  Skimmer

  It turns out that the WTBTS got some help in setting up its Charitable Giving program. They bought a package deal from the folks at Planned Giving Resources: http://www.pgresources.com/clientlist.html

  I see that there are a couple of hundred organizations on the client list, including the National Rifle Association of which I am a member. I will have to write the NRA and complain that they are having a bad association.
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  31

  What the hell am I going to do with these books?!?

  by TheApostleAK in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what am i going to do with all the books (for field service) that i still got??

  i got 5 "life" books, 3 nwt's, 5 "knowledge" books, 3 of every brochure, 10 "required" brochures, 2 "creator" books, 2 "family" books and a 12 inch pile of wt's and awakes?

  (i got another box of books to got thru in a minute) and i didn't even pay for them!.

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  Skimmer

  Shortly after I realized that the WTBTS was a big scam, I took all of my WT litter-for-sure and made good use of it on that cold winter night so many years ago.

  It all went into the fireplace. I was pleased to at last get a warm feeling from the Brooklyn spewage; the flames lasted for about five hours. Which is somewhat less time than those flames reserved for the WTBTS leadership.

  I had thought about selling them to a used bookstore, but I feared that some unwitting person might get them and be swindled into the cult; I didn't need that on my conscience. In a similar spirit, I would advise that anyone auctioning their collection on line to include warning advisories to the bidders just in case they might not know the truth about the "truth".

  As mentioned before, I still have a copy of a volume of _Studies in the Scriptures_ with the pyramid chart fold-out; this is reserved for viewing by any JW door knockers.
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  17

  new here

  by jurs in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i've been a witness for 6 years.

  when a sweet pioneer sister came to my door and i started studying i never thought i would become a witness.

  21/2 years of studying i did get baptized.

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  Skimmer

  Hello jurs, and welcome to the discussion board.

  People were not designed to live in fear or with guilt. Yet so many allow themselves to be motivated by these and so be mind controlled by the WTBTS organization for years or decades.

  Many posters to this board rightly condemn the WTBTS as a cult that tries to bleed away any sense of individuality among its members. Less frequently heard are the comments that the members themselves also have some of the blame for allowing themselves to be controlled.

  The key question that all JWs should ask themselves: Is the WTBTS God's One And Only True Channel? Think of the 120 years WTBTS history of false prophecies (1874, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, etc), crank science (e.g., dinosaurs and men lived at the same time), quack health claims (e.g., bans on vaccinations, transplants, transfusions), ever changing doctrine (too numerous to mention), dubious revelation sources (e.g., support for chronology from pyramid measurements), brainwashing (the only questsions a JW can safely ask are the ones printed in the study articles), and total lack of humility and candor at the upper levels. Are any of these probable characteristics of God's direction? If they were, then why would that God be worthy of worship?

  One a JW understands that the WTBTS claim of being God's True Channel is just as false as the rest of the spew emanating from the Brooklyn printing presses, then the whole Watchtower house of cards collapses. It's just a printing cult pyramid scheme even if some of its members are sincere.

  It can be hard to leave the WTBTS if one still has friends or family still inside the Watchtower cage. Losing contact, sometimes for many years, is very rough; many posters to this board have undergone the experience and know how true this is. But being the victim of shunning is not as bad as the alternative of continuing to be a slave.

  Now, I'm not saying that you you should give up on Christianity. Indeed, the WTBTS knows nothing of Christianity and so perhaps the biggest crime of the Watchtower is the turning away of persons from having religious faith based on Christ.
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  16

  A few question that are leading to some confusion

  by anidchick in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am in the process of becoming a jehovah witnesses, but there were a few areas i was still unsure about and i was hopin i could get some answers:.

  ) what is the exact view of jesus?.

  ) how is the view of the whole trinity with god, holy ghost, son seen?.

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  Skimmer

  Hello anidchick and welcome to the discussion board.

  First, here's a good web site to start with: http://www.freeminds.org

  To answer your questions (very briefly):

  1) The WTBTS sees Jesus as a minor god, a created being. (Note that this makes them polytheistic, although they don't like to admit this.) They also teach that he is the same person as the archangel Michael. They deny his physical resurrection as well.

  2) The WTBTS denies the Trinity as Jesus is a lesser being and the Holy Spirit doesn't exist as a person.

  3) They have no holidays. They do observe an annual day of memorial for the Last Supper, but only about one in a thousand persons partakes of the communion. There are no regular "fun" celebrations allowed except for anniversaries for married couples.
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  6

  A thought!

  by qwerty in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "if you are going through hell, keep going.

  " .

  - sir winston churchill (1874-1965)

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  Skimmer

  When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
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  26

  for those who missed it, a JW headline

  by Mommie Dark in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  common sense triumphs occasionally.... !

  http://www.mcall.com/html/news/pa/a_pg001a1_jehovah.htm!

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  Skimmer

  I agree that a monetary award was appropriate. I can't see arguing over the relatively small amount; the real point is that not just the JW should have been found liable. Both the JW and the Kingdom Hall that trained her are acting under the direction of the WTBTS and are their authorized agents. In the United States, it is a long held legal doctrine that a corporation can be held responsible for its agents; this helps prevent deep pocket organizations from hiring "judgement proof" agents to do their dirty work.

  We who have had the experience know that "no soliciting" signs are not much, if any, deterrent. The WTBTS knows this as well and I suspect that the JW involved was told to fib about not seeing the signs lest an honest admission result in hauling the Brooklyn Boys into court.

  If I had been the aggrieved party, I would have hauled in the elders from the Kingdom Hall and shown how they follow the official WTBTS sales training exercises every week. I would have used their own literature to give the real truth about the publishing cult's activities.