I'll bet that by the end of the show, someone will get disfellowshipped.
My thought exactly. A JW parent living for a week in a "worldly" household? And a "worldly" man coming into a JW home, laying down the rules? Gimme a break.
Posts by teejay
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48Jehovah's Witness family wanted for "Trading Spouses"
by Dogpatch inthis is legit, i got this email and called cat.
she is looking for jws who might do this.
wouldn't that be a scream?
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teejay
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7
Calvin
by teejay init was a while back... ten or twenty years... when elder calvin and i happened to be in the same place at the same time.
by then, having been raised a dub and seeing all i needed to see, i'd learned the ins and outs of what it took to gain and hold the office of "older man" in the congregation.
saying "yes" to the higher ups never hurt.
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teejay
It was a while back... ten or twenty years... when elder Calvin and I happened to be in the same place at the same time. By then, having been raised a Dub and seeing all I needed to see, I'd learned the ins and outs of what it took to gain and hold the office of "older man" in the congregation. Saying "yes" to the higher ups never hurt. Neither did sucking up to the CO. Ask JT. ;-)
Calvin is still an elder as far's I know, a few years older than me. He never impressed me as a particularly clever man, even by JW standards, but I never gave a second thought to how he rose to the position of overseer. It was rare for an elder to impress me as being very sophisticated. It was what it was, and I knew the game. Want it bad enough, and any level of service was possible... depending on who you knew (or who knew you), who your daddy was, who studied with you, and how talented you were at feigned, worshipful genuflection.
The thing I found most amusing about Calvin was (is) his fondness for long sideburns... the kind that would make Elvis stop and blush with envy. I mean... all the way down the side of his face... damn near to his chin. Why a middle-aged Black man preferred that clownish sartorial style always mystified me, but other than being amused, I never gave it much thought. Elders often did odd-ball stuff that made me do a double-take.
As I said, I knew the particulars of the Watchtower Society and what it took to be a Society man. So, once Calvin and I happened to be together on this particular occasion, I thought I'd have some fun. Aware that the CO was due to arrive the coming week, I asked Calvin, "So Calvin... what are you gonna do about those sideburns? The CO'll be here next week, you know."
Mind you... it was the Mouthpiece? Almighty God had chosen as spokesperson for our local area who was about to make his semi-annual visit to our little town to provide meat in due season, not some chump waterboy.
"Oh, they're coming off," Calvin said of his ridiculous sideburns...
"... and when he leaves, they're going right back on!"
I laughed out loud then as I smile about it now. I dunno. If you think about it, that little vignette, as simple as it is, says all that needs to be said about the JW religion and it's older men. And Calvin wasn't nearly as naive as I always thought. -
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my take...
by teejay in... on the watchtower society.
i am not one who will ever bother to waste my time heaping praise on the jw religion as though it were some kind of improvement on society.
i have no qualms in saying that it was, is, and always will be a dangerous religion ?
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teejay
It sound like you grew up in the Bedfort Sti area in Brooklyn NY. Did you? Many of the Brothers and Sisters you mentioned sound like familier names to me. Would love to know. ? Namasti
No, I'm not from Brooklyn. I was born and raised in Arkansas.
...can't examples of human nobility be found in Dachau, the ghetto,
the convent, the '93 Chicago Bulls and all the whistleblowers, para-
medics, father figures, nurturers, philanthropists and single mothers
throughout history?
Did we have to live a lie? Couldn't we at least have had our shot at
the real world?
Do you know what hurts me the most, teejay? I passed the same lie
on to my only son and crushed his potential just as mine had been
crushed. ? TMSOf course, human goodness and nobility can be found in those, and many other, places. My thoughts weren't to suggest that the Watchtower Society was the best place to find examples of either, simply that the religion and people of my youth weren't totally devoid of those things, as some seem to think.
As far as your son... I know there's nothing I can possibly say to assuage the pain you must now feel in having raised your son in The Truth?. One thing I'm delighted about is that I never studied with anyone to baptism; nor presided over the df'ing of anyone.Interesting post, TeeJay. Wherever did you get the idea?
... was someone suggesting that a non-JW who allowed a child to attend a few meetings was an unfit parent. That's blatant BS. wassasisterThat was partially what inspired this ? the idea that I'm an unfit and miserable and unloving father because I "allow" my loyal JW wife to take our five-year-old to the meetings. But it's also been a long-held belief of mine that the JW experience, at least for me, wasn't the total hell others seem to have experienced.
This may sound horrendous for some (even many), but I enjoyed doing the research, getting up, and then giving talks. I enjoyed going out in field service?got very good at it, if I must say so myself. Enjoyed nearly every aspect of it ? the camaraderie; the belief that what I was doing was important; that it was having a beneficial impact on my neighbors. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to people person to person on their front porch, particularly during those final years when I carried nothing but my bible and had no sales agenda in talking to them. Met some very nice people, too.
And, as mentioned, I knew/know some very fine humans who call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. Am I deluded to the point, as some suggest, that I believe these fine people couldn't have been just as humane and caring were they not JWs? Obviously not. I don't believe it was the JW religion, per se, that made them good people, although it may have played a part, as I believe many religions help to bring out the good and ethical behavior in people that may lay dormant otherwise.
Overall, I think some may have missed the point of this. Frankly, I don't give as much credit to the Watchtower Society for my self-confidence or speaking ability or sales ability as some do. If I wish, at will I can summon up those heartbreaking times when my playmates enjoyed a birthday or Christmas party while I sat alone in the library, and right now, as a full-grown man, choke up all over again just as I did when I was a kid. I learned nothing of value from such dreadful experiences.
No... I wish Sister Boyd had never come by our house and met my Mama that day way back when. I wish I never knew the name Sister Bailey, who helped my mother into the truth and played such a powerful role in our family for many years thereafter. I think my parents had the seeds of what it took to help their children reach their potential without exposing them to the pervasive cancer of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, Inc. I'm totally confident my father, mother and siblings would have done just fine.
Thanks, Golf. ;-) -
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teejay
Mike is innocent! -- Mecurious?
You funny!
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my take...
by teejay in... on the watchtower society.
i am not one who will ever bother to waste my time heaping praise on the jw religion as though it were some kind of improvement on society.
i have no qualms in saying that it was, is, and always will be a dangerous religion ?
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teejay
For the most part, the posts I make here are what I write and add to my personal memoirs ? a collection of writings that I will leave to my daughter so that she might understand what the hell was wrong with her father. :-D I never expected this thread to get such a reaction.
Like you, all I can speak of is my own experience. When someone says that a JW upbringing is tantamount to hell on earth, I have to say, "no, it's not." At least it wasn't for me, despite the fact that my mother was a virtual dictator with no checks and balances -- as in an unbelieving father who might have provided, if not insisted upon, an alternate way of raising six, fairly bright, kids.
Minimus is right, IMO. "We all were abused, shortchanged and adversely affected because we were JW kids. But the beat goes on!" I think Logansrun is right, too, when he says, "I would bet that many -- not all -- of the "horrible, terrible, rotten" experiences that some recount about being a JW are subjective exaggerations and choosing to ignore the positives."
And I heartily nod my head in agreement when Happyout says her dynamic mother, a woman of honor and principle, overcame adverse circumstances with grace, love, and undying optimism at least in part due to the Watchtower Society and its teachings. Could Mother Happyout or Mother Teejay have accomplished what they did and passed on what they did some other way? Probably, but that would be a different story, now wouldn't it? The fact is, our moms prevailed at least in part?IN PART?due to the Watchtower Society. There's no arguing this, at least not in our minds.
Am I happy that I chose to disregard the scholarship I was awarded? Obviously not, especially not now. Could I have learned self-confidence some other way, along with the other stuff I earlier spoke about? I have little doubt that I could have learned what I learned some other way. I could have learned many lessons playing team sports. A college education/experience would have been invaluable. I learned nothing sitting alone in the library while echoes of Christmas music, frivolity, and song bounced off the walls. I benefited in no way avoiding my blood relatives who lived within easy walking distance.
Still, it wasn't all bad. That was my only point. -
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Dell Computers
by unbeliever in.
i am leaning toward buying a dell notebook.
who uses dell, and if so are you happy with them?.
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teejay
Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, HP, etc... all of the major name brands offer excellent computers. They all have their fare share of limmons, but most of the computers are very good.
Never owned a Dell, but seems like every single person I know who owns one loves it. Still...
My first pc almost 10yrs ago was an IBM PS1. Loved it. Not a single problem.
The next was a Compac laptop. Loved it. After 2yrs when the screen went caput, I went something like 5 or 6 days to have CompUSA repair it for free.
For the last 2yrs I've used a Toshiba laptop. Again, not a single problem. -
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my take...
by teejay in... on the watchtower society.
i am not one who will ever bother to waste my time heaping praise on the jw religion as though it were some kind of improvement on society.
i have no qualms in saying that it was, is, and always will be a dangerous religion ?
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teejay
... on the Watchtower Society.
I am not one who will ever bother to waste my time heaping praise on the JW religion as though it were some kind of improvement on Society. Please! Far from it. I have no qualms in saying that it was, is, and always will be a dangerous religion ? a religion that has damaged and continues to damage countless numbers of people caught in its ugly wake. Including damage done to the six inconsequential children of John and Ruth, my mom and dad, four decades ago.
Make no mistake....
To this day, forty years after the fact, we ? my five siblings and I ? individually and as a group suffer through the detritus of how we were raised vis-à-vis that religion. As a direct result of having been raised a JW, I have personally suffered in ways that are humanly impossible to completely recover from now. (I'll spare y'all the details.) Still, It wasn't all bad! There was always some good there. Still is.
Though you'll never be able to pay me enough money to say I was "blessed" having been raised a JW, it's been obvious to me for a long time that my JW experience was not as horrible as what some had. From what I've read (and felt from what I've read), some of y'all where in (or remember being in) a straight-up concentration camp ? no less an Aushwitz patrolled by brutal, sadistic guards with foaming-at-the-mouth German Shepherds at the leash.
It makes me sad. And ANGRY... to think of what you went through. Innocent, defenseless kids with their whole lives in front of them should never have to go through that kind of life-altering hell. All I can say is that I just didn't have it that way myself. I've learned that our individual tale depends more on who our mamma and daddy was and has less to do with what particular franchise of the Watchtower Society you worshipped at on Sunday mornings.
My apologies to all whom this doesn't apply?I know there are those who have had it a lot harder than me?but for a boy being raised in the projects without a father, I very fondly recall (what I remember as) the loving oversight?even friendship?of Sister Boyd, Brother Clayburn, Sister Griffith, Brother and Sister Kellar, Brother Nelson, the Skaggs family, the Spillars ? and no one will EVER purge from me the tender memories of those times and people. Good men and women, good kids... trying to live their lives right and do right by people. They were, believe it or not, GOOD.
Course, it's quite possible that if I came to know them now that I've reached manhood and saw all their fatal flaws close up, I might think differently about them. But as a kid... no. They were good people who cared about me and my family. Often went out of their way to take time to help my single Mama and her brood of six in ways too numerous to mention. Spent precious time out of their simple lives to help us along. (Brother Nelson still serves as City Overseer, and I can honestly say that, since becoming a fiercely strong, eyes-wide-open Black man, my opinion of him has not changed one iota. He's a good man, no matter how you choose to label him.)
Sorry, but along with the opportunities I know I missed, I have very fond memories of life as a JW kid. True... most of it was based in fantasy, but fantasies, I hate to say, very often beat reality...
No, I didn?t take advantage of the college scholarship I was awarded, but I discovered something somewhat disturbing/enlightening when I went back to my 25th high school reunion: nearly every other non-JW kid I grew up with didn't go to college, either. Just like me!
A lot of my old friends played brutal sports at a time when their young bodies really couldn't take it. And can't walk now. (Only one, that I know of, went pro.)
A lot of my childhood friends got messed up behind drugs. And died years ago.
At 10?TEN!?I had complete confidence telling a roomful of 30 knucklehead kids my age (and an adult my Mama's) that, "NO! Christmas is wrong!" and be certain I was absolutely right. I don't care what you say, but that's a damn fine thing to teach a kid where I'm from ? hold your ground; your opinion is as valuable as anyone's; believe in yourself. I hope I'm lucky enough to pass along that lesson to my little one.
I learned not to fear death ? either my own or those of people I loved. Death held no power over me. Not like it does now.
I had hope?confidence?of a life that more nearly approached what I perceived as my potential. A life where my Mama could rest. And have a good life of her own ? the kind she always wanted. And deserved.
I had a pact with reality and the universe. Knew my place in it. Unlike now, where so much of my present and future life is filled with dreadful uncertainty. Or foreboding.
I could go on, but probably the most important thing my JW upbringing taught me is this...
When I was young, at a pivotal time in my life, the JWs taught me to look confidently [u][i]within[/i][/u] no matter how alone I was (or felt I was). "Hold your head high, teejay" no matter what others say or how onerously they jeer. Stand your ground, dude! ? a true advantage for me since I was raised when, where and how I was.
Yeah.... I'll grudgingly admit it: it was all a dream. Unreal. Untrue. All lies, if you wanna say it that way. Go ahead and slap me upside the head. Tell me what a fool I was for ever believing it. You'd be right. You can't tell me anything I haven't figured out already.
But somehow... knowing the ultimate truth that I will die an everlasting death in a few years (or tomorrow) is not all that comforting. Or necessarily better, despite what anyone says. One or two or five decades from now when I breathe my last, I can't help but wonder if I'd be better off passing away with the idea that my next conscious thought will be spent in Paradise of Jehovah's making....
... as opposed to KNOWING that this last breath is it. -
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What happens when the faithful and discreet slave die off?
by JustTickledPink ini am a bit fuzzy, but i always remembered that the "faithful and discreet slave" were the annointed members of the governing body and that they were led by jehovah god.... of course according to the wts.. now, as they get older and other wts corporations have been formed and the president of the wts himself isn't of the "annointed" then what happens when the "annointed" governing body members who represent the "faithful and discreet slave" die off?.
where is the intermediatary between the regular jw's and jehovah?
what will happen to the light that kept getting brighter?
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teejay
Two words: new light.
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Man, that woulda been tits....
by SixofNine in.
bernard kerik's withdrawl letter to the white house..
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Who are these idiots? Re: Scott Peterson Trial
by IronGland inthese arent family members according to the caption, they're just people waiting outside the courtroom when the sentence was announced.
their faces show they have some major emotional investment in this trial.
the man even appears to be praying.
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teejay
When you think about all the horrible, truly newsworthy stuff that's going on locally and around the world, it is amazing that for a full year people chose to let themselves be duped into following a court case that is of absolutely no consequence to them.