last night, i returned from the chess club with my son to find my wife on the phone.
apparently the congregation secretary had phoned to get our time.
not wanting to disappoint him, she put us both down for two hours.. now, none of us have stepped foot in a kingdom hall since april 10, and we haven't been out in service since march/01.
RunningMan,
Sorry to hear the bad news. How about next time the sec calls, that you ask to be put down for -2 hours. That will bring you back down to zero. You could tell him your wife was mistaken and you feel that an accurate report must be made to the society.
After that every time he calls report more negative time. Every time you post on here and every time you preach to others the truth about the Troof accumulate more negative time. Pretty soon you'll be more than inactive
Thirdson
just thought i would share this series of communiques between myself and one budnik1 <[email protected]>.
i received the following unsolicted email to my quotes email address, with budnik1 marked as the return address:we wonder if you would like to acquire a unique christian relic associated with the nativity and created by the apostles.in 50 ad.
however, we have some other items in our collection (not mentioned in our first message) which may be of some use to you.
Quotes,
That was brilliant!!!!!!
Makes me want to read and respond to my junk mail now.
Thirdson
i am just going to put this out here to see how you all feel about this.......... here goes............... do you think that being a jw , especially raised in it, has taken away your chance of ever trusting yourself ever again in regards to what you believe in?
i mean , you can read books, many by very educated men/women, you can read every bible printed, you can read every self help book, but do you find yourself at times just not caring anymore?
i mean once your trust has been broken, what is the point in reading another man's version of what truth/reality is?
Lyin,
For those of us brought up as JWs to not trust anybody else (at least spiritually) and have our trust in the Watchtower broken leaves us in a difficult situation. I have found it very hard to find things to read and accept. The inner peace I find is believing that their is no real full answer and that all belief taught is the opinion of others and I am free to believe what I want and to change my beliefs as I see fit. I tend to challenge everything I was taught as a JW regarding the teachings of the Bible and re-examine everything. I have attended Bible study sessions but found it hard to switch off my old mind set and thus I couldn't contribute much as I doubted so much knowledge I acquired due to the tarnished reputation of WTS writers.
In reading, I have read books dealing with history of the content of the Bible, (e.g. the so-called "higher critics") and read books on faith by Philip Clancey, (very good, but still don't feel everything he says is right) and some of Bishop Spong's books including his defense of the Bible against fundamentalism.
Because I don't believe that a single true religion can exist I tend to accept all faith and have attended many services. I do tend to judge religious institutions on how they work with and treat the less fortunate of our society regardless of these one's (the poor and homeless) own religious beliefs. If sinners aren't welcome I don't feel I am welcome.
Sorry if I have rambled. The path we are on is not easy, I hope my views from the highway helps.
Thirdson
1. attend a prayer service.
2. stay at home and watch the t.v.
specials.
At work there is an event early in the morning to coincide with the time that the first 911 call went out. There will be a moment of silence followed by the singing of America the Beautiful by the company choir.
The company will set up TVs so employees can watch some of the coverage.
I may go to the morning event but I intend to stay away from TV the whole day. My family will attend a special church service on Wednesday evening. We will also be doing some voluntary work the weekend prior but we do that each month anyway and not because Mr. Bush said we should.
Thirdson
I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news that a plane had crashed in to the World Trade Center. It was just before 8:00 AM (CST) when it was announced as breaking news on Minnesota Public Radio (KNOW - 91.1 FM). I guess if I get to work early on the 11 I won't have to re-live that moment during my commute.
we'll be putting up the august scans of the kingdom ministry later today.
to do so, i'll be taking down the september scans to make room.
if you haven't saved them already, here they are (this will also be the url for the august scans): .
Thanks Stepjanus,
I have some questions about the KM...
In the article on how to treat the disfellowshipped there are printed questions at the bottom of the page. I don't ever recall seeing a KM article with questions. It wasn't hard to formulate questions for "question and answer" items so why has the WTS deemed to dumb it down further by providing questions? Is this new? When was the last time a KM came with ready printed questions?
Thirdson
just sharing a bit of news that i recieved today from my only living parent,my mama.my mama is a full fledged in the borg programed subject.the phone call came today.she said she was a bad girl and had been disobedient and that this would be her last phone call.at first she softened the blow by saying "honey.i just called to tell you how much i love you"i responded with a inner smile and said "awe,that's so nice,i love you too"she then said "no,you don't understand i am calling to tell you that this will be our last communication other then emergency and death situations"i then kinda of lost it.i informed her that was crap!i mean back in 1981 you cut me and my siblings off for 12 years,then after we have survived or at least were functional in our lives you come back and say"opps,sorry but there is new light and now we can love you again".
during this time i being a dutiful daughter,forgave them and welcomed them back into my life which had been missing there love.it was so nice being able to do things for them and care for them when they were ill.visits became a yearly occurence and they even visited with me.. although this was not in the least unexpected,it is still a shock.i have reacted in various ways.if i am dead too her then she is dead too me.i don't give flowers to dead people,i show unconditional love to them when they are living and can recipercate by giving unconditional love in return.. as far as recieving health bulletins or in my case calling and saying"hi,mama my hep c is whatever".
i am not calling period.. it may seem foolish and childish but i have removed her pictures.the ones of her and dad together are still on my wall.. it is a sad day when your parent,the one who gave birth to you says she loves you but can't show you.. she said it is in the bible,but when my siblings and i ask where she says i can't tell you because you are in the dark and not allowing the light.
((((((((((((Sentinel and sOOner,))))))))))))))
I really feel for you and am sorry that you have to endure more pain because of the unloving, unChristian and evil rules dictated by the men of Brooklyn (or Patterson Old-Folks Retreat).
I guess the reponse of your mother is the intended result of the Watchtower Society leadership. I hope that everyone will see what the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and their publishing corporation leaders really stands for -- a spiteful, hatefilled religion where the leaders are set on maintaining power and hiding their corruption by the strict control of their adherents.
I hope sharing your problems helps and I hope others too will publicize the actions of individual Jehovah's Witnesses. The more publicity the better.
Thirdson
PS I prepared my mother in advance for the August KM.
.
here's something i don't get...i was reading in a jw publication(i think it was "proclaimers of god's kingdom"that the early witnesses only had to go in,sit down and listen to a talk.they never even had to raise their hands or utter a word.didn't go door-to door either,and yet most if not all of them claimed to be of the "anointed class".nowadays if you don't comment at every meeting,spend most of your free time in field service and give talks yourself on the tms(which they didn't even have in those days) you are made to feel like your'e not even worthy to live on the earth,let alone heaven.so what's up with that?what did they do to make god love them more?.
.
dsgal,
Watchtower salvation is presented as "first come, first served." If you were lucky enough to be born in the period ending the nineteenth century or the early twentieth, became a follower of the Watchtower Society, you got to go to heaven. After 1935 the door got closed and the requirements for salvation got stricter.
Tough luck! Its our own fault for being born at the wrong time. For some of of us, its our own fault for being born in the wrong religion.
Thirdson
1) i sacrificed work offered to me so i could earn more money.
2) i sacrificed my job as a well payed dj.
3) i sacrificed weekend ly-ins to go out preaching.
haujobbz,
I sacrificied many things, some good some bad. In the end I can't tell how things may have turned out:
Those are some of the bigger things. In the end my marriage broke up as well but that would likely of happened anyway, regardless of my religious commitments. I retrained as a programmer and relocated to the USA. Despite my rocky career path I did gain useful experience in business. I worked for small sales and service divisions of international companies, worked with many customers and vendors. As a result when I switched to software implementation I was always in demand as a business consultant as well as an analyst and up until recently I always had plenty of head-hunters calling me. (I'd hate to be in that business today).
Today, I live comfortably, have a job I love, am re-married, enjoy vacations in nice places and even ski occasionally. Who knows what life would be like if I had continued in my chosen career? I have even managed to keep a friendship with a non-JW most of my adult life. I am bitter about all the time I wasted and all the friendships I let die. But that's in the past, its time to make up for it now and in the future.
Thirdson
some years back, on h20, i would sometimes make posts that were generally ignored by the one person that i really wanted a response from:.
uncle bruce!.
then one day i received an email from the digger dahn under.
Spot On!
Thirdson
it still bothers me very much that they are allowed to keep files on us and that we have no right to see the contents.
they can choose to look at them or destroy them, whatever they wish, but our wishes about a file with our name on it, about our lives is not unavailable.
when you change halls a letter is written about you to the next group of men in black.
I was an elder for a short while and have limited experience of the "goings'on" between elder bodies. I do know from experience (being a baptized JW for 22 years) that on numerous occasions bothers moved congregations and were never re-appointed to the position they held previously. I think the move was used as an opportunity to punish some and elders refused to recommend the brother.
I had the publisher record cards for about 9 months and there was nothing with them that contained notes or secret records about congregation members. I do remember the PO giving me the record cards for a sister who had moved to our area. With the cards was a letter from her previous cong's elders detailing how much trouble she had caused, how she had been DF'd and reproved previously. I felt she deserved a clean slate and not knowing what to do with the letter, I destroyed it. I don't believe it was passed around the other elders but I am sure the PO would have recalled it in conversations.
I found being an elder was a real eye-opener. I was brought up to believe that elders were special, Godly and caring men. I always felt I was never good enough to be an elder but after I was appointed and, later quit, I felt I was too good to be the JW overseer and quit in disgust and what was going on and what I observed. Being an elder led to my eventual realization and I quit totally two years later.
I often wonder what the back-stabing, rat-bags said about me when I moved congregation.
Thirdson
