Posts by gingerbread

43

My frist email letter from my JW Dad. So sad...

by suavojr in

jw
friends

i am in my early 30s and woke up to ttatt in late 2012. my dad just turned 65 in june!

wow, i never saw that being possible.. .

he just got himself a computer and was able to get internet in a remote location where he is serving as an elder with my mom (where the need is great) i was happy to see how he was able to send me a few notes saying hi and i was able to share some pictures of my wife and family, etc.. .

gingerbread

You are in your early 30's and you're growing up - taking responsibility for yourself. That's a good and natural thing to do.

This isn't the first time that a parent and child don't see eye-to-eye on something (it could be politics, racism, legalization of drugs, women's rights, freedom of speech, choice of spouse, raising children, career decisions, immigration laws, the environment....or religion).

Accept this fact and be respectful. Being a faithful Witness is obviously very important to your dad. And, like any good dad, he wants the best for his children (this means all in his family must be faithful the the Organization ... because the alternative in his mind means eternal death).

Live and let live. Move on. Be good. Be free.

ginger

26

Shouldn't the WTBTS have more than 7 million followers after 140 years of preaching?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

after 140 years of preaching and millions of books, magazines, and tracts, all the wtbts has to show is a measly 7 million members.

the mormons, baptists, pentecostals and many other religions have more members without the preaching work.. in your opinion, is 7 million members way too many for all the odd beliefs, doctrines and practices ?

or, should be more members since they have had over 140 years of being in the religion business?.

gingerbread

At different times during the 1960's, 70's and 80's the WT sent a clear message to stop having children because Armageddon was going to happen at any moment.

When the 'no children' rhetoric would stop many JW couples started breeding like rabbits....and BOOM here we are today.

ginger

21

Prediction: The organization to ease up on disfellowshipping for apostasy.

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

i believe the organization is already easing up on disfellowshipping people for apostasy.

they know most doubters just want to be left alone.

disfellowshipping them turns them into martyrs.

gingerbread

The WT Society is to far down the disfellowshipping rabbit hole to back out - especially for 'crimes' of apostasy.

By this I mean spreading apostate viewpoints to congregation members or on the internet. Then they are under obligation to shut you up.

Leniency on this particular matter would only lead to divisions - and that is the number ONE thing that the Governing Body can't risk.

ginger

79

I know 2 of the Elders on the Ray Franz JC

by James Jackson in

when i read coc, i was stunned that the 2 elders (theotis french & rob dibble) were on ray franz judcial committee.

i have known these men for over 20 years having done rbc and convention work with them.

they are still elders today which means they were in their early 30's(which is unheard of for a case of this importance to have inexperienced elders to sit on) on this committee.. without revealing myself, i have never tried(but have wanted to), ask them about their on having to judge a former gb member.. then out of the blue, about a year ago, i was mentioning how hard it is trying to get younger ones to volunteer to one of these elders, and he says"this is nothing compared to to sitting on the committee that had to disfellowship ray franz".

gingerbread

Theotis French's son left his wife and 'the truth' to pursue a different sort of life. He saw through the hypocrisy of the teachings of the Org. Unfortunatly his wife was an innocent victim. Theotis chose the organization over his son.

And, before anyone starts tromping around on their naysaying high-horse, yes....I know of the situation personally and many other folks from this area - Gregerson family included. The comments from James Jackson since he began posting here are factual and honest. I don't think I know JJ personally - but I bet I know plenty of others around him.

Hundreds of people have faced judicial commitees and stood up for what they believed in ... and were disfellowshipped from the 'christian congregation'. This process will continue until the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses closes it's doors. It's a private club and you're only invited to the party if you play by their rules.

Simple.

ginger

27

The elders are 'letting me fade'

by TableForOne in

i attended my last meeting in january 2014, having realised that i'd been lied to for 20+ years (i'm now 43 y/o).

rumours spread of my 'apostasy'.. in may, cobe contacted me inviting me to a private meeting with elders at the kh.

(no mention of the meeting being a jc).

gingerbread

Every circumstance is different.

We've been left alone for a year - even after attending only one meeting this year - the Memorial. We have a lot of family and long time friends that are fully involved JW's.

Keeping quiet around these folks, not shoving the reality of the religion in their face, not talking about your reasons for exiting, no emotional 'fireworks', arguments or congregational drama - they'll let you quietly go away.

This method has worked for decades. It's working for our family.

ginger

9

37 years later, I finally got the CULT thing

by Freedom77 in

jw
friends

hi all, just happened to come across this site again after 10 or 12 years - i see some old posts of mine under a diff username (can't reopen the account, forgot the freakin' password).

i left the borg in 1977, age 21, haven't looked back but every now and then i am amazed to find there's some old, old attitude from the jw days that i find is still clinging to my pants leg like a stray sticker.. looking over some of the posts here and some linked ex-jw sites yesterday it finally hit me - it is an effing cult.

when i was in, we were always accused of being that, so naturally we totally spouted the society's line and got all defensive, etc.

gingerbread

The road to freedom opened up for us when we realized that we no longer recognized the authority of the Watchtower Society and it's Governing Body.

Raised in - we were around in the 70's as young JW's too.

Now 40 year later ....

50

Full-time service is MORE IMPORTANT than taking care of elderly parents!!! It says so in the Sept 2014 WT

by EndofMysteries in

paragraph 20 out of the article in the sept 2014 study wt about fulltime service says this.... .

"full-time servants age, and so do their parents.

when parents are witnesses, likely their fondest wish is for their children to stay in their assignments.

gingerbread

The WT uses doublespeak all of the time.

I charactarize the religion as being like a disfunctional family - abusive and critical tonight .... loving and forgiving in the morning.

The religion produces people who wear many masks - giving on the surface with selfish motives.

I know a congregation coordinator who is very proud of the fact that he remained loyal to the Organization by not communicating with his disfellowshipped father - for 20 years up to the dad's death.

It's the kind of behavior that the Governing Body wants - it demontrates your loyalty to 'Jehovah'.

ginger

36

Fading, Stopping Meetings, DA or DF'ing, Thoughts on Getting the Hell Out Of There

by OnTheWayOut in

so i read some threads about why someone remains a ministerial servant or elder, or why they are still active jw's.

others are telling stories about how they cut back slowly, and some of them got removed as ms/elder/pioneer or whatever.

yet others tell of how they just up and stopped going one day.

gingerbread

We stopped turning in time just over a year ago. We stopped attending meetings at the first of the year. Our grown children are moved away but made the same decision - about a year before we did.

We are both raised in, well known in the area - big JW families. Our parents and some of the siblings know of our 'doubts'. I hear that we are considered to be "taking a break" (for just a little while - in their minds). Life long 'friends' in the congregations are silent - no phone calls, emails or cards. Even the elders are 'hands off' with us.

I really don't think they want to open our can of worms in the congregation. By leaving quietly with out any kicking and screaming (no desire to prove we're "right" anymore!), our life has been undisturbed by any of the JW's.

I'm certian they would be overjoyed to have us back in - we were pioneers (some years ago), reasonably active with extra volunteer participation and made regular, healthy contributions to the local box...

ginger

10

Keeping it simple.

by gingerbread in

jw
friends

as the convention season is upon many of us, i recall my first assembly that we attended during the very beginning of our questioning if this religion that we were raised in was 'right'.

by really listening to the talks and observing the behavior of the other attendees, we came away that weekend with real focus on uncovering the realities of being one of jehovah's witnesses.. i had, for many years, issues with some basic organizational practices and customs : turning in a time slip, counting hours, re-hashing material over and over, dress and grooming rules, congregational politics/favoritism/discrimination, the 'judicial committee', etc.. at the same time we were researching the history of the watchtower and it's core beliefs : what were the origins of the belief in a paradise earth, the faithful and discreet slave, and (most importantly) the watchtower's chronology/dating that leads to the 1914 conclusion.. to all who are in the beginning of this process, i recommend you keep it simple.

take one topic or issue at a time and prove to yourself that the watchtower's stance is biblical.

gingerbread

I also did online research of the International Bible Students - looking for their reasons why they decided not to support the 2nd WT president J.F. Rutherford. Pretty enlightening.

Another great online resource is www.watchtowerdocuments.com

10

Keeping it simple.

by gingerbread in

jw
friends

as the convention season is upon many of us, i recall my first assembly that we attended during the very beginning of our questioning if this religion that we were raised in was 'right'.

by really listening to the talks and observing the behavior of the other attendees, we came away that weekend with real focus on uncovering the realities of being one of jehovah's witnesses.. i had, for many years, issues with some basic organizational practices and customs : turning in a time slip, counting hours, re-hashing material over and over, dress and grooming rules, congregational politics/favoritism/discrimination, the 'judicial committee', etc.. at the same time we were researching the history of the watchtower and it's core beliefs : what were the origins of the belief in a paradise earth, the faithful and discreet slave, and (most importantly) the watchtower's chronology/dating that leads to the 1914 conclusion.. to all who are in the beginning of this process, i recommend you keep it simple.

take one topic or issue at a time and prove to yourself that the watchtower's stance is biblical.

gingerbread

As the Convention season is upon many of us, I recall my first assembly that we attended during the very beginning of our questioning if this religion that we were raised in was 'right'. By really listening to the talks and observing the behavior of the other attendees, we came away that weekend with real focus on uncovering the realities of being one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

I had, for many years, issues with some basic organizational practices and customs : turning in a time slip, counting hours, re-hashing material over and over, dress and grooming rules, congregational politics/favoritism/discrimination, the 'judicial committee', etc.

At the same time we were researching the history of the Watchtower and it's core beliefs : what were the origins of the belief in a paradise earth, the Faithful and Discreet slave, and (most importantly) the Watchtower's chronology/dating that leads to the 1914 conclusion.

To all who are in the beginning of this process, I recommend you keep it simple. Take one topic or issue at a time and prove to yourself that the Watchtower's stance is biblical. Use the Bible. It can be painful and distressing. That why we suggest you take is one topic at a time.

Does anyone else have some practical suggestions?

ginger