Posts by undercover

27

Do you make active witnesses uncomfortable?

by pratt1 in

jw
friends

this weekend my wife and i visited with another couple, who although they are inactive, they also invited active witinesses to the their home along with us.

we knew most of the people there and they are aware that we are inactive - no big deal.

however there was one brother who did not know that were are inactive.

undercover

Some, yes. Some, no. Still others are curious and are just chomping at the bit to either try and "help" or at least get the scoop on what our "problem" is.

The last time I went to the KH, there were some who all but tripped over themselve to come up and say "Hi". The love-bombing in action. Others looked sideways at me, afraid to make eye contact, fearing that they may have to acknowledge my presence. Some elders were quick to speak and chit-chat, others kept a watchful eye, not trusting me.

Out in public, most active JWs will speak and we'll even have a small "whatchabeenupto" conversation. Occasionally, an overly righteous dub will see me and run for cover so as to not have "bad association".

Rarer still is to get invited to anything JW. There is where the truth lies. Some individual JWs may associate with us as far as going to the movies or dinner (usually ones who aren't that zealous themselves), but never, ever do we get invited to picnics, parties, weddings, etc that are attended mostly by JWs. Even though we are not DFd or DAd, because we are inactive and not attending meetings, it is like we have fallen off the face of the earth when it comes to "fellowship". Only when we show up at the hall(an even rarer occurence) are we treated with any kind of friendliness. It's all conditional. Go to meetings and go in service, you're a friend and buddy. Become inactive but not in any kind of trouble, you're bad association.

23

If you had the choice ,when you became a jw,,,,,,,

by kls in

would you have been better off being born in to it or have been better off being recruited as an adult .

.

what are the pros and cons of both.

undercover

Somehow the JWs are good at getting people when they're at a low point in their lives.

Exactly. Just a few days ago, I was trying to think of all the people that I knew of that became JWs as adults. I tried to remember one that was a completely happy, well-adjusted, individual with no family problems, health problems or violent/criminal past. None came to mind. Everyone that I knew of had some kind of issue with life in general. They had been mistreated someway, somehow and were not truly happy. They were in search of happiness or answers and the JWs knocked on their door one day.

I remember when no one responded to our ministry, how some would always say that these people already had their paradise or how these people were complacent with their lives. It wasn't that so much that as it was that these people were happy and comfortable and didn't want some doomsayer to frighten them. These people were content with their lives. You may not be rich, or have found a soul-mate, or live exactly the way you want, but most people find a way to be content with what they have. How many JWs are content? They may claim they are, but they aren't. The fact that they eagerly await the great day of god the almighty is proof of that. They can't wait for their "new system". Until then they'll whine and cry about "this system of things".

23

If you had the choice ,when you became a jw,,,,,,,

by kls in

would you have been better off being born in to it or have been better off being recruited as an adult .

.

what are the pros and cons of both.

undercover

I was raised in it. Missed out on a "normal" childhood and teenage life. I hate that I had to be an outcast and realizing now with no good reason. I spent a lot of adulthood too as a good little dubbie. Being raised to believe that JWs were right and everybody else was wrong, it was hard to face any doubts or questions that I had. I squelched them and put on the good little JW act.

The one solace I have of being raised in it, is that at least I wasn't conned or fell for it as an adult. I excuse it somehow by saying to myself "I just didn't know any better. I wouldn't have fallen for it as an adult." That's not to belittle anyone who chose JWism as an adult. I'm sure that living forever in a paradise earth would be appealing to anyone, but I'm not one to buy religion on my front door step. I do regret that it took so long of my adulthood to face my questions and doubts and realize that I was part of a cult-like religion though. I feel that I was weakminded in not spotting them as charlatans sooner.

49

HELP ME! I cant cope with this anymore.

by chok in

for those of you that remember the story a couple of weeks ago about my 4 year old daughter that declared us a witness free zone to her grandparents (my extremely devout parents!!!

) well the little minx strikes again.

i have just got off the phone from my mother.

undercover

There were 6,624 there, so many people can't be wrong.

6,624? Seems to me that District Convention numbers are dropping. I remember when there were 12,000. Then 10,000. Then 8,000. Now they're down to just over 6500.

Anyhoo, it just kills me how they use this reasoning. "So many can't be wrong." There are 6,000,000 JWs in the world. Sounds like a lot. But then there are 7 billion people in the world. The population of the USA is over 288 million. If all the JWs were located in the States, there would be 120,000 JWs per state. The population of my home town is greater than that. The anointed and remnant thereof could not fill up a good sized city.

When you grow up with this religion you don't realize just how insignificant JWs are in the grand scheme of things. We thought that we were some kind of elite group and that everthing that happened was somehow related to us and how Jehovah was arranging his plan to fulfillment. After we take our head out of the sand(or our ass, depending on how righteous we were) we can reallly see that this is a fringe religion, cult if you will, with no real significance to political, religious or any other program paid attention to by those in the real world.

62

YESTERDAY'S ASSEMBLY SUCKED........

by Mary in

jw
friends

well, i got dragged, kicking and screaming talked in to going to the assembly yesterday as a friend of mine was in the drama.

what a freaking waste of time interesting experience.

first of all, i had a tough time squeezing my larger than life ass bum into a seat that looked like it was made for a house-elf small child.

undercover

Yea, isn't it funny when the media says unflattering things about the WTS then they are part of Satan's world, not to be believed or trusted. But when this same media shows the WTS in a good light, the WTS is quick to quote and reference them in their own publications.

41

Will I die at Armageddon?

by sinamongurl in

jw
friends

the anwser is: know one really knows but jehovah.. i have been df'd for 3 years now.

i still struggle with: "should i go back cuz i dont want to die" .

but then its not really for the "right" reason.

undercover

Why would a God that gives people free will and wants people to serve him out of love use the fear of dying in an apocolyptic catastrophe to force people to serve him?

The WTS states that its followers serve God out of love. Love for God, love for their fellow humans. But talk to many of the individual JWs and what is their greatest fear? Dying at Armageddon. That's not serving God out of love. That's serving him out of fear.

JWs think that all will be rosy in the "new system". No fear or death. Wrong. God used fear and death to keep them in line before. What will he use to keep them in line afterwards? Fear and death. The fear that JWs have now, they will always have, even if an Armageddon should come.

45

Experience about not bringing our own food to the convention

by NikL in

jw
friends

isn't this special?

this is an e mail making the rounds......

remember the letter that was read to all congregations regarding going out to get food during the break.

undercover

They probably went to the local bars to drown their sorrows.

23

Turns out liquor store in my neighborhood is owned by JW's

by run dont walk in

i was very surprised, here in alberta, canada, they privatized the liquour stores about 10-15 years ago, and the amount of stores tripled, practically one on every corner now, .

well, it turns out, that one store in my neighborhood isowned and operated by this family that are jehovah's witnesses, belong to a chinese congregation, .

i would think this would not be allowed, or show poor judgement, they say its wrong to have a store and sell cigarettes, but maybe alcohol is ok, .

undercover

i noticed that many here (again, not everyone) like to talk bad about jws in general. i understand if you are not in love with the org, but what does the single jw have to do with it? did you forget you were one of those once? i wonder if it would have encouraged you to actually start thinking if someone would always keep bashing you about things you actually dont even know of...

You've got a point there. Many individual JWs are good, decent people. It's not fair to them to make blanket statements about JWs and how bad they are. I still have some friends that are JWs. I enjoy their friendship when I can.

But, to play devil's advocate, since most JWs (outwardly anyway) support and defend the WTS, even when it means to make someone an outcast, to let a child die, etc, they have allowed themselves to be part of the collective, to accept and defend whatever dictate comes from above. That's why many X-JWs call the organization the Borg. Much like the Star Trek story, those who become JWs cease to have a mind of their own and are controlled by the collective and the leaders of the WTS. I know that if my JW friends had to decide to either side with the WTS or with me, I will lose. To some X-JWs, that makes JWs weak and to be disliked and avoided.

Not that I agree with that exactly. I don't think we should dislike all JWs because of just being a JW. I like some, even trust some to an extent. Others, I dislike but tolerate. Even others I despise.

23

Turns out liquor store in my neighborhood is owned by JW's

by run dont walk in

i was very surprised, here in alberta, canada, they privatized the liquour stores about 10-15 years ago, and the amount of stores tripled, practically one on every corner now, .

well, it turns out, that one store in my neighborhood isowned and operated by this family that are jehovah's witnesses, belong to a chinese congregation, .

i would think this would not be allowed, or show poor judgement, they say its wrong to have a store and sell cigarettes, but maybe alcohol is ok, .

undercover

I wonder if they sell cigarettes as a sideline? That is a tricky situation.

I think it's in a KM somewhere that if the JW owns the store he cannot stock or sell tobacco products. If the JW is an employee of the store, and running cash register is a duty of theirs, there is no problem with him/her ringing up tobacco products in that the JW can not control the items stocked and sold by the owners.

As far as selling alchohol, there's no written rule that I know of prohibiting JWs from owning/running liquor stores. Depending on the area, it might raise a few eyebrows of the more conservative JWs. I do know of JWs that were discouraged from working as bartenders or playing in bands that played in bars. That bad association thing. I guess sellling liqour doesn't require as much association with worldly people as does bartending or playing in a bar band.

152

It?s official!!! The Olson Twins are Legal!!!

by Elsewhere in

.

the dream of many men has come true... over the weekend they turned 18!

.

undercover

the view that young women are little more than sexual objects is becominging increasingly accepted in our culture.

Women have been sexual objects for as long as there have been women. People can condemn me for this if they want, but when a girl/woman comes into a bar/club etc. wearing low-rise, tight jeans or short-short skirt and a tight, skimpy top accentuating her breasts, bare midriff showing off tattoos on the small of her back, I'm going to look at her and I'm going to think of her as a sexual object. It's apparent to me that that is what she wants.

But it doesn't have to be that way if the female doesn't want it. Women today have more choices than ever in how they want to viewed, treated or accepted as. If they choose to be viewed as professional, as mothers, as conservative, etc and their dress and demeanor make that obvious then I will treat them as such. It's just that some (not the majority) women/girls choose to be seen as sexual objects. If they want to be seen that way, I'm going to oblige them.