I had hoped to not have been around this long. No offense to anyone, this is a great place for information and for sharing experiences so that we can heal, but I hope to be in a place sometime where I don't ever think about JWs or the WTS on a daily or weekly basis. Unfortunately, due to most of my family being JWs, I may never get to that stage. But, if not, I still want to be able to go on with life and just be me, not the JW or the inactive JW or the weak JW or even the ex-JW, just plain ole, regular, everyday me.
undercover
JoinedPosts by undercover
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How Long Do You Think That You Will Frequent These Boards??
by minimus incan you see yourself here 5 years from now?
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WT Run By Out Of Touch Old Men? Proof!
by metatron intake a good look at ezekiel's post regarding the district convention's talk on behavior at meetings and note the.
society's complaint that too much gum chewing and paper rustling is going on.
kids, they note, have been observed.
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is Brother Obi the same as Obi Ray Franzobi?
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Hello, I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses and I'm here to convert you....
by undercover inthe thread about the 6 million bible studies reminded me of some things that always bothered me about going door to door.
1. as mentioned in the other thread, there were times that cos and elders would tell us to not identify ourlselves as jws.
tell them we are "students of the bible" or "concerned neighbors", etc.
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Thanks, Blondie, for these quotes:
When the householder says, "I have my own religion ," do we say, "We talk to people of all religions ," and continue with our planned presentation? Or could we say something like this: "It is a pleasure to find some people who are still interested in spiritual matters. We are not in a membership drive or selling for a church, but we stopped by today to share with you God?s promise that there will soon be an ?abundance of peace? through the Kingdom under Christ Jesus. Notice how this was foretold in Psalm 72:7." This is just one example of how such an objection could be effectively answered .
One brother, in reply to those who say they have their own religion, remarks pleasantly: "
Well now, we aren?t going to fall out over that, are we? After all, the religion to which a person belongs is a personal matter, don?t you agree? Our purpose is simply to encourage a study of the Bible. We are not soliciting church membership . But we feel sure that if a person learns what the Bible teaches, he or she will be a better Christian, don?t you agree? What a person does with that Bible knowledge is up to him .I forgot that these were in print, these deceptions, the smoke and mirrors. Actually they're bold-faced lies. "Not selling for a church"??? Bullshit! That's exactly what we were doing. All monies gathered went to the WTS, a church. "The religion to which a person belongs is a personal matter, don't you agree?" Then why the hell are we out everday knocking on doors forcing our religion on people?
Another expression we sometimes hear is , "I have my own religion ." We can always reply that we are glad to know that, and inquire if they do not think it is good to know the viewpoint of different people and what they believe since there are so many different religions in the country . Or we might say that we are glad to know that they believe in God , adding that we have found that most people feel that regardless of the religion to which they belong, it is good to increase one?s personal knowledge of the Bible , as it contributes so much to one?s faith.
"...it is good to know the viewpoint of different people and what they believe..." That's all well and good...for them, but not for a JW. We're there as a JW to share our viewpoint with them, but if the householder pulls out a brochure from their church to share their viewpoint, what were we supposed to do? Refuse it. I remember having to do that. I used to take their pamphlets but then "mother" said refuse them outright. Now just how am I to learn the "viewpoint of different people and what they believe" if I can't share in an exchange of information? That's how the WTS wanted to make our visits sound like, an exchange of information. That ain't what is though, it's actually our coming to tell you what we believe and that we want you to believe it too. We don't care about what you already believe because you're wrong. Join us or die. That's the basic message.
AARRRGGHH! This one really pisses me off. I can't believe I fell for this shit for so long. I am so glad that I will never have to knock on doors to talk about religion ever again in my life.
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How weird jehovah's witness is-this is a true story
by weirdjw in.
one of my friend married a so-called jehovah's witness, as what i recall that jehovah witness does not believe divorce, but this jehovah witness divorce the wife with a daughter and complain that his wife has mental problem, on his second marriage, he worked away the wife without saying anything, just disappeared and weeks later want to go back to the wife, he never respect parents, relatives and wives, force wife has s*e*x and sleep outside too, at the meantime, he is still online searching girls and tell them he is divorced and ready for another one, but he did not divorce on his second one yet.
this is the real jehovah witness, they are evil but wear angle dress.
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undercover
That is a tad unfair. The JWs at least have a moral code that they try to adhere to.
What I will say though, is that the picture that is presented to the world outside is not exactly the same as the reality on the inside.
I agree. I think most dubs strive to adhere to some moral standard. Maybe not to the puritanical extent that the WTS imposes, but they try to maintain basic morality.
I agree also that how JWs present themselves to outsiders is not exactly how it really is. There are marital affairs, divorces, pedophelia, etc. in dubland just as there are in the real world. The difference is that the real world is aware of these issues and addresses them while the WTS and their followers deny that anything is wrong. This causes more problems in the long run. 2004 is now in the long run of the Society and these problems are surfacing.
It seems the divorce rate is greater among the ones that get married too young.
Could be they rush into marriage because of needing to relieve themself sexually.
Of all my JW friends of my age range that got married young(18-22), most of them have ended up in divorce. As I started to type this I counted, quickly, ten couples that I knew who married young that have split, all JW weddings. A couple of other marriages have lasted but with many problems. It probably would have been better if they had divorced. I agree, the problem is marrying too young, and being inflamed with sexual desires with no outlet, but I think also that the fact that there are a limited number of eligible people to choose from for marriage causes problems. JWs, despite their oveall large numbers, are for all intense purposes, little clannish groups isolated from the real world. When people become of marrying age, they have a very small field to search in for that marriage mate. Add to that, the very strict rules on courtship and dating, and these immature people really never get to know each other and by the time they realize that this is not the person they want to grow old with, they've been married for a a couple of years and have children.
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Walk with God DC: My Notes FRI MORN
by ezekiel3 inwell friends, at much sacrifice and mental atrophy, i survived the 2004 district convention and am here to tell you about it.
i thought i would be interesting to some here to note how dcs are organized and the ?great spiritual truths?
dispensed courtesy of the fds.
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10:50 Song 160 & announcements The ?lunch letter? is read here and every day of the DC before lunch: Bring your own lunch and do not go off site to buy your lunch. This letter was read in May at North American congs and again in its entirety at the last Service Meeting before the DC.
This letter was not read at the convention that I attended. They read the same old letter about donations at every single break, but of the two morning sessions that I attended they did not read that letter.
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Hello Everyone . . .(Questions)
by Frobrisher inthis is my first post here, though i have been browsing these forums over the last week for more than a few hours.
in the interest of full discloser, well as much as anyone would on a public forum, i?ll tell you about me.
i was raised as a witness, and have no real horror stories to tell.
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I was raised a JW and have not had any real disasters befall me because of it. But...I have spent half my life trying to live by the standards of which I was taught through the WTS. It was always difficult, sometimes impossible. I never felt like I was spiritual enough or self-sacrificing enough. No matter what I did, I felt like I wasn't worthy enough. When the doubts that I had kept suppressed for years finally forced themselves out to be dealt with I realized that the WTS and JWs were not God's earthly organization. One of my first questions when I realized I was duped was, "did they purposely lie or have they convinced themselves they are God's spokeman?". Over time I have come to the conclusion that the WTS puposely misleads and seeks to control people so as to not let their empire crumble.
I do not hate JWs. I have known many fine, fine people who are JWs. Many of them are people who love God and want to do the right thing. Unfortunately they have been fooled as I once was. I can't hate them for that. Many of them are quite content at being JWs. That is their right to do so. I don't begrudge them or ridicule them. If that's what they want, more power to them. But because they are faithful to the JW teachings, they follow corporate policy and shun people and judge people based on what the WTS tells them. I haven't cut them off from my life. They have cut me off. I chose to not worship as they do, so they treat me as beneath them and as a "worldly" person. That's their right to do so, but I still don't hate them. Those that act that way, I pity. It's too bad that they don't see what they've become.
As far as the WTS, I dislike and resent it as an entity. Not all the thousands of people who make it run, because most of them are the same as the rank and file, they have been fooled. But those in charge, those that know what they are doing, those that know that they are misleading and giving false hope and taking peoples money, they deserve whatever evil may befall them. I do not hate them, but I utterly disrespect them and hope that they somehow are exposed and brought down from their ivory towers and made to somehow pay for all of their lies and deceit.
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undercover
NOBODY LIKES PAMELA HALE She's the reporter. If anybody reads her column, you will know. I don't know how the Press-Telegram can let her write these tales of hers. her stories only appears on Saturdays. Actually not all of them. BOO!
I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic, but assuming that you're serious:
Okay, you don't like this reporter. Maybe she doesn't like JWs. Did she falsify the story? Did she print un-truths? Did she misrepresent? Well, lucky for us, the subject of that article is a new poster on this forum. He's already posted once on this thread. Let's ask him. If he says that the story is factual and she didn't misrepresent anything will you then shut the [edit] up?
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Disney's Fictional 'Fahrenheit'?...M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village"
by sf inhttp://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127106,00.html
disney's fictional 'fahrenheit'?
tuesday, july 27, 2004
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In "The Village," Howard plays the beautiful blind daughter of William Hurt, who seems to be the leader of an Amish-type, 19th-century village. (His last name is Walker; you decide where that fits.)
The group is cut off from the outside world, and its "elders" ? played convincingly by Hurt, Weaver, Brendan Gleeson, Jayne Atkinson, Celia Weston and Cherry Jones, among others ? are determined to keep the village's boundaries from being breached.
No one goes in and no one goes out. The elders' fear of the outside world is palpable.
I don't want to give too much away here ? there are a couple of plot twists that should not be revealed ? but it's safe to say that "The Village" is all about isolation and fear right down to a cover-up toward the end. And as we all know by now, the cover-up is always worse than the crime.
When I read this part I wasn't thinking politics, I was thinking religion, primarily the Watchtower Society.
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do you believe only the jw's will be saved? from official wtbs website.
by candidlynuts indo you believe that you are the only ones who will be saved?
many millions who have lived in centuries past and who were not jehovah's witnesses will come back in a resurrection and have an opportunity for life.
many now living may yet take a stand for truth and righteousness before god's time of judgment, and they will gain salvation.
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undercover
If you are a New York Fireman who has saved hundreds of lives but have not become a JW when Big A hits, You are toast! Anihilated by the Big Guy.
That raises an interesting scenerio:
Will a fireman who is a JW have to refuse to do his job when the Big A hits? If he does his job, he has to rush into harms way to try to save people which during Armageddon would be in direct opposition to Jehovah's judgement against the wicked. What's the point in doing his job if he knew it was Armageddon? It's a futile attempt to postpone the inevitable.
A JW fireman died on 9/11. He rushed into the towers with his fellow firemen and was killed. Did he think Armageddon was starting that day? What were his final thoughts? Was he terrified at the thought of dying at Armageddon? I'm not trying to be callous. I think it's a valid question. How many JWs thought Armageddon was starting that day? Even Bethel did a lock-down. A JW who raced into the firestorm that day had to be very very confused and scared. Was his deliverance near or was he going to go down with the system?
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ELDER MEETING NIGHTMARES!!!!!
by tresbella inahhh!
those dreaded elders meetings!
was it something as serious as someone heard from bro.
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The next meeting, elder asshole comes up to me, squeeses my arm hard, and says "you really need to get your time in!". I ripped my arm away, and said "I tried".
I remember one time an elder "grabbed" me. It wasn't that hard, but it was a demsonstration of power. It was like a father who grabs a young son who is misbehaving. I couldn't believe this guy had the nerve. Another elder must have seen the look on my face (though I tried to pass it off as not bothering me) and realized that I didn't like the encroachment on my personal space because he tried to apologize for the first elder later. I let it go and didn't make a big deal out of it, though it infuriated me.
To be fair, I only know of one or two elders who act like that but, if on a rare visit to a KH or convention, an elder ever touches me or grabs me in a way to try to demonstrate his power over me, he will find out real fast that if he touches me again there will be repurcussions that will result in physical pain for him.