Posts by William Penwell

14

Memorial Attendances This Year

by steve2 in

have attendance figures at this year's memorial been released yet, including number of partakers?

sometimes the kingdom ministry (now called christian life and ministry) provided local figures say for the country.. for two to three years the worldwide figure has hovered around the 19 plus million, with a drop off in attendance last year.. just wondered if there has been any change this year or if the downward trend has continued?

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William Penwell

Numbers the GB no longer wish to see:
1. Number of partakers
2. Number of memorial attendees
3. Number of years between 1914 and now

4. Number of years since the false 1975 prophecy of the end of the system, that according to the GB never existed.

26

Finding out that jws are not what they make out to be

by nomorepain13 in

*warning this is long* it all started on the last day of the "remain loyal to jehovah" convention.

a little background story, i've been raised as a jw, been in and out of the religon, never baptised but was made an unbaptized publisher about 3 years ago, always felt out of place in the congregation, blamed myself for this because if i had just went to meetings and did all the right things then i would have friends and not be in the mess that i was.

right after becoming an unbaptized publisher i met my now fiance, end up leaving my mother's house to live with him, elders haven't contacted me about my situation even though i'm sure they know as my step father is an elder...but anyway on the last day of the convention my fiance came with me as i was visiting my mother and had planned to go with her and her husband to the convention.

William Penwell

When I was an active JW, I had the unhealthy fear that I would be destroyed at Armageddon. Yes, JW's believe that their so-called "loving" god would rather destroy you even if you are a good person simply because you are not doing enough in "the truth"! So while JW's teach that God is love, their actions and beliefs speak otherwise!

I am going through this right now with my family. I am at a cross roads but I know which way to go. Even my own immediate family are starting to put pressure on me because they feel I am not living the right life even though I have had much to do with the cult for the last 30 years and haven't attended a meeting for the last 15 years. The only reason why this has not come to a head is while my parents were still alive. Now they are both gone I really don't care. If they decide they do not want to talk to me any more that is their issue not mine. I find they all don't know what unconditional love is but are passive aggressive, emotional blackmailers. I am just ready to send my family member a response to her email and I am afraid will not be holding back anything. Even my GF thinks it is crazy and I warned her, this is why you don't get involved with them as once your in you can't leave and if you try they keep trying to pull you back in.

26

Finding out that jws are not what they make out to be

by nomorepain13 in

*warning this is long* it all started on the last day of the "remain loyal to jehovah" convention.

a little background story, i've been raised as a jw, been in and out of the religon, never baptised but was made an unbaptized publisher about 3 years ago, always felt out of place in the congregation, blamed myself for this because if i had just went to meetings and did all the right things then i would have friends and not be in the mess that i was.

right after becoming an unbaptized publisher i met my now fiance, end up leaving my mother's house to live with him, elders haven't contacted me about my situation even though i'm sure they know as my step father is an elder...but anyway on the last day of the convention my fiance came with me as i was visiting my mother and had planned to go with her and her husband to the convention.

William Penwell

The dubs can be so judging of a person before they even know the whole story. They claim they aren't but they are the most judgemental people I have come across.

You are right that the average Dub is very gullible and take people at face value when it comes to dealing with wordly people. I learned this the hard way when I left and went on my own.

What did it for me was the fact that the Watchtower has predicted the end of the world many times, always incorrectly, but still act as if they possess special knowledge about the end and still pretend that Armageddon is just around the corner.

Not only that the WT did not even have the decency to admit they mislead the rank and file after 1975 but blamed it all on some overzealous dubs. For anyone that came in to the organization or was born after 1975 don't understand this. I was there and seen it first hand. That was the beginning of the end for me.

18

Requesting a few dozen copies of any edition of Watchtower and/or Awake!

by Pete J in

i need maybe 2-5 dozen copies of any edition of the watchtower or awake!

magazines to distribute to family, friends, and neighbors.

any reasonable condition.

William Penwell

I would think 99% of the magazines that are placed at the doors goes into the land fill. With the advent of the PC and Tablets most Dubs don't carry around with them magazines out side of placing them at the doors.

22

Coming to a Kingdom Hall near you

by FatFreek 2005 in

putting it simply, kingdom halls are no longer the property of a local group of the folks that paid for and constructed it.

the lender, the watchtower society, now says that once a mortgage is satisfied, that congregation must then declare a resolution which says it will continue to make payments, usually equal to the amount they were paying on the mortgage.

and they must do so indefinitely.

William Penwell

can you imagine---- dubs who may have donated for years towards building a kingdumb hall----and understandably feeling a close bond with it-----only to have the ownership taken by the watchtower-------whilst still having to donate the same amount!

I know a lot of them that would go along with this without question. The WT would spin it that the money is needed to go where the need is greater and most of the rank and file dubs would go along with it.

I know the WT does not tithe but they put a heavy guilt trip on to the members to contribute as much as they can to the KIngdum work. My parents would give a fair amount from the pension money to the Kingdum work.

12

Need some advice Re: JW marking by a family member

by William Penwell in

so anyone that has read some of my posts on here over the years knows i have done the slow fade over the last 30 years.

i do not claim to be a jw and have not being in a kingdum hall now to attend a meeting or convention for religious reasons for almost 15 years.

now i know the discussion on here from this past dc was the rank and file dubs have being pressured to distance themselves away from family members that are no longer active dubs that they deem are not living up to wt bible principals.

William Penwell

Just a curve ball here - are you and your girlfriend likely to get married?

No plans right now and I do not want to do it because it would make someone else happy. I was married once and as a dub I married for the wrong reasons.

41

I don't think I will be able to escape the JWs ...

by nevaagain in

jw
friends

i know i will get a lot of backslash on this forum for saying this, but as it looks like, i won't ever be able to escape the jws.

i have been a born in, third generation jw and awoken in one way or another (i joined this forum 15 years ago) for a very long time.

but i have adapted to the jw lifestyle to a point where it does not bother me anymore.

William Penwell

You cannot continue to live a double life. I was there and done that. My ex wanted a elder pioneer husband and was never going to be that. I had to go to the meetings on Sunday and put on a false façade in front of these other people I really had nothing in common with. It eventually got to me before I made my decision to leave. It is your life, do what makes you happy. No one else can tell you what you should or shouldn't do, so you do not have to listen to what anyone has to say here.

22

Coming to a Kingdom Hall near you

by FatFreek 2005 in

putting it simply, kingdom halls are no longer the property of a local group of the folks that paid for and constructed it.

the lender, the watchtower society, now says that once a mortgage is satisfied, that congregation must then declare a resolution which says it will continue to make payments, usually equal to the amount they were paying on the mortgage.

and they must do so indefinitely.

William Penwell

I can't believe anyone with any common sense would donate money to something that they could get evicted at any time if the organization see fit to do so. I bet you the rank and file dub do not fully understand what this means or the WT has flowered the contract up enough to hide this fact.

12

Need some advice Re: JW marking by a family member

by William Penwell in

so anyone that has read some of my posts on here over the years knows i have done the slow fade over the last 30 years.

i do not claim to be a jw and have not being in a kingdum hall now to attend a meeting or convention for religious reasons for almost 15 years.

now i know the discussion on here from this past dc was the rank and file dubs have being pressured to distance themselves away from family members that are no longer active dubs that they deem are not living up to wt bible principals.

William Penwell

How much interaction did you have? Would ignoring it be a possibility?

Even though we have not had a lot in common as far as the religion was concerned, we would meet up the odd time for coffee or lunch and talked about stuff in general but never got into the religious stuff. That was the relationship we have had. We were close in age and we had a lot in common growing up. The last two years since my parents have passed away we have not had much contact. Seems like it was our parents that kept us together. The signs were there that she has being somewhat distant the last while. I think she has been getting some heat from maybe another family member or the organization that she should not have too much to do with me as a non practising dub. I have no problem walking away now if this is what she chooses as I am not going to be emotionally black mailed. I think I will just make a brief reply stating that it is her choice not mine (as I do not recognize the WT authority anyway) and that I have to do this for my happiness because I want to not because someone else wants me to.

You have done a slow fade for the past 30 years , have not attened a meeting for the past 15 years ?
And you are concerned about what your JW sister thinks of you ?
It sounds to me , WP , that you are a typical person that has left the "truth" however the "truth" has never left you ,
You need to do research and decide for yourself whether JW`s have the truth or not and stop sitting on the fence.
Research information on this site using the search option at the top right hand corner on subjects that relate to the truth.
The time has come for you to make decisions in your life that map out your future ,go for it.

No I am not concerned what my sister or anyone else thinks of me, otherwise I would still be a Dub. I am at a good place in my life and am happy without the cult in my life. Not sure of your back ground but if a person still has some family members in the religion, regardless, you never quite get away from the whole BS. I know it was discussed on here that the WT this last DC was putting pressure on Dubs to cut ties with other family members that were ex Dubs if they are not living a what they deem as a "Christian" life style.

As far as the cult or religion is concerned I have made my choice. I am no longer consider myself as dub. Like I mentioned the only reason why I stayed somewhat close was because for my parents sake. Now they are gone I am not worried if my other brothers or sisters cut ties with me. I am happy in my life and will just move on with my own life. I will not be emotionally black mailed in to doing what someone else wants me to do. After I received my sisters email, I just didn't want to respond out of emotions but give it some thought. My reason for this post was to get some input from others on here that has had to deal with a similar situation.

17

Rape Victim Forced To Listen To a Tape Of Her Assault In A JC

by pale.emperor in

this is absolutely outrageous.

a rape victim was forced to listen to herself being raped while the elders stopped and started the tape claiming she was consenting.

even though during one of the assaults she was duct-taped, gagged and had a pillowcase over her head.

William Penwell

I swear that some of these old fuddy duddies actually get off by listening to some of this. I recall one of the judicial meeting I had to sit through to get reinstated they asked me if I had any relations with a certain woman and I said no. Well that wasn't good enough, the one elder had to then ask questions and went into details like did you touch her there or kiss her etc. A bunch of sick f*cks.