Posts by William Penwell

18

Are Jehovah`s Witnesses of today, aware, or even care about their early history of the 1800`s ?

by smiddy in

in the 1960`s when i was a new convert , a 20 year old , i devoured the book "jehovahs witnesses in the divine purpose" outlining the early history of the restoration of true christianity in the world.it helped to convince me then that this was indeed the true religion......not that i remember much of the details it contained nowadays .. i understand there was a poor attempt to mimic it with the " proclaimers " book a much sanitized version of the early history of the jw religion.

what reputable organization in the world ,secular ,religious or otherwise ,doctors their own early history/ beginnings unless they have something to hide or are ashamed of.. how many jw`s today would know that they were formed as the " international bible students association" in the late 1800`s , or that their first president of that association was none other than w.h.conley ,and not c.t.russell.. does it even matter ?

does anybody really care ?.

William Penwell

Some may have read the whitewashed version in the Proclaimers book...but most are satisfied I'm sure with, the "fact" that Jehovah now has cleansed His organization from previous errors....

This is how it was explained to me growing up that the early Bible Students practised things that were not scriptural in the beginning but that the light gets brighter and that is why they did away with these false teachings. Although this gets back to, if the WT is spirit directed how can they make mistakes in the first place?

I once asked my mother about the early Millarite influence on the early Bible Student movement but she was not aware of this either.

21

RUSSIA: Many meetings raided and evidence planted

by ZAPPA-ESQUE in

raids on jehovah's witness premises now take place more than three times per month.

these raids on doctrinally pacifist* religious communities often involve many heavily armed and camouflaged officials, with the "discovery" of apparently planted banned "extremist" literature.

legal dissolution of communities can follow.. http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2228.

William Penwell

Russia has being a repressive country and will probably continue to be like this in our life time.

13

Memorial observance screwery.

by Darkknight757 in

had a thought about the memorial observance that is held at the kingdumb hall every year.

there are a few youtube videos of people partaking of the bread and the wine and then making some grand speech before being escorted off the premises.

instead of that, has anyone tried getting a group of buddies together and when receiving the bread or the wine, just eat or drink it all?

William Penwell

I second kairos, I looked at all apostates as nutcases and it had no effect on my beliefs at the time, plus just disrespectful. I allow JW's to believe what they want without trying to influence them, as I don't want them pushing their beliefs down my throat either, even thought I used to be one.

It does take away from our argument that we would like them to respect our right to believe whatever we want to believe, when we can't even respect their rights to believe what they want to believe.

13

Memorial observance screwery.

by Darkknight757 in

had a thought about the memorial observance that is held at the kingdumb hall every year.

there are a few youtube videos of people partaking of the bread and the wine and then making some grand speech before being escorted off the premises.

instead of that, has anyone tried getting a group of buddies together and when receiving the bread or the wine, just eat or drink it all?

William Penwell

I can think of all kinds of amazing things to do to unsuspecting JWs.
I always come back to, 'why'?
It's a wasting of time, the way I see it.
Think back to how you would have reacted.
I'd seen and heard many apostates before I'd awoken to TTATT.
It had ZERO effect.

Thinking back as a brain washed dub this would have just made my resolve stronger that this is an act of Satan to test my faith.

22

I got a voicemail from an elder about meeting with me.

by schnell in

yesterday, i missed a call and got a long voicemail from an elder who would like to meet with my wife and i some time this weekend, with another elder who dealt with my brother.

i haven't responded.

it's meeting night tonight, and my wife has already talked about staying home to do yoga with me instead.. yeah.

William Penwell

I was in your boat at one time. The elders were fairly aggressive with trying to meet with me in person once they realized I was fading, fortunately I was able to dodge their attempts. But, even to this day, if they were to find me, like yourself, I wouldnt be able to hold back what I feel about the organization. I wouldnt be able to lie about it that's for sure and they won't like what i have to say. Whatever happens, happens. Good luck!

While my parents were still alive I did not want to stir up anything then but if they ever try to talk to me now I really don't care as I would tell them what I think of their organization.

22

I got a voicemail from an elder about meeting with me.

by schnell in

yesterday, i missed a call and got a long voicemail from an elder who would like to meet with my wife and i some time this weekend, with another elder who dealt with my brother.

i haven't responded.

it's meeting night tonight, and my wife has already talked about staying home to do yoga with me instead.. yeah.

William Penwell

Knowing these two faced POS they want to meet up with you to get enough information on you to DF you. Its up to you if you want to meet with them but you should know what you are getting into.

25

It was never, ever, a warning work, was it?

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

most witnesses i knew were exteeemly reluctant to go out in the ministry.

but when they did, they were simply scraping by, eager to avoid conflict and just do their hour or so speaking to lonely old ladies or widowed old men.

placing magazines in a car group, doing route calls, plodding along in the utter boredom of their responsibility to get some time on a report by the last day of the month.. this was never a warning work.

William Penwell

I remember going door to door with some of the friends when I was a teenager. One dub friend I would work with in the ministry, to look good he would pretend to knock on the door and just hope no one would come to the door. If they did he would just say I have the watchtower and awake magazines, he might as well said, "you really are not interested are you?"...

I always hated the time thing as to me most of the dubs were not doing it for the right reasons but only to pad their monthly totals. My sisters when they first met my girl friend were as nice a pie to her, only to ask her to attend a meeting or assembly. I warned her that they only look at her as a potential bible study so they can just count the time on their ministry report.

22

Summer Regional Convention

by miss.ives01 in

has anyone attended the sunday program of the summer regional convention, remain loyal to jehovah?.

i have been very concerned about the tone of discussion surrounding sundays program.

i went to friday and sat., not sunday.

William Penwell

I am grappling with the "what ifs" they are somehow right about all of this. I have to say though they would not allow me to live in their new world if I made it. Whats wrong with them?? Why are they so sure??

This is all part of the cult conditioning and it does take a while to get de-programmed. Growing up in the 60's and 70's and seeing first hand the 1975 fiasco I have no doubt in my mind the organization is wrong. They can make all the excuses they want but if they were spirit directed like they claim the are, they would not make mistakes in the first place. Then when you learn this is not the first failed prediction the society has made over the years. Why are they so sure? Is because they are a cult.

22

Summer Regional Convention

by miss.ives01 in

has anyone attended the sunday program of the summer regional convention, remain loyal to jehovah?.

i have been very concerned about the tone of discussion surrounding sundays program.

i went to friday and sat., not sunday.

William Penwell

I think the GB is panicking a bit and seeing that the money is not coming in like it used to. That is why the clamp down on the rank and file members not associating with weak and inactive dub relatives.

Since I have left I have never being happier. Even now my sister says she can't have anything to do with me as Jehovah comes first in her life. If she thinks this will get me to run back she is so wrong as I do not need her and her dysfunctional cult in my life.

37

More speculation on Kingdom Hall closers and money grabbing?

by Crazyguy in

there continues to be more and more rumors of more halls being sold off some even taking the first offer.

the borg trying to get thier bond money back from the court in san diego asap and there's been elders meetings about this consolidation.

my questions is why after selling off all this real estate in new york for over a billion dollars are they still acting like thier broke?

William Penwell

I would think their financial people are looking at all the KIngdum Hall and seeing which ones are in the red and if they are sitting on a piece of valuable property it does make financial sense to sell off that asset. The only lousy thing is the rank and file dubs paid for those Kingdum Halls.