Posts by Alligator Wisdom

12

"What is a Jehovah's Witness?"

by fokyc in

.

had the pleasure only someone who reports regularly".

any comments welcome please.

Alligator Wisdom

First, welcome fokyc and nice to have you posting!

Secondly, Gary & Moomin made excellent replies. I'll save them for future use. You can always derive maximum feedback when you answer the elders' question with a question.(Their feedback may vary, but you'll still have a great indicator of their motive and patience by their most sure quick response. Then ask them if the Holy Spirit had anything to do with their answer while getting them to read Proverbs 15:28).

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)

16

Elders that don't want to talk about spiritual things

by VM44 in

someone a month or so ago posted a comment here at jwd about how they were surprised that when elders got together, for instance for dinner or some other non-congregational activity, that they seldom or never talked about the bible or spiritual matters.

(if anyone remembers who made that comment, please let me know!

been trying to find the original thread for hours!).

Alligator Wisdom

Do elders talk about "spiritual things" on social time?

Yes. I heard a conversation among a few elders at a social event about how long it takes for them to make a public talk. Whether the one who did it quicker or the one who took the longest was viewed as most spiritual among them, I don't know!

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)

18

Today I was un-shunned.....

by AK - Jeff in

not typical of my sil to do more than just a casual greeting and look nervous when i run across her somewhere.

last time i met her in public at a restuarant she tried to weave across the room and hope i did not see her [fear of eating with an apostate i suppose.].

today the opposite - i came in to the restuarant and she was there, seated alone.

Alligator Wisdom

I never cared if a person was labeled as "shunned" or not. As an active JW, I would still greet and talk with those whom the congregation elders had DFd. There was one DFd woman in my congregation in particular who always had to walk across the street after the midweek evening meeting to a bus stop by herself. The situation wasn't ideal by anyones standards, especially when considering it wasn't wise nor safe to do so alone. I would always accompany her, feeling it was my duty at the time as an "attendant" in the congregation. It was on my own initiative. The elders noticed this and talked to me one day and asked why I was doing something like that and if I was talking with her. I said that it was showing love to my neighbor and would they themselves fail to lend a hand to someone who truly needed help or protection at any moments notice. I also said that I was talking with her and that it was also in line with scripture about showing fellow feeling by what we talked about (her family, job, trying to buy a car...etc). The elder body (service committe) couldn't refute that and it never was brought up again. I made it a point that when the elders used their WT coated scriptural reasoning, I would always give reasoning from the Bible while asking for Holy Spirit to guide me. The Holy Spirit won every time!

I still talked to her and others who were DFd to see how they were doing out of sincere interest. It was funny because nobody, neither the elders nor others n the congregation ever said anything to me about doing such. Why? I don't know. I just know that those who were DFd could count on me as being a fellow Christian. It doesn't mean that those DFd aren't worthy of being treated as fellow humans. I was firm on this stand and will always be. There was nothing scriptural that the elder body in my congregation could do at the time nor could ever do to me now.

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)

42

What were your absolute favorite Bands growing up?

by restrangled in

jw
friends

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Alligator Wisdom

The Beatles

The Smiths

The Clash

Talking Heads

R.E.M.

Midnight Oil

30

How Accurate is Your Bull$h!t Detector?

by Scully in

jw
friends

i think everyone has a bs detector, but not everyone utilizes theirs, or ignores its warnings.. i find that mine seems very sensitive and unless i "feel" sincerity from the person i am sizing up, my bs detector has various levels of "alert" mode.. in "yellow alert" mode, i tend to be very guarded with personal information until the individual's behaviour identifies whether i should maintain that status quo or not.

this seems to be my default setting, i think, because i tend to use it with all new people i encounter.. in "orange alert" mode, there's something about the person that just is not meshing with me.

they may be trying to cross a boundary that i do not want them to cross, like bestowing a nickname on me without asking me if i'm ok with it first.

Alligator Wisdom

I believe mine to be very accurate. However, I usually have the tendency to give them the benefit of the doubt. It is my way of showing them patience while giving them a second chance to be honest. It also gives me a deeper "read" of the person. I too, am imperfect and will be grateful if someone would give me the benefit of the doubt and to allow me to rectify any wrongs that I may have purposely slipped in.

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)

40

DID ELDERS POKE THEIR NOSE IN YOUR BUSINESS?

by badboy in

jw
friends

any takers?

Alligator Wisdom

Yes. Don't most of them?

One in particular was very curious, in fact, extremely curious as to what I had in my CD collection. When he had visited my place, his eyes always darted to my CD rack as he couldn't keep eye contact with me while we were talking. Well, he finally asked for permission to "check-out" my CDs and being the case that I didn't have anything to "hide", I let him.

After perusing through, he pulled out all of the foreign language ones that I had collected during my world travels and seriously asked me if I really knew the content of each one. He insinuated that many could be immoral and degrading music that Satan has infiltrated and would like for me to be in his clutches in such a way. OH BOY! I thought. Another one of those demon scares initiated by the elders that I'm accustomed to hearing while growing up as a JW.

They poke their noses and try to make you feel guilty for something.

I could go on and on about countless of other episodes, but that may have to be published in a book format.

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)

5

WERE THERE ANY AUXILLARY/SPECIAL PIONEERS IN YOUR COMGREGATION?

by badboy in

jw
friends

ant takers

Alligator Wisdom

My congregation was a very similar reflection of freetosee's congregation as quoted above. We had 20 regular pioneers and 4 special pioneers. Among the other publishers in the congregation were about 6 or 7 who would auxillary pioneer during the course of a service year. Since my congregation was a foreign language one, we had many "elite" sent to us from the branch office or had some who was proficient with the language and was sent by the branch under special recommendations.

I know of one sign language congregation in the southern California area with 70 pioneers. That's right! SEVENTY! That must be a record. (Yes, you may be wondering as I did; how many in that congregation are actually deaf? From what I know, most of the members in the congregation are hearing and learned sign language and desired to pioneer where the need is great).
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)

58

Are witnesses Christians?

by KW13 in

jw
friends

.

i know that all religions have their flaws, so do you agree that witnesses should call themselves christians or are they 'too un-christian'?.

the baptism, i think proves its different, they are baptized into an organization, that forms part of the questions...agreeing that the society is god's earthly representation.. personally i feel they are not christians.

Alligator Wisdom

Only when the letterhead says "The Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses".

Did you ever wonder why some letters from the Society had this printed on it while the other letters had WTBTS on it instead?

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)

10

Has Anyone Moved To Start A New Life

by uwishufish in

jw
friends

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i have plans to try to move to a new place( a long ways away) and do a career change among other things.. has anyone here ever made such changes and what advice do any of you have to offer that would be helpful?.

uwishufish

Alligator Wisdom

Yes. I made an international move about 7,000 miles away from my hometown. And yes, it was a start of a new life. Of course, just by moving doesn't mean that one will escape problems entirely. However, the change of pace and scenery (and in my case - culture) did wonders for my outlook on life. Besides, getting rid of "excess baggage" in simplifying when making this international move was part of the plan as well as my life style now provides me with freedoms beyone what I had imagined before. And speaking of career changes, am I ever grateful for the step that I took. It's great that you are making such an attempt. You will not have any regrets at all. Not many people can do what you are planning. Some may even envy you!

Advice = Simplify, simplify, simplify. Sell what you don't need. You can get anything else wherever you are going to fit your lifestyle at your new location.

Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)

40

Remember the Written Review

by 30girl in

what exactly was the purpose of the written review?

it was extremely helpful that the society warned you on the calendars which night you had to skip... we had those boards that they passed out so you had a good writing surface, often covered with witness grafiti like, jesus or jehovah or something biblical.

remember the little grading sheet on the back; excellent, very good, good -- was there a poor?

Alligator Wisdom

I believed they did away with the "written review" at the end of 2002. The "oral review" came in 2003.

One of the older sisters in my former congregation mentioned that when she was a little girl in the 1950's, they had these reviews (they were actually tests) unannounced. You had to always be prepared, something like a pop-quiz given at school now-a-days. Yes, they even did the grading and even posted on the information board at the next week's school as to who got the top scores. When I heard that they did this once-upon-a-time, the WTS must have taken the meaning of "school" seriously.

This method, as documented by previous posters, had toned down quite a bit as it now evolved into the oral review with the questions given out in advance in each publisher's copy of the Kingdom Ministry. Why the tapering off? Perhaps trying to make the school more "friendly" in the eyes of visitors and Bible students.

I didn't mind these written review sessions. It gave me time to really read my Bible without the side effects of non-Scriptural teaching from the platform.