TDS: That being said, while I'm stuck, why not get some information and play my cards?
Good plan. Thanks for taking one for the team.
first off, i'd like to state that i currently have "privileges" in the congregation and volunteer at bethel on and off throughout the year.
that's as much information as i will currently give about myself.. starting off, i think something big is coming in the form of lawsuits and bad pr.
they seem to be batting down the hatches in preparation for something the last few years and even more so the last few months.
TDS: That being said, while I'm stuck, why not get some information and play my cards?
Good plan. Thanks for taking one for the team.
i'd like to start off by saying that i will be very vague in everything i say.
i am fairly "high up" in jw land and have to be somewhat careful how i word and say stuff.
sorry in advance if any specific details are left out.
TDS: more than you think are questioning, have doubts or are just straight up are staying for family reasons. It's hard to tell since everyone is afraid to talk
This first part of this is great news, the second not so much. It only underscores how powerful the threat of shunning is: it keeps people maintaining of facade of belief only to prevent being cast out and lose their family and friends.
Keep the updates coming.
In the meantime, let's review: It's a cult!
i need some advice guys.
how do you get people to mind their own buiseness without coming off as rude?.
i was invited to a jw gathering last night.
Esmeralda: I'm afraid that i'm already mentally trapped.
They only have authority and power over you if you give it to them.
This particular trap, or prison if you will, has no bars. This does not mean that it does not have a powerful hold over you, but it does mean you can live if only you will make up your mind to do so.
the following is a paragraph from the new february study watchtower article "learn from jehovah's loyal servants.".
7 a conflict of loyalties may arise when a close relative is disfellowshipped.
for example, a sister named anne [1] received a telephone call from her disfellowshipped mother.
TWoY: This makes the JW shunning not a personal decision but is a organisational guilt.
And that's the problem. I think we all understand and agree that everyone has the individual right to avoid people that are harmful to them.
But the WTBTS requires all of their members to shun anyone and everyone that the leadership at any level designates as pariah, an outcast. No questioning or dissent is allowed upon threat of the same punishment.
the following is a paragraph from the new february study watchtower article "learn from jehovah's loyal servants.".
7 a conflict of loyalties may arise when a close relative is disfellowshipped.
for example, a sister named anne [1] received a telephone call from her disfellowshipped mother.
committeechairman: At some point, I will not be able to conscientiously support what is going on and will have to opt out of being an elder and eventually being a JW as well.
I realize this will sound judgmental (and I suppose it is), but how can you support it now?
It's already bad. How much worse will it have to get before you make the already inevitable decision? Will you wait for the Kool-aid line to form?
As this thread title says, these policies and practices destroy families. This is already happening, ... now!
Let's review: It's a cult!
so when you first found out specific facts about the organisation, how did you feel??.
the un membership.
the way 1914 was calculated from pyramid measurements.
Betrayed.
But then it got worse. Everyone that I thought were my closest family and friends betrayed me again by choosing loyalty to this corrupt, lying religion over me.
Let's review: It's a cult!
i need some advice guys.
how do you get people to mind their own buiseness without coming off as rude?.
i was invited to a jw gathering last night.
Start asking them the same kind of intrusive questions:
- I hear JWs don't believe in oral sex. Is that true?
- Really?!? What kinds of sexual positions are approved? Who decides these things? Has it always been this way? (It hasn't, in case you don't already know this).
- How long have you been married?
- Do you still have sex? I've heard couples that've been married that long never have sex any more. Is that true?
one of the businesses i cover is owned by jws and the father and 2 sons knew me as an active brother until 3 years ago when i told one of them i no longer attend the meeting.
today the father and one of the sons asked me if i was still inactive.
i told them it has been more than 5 years since i last been at a meeting.
Stuck: Why would someone willingly choose to return to an "abusive spouse"?
Read up on codependent relationships and you'll find that is exactly what MOST people in such a relationship do.
not sure if this was posted before... but apparently for the wt a woman's smaller cranium than a man's shows she was designed to be in submission to the man!!
unbelievable he dared to say such things!.
https://youtu.be/wqzc2m8_mba.
R&R, great find!
We should mail a copy to Small-minded "Big-head" Sammy Herd
okay, i posted this in a thread that got locked and buried.
since then i've been really busy and have overdosed on christmas music in the past week.
so, i'm resurrecting this "holy day" holiday that most people will unknowingly be celebrating tomorrow.