q7) although some are afraid to speak in public or to attend a meeting, how do they show endurance?.
q22, 23) of what can you be sure as you await jehovah's day with endurance?.
official encouragement comes from the pages of the wts publications such as this fine example.. how would you respond?.
Great commentary and great mastery of the English language.
I know quite a few in my congregation that are going to be really depressed after this crap. I personally know 8 people who suffer from bi polar and social phobias and depression in my congregation.
i don't know whether to laugh or cry.. a friend lent me coc yesterday and i stayed up most of the night reading it.
it took me 13 hours and i skipped the meeting today to keep reading, i couldn't bear to put it down.. i am shocked but not surprised at how closely ray's thinking mirrors my own in some ways.
the part that hit me hardest was.... "conviction, it has no meaning or validity unless it is individual, personal.
After reading CoC, I feel like I just died. I also feel like I've just been born.
this is a true description of how many of us have felt after reading CoC.
wanna
i have been battling an incurable illness and will be able to post less and less.
i will post my email, and any help you cna asend my way will be appreciated.
there is treatment but no cure and no cancer yet.
Hi blondie,
I am sending you some good wishes and lots of hugs
regards
wanna
5go had a thread here - the service overseer nearly cried from the podium that mentioned something i never realized, elders having to chip in from their own pockets to cover expenses.. how many elders here had to do that, and what was the average amount and frequency that you had to make up the shortfalls?.
bb.
.
never seen or heard of this happening. It would never occur to me or my fellow elders to do such a thing.
Although not widespread or a "rule", it did happen in some congregations. Both my father and father-in-law dipped in their own pockets when the congregation came up short.
wanna
thought this would be good to discuss for the newbies and others just getting out of the witnesses, so they can have their thinking and appetites whetted of things they never knew coming out from under the witness organizations spell.
i know for myself, after reading this book, it totally clarified what the reasons were for all the control in the organization.
and i was informed of things i never had a clue that were going on behind the bethel scenes.
it totally clarified what the reasons were for all the control in the organization. And I was informed of things I never had a clue that were going on behind the Bethel scenes
Flipper,
The day my husband felt I was ready to read CoC, he gave me the book and a container of Tylenol. I read the book almost at one sitting. I couldn't put it down. ( I used the Tylenol too.)
As I read the book, it felt like a heavy load slid off me. I could finally put a finger to all those little nagging doubts that I had shoved aside for so many years. I was exilirated. Everything Ray said fell into place for me.
But after the 'real truth' set in, I was mad as hell. I asked myself why didn't I see it before. Why had I wasted literally half of my life serving the whims of old men that cared so little for me. I went into a fairly deep depression for a while. That was in 2002
I have finally found my balance. Although I still attend for the sake of elderly parents (dad an elder), I am happy to be completely mentally free of watchtower shackles. I have gone back to school and have forged some good friends on the outside.
regards to you and yours
wanna
ok so this was told to the entire congregation by the circuit overseer.
"the society knows the tract work brings hardly any new disciples in.
we get a few good experiences out of it and a few start studies and attend a few meetings.
they get children to become unbaptized publishers really quick with the track work.
a recent thread ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/139118/1.ashx ) raised the issue of charles taze russell not being the first president of the watchtower... it appears to be an argument of semantics because the society had a different name (as one poster pointed out in the thread).
the watchtower society obviously has some embarassment over this issue because the amendments to the revelation book dealt with this :.
full size scans here :.
I noticed that the new "Revelation" book has dropped the term "president" when referring to either Russell or Rutherford.
wanna
barbara anderson has just released a new book on cd that contains some 5000 pages of public court records from the nine lawsuits involving 16 victims that the wts settled secretly in may of this year, plus documents from two other cases the society settled in 2000 and 2006.. .
its called secrets of pedophilia in an american religion: jehovahs witnesses in crisis.. .
the book, and more info from barbara about it, is available here:.
Starting the read tonight
wanna
this may be covered some where in the archives here, but came across this today on the internet.. 90 year old anna bedford owner of one of the great camps of the adirondacks (preserve at green bay, 135 acres) dies and somehow the society becomes the owner.
they sell for 2.250 million dollars in june of l988.. see the bottom of page 2. .
link: http://nysdta.org/determinations/813952.det.pdf.
When I get old and decrepit enough to start wearing Depends, I'm going to save up the used ones and bequeath them to the WTS. I figure after all the $h!t they fed me for 25 years deserves to be repaid in kind.
Scully, you are so funny--- your comment made my day. Wanna
welcome, welcome.
i hope you enjoy this forum and absorb the many benifits it has to offer.
Hi leagalchickie,
I read your bio. It is so similar to what most of us have endured.
I am happy for you that you have found this site. The guilt will go away as you read and learn more.
I want to send you my sincerest regards
wanna
