Posts by SeventhSojourn

26

Tell us your strangest, weirdest, funniest encounters going D2D

by BluePill2 in

jw
friends

if you where a brave little witness soldier, or even a pioneer (gasp), you must have seen a lot of strange shit.

the probability of encountering "interesting" people or getting yourself into weird situations is pretty high.. i'll start.

i have to get them together, but today i remembered this ones:.

SeventhSojourn

A sister and I go up to the front door of a typical house. Strange door, no external doorknob, just a metal plate where it should be. After several knocks and a brief wait, a creepy male voice from behind the door says slowly and quietly: "Go away." Humm... I request a brief moment just to speak with him. Then we hear: "I said go away. This house is under quarantine." The sister says we better go. Halfway back to the car I tell the sister I'm going to go back, give a quick knock and just say I'm leaving a couple of mags at the doorstep.

I pull out my mags, quickly knock and look down to place them. The door flies open, a crazy looking man with hair whacked out, bulging eyes, in a night gown starts screaming and flailing his arms at me. "I told you to go away!" I put my hands up to protect myself, he grabs the mags out of my hands and begins to beat me about the head with them. I backed up, turned around and hightailed it back to the car. The crazy guy goes back in the house but you can still hear him screaming inside with the door shut, from the street. The sister says to me: "Don't forget to write that down... you placed two mags."

27

MTS & Gilead: Can we talk about how much of a FAILURE these 2 schools were/are?

by Black Man in

jw
friends

i know quite a few from both of these schools who basically crashed and burned once they got into their assignments.

graduates of these schools would be thrown into foreign territorities or remote areas without a good visible means of support and would get emotionally, mentally, financially burned out.

post your experiences or of those you know that went to these pitiful excuses for educational institutions..

SeventhSojourn

I was close to a couple that graduated Gilead and were assigned to some obscure town in Africa. They couldn't even finish a year there. They were so unprepared for the possible realities facing missionaries. The missionaries already living at the home were fried. He told me shortly after he and his wife arrived at the home it became evident there were serious problems.

The missionaries there didn't go out much to preach and didn't support them in their efforts. They explained to him that this was an impossible assignment, they were not going to continue the charade, so they just kept making up their field service hours and sending in the reports without actually going out to preach. They added that they got no real help from the WTS.

When this couple got back to the states they were changed people. The wife got physically sick and also had a nervous breakdown. She has trouble functioning, is no longer the woman I used to know. The husband contracted some parasites or something and will be sick with it the rest of his life. Oh, and the society didn't even want to pay their plane fare to fly them out and back to the states to get help. - So sad.

You won't see that experience in a Yearbook. Yes, these schools are mostly for show and further indoctrination imo.

SeventhSojourn

6

Putting the Universe in Persepective

by startingover in

jw
friends

this is amazing, it may take a little time to load, make sure you see the whole thing.. http://cavemancircus.com/2013/06/27/putting-the-universe-in-perspective/.

.

SeventhSojourn

Pretty cool! Thanks.

119

How many of you followed the WTS direction on education years ago and have been screwed by it?

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

i'm really interested in this question because i've heard for years that if you forgo further education and go pioneering, when you have a family down the track you will get a good job because jehovah will provide for you because you pioneered.

as long as i was a kool-aid drinker, even then, i thought, "how does pioneering pay your bills?

surely education should come first.

SeventhSojourn

JakeM2012:

If you don't have an education, you will have only limited success, and that is what this thread is about. The experiences read here are not of all the successful doctors, nurses, engineers, and scientist, etc., but experiences of people that knew they could have done better in life, but because they listened to WT's faulty reasoning and empty promises, they are screwed for life.

Well said. The topic is - "How many of you followed the WTS direction on education years ago and have been screwed by it?"

Some of us that did follow and woke up early or are younger can maybe salvage something, but still at a serious disadvantage. Those of us who woke up late or are older...? It's down right frightening. In one comment here the poster mentioned how they were fortunate to have liberal jw parents that encouraged education and it turned out OK. Then goes on to say to those who did follow WTS and got screwed to stop letting the past keep you from having a future. Kind of missed the whole point of this thread - Ya think?

In many cases it can't be fixed because the damage is done, is permanent, and self perpetuating. Picture those that were slaves to the WTS, threw themselves into it, put their lives and futures aside to live for "Jehovah." Good people. They denied themselves in practically everything. I don't need to give a rundown on that JakeM2012, you covered it quite well in your post. Imagine your 50-60+ years old with no trade, no certifications, limited basic skills, some chronic health issues, not fast enough, not smart enough, close to dirt poor, with no savings, and maybe a halfway decent car.

The best years of your life have passed as far as physical, mental, and earning capacity. As far as the job market is concerned your are a poor investment, you are in you're declining years. That's reality. That's getting screwed to the wall. You might be able to put a band-aid here and there, but your ship has sailed and you know it. That is your inheritance from the WTS. Pissed off? We should be.

SeventhSojourn

119

How many of you followed the WTS direction on education years ago and have been screwed by it?

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

i'm really interested in this question because i've heard for years that if you forgo further education and go pioneering, when you have a family down the track you will get a good job because jehovah will provide for you because you pioneered.

as long as i was a kool-aid drinker, even then, i thought, "how does pioneering pay your bills?

surely education should come first.

SeventhSojourn

I was wondering. For someone like me and the wife who are both DA'd and shunned: We had zero non-jw friends or acquaintances for over 30 years. We have not yet made any non-jw friends of note. What do you do when you have to supply personal references to a prospective employer or fill in a least three current references on an application? Often, family members are excluded as a personal reference. Are we screwed twice? Your thoughts - Anybody?

119

How many of you followed the WTS direction on education years ago and have been screwed by it?

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

i'm really interested in this question because i've heard for years that if you forgo further education and go pioneering, when you have a family down the track you will get a good job because jehovah will provide for you because you pioneered.

as long as i was a kool-aid drinker, even then, i thought, "how does pioneering pay your bills?

surely education should come first.

SeventhSojourn

Yes screwed - And those screws just keep on turning. There are also screws for health care, life insurance, and investing. This is an excellent topic thread. Thank you J Orwell.

SeventhSojourn

47

calling all elders - what goes on at the week long elders school?

by not bitter in

my dad is currently attending a week long elders school.

dad is in his 70's and not in great health at the moment so this is adding to my anger that he is having to leave the house at 7am and doesn't return until 6pm and then has to lock himself away to study further in preparation for the next day.. he has also been told he is not to discuss anything about the school with other elders until they have all attended.

what are they learning about that isnt' already out there for all to read anyway.. they can't be learning more bible stuff as the bible is there to be read by the general public so i can only assume that its all top secret stuff that the rest of the congregation can't know about.

SeventhSojourn

ApostateChick -"I get what you're saying, but this is way more than just trying to get an accurate understanding of the behavior. If a woman has sex, she admits it-that's pretty much all that needs to be said. You know?"

Wow. If that's the way it went down I totally agree with you. Horrible, stupid, twisted, and disgusting. That is an abuse of the victim and an abuse of power of the worst kind. I'll tell you, if something like that happened to a daughter of mine meeting with some elders, and I came to know of it - I would probably arrange a meeting with them. And I wouldn't let up, and wouldn't end it until I made them crap their diapers. Then I would record all testimonies and document everything. Then I would start a campaign to hold these "Brothers" accountable. - This really burns me.

Keep on in your recovery.

SeventhSojourn

100

My mother passed away this morning...

by Tatiana in

jw
friends

for any old-school ex-jws here that remember my many posts about my abusive jw mother and my sister committing suicide because of it...she passed away this morning because she began to bleed out and refused a transfusion.

she had been in the hospital for a month.

it appears she suffered a stroke and wasn't found by the brothers & sisters for three days (they missed her at the meetings).

SeventhSojourn

Tatiana - My sympathy on the loss of your Mom. I was not on the forum then. Thank you for sharing and letting us know how you're doing.

SeventhSojourn

47

calling all elders - what goes on at the week long elders school?

by not bitter in

my dad is currently attending a week long elders school.

dad is in his 70's and not in great health at the moment so this is adding to my anger that he is having to leave the house at 7am and doesn't return until 6pm and then has to lock himself away to study further in preparation for the next day.. he has also been told he is not to discuss anything about the school with other elders until they have all attended.

what are they learning about that isnt' already out there for all to read anyway.. they can't be learning more bible stuff as the bible is there to be read by the general public so i can only assume that its all top secret stuff that the rest of the congregation can't know about.

SeventhSojourn

goodsoul -"Do you care, how others ex-JW will view current JW elders? Or, how they view former elders?"

Yes. I care about more than just what I think. Many current and former elders are here now, on this forum. You are presuming to know their motives for accepting that position and painting them all with a broad brush. How many of them have you interviewed to obtain this special insight? How many of their stories have you read to uniquely qualify you as authority as to their purpose and motives? How much do you know of ApostateChick's situation to conclude she "had some really perverted elders" on her case?

"Is it nostalgie?"

No. Nostalgia has to do with the past. Tell me. If you and I were sitting face-to-face at a table in a room full of jw's and x-jw's of mixed levels of past and current status (pubs, pioneers, min servants, elder, whatever) and I said to you in a loud voice: "Oh, you were an ______? Another ______ huh? You're all the same. All you want is __________ and the WTS was/is your ticket to have it." How would that land?

How about: "Oh, you were an elder? Another control freak huh? You're all the same. All you want is control over people and the WTS was or is you ticket to have it." - Excuse me? Look, I'm not proud or comfortable with what was required of me as an elder. Lots of things I wish now I never did. But to say that me and "most" other elders served or are serving for purely selfish reasons to have control over others? Although you have the right to think it and say it, you are 100% wrong.

SeventhSojourn

47

calling all elders - what goes on at the week long elders school?

by not bitter in

my dad is currently attending a week long elders school.

dad is in his 70's and not in great health at the moment so this is adding to my anger that he is having to leave the house at 7am and doesn't return until 6pm and then has to lock himself away to study further in preparation for the next day.. he has also been told he is not to discuss anything about the school with other elders until they have all attended.

what are they learning about that isnt' already out there for all to read anyway.. they can't be learning more bible stuff as the bible is there to be read by the general public so i can only assume that its all top secret stuff that the rest of the congregation can't know about.

SeventhSojourn

goodsoul - "From the other side- who mostly become an elders in WTS? people who like to control others."

Totally disagree. That comment just shows how you are trying to influence control of how others view current and former elders. In fact, if you were an elder, it may reveal the reason why YOU became one.

SeventhSojourn