I miss what I used to have at the Kingdom Hall when I was growing up. Back then I used to look forward to going and I had (or so I thought) quite a lot of friends. But in retrospect, I was growing up in an abusive and incestuous home, so maybe my perspective was just a wee bit off . . . .
Big Tex
JoinedPosts by Big Tex
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26
DO YA MISS "THE SWEET FELLOWSHIP"?
by minimus inone of the major reasons that a disfellowshipped or disassociated person has for coming back to "jehovah's organization" is that perhaps they will miss the "sweet fellowship".
after hearing comments regarding the km article on how to treat disfellowshipped ones, i must wonder why anyone of sound mind would think a disfellowshipped person would miss anything from the organization.
viewing persons as "dead" while out of the organization would not make one feel anxious to return to jehovah's loving arrangement through the organization.whoever coined the term about missing "the sweet fellowship" was pretty clever.
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72
YOU KNOW says "IT's A CONSCIENCE MATTER"
by minimus inyesterday i asked you know and yardif why they frequent these apostate sites.i asked this question: "how do you justify coming on these boards?".
you know's answer:"the way i understand it, it is a conscience matter.
" when i asked whether he was serious, he replied:"i am serious".when i asked him for further clarification, he suddenly vanished from the conversation.
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Big Tex
There YOU go, just like Outlaw did in the beginning ... You YOURSELF are saying that such a person is still a Witness, because you call them an "inactive Witness".
Okay Yadrif, I'm going to use simple words since you seem to have trouble with reading comprehension. First, I don't give a damn what you consider yourself. If you want to play the role of Joe Witness, go for it. But, don't go putting words in my mouth. I was referring to this quote:
An "inactive dub" IS a "dub",
That is from YOUR post. Like I said chief, you be whatever you want to be. But don't go telling me what district overseers, circuit overseers or elders say or don't say if you're not there to listen to them. I was, and am, accurately reporting to you what the "faithful and discreet slave" has said and what a great many Witnesses believe.
As for whose prayers God hears, I would never presume to know that. My Bible says this, "God is near to all those calling upon him, to all those who call upon him in trueness." - Ps. 145:18. I cannot agree with your religon's harsh and arrogant attitude toward people who disagree with their views. Despite what your religon has done to me, I still believe in God, and more than that I believe his primary feeling toward all of us is love. I can't believe in an angry god who keeps stats, counts the number of butts in a KH, hours in service and thunders his disapproval to anyone who falls short. No. And more than that, I cannot believe in any god who looks down his nose at someone who is troubled, or has lost their way. No. Never. I believe that God not only loves humanity, I believe he likes us in a tender and compassionate way, as well. Why he does, now that I can't imagine, for we seem to have little to offer.
I believe you are still a Witness, whatever your meeting status currently is, since your attitude and behaviour mimics that of Jehovah's Witnesses perfectly. However, I aspire to find and be with someone who feels this way toward me:
"What do you think? If a certain man comes to have a hundred sheep and one of them gets strayed, will he not leave the 99 upon the mountains and set out on a search for the one that is straying? And if he happens to find it, I certainly tell you, he rejoices more over it than over the 99 that have not strayed. Likewise it is NOT a desirable thing with my Father who is in heaven for one of these little ones to perish." -- Mt. 18:12-14.
Peace,
Chris
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WERE YOU TREATED POORLY IN THE CONGREGATION?
by minimus inwhen you were associated in the congregation, were you treated in a way that made you feel like you were a 2nd class citizen?
how were you regarded?
were you the brunt of criticism or were you pretty much well-liked?
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Big Tex
My friends and family kept telling me that I wasn't good enough to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Finally, one day, I agreed with them.
To Leelee:
Before you go:
Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!!!
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72
YOU KNOW says "IT's A CONSCIENCE MATTER"
by minimus inyesterday i asked you know and yardif why they frequent these apostate sites.i asked this question: "how do you justify coming on these boards?".
you know's answer:"the way i understand it, it is a conscience matter.
" when i asked whether he was serious, he replied:"i am serious".when i asked him for further clarification, he suddenly vanished from the conversation.
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Big Tex
Yadirf, I posted what I did in response to your statement that an inactive/irregular Witness is still a Witness. Technically, I suppose I'm still a Witness, since no judicial action has ever been taken against me. If you consider yourself a Witness, then fine by me. I don't. And yet our status is the same according to the Witnesses. However, this JW line of thinking that an inactive Witness is dead before Jehovah is a one that I've heard many times from various elders and COs. I've never agreed with it, even when I stll going to meetings. I've also heard several times that Jehovah does not hear certain prayers. Again I've always disagreed with this teaching. Quotes very accurately refers to the 1990 Watchtower as just an example of this teaching. You may not agree with it, but accept it as a JW teaching. Ask around. If you doubt me, try it out on a few of your elders, or better yet do some research on it in the Watchtower. To me, it's just another in a long line of harsh and unloving teachings the WTBS seems to be about now. It didn't used to be that way.
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Moving forward
by silentlambs in.
please bill, ask the jwd board if anybody has ever seen or read a paper that a jw woman wrote in 1989 called "moving forward: help for witnesses handling issues of abuse and victimization in their lives.
" maybe you could inquire on some of the other chat groups for abuse victims.. mary really needs this to continue her narrative.. barb
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Big Tex
Wow. Great series of articles. It's treasure trove of information.
THIS is what this board is good for. Socks up boss!
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Deleting A Poster Akin To DF'ing?
by Englishman ini recently got an email from mr. moe.
amongst other things, she says that she hated df'ing when she was a dub, so she abhores the banning of certain posters from this site, because it seems so similar to df'ing.. i think her opinion is of great value and warrants looking at closely.
is suspending someone for the contents of their posts justifiable then?
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Big Tex
Englishman, I thought your pub analogy was on the mark, and not just because I love a good ale either! I keep hearing this freedom of speech cliche thrown about and that's a poor reason for wanting anarchy. We do not have ABSOLUTE freedom of speech anywhere. There is the old law school analogy: you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theatre. You also cannot incite to riot. Perhaps people don't realise that in America if you tell a crude or sexually explicit joke, you (or your company) can be liable for sexual harrassment. Finally, there is quite a lot of legal precedent lately for hate speech being actionable. Again, don't bring that "freedom of speech" thing up. Even in the United States, if someone chooses to exercise their vocal chords in an objectionable manner, there can be consequences.
I see no difference on this board. Some have chosen to be vituprative and down right mean-sprited in their posts. Others have chosen to ridicule the misfortunes of others. There is no dialogue in those posts. Once name calling starts, dialogue stops. And then, what is the point of this board?
Peace,
Chris
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Simon, I need to know ..........
by Sentinel insimon,.
perhaps i have been the one to misunderstand the prime objective of your forum.
in the beginning i went to the orginal posts from you to get an idea of what you had in mind, and it did seem like i was in a good place and that i understood the rules and such.
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Big Tex
Karen,
Nope. I'm not going anywhere. It's a little bumpy right now, but to me that's no biggie. I hope you stick around too. Take care. See ya 'round . . . .
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28
what did you miss in order to attend meetings?
by jack2 infor me, it was the nfc championship game three years ago in order to attend the meeting, then, on top of that, the elders had *scheduled* a meeting for that day as well, to discuss the co visit.
then there was a "supplemental" elder's school held a few years back that took me away from the afc title game.
oh, i taped the stuff, but time-shift recording of sports just doesn't cut it.
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Big Tex
Hey Jack, reading your post made me laugh out loud! Here's why:
Set the wayback machine to 1977. Our congregation (White Rock) had shared KHs with another (Lake Highlands), but we always got Sunday morning meetings. Well after a few years, Lake Highlands got tired of this arrangement and wanted to share Sundays. Well, here in Dallas we cannot miss our Cowboys games. So what the body of elders decided to do was to put the Sunday meeting times up to a vote. They cancelled the entire service meeting one night and got out a big easel board and "discussed" the advantages of a 6:00 p.m. start time. See, it was never mentioned in the meeting, but an NFL game lasts about 3 hours and most of the Cowboys games that season were scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. So the vote was put up and the majority of the congregation voted on a 1:30 p.m. start time, which was a disaster since one would miss the beginning of the game. So they tabled a "final" vote until next week, when they again cancelled the entire service meeting to vote between 1:30 and 6 p.m. Well in the intervening week, the elders canvassed certain sections and twisted some arms and got several people to change their minds, since a "1:30 p.m. start time would be inconvenient to the pioneers and families and it would take up the whole day, etc. etc." So 6:00 p.m. was voted and passed.
Well, that year Dallas went to the Super Bowl and guess what time it started? 5:30 p.m. The elders, being sensitive to the needs of the congregation quickly convened an emergency meeting (cancelling another service meeting) to address the "6:00 p.m. Question". They magnanimously pointed out their error in suggesting 6:00 p.m. and said that since 1:30 p.m. was originally voted on and passed, that they would listen to the wishes of the flock and change times. Effective this Sunday. So we all got to see Dallas beat Denver in the Super Bowl. And we didn't miss the meetings, which after all is the most important thing. Isn't it? (heavy sarcasm)
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IT WAS NEVER ENOUGH!!!
by Deli King inhaving served as an elder before resigning i can understand why 'christendom's' ministers are full time.
you have to find the balance between, family, work, preparing for meetings (including non public meetings), rest, self study, field service, and i'm sure i left some items out.
this is extremely difficult if you truly want to do a good job.
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Big Tex
See, that's one of my problems with WTS. Whoever you are, or whatever you do, it's NEVER enough. It's like a hunger that never dies. And it's not just elders, it's everybody. My wife used to come home (I work at night) with just enough time to make dinner, get the kids dressed and fly off to the meeting. But if one of them was ill, which happens with small children, they all had to stay home. Instead of recognising the effort, she was criticised for not doing enough. "You're doing good, just not good enough." No No No. I don't believe in a God that is that demanding. I don't believe he has a big chalkboard keeping statistics like life is some sort of ballgame, and he's charting us. And yet that is what the organisation has become. Stats. Butts in seats. Numbers are hollow and cold.
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Most unhypocritical religion which one?
by haujobbz inthink about it when you chose to become a jw why did you choose that belief.. was it because you witnessed there good works or there following the scriptures closely or even there so called similarity to 1st century christians.. when i think about it, i didnt really witness these things it was the books i studied which told me this because if i had really looked closely at the activities and jw roots i would of realised they werent the pure religion they claimed to be.now i think about it why didnt i take my study more serious not just reading what the jws gave me but looking to outside sources for more information, im really gutted i didnt do this now.
i mean did i look at other beliefs to see how they functioned nope i just believed the books i studied and that was it and i thought i wasnt gullible.. so now in the situation most of us are in today if you were to look at most religious christian beliefs today which would you say follows the bible closely and imitates the 1st century christians the closest,sticks to gods and christ teachings closely.
also have any of you thought about joining another faith and which one?
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Big Tex
Before I was a JW, I was a Methodist. I stopped going because I didn't like the fact that no one would answer my questions. I started studying with the Witnesses because they would answer my questions. I stopped being a JW because they could no longer answer my questions.
Consistent, if a bit simple.