truthseeker

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Posts by truthseeker

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  6

  Ten years ago - Our congregation held a leaving party for us

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ten years ago, truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in new jersey.

  i had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while.

  i grew up in the south coast of england as a third generation jw and moved to america in july 2001. .

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  truthseeker

  This is all I can share for the moment...

  Baptism Talk, Saturday 22nd April 1995

  Hays Bridge Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Surrey, UK

  “Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in association with God's spirit-directed organization?”

  
  

  “Yes,” I answered in a barely audible voice. I didn’t understand the ramifications of this question until years later. I was 18 years old and one of only two brothers out of a dozen or so baptismal candidates in an audience of 2,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was nerve racking to say the least. This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life but I felt the exact opposite. After I got dunked like a McVities Digestive I was just glad it was all over. An elder who had previously studied with me gave me a last minute invite to a baptism party he was hosting for some of the candidates in our congregation.

  The year was 1995 – Britpop was in full swing and Blur and Oasis were battling it out in the charts. Nick Leeson had destroyed Barings Bank and John Major resigned as leader of the Conservative party only to be re-elected a few weeks later. It was also a record breaking year in terms of the number of baptisms for my congregation, located between Chichester and Brighton. Of the six who were baptized that day, including myself, four of us have left the organization. That’s a retention rate of 33%!
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  25

  Another One Bites the Dust!

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's goodbye to bristol - hengrove congregation of jw's and the inmates ... err ... members, will be sent to two other bristol congregations either side of it.. i'm told by two elders from bristol, england it is being disbanded on may 1st 2018. this is the 2nd congregation in this circuit to be disbanded recently - the 1st being portishead in late 2014.. hooray!.

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  truthseeker

  Thanks Freddo.

  I have updated my JW charities spreadsheet to reflect this
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  6

  Ten years ago - Our congregation held a leaving party for us

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ten years ago, truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in new jersey.

  i had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while.

  i grew up in the south coast of england as a third generation jw and moved to america in july 2001. .

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  truthseeker

  scratchme, yes, I will!
  
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  12

  "Chicken Soup for the Apostate Soul."

  by ChessaM in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  my article detailing my experience as a witness and dealing with child sexual abuse as well as outing my abuser is soon to be released.

  (i'm told in the next week or so.

  ) barbara anderson encouraged me to post here.

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  truthseeker

  Hello ChessaM,

  I look forward to reading your article when it becomes available and good luck with your book project. I would be happy to help.

  I’m also writing a book (seems like a lot of us are).

  Message me if you want.

  Truthseeker
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  25

  Ex-Jehovah's Witness Recovering Group 3 and This Site

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't remember seeing it ever really talked about here but the facebook group with the namesake of this post shut down at the end of march.

  it was archived and they weren't clear as to when or if they would come back.

  it seemed to come out of nowhere, and i know a lot of people were disappointed.

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  truthseeker

  Simon, thanks so much for this site!

  Truthseeker
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  6

  Ten years ago - Our congregation held a leaving party for us

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ten years ago, truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in new jersey.

  i had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while.

  i grew up in the south coast of england as a third generation jw and moved to america in july 2001. .

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  truthseeker

  Ten years ago, Truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in New Jersey.

  I had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while. I grew up in the south coast of England as a third generation JW and moved to America in July 2001.

  I had doubts as early as 2000 when I first stumbled on this forum. Before that I was a member of Witnesses.net and Hourglass2 outpost. I had doubts but hoped that reform and change would make the Society a better organization but as the years went by I realized I was in a cult.

  I moved to a congregation in Northern New Jersey which was also the home of many Bethelites. The congregation liked me at first and I felt I had potential but deep down I could not bring myself to stay in this religion any longer.

  I could not imagine my daughters leading the king of soul destroying life that I had lived growing up as a witness. So I formulated a plan to leave.

  My congregation happened to have an elder and his family who were moving to a nearby hall and a young brother was moving to another congregation. I figured now was the time to also “move” and told the elders we’d be moving. The distraction of so many movers might take their eye of us as our attendance was weak. The elders decided to organize a congregation get together for those who were moving to new congregations.

  I didn’t feel comfortable at this event for obvious reasons but what made it worse is the elders gave all the leavers a microphone and asked us to tell everyone where we were moving to. This was exactly the sort of aftention I didn’t want. When my turn came I just told them what they wanted to here. It would be the last time I saw these ppl until the Memorial of 2009.

  In the ten years I have been out I have learned so much. I am currently writing a JW book which I have been meaning to write for years.

  Truthseeker
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  76

  Posters You Miss

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anyone that you miss from this site, dead or alive??.

  i miss farkel, blondie and a host of others!.

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  truthseeker

  Farkel

  Littletoe
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  80

  Rumor: New light comes from outside marketing consultants

  by Londo111 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this is a rumor i heard back in november, it comes to me third or fourth-hand.

  feel free to poke holes.

  i have many doubts about this myself.

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  truthseeker

  It's been four years since this was posted. Does the OP or anyone else have info on outside non JW (or JW) marketing consultants who instituted these changes?

  I mean you don't go from the KM of 1999 warning against the internet to Caleb and Sophia videos and monthly Governing Body talks.

  Truthseeker
  
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  49

  Motherly Love, that "Unbreakable Bond"

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my father died a couple of months ago.

  he'd been ill for some time and had many health scares and heart troubles over the years but always managed to keep on going.

  then one time he didn't.. i'm glad i got to know him again and spend some more time with him after so many years missed because of the wts but those years will always be lost forever.

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  truthseeker

  Simon, thank you for sharing your story. So sorry your mum treated you like crap. Glad you had some quality time with your dad before he passed and that your half brother made a life for himself.
  

  Yes, it's always good to go back to Blighty, I'm going there myself in the summer.
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  19

  GDPR: Get your data from the UK Branch now, before 25-May-2018

  by Fay Dehr in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  get your data from the uk branch now, before gdpr kicks in on 25-may-2018.

  use this free template letter, which has been tried and tested.

  under uk law they can (and will) delay their reply if you miss out any of the important points in the template letter - for example they are allowed to ask for "costs" from you (£10 is an established fee in the data industry), or if you fail to prove your identity by means of passport or driver's license.

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  truthseeker

  Freddo,

  That being the case, why is the org assigning a publisher ID to every member?