Posts by micheal

14

Were you ever comfortable with the term "your spiritual heritage"?

by micheal in

jw
friends

i never really liked this term even when i was heavily in the org.

the brothers tried to get everyone to feel really proud of their "spiritual heritage" like you were looking back at your own family heritage.

i don't know but i never felt that closeness to my "heritage" as a jw.

micheal

I never really liked this term even when I was heavily in the org. The brothers tried to get everyone to feel really proud of their "spiritual heritage" like you were looking back at your own family heritage. I don't know but I never felt that closeness to my "heritage" as a jw. There was never any sentimentality toward "faithful witnesses of old". Even when I looked at past pictures of Charlie Russell, Judge ~~Judy~~ Rutherford and others they never had a smile on their faces, they never looked happy. They looked like old crabs. There just was no real connection to these guys.

Did any of you feel the same way?

32

I Am Changing The Word "Worldly" To Normal....

by minimus in

jw
friends

instead of making the difference known that anyone not a jehovah's witness is "worldly", i think we should simply refer to them as "normal".

micheal

If we're now considerd "normal", I think we should call witnesses "freaky"

41

Are You Surpised By What You Don't Believe In Anymore?

by minimus in

jw
friends

.

jehovah's witnesses must "believe" whatever the watchtower bible & tract society publishes.

now that you aren't forced to accept beliefs that you might not have wholeheartedly endorsed, there must be many different things that you don't accept.....what comes to mind?

micheal

I agree with you min on that last point , not only will we not let them control us. But we won't let them intimtate us. As if being df'ed will be the end of our existence, that scare tactic just won't work anymore.

10

Stories of Bethel breaking down brothers into lumps of lifeless mush?

by Winston Smith :>D in

when i was around the age that many a good young men travel to the earthly hq of jehover, ive had more than a handful of friends/acquaintances that went to bethel as normal and came back like they were put through the ministry of love [aka, torture in 1984]

one guy was reg pio, all the good stuff, went to bethel and was kicked out after less than a year.

came back to the congregation an alcoholic, started missing meetings, and then stopped going altogether.

micheal

Another was the funniest guy I may have ever met, was a great "friend" of mine. Everytime you went out with the guy it was a blast. I saw him after being in Bethel for a year, and he turned into a robot. The life was sucked out of him, and his eyes were devoid of any soul. He didn’t laugh anymore, and when we sat in a group of old friends talking and laughing, he would just stare out with this blank look in his face. Very similar experience to what you were referring to Winston. Honestly I didn't know this guy anymore. It was like his soul was ripped right out of him. I think he felt guilty having a good time. When I saw what Bethel did to this previous funny, cool, easygoing guy I knew for sure something was wrong here.

P.S. Winston I used many of same phrases you used because that really described what happen to this guy perfectly.

32

Irony alert....the JW coworker...

by berylblue in

jw
friends

okay, we have been rearranged in our "pods" at my exciting career position listening to persons bitch about a popular sports drink.

james, the jw, has been re-seated.

i've got a few inches separating me from him.

micheal

He was put there because your boss wanted him there. End of story.

13

a joke from my jw dad!

by free will in

jw
friends

a brother gives his first public talk, but only takes 15 minutes to give the talk.

the elders talk about counseling him, but after some consideration, decide to give him a break since it was his first talk.

the next public talk he gives, he talks for exactly one full hour!!

micheal

BOO BOO !!!!!!!!!!! THAT REALLY SUCKED DUDE!!!!!

40

Adam and Eve---Mere Myth ?

by Blueblades in

jw
friends

.

even when we dismiss the bible,belief in an original paradise that was lost because of sin was wide-spread among the ancient babylonians,assyrians, egyptians,and others.common to many accounts was a tree of life the fruit of which would confer eternal life on those partaking of it.so mankind remembera that something tragic happened in eden.. scientists acknowledge that the human race is a single family with a common origin.. so,bible or not,could there be any truth,proof,about this event,is it possible to have eternal life on earth or, are the stories among the ancients only myths?.

blueblades

micheal

God had absolutley no concern for the human race. Instead he made it personal between himself and satan. God made a very emotional decision.

9

Bethel

by freedom96 in

jw
friends

what does a typical day consist of for a bethelite?.

what hours?.

do they have any time off?

micheal

That's right Craig on all accounts. That whole Saturday off wasn't even a Sat off, went out in service instead. And the allowance was $100/month in the early ninties.

18

Weird meeting hours

by JH in

jw
friends

what was the weirdest meeting hours you've ever seen or had?

sundays, we had 4 congregations for one kh.

one meeting on sunday was from 4pm to 6pm.

micheal

For 6 months I had the service meeting Friday night 7-9. And Sunday meeting 7-9 at night. Crazy man

9

Bethel

by freedom96 in

jw
friends

what does a typical day consist of for a bethelite?.

what hours?.

do they have any time off?

micheal

That's pretty much it in a nutshell just as Craig described. Only thing I can add was when I was there, there was 1 whole hour for lunch then worked until 5:00. And of course that dredded entry school which was Monday night after the wt study.