It was the elders I feared more than anything. When I was 6 years old and couldn't sit still through a Friday night meeting, the PO came up to me after it was over and told me I was going to die at Armageddon if I couldn't sit still through the meetings. I was terrified of him after that. I thought he had the power of life and death over me. We also had a study conductor that would sit me down after each bookstudy to make sure I knew what the lesson was all about. I remember him being upset with me because I couldn't explain the king of the north and the king of the south to him....I was only 7 years old and had no idea what a world power was....(this was late 1950s-early 60s). I never realized how much I still have a fear of them because the other day a man knocked on my door. When I looked through the window and saw him standing there with his briefcase, I broke out into a sweat and wasn't going to answer; but I finally yanked the door open... and found out he was selling insurance.
aarque
JoinedPosts by aarque
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26
Which did you fear more as a JW, God or the Elders?
by JH ini felt that god understood if i missed meetings or didn't go out in the field service very much, but the elders wouldn't.. bottom line, i feared the elders more ...... that's pretty sad.
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Getting caught
by Schism in(you're going to laugh at my paranoia).
has anyone ever gotten caught posting in here?.
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aarque
Paranoid is right!!!! I hadn't attended a meeting in years (not df, just faded) and lived alone, yet was still nervous just going on this site to read! I lurked for quite a while before finally registering.
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WT's PATHETIC FUNERAL OUTLINE
by Mary inthis is supposed to be an outline for a jw funeral talk.
i'm not sure if this has been posted before but i thought i'd post here for your viewing pleasure.
funeral discourse.
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aarque
My dad was never a JW, but when he passed away last year, my mom had a jw speak at his memorial service. the night before the memorial service, he came to the house to find out if there was anything in my dad's life that would reflect badly on the JWs . I was very upset by his questions. Then, at the service the next evening, that so-called minister never, ever mentioned my dad's name and never said one word about him. The witnesses that attended all had their bibles in hand and sat there looking up verses. My husband was horrified by it all....he said it was a talk to recruit new members, not a memorial to my dad. One of my cousins walked out in the middle of it. My brother refused to be in the room during the talk; he walked out when the service started. It was just absolutely awful. The minister named my mother and one of my sisters, then looked at another of my sisters and I knew he couldn't remember her name. He just looked around at us and said "...and the rest of the family." I am still upset by it all.
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Have You Been Divorced, Or Getting A Divorce?
by Outaservice indivorce is much more common in the jehovah's witness community than they would like to admit.
probably more so than the population in general in my opinion.. if you have been divorced, do you think that the watchtower society contributed to the divorce, or caused it, or is it just possible you married some jerk or abuser and divorce would have occured no matter what religion you were, or even if you had no religion?.
possibly you got married way too young as the end was coming and there is no marriage in the resurrection if you died.
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aarque
I met a guy years ago who was interested in religion. He started going to the Hall and studying; we started to date. The pressure to marry was unbelievable (I was 20; he was 26)... it was constant. When we decided to marry, the elders refused to marry us beasue he wasn't baptized yet. We were married by the Justice of the Peace and he was baptized several months later. A few years went by..we struggled with problems. Finally, we decided to have counseling by elders....they totally ignored us. I asked several times for help, but to no avail. We split up and I moved back home. During this time I did a slow fade. The elders came to the house and insisted that I could not divorce him. I told them he was divorcing me and I was not contesting it. There was nothing they could do. What I never told them was he admitted to me he'd had an affair while we were together. I felt it was none of their business. We divorced and even though I was never DF or anything, the Witnesses never, ever had anything to do with me - they never called on me, never had any kind of contact with me ever and I've never stepped foot in the Hall since. It's been nearly 30 years. I am now remarried and have been living in another state for the past five years. -
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As one of Jehovah's Witnesses...what did you lose?
by The wanderer inan informal discussion
there was a brother who, quite honestly, was very well educated and received.
exceptional grades while in school.
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aarque
Lost out on my childhood. Too much time was spent worring about getting in my quotas for the month when I was 8 years old! It seemed my whole life revolved around going to meetings, studying for meetings, going out in service... it left no time just to be a kid. I always wanted to go to college and dreamed someday of going. When I was 33, I had a lumpectomy done. Even though the results were benign, it made me realize how fragile a hold on life we all have. So, I went back school. (I was pretty much faded out by then) I graduated in 1996 with an AA, then went on to the University for my BA, which I earned in 2001. It took 14 years part time to do it, but it was the best thing I ever did. In 2005 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and in 2006 a second cancer was found. At least I have done one thing in my life that I had always dreamed of doing. -
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What Is Your Life's Work?
by choosing life inwhat is it that you do in life that makes you feel like you are accomplishing something important?
something that makes sense to you and gives you a sense of personal satisfaction.
for me it has always been my work of helping others as a nurse.
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aarque
I have been a librarian for more than 35 years. It's a great job working with everyone from pre-schoolers all the way up to senior citizens; trying to find that perfect book for a reluctant reader (the Where's Waldo series is always popular)...answering all sorts of questions (how does a fly walk on the ceiling?)...teaching basic computer skills to retirees...every day brings something new.
As a kid, I would spend most of my free time at the
edited to remove spyware notification
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Kingdom Hall Experiences
by KW13 inwhat things happened at your meetings that annoyed you?.
was it at a hall ya visited?
did it happen more than once?.
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aarque
I remember when the wife of the PO came up to my sister and I (we were in our late teens) and said "Hi kids" and in the next breath said to a very young girl "wow, you are so grown up!" My sister and I were pissed.... so was my mother, too. I also remember no one ever getting my name right; they would always mix me up with my three sisters. For weeks one sister would stop me and say, "Now, which one are you?" and laugh and go through my sisters' names, but she never remembered mine. Every time I would tell her my name. Until one day, I was so sick and tired of it that when she called me by my sister's name, I said "Wrong! Guess again!" she got mad, told me I was disrespectful and told my mother what I'd said. My mom (bless her heart) told me what the sister said, told her she would talk to me about it - and she said to me that she didn't blame me one bit for what I'd said.
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Have Witness Funerals and Memorial Services Changed?
by Athanasius inafter reading the thread on mickey spillane's memorial service it sounded like the jws are changing their funeral program.
or was this because of spillane's celebrity status?
in the past the witness funeral outline told the elder conducting the memorial service not eulogize the deceased, but to promote watchtower doctrines.
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aarque
My dad died in May 2005. Even though he was never a JW, my mom asked that a brother give the talk at Dad's memorial service. The day before, two MS stopped by the house and asked if there was anything in Dad's background that would reflect badly on the witnesses. Never said a word about my dad's passing; never gave any condolences... and Mom has been a JW for over 50 years. At the memorial service the next night, the brother who spoke never even mentioned my dad's name. The few JWs there sat flipping through their bibles like it was a public talk. My husband (never a JW) was outraged that the talk was more of a recruiting lecture than anything about Dad. One of my cousins walked out right in the middle of it.
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What does a JW look like?
by JH ini remember many years ago, a sister in her 40's who just joined, told me that i looked like a jw.
she said i have the face of a jw.... .
i've never been so insulted in my life.....
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aarque
For nearly 20 years after I faded, the JWs never came to my door, never called, never had literature left because I wasn't home... and I moved around a bit, so it wasn't like they knew where I was living. Five years ago I moved to another state to get married. This is a very isolated area. One week after getting married I was sitting at my computer when a van full of people pulled up in front of the house. A woman got off. I told my husband they were JWs. He asked how did I know. I told him I knew the look. I refused to answer the door, and my stepson told her we weren't interested.
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What Things Did You Hate About Being A Jehovah's Witness?
by minimus in.
anything in particular?
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aarque
I especially hated the weekends. Back in the 1960's the MS/SM were on Friday nights. So, I'd be at the meeting Friday nights for 2+ hours, out in service Saturday mornings 9-12 (and no coffee breaks!) The afternoon was usually spent getting ready for the WT study the next day, then Sunday's talk and WT study which started at 2 PM and ran until it was finished (sometimes 2+hours). We were always getting ready for meetings or going to meetings. There was never any time to be just a kid.