I feel the same way.
mine is bouzov castle in moravia.
built in the early 1300's.
it wasn't too fancy, kinda rough hewn.
Don't have a favorite, but am fascinated by them and have downloaded a bunch of photos of different ones. So many questions. Like... What did they do for foundations? What did they use for roofing? Did they use mortar or are the stones/blocks/etc. just held in place by gravity?
i spent monday walking down memory lane.
i went to the old brooklyn bethel.
the old towers hotel, were i roomed for 3 years is now a care facility for old folks.
Though I detest the org now and really everything about JWdom, what you posted still saddens me. During a long period of my life, I loved being a JW. I felt so safe and secure. I had such a wonderful hope for the future. I remember not wanting to leave district conventions on the last day and go back into "the world."
I still feel a sense of nostalgia for those buildings. Now, it's all gone. The religion today would be unrecognizable to my JW grandfather. The religion that I once thought had divine backing is weakening, maybe even dying. It is now cowardly. Gone are the days when JWs relished deep questions and challenges. The literature is pathetically dumbed down. The religion that once focused on doctrine and prophecy and Biblical analytics has had to cease focusing on such because the internet provides a scrutiny that its teachings can't stand up to. The org has to play it safe now and has morphed into a televangelist-like lifestyle religion.
I miss what I thought it was, but I hate what I now know it is.
i was wondering is sir82 still alive?
he has been po for many years.
he said that he would not leave the org unless his wife is pomo.
He was one of my favorite posters. Seemed to be really intelligent and discerning and was good with words. I remember when he disappeared. I think he was turned off by a lot of the strong conservative comments (including mine). I cannot believe that someone with his great insight into the wrongs in JW land could be PIMI. I don't know how he could stand being physically in. And... I think he was/is an elder.
as a jw would you have allowed your pet to have a blood transfusion to save it's life?
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what is the society's stand on this today?.
I was in that situation about ten years ago when I was close to waking up. I knew that JW doctrine was against it, but I was going to allow it. It was an exotic pet, and the vet I had to go to in another state happened to have one of the same animals at his facility. He called the owner and asked if it was OK to take blood from it; she said yes. I got a motel room and the vet made preparations. I went back the next day for the transfusion and surgery, but the animal died at the vet's office (horrible death) before any procedures could take place.
I would not have allowed it when I was a believing JW, even though I love my pets greatly.
unlike men who took no note, surely the fallen angels knew of gods plan to flood the earth, so why didn't they build an ark(s) for their nephilum sons?
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Fisherman, the org has said in the past that illustrations should fit in every detail.
See this point from the Theocratic Ministry School Guidebook:
remarkable sister pettifog.
this morning i arrived on my bicycle at the local starbucks early and took up a seat at the outdoor table in the fresh air.. that’s when it happened--a group of 3 older ladies at one of the other tables outside rose to leave and one of them walked over to my table and spoke directly to me.
i was wearing earbuds at that moment and didn’t hear.
truth_b_known: It is obvious to me that at a certain point the Watchtower turned on those who claimed to be of the anointed. I huge blow was the change in the doctrine that only the Governing Body are the Faithful and Discreet Slave. All other anointed still on Earth are just rank and file.
That change in doctrine was, to me, far bigger than most realize. To me, it was an illegal (according to JW theology) take-over, a coup d'état. Prior to the change, all of the anointed on earth made up the FDS; therefore, they should have had a say in the decision (especially since it was such a big one and involved them directly), but, they were not consulted. They were just stripped of power by a handful of men who now have all power. The organization never felt the same to me after that.
what is the harm or downside of being pimo?.
i get all the good things about being in the cong, good social life lots of invites to bbqs and meals out.
lots of interesting gossip 🤣🤣🤣🤣.
I would like to add that if you ever were a real, believing JW, you would have instructed individuals in other religions to leave their religions when they found out they were wrong no matter how much pain and suffering it would have caused them or what they would have sacrificed. JWs will, for example, tell a 90-year-old Catholic woman who's been a Catholic her entire life to leave her religion if she finds out it's wrong - even if that means leaving all her family, all her friends, her entire social life, all her support mechanisms, etc. I actually agree with the reasoning in that - that one should leave or quit something if he finds out it's wrong; that's why I left JWdom.
The problem is that a lot of those in JWdom who wake up mentally show that they are weak; they don't practice what they preached. You believed in telling others to leave their religions when they woke up, but you won't leave yours now that you are awake. I see arrogance in that.
what is the harm or downside of being pimo?.
i get all the good things about being in the cong, good social life lots of invites to bbqs and meals out.
lots of interesting gossip 🤣🤣🤣🤣.
The harm is that you are supporting a deceptive, harmful, condescending cult... one that took my life... one that promised me from the time I was a small child that if I suffered and slaved and sacrificed for it, I would be rewarded greatly. I'm now 62 and was rewarded only with misery. I lived a life of misery doing what the cult instructed me to do. It ruined my life. All my family members except my wife are still in. They all think I'm evil or weak or a combination of the two because that's what the cult brainwashes them to think. That is extremely unjust to me. I'm not evil. I'm an honest, reasonable truth-seeker. I have great concern for the suffering in the world among sentient creatures - more so than JWs themselves. I'm also not weak. It took strength for me to walk away from something that had been my life for decades.
The JW organization is lying and deceptive. It is selfish. It is concerned only with itself. The org does not love truth. It does not love light. It has a history of failed predictions, looney teachings, etc. Even if you don't mentally support it, you are implying that you do to others. Your very presence adds to the JW numbers ands gives a false impression. You and others like you are helping the org to survive. I take great offense at that and consider you to be a weak person. I could never support that organization in any way. You and I are as different as night and day.
addendum: Your faking it is contributing to the captivity of thousands like my family members. I hold you accountable for that.
now, many years later, i remember the 1995 generation change, very well.. since early youth, hearing my father explaining in field service the 2520 years.
it was his main theme in the field.. with the change my doubts started.
with some jw friends we did not trust the organization anymore.
I remember a Watchtower Questions from Readers (1985?) that indicated that one could die during the last days and before the Great Tribulation and still be considered to be one of the great crowd. It might have been the Oct 15th issue. I'm at work now and can't look it up.
I think the point was made that the great crowd is basically those of the other sheep that live during the last days even if they die during the last days and before the end. I can't remember the word they used, but they said something like it seems that it would be too "strict" (or something like that) to limit the term "great crowd" only to those who actually survive the great tribulation - that it applies to those who have the prospect of surviving, that it's the group as a whole that survives.
