Magnum

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Posts by Magnum

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  23

  Jehovah provides Javier a part-time job

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the watchtower—study edition | march 2025. keep walking by faith.

  7 note how javier, a brother in south america, saw the need to walk by faith.

  he says: “i had applied for a prestigious job that would double my salary and provide considerable personal satisfaction.” however, javier had the deep desire to pioneer.

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  Magnum

  Let's see how ole Javier is gonna feel about that part-time job in three or four decades.
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  37

  serena williams

  by FreeFallin in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  not really a scandal, but serena williams doing the crip walk on national tv wtf .

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  Magnum

  I don't give a @#$% about Serena Williams, but if she claims to be a JW and conducts herself the way she does and the org doesn't do anything about it, then I'm furious. Hell, I got picked on for minor things and was scrutinized my entire life as a JW. I remember once in the early 90's when I shaved late one night and went out in the ministry the next morning without shaving that morning. An elder said something to me about it. I don't even have really heavy facial hair - just kind of normal or average. I was thinking damned, dude, are you looking that close at my face? I effin hate JWdom.
  
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  23

  Jehovah provides Javier a part-time job

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the watchtower—study edition | march 2025. keep walking by faith.

  7 note how javier, a brother in south america, saw the need to walk by faith.

  he says: “i had applied for a prestigious job that would double my salary and provide considerable personal satisfaction.” however, javier had the deep desire to pioneer.

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  Magnum

  My wife and I did the Javier thing about 40 years ago. We 'listened and obeyed.' We worked our asses off serving the org full time and did grueling part time labor to support ourselves - for decades. The slave we obeyed might have been faithful, but it damned sure wasn't discreet. We will now have to work until we drop dead. It's not easy to get a good job at 65ish when you're competing with 25-year-olds. My wife found out yesterday that she's losing her job of 16 years because the work is being sent overseas (India).

  We have deep fury and even hatred in our bones for the GB members and the org. I cannot conceive of how the org can still be telling people, especially younger ones, to live like that. The GB members were deceptive morons back when we started serving the org fulltime (80's), but I at least think they really thought the end was imminent back then. It is, to me, much more reprehensible to be telling young ones now to not plan financially for the future. It's 20-damned-25!!! ... thirty years since the "generation" doctine change in 1995 and 50 years since 1975! It's 25 years since the turn of the century, beyond which it was inconceivable that "this system" would still be here. The org has been wrong in all its predictions. How can it still be effing with people's futures? It's effed up enough of them already.

  Jehovah heard my prayers and provided a job that fit my pioneer schedule.

  ...meanwhile, there's horror, sickness, suffering, and misery going on all over the world. Jehovah can watch all that and not do a thing. He can file away all the screams, moans, tears, beggings, etc, but oh, wait... Javier needs a part-time job? Let's get on it. Jehovah's gonna make sure he gets Javier a measly part-time job. Gotta get Javier out there warning* the world of a mass destruction that's over a century late.

  *Well, not really warning; just pointing people to a lame, fluff-filled website.
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  20

  I need to vent sorry!

  by KerryKing in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i couldn't get back to sleep last night, something my father said a few weeks ago popped into my head.. we were talking about obtaining citizenship, he doesn't need it, but was contemplating what benefits it could get him now he's a pensioner.. background : i've been disfellowhipped for 15 years, i was born in, he is an elder, very much pimi, he was also born in.. i said to him how citizenship would be difficult for him as it would require him to swear allegiance to the state?.

  oh he said, thats just a crowd of people together in a big room for the swearing in event, it would be easy to just mumble or say nothing, nobody would know.. this has quietly been eating away in my mind, why did it bother me?.

  last night it hit me, when i was in my first year of school, age 5, i came out of school one day with a balloon with two little pencils attached, a gift from a classmate who's birthday it was, every child got one.

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  Magnum

  Perfectly valid, justified rant.

  They can't live up to the standards they set for their own children, and crumble at the first hurdle.

  That reminds me of something related. The JW organization, through a video, urged children to give up their ice cream and then donate to the org the money they could have used for such. However, GB member Tony Morris was video-recorded buying hundreds of dollars worth of fine Scotch, and in general, JW adults don't give up their "ice cream" money. But, oh, the children, they can give up theirs. It should be the other way around.

  Also, I grew up in the 70's and 80's - a time when long hair on guys was in style. However, during that time I was taken by my JW mother to barbershops and given brutal buzzcuts. I would feel sick having to go to school the next day after a buzzcut and stand out when all the other guys had longer hair. However, during this time I remember my mother's being deeply concerned about her own hair and wanting to be in style. She was deeply concerned about her looks. She would always get a suntan before some event, get her hair colored, etc., yet, when it came to me and my looks and my wanting to fit in, oh, it didn't matter. Oh, it's just hair.. who cares? She couldn't put herself in my place. The sixth, seventh, and eighth grades were hard on me because of the way I stood out because of my hair.

  Another one: I was allowed to play sports because my dad was not a JW. In the eight grade, I was on the football "B" team (junior varsity). I had a game on a Thursday night. My mother was driving me to the game, but, on the way, she stopped to pick up a friend of hers who was going. They were taking their time, engaging in shallow, stupid gossip and small talk, etc. The clock was ticking and I was getting nervous because I didn't want to be late. On the way, I mentioned something to my mother about the time and she just passed it off as if it didn't matter. When we arrived, the team was already on the field. I had to run to the dressing room, put on my pads and uniform, and run down the hill to the football field. Back then (1970's), coaches did stuff to us that would literally get them arrested today. One thing they would do to us for punishment was make us lie on the ground during practice and have about ten or fifteen other guys pile on top of us. We couldn't expand our lungs and breathe. It was like drowning. I saw guys cry because of the treatment. I had that done to me for being late. So, my being late might have been insignificant to my mother, but it wasn't to me; I got severely punished for it. She didn't want to be late for things important to her, but it didn't matter if I was late to things important to me.

  To this day, I resent my mother for such things... like the double standard. She has not changed; she's still like she was back then.
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  60

  1/25 WT: Oral and Anal sex are a go - if she's ok with it

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  he will not pressure her to engage in sexual acts that make her feel uncomfortable, that are demeaning, or that bother her conscience..... the bible does not provide details as to what sexual practices between a husband and a wife should be considered clean or unclean.

  a christian couple must make decisions that reflect their resolve to honor jehovah, to please each other, and to maintain a clean conscience.

  generally speaking, a couple would not discuss with others this intimate aspect of their marriage..

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  Magnum

  Remember the straining gnats and swallowing camels thing? Well, I see that in this context. So, the JW god is concerned about what we do with our weenies & coochies (straining gnats), yet for millions of years he has allowed extreme horror, misery, suffering, brutality, torture, etc. to exist among his sentient creation (swallowing camels)? Human history is filled with thousands of years of such and animal history is filled with millions of years of it.

  I have seen sheer horror in my life; and what I've seen is not even like a single molecule on the tip of a massive iceberg. Try to imagine all that humans have suffered over thousands of years - especially in the past before even things like aspirin existed. Think of the tortures, the horrific injuries, the festering infections, the toothaches, the diseases. Think of what animals have suffered for millions of years. They have been eaten alive, suffered horrible diseases, suffered horrific injuries, been burned alive in natural fires, frozen, starved, thirsted, been tormented by parasites*, etc. Fix all that; then, we can talk about sex rules & etiquette. Stop swallowing the camels; then we can concern ourselves with the gnats.

  *I recently read about some moose in the U.S. who are so infested with ticks (as many as 90,000 each) that they are called "ghost moose" because they lose their hair and appear gray or whitish. 90% of their calves die because they just can't stand the misery that they are born into. I've had one tick bite make me miserable; I cannot conceive of the sheer 24hr per day misery those moose endure. They are in misery right this minute, and JWs are worried about bedroom rules.
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  30

  Experiences After Leaving

  by Freeatlast2024 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am writing to ask if anyone cares to share their experience and/or offer advice for people leaving.

  i was raised in the religion, and both my parents died when i was very young.

  i recently stopped associating because my conscience no longer allows me to preach or support the organization.

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  Magnum

  Don't feel it is necessary to have them understand what you went through.

  Yeah, as DesirousOfChange wrote, they wil not be able to. I've tried talking to many about it, and I finally realized that their religious experience is going to church for one or two hours per month, maybe playing on the church basketball team or going to singles night, and having their religion have zero influence on their daily lives. That's all they can relate tol They simply will be incapable of comprehending what being a JW is like.

  It takes years to get a complete feel for the JW religion, the JW lifestyle, etc. It's impossible for somebody to truly understand unless he's walked in the shoes for a significant amount of time.

  
  
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  25

  "Brother Jodie jenelle began his bethel service in in 1990....."

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  but what they don't say he left started and ran a real estate company and a global real estate consulting firm and apparently after making a fortune come back to bethel a few years ago.

  how in the hell could a non lifer now be anointed and appointed to be a gb member.

  sure can't be for his spiritual qualifications!.

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  Magnum

  It is shocking to me that the religion I once loved and would have died for has become what it is now. Consider the three new Ireland business entitties with their top gun executives and the appointing of Jody Jedele to the governing body. The JW leaders and/or their advisors must realize that they've lost as a religion. It seems that they are almost blatantly turning the religion into a full-on business. In the 70's or 80's, somebody like Jody would not have even been remotely considererd as being GB material. Please watch the video below; it's only 2.5min long. It is referred to in the video OnTheWayOut posted.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdlcjdz2fvI

  This was Jody in 2012 - just twelve years ago. Instead of his mind's being completely on the Kingdom, this is what it was on - at least somewhat. He was involved in commercial real estate. He comes across as not just one who did real estate part-time to support a full-time ministry, but who one put great effort into commercial real estate and now he's a GB member. Somebdy commented somewhere (I think on YouTube) and said something like "I can imagine a GB member approching Jody and saying "You know, if only you were partaking, you'd almost be guaranteed a spot on the GB [hint, hint; wink, wink)."" That person then indicated that he'd love to know when Jody actually started partaking.

  So, that's what Jah wants on the GB now? Not longtime, highly experienced, greatly sacrificing fulltime servants, but commercial real estate dudes??? Putting Jody's appointment together with the formation of the Ireland entities and the recruting of the high level executives for them, I've come to the conclusion that the org wants to become a self-sustaining Berkshire Hathaway type entity. I believe that If it's not already there, it could reach a point at which it will have enough funds and real estate that it coud have enough invested with good enough returns that it could survive without any donations from the rank and file. I think the leaders foresee the decline and weakening as a religion, so they're going this route in order to survive.

  Fairly recently, I thought the org was going to crash and burn because it is so weakening as a religion, but now I believe that if it pursues this investment route, it could continue on indefinitely and maybe even thrive as a business.

  So, Sophia has to give up her ice cream money, but GB members can be involved in real estate (Jedele & Lett) and drink top shelf Scotch (you know who),

  The old JWdom that had at least a semblance of sincerity, dignity, concern for theology, and concern for spiritual things is truly gone.
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  57

  2024 Annual Meeting Doctrinal Change

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a change to their doctrine came from jackson.

  this isn't a transcript of his whole speech but i thought i would try and get some of his main speech in writing.. at around 1hr26 minutes he starts talking about some dangerous thinking in feeling there is some wiggle room in regards to the schedule for the gt.

  but you see, we need to be careful about what we are thinking about the number of anointed ones left on earth.

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  Magnum

  I strongly agree with Cofty and DesirousOfChange. No sympathy from me. All my and my wife's family members are still in. I cannot fathom how they can be... how they don't see what we do. They are severely lacking in something - common sense and/or discernment and/or humility and/or honesty. I don't know exactly what's wrong with them; I just know something is.
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  52

  EXPLOSIVE NEW LEAKED VIDEO OF C.O. CHASTISING ELDERS

  by raymond frantz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://youtu.be/np05twylal8?si=wjcdevvpxmlwxb2p.

  shame is an ancient form of control.

  shame is the mechanism used to control behaviour.

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  Magnum

  When was this video produced? I thought they were easing up on the porn viewing thing because they were losing too many appointed men. Is this video several years old or is it actually "new" as the OP indicates?
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  64

  Ages of each user here?

  by ukpimo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm interested to know the age demographics here.

  it must be significantly different to other exjw forums.

  it would be a damning report for watchtower if most of us appear to have left for decades.. you don't have to mention your exact age, you could always say "in my 50s".. i am in my 70s.

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  Magnum

  Mid 60ish and could still take on the whole GB by myself - all at one time. That ain't sayin much, though; hell, my wife could handle most of them.

  Been out at least ten years. I think I've been on this forum at least ten years.