yesterday, i had a chance meeting with an acquaintance from the kh we used to attend.. after being away from the meetings for so long, and really starting to feel like i've almost entirely shed their false teachings, i have somehow lost sight of the fact that there are actually still people who really believe it.
i read the magazines now, and find it virtually impossible to comprehend how anyone can actually swallow those ideas.
it seems so warped and twisted to me now.. i guess the best way i can describe this encounter, was being "cornered" in public.
" I made mention of my sister and how she now refuses to speak to me because I stopped studying."
Hi Faithful Witness. This was in your first comment on this thread. Did your sister stop speaking to you simply because you stopped studying or because she thought you were speaking about 'apostate' type things? Just curious as it seems way over the top if she cut off contact simply because you didn't want to study anymore!
ok. i'm a brit as some of you know.. what i noticed with the wbt$ is how they only seem to write from an american cultural standpoint.
not a bad thing if you're one of my cousins form the usa i admit........ but.... here in the uk there are some things that are meaningless to us.. eg hazing.
this was warned about in a study and over here we had no idea what it was and it kind of alienated the congregation from the study.
What about the famous movie ''Free Willy"?
in a private conversation with a c.o.
friend from north carolina, he told me yesterday that they just got a letter that all traveling overseers (do's & co's) age 70 & up are going to be laid off on 09/01/2014.
they will be asssigned to local congregations and further details are pending.. .
yes, but guess what, we got a letter to all bodies of elders recently which forbids the giving of cash 'gifts' to circuit overseers. The expenses they accrue should, more or less, tally with receipts they give to the bro who takes care of the money, which in my cong is me. So, unless individuals are giving them cash 'gifts', then they will find, I would imagine, that they won't get the 'gifts' they used to in the past. I never even knew this went on in some parts of the world, and even now, it seems really weird to me that people would do this. Could really cause problems with impartiality, right?
i have been going to meetings since i was a child, long story short only recently i've started taking the truth seriously, i am not baptized but just an unbaptized publisher.
truth is i am so lonely in the congregation.
the other young people in the cong don't like me because they dont think i am going to "stay" for long, i've even worked on the ministry with an older brother and asked her am i giving the wrong impression to people?
The brother who went through my unbaptized publisher questions tried to scare me saying how "people get df for sexual immorality" and even asking me questions like "What if a man who is married masturbates with a gay man? Is that fornication?"
Did they really say this? Sounds so strange a question to ask?
my wife told me today that during a conversation with a relative on the phone recently, the relative said that someone in their congregation had been invited to take part in a branch extension in a foreign country.
this young woman who had been asked to take part is a solid witness, though not a pioneer, but guess what?
she is an architect!
My wife told me today that during a conversation with a relative on the phone recently, the relative said that someone in their congregation had been invited to take part in a branch extension in a foreign country. This young woman who had been asked to take part is a solid Witness, though not a pioneer, but guess what? She is an architect! That's why she was invited. Interesting thing is that my wife then said, why is the org so hard on university education and they also rely on university graduates to do the work on branch extensions etc. I hadn't said anything to her about it previously, but I simply agreed that they couldn't have their cake and eat it!
the recent letter being us to come to detroit shows that jws are beginning not to take the gb seriously anymore.
the buzz following the meeting was that the letter was unprecedented in its tone.
this coming from long time jws of 30 years plus.
They didn't have an ATM at the DC I went to last year in my home country but there were sisters at a desk with a machine which could swipe your credit card if you didn't have cash. I don't live in my home country any more (won't say where it is, you know why) and was shocked when I discovered one of my relatives by marriage casually mentioning that she was volunteering on the credit card desk! I had no idea this concept existed until then. Poor innocent me!
hey guys i am new to the whole forum thing (long time reader, first time postererer) and i wanted to get some other opinions on something that has bothered me ever since i first became a jehovah's witness.. i was always taught at the kingdom hall that friends inside the orginisation were the only ones i could count on and that the ones out of it (mainly at school) were just being controlled by satan to trick me into leaving the religion.. however, i always found it to be the opposite.
my "worldly"friends were all accepting of my religion (back when i was ok with being a jw) and are the only ones i have really opened up to about wanting to leave.
the only things i have in common with the other teenagers in my hall (3 boys, 3 girls) are that we've all been raised in the truth and... well that's it.. i was just wondering if anyone else found the same thing when they were a teenaged jw or if anyone still in my age finds the same thing..
Faithful Witness, I love your posts. You seem to be such a nice person. I am still an active Witness. In fact, as you might guess if you read any of my prevous posts, I am an elder. But some of your posts have caused me to ponder about the nature of true friendship. I am a teacher, and in my last few years of teaching I have met some wonderful young people with great personalities. I live in Europe but not in my land of birth. What I have found is that the young people in the country I live in have a more innocent take on life than in northern Europe or in the US. They are just people. Sorry to hijack this thread a little bit but it has struck me that I am starting to see people now as individuals rather than through the narrow confines of a Witness perspective. When I was young I, like many if not all young people, had a sense of wonder about the world around me. I read poetry, listened intently to music and watched different types of movies. But all of that was somewhat stymied by the last 30 years or so as a Witness. Reading the varied and various posts here have helped me to re-evaluate what friendship really means.
lots of leaflet campaigns this year.. 1. leaflet campaign to invite people to the memorial.
2. district convention invitations.. 3. campaign to advertise jw.org in august.. .
doesn't leave much time for conversations..
Must say I did get a shock when I realised that we were supposed to now count all tract placements as well as mags and now these campaigns will bump up the numbers. Mmmmmm........ I smell a rat, and I'm still in!
lots of leaflet campaigns this year.. 1. leaflet campaign to invite people to the memorial.
2. district convention invitations.. 3. campaign to advertise jw.org in august.. .
doesn't leave much time for conversations..
in my line of work i have to deal with a lot of different people each day in a teaching capacity.
sometimes, with adults that i teach, we have some informal discussions not directly related to the subject being taught, but still important as far as developing a friendly relationship in the classroom.
anyway, yesterday i noticed that in one class the students had been given a little religious calendar in a diary form, quite a popular thing for people to do in the country i live in.
Thanks Sam for those thoughts and your post on the other thread. As I mentioned on the other thread I am starting to formulate a plan as you suggest. First resign as an elder so there are not so many expectations from others and I can concentrate on helping my wife through her health issues. Then...
