Posts by Odrade

8

Help! Gave away all of my reference library. Need information.

by Odrade in

hello all, long time no see to the old-timers, and greetings to the new ones!

i have a bit of a conundrum, and could use some help from the documentarian crowd.

over the 10 years since leaving the jws, i've disposed of nearly all wt materials i owned, never anticipating that i would need them.

Odrade

P.S.

If anyone in the Portland, OR area has a personal WT library from which they might consider lending a few items, please contact me.

8

Help! Gave away all of my reference library. Need information.

by Odrade in

hello all, long time no see to the old-timers, and greetings to the new ones!

i have a bit of a conundrum, and could use some help from the documentarian crowd.

over the 10 years since leaving the jws, i've disposed of nearly all wt materials i owned, never anticipating that i would need them.

Odrade

Hello all, long time no see to the old-timers, and greetings to the new ones!

I have a bit of a conundrum, and could use some help from the documentarian crowd.

Over the 10 years since leaving the JWs, I've disposed of nearly all WT materials I owned, never anticipating that I would need them. Recently, as the strong encouragement of my friends, (pushy people!) I've decided to write a family history of our involvement in the WT, (and my subsequent disengagement.) I'm not sure if it will grow up to be anything commercially viable (like a book,) but on certain points I'm looking for confirmation of my recollections. Here are a couple to begin with.

#1: The woman that converted my mother was a member of the 2nd class of Gilead, sent to Lima, Peru. There is a Yearbook devoted to that and some direct information about her, but I don't recall which year, nor do I know if there's a way to access this.

#2: Is there still a library online of WT works, (other than the heavily redacted official WT.org version?) I know the old Quotes site was mirrored for awhile, but haven't had much luck in finding a successor. When I do reference beliefs (although I don't intend this writing to be any kind of doctrinal or argumentation guide,) I'd like it to be reasonable accurate. 10 years pokes large holes in your memory.

That's it for now. I'll take help anywhere I can get it. If anybody wants to communicate with me directly, PM me and I will provide an email address.

Stacey

91

Open letter Re: Mr. Bowen, Mrs. Anderson

by Prime in

"jws leaders need to mandate elder bodies to uniformly report abuse to the authorities no matter what jurisdiction; prohibit elders from being involved in any investigative process to decide guilt or innocence in place of the authorities; do away with the two-witness rule to determine, as if they were magistrates, guilt or innocence of someone accused; prohibit so-called repentant molesters from engaging in the door-to-door ministry, and always inform the congregation if a convicted or confessed molester is meeting with them.

" -barbara anderson .

this is another reason why the watchtower society doesn't require that the elders uniformly report abuse to the authorities no matter what jurisdiction.

Odrade

I'm trying to decide if "Prime" (lol) is more offended at criticisms of judicial mishandling, or that a woman dares level the criticism.

34

Post 7: Hopefully the last letter I recieve

by sosoconfused in

i think my mother has lost it.

i really do and i am in fear that she is literally losing touch with reality to some degree.. even my father is telling me that her responses to me are growing weirded:.

the scriptures tell us that we can be wrathful.......but don't sin.

Odrade

I'm going to add my voice to the commenters saying "sounds like my mom." No answers here, but you have my sympathy. I've been there.

53

What piece of WT literature is worth holding onto, or have you kept? Why?

by losingit in

i have basically thrown away all of my bound volumes and loose wt and awake magazines.

i kept some bpoks, the insight to the scriptures, god's love, the reasoning book, and daniel's prophecies (this was my favorite) .

i held onto insight to the scriptures after reading some of ray franz's book, crisis of conscience.

Odrade

Pioneer books (1st and 2nd ed. My husband and I attended pio. sch. one year apart, in between which a revised version was released. '88/'89?)

An Interlinear (the Navy one, I had the purple one for comparison of the appendices on the cross, but the purple one has disappeared,)

several brochures, (education, blood,)

the WT printed American Standard Version bible,

an old 1946 booklet "The Prince of Peace," which is the text of a convention Keynote. I find it most interesting for the cover art, which is quite dissimilar to the usual WT style.

And Marley Cole's book "Jehovah's Witnesses" which I keep around because I remember all copies being pulled out of libraries at the Kingdom Hall, and this one was in my dad's personal library, which I borrowed about 20 years ago and unintentionally retained.

Over the years, everything else has been disposed of either through this forum, or via the Waste Management Recycling Depot.

11

Shock at the Doctor's office...

by Odrade in

i had a routine doctor visit this morning with a primary care.

she happens to be someone i saw once about 9 years ago during a brief swap in insurance providers.

shortly after that visit, our insurance changed and the doctor was no longer on the "approved" list.

Odrade

Yeah, I'm pretty well covered on that front. I'm not worried, just wanted to point out for the newbies how long that stuff stays attached to medical records. Forewarned is forearmed.

And Hi to you too Blondie!

11

Shock at the Doctor's office...

by Odrade in

i had a routine doctor visit this morning with a primary care.

she happens to be someone i saw once about 9 years ago during a brief swap in insurance providers.

shortly after that visit, our insurance changed and the doctor was no longer on the "approved" list.

Odrade

Bump. This was once again a notation in my medical records. I'm bumping this original 5YEAR OLD THREAD because I am now 11 years out of the WTORG, and this is STILL following me around. Please check your medical records EVERY TIME YOU GO IN. A life-threatening emergency is NOT the time to find out that your doctors think their hands are tied with regard to your treatment.

58

Just Sharing: I Visited Chuck Taze Russells Gravesite

by daringhart13 in

just nothing more than a 'share'..... i was in pittsburgh on business and took a day off and paid a visit to russells grave.. i haven't stopped laughing since.

i'm worried i'm going to break ribs.. had i seen this as a young kid/adult.....i surely would have thought "wtf???".

folks...if you ever needed confirmation this whole thing is a laughable cult......make your way to pittsburgh and see chuck's resting spot.......its worth it just get pictures with his pyramid.. lol.

Odrade

Ha! This thread is EPIC! I'd heard about the tombstone, but had no idea it was so freaking huge. Totally cracking up.

49

Hello and my exit story from WTS

by free2Bme13 in

i thought it was fitting for me to share my freedom from the witnesses story on independence day weekend.. i dont have any secret info, just experiences that happened to me and started to open my eyes.. i was a third generation, raised in the truth kid who was never supposed to be born, and then never supposed to graduate high school.

ive now been out of high school longer than i was in school.. the beginning of the end started a little less than a decade ago.

i was late 20s at the time.

Odrade

Hello, and congratulations. There was a Triplett in this area, (Pacific NW) I understand he was an ass. I know there was some kind of incident with my in-laws, but I don't know the details. I wonder if it's the same one. I heard he "retired" around here.

33

Please explain why the elders are doing this to us

by label licker in

got a phone call today from a couple from our ex congregation.

he was visited again by two elders(one in training) again.

third shepherding call within two months.

Odrade

Sorry this is happening to you. The only advice I have is to remind yourself over and over that you have no obligation to discuss anything with them. If they knock on your door, you have no obligation to answer it, even if they can see you inside. You don't have to talk on the phone with them, or respond to any other method of contact.

They make you feel like you have to meet them on their terms, but you don't. I know it seems an obvious thing to say, but sometimes we have to say it out loud.

When my husband and I were leaving (well over 10 years ago,) they tried really hard to maintain contact, one time even opening my door and walking into my house uninvited when my husband wasn't home. Unfortunately for them, I'm not easily intimidated, and stood my ground (in the entry way,) while this brain-dead drone elder cried his crocodile tears and declared his intention to help me in spite of whatever ideas my husband was filling my head with. AS IF!!!

But we just refused to give them any response at all, unless it was on our terms.

Early on, somebody on this forum told me not to be above using their own stick to beat them with. That was the best advice I got, and made me unafraid to point out that it was unscriptural of them to corner me without the presence and support of my "spiritual head." I also realized that they had to get the words to come out of my own mouth, OR they had to have two verifiable accusers/witnesses to any offenses I'd commit, AND those offenses had to be major sins, or else there was absolutely nothing they could do, judicially. Questioning is not a major sin, it is just a concern.

We were also warned not to answer their loyalty type questions if we did decide to converse with them, and so never made that mistake.

Just keep reminding yourselves that you have the right to control the circumstances of them interacting with you.