Posts by Pete Zahut

37

On the realization you will not "live forever"

by problemaddict 2 in

something struck me last week.

i have been dealing with what i can only describe as a fear of death.

i'm not old and not in bad health.

Pete Zahut

Then it hit me.......I never thought that. I assumed my life would never end. In fact, death was an enemy, not "real", and simply not even a possibility.

We "Born in's" never really had a chance to think about death or to grow accustomed to the concept of our own mortality on our own. Like so many other things, the subject was thrust upon us and we were told what to think and feel and were also told it would not happen to us if we moved as directed, listened and obeyed...end of discussion....no questions allowed.

When we get to middle age and begin to realize that it will indeed happen, we have to come to grips with it all at once rather than little by little over our lifetime and that's not fun.

There's a difference between being afraid of dying and being afraid of being dead. With one, you are afraid of what it is that ends up killing you and with the other you are afraid of what it's like being dead or what happens to you after you're dead.

As someone who went through that hell and has come out on the other side of it, I can say that there is nothing more freeing than coming to peace with your own mortality. I realized that most of the worrisome things we face in life are much worse when we picture them in our head, than they are when we come face to face with them and are dealing with them head on. I don't want to die any sooner than necessary, but at the same time, I have an inner sense that when the time comes, I will handle it with all the grace, dignity and style I can manage. .

My Mother was quite afraid of growing old and dying and I think that was why she was so attracted to the JW's when they came a knockin' when she was a young mother in her mid 20's. I remember her becoming quite seriously depressed and riddled with anxiety when 1975 came and went when she was 40ish and she began to realize that she may have to grow old before the end came. She suffered with this fear for a long long time. Ironically, she died in her mid 50's of Cancer and I sat by her hospital bed at the end and we talked about death and she made the comment that it really wasn't as bad as she thought it would be and how she regretted all the time she spent over the years worrying about it.

As I've gotten older, I've gotten more comfortable with not knowing and with taking a wait and see attitude and there has been a certain amount of peace that has come, in doing so.

27

Major announcement, news, and video this upcoming Sunday in all kingdomhalls worldwide???

by EndofMysteries in

got a call from a relative that i should go to the meeting this sunday because something major to be announced.

(they were told it has to do with branches closing down, missionaries being sent home, etc).

i said it's probably money.

Pete Zahut

Everything is implied and hinted at but they have learned never to say anything concrete so they have plausible deniability. If anyone makes decisions based on their hints they blame them for misinterpreting what was (wasn't) said.

"Plausible deniability" with a pinch of "cognitive estrangement" on the part of the leaders, combined with "suspended disbelief" on the part of the followers, has been the mainstay of the JW religion (and many others come to think of it.)

59

Why don't you do anything?

by WireRider in

i'm not jw, so i see this all standing up and very clear from an outsider perspective (i am still seeking my path).

i joined the blog a few weeks ago.

i dated a divorced jw (jw from birth) for a couple of years recently.

Pete Zahut

All I see is a publishing company run amok.

Exactly...a publishing company run amok. A harmless little religious group who printed their observations in a little magazine. Readers began writing in with their questions then slowly but surely, these folks started addressing issues, making interpretations and predictions that were way out of their league. The next thing you know, they start seeing themselves as Bible Theologians and then eventually as the "chosen ones" with the authority to intervene in peoples personal relationships with God. As with anything, if you stay with it long enough, someone will buy into it. (if you build it...they will come). It took on a life of it's own and voila'...here we are.

312

Mass disassociation pact...

by freemindfade in

any takers?

we can pick a date and pull the plug?

lol .

Pete Zahut

Diogenesister 19 minutes ago

I am in !

Petezahut like the "sans" term, never heard it before - of course sans means without in french a negative word so a good acronym.

Yeah...I was trying to think of an acronym that would fit for people who are "in" for now yet want to have a voice even if it is anonymously.

I am deeply sorry about your family member & I feel the blood issue should take precedence when listing grievences

We were in the hospital room at the moment of death and it was horrible and undeserved and completely unnecessary. It happened in a state-of-the-art hospital with capable doctors and equipment at the ready. It happened as a result of those anonymous men in the Ivory Watch- tower and they had no idea of the suffering they caused and I'll be happy to clue them in.

312

Mass disassociation pact...

by freemindfade in

any takers?

we can pick a date and pull the plug?

lol .

Pete Zahut

I'm all for sending anonymous or open DA or *SANS letters as a group to a specific address on a specific date. Among other issues, my letter would highlight in detail the horrific and unnecessary death that occurred in my family due to the "no blood" policy, just before they made it OK to accept blood fractions.

But just so I'm clear....what is the main goal...what are we hoping will happen?

* SANS = Still Attending / No longer $upporting (A JW who appears to be on board because he or she has to be but who will no longer be monetarily or in any other way supporting the organization)

25

where shall we go

by Sabin in

yesterday i read something that hurt my heart.

at a talk given by a brother lyman swingle ( i apologize if i am stepping out of line by using this) he said "that if you leave the jw ( i find it difficult to refer to it as the truth now days) you may as well go jump off a bridge".

this i think is disgraceful talk to say to any body let alone an audience in which children are present.

Pete Zahut

John 6:68, Lord, whom shall we go away to?

This question was directed to Jesus himself. In many ways, the Watchtower Society has superimposed itself into Jesus role as mediator between God and mankind and they use this scripture to make it seem as if there is no way in our modern world for a person to maintain a relationship with God or Jesus ,without them being involved.

If a persons belief in God and Jesus is still intact once exiting from JW's , they can turn to them the same as they did before.

Lyman Swingle said it outloud and very unkindly, however the Governing Body today is much more P.C. (in public) and has claimed recently that it would be presumptuous of them to think that they are the only humans being directed by God. They even say (publicly) that they are not the only ones who will survive into "the new system" yet they make it very difficult, if not impossible for anyone to go about achieving this outcome, from another approach, without losing the network of friends and family they've spent a lifetime building.

85

My letter to Bethel about the flood

by Cornbread in

i've decided to go full public with a new username on this forum.

it's been almost a decade since i've been out and i don't care at this point who knows.

that being said, here's a letter that i'm mailing to bethel.

Pete Zahut

Good letter but why address it "Dear Brothers"? How about just Sirs or to whom it may concern ?

I'd leave the "Dear" and or "Brothers" words out of it because it sounds like you still hold them in some sort of high regard as religious leaders or Bible Theologians who's credentials and track record make them worthy of your respect.

13

2015 Annual meeting program

by rege brazzy in

it will include.

indeed ,the reading and explantaion of the releases and adjustements in september 21, 2015 letter.. -reports from selected countries in the field (the world).

-some highlights from past service year(2015).

Pete Zahut

The show must go on.

35

Watchtower Society: something terribly going on - scenarios

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

if an (aggressive) real estate fund is stopping it's operations directly,.

and if an publishing house is minimize the portfolio,.

and if a member of it's board of directors is telling the costs are higher then the profits,.

Pete Zahut

Maybe, they shouldn't have had volunteers without financial degrees, doing the books.

37

S*** JW Parents Say

by Dissonant15 in

my mom especially had some go-to phrases that to this day echo in my head and piss me off.

things like, .

"don't get mad at me for enforcing the rules, because jehovah made them, so if you don't like it, you're disrespecting him.

Pete Zahut

When I think back on it My Mom used to say some pretty "out there " stuff and I'm surprised I didn't end up with some kind of complex.

For instance she'd say "Little boys who lie should expect tragedy to visit them on a regular basis.

She told us kids it was ok for JW's to talk to Lesbians because they take good care of their cats and they have a real "can-do", attitude.

If we were rude she'd say, "Children who aren't polite give the Pro-Choice folks a better reason to exist."

My Dad was just as bad, he used to tell me I was a "test tube" baby but he wasn't a Witness so I never believed anything he said anyway.

Of course I'm kidding about all of the above I actually had a comparatively normal childhood (aside from the Elder sanctioned beatings in the parking lot of the Hall) but I do remember when we didn't pay attention during our family study or kick up a fuss about having to go to meetings, Mom would weep and say that she was afraid we wouldn't make it into the new system and she didn't want to be there either if we weren't there. All 4 of us kids would feel horrible and guilty for having made her cry and we'd do whatever she wanted.

Talk about manipulation and emotional abuse.