Posts by Pete Zahut

32

What more do they need to see?

by stuckinarut2 in

so bethelites are being decreased...bethel homes even sold off.... special pioneers no longer being funded.. magazines getting smaller and published less frequently.. building work stopping or being reduced.. no large conventions and renting of venues.. etc.... so, money is not coming in anymore to cover the "expenses"??.

didnt the first ever watchtower said that when this occurs, it would be evidence of god no longer blessing the activity....

oh, and throughout the years, we have constantly been told that the "growth of the org and the projects such as buildings and contributions" etc were evidence of gods blessing.... .

Pete Zahut

I ask myself this all the time and wonder WTF is wrong with my seemingly intelligent relatives. And these are ones who are in their 60's and some reaching 70 now so we were around during the 1975 hoopla.
I've been wondering the same thing. I wonder how many are kind of sensing something is wrong, but won't admit it or maybe flush the thoughts when they enter their minds. I wonder about my relatives who are usually pretty level-headed. Don't they see that something is wrong?

They are seeing the things that are happening, as isolated incidents rather than as a series of connected occurrences that signify something significant is taking place. It's a case of not seeing the " forest for the trees".

For many of us, our exit from the organization was a case of "death by a thousand cuts" rather than one single incident that on it's own, was responsible for our exit. Now that we are out, we can see the bigger picture that was not apparent to us until we stepped back from our former life and saw it from a larger perspective.

96

Special Pioneer Couple Living at a Kingdom Hall In Miami FL, get the dreaded Letter

by James Jack in

just got a phone call from an older sister saying that a couple that got re-assigned from bethel 4 years ago to live at their kh apartment as special pioneers, just received a letter saying "as of january 2016, your special pioneer assignment will be discontinued".. they live in a south miami kh(snapper creek congregation).. this couple had only served in bethel for 15 years before they were sent out into the special pioneer work.

they are now in their mid 50's and the sister said that they have to find part time jobs to support themselves.. the older sister (does not have a pc or internet), says that the couple are just devastated!

.

Pete Zahut

If you're in Florida and see a middle aged couple along the side of the road with all of their belongings lashed to a literature cart...that'll be them !

15

Should I associate with this person?

by stuckinarut2 in

so there is a guy who wants me to associate with him.

but there are some strange things about him, such as:.

he hears "direction from unseen" forces.. he thinks the idea of slavery was ok.. he likes killing animals and splashing their blood around and making huge bonfires of carcasses smoke all day long.. he has one wife, or maybe two, but is ok with having lots of other sleeping partners as well.. he likes another person who slept with his own daughters.. he thinks women should be subservient and "keep their place".. he frowns on education.. he thinks killing in a war is ok if they deserve it...even babies should be killed.. he is often asking for money.. he thinks that pyramids foretell the future, and that only a few people can explain divine truths to him, except their explanations have changes many, many times...often contradicting other teachings.... etc..... get it?

Pete Zahut

There's medications he can take to address of most of those things but he won't be nearly as interesting to be around.

70

Any funny stories of when a"brother" giving a talk, said something "funny" or "questionable", and didn't even realize it?

by Dunedain in

there were always all types of speakers in the org.

myself, growing up a "witness", must have heard all types of talks, and given by all manner of speakers, especially on sundays, when almost every week we would get a "visiting" brother giving the public talk.. sometimes, you would have a "great" speaker, all fluent and animated.

other times we would get a comical speaker, one who would maybe purposelly get a few laughs outta the audience.

Pete Zahut

We were getting a lecture from the C.O about meeting attendance and how easy we have it compared to others. He said that in some developing countries,the brothers and sisters sometimes have to wade through swamp infested Alligators, just to get to a meeting.

(should have said Alligator infested swamps)

35

Did Ray Franz manage to live out a comfortable retirement from the proceeds of his books.

by joe134cd in

i'm just curious if anybody knows.

firstly i don't take issue with the man making money from his books and if he was able to live comfortably from it then i say power to him.

but what i'm wanting to know was just how successful was it and did it allow him to live out the remainder of his years in comfort e.g buy a house, eat good food etc.

Pete Zahut

I doubt he would have made much. The reality of book publishing is that only people who have huge bestsellers or multiple good-selling books make a lot - right at the top you have the J,K.Rowlings etc... who are selling hundreds of millions of copies.

This is why college textbooks cost so much. Too specific of a readership to make a profit from, without charging an arm and a leg.

P.S. Ray was a lovely man, I knew him for a little over a year shortly before everything that went down at Bethel. The tone of his books reflect his disappointment with the Watchtower Society rather than any resentment and dissent and they are a testament to his character and provide even more credibility to his situation.

27

This takes the cake

by Sour Grapes in

jw
friends

today during the public talk the speaker said that satan was behind the new modern phones, which are like mini computers, so that the world would have easy access to pornography..

Pete Zahut

Oh Pete.
The camera had been around for a loooong time before the 1700s. The earliest recorded account of a camera obscura dates back to c.400 BC. The camera itself was used long before the knowledge to develop and fix a photographic print came about in 1830s.
Photographic prints were not in existence in the 1700s.

Ok...scratch everything I said before about camera's, printing presses and pornography, It was a bad illustration. More importantly scratch the feeble point I thought I was trying to covey which was, Satan was not behind the design of smart phones for the purpose of pornography any more than he was behind the invention of the printing press (or camera) for that purpose as well. For all I know, the Brother giving the talk was correct, Satan did see to it that these things were invented for the purpose of purveying porn. LOL !

( note to self....make sure to google every topic and minute detail before making an offhand comment even though those minute details make no difference to the point you're trying to make)

27

This takes the cake

by Sour Grapes in

jw
friends

today during the public talk the speaker said that satan was behind the new modern phones, which are like mini computers, so that the world would have easy access to pornography..

Pete Zahut

Or, you know, the 1500's seeing as how the printing press was invented around 1440.

Good point Viv but I was thinking in terms of the camera not being in use until the 1700's but I suppose naughty drawings could have been printed before that. Either way, it's the same kind of logic that came up with the notion that Birthdays should be banned because someone got their head cut of at one back in Bible times. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

27

This takes the cake

by Sour Grapes in

jw
friends

today during the public talk the speaker said that satan was behind the new modern phones, which are like mini computers, so that the world would have easy access to pornography..

Pete Zahut

If he'd have been living in the 1700's he'd have been among those who said that Satan was behind the invention of the printing press because he wanted everyone to have access to printed pornography.

Somebody should have texted him during his talk "Having problems with porn, you naughty boy? "

51

How bad do the JWs need to be doing financially

by cognac in

jw
friends

before they just go ahead and file chapter 7 or 11?

.

Pete Zahut

With 8 million members there's no way they're going bankrupt. Each member could donate $1 each month and it would tide them over.

All I want is for my family and former friends to see things for what they are. I don't care if they still want to be JW's....just admit that it's a hoax or at least that God's not going to kill everyone who's not a JW.

It's hard to imagine that anyone seeing the things that are going on lately wouldn't feel at least a little freer to entertain their own doubts and check into things more than they have in the past. Especially since so much information is available to them these days.

23

Hello everyone!

by Planetsmashers in

jw
friends

ive been lurking for a while and finally got around to registering.

about me: i was essentially born in & indoctrinated from youth.

i was always a borderline "bad association" type because i always did the minimum and always disagreed with much of what was taught; even when i was a child.. luckily for me my father was never a jw so i never had to endure the male head pressure.

Pete Zahut

"I voluntarily df'd and left it all behind. Started a new life and COULD NOT BE HAPPIER! Suicidal thoughts and depression are now gone but anxiety still plagues me. I have always had social anxiety issues thanks to being raised as a dub."

Funny how it is that after you stop attending weekly funeral services (ie meetings), suddenly life seems a whole lot brighter. As for the residual anxiety, remember you've been systematically trained since childhood to see things through doom and gloom - end of world filters. It will take time to undo that nasty habit but it can be done if you work at it. Read up, on retraining your thinking patterns with positive thoughts and affirmations. Like a lot of guys, I thought it was a lot of hooey at first, until it worked !

I know of quite a few JW's who have left but still carried around for decades their JW induced guilt and worry because they still think it could somehow be the truth. Glad you got out early and have discovered this place. The more you learn about the other side of the JW story, the courage of your own conviction on the matter will be a comfort to you.