Posts by Pete Zahut

29

I was ashamed

by Happeanna in

jw
friends

i was once a person who believed in god destroying 7 billion people so a few people could live in paradise.. when the penny finally dropped and i realised what as a jehovah's witnesses i was really praying for , it made me feel sick.

what is attractive about a person that prays for this world to end .

i was ashamed to have been a witness deeply ashamed .

Pete Zahut

Happeanna 24 minutes ago

I am not being dramatic in the least bit, (dramatic is being pretend) plus I am no longer ashamed , I know now how brainwashed I had been

Sorry....no of course you're not...it was too late for me to edit my comment after I read it and realized how harsh it sounded. What I mean to say is that you don't need to feel ashamed at all. We were all presented with the idea that God's only solution to solve man's problems was to wipe most of them out. We were also taught that we have no business saying whether or not he is right in doing so. We were taught that it was our duty to warn others or be part of the destruction ourselves. We didn't want anyone to die nor did we hope for this. What we wanted is an end to mankind's suffering and death and cleansing the earth of wicked people was the only way it could happen. We were taught that for the good of the greater number, this is what had to happen. In a skewed round about way, without realizing it, hoping for peace on earth meant that we were hoping for the death of millions.

I don't feel any shame for this. I was a child when this was all presented to me. I think for most of us here, once we knew better, we changed.

29

I was ashamed

by Happeanna in

jw
friends

i was once a person who believed in god destroying 7 billion people so a few people could live in paradise.. when the penny finally dropped and i realised what as a jehovah's witnesses i was really praying for , it made me feel sick.

what is attractive about a person that prays for this world to end .

i was ashamed to have been a witness deeply ashamed .

Pete Zahut

I'm not ashamed. I think you might be being a little dramatic.

For me it wasn't about praying or hoping for anyone to die . It was about the fact that God already had plans set in place to rid the earth of the wicked who were causing all the problems for mankind. He was going to do this anyway and offered everlasting life on a perfect earth to anyone who could prove they love righteousnes by living by his standards as best they could, now. The idea was to go to meetings, learn how to do his will, surround yourself with other who were doing the same and wouldn't tempt you to stray. The other objective was to spread this to others so that they could do the same.

The whole thing was about god once and for all fixing the pain and suffering of man. The problem I have is that it seems to me, there must be a more humane way to do it without killing practically every man woman and child on earth in the process. I can think of a half a dozen ways without even trying. The other problem came about when the leaders of the religion intervened in other people's relationship with God and used their desire to serve him and live forever as a way of controlling them for their own benefit or just because it was the only authority they ever had in this world.

65

JW Expressions We Hate

by Socrateswannabe in

jw
friends

i was browsing through stuff on jw.org recently and ran across some expressions that really grate on my nerves: loyal love, loving-care, and loving-kindness, as in: "please exercise loving-kindness toward your servant.

" who talks like that?

they must be relics of the fred franz era.

Pete Zahut

Thus Far

Unbelieving Mate

Fleshly Brother/Sister

Interested Ones

Thinking Persons

It Behooves us

In View Of The Foregoing

The Substance Thereof

The Paragraph Brings Out....

Certainly Brothers....

Newly Interested Ones

Whole Souled Devotion

Certainly Brothers, in view of the foregoing scriptures (and the substance thereof) thinking persons realize that thus far we have learned that it behooves us to display whole souled devotion in our dealings with newly interested ones as well as with our fleshly brothers and sisters and perhaps even an unbelieving mate.

22

Bob up and down Naked.......Really???

by Giordano in

after meticulous research here are the documented scientific pronouncements of the wtbt$.

“air baths are good for preventing colds.

what you do is strip naked mornings and evenings and then bob up and down for a while.” golden-age feb 1926 pg 310. .

Pete Zahut

“It has never been proven that a single disease is due to germs.” Golden-Age Jan 16 1924
(This was a dozen years after medicine had proven bacteria and viruses caused most diseases)

"Droppings"... from the Goose who wrote the Golden Age.

17

You don't paint the rooms on the Titanic

by TTWSYF in

this was the line my nephew gave me regarding why jws don't give alms.

i had several rebuttals to give him, but didn't.

i was hoping for some comments from this board.

Pete Zahut

Since it was him who brought up the analogy of the Titanic and compared this "system of things" to a sinking ship, you could say;

"Not assisting the needy today simply because one believes this system is doomed, is the equivalent of the Titanic's crew not distributing the ships life preservers to their passengers since they'd only survive for a short time in the icy water anyway. Only the most heartless of crewman would reason such a thing. On the other hand a caring and responsible crewman would offer whatever assistance he could. He'd realize that the life preservers although inadequate, will go down with the ship if they aren't used and it's worth a shot to use every last one of them, even if only to make the passengers a little warmer as they waited to enter the water. Likewise, the same could be said of the material goods of this world. If this system is indeed going down, as you say it surely is, the humane thing to do is to help make as many people as comfortable as possible for as long as possible, in any way we can".

Of course any JW worth his salt will tell you that for the good of the greater number, It's better to spend our efforts warning approaching ships about the Iceberg rather than waste time on the one already sinking into the water.

To that I'd say:

The system of things in your analogy is one big sinking ship. There are no other approaching ships in this story. Besides, why not do both? How long would it take for a crew of men to hand out a few hundred life jackets while one or two of them sounded the alarm and radioed a warning to nearby ships?

27

Dances With Watchtowers - Witnessing to Native Americans

by Clam in

jw
friends

i've had a life long fascination with native americans, starting of course as a kid who watched westerns, and then learning of about their true culture and spirituality.

i have often wondered how jws in other countries, particularly the us, would interact with the indigenous people of their country.

do any americans here have any stories about witnessing to native americans?

Pete Zahut

There was someone on this board at one time who along with his wife, special Pioneered or were Missionaries on the Navajo reservation. If I remember correctly, the Watchtower Society convinced the tribal elders to give them some land and allow a Kingdom Hall to be built on their reservation but it was under the condition that the building could be used by all for cultural purposes.

The Watchtower boys agreed to it but later once the Hall was built, wouldn't allow anyone else to use the building. This was part of what opened the eyes of the couple and caused them to leave the organization for good.

30

Office Jargon, drives me nuts

by punkofnice in

'granular' seems to be the latest buzz word going around my office.

previously it was 'appetite'.. abstract words that appear to be designed to make the person saying it appear powerful and part of the 'team'.. as lord sugar has observed before; why not just speak english and say what you mean.. office jargon really annoys me.

i had enough loaded language and jargon in the disgusting jw cult..

Pete Zahut

There's an Engineer in my office who uses the term "Burn" when he's referring to making a photocopy of something.

" I need to " burn " a copy of this"

When I first started working there he asked me if I could "burn" him an extra set of the drawings I wanted him to review.

Like the natural born smart ass that I am, I told him I'd have them ready as soon as the mimeograph machine was all warmed up.

He just looked at me kind of quizzically and continues to use the term "burn" to this day.

30

Office Jargon, drives me nuts

by punkofnice in

'granular' seems to be the latest buzz word going around my office.

previously it was 'appetite'.. abstract words that appear to be designed to make the person saying it appear powerful and part of the 'team'.. as lord sugar has observed before; why not just speak english and say what you mean.. office jargon really annoys me.

i had enough loaded language and jargon in the disgusting jw cult..

Pete Zahut

For a while everyone was using the word "organic"...drove me nuts

"He thinks of the city not as a collection of different neighborhoods but as an "organic" whole."

...and if I hear the word "Sustainable" or "Sustainability" again today, someone's goin' down.

39

How do you feel about the expression "The Truth"?

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

it's amazing how the expression "the truth" has become such an ingrained term used by witnesses.. "we have 'the truth'".

"is he 'in the truth'?".

most here have found out so many facts about the organisation, and felt the effects of being "gut-punched" as we realised these facts.. so how do you feel about the expression "the truth" now?.

Pete Zahut

The term "The Truth" used to be utterly cringeworthy....now it's almost laughable. If I ever do use the term, it's never without putting it in quotation marks or using my hands to make quotation marks in the air and I usually roll my eyes for added emphasis.

Fell out of "the truth"
Wants nothing to do with "the truth";
He doesn't have "the truth" in his heart.
He knows it's "the truth" but he's not doing anything with it.

65

How do I handle this situation?

by BarelyThere in

jw
friends

hey everyone.

i'm sorry that this isn't a very thought provoking post but i could really use some advice on how to handle this.

there isn't anyone else in my life i can ask right now because, being dfed, all of my friends are "worldly" and don't know how witnesses function.

Pete Zahut

I'd say nothing and see what other comments this clod makes and print them out. Then at reinstatement time, if they don't let you back in, tell them that you figured that would be the case, then show them the comments and ask them how could you get a fair hearing from, and how could Jehovah's spirit be upon a congregation who's leaders operate this way.