Pete Zahut

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Posts by Pete Zahut

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  25

  I got my Memorial invite! I got my Memorial invite!

  by Dagney in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my first one!

  even though i got it saturday, march 26, in the mail in an envelope addressed to "my dear neighbor.".

  it's the thought that counts..

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  Pete Zahut

  Call the local Kingdom Hall and in a worried and somewhat hysterical manner, leave a voice mail explaining that you just got your invite in the mail because it was mailed the same day as the Memorial. Tell them that you're frightened to death that Jesus will punish you for not being there to participate...burst into tears and cry out "I just didn't know....why didn't anyone tell me??" then hang up.
  
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  10

  My life

  by wasone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in 1968 merle haggard released a country song with the lyrics " and i turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.

  no one could steer me right but mama tried, mama tried.

  " the following year i too turned twenty-one and found myself in prison but not for the reasons haggard sang about.

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  Pete Zahut

  I was in Bethel at that time (76) stuck in the Bindery and never got to see what others were doing. I love hearing how the other half lived...I've got my popcorn ready....please continue your story !
  
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  57

  Did you participate in a Drama?

  by Hecce in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am bringing this up because even it was a lot of work, for the majority of the friends this was a rewarding experience.

  camaraderie, joking, costumes, props and when the time came the celebrity status of being in the drama.. back in the 50s and 60s, conventions could be as long as 8 days and from about 1966 the dramas became an integral part of the program.

  we had one per day and the brothers looked forward to their presentation.

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  Pete Zahut

  I was a stagehand in a drama and also played the part of a rock in one key scene.

  The Dramas were fun to be part of because they gave a good sized group of people something to work together on that was considered by their peers to be a noble effort.

  As far as the drama's being successful, this was mostly because they were a welcome alternative to the drone of a stodgy old unlettered and ordinary man, reading off some canned talk hour after hour....day after day.
  
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  35

  out for a long time

  by Sledracer in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my husband and i have been out for a long time, maybe fifteen years, i must say we are in a bit of a nowhere land spiritually, we find it impossible to attend any other church.

  we really resent so much of how they messed up our and our children's lives.

  we can't get back all those 25 years we were in.

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  Pete Zahut

  I have felt the way you do. I used to think to myself, I'll move and just go back to a new Hall on my own terms just so I'll have a network of friends again. I'll ignore all the non-sense and never let them have a hold on me....just play along.

  Then I come to my senses and realize that:

  • We often look at the past with rose colored glasses and remember things better than what they were.
  • When we try to re-create the past, we are often suddenly reminded why it was we left it behind in the first place.
  • We made friends much easier when we were young, the problem often isn't that there isn't an abundance of people to be friends with now, the problem is that as we get older we don't have the energy to invest in making friends, aren't as patient when having to adjust to new peoples idiosyncrasies and want things to be like they used to be without having to invest any more time in getting there.
  • You can't go home again...once you've seen behind the Wizards curtain, once you've grown in your understanding and overall view of things and once you know better, it's never going to be the same as it was.

  Perhaps you could sneak in to a meeting somewhere and duck out early just to see if you are remembering things clearly. For me, I just couldn't stomach the repetitive nature of the meetings, the doctrines full of holes, the JW lingo I'd be expected to parrot, explaining why I missed a meeting or a day in service, being expected to give talks and go from door to door. There's also the real life experience with the blood issue that opened my eyes in the first place and the fact that there'd be endless questions, files that would be transferred from my old Hall and the years of suspiciousness one would have to endure before one was truly accepted (if ever).
  
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  53

  Disturbance during Memorial 2016.

  by Ben131895 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  two documented disturbances during memorial 2016. type 'memorial 2016' on youtube.

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  Pete Zahut

  Quietly taking a mouthful of wine that was offered would be enough of a statement for that occasion but standing up during a quiet somber religious ceremony and interrupting the speaker and the proceedings with a loud declaration and toast is not a cool thing to do. Not a crime but since we're discussing this occurrence, it was an obnoxious, inconsiderate, self serving and plain old tacky thing to do, in my book.
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  84

  I COLLECT QUOTES. . . Here are some of my favorites

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please post your favorites too.

  my favorite quotations:.

  you cannot change what you refuse to confront.. sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.. don’t think of cost.

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  Pete Zahut

  On the topic of worrying about the future and crossing bridges before you come to them....
  

  “I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”

  -Mark Twain

  
  

  
  
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  33

  Disturbing/Puzzling Skit at JW Function Last Night Plus Odd Choice of Music

  by Cadellin in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so i attended a fairly large jw gathering last night with my active, elder husband.

  it was a good-by party for a former special pioneer couple who have been demoted to reg pios and have now moved to a larger city to find work.

  anyway, there was music and skits.

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  Pete Zahut

  I always found it nauseating the way anytime JW's got together as a group, they had to do something religious or Bible based. Why couldn't they have had a humorous skit where the plot simply expressed the groups well wishes to the people who were moving? Why did they have to drag growing old and dying, or the "end of the system" into the occasion? Don't they have ample opportunities as it is to think about these big picture topics?

  Don't get me started on how they'd make meeting style "announcements" and then insist on thanking Jehovah for the refreshments our loving sisters provided.
  
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  53

  Disturbance during Memorial 2016.

  by Ben131895 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  two documented disturbances during memorial 2016. type 'memorial 2016' on youtube.

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  Pete Zahut

  

  Listener 31 minutes ago

  Seems that there are some on here that would say Jesus was wrong in turning over the Money changers tables in the temple.

  Not really a good comparison, Jesus was (supposedly) the Son of God....not a mere man who simply disagreed with what was being taught at some "kingdom hall" he no longer attends, as was the case in that video. To Jesus, the temple was his fathers house and a place of worship rather than a marketplace and he was (supposedly) sent to earth by GOD to personally carry out his will. Who does this guy in the video think he is that he can just walk into someone else's place of worship, intentionally stand up and disrupt their proceedings with an inflammatory act and start dictating how they should do things?
  
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  23

  JW Hypocrisy Rears It's Ugly Head...As Usual

  by babygirl30 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so about last night.... i am out at a local club (not restaurant, not event venue - a club) to see a rap concert.

  now, i am with some friends minding my own business, and i find that i am standing right behind 3 active jw's - one of whom used to be my best friend.

  this girl is as fake as they come: 1) she used to live with me and would bring non-jw guys home all the time, 2) was living with a man when she lived down south - until he dumped her, and then she decided to go back to jw's the 1st time and got reproved, and i supported her.

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  Pete Zahut

  "You were my best friend for years. And I miss you everyday. But if this is some attempt to incriminate me or just saying hi, then please remember what is going on with this world, and that you still know 'the truth' and what you should do to come back"

  Your response was great but what if you said:

  "I will come back to meeting, (preferably a Watchtower study) if you promise that while I'm there you will raise your hand and tell the audience about your experience at a recent Rap concert where you and the other JW's saw me, a former JW and suddenly had a guilty conscience and ran away. Tell them about how I called you out on it and you tried to flip the situation around and make yourself sound like a spiritually strong JW by ignoring the fact that you a JW were in a Club dancing to Rap music when you know better. Tell them how instead of explaining your own "untheocratic" actions, you had the gall to lecture me about the closeness of the end and the wickedness of this world.
  

  Until you are willing to do that or something similar, save your preaching about world conditions and the importance of my returning to "the truth" until you actually believe it yourself and are acting in accordance to your beliefs.

  (Don't be surprised if she is pretending that she wasn't at the club, you are mistaking her for someone else and are using this as an excuse to contact her.)
  
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  47

  How My Husband Helped Me See TTATT

  by corruptgirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wanted to write my experience on how my husband helped me see the ttatt (the truth about the truth).

  first, let me mention that he wrote his own experience a couple months ago under the name sanchy.

  for his story please click here….. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5148261828526080/walking-thin-line-resigning-elder

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  Pete Zahut

  C-Girl,

  Loved your story and the way you presented it. Your husbands past post was a memorable one as well.

  I instinctively followed the same course as he did when dealing with my Wife and she was able to see, in her own way and in her own time, what I had already come to know. Whenever I talk to JW's I take the approach that I want to understand what it is they believe (and I do, I'm still open to the possibility that they can teach me something). Rather than blindsiding them with scary outside information and scary new ideas, they come to their own conclusion after seeing the holes in their beliefs that become apparent when try to explain them to someone who has real life questions.

  Thanks for sharing this with us and wanted to let you know that my brother and I are 16 mos apart and my wife and her Sister are 13 mos apart. In both cases things turned out well and both moms are sane and healthy