The best thing about going in "service" was when it was over. Nothing was accomplished other than to rid oneself of the guilt and obligation placed on you by others. You got to feel somewhat virtuous about yourself and got a sense of accomplishment buy doing little more than driving around and knocking on a few doors at empty houses. This sensation is what other JW's often mistook as "Joy".
Pete Zahut
JoinedPosts by Pete Zahut
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36
What I miss about going out in service.
by compound complex inwell, very little, to be honest.
the structure and commitment of the ministry provided discipline necessary to my life.
therefore, i did it, as required, and felt some sense of fulfillment at the bible study stage.. i do like talking to people.
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Dose Wt really have that much cash.
by joe134cd ini realize that wt has got a wind fall of cash through various means.
so my question is in the greater scheme of things is it really that much.
for example let's say with all their real estate and cash on hand they are worth about $20 billion dollars.
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Pete Zahut
They sold the goose that laid the golden egg when they sold the New York buildings.
They might be flush with cash now because of the recent building sales but their yearly operating expenses could eat through that in a few years especially if the contributions are low and or their investments don't do well.
All that would be left to do is sell off more properties and cut back staff.
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Jehovah sure loves foreskins!
by rebel8 inan atheist (never jw) friend of mine is an rv for a jw who he is trying to deprogram.
he started this totally on his own and just telling me about it.
it's quite amusing what he comes up with.. point 1: why the s & m stuff with foreskins?
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Pete Zahut
They're "circumcised in heart". Whatever the hell that means, slavery I guess.
I remember at one of the last meetings I attended, they were discussing this topic in the watchtower study. They called on a little girl in the audience and she began commenting in detail on the difference between circumcision of the heart and literal circumcision. I thought it was pretty creepy and wondered what a new person visiting might think hearing a little girl go into such detail on that topic.
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Jehovah sure loves foreskins!
by rebel8 inan atheist (never jw) friend of mine is an rv for a jw who he is trying to deprogram.
he started this totally on his own and just telling me about it.
it's quite amusing what he comes up with.. point 1: why the s & m stuff with foreskins?
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Pete Zahut
I always wondered if circumcision will be practiced in the WTS new world, on men of course. Perfect man was created with it, so it is a part God wanted on him. Why no longer....what is the WTS position on circumcision of men in their organization?
Will they grow back in the "New System" just as an amputated arm or missing teeth would ? Would a former Israelite be resurrected with an intact foreskin? So many important questions....so few answers.
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I really hate the word "ones".
by schnell innecessary as it is at times, i hate this word.
for one thing, "ones" is a plural form of the number 1. that is dumb, and it's reason enough to avoid it where it isn't entirely necessary.. one could argue that it never is necessary, but it can still come up in colloquial dialogue when discussing objects.
jw leaders use it to discuss people.. interestingly, jws even did this to jesus christ in their own translation of the bible, referring to him in ephesians 1:7 with "through the blood of that one" where another translation would say something like "through his blood".
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Pete Zahut
I always thought Jehovah's Witness was such a dumb name for a religion. It has two parts to it and because of the apostrophe at the end of Jehovah you almost have to use something in front of the term to make it work. You can say I am Catholic, I am Presbyterian, I am Mormon but you can't say I am Jehovah Witness and have it sound right.
Also JW's love the term "one's"....Interested ones...New ones...Newly baptized ones...I'm going to ask a few of the different ones over for dinner.
It seems quite cringeworthy and cult-like to me now.
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Jehovah sure loves foreskins!
by rebel8 inan atheist (never jw) friend of mine is an rv for a jw who he is trying to deprogram.
he started this totally on his own and just telling me about it.
it's quite amusing what he comes up with.. point 1: why the s & m stuff with foreskins?
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Pete Zahut
All this talk of foreskins reminded me of the joke about the guy who was involved in a near fatal car accident.
He was thrown through the windshield and sustained many injuries including having his eyelids cut off.
Fortunately however, he wasn't circumcised and because of the similarity of the skin they were able to use his foreskin to rebuild his eyelids.
For the most part everything went well but for the rest of his life he was always a little "cockeyed"
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Is this a normal JW practice? Warning, this will be a bit graphic.
by Sequoia inthis post may be disturbing and i apologize, but i'm just trying to find out if this is a practice the jw teaches.
i was taken advantage of by a guy claiming to be a jw preacher.
he took me to his house supposedly so i could give his daughter piano lessons, and then he basically forced himself on me while telling me he was in love with me and wanted to marry me.
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Pete Zahut
Something sees a bit "off" about this post but I'm going to proceed anyway.
First off, I'm glad you asked this question and I'm sorry this happened to you but once you've sorted this out with the police, I'd look into the reasons why you'd even have to ask if this is normal for JW's or even care. The important thing at this point is that this guy needs to be dealt with so that he doesn't try this with anyone else. You can sort out your thoughts about JW's later once you are sure that you are ok about all of this and that other women and young girls are safe.
This guy attempted to cover up his own wrongdoing and soothe his guilty conscience by using a warped sense of Bible logic to make it seem as if you had done wrong and you were the problem . This is what child molesters do to their victims to keep them quiet and my hope is that his daughter or someone else hasn't already been affected by this.
Naturally, you wouldn't want to judge every JW buy this bad experience but it seems to me you'd want to let someone know at his congregation, what happened to you. How they treat you and how seriously they deal with this guy will be very telling and could give you insights into the organization.
Under the circumstances, I think I'd insist that the police contact the congregation to let them know what this guy is up to. Make sure the police know that this guy goes from door to door claiming to be a minister and could take advantage of others.
Whether it's via the police or you or an attorney having to call or write to the congregation yourself, someone needs to make sure no one else has the same thing happen. You may not be his first victim but let's make sure your the last one.
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All About The Words We Used
by dubstepped inin the time since i've left the borg behind i've had a few things hit me as to how words were used.
i'm wondering if anyone else has some similar examples, but here are some things that have made me think:.
watchtower - my whole life i saw this as a thing of protection from outside evil forces, and then when i left someone pointed out "isn't that what they used to keep people in prison".
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Pete Zahut
Independent Thinking: Seen as a bad thing as a JW but anywhere else, it's seen as a valuable and necessary ability. A parent would cripple a child if he raised him or her to depend on others to tell them what to think. They'd be forever victims of whomever took advantage of their lack of ability to think for themselves and they would be forever lost without direction from someone else.
Sheep Like: Seen as a good JW quality especially by those in charge who want to have things done their own way without a lot of push back from anyone else. In the real world where real things need to happen, there is often "leadership training" offered to employees or "leadership teams" formed when things need to get accomplished. You've never heard of a "follower training" offered or a "followers group" formed to create goals.
Thought Provoking: A good thing so long as one only thinks when told to and only on the topics and within the boundaries provided.
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How to reply when someone asks about your spiritual health
by RodrigoGuerreiro infirst of all, sorry if i cannot correctly express the original expression used in my native language to ask for the "spiritual condition".. a few years ago some member of the family asks my wife directly how is her "spiritual health" (for me it's one of the many strange vocabulary used by jw like "the slave says...").
she was catched by surprise with the direct question and says that everything is ok... and luckily someone call them for lunch.. my question is: do you have any good answers for that question?
you can be ironic/use some humor because the question is a little bit anecdotical .
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Pete Zahut
A. " I've found that like ones ego, their "spiritual health" is only as good, or as bad as they imagine it to be. Since we're asking personal questions, how's yours doing these days ?"
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Short stay
by midnight inafter much research and prayer i am returning to being a jehovah's witness i can find nothing that eliminates them from being god's directed people , in the end they will reach the end of there journey despite mistakes and errors just like the israelites entered the promised land , thanks for your input and all the best on your personal journey ☺.
midnight..
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Pete Zahut
According to the account in Bible (if it was translated correctly) the Israelites (if they existed) made it to the promised land but it didn't mean anything for them long term. What happened to them after they entered the promised land and where are they now?
There is nothing that I know of in the Bible that actually says there would literally be modern day Israelites and if there is, there is no proof that JW's are the ones to fill that role. JW's also insinuate themselves into the role of the "faithful and discrete slave class" even though there was no indication that there would be a Slave "class" and it would be literal and that role (if there was one) would be filled by a modern day religious group and JW's would be that group.
At any rate, unlike a lot of us who were raised as JW's and were forbidden to look at outside information before baptism, you have at least dared to go against the stern directives that we abided by and can now make an choice based on what you've learned so far.
As someone who watched his father die a horrible death due to the blood issue, my advice is for you to be sure you thoroughly understand the scriptures that JW's use to support that stand as well as all of the surrounding verses and know the context in which they were written. Ask yourself why the scriptures show that those who went against the early laws regarding animals and blood, were only considered unclean until sundown and why no one had to die over "misuse of blood" yet today JW's are expected to die and let their kids die over this.
Also, do not to putt all your eggs in one basket in terms of planning your future because so far, everyone who has ever lived, whether or not they believed in a "promised land", has grown old and died. Chances are pretty high that you'll need to count on growing old and having the resources to take care of yourself when you are.
I'm in my Late 50's and am ready to retire in the next few months, with a pension and additional income. Many of my contemporaries counted on being in the "promised land" long ago and viewed it as a lack of faith to prepare for the future. Some of the old pioneers and circuit overseers I know are in their late 70's, living in mobile homes, or rental units, driving school bus or have several part time jobs and are struggling. Back in the 1970's they thought the end was finally on the horizon and disregarded the evidence that the elderly folks who came before them and were dying one by one and had been duped into believing the end would come in their day as well. I never bought into this trend and from what I read in the literature and heard from the platform was made to feel unfaithful for planning for a future in this system.
Each JW generation that comes along convinces themselves (via repetition at assembles, meetings, and in the literature) that despite all the evidence before them, that somehow they will be the ones who won't have to grow old and die. It's human nature and it's the only way many of them can cope,