Pete Zahut

Joined

• started 56 topics
• posted 3,252 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Pete Zahut

• 
  32

  AUSTRALIA - Petition to Cancel the Charity Status of Watchtower and Jehovah's Witnesses

  by jwleaks in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  a petition has been launched in australia to coincide with the child abuse royal commission's adverse findings against watchtower and jehovah's witnesses.

  the petition is to the australian charities and not-for-profit commission to cancel their charity status.. https://www.change.org/p/australian-charities-and-not-for-profit-commission-acnc-cancel-the-watchtower-bible-and-tract-society-s-charity-status.

  [quote].

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  Is the petition open to Australians only ?
  
• 
  17

  Wish me all the best

  by LevelThePlayingField in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i called in to my local walgreens pharmacy to get my blood pressure medicine refilled.

  i go to the pharmacy to pick it up and they tell me that the doctor has denied filling it saying to them, "prescription refill not appropriate".

  i asked them what that means and they say you'll have to contact your doctor on that, sorry.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  Thanks for sharing your situation LTPF I hope it helps you to let others know.

  I think you got a good piece of advice from OTWO. Your doctor is required by your insurance to monitor your liver functions because any change could mean your life. Taking your wife's medication could do you irreversible damage. Tell your Dr. immediately what has been going on. He's heard it before and will know what to do.

  I work with a woman who's husband has been playing this same game with his Dr. and now is on life support and all of his organs are shutting down. He continued to think he cold treat himself by cutting back, extending sobriety goals and postponing treatment, figuring that somehow his situation was different and not all that bad. They will be pulling the plug on him next week at 60. It didn't take long for the dominoes to start falling and there was no stopping them once the began.
  

  You don't have to tough it out alone. Anxiety is hellish but it can be overcome. Until then your Dr. can prescribe medications that will deal with your anxiety and won't wreck your body like that solvent known as alcohol does. You must be honest with him or some other Dr. immediately so they can help you.
  
• 
  24

  What not to say...

  by joey jojo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hey guys.

  i was recently talking to a old friend who is a very active elder.

  i was talking about ' the truth' and he suggested i sounded like an apostate because i used terms like ' the society' and ' watchtower '.. i am aware that ' dubspeak ' has changed over the years and i am pretty sure that someone posted about it here but i can't find the thread.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  I was talking about ' the truth' and he suggested I sounded like an apostate because I used terms like ' the society' and ' watchtower
  

  If you are raising questions or sounding as if you are pointing our inconsistencies , you'd have to be careful of the tone of voice you are using or your choice of words.

  If you used the term "Watchtower" or "The Society" instead of " The Brothers or the Faithful and Discrete Slave", it might sound as if you are starting to view them as a nameless faceless corporation rather than a loving Brotherhood being led by Jehovah.

  Using the term "The Truth" while making air quotes with your fingers or a with a certain tone of voice, could tip them off that you're starting to see things that must not be spoken about.
  
• 
  13

  The start of a rough patch ahead...

  by confused3426 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  last night i told my mom my true feelings on the organization and what i've learned so far.

  it all started from a conversation, we need to go visit the new headquarters.

  my mom has been studying and just recently became an unbaptized publisher in the spanish cong.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  "She of course told me I am weak in my faith, and have allowed Satan to corrupt my thinking."

  Even though they tell you to "Make the Truth your own", your Mothier must not have faith that Jehovah's holy spirit is strong enough to protect you from corruption by Satan while you attempt to truly understand the religious interpretations you were taught by imperfect humans, since childhood.
  
• 
  26

  Observations from an Ex-Elder Part 2 - Cart Work

  by doubtfull1799 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  up until i left recently i was participating in the cart work.

  in the location where we used to set up near our local mall we never had one person stop and take literature or stop and chat - other than fellow brothers.

  i thought maybe it was just a bad location or something.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  I'm guessing Phase 2 of the "cart work" will involve JW's dragging the carts along as they go from door to door, ringing the door bell and then simply pointing to the cart (if and when) a householder answers the door.
  
• 
  26

  Observations from an Ex-Elder Part 2 - Cart Work

  by doubtfull1799 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  up until i left recently i was participating in the cart work.

  in the location where we used to set up near our local mall we never had one person stop and take literature or stop and chat - other than fellow brothers.

  i thought maybe it was just a bad location or something.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  Every Thursday morning there are two carts set up outside the main doors of our local library. Each cart has 2 JW's manning it. I can see from my office window that dozens and dozens of people pass by without so much as a glance. As others have said, the JW's look at their phones or chat among themselves. Then they pack up at noon just when things begin to pick up in terms of people coming and going and off they go.
  

  Last week it was in the 20's around here and 4 women stood there stone cold in their skirts, freezing their magazines off. I thought to myself, "what a colossal waste of time" they could just leave the carts there and it would have the same effect. People almost seem intimidated by the crowd of over dressed people hanging oddly around a bunch of religious brochures.
  
• 
  22

  I need some serious help

  by bulldogg1877 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i grew up a jw kid until the age of twelve.

  since then i have lived a worldly life.

  i have enjoyed alot of my life experiences, but i now feel like i am lost.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  We often look at the past with rose colored glasses and forget the difficulties we had, only remembering the good things. I'm wondering if you are looking back on your JW life this way.
  

  There is a saying "You can't go home again". I'm not saying you shouldn't revisit the JW religion if you think it may help but don't expect to be able to go back to the naive state you were once in and rebelled against once you grew out of it. People often need structure and any structure is better than no structure at all but remember, you can find real and practical guidance as well as the structure you crave via many avenues besides JW's or with religion itself.

  Whatever you do in this regard, make sure it's done based on provable facts and tangible evidence in the here and now rather than based on fear or in sentimental hopes and dreams that can only be kept alive by ignoring reality.
  
• 
  37

  WT Society Creates the Atmosphere which Spawns Child Abuse in Congregations

  by flipper in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  been thinking about this lately after almost 14 years out of the jw cult myself.

  when you think of the language used within the jehovah's witness organization in such a closed society environment in how the wt society promotes almost absolute " trust " in the elders , the governing body, and trust even in the " friends " in the congregation themselves- is it any wonder that unscrupulous child molesters can enter any congregation pretending to be " spiritual " and take advantage of unsuspecting children or the parents ?

  think about it : an individual is judged as a " spiritual " person within the jw organization based on what wt functions or duties they are good at performing.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  Besides their tendency to judge a persons trustworthiness by their meeting comments and their dress and grooming (no beard, short hair= good) the other danger is the magical belief that Jehovah would never allow such a thing to happen in the Congregation.

  Because of their tendency to be overly trusting with one another, JW's are also sitting ducks for any JW related business scam and for pick pockets at the assemblies where they leave their belongings lying around on seats.
  

  I have a male relative who was hired by a "sister" to do chores when he was 14. When it was time to pay him, she told him to come into the bedroom where her purse was. She proceeded to teach him the facts of life and it sent him off the rails...changed his whole life in very bad way for a time. It sickened him that she could sit in the meetings with her husband and kids and answer and give talks while he felt so horrible about himself. He was too ashamed to tell anyone for fear of the shame it would bring his JW mother, after all JW boys are supposed to be like Joseph and run away when they are seduced. Instead, he ran away from home and lived on the streets and found odd jobs. He joined the army as soon as he was old enough and somehow managed to pull himself together. He never got to go to high school or college but he did get married and raise a nice family (non JW of corse) His wife despises JW's for what they did to her husband.
  
• 
  53

  Best statement a householder made to get you to leave them alone.

  by Esse quam videri in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  knocked on a door on a saturday morning.

  a window opened on the floor above me.

  a grizzled old man stuck his head out and said, " we're all heathens here!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  This post reminds me of the urban legend that was going around, about the JW hating woman who threw a bucket of water on a JW brother who called on her doorstep. The brother left and went on down the street and saw a little boy sitting on the curb crying. The little boy told the brother that his mother wouldn't give him any money to buy an ice cream from the ice cream man who was coming their way, so the brother gave the little boy some money.

  It turns out the boy was the child of the woman who threw the bucket of water on the brother. The boy came home with an ice cream and told her about the nice, but very wet man who bought it for him. The mother was so ashamed she ran after the brother and of course "a bible study was started" and the bucket lady is faithfully serving Jehovah to this very day.

  The End
• 
  65

  My Introduction - An ex-elder's story of waking up later in life.

  by doubtfull1799 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  background:.

  my parents got the “truth” while i was in primary school.

  i was baptised at 14. i loved school and was extremely studious.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Pete Zahut

  Thanks for sharing your personal "JW story". I was particularly touched by the part where you said you cried for days after losing your hope of everlasting life. That's a tough one isn't it ? My wife and I faded in our early 50's after being raised in the religion. Like you, it was a perfect storm of events and doctrinal conflicts that made being a JW intolerable. We had to come to grips with our own mortality in a matter of days rather than over a lifetime as most people do. Sometimes the pain and emptiness was unbearable, but here we are, years down the road, making more than just a go of things. Coming to grips with ones own mortality is a very freeing thing once it happens. It's much easier to deal with than having to constantly convince yourself that you're going to live forever in a paradise when you know on some deep level that it can't possibly be real.

  It's difficult at first but try not to spend too much time on "what might have been". When those thoughts come up, shoo them away just as you'd shoo away flies buzzing around at a picnic you were trying to enjoy. Why let those kinds of thoughts spoil your day? After all, what is wasted time really? Time passes and is gone, whether we do something productive with it or not. What if you'd have been allowed to attend University and you'd been hit by a bus a week after graduating? None of us knows if things would be any better if we'd have turned left instead of right at a fork in life's road.The main thing is that you're still here and will do better now that you know better.

  I found that most if not all of the depression and anxiety I suffered over the years was due to suppressing my own common sense and from attending those bleak and mind numbing meetings. Once I was away from all of that and I had recovered from the rude awakening that I had been duped, things began to get better and better.

  My hope is that this will be the case for you as well. It would be great if you could manage to continue on as you are without the JW's doing any more damage to your life than they already have. I hope that by formally disassociating, you won't be burning any bridges or making things more difficult.

  You know what's best in your own circumstance but the main thing is you are moving forward and no longer spinning your wheels chasing after a fantasy.