Posts by Pete Zahut

18

A flash from the past

by wasone in

jw
friends

this is a photo of the bethel repair shop taken in 1976. anyone recognize any of these lads from 40 years ago.

i know it's a long shot, but was wondering how many were still in after all these years.

i remember a few of them.

I found one of my old Bethel roommates a couple of years ago on facebook. I saw his facebook page and it was full of JW memes and the daily text etc. He was kind of a fun but mischievous guy at 19....used to skip out of work, drink beer on the roof, play pranks on others. He was now in his mid 50's and had been looking for me for years and was delighted to hear from me. I was looking forward to hooking up with him but after a few phone calls back and forth things got pretty sad.

What was once fun and crazy had become a bit odd with age and time. He was still single and had become one of the "anointed" and was living in an apartment alone and on Disability because he had an enlarged heart. He said he weighed over 300 pounds and only left the house a couple times a month. He was eligible for a heart transplant but declined because he was looking forward to being with " Lord God Jehovah" in heaven. Between testifying about the grand creator and quoting scriptures, he kept mentioning how his "Lord and God Jehovah" was miraculously making sure he was provided for. For example, he said he had been craving some barbecued ribs one evening and there was a knock at the door and someone from the rib place around the corner delivered an order of ribs for him. He said the congregation was visiting him regularly and as time went on he began hinting heavily that I send him money and food and told me about places near him that delivered. It seemed to me that heavy hinting is what was at the root of these miracles he spoke of.

This went on for a few months and got odder and odder until eventually I quit calling. I learned that he finally passed away last year and felt badly about not having kept in contact. I just couldn't stand having to bite my tongue every time he started in about his heavenly hope etc.

18

A flash from the past

by wasone in

jw
friends

this is a photo of the bethel repair shop taken in 1976. anyone recognize any of these lads from 40 years ago.

i know it's a long shot, but was wondering how many were still in after all these years.

i remember a few of them.

Pete Zahut

I came to Bethel in April 76 and left a year later. I don't recognize anyone in the photo but they all have that certain "Bethelite" look that you can't quite put your finger on. It must be the bad Bethel haircuts they forced us to get. I went to the Bethel Barber once and that was one too many times. My Mom used to cut hair so I was used to having good haircuts. At one point she had a broken wrist and taught me how to cut my own hair so that's what I did from then on. It used to just fry the floor overseer on haircut day when he'd tell me it was my turn to go and I'd decline his orders. The guys I worked with always wanted to know which of Bethel Barbers I went to so they could go to him because they hated the one size fits all haircuts they would get. Long on top....side part...shaved up the back. I took pity on my friends and eventually had a few customers of my own until the floor overseer put a stop to it.

Did you know :

Milton Carrion,

Johnny Tender (yes,his real name)

Hector Mendez,

Herman McMickens,

Alvin Morris.

Lance Canada,

Gil Acasio,

Clarence Scott

Ernie Grice.

Tibor Weise

18

Share your home remedies for congestion and earache...please?

by GrreatTeacher in

the extraordinarily high pollen count has finally done me in.

i started with head congestion and coughing on friday and have steadily felt worse.

i now have an earache and a heavy feeling in my chest.. yes, i do have a doctor's appointment for tomorrow, as i'm sure the advice would be!

Pete Zahut

Fill a sink with hot water and with a towel over your head, carefully breathe in the steam through your nose and mouth.

Advil or similar can help with the earache and an irritated throat that makes you cough.

Sometimes a cold compress on the ear can help if your earache is caused by inflammation.

Warm compress (or alternating warm and cold) across your eyes and the bridge of your nose can help with sinus congestion.

Be sure to go to the doctor....you may have the flu and Bronchitis like I had last month. Normal cold remedies wouldn't touch it....took over a week to get over it and a month to get rid of it completely. Worst thing about it was I was in Hawaii on vacation.

Feel Better !

64

Were you beaten as a child?

by purrpurr in

i've been confronting my mother with her dubious parenting skills (abuse) of me as a child.

particularly the beatings i would get with the wooden spoon.

not a light smack but hitting me as hard as she could for as long as she could.

Pete Zahut

I remember from about 4 or 5 years old regularly getting hauled out to the back seat of the car by my father during the meeting and having the living daylights beaten out of me with a belt.This happened to all the kids in the Hall. One Sister used to keep a length of black rubber hose from a washing machine in her purse and whip it out and whack her girls across their bare thighs right in the meeting. I remember how she'd brag that it stung but didn't leave a welt and recommended it to other Moms.

There was a tiny little girl named Tammy who they called the "NO MOMMY" girl. She's shriek in terror all the way up the aisle "NO MOMMY...NO MOMMY....I'LL BE GOOD" I remember purposely not looking at her so she wouldn't be embarrassed. (I'm getting teared up just thinking of all of this)

Later, when I had kids of my own, I said to my parents "What in the world could a 4 or 5 year old kid do during a meeting to warrant being beaten so severely? All I remember is that you thought I wasn't listening or was daydreaming and the terror of the pain and what was about to happen and the shame of being dragged up the aisle with everyone looking at me and then trying to control my whimpering and sniffles on the way back to my seat."

My parents, (who were actually lovely people), looked quite ashamed and said "Well....it's what we were admonished by the Society to do...looking back on it, you kids were really very well behaved and we'd do things a lot differently now, but that's what everyone expected you to do then"

I could see that they were ashamed so I dropped it but I said "A person really has to think for himself in these things....can't imagine beating my kids because someone expected me to."

234

New ANTI-GAY video for Kids on jw.org

by ttdtt in

https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/children/become-jehovahs-friend/videos/one-man-one-woman-marriage/.

disgusting!.

Pete Zahut

That was awful, I hope this one bites them in the ass like the Noah one! Sick!

What happened in regard to the Noah Video? I hadn't heard anything about that.

I think JW's would probably call this a "Pro Hetro Marriage video" rather than an "Anti-Gay Marriage Video".

I can't help but notice how the messages in these videos are way too obvious "on the nose". Everything they support is portrayed in a hyper-idealistic way. The homes are as neat as a pin and nicely decorated, the Dad's are always handsome and strapping and the moms are always pretty and feminine and the kids are cute, chipper and easy to reason with.

Did you notice that in the idealistic "paradise scene", the boys jumping into the water were wearing shirts? Wouldn't want to anyone to get the wrong idea by showing boys swimming immodestly without their shirts on. Even the most subtle detail is covered by their calculated message.

14

what era do you feel like your starting out from?

by sowhatnow in

jw
friends

anyone else feel like they were just woke up from a long coma?

or emerged from a time capsule?.

i mean seriously, its rather creepy and disturbing , some of us are at sea without a compass .. like an orphan, like someone said, , heres a birth certificate go find yourself.

Pete Zahut

Anyone else feel like they were just woke up from a long coma? or emerged from a time capsule?

My boys were little in the late 80's and 90's and keeping food on the table and a roof over their heads kept me busy. There were so many times when after a long day of work, I wanted nothing more than to stay home and enjoy my little boys. Instead we felt obligated to dress them in little suits and ties 3 time a week, head to the Kingdom Hall on a dark wintery night and force them to sit through mind numbing talks about the supposed nearness of the end. Sometimes I'd look at them sitting there in their chairs with glazed looks on their faces and remember my own growing up years as a JW and feel badly for them.

There's no way to get that time back and there's a lot of catching up to do now and the hard part is, I don't really have quite the same energy and drive that I used to have. It would have been nice to have known what I know now....back when I was on top of my game. I don't know anything about politics. Didn't get to know my neighbors or coworkers all those years. Didn't really learn how to make friends. Friendships just sort of happened after all those years of going to the meetings week after week. I still feel quite elated on Tuesday and Thursday nights when I realize that I don't have to go to "the meeting".

One nice thing has been watching old movies that I'd missed because they were rated R. and not feeling obligated to explain my beliefs or that I'm representing Jehovah's Witnesses every time I'm faced with a decision or some controversial issue.

7

The Perfect Ones...

by JW_Rogue in

with the rc coming i was wondering if anyone else noticed how some jws seemed to have everything somehow?

you would see these attractive young couples who clearly were well off.

the brother had privileges though so you know he was at the meetings and fs regularly.

Pete Zahut

With the RC coming I was wondering if anyone else noticed how some JWs seemed to have everything somehow?

The operative word in the sentence above is "SEEMED".

In any group of people, there are always those who manage to do better than average and become the cream that rises to the top. But what do JW's really do? They meet often and talk about how much they are accomplishing but really, it's mostly driving around in cars, sitting in meetings and talking about how great and how happy they are. Most of what they do is for them....about them....and isn't exactly rocket science. Rather it is repetitive pablum that anyone with two brain cells can get the gist of in a few months. They keep busy with work they've created for themselves....it's all talk and rhetoric.

To be fair, there is an advantage in living a clean lifestyle. Less money wasted, better health and looks, but lots of people accomplish this without being a JW. For many JW's , just like those they call "worldly", it's all show.....and no Dough $$. There is a certain peer pressure that keeps the standard of grooming and dress at a higher level than is typical. JW's are dressed up all the time and are practiced at their grooming and there is a certain amount competition and keeping up with the Jones's that goes on. They like to appear as if they are being blessed and are living the ideal life in a spiritual paradise especially at assembly time. If my family was typical, more emphasis was put on what clothes we were going to wear to the assembly, than on importance of the assembly itself.

Everyone looks good or at least better than normal and seem less flawed when they are dressed in their "Sunday Best" and sitting quietly in a meeting minding their P's and Q's. Over the long haul you see the casualties of all of this. You see the hidden alcoholism, the indebtedness that leads to bankruptcy and the pressure that leads to depression and anxiety and sometimes divorce. Others who manage to pull it off, are wondering how much longer they can stand it. You see it in the eyes of the sisters especially, who seem to have lost track of who they are and what they are doing on this endless treadmill.

12

A question about WTBTS moles.

by DATA-DOG in

with all the info from videos to boe letters, to the flock book ( this is huge when you learn ttatt!

), why can't we find out who the wtbts hired to aid in their rebranding efforts?

we know all about the rc and monica applewhite for jeehoober's sake, so why in the hell can't we find out who is behind the rebranding?

Pete Zahut

When I was in Bethel, a good friend there was a recent college graduate (English major) and became a JW after he had received his degree. His sister was a recent convert who turned him on to the JW's. We worked in the Bindery together and one day he was tapped on the shoulder and told to come to the Bethel office.

Later that day he told me that he was being transferred to the Legal Dept and being sent to Law School. I was shocked, I had gone to Bethel instead of going to College as I had wanted to and realized that those of us who listened to the Societies directive to forgo a higher education were being discriminated against for having done so.

They tell the rank and file that the end is near and not to waste time on pursuing a degree yet they use the donated funds earned by the sweat of uneducated publishers working at dead end jobs, to send a Bethelite to Law School. That was in 1977 and the end didn't come and that Brother left Bethel and "the truth" years ago and is now in his early 60's.

26

Start your own Prince rumour!

by purrpurr in

i see the jw rumour mill is going into mad overdrive about prince.

the stories seem to be more and more unlikely.

so i thought as a bit of fun how about us here try to make up our own rumours?

Pete Zahut

1. As soon as the Governing Body got wind that they were named as major benefactors in Prince's Will, they had him "Whacked" by their sister organization" (The Illuminati ) so they could use his money to bail themselves out of their current financial woes. (Jehovah blesses in his own large way)

2. Prince is still alive. He staged his own death so that he could drop off the grid and serve where the need is great.

3. Prince's left his Paisley Park home to the Society and specified that it be used as an unleavened bread storage facility, a sign language training center and as a sound stage for the Societies videos and music recording needs.

42

Has Anybody Hear a Rumour That Prince Died?

by cofty in

why do people care so much about celebrities?

Pete Zahut

Has Anyone Heard the Rumor That Prince Died?

...and by Prince I'm assuming you're referring to "The Artist Formally Known as Alive" (too soon?)