Pete Zahut

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Posts by Pete Zahut

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  12

  Refusing blood transfusion: A free choice?

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i wrote the following in relation to the mother in quebec who died for refusing a blood transfusion.

  enjoy.

  i personally grew up within the jehovah's witnesses and was a member in good standing until 2013 (aged 35), date at which i became inactive.

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  Pete Zahut

  This weekend one of my siblings told me that recently someone in their Congregation in Florida, accepted a blood transfusion to save their dying child and there was nothing done about it. Perhaps there was a loophole because it was an unbaptized child who got the blood transfusion. Had the parent accepted the blood for him or herself, there may have been committee action taken. I'm just guessing here but it seems as if anymore, it's getting to be a conscience matter whereas in the past, it definitely wasn't.
  
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  POP QUIZ: You're An Elder, And A Sister Has Suicidal Thoughts...

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  lets imagine you're a jehovah's witness elder.

  you have zero theological training aside from what you've read in the watchtower and the currently still approved watchtower publications, you have zero counseling skills, and no medical training.

  a recently bereaved sister approaches you in tears and tells you she just wants to die.. what do you do?.

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  Pete Zahut

  (Option D )

  Have her read the book of Job (as I was advised to do ) so she can see how her current problems are really miniscule compared to what Job went through. Have her pray for an extra portion of Jehovah's holy spirit in her life.

  Tell her to find comfort when she reads how Jehovah's wise loving solution to the horror and grief job was experiencing over having his 10 children flattend all at once, during a family dinner, was to replace them with 10 new children. She will be comforted to see that Job (despite having lost his family and having his house collapse), forgot his problems as soon as his wife (mother of the original 10) spent the next decade or more being pregnant so that she could provided Job with 10 replacement children.

  Once the depressed sisters jumps off the nearest bridge or downs a bottle of pills, she won't be a problem to the elders and everyone can get back to their spiritual paradise.
  
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  18

  Love for the Hate

  by IronSharpensIron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just wanted to share a perspective related to my experience with leaving the jw.

  at this point, i have been df'd since i was 18. i'm 25, happily married with 2 fantastic children.

  after being miserably at odds with my parents and extended family, i've come to some realizations as follows.. i struggled with the conditional nature of my parent's love- talking to me until it bothered their conscience, then cutting me off.

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  Pete Zahut

  Welcome IronSharpensIron..you are so right....trying to disprove their beliefs and or return shunning for shunning, is a sure way for them to feel justified in their condemnation of you. However there is no harm in establishing boundaries in how they are allowed to treat you and your children. This helps them realize that you and your family are not to be taken for granted and that you are calling the shots....not the Watchtower Society.
  

  I have found it best not to bring the JW topic up to family members and if they ask me something, I give two or three word answers and let them know that anything they want to know that because of the way JW's have set things up, (fear of anyone who disagrees) there is no good way for me to discuss religion with them without it ending badly for me. I tell them that anything they want to know or may have wondered about, is available on line and they have to do their own homework...just like I did.
  
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  8

  Deborah Francis-White Rolls the Dice Series 1 - Episode 2 Offline

  by RodrigoGuerreiro in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  hi the excellent episode about the jws just stopped to be available at bbc i-player.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07zhwl7/episodes/guide.

  anyone have an alternative link for that particular episode?.

  edit: *deborah frances-white.

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  Pete Zahut

  Great stuff....and very eye opening for any current JW to hear ! Oh how I wish my wife would let me post this on our facebook page but it would be the end of our current family ties as we know them.
  

  New Light... If you're in a dim room and you can't read the pages of your book so you turn up the dimmer switch....the book doesn't turn into a dog, does it ?

  • New Light...When you've ruined people's lives but you need them to think it was their own fault.
  • New Light...For when you need to blame your followers for following your instructions.
  • New Light...If you can't change what you've said...then change what you've said, means

  "It would be against my bible trained conscience to answer" (the JW equivalent to pleading the 5th.)
  
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  84

  In Germany, the Watchtower logo must be removed from all kingdom halls

  by processor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  according to german april issue of our kingdom ministry, the watchtower logo must be removed from all kingdom halls:.

  it sais that the watchtower logo - a stylised watchtower or a watchtower with a bible - is used by the watchtower society.

  thus, it should not be used by congregations or private persons, neither on kingdom halls, stationary or anything else.

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  Pete Zahut

  I'm guessing the corporate entities of the organization are trying to distance themselves from being legally responsible for what happens down at the congregation level. There's possibly some legal argument being made that if congregations worship in buildings with the Watchtower logo on them, how can it be said that they are not part of the Watchtower corporation and therefore legally responsible for the actions of congregation leaders or members.
  

  I'm not sure why, if this is the case, they are ok with the blue JW dot Org logo being on the buildings. Perhaps it's because they view it as advertising for a website rather than an organization. It seems as if lately they may be trying to move away from the "Watchtower's" past legal issues and re-brand the whole thing.
  
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  15

  Governing Body Member Gerrit Lösch - What The Near Future Holds

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  another talk from my channel.. gerrit lösch - what the near future holds.

  apparently, jehovah god has "revealed" the future to us... unfortunately in 2008 when this talk was given he didnt reveal to them the mass downsizing of bethel staff and buildings, the child molestation payouts and many many changes to doctrine.. https://youtu.be/d8pvnrv5s94.

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  Pete Zahut

  If a graduating high school student was contemplating college in 2008 when this talk was given, he or she's have been cautioned that the end is too close to get involved in higher education. The fact is, he or she would be graduated by now and would have already been working for 4 years and perhaps because of their abilities have been scooped up by Bethel and given one of the more desirable jobs. Losch would never have dreamed or admitted that this "system of things" would still be here in 2016....almost 2017.

  The music continues as one by one, each of the dancers fall.

  Daniel Sydlik, Theodore Jaracz, Raymond Franz( deceased,resigned in 1980), Lyman Swingle, Lloyd Barry (deceased), Milton Henschel (deceased 5th president), William Jackson (deceased,) Karl Klein (deceased), Grant Suiter (deceased), Albert Schroeder, Leo Greenlees (forced resignation, deceased) Ewart Chitty (forced resignation,s deceased), Frederick Franz (deceased, 4th president), Nathan Knorr (deceased, 3rd president), George Gangas (deceased), John Booth (deceased), Charles Fekel (deceased) John Barr, Carey Barber (deceased), Martin Poetzinger (deceased) etc etc etc........
  
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  47

  CO visit... Circuit is not growing at all, he said during midweek meeting

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so that was a "shocker".

  i was not able to attend the meeting.

  i had a more important one with my other apostate friends in the area.

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  Pete Zahut

  I asked a JW on a literature cart in Edinburgh why growth has stopped in the western world. He said it was a sign that they were so close to the end.

  I told him that in my day increase was a sign we were so close to the end.

  Yes... they used to tell us "Jehovah is speeding up the work" and there is a "great ingathering" taking place (applause applause )
  
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  22

  Feeling very lonely

  by BlackWolf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the past few months i've been feeling really depressed and kind of hopeless.

  the few people that actually were a little bit friendly to me at the hall recently moved away, and i'm feeling like more of an outcast than i already was.

  every meeting i just stand by myself by the wall and nobody cares, i feel really lonely and unloved.

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  Pete Zahut

  I just stand by myself by the wall

  I understand given the way you feel, why you would do that but do you think it may be sending people signals that you don't want them to talk to you?

  I don't even ride horses anymore because the trainer at the barn I went to was really mean and bitchy towards me.

  Not to sound insensitive but much of what you say in this post and past posts makes it sound as if most everyone you encounter, is against you. This very well could be the case but most of the time we are in control of how we react when life doesn't go our way or when people treat us badly. Why stop riding horses just because someone is a jerk? Why not ignore her and get on a horse and gallop off across the field and have a wonderful time?

  If I altered my life around everyone who was rude to me over the years, I'd be no where. When you are depressed, you are seeing the world around you through depressed eyes. We often give our negative thoughts more credibility than they deserve instead of choosing to filter them out or ignore them altogether.

  I'm feeling like more of an outcast than I already was.

  Have you been cast out or are you excluding yourself?
  

  How many times a week has anyone actually said or done something mean to you. I'm talking about, stole your lunch money, told you to get lost, called you a horrible name, kicked your dog or cussed you out ? I'm guessing not once.

  How many times a week have you had your feelings hurt just by a mere look on someones face or by their tone of voice or because they didn't pay attention to you? I'm guessing quite often.
  

  Which is more likely to happen....you look across the aisle at the Kingdom Hall and you notice someone looking at you and you think to yourself....
  

  A) Oh....there's that sister Jones....what's she lookin' at ?? I can tell by the look on her face she thinks the answer I gave on the last paragraph was stupid! I can tell she doesn't like me.
  

  B). Oh...there's sister Jones....she show's up at the meeting 3 or 4 times a year, never answers and still expects to get everlasting life !

  OR
  

  C) Oh there's sister Jones...she's probably thinking how nice I look tonight and is really glad I'm here. I'll bet she's hoping I'll come up after the meeting and talk to her.

  Probably A or B right?
  

  A depressed or negative person may feel others are being harsh toward them when actually because they are feeling badly, they are projecting their own negativity onto others or reading other peoples minds incorrectly.

  Sister Jones could just as easily have been sitting there thinking " I need to remember to pick up some milk on the way home....Oh...there's BlackWolf....I wonder why she's looking at me like that...anyway, I should also pick up some eggs while I'm at it and it might not be a bad Idea to get a loaf of bread."
  

  "YOU CAN FIND ANTS AT ANY PICNIC, IF YOU LOOK HARD ENOUGH "
  

  It might be helpful to do an experiment where you spend 24 hours where you pay attention to your thoughts and see how often you try to read someone else's mind, interpret someone else's motives, or are look for reasons to be offended.

  See how many times a day you expect others actions to make you feel good compared with how many times a day you do something to make someone else's day better.

  There's a story about an old man who was sitting on his front porch and a stranger called out to him saying

  Stranger: "I'm thinking about moving to this town....what's it like here? Are the people nice ?
  

  Old Man: " Well tell me....how did you like your old town and the people in it?"

  Stranger: " Oh...my old town was boring, there was nothing to do and everyone who lived there was an idiot! "

  Old Man: " In that case, you're likely to find this town is the very same way"

  Much of our happiness is determined by our own outlook and how we react to our experiences rather than controlled by the actions of others. Why not find reasons to like people and ways to make it easy for them to approach you? Just assume that most people are basically nice are not thinking that much about you or going out of their way to make you unhappy.

  I think you're in a rut where you are thinking negatively about the world around you and looking for ways to prove this is so. This can happen to anybody especially if they are isolated from others too much and become focused on their own thoughts and wishes. It's time to break the cycle. You have the power to make your life more pleasant for yourself. Unless something bad is actually physically happening to you, force yourself to ignore the negative thoughts...shoo them away like flies at a picnic. Assume the best about the people around you and look for reasons to be appreciative and grateful that things are as good as they are. If you are warm, fed, have a roof over your head and have people who care for you, your already most of the way there !

  Things are lookin' up for you...you'll see !
  
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  50

  Elder asking for help

  by untruth in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this is my first time posting on here so i’m not sure where to start.

  i’m trying to keep it as short as possible since i could expand much more.

  i’ve been in the process of waking up in the last year and a half.

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  Pete Zahut

  When it comes to doubts and revelations about JW beliefs and doctrines, I think everyone has a silver bullet with their name on it. What I mean is that something that might rock you to your very core (like a silver bullet) may only be only of passing interest to someone else.

  Normally I'd never recommend anything like this but exiting from a cult like religion without ruining your life takes strategy and cunning (reverse spiritual warfare) . If I were you, I'd stop talking to her about all of this until you've gotten yourself and this elder situation squared away without raising any red flags.

  After some time has passed and you've been carrying on as you normally would have and saying nothing more about your doubts and what you've said to her so far has faded a bit in her memory, you could start complaining of health issues. For example, chest pains....anxiety...stomach pains etc. especially when preparing for meeting parts or just before you give them (don't over do it though) . After a time where you've canceled a part or a talk or have missed a meeting now and them, you could visit your doctor (just for a regular checkup of course) but come home and tell your wife that he thinks you've been under too much pressure and responsibility and could be getting an ulcer and having other stress related issues. He wanted to put you through a barrage of tests and give you anxiety medicine but you told him you're afraid to go down that road just yet. In lieu of medication, he recommends that you monitor the food you eat and severely reduce the level of stress and responsibility you're currently carrying. Tell her that he told you to listen to the signals you're body is giving you before things get any worse. Tell her you're going to step down for awhile to see if things improve.

  I don't like to advise anyone to be deceitful but sometimes the end justifies the means. You and your wife along with the rest of us have been deceived big time (you've even put off having a family for goodness sake). Our minds were bent so that we twisted our lives around those who lied to us and we've had to do whatever it takes to get untangled.
  

  As someone else said, she may notice that she's not as special as she thought she was, now that you're not an elder. Subtly mention once in awhile that you've noticed that people are treating you differently...they seem cool and distant etc. and it bothers you that people are putting too much emphasis on position and are looking up to men too much.
  

  What got the ball rolling for me was when a strong well meaning JW friend forwarded me an email about Beth Sarim thinking it was really interesting and was proof of how much the organization had progressed. I on the other hand was blown away that I, a former Bethelite, had never heard about this. For me, Beth Sarim was the "silver bullet "with my name on it. I was shocked and it gave me permission to allow myself to search the internet for other things I didn't know about my religion but should have.

  Watch your wife's reactions to certain topics. Look for that "silver bullet" and try to figure out what her area of concerns are, be it the blood issue or child molesters or use of the contributions or flip flops on doctrines. Act as if you are genuinely researching these things (which you are) and need her to explain her take on them, to you . I did this with my wife. Rather than putting her on the spot, I acted as if I needed her help in clarifying things. In the process of her explaining her beliefs to me, she too woke up. If I'd have been confrontational or started showing her the glaring inconsistencies in the beliefs, she may have run the other way.

  Remember, she thinks you are a "fully in" "spiritually unmovable" elder....yet you have woken up. She too may be less firmly entrenched than you think she is. I've found that many JW's are repeating their lines and moving as directed, each one thinking that the other is fully convinced and that they're the only one who's having doubts. The truth of the matter is that, most are only one or two pieces of new evidence, presented to them in the right manner, from waking up themselves. On some level they know this and it frightens them terribly. You must tread lightly...this is not an emergency.
  
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  16

  Lett is such a comedian..

  by Festus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  cant help it but in this video - "win the inner struggle" - during the first minute he points to his head with his index finger.

  and i was just waiting him to shout out loco loudly.... https://tv.jw.org/#en/video/vodprogramsevents/pub-jwbmw_201609_1_video.

  and those facial expressions..sweet jesus!.

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  Pete Zahut