Because of their notoriety they can bring attention to certain topics and or start conversations. Their opinions are mildly interesting but I am rarely if ever influenced one way or the other.
Pete Zahut
JoinedPosts by Pete Zahut
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29
Do Celebrities Influence You In Making Your Decisions?
by minimus inwhether it be sports athletes or hollywood heavyweights or talk show hosts—do these people influence your thinking?.
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45
Do any of you born into the cult feel like your mental growth was stunted?
by rockemsockem inbeing born in to me was devastating.
when you are a child born in and raised with the they vs us and they are evil and worldly and going to die.
not allowed to form relationships with anyone not one of you.
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Pete Zahut
Being raised as a JW, I had all of life's big questions presented to me before I was even curious about them or was appropriate for someone of my age to know about. Not only were they presented to me, but they were answered as well and if I didn't accept the answers that were provided, I'd not only be a huge disappointment to everyone I knew but I'd also die at Armageddon.
They in a sense stole my natural curiosity about things and taught me to wait for them to tell me via their literature, what I should be thinking about each month. They even published bound volumes of their magazines so that I could see what I had been (or was supposed to be) thinking about in previous years.
I learned or developed the habit of always waiting for and or deferring to someone in authority to validate any ideas I may have had of my own, before acting on them. They taught me to be a follower.
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10
Assembly Question
by Marphiny ini just recently attended a circuit assembly and they asked that you did not share any video with anyone and i’m just wondering why this is .
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Pete Zahut
This is a highly narcissistic and paranoid group of people who believe that the world revolves around them and everything they say and do is of utmost significance. They are certain that everyone on earth and in heaven is watching them and or out to get them. Their fear and need to control everything and everyone demonstrates that they have very little faith in the god they claim to belong to.
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37
2 Gallons of Coffee
by Solzhenitsyn inthat is how much coffee me and another elder went through as we camped out all night until 7 a.m. outside the home where suspected jw fornicators we're staying.
little did i know what a powerful contrast that would prove to be when as an elder i was faced with another case involving the allegation of severe child sexual abuse.
we disfellowshipped the couple based completely on circumstantial evidence of sexual wrongdoing because they simply "stayed the entire night".
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Pete Zahut
We disfellowshipped the couple based completely on circumstantial evidence of sexual wrongdoing because they simply "stayed the entire night". They vehemently denied engaging in any sort of porneia much less outright fornication. Nevertheless according to our elder handbook and clear branch direction, we removed this "wicked couple" as a protection to the congregation.
Was this in Washington State? If so, I have a relative who had this happen to her about 10 years ago. She gave up trying to be "reinstated" because they wouldn't let her back in until she "confessed" to a wrongdoing she hadn't committed (she allowed a young brother to sleep on her couch one night when he showed up with no place to go, after a fight with his parents. The parents knew where he was going and called the elders who proceeded to spy on them from their car).
Let me tell you....as a result of these Stalkers/ Elders actions / decisions, she was DF'd and her uber JW family immediately turned their back on her to the point that nearly a decade later her parents and her "still in" siblings didn't attend her wedding, have never met her husband nor have they met her 3 little children. It is heartbreaking to her that her parents and family aren't a part of her otherwise successful happy life and don't even know her children names, especially when all of it happened to her even though she wasn't guilty of any wrongdoing. The Elders weren't concerned about justice, they were angry at her for defying them and making their actions look foolish and even illegal.
I was often considered to be "spiritually weak" by some in the congregation because I wouldn't take positions of authority offered to me. I knew on some level that what was taking place behind the scenes, was wrong and I couldn't be a part of it.
It's only after having left, learning what I have about the "organization" and the fact that history has borne out that my suspicions were correct, that I am vindicated.
Part of me feels badly for you that you had a part in spoiling/ruining someones life and tearing up a family but the other part of me wonders "what could you possibly have been thinking to justify hanging out in a car all night to spy on someone in the congregation ? " Have you ever tried apologizing to these people?
The reason this sort of thing is tolerated by JW's is mostly because they don't know about it. These power tripping Elders take it upon themselves to do these things and there's really no one to stop them. The victims rarely get to tell other JW's their side of the story and if they do, they are dismissed as having a "unrepentant" attitude.
So glad to be out of that mess !
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33
Baptism Question #2 Verified and Changed.
by truthlover123 inpimo verified this at the latest assembly attended.
check on this forum.
he was giving us attendance and baptism info and this was a side note... it is noted by another that when the question was asked after assembly was over, non seemed to hear the change.
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Pete Zahut
Changes to the teachings that I was led to believe what the "truth" and to the questions I answered in the affirmative to when I was baptized, indicates that they weren't correct in the first place and therefore my baptism has been rendered null and void.
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37
2 Gallons of Coffee
by Solzhenitsyn inthat is how much coffee me and another elder went through as we camped out all night until 7 a.m. outside the home where suspected jw fornicators we're staying.
little did i know what a powerful contrast that would prove to be when as an elder i was faced with another case involving the allegation of severe child sexual abuse.
we disfellowshipped the couple based completely on circumstantial evidence of sexual wrongdoing because they simply "stayed the entire night".
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Pete Zahut
The world is littered with JW's and former JW's whose lives and family lineage was ruined or forever altered at the hands of "unlettered and ordinary" Janitors, Carpenters and Window Washers masquerading as Bible Theologians and playing detective because they given the authority to deal with complex matters that even trained professionals wouldn't dare to handle on their own.
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37
2 Gallons of Coffee
by Solzhenitsyn inthat is how much coffee me and another elder went through as we camped out all night until 7 a.m. outside the home where suspected jw fornicators we're staying.
little did i know what a powerful contrast that would prove to be when as an elder i was faced with another case involving the allegation of severe child sexual abuse.
we disfellowshipped the couple based completely on circumstantial evidence of sexual wrongdoing because they simply "stayed the entire night".
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21
my story...
by Nikki collins inmany of you have asked about my story, so here it is.
it's a bit long lol.
however i still loved jeremy but because he wasn’t a witness i knew i could never be with him and have my family.
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Pete Zahut
Thanks for sharing your story. I hope it helped you to write it down and get instead of having it rattling around in your head.
I know you couldn't fill in all the details but in view of what you did provide, tne thing I noticed is that you seem to have bounced from one circumstance to another and gotten involved with people and obligations etc quite quickly rather than having a period of time where you were settled and your life was stable and you had peace.
You are in the middle of a divorce, have just moved, lost your family, been disfellowshipped and I imagine you've likely changed jobs as well. Do you think it might be wise to set aside a year to be just you on your own where you can sort out who you are and where you want to go from here before getting anyone else involved?
I know when you're feeling that you've wasted your life and you're lonely it would be tempting to want to make up for lost time by trying to straighten things out quickly and or run back to the familiar by taking up with your old boyfriend. It seems to me you'd be better off not to fall into your old pattern by keeping your life simple and avoided getting involved with someone else until you're sure you are making decisions that will be good for the long haul rather than fill the void in the moment. You don't want to be in this same position again in a few years.
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Do You See "The Elephant In The Room" At This JW Regional Convention?
by JW GoneBad insomeone posted this image on their facebook page of a recent jw rc showing a rather petite group of baptismal candidates.
notice there are nearly 75 seats (5 rows) reserved for the occasion.
by my count...it looks like between 17 to 19 were baptized...with total attendance of 6,000. the youngest among them looks like between 9 and 11 years old.
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Pete Zahut
Just when things were about to get far too serious, someone took it upon themselves to lighten the mood.
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22
If You Could Tell A Prospective Jehovah’s Witness Something What Would It Be?
by minimus inany words of wisdom?
?.
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Pete Zahut
If you were about to purchase a new car ( ie: Ford) and the Ford dealer warned you not to look at other vehicle makes or to read about or believe any information about Ford vehicles unless it came from them, you'd likely be very suspicious. For fear that they were trying to hide something, you might even make of point of going out and doing exactly what they said not to do.
If you were to be that careful about the purchase of a car, why would you not thoroughly research from outside sources a religion that you're about to join and hear what others have to say about it, especially if you believe your eternal life is at stake?