Posts by Pete Zahut

I’m not devoid of feelings. This affects me. I’ve flirted with tears today. But I refuse to give way to emotions that have no business existing given the history.

Don't be surprised if the enormity of this hits you sometime after she's gone. If I were you, I'd make an attempt to visit her. If nothing else, you'll always be able to say that you tried and erred on the side of love. Bad as some of them may be, we only get one Mother. This is your last chance to foil this Watchtower fueled situation and not let them take away your right to say goodbye to your mother properly and grieve her after she's gone.

17

International convention in Poland

by FadeToBlack in

get ready for the big time!

my wife has already been to several special training sessions this year in preparation for the big event.

several saturday sessions at the assembly hall in warsaw.

Pete Zahut

My wife's Uncle attended a convention in Warsaw a number of years ago. He said that no one could enjoy the Drama because no matter where your seats were, you were sitting behind a Pole.

62

Boy crowned prom queen by schoolmates

by pale.emperor in

now i think i may have seen everything.. "boy crowned prom queen by schoolmates".

i'm all for people being entitled to wear what they want and live as they please as long as they're not harming anyone but - a male prom queen?

maybe there wasn't much competition in his school?.

Pete Zahut

joe134cd6 hours ago Only in America

Apparently not.....this particular event took place in the United Kingdom.

Young people love to rattle the older generation by flying in the face of tradition as if they're the first to do so. He really showed them didn't he?? Who cares?? The whole idea of young girls parading around in evening gowns to win some popularity/beauty contest has probably seen it's day.

I notice nobody mentioned if he was doing well academically...which is the whole point of going to school in the first place .

5

"The Former Things Will Not Be Called to Mind” How Can This work!

by The Bethelite in

jw
friends

my previous thread talked about how the jws believe that jah will magically remove all memories of their dead loved ones in the "new system.

" thus no sorrow.

ok so god will erase all memories of your dead children from your mind.

Pete Zahut

Every morning when I let my dog out into the backyard, he acts as excited as if it was his first time out there. He didn’t forget about the back yard, he knows where he is but once he sees it again, it’s all fresh and new to him.

It seems to me that in order to live forever without going bonkers, ones memory pattern or perspective of time would have to be altered somehow.

I think that scripture is talking about an “out-of-sight...out-of-mind” situation where the memories are still there but aren’t called to mind unless they are brought up somehow and why would they be after a thousand years of the world being blissfully perfect?.

29

Do Celebrities Influence You In Making Your Decisions?

by minimus in

jw
friends

whether it be sports athletes or hollywood heavyweights or talk show hosts—do these people influence your thinking?.

Pete Zahut

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.

45

Do any of you born into the cult feel like your mental growth was stunted?

by rockemsockem in

being 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.

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.

10

Assembly Question

by Marphiny in

i 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 .

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.

37

2 Gallons of Coffee

by Solzhenitsyn in

that 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".

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 !

33

Baptism Question #2 Verified and Changed.

by truthlover123 in

pimo 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.

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.