^^ Sorry... my previous comment was meant for another post ^^
Pete Zahut
JoinedPosts by Pete Zahut
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Trying to get my head around these go bags
by phoenixrising inwhen i was looking at prepping back in the 90s i was told by several elders that we needed to just rely on the org and jehovah and not prep.
i started to put away vacuum sealed bags of rice beans and spices anyway.
now they have this go bag crap.
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Need input: JW brainwashed fantasy vs. real world reality during evacuation
by goingthruthemotions inhello all, hope everyone is doing good!!!!.
so my wife tells me yesterday....on saturday we having a emergency disaster class on saturday.
kinda like most corporation have and it's through zoom.
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Pete Zahut
Pete Zahut44 minutes ago
What George Carlin says about the Government, can also be applied to JW's. The JW organization offers the feeling...the illusion of security and JW's have become neurotic about perfection and so obsessed with security that they are willing to trade away their freedom and often their family members in exchange for the illusion of security.
What we are going through now is a world wide disaster of sorts and all that JW's have to offer is information that they've cut and pasted from government guidelines and empty soothing words but noting in terms of tangible help. Why is this disaster any different than any other disaster she is expecting to face? If they don't have anything to offer now, what will they have to offer If there are worse disasters in store for us?
The JW's that are currently out of work or in trouble financially, physically or mentally because of the pandemic have turned to the worlds governments to get any kind of real time help, just like everyone else has. If your family was in trouble, her JW friends might offer her encouragement over the phone for a few days but they'd have nothing to offer in the way of real help...not for very long anyway.
My wife's Uncle is a long time Elder and his wife has regular Pioneered for decades. (wonderful people with 5 kids) At the time he was a substitute C.O and was also in charge of the finances at the assemblies etc. There was a lot of "tribulation talk" going on back around 9/11when my kids were small. In terms of the "great tribulation" we were all thinking when the towers came down, "this could be it". I was telling him that I was worried about how I was going to feed and protect them during the Tribulation if I were to loose my job. I asked him what he'd do if his business went under because the economy crashes during the tribulation. He said he'd move to where he could find work. I asked him about leaving the all Brothers and Sisters in his congregation behind who need direction and he said "Jehovah doesn't expect me to let my kids starve...I'm not in charge of other people's lives".
This was a real eye opener for me. Up to that point, I had naively believed that the we as JW's would band together during the tribulation and the Elders would be guiding us through whatever happened. Apparently he had a much different idea about it.
If my wife told me that she was going to dump me the minute anything went seriously wrong in the world, instead of rally around me, I'd have to seriously re-evaluate the future of our relationship.
Ask your wife if she were to suddenly to become a lone divorcee right now, how many of her JW friends would include her in social gatherings or put up with her need for emotional support on a long term basis? Ask her what the plan is when the things she has in her "to go" bag have all been used up and there's nothing left in anyone else's to go bags either, who will she turn to if you're not there?
JW's tend to live in a fantasy world when it come to "the tribulation" they don't think of it with any detail. Ask her for specific names of who she will turn to, what they will have to offer her and for how long. Ask her to paint a detailed picture for you and describe where she is, who she's with and where you and your boys are when she's using her "to go bag".
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Trying to get my head around these go bags
by phoenixrising inwhen i was looking at prepping back in the 90s i was told by several elders that we needed to just rely on the org and jehovah and not prep.
i started to put away vacuum sealed bags of rice beans and spices anyway.
now they have this go bag crap.
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Pete Zahut
What George Carlin says about the Government, can also be applied to JW's. The JW organization offers the feeling...the illusion of security and JW's have become neurotic about perfection and so obsessed with security that they are willing to trade away their freedom and often their family members in exchange for the illusion of security.
What we are going through now is a world wide disaster of sorts and all that JW's have to offer is information that they've cut and pasted from government guidelines and empty soothing words but noting in terms of tangible help. Why is this disaster any different than any other disaster she is expecting to face? If they don't have anything to offer now, what will they have to offer If there are worse disasters in store for us?
The JW's that are currently out of work or in trouble financially, physically or mentally because of the pandemic have turned to the worlds governments to get any kind of real time help, just like everyone else has. If your family was in trouble, her JW friends might offer her encouragement over the phone for a few days but they'd have nothing to offer in the way of real help...not for very long anyway.
My wife's Uncle is a long time Elder and his wife has regular Pioneered for decades. (wonderful people with 5 kids) At the time he was a substitute C.O and was also in charge of the finances at the assemblies etc. There was a lot of "tribulation talk" going on back around 9/11when my kids were small. In terms of the "great tribulation" we were all thinking when the towers came down, "this could be it". I was telling him that I was worried about how I was going to feed and protect them during the Tribulation if I were to loose my job. I asked him what he'd do if his business went under because the economy crashes during the tribulation. He said he'd move to where he could find work. I asked him about leaving the all Brothers and Sisters in his congregation behind who need direction and he said "Jehovah doesn't expect me to let my kids starve...I'm not in charge of other people's lives".
This was a real eye opener for me. Up to that point, I had naively believed that the we as JW's would band together during the tribulation and the Elders would be guiding us through whatever happened. Apparently he had a much different idea about it.
If my wife told me that she was going to dump me the minute anything went seriously wrong in the world, instead of rally around me, I'd have to seriously re-evaluate the future of our relationship.
Ask your wife if she were to suddenly to become a lone divorcee right now, how many of her JW friends would include her in social gatherings or put up with her need for emotional support on a long term basis? Ask her what the plan is when the things she has in her "to go" bag have all been used up and there's nothing left in anyone else's to go bags either, who will she turn to if you're not there?
JW's tend to live in a fantasy world when it come to "the tribulation" they don't think of it with any detail. Ask her for specific names of who she will turn to, what they will have to offer her and for how long. Ask her to paint a detailed picture for you and describe where she is, who she's with and where you and your boys are when she's using her "to go bag".
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Number of Kingdom Halls Worldwide
by wachttorenkijker inhow many kingdom halls are there worldwide?
even better how many in the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.. i'm asking this to get a picture of the total real estate owning of the jw and how this become to the money-cow in these days..
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Pete Zahut
IMO, if you want people to take you seriously, you need to talk in a more subdued and serious manner.
I agree...I try to listen to them but rather than simply reporting their findings, they use it mock and ridicule. Maybe it's just me but, their obviously extensive research seems to come from a place of gleeful vindictiveness rather than one of concern for those who are having or have had difficulty with the Watchtower organization. To me, they are the opposite of Barbara Anderson.
I try to overlook this and focus on the information they present but they often remind me of a couple of jeering mean kids on the playground of some small town school, who gang up on the gay kid who just moved in from the city . To me, they sometimes come across as bullies when they look back and forth at one another for reassurance as they point out even the most feeble bit of information they can find to stick it to the Watchtower.
It's too bad bad because often they do have some useful information to share but you have to be willing to get past the way it's presented. Having said that, depending upon what stage of leaving one is in, they may be just what some people need. they obviously have a following.
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1 Corinthians 15:26
by Doug Mason inyou will die.
i will die.
those who have gone before us, the great and the small, the powerful and the weak, have shared the common fate of dying.
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Pete Zahut
Freddy Franz gave a talk about how popular that saying was and how it drove people to the 'truth'. A big smile on his stupid face almost breaking into gleeful expressions.
I used to sit by him at the GB table when I was in Bethel. He didn't seem like someone who enjoyed his life very much and spent it looking outwardly for answers to what was wrong with him, inwardly. He seemed like someone who wouldn't know what to do with himself if there wasn't something going on in the world to find fault with or if he wasn't obsessed and distracted from reality by some future magical dream.
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Weekly Meeting Importance Being Reduced - Your Thoughts?
by JWTom ini am pimo, but now have 40+ years of being a jw as i was raised in a 3rd generation family of witnesses and continue to fake my way through things - fading as i can.. for the vast majority of my time as a jw, the meetings were the central focus for all jws to get teaching, association, information and so on.
nothing was more important than being at the meetings!
over the last 20 years starting with the elimination of the weekly book study in homes and continuing down to today - my opinion is that the value/purpose of the weekly meetings continues to be diluted or minimized.
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Pete Zahut
I think that after being locked down for so long, going to the meeting might be a welcome change for a few minutes but I think there will be many who realize that the whole format is a weird and pointless waste of time they miss not having to go. Especially those who have to travel now because their Hall was sold.
I think it will be something like going back to school at the end of the summer when you're sort of excited to see your old friends but a few minutes after class starts, you suddenly feel trapped again.
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Another heart-worming story
by StephaneLaliberte intoday, i got an email from an old friend with a story told by brother andre ramseyer who attended training at patterson in england.
a service dog regularly attended the meetings with his owner.
when the owner passed away, the dog was given to another blind man.
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Pete Zahut
I started to wonder about these stories when I heard the dog started answering during the Watchtower Study: One bark for yes, two for no and five quick barks for Jehovah.
Things went relatively well for the Dog in the beginning, it was as if he had a new leash on life. That didn't last long however. Others began noticing that the Dog began scratching uncontrollably during the meeting whenever he heard the expression "Flea from Babylon the Great". The Elders often had difficulty getting him to roll over and play dead. In time, he began running with the wrong pack and was eventually Disfellowshipped for "returning to his own vomit ".
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My latest letter to WT demanding correction from their side
by Kosonen inbrothers and sisters associated with the watchtower society may 9, 2020. i have tried to inform you of the necessary adjustments you ought to take in order to truly be in the truth.
but my efforts have remained fruitless.
you well know the biblical procedure.
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Pete Zahut
Dear Sir,
We received your correspondence dated 5/9/20. We’ll get right on that.
Agape’
WTBTS
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Memories of Maryland Conventions!
by Atlantis inposting for brother x. petra!.
if you were a child during the years of 1960 to 1970, the question isn't; do you remember these conventions?
the question is; how could you forget?
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Pete Zahut
Looking back as an adult I realize that as a small child, in order to survive those hellish 8 day all day and night assemblies, I had to get really good at going somewhere else mentally for long periods of time. I remember counting down the talks and feeling utterly hopeless in the afternoon session realizing that there were 6 more hours and 7 more days to go, all the while siting on wood slats out in the blazing sun. Some of those old talks (esp. Fred Franz) reminded me of the old black and white news reels of Hitler addressing Nazi Germany. To complain was tantamount to telling Satan you were on his side and wanted to be destroyed at Armageddon. After all, the brothers in Africa had it much worse and they were happy to do it.
Later in adulthood, I was riddled with anxiety whenever I heard that familiar amplified drone that JW speakers all seem to have. Just hearing "Good afternoon brothers...let's begin taking our seats and enjoy a musical interlude of Kingdom Melodies in preparation for the fine spiritual feast that's been prepared for us", made me want to head for the hills.
So much of growing up as a JW in those days was a form of child abuse. I don't even want to think about it.
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Behold the face of JESUS!
by Terry ineight years ago, i lived in a kind of "retirement" hotel.the palm house.no - it wasn't an old folks home.
it was an ancient folks home.mostly senior ladies living off of faith and a dead husband's money.. my encounter with jesus came about in that environment.. once a week there would be a coffee and doughnuts get-together to get to know your neighbors.. well .
.i got invited repeatedly, badgered, coaxed, pestered and i gave up.
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Pete Zahut
Each one of them was cocking their head this way and that like a puppy in a pet shop window.
"Isn't it amazing?"Umm..I think you meant to say each of them was "clocking" their heads...