Posts by Pete Zahut

34

How do you find reddit

by joe134cd in

just curious but how do the people off this forum find reddit.

for myself i find reddit to be sadly lacking in the jw world.

i just don't find the depth there e.g one sentence replies, trying to be funny.

Pete Zahut

@hothabanero Why do so many people take issue with John Cedars?

Yeah...I don't really know why that is either but I get a little suspicious when I see the person John Cedars being attacked, rather than his ideas being discussed/debated in a fair manner. It almost seems like some sort of smear campaign going on or a "piling on" of sorts. There's a certain mob mentality that I see here on this site that I haven't noticed on Reddit. It seems like the ol' thumbs down button gets hit for emotionally based reasons (especially if others have done so) rather than because a comment is misleading or contains misinformation. I've seen comments where there are numerous thumbs down votes and yet only one or two people have bothered to comment.

I've seen comments where John Cedar's physical looks/grooming is commented on by people who are themselves hiding anonymously behind a keyboard where no one can see how they might look. I've seen snide remarks made about the length of his videos, by people who have probably never actually made a video themselves and who don't seem to realize that they are free to turn them off or fast forward through them at will or not watch them at all. I've seen people who weren't necessarily hurt by his Facebook blunder themselves, bleating on about it all these years later. The one thing I have never heard, is the actual content of his videos criticized.

All I know is that our common bond here is that all of us were effected by our experiences with JW's. Whether I like a persons delivery style, personal appearance, video length, how they otherwise conduct themselves or how many blunders they may make, I'm happy to seen anyone making an effort to bring to light what has been silenced and kept under wraps for so long, by the JW organization.

The nice thing I've noticed about Reddit is that there aren't "regulars" "the old guard" who frequent the site I visit and who hold sway or set a certain tone or atmosphere. As someone said, there are a lot of young ones on Reddit who are dealing with current specific JW issues in their lives and they need immediate help/advice with that, rather than engaging in discussions about TV shows, celebrities, gun control and other hot button political topics. They seem to really appreciate my advice and experience.

20

Bible jokes ,If you have any more please post them.

by smiddy3 in

some jokes i`ve heard and 1 or 2 i`ve made up .. the shortest man in the bible ?

knee high mia.

one with a facial affliction.?

Pete Zahut

Does anybody remember that old guy at Bethel (forget his name) 20 years ago or so would print out a big sheet of these with small print, copies by the hundreds and pass them out to visitors?

Do you mean Bud/Buddy Winfield the Bethel "Greeter" who's entire job was to stand at the door and greet visitors or check peoples I.D.?

20

Bible jokes ,If you have any more please post them.

by smiddy3 in

some jokes i`ve heard and 1 or 2 i`ve made up .. the shortest man in the bible ?

knee high mia.

one with a facial affliction.?

Pete Zahut

How does Noah make his coffee? Hebrews it.

Why did Adam and Eve's children often go hungry? Because Eve ate them out of house and home.

Why didn't Jonah trust the ocean ? Because he knew there was something fishy about it.

What did Adam say to his wife the day before Christmas? "It's Christmas, Eve !"

Why was Abraham the smartest man in the Bible? Because he knew a Lot.

Why didn't they play cards on the Ark? Because Noah was always standing on the deck.

Why was Noah the greatest Financier in the Bible? Because he floated his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.

How could they tell that Peter was a rich Fisherman? By his net income

40

More cracks in the dam - WTS pleading for elders "in their early 20s"

by FFGhost in

jw
friends

i have another post here about how the wts is reeling from covid, as reflected in their abysmally catastrophic service report:.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6315842470936576/annual-service-report-yet-another-analysis-big-trouble-wts.

here's another rupture showing.. in the latest "announcements and reminders" to elders, there is a paragraph with these sentences:.

Pete Zahut

In some lands, relatively few young brothers are applying to attend the School for Kingdom Evangelizers, to serve at Bethel, or to assist in Kingdom Hall construction and maintenance.

The internet generation has grown up and the GB has lost a lot of their stronghold on people. It probably wasn't a smart move to announce it.

A lot of "Brothers" in the past only reached out for position because they were guilted into it or thought it was the thing to do. I think by broadcasting the fact that young men all over the world aren't reaching out for responsibility will only confirm to every young brother out there, that they aren't the only ones who have no intention of getting too deeply involved in the religion.

13

Should young children peddle Watchtower Society literature?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

one thing i always disliked about the watchtower society is how they use young children tp peddle their literature.

my mom insisted that my brother (12 years old) and i (9 years old) go out in field service every saturday morning.

didn't matter if it was 90 degrees or 20 degrees, we were out peddling watchtower magazines.

Pete Zahut

My older brother and 2 beautiful younger sisters and I had to go from door to door since babyhood. On Saturday's my Brother and I used to go with the older teenagers to do "street work" in the city in the darkness of the morning hours and then returning to the Kingdom Hall to meet for regular "field service". It's was the "last days of the 1970's and along with the weekly meetings, preparing for the meetings and our family study, giving talks and "considering" the daily text each day, we had to sit in the blistering sun on hard bleachers during the 8 day assemblies that they had back then. From 9 in the morning to 6 at night or later we'd listento talk after talk about the impending destruction of the world around us. Many's a time as a child I'd look at the assembly program only to realize that we still had 6 more hours and 7 long days of this ahead of us. Sometimes, I'd feel myself beginning to lose the will to live. Especially on Saturday when during the mid day intermission, we'd have to go out in Service on the street wearing "sandwich signs" advertising the "keynote" address for Sunday" and then go back to the assembly for 6 more hours of talks. All of us my siblings and I are highly functioning but we deal with anxiety and panic issues. Mine got drastically better however, (almost non-existent) within a few weeks of leaving the Cult.

I'm completely out of the religion and my one sister has been "inactive" for decades but can't bring herself to admit she doesn't believe anymore. She's the saddest one of all of us because on some level she still thinks it could be "the truth" but the panic and anxiety of going to the meetings is too much for her to bear. The other sister is "in" but the religion has done a number on her head as well.

My brother is "in" but he knows it's all B.S but just can't bring himself to face it. Like the rest of us, he was emotionally ruined from continually hearing about the end of the world and fearing Armageddon and the absolute understanding that we'd lose our non JW father once it arrived.

I was talking to my brother about the craziness of all of this and how much better I am on an emotional level since I left. I showed him the magazine cover below because the tall blond boy looks a lot like he and I at that age (we're only a year and a half apart in age). One of the boys on that cover looks like our childhood friend who we used to do street work with. He is no longer a JW and has quite a story of his own to tell.

My Brother's face dropped when he saw the photo and he looked as if he were going to cry. He tossed the magazine aside and walked away. Like him, it breaks my heart to see those children and think that all over the world, instead of enjoying our childhood, we were holding our collective breath, tossing and turning at night with fear, waiting for a cataclysmic event that never occurred.

32

Can Jehovah's Witnesses explain the overlapping generation?

by pistolpete in

i found this interesting topic on the current views among jws regarding the overlapping generation.. the posts are hilarious.

how do most jehovah's witnesses explain the overlapping generation?.

i've asked a couple of jws to explain the overlapping generation and they directed me to the website jw------org.. either they don't know, or they do know but don't want to discuss it because they know it's bogus and embarrassing.. either way, surely they must know that this just extended the last days another 80 years from the time fred franz died.

Pete Zahut

How do most Jehovah's Witnesses explain the Overlapping Generation?

Is it possible that instead of referring to the "Anointed", the Governing Body was once again talking about masturbation (aka fapping) and the problem this is generation is having with addiction to it, hence the term "The over-fapping generation"?

18

Article to discuss or argue over: Buddha, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historic figures or largely legends?

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

i've posted a link to an article that contains important food for thought.

as we search for information to free our minds and hearts of cult-like thinking which entails being able to critically think, we need to ponder research that is available to help us to make important decisions.

we need to allow ourselves to consider other possibilities, something that jw’s are discouraged from doing.

Pete Zahut

we should always acknowledge individual variation that is typical of all humankind and be respectful of others with a view to doing our best to make the world a better or nicer place to live in.

While I agree, I am reminded of the way the Watchtower, instead of simply presenting information to us as individuals and letting us draw our own conclusions, used to always follow up by telling us what we should be thinking or striving to to, in light of what they’ve just told us.

”As true Christians me must always strive to…

”As thinking persons, we realize that…

“Lovers of truth will agree that…

19

Are you new PIMO? (Physically In/Mentally Out)

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

what is your story?

we would love to “hear” from you!

.

Pete Zahut

Always tried my best through the good times and bad. Then no one really notices when you are fading away.

Yes...that's a real eyeopener. It does make it easier to fade that way but it hurts just the same doesn't it ? Like you, after 25 years active and regular at the same Hall, it took 3.5 years before anyone noticed we were gone. The Circuit Overseer and an Elder friend of mine showed up at our door one rainy Saturday morning. He said, " I understand you folks have been missing quite a few meetings lately and we wanted to see if we could encourage you in any way". He was shocked and embarrassed to find out that I was a former Bethelite and both my wife and I lost our fathers at early ages, from not taking blood. My father was only studying at the time and the JW's convinced him to sign the no blood papers. The nonsensical blood fraction rule came out just shortly after he died and fractions would have saved him or at least made him realize how feeble the JW's reasoning on the blood doctrine is. Also, our young Son was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks after he and his fiancé' were unfairly disfellowshipped after having gone to the elders about a matter that they (like most) could have easily kept to themselves. I told the C.O that the last meeting we all attended was the Memorial over 3 years ago and the entire congregation shunned our Chemo ravaged son who they've known since babyhood and they rushed up and welcomed visiting strangers with open arms. I told him no one had even called us or looked in on us and if it wasn't for our worldly neighbors and Coworkers, we'd have been alone. I'm sure the Elder friend got an earful on the ride back to the Hall.

The other thing you find out is that the "world" isn't watching JW's and doesn't hate JW's. In fact, after all these decades of door to door work, they barely know who JW's are and are either very open minded about them or couldn't care less about them .

Anyway...sorry this happened but you sound pretty well adjusted already and it seems as if you were able to make a break of it quite quickly. The best thing you can do to cement your resolve is to disprove everything they've taught you, using their own literature. JWfacts.com is a good place to do that.
There is a mourning period that takes place after leaving and like any other form of mourning, they say it's best to allow/expect a month of mourning for every year you were involved with whomever or whatever it is you lost. I've found that to be true and have found that there is life after the JW's.

21

NASA hiring religious leaders on extraterrestrial life....

by mikeflood in

nasa hiring religious leaders just in case they found extraterrestrial life, at priceton university's center of theological inquiry.

.

just of curiosity, if nasa find something, how do you think the borg is gonna spin it.

Pete Zahut

Just of curiosity, if NASA find something, how do you think the Borg is gonna spin it.?

They'd call it "proper food at the proper time". They'd say "Yes Brothers...just as this old system is about to end and Jehovah's faithful servants are beginning to tire out, this new discovery is a timely and exciting fulfillment of Luke 21: 7. ( fearful sights and great signs from heaven) . Rather than being afraid, Jehovah servants know that he has allowed this new discovery to take place and it is inspiring proof to believers and unbelievers alike, that he exists and that he intended for the other planets to be inhabited. ". They'd marvel at his wondrous creation and proclaim that as "the Faithful Slave who are Stewards of his belongings" it will be our duty and privilege to teach these new ones the "Truth" and make sure, in the spirit of unity, they become part of his earthly organization". They'd immediately ask for donations so they could build a space alien translation center on Mars and ask for volunteers who had college degrees in any space related field and who were free to travel (at their own expense of course).

14

Funniest insults

by LoveUniHateExams in

so, i was wondering what are the funniest insults i've heard/been called.. the woman who taught me the arabic alphabet did a lesson about insults in colloquial palestinian arabic.. the one that stuck out to me was iniqbir or ini'bir.

literal meaning: bury yourself.

"go and bury yourself".

Pete Zahut

Called on a kid from school while out in service.

The following Monday he said:

Ha! That guy is a Jehovah Shit-ness!

Me: “Say that again and you’ll be laughin’ from the other side of yer face! ”

He found out the nice JW boy wasn’t always so nice and that’s all it took.