StarTrekAngel

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Posts by StarTrekAngel

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  121

  Hey ya'll! My first post. Please help. In need of advice/comfort.

  by Stepford Wife in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey ya'll!

  i have been lurking for years on this site and others but never had the courage to post anything.

  actually i was afraid of posting on an apostate site in the event i was wrong.

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  StarTrekAngel

  Step,

  1- Doing something wrong...Sin, apostasy, etc

  2- Not doing what they consider the right things...preaching, attending meetings. etc.

  Not saying that they can DF you for simply quitting meetings. But if they start questioning you and you agree with everything, yet you don't make the right adjustments, including returning to the meetings, then things change. Remember the ARC, the perpetrator returned to the cong and when the victim confronted the elders, they told her he was doing all the "right" things... going to meetings, etc. There is no such a thing as an innocent questions when the elders come around in this fashion. Their motto will be to consider you guilty until proven otherwise.

  This is why most people will agree that you need to chalk it up to depression, anxiety or something like that. They do not have anything in their box of tricks against that and they will eventually conclude that they need to leave you in Jehovah's hand.
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  52

  $10 per pub. Money begging session last night

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  last night, during our "christian life and ministry" meeting, we had a session on local needs.

  elder opened the talk with a disclaimer saying that this was a reminder (cited psalms about how david loved jehovahs reminders).

  he reminded us of how bless we are of having our own local assembly hall.

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  StarTrekAngel

  @Iown Mylife... The AH here is fairly new, no more than 5 years old. For as long as I remember we've had to travel for the larger assemblies to places like Houston or San Antonio. Undocumented brothers, which make a very large part of this circuit, were never able to attend because of a border patrol checkpoints that seat along the route north. Somehow no one, not even me at the time, questioned or wondered why Jehovah would forget about these brothers. Why did we not just have the assemblies, all of them locally. Why is it the the FD&S saw fit to "feed" these brothers but not others just because of their legal status.

  Now the "blessing" is here and every brother and sister, wether they are legally here or not, can attend.
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  52

  $10 per pub. Money begging session last night

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  last night, during our "christian life and ministry" meeting, we had a session on local needs.

  elder opened the talk with a disclaimer saying that this was a reminder (cited psalms about how david loved jehovahs reminders).

  he reminded us of how bless we are of having our own local assembly hall.

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  StarTrekAngel

  The amount is per publisher. I am assuming that if you corner them they would say the amount is "per each baptized publisher" but you know that if you have a job and are indoctrinated enough, you will take the talk to heart and donate, even if you are not baptized.

  The other elder clarified that the amount was per day of assembly and not just for one assembly. The announcement was made because we have an assembly coming up next weekend. It is a one day assembly and so I guess he was afraid that people would understand that as long as they dropped 10 bucks at each assembly, they would be ok. The idea is now that you are supposed to drop 10 bucks for each day of each assembly you attend.

  Like I said in my original posting, they were not technically demanding the money but rather suggesting. Off course, that is the legalistic understanding. However, you know the message is very clear... we are not saying you need to put $10 bucks or more, we are just saying is going to cost $10 bucks. Do what you can, but really, $10 bucks is what we need. Not that you need to feel obligated, but remember the Jehovah loves the cheerful giver. If you can only give $1, Jehovah sees what is in your heart and he will bless you. But you know, sisters are always trying to get that new dress for each assembly, even though they still have dresses with tags in their closets. If they would just use that one dress and spare the expense, they could actually contribute the whole amount. No that we care what you do with your money, but your kids eat enough ice cream as is. Anyway brother, no pressure. Just give what you can.

  The Hall is in La Feria, Texas. It can hold around 6000 people. My understanding is that during the summer assemblies, the hall is used summer round. Now that we have one day assemblies, it gets used twice every weekend. My understanding is that it is already paid for.

  Past assemblies have run about $8000 a day. In my congregation alone there is 90 baptized publishers. Not sure if the amount will go up now.

  Stephen Lett is supposed to be present at our next summer assembly. Who know what the price will be then.
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  52

  $10 per pub. Money begging session last night

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  last night, during our "christian life and ministry" meeting, we had a session on local needs.

  elder opened the talk with a disclaimer saying that this was a reminder (cited psalms about how david loved jehovahs reminders).

  he reminded us of how bless we are of having our own local assembly hall.

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  StarTrekAngel

  Last night, during our "Christian Life and Ministry" meeting, we had a session on local needs. Elder opened the talk with a disclaimer saying that this was a reminder (cited Psalms about how David loved Jehovahs reminders). He reminded us of how bless we are of having our own local assembly hall. Reminded us on how excited we were in participating on the construction. Reminded us how many of us made donations to pay for the construction. He then proceeded to remind us that building of that size require a lot of maintenance and cost a lot of money to operate. He informed us that there has been a reduction on the amount of money received at each assembly. He then dropped the bomb... The assembly comitee has estimated that in order to cover the cost of maintenance, we would need to contribute $10 per publisher. I had never witnessed such a direct and specific request for an amount. He did not say about, he did not say close to, he said exactly $10. Off course, obligated he was to also add that we don't all have the same resources and some would contribute more while other would contribute less. He also reminded us that is not just the AH that needs resources, there is an apartment in the back where the CO lives. He said that $2 of those $10 goes to maintain the apartment for the CO.

  At the end of the meeting, the elder doing the closing remarks clarified. Brothers, the said amount is nor per assembly, but per day of assembly. The sister seating in front of us had a confused look in her face.
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  30

  Office Jargon, drives me nuts

  by punkofnice in

  1. social
  2. humour

  'granular' seems to be the latest buzz word going around my office.

  previously it was 'appetite'.. abstract words that appear to be designed to make the person saying it appear powerful and part of the 'team'.. as lord sugar has observed before; why not just speak english and say what you mean.. office jargon really annoys me.

  i had enough loaded language and jargon in the disgusting jw cult..

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  StarTrekAngel

  Nah... the worst, by far is this...

  "We've been working on this for the past month" ... in reality you know that only a call or an email has been sent and most people involved are running away from the responsibility of having to make a decisions on it.
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  10

  JW.org inaccessible

  by Watchtower-Free in

  1. social
  2. humour

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  StarTrekAngel

  May be they are implementing a period of spiritual fasting.
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  5

  Jeroboam Vs Man of God

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  jeroboam built high places for calve worship, created his own priests, created his own sacred day of worship, and was just all around a bad man.

  1 kings chapter 12.

  man of god did not engage in false worship, did not have tons of money, did not have a harem of beautiful women, and did not have the power of a kingdom.

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  StarTrekAngel

  From another angle, if you are trying to wake up a loved one, the story that John Aquila relates, is a good one to put along with others, and proof that blind faith is not healthy. That the man of God should have asked for a sign when he saw such contradicting and opposing views coming from, allegedly, the same God.

  CrazyGuy... there is more spice to the story of Josiah. Where was Jehovah? How about he was with Nekoh? Check 2 Chronicles 20-22. I think it is clear to me that Josiah disobeyed Jehovah when he got word from Nekoh that this battle was not with him and that God had told Nekoh to go to battle against another house. Josiah still battles and loses... but wait? How is it that Jehovah blessed another nation and not Israel?
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  29

  Why continue to suffer??

  by Tigerlove in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i occasionally come on this website because i have my eyes on a particular user.

  because of that, i end up reading a lot of people's post.

  although very interesting and hurt breaking, a lot of them are very strange.

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  StarTrekAngel

  Tigerlove,

  I think that before making such statement it would be fair that you tell us if you are married and give us a bit of background on your particular situation. Is easy to pass judgement on each situation without knowing it fully.

  It comes down to cult indoctrination. Zana is completely right. The person you are bashing is not your real spouse. You know this from previous experience. The fact that our wives seem to put their false faith ahead of their relationship, does not automatically make them unappreciative. You need to do some more reading on cults and cult indoctrination.

  In my personal case, my wife and I have a relationship of 17 years, 15 of which were spent in a honeymoon-like state, even after two children. Our relationship and the way we treat each other has been the envy of the congregation. Several people have come forward to tell us or our relatives that we looked madly in love with each other. Neither God, the WT or the faith was ever credited for this by any one of us. It was just love, true love.

  Would you be so selfish as to toss that aside in the name of a man made religion that does not mind stealing spouses away? I don't think anyone in the right mindset would ever do. Is the cult personality. I would have personally preferred that she had found another man and left. At least I could have said that may be I made a mistake or she made a decision on her own.

  We live with the hope that things will change and we can go back to our happy life because we can not imagine our life without our real partners. As sparrowdown said it, venting helps carry forward.
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  29

  The Retractable Dangling Carrot

  by TMS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some scattered thoughts about the granting or denial of privileges of service as a control mechanism:.

  this method of persuasion involving reward or punishment is so deeply ingrained in watchtower function, it is second nature.

  although sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant, everyone from new bible study to traveling overseer is subconsciously aware of the possible limiting of his official opportunities to serve god and his brothers.. .

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  StarTrekAngel

  For whatever reason my posting is getting cut off after the "Hi"

  I meant to ask if you were in the RGV
• 
  29

  The Retractable Dangling Carrot

  by TMS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some scattered thoughts about the granting or denial of privileges of service as a control mechanism:.

  this method of persuasion involving reward or punishment is so deeply ingrained in watchtower function, it is second nature.

  although sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant, everyone from new bible study to traveling overseer is subconsciously aware of the possible limiting of his official opportunities to serve god and his brothers.. .

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  StarTrekAngel

  Hi TMS,

  I read in some of your postings that you are in the RGV? is that so?

  I am in the RGV as well