At the end he was a shadow of his former self.
Yeah, a great big ol' gargantuan shadow...of his former self.
( I tried...oh I tried so very hard I tried to resist...I lost)
There's something happening here.
by nicolaou 79 Replies latest jw friends
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AuldSoul
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truthsetsonefree
I agree so much with sir82, because that is what I do. Additionaly though, I do talk to people inside about these issues. But gradually so it doesn't come as a shock to them.
As far as a new date, I'm not sure even the GB is that stupid. Even die hard JWs would raise eyebrows if that happened.
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Axelspeed
I agree with the above posts, as I sense a big change and the WT does too. I can’t put it into words only what I observe in my limited view of JWs from the distance.
1) The JWs are quickly and quietly becoming a social club, especially for the younger crowd, hell even for the older crowd. Many of these were born into it or found themselves brought in through family in there later teen yrs. They like to hang out with other people who they consider good people, but it is much more for the built-in friends that come with showing up at the hall. Most of these have little or no ambition to be anything much more than seat warmers.
Some of these can not escape for now due to family or the fear of a total loss of a social system. But don’t be mistaken, this is a totally different JW than the JW of the 70s and even the 80s. In those days you always reached out, never said no to an assignment, didn’t think about going to school, and actually sort of wanted to pioneer, etc. etc.
2) Another late development is the ex-elder. There is a growing group of JW x-elders, men who once were who are now more than content to be seat-warmers too. (Although from what I have heard there are growing reports of COs deleting long time elders for seemingly frivolous reasons). These men have heard it all. They’ve been through the complete cycle and heard every fear and guilt-laden diatribe the WT has spouted. They have heard the Last Days speech over and over and over again. They have not forgotten that the generation of 1914 was not supposed to die before the big A. They still go to the meetings, comment occasionally…but they definitely know bullshit when they hear it now. They know pretty much what lines to say to the CO when he comes around to keep him off their backs about reaching out again, but they have no intention of saddling themselves with that bs again. Oh, and just coming out with another book doesn’t cut it anymore…they have heard it all about the latest and greatest new pub…they are booked out.
I am old enough to remember the late 60s WT as a child. I am old enough to remember the old WT, and young enough to see what it has evolved into. I believe, looking back, the generation change of 1995 and the advent of the Internet will go down as milestones that irreversibly changed the WT. Yes irreversibly, because there is no way the WT will ever have the unquestioning allegiance it had before.
Nic, you are also correct in saying that the WT is creating not just complainers, but bonafide enemies. Why is that? It is because they took our souls. We were really ready to give it all. They may talk about us now and how evil we are, but WT you gave us this measuring stick. The only thing we are doing is measuring with the stick we were given.
Every action we took, every other religion we met, every job we took, who we dated and how we dated, who we married, whether we went to college or not, what clothes we wore and whether it “looked right”, whether we went to the prom or not, whether we got to go on school trips or participate in sports, music, or art. We suppressed every thing we were to support what we were told was the greater good. We suppressed our natural instincts to be good neighbors, to give to charitable causes, to be normal in order to place some magazines. Yes, in some cases we could have made worse choices (as many of us are not in jail or dealing with others problems), but that is not the point. We were ROBBED. And that just sticks in our craw.
The internet is providing the forum to let us know that we weren’t going crazy, that we were not the only ones who sensed something was wrong. The new social JW will not make the same mistakes we did, those days are bye-bye.
WT, yes you have plenty of money and assets to be around for awhile. But what you cherish most is what is vanishing. And ultimately, its not really about the money, its about your credibility.
Axel -
sweet tee
Excellent thread! Most definately true ... things have changed in the borg and they will never be the same now that the internet is around.
Great points too axelspeed ... I agree, the generation change was a really big blow to the R&F; almost equivialent to the fallout of '75.
I couldn't help but compare the fall of the WT to the fall of Bablylon the Great described in the Revelation Climax Book (Version 1, that is )
sweet tee
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Majok
"It will come at a time you do not think it to be it"--Jesus (Mt. 24:42-44).
So, let's all continue to be "discreet" about this (vs. 45ff).
btw, you've all been very couraging; thanks for being there (it's been rough).
--Recently "freed."
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nicolaou
btw, you've all been very encouraging; thanks for being there (it's been rough).
You're most welcome Majok. Welcome to the board.
Nic'
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truthsetsonefree
And those of us still will not bring in anyone else. We are in only to be of some comfort to those JWs still held captive, develop our exit strategy and a network of friends outside JWdom, bring our families out, and help to collapse this organization from within. After that 'we outta here.'
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serendipity
Hi majok, welcome to the forum!
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KW13
i love your spirit
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Double Edge
TheCarpenter: First of all.... WELCOME ! Secondly, good suggestion....some of the work has already been done. Check out the following link. It shows you were to get Watch Tower 'money' and checks for distribution: http://www.dannyhaszard.com/pickets/WT$.htm