Life in a small town

by Belmont 14 Replies latest jw friends

  • Belmont
    Belmont

    We live in a small town in England where for 30 years we were stalwarts of the local congregation, and then walked away, not DF'd or DA'd.

    There is virtually only one main street, and the reaction of the jws to us is a lesson in human behaviour. Some ostentatiously shun us, some "love bomb" us, and one elder whom we have known since he was 10 years old, actually walked away when we spoke to him. However, at the same time, we have been approached privately by 4 long-standing jws, relating horror stories of their treatment in the
    congregation. Unfortunately, they can see no farther than the shortcomings of the local elders. not recognising that the whole edifice is corrupt.

    One actually said "If only Bethel knew, they would put it right" which is a consoling thought if you are living under an abusive regime. Many must have thought the same about Hitler or Stalin. It's difficult to admit to yourself that everything you've been clinging on to for years is nonsense. How does one respond to them without frightening them away?

  • Englishman
    Englishman

    Greetings, Belmont:

    Why not take a leaf out of You Know's book? He believes that the WTBTS are going to be for the high jump doesn't he? Why not some thing along these lines: I've heard some of the brothers say that opur greatest test will come when we can no longer look to the organisation to care for us. Maybe there are wolves in the flock who are preying on our fears of being alone, maybe they are mis-using shunning to accomplish this. Perhaps this is test of our faith when we can no longer trust even our own elders at the KH...

    OK, I accept that it needs some work, but you get the idea. You can't turn someones viewpoint completely around I know, but at least you can say take a peek from where I am looking, which only requires a minor adjustment for the inculcated dub, but at least it's a first step.

    Englishman.

    Nostalgia isn't what it used to be....

  • ozziepost
    ozziepost

    G'day Belmont and Welcome to this happy place! (even if you are a pom )

    Just a quick point. It's good to keep 'hammering' on the allegiance to an organisation which they must readily admit is an imperfect organisation made up of imperfect men carrying out imperfect rules.

    I believe that is the key to 'opening their eyes' to the real truth about the 'troof'.

    Cheers,
    Ozzie

    "It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
    Anonymous

  • Tina
    Tina

    Belmont!
    greetings and Welcome aboard! I'm so sorry you receive such abusive treatment :< Many of us here can certainly relate to it.
    As you make new friends out of that group(and it will happen) the feelings of isolation and lonliness reced. hang in there! Wishing you the best! What helped me was getting re-aquainted with neighbors,reaching out to non-believing rellies. You'll find more sincere non-judgemental friendship 'out there' than you ever did at KH.Wishing you the best! hugs,Tina

    Carl Sagan on balancing openness to new ideas with skeptical scrutiny..."if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense-you cannot distinguish useful ideas from worthless ones."

  • GinnyTosken
    GinnyTosken

    Hello and welcome, Belmont,

    One actually said "If only Bethel knew, they would put it right" which is a consoling thought if you are living under an abusive regime. Many must have thought the same about Hitler or Stalin. It's difficult to admit to yourself that everything you've been clinging on to for years is nonsense. How does one respond to them without frightening them away?

    I would encourage them to write to Bethel. More than anything else, this may open their eyes to how Bethel actually works. I've read the stories of many on this board who were convinced that if they only wrote to the Society, gently pointing out errors or injustices, the brothers would be kindly and fair. The answers received fell far short of their expectations, and these writers were often treated suspiciously after writing. People looking sincerely for answers and fairness will be aghast at such treatment.

    Meanwhile, when I meet Jehovah's Witnesses on the street, I try to treat them as I would any other human being. I can't control how they behave towards me, but I can control how I behave towards them. They often find it puzzling that one who has been away from "spiritual paradise" is not morose, depressed, and ashamed. I like to smile warmly and keep them wondering.

    Even those who walk away from you will be forced to think a little. They will not forget your stalwart service of 30 years and cannot help but wonder what could possibly turn you from that. Of course, they may quickly attribute it to the influence of Satan, but if you and your wife are still the same moral people as you were before, this explanation will be flimsy.

    I wish you the best as you rebuild your circle of friends.

    Ginny

  • Englishman
    Englishman

    Ginny T,

    Write to Bethel. Of course! I do seem to reemember that a couple of JW's in the local congregation were always threatening to "Write to the Society" during my owm period of dubbism.

    What they don't realise is that anyone who writes in is immediately branded as a troublemaker, and the letter is usually handed to the CO or even the PO for them to deal with. I know that writers-in are always disappointed with the luke-warm response from Mill Hill.

    Englishman.

    Nostalgia isn't what it used to be....

  • LDH
    LDH

    I suspect those people would change their tune if they had the chance to talk to JT or BlackMan or Tallyman.

    Bethel is made of imperfect people, therefore how can something perfect come from something imperfect?

    I'm sorry to say, this is the hope that many of us held on to at one time--"Wait on Jehovah, he'll make it right." The fact is, Jehovah mad us free moral agents so we can make it right ourselves!

    Belmont I want to say welcome.....

    Lisa

  • Dogpatch
    Dogpatch

    Welcome here Belmonts!
    Sometimes it is hard to get a perspective on life when all those around you are idiots! :-))
    Here is a little something from Gary Busselman that might bring a chuckle/tear:

    The Truth (as I seen it)
    According to Jehovah's Witnesses
    by Gary Busselman
    GOD is the creator, but since he only created Michael,
    and Michael created everything else, ("all other things")
    that would seem to make Michael the real creator,
    but only in a sense, since Michael is Jesus and Michael said to Satan,
    "the Lord rebuke you" makes the Lord powerful over Satan,
    however when Michael had to throw Satan out of heaven in 1914
    he had to do battle with his own creations, Satan and His Angels,
    and in 1918 when he selected Joe Rutherford to be his earthly channel
    and had to put the truth in the mind of Joe
    so Joe could write the truth in the Watch Tower
    and build Beth Sarim.

    All this would be hard to understand if it were not for the "salvation" doctrine,
    which is easy to understand since the living evildoers
    will all be made dead at Armageddon
    and the dead evildoers will be made alive at Armageddon,
    thus the living sinners will die and the dead sinners will live,
    except the dead who are made alive will not really be made alive again
    but when they die God kinda makes a sort of computer chip, in a sense,
    of all the information in their brains,
    like their memories, thoughts, and personality
    and keeps this stored in heaven
    and the Angels that don't join up with Satan help
    and then after Armageddon, God makes a perfect replica body,
    and somehow inserts this memory chip in the perfect replica body
    and then he will judge that new creation of the old person
    who was dead but is now alive, sort of,
    by how he treats the anointed who are mostly dead
    but are represented by the Governing Body, who are not inspired
    but only receive Divine direction,
    and by how well he follows the directions of the Organization
    and if he sins he dies.

    To survive Armageddon, the only way is to be serving God
    in the only Organization that has the truth, Jehovah's Witnesses.
    The truth is defined as the current teachings of the Governing Body
    which largely consist of denying their own past teachings
    and condemning views that are held by other groups
    that the Governing Body will someday adopt as their "new light"
    and "the truth". Serving God is defined as attending the five weekly meetings
    of Jehovah's Witnesses, reading all of the weeks lessons before the meetings,
    including underlining the answer to the questions at the bottom of the pages
    in the paragraphs with a red marker, (yellow highlighter is optional
    as long as it is used in moderation) answering any questions you may come up
    with by yourself, while you keep those questions secret and to yourself,
    by looking up the proper subject headings in the Index published by the Society
    and referencing to the proper Watchtower article
    while attending meetings for field service
    and going out in cars to try to recruit new members into the group
    and to solicit contributions to be turned into the group leaders
    in exchange for Watchtower publications that members paid for
    at the Kingdom Hall using the voluntary donation arrangement
    that was adopted after the Society failed in their attempt to defend Jimmy Swaggert
    in the Supreme Court of California
    after the Superior Authorities fell out of love with him
    and charged him with avoiding sales tax on literature sales
    and all Witnesses must do this or they die.

    Loyalty to "Jehovah's Organization" is important
    since surviving Armageddon is contingent on how well
    we vindicate Jehovah's name which is really YHWH
    and pronounced Yahweh by most Biblical scholars
    only since that was changed to sanctify
    and it now is to exalt Jehovah's Name, not to vindicate anymore,
    and to announce the kingdom that was set up in heaven in 1914 after Jesus
    returned invisibly in 1874
    and again in 1914 for the separating of the sheep and the goats
    by selling Watchtower publications door to door
    and then in 1995 this was changed to
    not separating the sheep from the goats
    but to require all Jehovah's Witnesses to believe
    that the separating of the sheep and the goats will be a future event
    to begin after the start of the Great Tribulation
    except that Jesus had to actually start his judging of the sheep and the goats in 33 AD
    and that he only picked 144,000 Jehovah's Witnesses
    and the number was filled in 1935
    and then the earth was going to be used for the testing ground
    for all the re-created dead sinners and Jehovah's Witnesses for 1000 years
    because this all ties into the date of 1914
    which was arrived at by Nelson Barbour by adding 30 years to William Miller's
    failed Apocalypse expectation date of 1844 which was arrived at by adding a
    year to the previously failed date of 1843, to arrive at 1874, which when
    the end didn't come, he added 40 more years to come up with 1914 which
    Charles Taze Russell adopted and changed to 1915 when the Apocalypse didn't
    come in 1914 then to 1918 when it didn't come in 1915, then he died.

    This is all so simple that a child could understand
    especially in view of the fact that the seven trumpets of Revelation
    were the seven Jehovah's Witness District assemblies from 1922 to 1928,
    starting with Cedar Point, Ohio and ending with Detroit, Michigan,
    only they weren't called Jehovah's Witnesses then
    but since Jehovah picked them in 1918 he waited until 1931
    to give them his name while the generation living in 1914
    and of the age of understanding, about 12 or 15, when World War One broke out,
    except it had been breaking out for a number of years before 1914,
    meaning that the generation that saw 1914 would by no means pass away
    before Armageddon started and "by no means"
    indicates that the majority would be living and never die
    since Jesus told Joe Rutherford that "Millions Now Living Will Never Die"
    by an angel and Joe wrote a book about the dead Princes,
    Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and others would be resurrected to the earth in 1925
    and live in a house he built for them in 1929 in San Diego, California
    except he lived in it himself
    because he thought the start of World War Two would be the beginning of Armageddon
    and then he died.

    Usually this is best understood by believing the truth as Nathan Knorr and Fred Franz
    wrote about it in the Watchtower since they knew that service was the answer
    and that six thousand years since Adam and Eve ended in 1975
    and that maybe, might, could, should be the start of Armageddon
    but they don't remember writing anything about 1975
    and they couldn't say for sure when Eve was created
    and besides so many were going to prison because they were loyal to God
    by refusing alternative service to active military duty
    and no one was taking organ transplants or buying Girl Scout Cookies
    and then they died.

    Sometimes the truth comes as flashes of light and the vaccinations,
    and organ transplants are now all okay and the drafted boys don't go to prison
    but stay at home to be elders and pioneers instead of going to jail
    and the sheep are waiting and the goats are waiting too
    and the generation of 1914 waited too,
    then they died.

    http://www.freeminds.org/buss/truth.htm

  • Thirdson
    Thirdson

    Welcome Belmont+,

    I hope you can get some condolence for they way some treat you by the way others continue to show repect and friendship. A 30 year stalwart who simply ceases to be involved says a great deal and in small towns or anywhere gets noticed.

    You obviously know the all the issues and problems with this religion but can help others too. The fact that some come bringing there own issues show they look to you for some advice. After 30 years you have a great deal of experience and can be really helpful to others seeking a way out. After 30 years you deserve some time to enjoy the real life, make new and remake old friendships.

    Welcome to this board. I'm glad you have joined our little community.

    Thirdson

    PS Wish my parents of 44 years of JW-stalwartism would quit. That would cause quite a stir.

    'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'

  • JBean
    JBean

    Dogpatch: That was absolutely priceless!!!!!! It made me laugh all the way through because it is sooo cheeky! Then I realized that so many still believe it lock, stock and barrel. Amazing.

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