Billy the ex Bethelite-
I was very interested in reading your comments on a number of things I said-but then your tone changes and you took things as a personal attack on you! Why? Then, you start criticizing me.
Yes, the elder studying with me told me a lot of things that were going on in the cong. Should he have told me? No. But he did. (The elder moved away and that cong was dissolved a few years later.) There were serious problems- he was upset by a lot of them, but this thread was about dishonesty in reporting fs hours-so I focused on that. No- I did not make any phone calls for him. There were very serious problems involving the entire body of elders. After he moved away I left and went to another congregation.
The wt was unfaithful to all of us , yes, we were strung along with promises of a paradise earth that will be here very soon-I was 18 when I began to study with them and told I'd always be a teenager! I turned down numerous opportunities to get a good job because it would cause me to miss meetings or not be able to spend much time in fs- but the end is coming very soon! The best years of my life were devoted to a lie as well!
"I'm a person". Really? Well I have feelings too. How do you come up with the "waving a finger and saying I'm better than you Billy?" Amazing.
Do you know how often I read posts on jwn and feel I'm too stupid and less educated than many who post on here? Many times I feel I can't express myself express my thoughts well and don't comment on things I want to. How do you come up with the idea that I think I'm better than you? I never said any such thing. You went to Bethel, I did'nt. I always thought when I was a witness that bethelites were much more faithful and unselfish then I was.
It does not matter to me if you have been to NJ and are not impressed. I am not bragging about being from NJ! You have misunderstood much of what I wrote. Well, I cannot express things as well as many on jwn can. My memory and vocabulary are going. I also have mild aphasia. Thats what happens when you have had 3 mini strokes!
I was not an elder, reg pioneer, MS and no-I was not cong secratary. I did not say I was. I was simply trying to help an elder whom I was very close to at the time who was cong secretary .
You think I am an apologist? When I WAS a witness I would not give one second of my time to anyone I thought was an "apostate"!
What planet do you think I am from? And why would I pretend to be from NJ and not from Norway?! Yes, I feel like an alien a lot of times, that's true.
Why do you think I'm trying to discredit YOU?
I don't have much experience with Jehovah's Witnesses? I first began studying with them in July 1976, become a publisher that November, got baptized in 1978, went to my last meeting in 2005, sent in my final fs report in August 2006 or 2007. So I have been associated with the witnesses for 30 years. Yes-I still obtain the mags and literature from a sister I know. And I have a friend from my original cong at Bethel- next month will be his 35th year there. So- I do have some experience with Jehovah's Witnesses!
I see you make good use of straw men. I never said there are millions of unreporting publishers in China and India! But in the congs I was in, a lot were not reporting their time. I believe the 7.5 million publisher figure in the 2011 yb is accurate yes. Have you ever noticed that the figure the YB gives is always lower than the figures that almanacs give for the number of witnesses?
I have more than one brother. Yes, my jw brother could be left. Perhaps ambidextrous?
The service year that had the big spike in US publishers I think was the 1998 one. It was very stange- the number was 980,000 the year before, then 1,040,000, then the next year it was only 988,000.
Why do you think I don't believe you were ever at Bethel? I never said that. I always thought Bethel was a special place. Yes, you are right, many publishers would find it hard to believe the lies you got from higher ups at Bethel.
But I never said you were not there or made it up. I don't recall ever having this much of a conversation with you before and I have no idea why you thought things I asked about or commented on were a personal attack on you. I certainly don't like your insinuations about me.
I have said many times in my posts- I try to be objective and fair regarding the wts-there are 2 sides to every story. But if I believed the witnesses have the truth and the WTS is God's organization I'd still be attending meetings and not be posting here. I am not a wt apologist. Just a longtime former witness who is discouraged, disapointed and trying to make sense of things.
