I would just like to thank everyone for the excellent posts that have appeared here on this site. I esp would like to thank Simon for making this possible.
I sincerely believe that the "NET THANG" will continue to play a role in helping jw who are sincerely searching for a confirmation that all their doubts and wondering over the years was not the result of them being spiritually weak. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be a jw leaving the org after 1975 or anytime before the NET THANG. The pain and sheer fear of feeling alone must have been unbearable. I see folk come here and often say they feel lonely , which is true to a certain degree, but for the old timers it must have been unreal. With no one at all to even talk to , many times not even their husband or wife.
We see folks come here and thier mates rejects the info that they have, yet we have each other to bounce ideas off as to how to help our family and how to just survive ourselves with the new found knowledge that we have been Bamboozled and Hookwinked for many years, for me and my wife we have a combined 60+ years of wasted time.
but now we are trying to get our lives back together and move on. we are both back in college and now with school starting to kick my butt i realize it is time for me to catch up on the loss time from being in WT.
I would even like to thank the "loyal JW" whether you know it or not i have been able to in the last 5/6yrs to personally ensure with the help of Loyal jw that over 125 folks and thier kids will hopefully NEVER BECOME JW.
They have been equiped to know what to ask a jw when they knock on thier doors, what to say to a family member who is studing with jw.
They know things that many of us only can wish that we knew before becoming a jw.
as i told my fatherinlaw- you don;t know what questions to ask till you are in the org and then it is too late
All my life i was told to:
1. Love the Friends:
And I tried to -- I wanted to help shield them from some of the blows of the organization, by doing little things to make thier service to god enjoyable and not a chore, but i couldn't-- I realized that the very Super Structure of the Org prevents that from happening
after my last elders school i could take it no more, the elders school was on how to beat the friends- DO MORE DO MORE, it was on how to protect the org from being sued while as an elder you were out there on your own and the org would not help you
I truly loved the bros , i always wanted to be an elder, when i was a kid my mom was a single parent with 4 little black kids, the elders would make my mom work with her own kids, she never got no encouragement by being able to work with other friends,, when i was older i would take my bro or sister with me so mama would not have to work with all 4 of us.. I made a promise to myself and to the day i stepped aside i kept it., I would never let a single parent feel like they were not welcomed, my wife or i would always take the kids to give the poor sister a break. i was a called a fatherless boy, while in fact i had a dad, is it not amazing that a woman can have a good man who takes good care of her and yet the org will call her a Single parent and her kids Fatherless--
this just highlights the foolishness this organization.
2. Learn Organizational Procedures like the back of your hand
now looking back i can see that we were just like those that Jesus condemned where the Traditions of men (Rules of the Service Dept) have replaced the very words of god.
where families can be torned apart and folks die due to a rule that in 6 weeks will change and no apology is offered instead BLAMING THE VICTIM techniques are used. so sad-
Yes I became a "Good Society Man" Because I completely and firmly believed that this was God Visible Organization on Earth
I gave this Man made book publishing organization the best years of my life, while i turned down a fully Paid opportunity to attend the NC State U. on a Electrical Engineering Scholarship-
I went to Bethel, I was told I would never get old and die, now i realize that I will grow old and die, it is the cruelest joke that can be pulled on a child , to be told you will never grow old and die and as a result you make life decisions many that i can not go back and change -- ALL FOR NOTHING >
For any Lurkers out there and Yes Shirley I know You and Eugene read this site, i beg of you to spend your remaining years enjoying your golden years --as to being Guilt beaten cause you are no longer physically able to attend meetings.
My mother is now on her way out- after 40yrs, my father inlaw has found freedom and a measure of peace of mind and my mother in law is examining things and issues in the org that has given her an insight into what goes on behind the curtain that she never knew
All i can tell her at this point is to READ READ READ as well as the rest of you
never let anyone tell you as an adult what you can or cannot read.
Lurkers please, let the chips fall where they may AND be willing to CALL A SPADE A SPADE.
When i first started reading on the net i said to myself I want to know the real deal , if it is the truth let me prove it, if it ain't then i need to know so that i can try and get on with my life.
I beleive that Information is indeed Power and that is why the wt does everything in it's power to control the flow of information.
To all the brothers at bethel who may be on this site, Al Harrell < Tom jefferson, Bob RAINS, Jim Andrik, Wilfred Simmons, Rob Simmons, Tony Griffin, RP Johnson, and my mentor JR Brown.
Please consider what you are doing to so many folks lives who must struggle just to make it while you are enjoying the fat of the land.
You guys have literally wasted years that you can't recover, but try , just try to be willing to ask the type of questions that we all have been forbidden to ask and be willing to accept what the answers are.
For all the Friends here on this site that I have meet and had the chance to call on the phone and chit chat i wish you well. For others with whom have only been able to email OFF LINE, thank you so much
for what you all do for me and Lady "C" is RE-CONFIRM in our hearts and soul THAT WE HAVE INDEED CHOOSEN THE BETTER PORTION.
If any of you are coming thru Washington, DC feel free to look Lady "C" and myself up
it has been good but i must run-
All I have to say is :
"Don't do anything that I wouldn't do, BUT If you do-- DO IT BETTER"
You can hit me at [email protected] or
202-336-8792 my direct line
James