Good point about 'company' men. My father is of this sort. My father will not talk to us because he has to be a good example to the congregation since he is an elder. Getting an education beyond high school teaches you to have a personal and social conscience, neither of which 'company' men have. Someone with a personal conscience would not allow an organization to come between them and their blood family. WT teaches organizational conscience and tries to convince rank and file that this conscience is based on scriptural principles when in fact this conscience is based on GB whim.
Back from the DC
by jula71 35 Replies latest jw experiences
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zulukai
I posted this little story before on another thread, but it happened just last weekend and I think it's very telling. My JW brother has never been an organization man, never been an elder, but he was very cold to me when I left and has over the years been boorish to me on several occasions. Last weekend there was an assembly in Chilliwack, BC which he and his family attended. Our family, all non-dubs including me, had a big family BBQ for the occasion of my granddaughter's high school graduation. It also happened to be my birthday. My brother and his wife and three kids arrived and we all mingled and talked. I haven't seen this family for four years. My brother gets a plate of food and comes right over to where I am sitting and out of the blue (AND fresh from an assembly where higher education has been bashed the entire time) proceeds to tell me that he now believes the "old system" isn't going to end anytime soon and the world is now structured so that kids have to get an education for jobs that pay well, have benefits and retirement plans. I nearly fell over. Something major has changed and both he and his wife have obviously come to a crossroads. I would have loved to further the conversation, but the time wasn't right that particular weekend. I look around at my family and even in other generations there were highly gifted people who made something out of themselves because they had to, were driven to excel by their apptitudes and thirst for knowlege. And my brothers kids give every indication that the family genes will not be denied. I am overjoyed that he is taking this stand. I knew something was up when his oldest daughter was allowed to enter nursing school last year. Now this girl feels closer to me because we share this bond. But to hear a hard-core dub go against one of the most cherished pieces of Borg-drivel just made my day.
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Carol
A story......1969 a 17 year old girl, offered two full scholarships, one in nursing one to become a teacher....little 17 year old is very obedient......she chooses pioneering.....gets a job with an opthamologist (eye surgeon) 3 1/2 days a week and pioneers the other 3 1/2....after 2 years, she thinks maybe she'd like to go to school...one elder tells her go for it, be true to herself a good publisher is better than a reluctant pioneer......everyone else says no...she doesn't go, the surgeon move to California, wants to take the then 19 year old with him as well as several other of his staff! Alas, the 19 year old stays and continues to pioneer, cleaning houses to make a living.......pioneers in NYC, meets lots of "Bethelites", comes home, meets a non-believer and marries him at 21........! 33 years later, divorced, very few friends (it's hard to be a friend when you never were allowed to make them out of the "truth") with an Associates degree (went back to school at 47), she's wised up.....encourages every kid she knows to go to college....and oh yeh! She doesn't go to meetings and won't touch cool aid!
Thanks for the updates on the assemblies, the ammo helps when my 73 year old mom calls to preach and try to bring me back!
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potleg
The point was made somewhere earlier that the non-annointed witnesses that have come in over the past decades all expected to go into the new system without dying...well look what's happening, they ARE dying and paradise has,it seems, been postponed...again. No wonder people are murmering and questioning...the Borgs knee-jerk response is to tighten things up, threaten and cajole everyone into line and tell all that you can't live without them. By the way is that a Bible based teaching?
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zack
The WT articles recently on the resurrection and the talk on the DC is a reluctant acknowledgement that many now living who have been promised never to have to die, will indeed die. The grumbling is about the fact that many now face old age without a retirment plan and very many without children-- since they were also encouraged not to have kids in this old system-- the very system wherein God told Noah to be fruitful and fill the Earth.
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zulukai
Carol your story is SO familiar, and so sad. Were you one of those bright eyed kids that got up on platforms at CA's and DC's and told everyone how you were being OBEDIENT to the Organization and NOT going to go to college even though you had been offered a scholarship to the university of your choice? (OBEDIENCE to the Borg has ALWAYS been a part of every assembly I ever went to even if it wasn't the main theme,) I remember many assemblies where these brow-beaten young kids got near standing ovations of approval for throwing their lives away. It used to sicken me how the parents of these kids could allow this. But more and more you see the jw machine riding roughshod over people's lives in the name of loyalty to a man-made concept. I hope more and more of the young people start to rebel against this crap. I went back to school later in life too, best thing I ever did. Have had a life,travelled and gave my two girls a heads-up on having their own careers.
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Rex
Hi Farkel, I don't know if you will remember me. I don't even remember my old username now, LOL. My name is Rex, my old e-mail addy was [email protected]. I went by Ron Barker at one time, Shining One was another but I can't remember my original name from that old site that shut down.....was served out of Austraila I believe. I used to get in arguments with all of you agnostic ex-jws many moons ago. I am a born-again Christian and have been since the end of my posting days. Is Jan still around about on the boards? I hope you are doing ok again. The last I heard you were having a rough time living in San Diego. I prayed for you many times. my Lord has been so good to me and my family. God Bless you even if you don't think He exists! Rex
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jula71
A couple more after thoughts, BTW great responses!! Sunday there was a "symposium" on the new (dumbed down) book. There were parts on how to use it to obtain studies on the initial visit in service and how to study from it. The "how to study" part was pretty interesting, the main thought...STICK TO THE BOOK!!! Also, if any additional research is needed refer the the "bible encyclopedia, Insight books".
Katiekitten here's one you'll like. There was also a talk on "happy family life." It was a 30 min part, one minute on how husbands can honor their wives, and 29 min's on wives honoring their husbands. What I thought was funny and sad, is too look around and see all the women with a blank stare and all the "brother's" nodding their heads in agreement.
More thoughts to come.............
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Emma
The WT articles recently on the resurrection and the talk on the DC is a reluctant acknowledgement that many now living who have been promised never to have to die, will indeed die.
This is my dear mom and I wonder how she's taking it. She's terrified of death, hated getting older. She absolutely believed she'd never die and is now in her 80's. I don't know if the generation change comforted or distressed her (she would never share "spiritual" thoughts with me).
My sibs have her under control definitely would drink the coolaid.
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undercover
I made it to the DC for one whole session.
In that 3 hour time 1919 was mentioned three times, as in Jesus inspecting and choosing the WTS. Never heard 1914 or 607 however.
There was a very clever part on resisting temptation of the world. They interviewed several people and how they "put Jehovah first" instead of some worldly enticement. A couple of them were just plain old morality stories. One high school kid gave his experience of avoiding pre-marital sex even though he was constantly pressured by his class-mates (I call BS on that. If a JW kid is avoiding worldly friendships he will never have a situations where worldly kids could have that influence on them).
But intertwined with the morality stories were the "don't go to college" examples. One kid who had planned on pioneering after graduating had a 3.9GPA, was offered scholaships and his guidance counselor had told him anything other than college would be a waste of time had actually given thought to going to college instead of pioneering. He saw how all his classmates were so excited about college and picking a good school and he thought he was missing out on something. But after "prayerful consideration" he decided to "put Jehovah first" and pioneer, knowing that was the right thing to do.
I thought it clever, however sinister, in how the interview with the potential college student was sandwiched between interviews where people were enticed to do serious wrongdoing. It was a sly, unspoken way of implying that attending college was as serious a sin as pre-marital sex.