Posts by TimDrake1914

106

Walking a thin line - Resigning Elder

by Sanchy in

jw
friends

warning of a long boring post ahead.

i feel like i need to vent my story out, as i feel quite helpless at the moment.. i'm 31 year old, married, father of toddler with another one on the way, due later this month.

i've been serving as elder for about 4 years now in a south florida congregation.

TimDrake1914

Are you me? Seriously, reading your story took me back to about 3 years ago when I started on the same path. Pretty much the same situation as yours, except for only having one child. The best advice I can give you in regards to your wife is this: love. Show your wife that you continue to love her, and give her and your children your all to prove that you feel nothing but love for her. She will go through much mental pain as you continue on your journey, maybe even thinking about divorce as an "easy" way out, but just beat those thoughts back by showing her nothing but love. Treat her as an equal, empowering her and encouraging her to pursue her individual interests and desires. This goes contrary to the WT view of how women should be submissive to men, treating them as less than men. This will eventually help her to empower herself, which is instrumental in getting her to think for herself, and not the way the organization wants her to think.

If you want to wake her up eventually, the best thing you can do is continue to provide her questions to think about, but never providing her the answers to those questions. She has to arrive at the answers on her own. No one can ever really wake up someone else. It's the individual that wakes up themselves. But as long as she gives you her ear, tell her the questions you ask yourself, and if you feel compelled to provide her some sort of answer, phrase it in the form of a question that will linger in her mind even after you've finished talking. Facts don't stick in the human mind, especially a human mind that has been trained to reject any contradictory information. But questions do stay, and might eventually bring her enough mental discomfort (known as cognitive dissonance) that may eventually help her reason on her own.

If you really want to understand the mindset that we JW's have been indoctrinated with, read Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steve Hassan. It's a must read for anyone that has woken up, and it's a great book that helps us heal from the mental abuse we have endured all the years we were mentally in. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

20

Pandora's Box is now open!

by pandorasbox1914 in

jw
friends

hi everyone, i have been lurking for some time now and decided to open the box (hence pandora).

about a year ago i became aware of child abuse within the org, out of curiosity (just like pandora) i opened the box and the evils have been pouring out ever since regarding the org.

anyway, this came to a head last summer with the arc.

TimDrake1914

Always great when we welcome new members. Looking forward to hearing your story. :)

55

Some thoughts on the new midweek meeting

by Saltheart Foamfollower in

the new midweek meeting has been running for a month now.

here are my thoughts on how it is going so far:.

1) elders are looking frazzled from being on virtually every meeting and having to prepare unfamiliar formats for items.

TimDrake1914

Ditto. Although most probably enjoy the fact that they don't even have to prepare like they used to. I'm sure some love the push towards dumbing things down.

33

Elder continues serving as elder after his daughter got disfellowshipped!

by hardtobeme in

this is what is happening in a spanish congregation in our area.

this happened 3 weeks ago.

this brother conducted the school and after the school was over, another elder gave the announcement: "( name of the person) is not longer a jehovah's witness".

TimDrake1914

LOL! He is illegal in the country?! That tells you all there is to it! He shouldn't even be allowed to serve as an elder if he is illegally in the country per WT rules. That tells you he only has privileges because the other elders want him/need him to have privileges. If they were going by the book, he wouldn't even be serving.

As for the deal with his daughter, again, it depends on the other elders and if they think he did everything he could to make sure she didn't lead that kind of lifestyle. If they deem he was doing everything within his power to prevent her from messing up like that, they could let him stay as elder as long as it didn't stumble the congregation. But the fact that the congregation does feel stumbled and he is still there again shows that he's only still an elder because the other elders want to keep him there.

152

If YOU had to make the decision, would you respect a JW relatives wish to refuse a blood transfusion?

by nicolaou in

a few years after i quit the meetings my mum needed her medical directive signed and witnessed and she asked if i'd do it.

i was surprised to say the least!.

i think she was just angling to include me and maybe find some lever to get me involved again.

TimDrake1914

You can't argue that you want your own rights respected when you are willing to violate other's rights as well. This is exactly the reason why courts will impose blood transfusions on witness' children if a Doctor pursues it; because courts recognize a child may not be capable of making an informed choice, especially when the parents are trying to make that choice for them.

Are witnesses manipulated into making bad decisions? Sure, no one can argue with that. But in the end, adults have the right to make their own decisions, no matter how stupid we think those choices are. By that same token, we could choose to accept a blood transfusion because we believe that it will allow us to live on the planet Zanudu where we will live alongside Baal as spiritual reindeers. A person shouldn't lose their individual right to make their own choices just because their beliefs don't make any sense to us. In their mind, they are making an "informed" choice based on the information they themselves have CHOSEN to accept. Whether or not we believe it is an "informed" choice matters for sh!t, unless we can determine they are not fit to make their own medical decisions. But that should not be based on our personal opinion.

The day we start thinking we have the right to make other people's choices is the day we ourselves have become the very organization we condemn so much on here.

152

If YOU had to make the decision, would you respect a JW relatives wish to refuse a blood transfusion?

by nicolaou in

a few years after i quit the meetings my mum needed her medical directive signed and witnessed and she asked if i'd do it.

i was surprised to say the least!.

i think she was just angling to include me and maybe find some lever to get me involved again.

TimDrake1914

I'm dissapointed that, so far, the majority would actually violate another person's choice as to their own medical wishes. How is that any different than someone else violating our own choice to take a blood transfusion on the basis that they do not share our belief? We may not like it, but it is still the other person's choice to choose their own medical treatment, even if it means them possibly dying from it. Free will includes the ability to choose how we live or die, and to take that away from some one is the same as taking away their right to be disconnected from a life-prolonging machine if they so choose.

But going back to the original scenario, if one is uncomfortable signing someone's no blood document, then they shouldn't. Simple as that. If one were to have signed and then later changed their mind about carrying out the other person's wishes, that one should inform the other person involved so that they can sign a new version of the form in order to take you out of the equation. It's about mutual respect.

24

Money Grab started in India

by cognitivedizzy in

jw
friends

i don't know how the fellow who made the resolution from stage to send 80% of the congregation funds to the indian branch as an outright donation made it with a straight face.

and all the sheeples nodded like they understood the shit he were spewing.

i'm so mad at this cult .

TimDrake1914

You have no idea how powerful group pressure can be. Once you see a few heads nodding affirmatively, it's hard to go against it, even if you feel uncomfortable doing so. It takes a lot of mental strength and discipline to go against the wave.

5

Gilead was built to be Bethelite tribulation Bombshelter 1940!!!

by Witness 007 in

rutherford believed the "great tribulation" would begin during world war 2. his book "enemies" explained america and britain would turn into a fascist/catholic state so...... watchtower 82 8/15 p.10 "for the saftey of the bethel family a place of refuge was built at south landsing new york.

it was never needed for that purpose...later transformed into gilead missionary school...".

watch.

TimDrake1914

I think Rutherford was way more deluded than any on the current GB....well, maybe all except for Tomo III. If this were Star Wars, I could totally see a movie where Darth Rutherford reveals to Tony Skywalker the horrible truth: "I am your father."

19

Request for BOE Translation!

by Atlantis in

if we could get this letter translated we would appreciate it.

we will then send the translation back to barbara anderson.. .

http://postimg.org/image/o1y62yr2b/.

TimDrake1914

@Khaleesi Of course they need more money. Don't you know that that $1 Billion will only cover about a month of WT expenditures? At least I'm sure that's what they will say/spin it on the next JW Broadcasting.

9

NWT 2013

by truthlover in

the old nwt contained a byline that indicated westcott and hort was used in the translation of this bible.

(they are not mentioned in the 2013 release) but you and i both know that their wordings in scripture remain in the new release.. if you check their background, you will find some serious issues with these translators which the society used.

has anyone googled wh for their spiritual qualifications to include them in the nwt??

TimDrake1914

AFAIK, Westcott and Hort's text of the NT is very well respected work in the field of textual criticism. Their groundbreaking work set the stage for further studies in textual criticism, and is a highly valued work, even to this day, for the precedent it set. Having said that, more recent work in textual criticism has added to the body of work that they started. If anything, I commend WT for consulting this highly respected work, but I fault them for ignoring some of the bigger questions that arise from the study of textual criticism of the Bible, such as the many contradictions in the Bible that they don't acknowledge. Instead they try to "explain" them away.