Posts by chester

24

What is an apostate?

by esther in

jw
friends

the meaning of 'apostasy' given in my dictionary is "abandonment of religious faith, vows, principles or party".

i used to think that only cults considered leaving their religion to be apostasy, but according to my dictionary, as quoted above,everyone who changes their religion is technically an apostate.

so were those of us who changed from other religions to become jws apostates then?

chester

Dave,
What a great Post!!!

Welcome to the board.

I don't think that anyone could have said it better.

Thanks and I hope to hear more from you.

9

Martha Carter

by teejay in

jw
friends

from: from beginning to end: the rituals of our lives.

by robert fulgham.

she taught the students how to learn.

chester

Todd,
I really enjoyed the story.
You say you are going to school. Good for you!!
Here is a little poem that I really enjoy.

What makes people OLD???

JUST age doesn't make a Person old

Age is a Quality of mind

If you've left your dreams behind

If hope is fled

If you no longer look ahead

If your ambitions are all dead

Then you ARE old

But if from life you take the best

If love you hold

No matter how the years fly by

No matter how the birthdays fly

YOU are NOT old!!!

14

JWs and odd health practices

by Seeker in

jw
friends

i noted a long thread earlier that dealt with the frequency with which jws will accept medical practices that are far out of the mainstream.

kinesiology, and herbs, and the like were all mentioned, and there was much discussion about whether these things should be taken seriously or not.

i do not want to get into such a discussion, but wanted to talk about why i think jws are so frequently involved in such health pursuits.. someone mentioned that jws are trained to be suspicious of the medical establishment, and that's right.

chester

Hi Seeker,
you said

JWs are taught that the end is right around the corner. So in their mind, the age they are now is as old as they will ever get. To think otherwise is to lose faith in the teachings of the Society. So what happens as the years go by and no end is in sight and their bodies begin to break down? I think what is happening inside them is a psychological struggle. They perceive that their bodies are betraying them, failing in just the sort of way they thought could never happen. Yet they cannot consciously admit this to themselves, for that would be tantamount to accepting that the Society got it wrong, and that cannot be. So without consciously realizing it, they are open to anything, absolutely anything, that will restore their health. They want to deny the aging process somehow, to keep their hope alive.

You are absolutely right. I know of many people like this in the organization. They just cannot believe that the society got it wrong.

19

1975: Much ado about nothing?

by dutyfree in

jw
friends

many of the senior witnesses out there, i am sure will remember the spring/summer of 1975 and the amount of excitement that was in the air surrounding the anticipation of what the new year would bring.. i have no recollection of such events as i was still in short trousers and wearing a strange cap, but anyway.... fred franz, the vice president at the time gave many talks to 000's of people about how much everyone was looking forward to 1975 and the wonderful things it would bring... without making an explicit statement as such, but the implications were all there.

these talks actually began in about 1966. the anticipation grew too much for some people and many began to heed mr franz's advice about selling their property to live out the last months on the earth in the pioneer service.

he also encouraged the young people not to pursue a career but rather to be more active in "the truth".

chester

Hi all,

I just started posting here about a week ago.

Many of you may remember I started the thread "I ate meat on Friday." It was on May 14th if any one wants to go back that far.

I notice that most everyone in this forum are young people.

I am not so young. In fact I may be the oldest person on this board. Hear that larc? I have you beat.

In the story I mentioned that my wife started studying with the witnesses after our son was killed and said that is another story of itself. It still is another story. I would just like to say the we were both in our twenties at the time. The age when many of you are getting out.

I was an "unbelieving" husband for many years after that. That too is another story that could get quite long.

I really am not ready to tell too much about myself because I know that there are staunch JWs out there who are reading this forum who may recognize me. At least I have good reason to suspect they are reading this forum. They are "shunning" me just because I have stopped attending the meetings. I am trying to stay alive a little longer. Do you hear that vsecret.

I am replying to this thread because I would like to add that I know or have heard of brothers who have either quit their jobs or gotten out of their pension funds because of believing the end was coming in 1975.

I know of brothers who are in their 70s and are still working because they got out of their pension fund back then.

My wife was told that we would never see our children grow up in this system of things.
We are great grandparents now. I never thought that I would be retiring in this system of things. I have retired. Not in the style I would have liked by the way.

So yes, I have many stories to tell. One day I will tell them.

I will reveal them after silent lambs reveals the secret he has.
Do you hear that, Bill?

33

How to Leave WT and Intact

by JT in

jw
friends

one of the most painful things i continue to see here on this forum as well as all the others is that many who want to leave wt simply don't know how to leave and remain "intact" as it were.. i recall talking with jw who "formally disassociated themselves back in the 70s and it was not till the 90s and the net did they finally feel free.

or many who jump up and write a letter off to mo larry and curly (congregation service committee).

while i feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with writing a letter for many it is a matter of.

chester

tergiversator,

I enjoyed your web site and your poem.

Thanks for sharing it.

I wish the best for you

17

I AM NEW HERE

by PurpleV in

jw
friends

and would like to post...is this the right way to do it?

what do these icons mean?.

how do i post to a specific topic?.

chester

Hi Purple,

Welcome to the board.

I amto learn how to do this too.

33

How to Leave WT and Intact

by JT in

jw
friends

one of the most painful things i continue to see here on this forum as well as all the others is that many who want to leave wt simply don't know how to leave and remain "intact" as it were.. i recall talking with jw who "formally disassociated themselves back in the 70s and it was not till the 90s and the net did they finally feel free.

or many who jump up and write a letter off to mo larry and curly (congregation service committee).

while i feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with writing a letter for many it is a matter of.

chester

James,

you said

I see you are talking trash

I know you were kidding.

I would like to also thank you for bringing this topic to the board.

I enjoy all of your posts and your insight on things in the borg. You are very knowlegable about these things and you have been very helpful to many people.

I need all of the help I can get and I also would like to be able to help other people as well.

If there is any one out there who is kind of shy about posting (as I was/am), please try to overcome your shyness and post your feelings and thoughts here on this forum. It will be helpful to all who read this forum and you will feel better.

Reading about everyone's experiences has helped me tremendously.

Thank you for being here, JT

15

Brain Dead

by Free2Bme in

jw
friends

just like to comment on the brain deadening effect of the jw way of life.

it's bizarre how completely oblivious they are to major issues such as doctrinal changes !

it's like they just calmly accept anything the org says without engaging their thought processes.. the 'generation' change was pretty amazing and would affect their door-to-door message in a big way yet it seemed to be met with a collective shrug.. i can remember triumphantly waving matt24:34 in many an impatient householders face as conclusive proof the end was nigh.. even more baffling is the fact that if i had been a bit of a swat and decided the society had got it wrong and the generation referred to the wicked generation rather than a generation of people alive in 1914 who would witness the end i would probably have been in big trouble and labelled 'apostate'.. it's as if the worldwide congregation is in a trance.

chester

Hi Farkel,

I have been reading your posts for a long time. I really enjoy what you have to say.

you said

I call it both. I was there and that's the way it was for me.

That is exactly the way I feel.

Thanks for being here.

33

How to Leave WT and Intact

by JT in

jw
friends

one of the most painful things i continue to see here on this forum as well as all the others is that many who want to leave wt simply don't know how to leave and remain "intact" as it were.. i recall talking with jw who "formally disassociated themselves back in the 70s and it was not till the 90s and the net did they finally feel free.

or many who jump up and write a letter off to mo larry and curly (congregation service committee).

while i feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with writing a letter for many it is a matter of.

chester

OrangeBlossom,

The only thing I care about is hurting my mom, don't really want her to have to go through it. She given over 50 years to this organization, she will not give it up.

I know exactly how you feel. There are many, many of us out here who are in the same position that you are.

33

How to Leave WT and Intact

by JT in

jw
friends

one of the most painful things i continue to see here on this forum as well as all the others is that many who want to leave wt simply don't know how to leave and remain "intact" as it were.. i recall talking with jw who "formally disassociated themselves back in the 70s and it was not till the 90s and the net did they finally feel free.

or many who jump up and write a letter off to mo larry and curly (congregation service committee).

while i feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with writing a letter for many it is a matter of.

chester

Hi Vsecret,

Ok, I have talked to many people on this forum and have decided that I do want to formally disassociate myself from this org. I don't want my name to be associated with an org. like this and inactive is just not good enough for me.

I guess you have to do what you feel you have to do.

Just keep in mind what JT said.

The elders in your congregation are not going to read your letter. They could care less about why you want to disassociate yourself. They are just drones who could care less about you as a person. Watch the way they shun you after you write your letter and you will see what I mean. Have you ever seen what happens to people once they are disfellowshiped or disassociated?

They are treated just as though they were dead. That is the WT way of dealing with folks. They do them just the way the Mafia treats people. ( JT has talked about this many times on this forum and others.)
Once you are DA or DF from this organization it is just as though you are dead in their eyes. A dead person can't talk and tell what they know. Keep that in mind. You may be able to do more good by "staying alive" as long as you can

Your letter is a good one and I can tell that it was well thought out. It will probably do a lot of good for people who read it on this forum.

There is one thing you may have overlooked or just not thought about.

The turning in of time is not in the bible. Jehovah has no requirement for us to turn in any time.
The turning in of time is one of the things that I find totally ludicrous. It is the WT way of keeping its members "in check". The WT organization is run based on the amount of time a person has. Appointments are made based on "time". A person's spiritually is judged based on the amount of "time" he puts in. How many times have you heard it said "I have to get my time in?" Folks have devised many ways to increase their time. They ride around talking about much time they have in this month or how much more time they have to get in. They are not worried about making disciples only about getting their time in.

If the organization was only interested in finding out how it was doing and not trying to keep its members "in check" there would be no requirement to put a name on the time slip.

Just another way of telling that it is a cult.

Just my 2 cents

I wish you the best in whatever you decide to do.