james_woods

Joined

• started 182 topics
• posted 12,226 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by james_woods

• 
  60

  The Worst Public Talk Ever

  by onesong in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what was the absolute worst pt you had to sit thru?.

  i was thinking that for me the worst outline is "get a firm hold on the real life".

  yes a life constricted by endless and ever changing rules, burdened by guilt, fear and obligation, and all the while hoping for an empty promise has got to be the "real life"

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  LeftBelow has it exactly right. There were many embarrasing stupid things in those outlines. I had to start doing these at about 20 yrs old.

  The worst of the hour talks I could remember: The one on DEMONISM! It went into details about modern-day demons visiting sisters in the dark, burning books and pictures if need be, and ECTOPLASM! It was pretty much written out for you, so it was hard to leave out much. I tried to find scriptural references (Old testament witches, etc.) and just read them to fill time. Then if you ran short maybe you wouldn't have to tell about the Ectoplasm. Funny thing, a lot of the older sisters really liked the exciting aspects of this little gem.

  The worst ever I had to give was my last Memorial. I am going to save that whole story for sometime around this years memorial so it is on topic. But, this was Yukon Oklahoma in about 1978 or 1979. It was my turn to do Memorial and I had already decided I did not believe the 144000 or much of the rest. I did it as asked (will tell all in spring) but I resigned as elder that summer sometime after this. That summer I also attended my last meeting ever, wrote my letter that winter, and was DFed for it in spring.

  James
• 
  1

  Ezra is back!!!

  by flag in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  did you notice that ezra is back?

  now the question is where is pmj?

  1. 
• 

  james_woods

  I had not had the pleasure of meeting Ezra until this evening. I must say, at least Ezra is much more pithy than the HAMAS letter writer.

  After I looked through those last eight posts, and the post history, I have a couple of questions for Ezra:

  1. Does your Kingdom Hall or WTS provide an open forum site where some of us can freely sign on with opposing viewpoints?

  2. Have I ever said anything mean to you? If so, I am sorry. If anyone else has and you can prove it up, I will act pro-bono to take your side in a sort of hypothetical way - even if I do not agree with it at all.

  You remind me of a character in a Sherlock Holmes story - maybe in a day or two I will find my copy so I can quote it here.

  Fascinated to meet you,

  James
• 
  28

  Anyone else miss their record collection?

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was just thinking today about the 1980's and all those records i used to have.

  i remember how they skipped through some of the best songs, or warped in the heat on the way home.

  how i thought i was some hot property for getting the beloved diamond needle.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  Still have pretty much all the ZZTop, DireStraights, and JethroTull in original envelopes.

  I have always wondered it Ian Anderson had our Watchtower boys in mind when he did the lyrics to Locomotive Breath?
• 
  51

  Hello everyone

  by zerimar in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i'm not sure if this is the right place to introduce oneself, but i just, well, wanted to introduce myself!

  i'm 29, raised in the truth.

  i'm an ex-ms. my dad is still an elder .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  Welcome from Dallas.

  You have already taken the most critical step toward self-discovery. You set out to start an educational process. This is going to reap great rewards professionally and personally. I am afraid that it may also create some real eye-openers about this religion.

  I share pretty much the same story; it just happened for me over 30 years ago.

  Good LUCK, I salute you as a proper, thinking, self aware HUMAN BEING!

  Wow - didn't used to be able to say that...

  James
• 
  10

  Any JW`s secretly admire you for leaving?

  by jambon1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  do you know of any active witnesses who secretly admire you for leaving the org?

  perhaps they feel that they want to do it but cant?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  I ran into one from my old congregation the very first day I posted on this site - this was after being out more than thirty years.

  And I think this to be a totally faded person who still goes for family & friends.

  Wonder if he told anybody in secret? I won't...but of course its been so long now that I just use my real name.

  James
• 
  42

  Were you ever ashamed of another JW?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  in the field service, i was going door to door with an elder, and he couldn't stop spitting on the ground every now and then..... .

  once at a ball park, i saw a 75 year old ms watching a ball game, and he took napkins to wipe his bench because it rained and it was wet, so he wipped his bench and threw all the napkins on the grass instead of walking to the garbage can about 30 feet away...

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  Not my usual polite style, but on this one I am going to name the names. Frank Zimmerman was a Cong Overseer in Okla City years ago. He also was the one to call me and tell me I was DFd after I wrote them the exit letter. His son David was my age and we worked in service quite a bit.

  We were going to a door and it is Davids turn. We are pushing the Evolution book. David opens up into the subject of evolution with some lady. I swear this next is what actually went down...

  David: "Did you ever notice that when each particular species of animal dies, that if the carcass lies around and rots, that EACH ONE HAS ITS OWN UNIQUE BAD SMELL?" Then on into some personal experiences. The rest is a blank - we somehow got out of there. I still do not know to this day if he was just trying to razz me or was actually serious. Sadly, I kind of think he was serious, thinking he had discovered a new secret of creationist biology.

  Back in car:

  James: "David, if you ever do that to me again, I am going to KickYourA$$" Somehow we stayed friends and even laughed about it later.
• 
  27

  Wonder their reaction

  by FallenOne in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am moving soon to pennsylvania and no one will know i live there.

  i've always had a great desire to play some tricks on the poor jabba's witnesses stuck out in street work and liven up thier drab routine.

  here are some thoughts, what would your reaction be.. .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  I am mostly of the try to be nice type, because they are usually just deluded people who hate to go DtoD as much as I did. Sometimes just kids.

  For many years, I would let them go all the way through the BS, then go ahead and take their stupid literature, and then tell them I no longer believed in their stuff (nicely). They would usually run away in horror; I never saw one try to debate me.

  The only one that got me mad enough to confront them was coming up and trying to talk to my wife in Vietnamese. They must have found her name in the phone book or something. Didn't know that they had a Vietnamese following before that. That was sneaky and I let them have it.

  James
• 
  25

  No More Bound Volumes or CD ROM's - the most exciting news of all....

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  mary started a thread regarding this matter at;.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/108142/4.ashx.

  my first thought was there was no way they dared to do this - that maybe this was a misunderstood rumor of sorts.. on my drive home this evening - it hit me!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  An old-timers view (well at least semi-old-timer): I haven't really looked over their latest publishing. We have been out so long now that it just holds no more curiosity for me. The last ones I personally had around was 1981 and I barbequed the whole lot. However, once in a while I see a mag in some waiting room or other.

  What occurred to me king of goes back to the seven006 thread on the competency of their art and printing department. I think someone else mentioned the debacle of trying to go to offset printing and computer typesetting back in the 1970's. They didn't really have the expertise to do it effiiciently.

  Two points on this: First, this switchover in printing method c.1970 & the IBM computer thing marked the first time I ever saw the WTS really whine and cry for money. This was IMHO when they really started putting the screws on for increased literature sales, better return from assemblies, estate turnovers, etc. Some may not remember that back then the Society did not customarily make Kingdom Hall loans, even in dire straights. Exceptions were made for special halls like the ones in NYC and Pittsburgh - but not for the little halls where the need was great. Also, the first (gasp) ARTICLES ON GIVING FREELY appear in the WTmag.

  Second point: IMHO2, the printing and paper quality took a noticeable DOWNTURN with the offset method. One decent thing I could say about the society printing was that early 60 up until this it was really quite elegant for 2-color rotary. Nice paper, beautifully engraved art, etc. It seemed that this emphasis on quality got lost after that - OK, so its sort of in color, but it is NOT the National Geographic. Could this be the result of saving money to grub back what was spent on the equipment? As commented, the paper looks like USGovernment TP.

  So - the no more bound volumes in this context could mean that profit margin is higher with the CD/ROM. Or, maybe they have kind of given up on normal paper and ink except for promotional stuff.

  I think its kind of neat that they tell people not to get on the internet, but they give out their stuff on media that pretty much needs a computer to read. Most computers have wires nowadays, don't they? HaHA.

  James
• 
  16

  Have you ever lived in an RV fulltime?

  by moshe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i spent about one year in 1982 living in a 32 ft travel trailer.

  our home had burned down on jan 10th,1982 at night- -30 deg f. my wife, 2 yr old son, 4 yr old daughter and i traveled to many states that year.

  many people dream of living the life of a free gypsy- no ties to any one place- north in the summer-south in the winter, living in a travel trailer or motorhome.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  I missed this thread when it first came around---but it made me remember being a pioneer in Clinton, Okla. in the late 60 early 70 times. I had one of those aluminum Streamline (like an Airstream) 27' trailers and we parked it at the back of the hall. The Special Pioneer Cong Overseer and his wife also had a masonite trailer and lived next door. It had some good points (cleaner than most apartments, etc) but it sure took the fun out of things when your water pipes froze in the middle of the night. I just sold the thing when I got done pioneering, but my parents were so enamored of it that they owned one or a motorhome from then on until they couldn't drive anymore.
• 
  39

  Discussion with my parents about WTS

  by GBSJG in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after reading for a few months this is my first post here.

  i was raised a jehovah's witness by my parents who became jw's in the late '70s from field service.

  i'm still a jw but doing a lot of researching on the history of the wts.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  james_woods

  If I could just sugggest - my fist realization that something was amiss came after researching the case for substitution of the name Jehovah all through the New Testament. This was just done as a sort of "leap of faith". There are some good threads here on this subject. That happened for me way back in 1970 when I was a pioneer and assis. cong. servant where the need was great. I actually questioned a later GB member (Albert Shroeder) about it at KM school and got told not to be questioning the translation committee!

  Another point which is so obvious is the absurdity to suggest that the creative days were really exactly 7000 years - I mean really! If you are going to say they were symbolic, then OK - but why not pick an indeterminate time or else a time span which fits the archeological and scientific evidence? After all, I can't see where this 7000 year thing is really taught by the bible at all.

  Good luck; & Don't let the fear factor stop you from doing this research.