Open mind

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Posts by Open mind

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  147

  Weird "new world" artwork from the 2013 calendar

  by cedars in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother-in-law has a strange obsession with calendars, and orders the society's calendar each year.

  this year's calendar is especially weird.

  it features images depicting future events - in particular, the society's vision of the new world order.. i've taken the opportunity to scan some of the images for you all to check out.. please note - there are captions for each of the images, but i don't have the english language version of the calendar so i'd rather just quote the scripture used so as not to reveal which country i'm in.. .

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  Open mind

  Snickering at snooker.

  Good one.

  om
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  152

  How Long has it Been since you Last Attended Meetings and What Caused...

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ..... you to stop attending ?

  injustices ?

  disagree with the teachings ?

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  Open mind

  Memorial 2012.

  We will just be "Easter" JWs from now on.

  My trigger moment for really plunging in to researching JWs was giving a Service Meeting talk hammering home the importance of shunning DFed relatives. In the talk I told the entire congregation that my family had 100% shunned my DFed older brother for 20 years. If we can do it so can you!

  After the talk, a sister whose 20-something daughter had just been DFed, came up to me with tears in her eyes telling me what a great job I had done and that she was REALLY going to try to apply the direction from The Slave from here on out. Lots of others also gave me strong commendation as well. I really poured my heart into that talk.

  Getting ready for bed that night, I looked at myself in the mirror and REALLY didn't like what I saw. The shred of non-cult humanity that remained inside me won out.

  om
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  51

  Clapping at the meetings and assembly

  by NewYork44M in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had a random thought this morning about clapping.

  growing up in the wt culture i learned the proper protocol for clapping.

  before the assembly speaker gave his talk, but not after.

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  Open mind

  Actual experience: The Clapper Talk. (Last talk of the District Convention.) In recent years it appears to have gone the way of the DoDo. It was always full of JW Global growth statistics and cheesy "experiences". For lack of anything better to do, my brothers and I would actually keep a tally of how many times there was applause during The Clapper Talk (tm). Usually it was at least 15-20 times.

  Another bored, Distriction Convention past-time: Try to be the first or the very last person to clap in the whole audience.

  My personal Fantasy: As a non-believing observer, wait for a meeting where someone is announced as DFed or reproved, start a slow clap, stand up and keep up the applause while walking all the way out of the KH. Will never happen since we only go to Memorials now.

  om
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  52

  One experience in our old Kingdom Hall that still HAUNTS me

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the following is a true experience and my daughter gojira101 will verify that it happened to her.

  an experience from our family's past that still haunts me and started my questioning whether this is the true organization of god or not.. my daughter, who has always been a good kid, never gave us any problems [she's an adult now] started regular pioneering.

  within a few weeks of her starting, she fell on a steep hill and tore open her knee and had to have several stitches.

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  Open mind

  Welcome to JWN Newly Enlightened & Gojira!

  That story sounds like at least the elder giving the talk, if not the entire BOE, really had it in for you. As hard as it was at the time, in the big scheme of things they actually did you an unwitting favor since it helped you finally exit the Borg. (Still a very unloving thing to do.)

  We had a Circuit Overseer that was a complete "Old School" hard a$$. He'd berate parents and little kids that were being allowed to doze during his snoozy talks. He tried to impose a ban on denim, etc.

  His hard-core approach was helpful in waking up my wife and children. Thank you very much Brother Jack Ass!

  om
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  12

  Congo Merger Elder Meeting Flashback: SUPER True-Believer Cong. Secretary

  by Open mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this thead is a little bit long and it's not earth-shaking.

  it just gives a glimpse into the inner-workings of elder meetings.. .

  several years ago i was serving as an elder and the c.o.

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  Open mind

  zeb: "There was no debate at all. just a vote."

  When it came down to the congregation, that's how we did it too. We let everyone know the two possible time slots that the "spirit-appointed" elders had narrowed it down to and that one week later a vote would be taken.

  Alan Miller aka OTWO: (Just finished reading the last few chapters of your book, BTW.) "Why not stop and pray?"

  Well, we certainly could have. In fact, I half-way expected Starry Eyes to possibly suggest it. We had already been meeting for two hours and of course, the meeting was opened with a long-winded prayer by one of the two likely future P.O.s (COBE) who was trying to show how spiritual he was. Some of the other issues we had been discussing were even MORE fractious and we hadn't stopped for prayer then, so why bother now. Let's just hear the arguments, make a decision and hopefully get home before midnight.

  In over ten years serving as an elder, I can only remember one occasion where the body stopped in the middle of an elder's meeting and prayed for guidance, wisdom, peace, unity, etc. All the other prayers were at the traditional times.

  om
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  12

  Congo Merger Elder Meeting Flashback: SUPER True-Believer Cong. Secretary

  by Open mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this thead is a little bit long and it's not earth-shaking.

  it just gives a glimpse into the inner-workings of elder meetings.. .

  several years ago i was serving as an elder and the c.o.

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  Open mind

  This thead is a little bit long and it's not earth-shaking. It just gives a glimpse into the inner-workings of elder meetings.
  
  Several years ago I was serving as an elder and the C.O. decided that it was time for our congo and a neighboring one to merge. The grandstanding, posturing and politicking by the various elders during those first few combined elder body meetings was nauseating and comical by turns.
  
  The Secretary from the other congregation was a rare breed of elder, IMO. Let's call him Starry Eyes. He was raised by a JW mom and a secular non-JW dad. He got baptized as an early teen and by his late teens and early twenties he was very money-oriented and got himself a reputation as a bit of a materialistic ladies' man. In actuality, he was probably fairly well-adjusted and had a good head for business and Dad's approval to pursue a career.
  
  Somewhere in his late twenties Starry Eyes began to truly start drinking the JW Kool-Aid. He scaled back his business and dove into pioneering and serving where the "need is great" full bore. Eventually he married a JW bride from one of his overseas "need great" excursions and they came back to a more comfortable life in American suburbia. But he still had his "true believer" goggles firmly attached.
  
  This guy positively oozed "appreciation" for all things "spiritual". Holy Spirit could be found all over the place if you just had the right frame of mind. I don't want to misrepresent him here, so let me clarify. He was not someone who liked to APPEAR super-righteous so as to receive accolades from a fawning congregation. He was 100% sincere. So sincere that he often seemed innocent and naive.
  
  Now lets drop in on what I'm pretty sure was the second time both elder bodies got together to hammer out the practicalities of how we were going to handle things going forward as one big happy Uber-Congregation. Elder blow-hards had been yammering on for at least a couple of hours when the earth-shattering topic of.....
  
  Meeting Days and Times....
  
  reared its ugly head.
  
  At this point in time I had just started posting on JWN and was fully aware that the bulk of JW doctrines and policies were B.S. Our old congregation's Theocratic School & Service Meeting were on Thursday nights which sucked big time. Why? That's when The Office (NBC) was on TV. This was the first season and the show, even though it was a knock-off of Ricky Gervais' British version, was fresh and hilarious. So that was my own personal reason for wanting a Wednesday night TMS & SM. A reason that I chose not to share with the rest of the Good Old Boys.
  
  Personal preferences aside, I did have what I thought was a pretty logical argument as to how a decision should be made.
  
  "Brothers, as JWs we know that no day is more sacred than any other day. We are not expected to have meetings on any particular day. I know of one congregation in Wyoming that was in a "Company Town" run by an oil company. The majority of the congregation were brothers and they all had to work Monday through Saturday and a few on Sunday, with rotating shifts. Sunday was the only day that most of them had off. So they chose to have ALL the week's meetings back-to-back on Sunday morning. The deciding factor was what day and time worked best for the majority of the congregation's members. I propose that we ask the friends a couple of questions re: the TMS & SM:
  
  1. Which evening would you PREFER? Wednesday or Thursday? (Tuesday was out of the question since another congo already had their meeting then.)
  
  2. Would either Wednesday or Thursday pose a GREAT HARDSHIP for you to make the meeting?
  
  At this point, Brother Starry Eyes couldn't take it anymore. I think he wanted us to employ the Urim & Thummim to make this momentous decision. He said:
  
  "Brother OM, there's something we need to keep in mind here. Who do the sheep belong to? (Insert, super long pause.)

  ...... They belong to Jesus and we should seek His direction in making our decision."
  
  Inside my skull was a giant, neon, flashing, W. T. F. ?
  
  Uh, OK, if Jesus wants to direct us towards which night would be best, I'm all ears. But, as far as I can tell, Baby Jeebuz is being silent on this issue so we're stuck with making a decision that works the best for the majority of "the friends".
  
  The preceding paragraph was being recited silently in my skull, but, as a fairly good-humored fellow elder told me later, it was pretty apparent on my face as well. I was speechless.
  
  Somebody else chimed in and another 5 minutes of hot air was expelled before we finally came to an agreement that we would put it to a vote for the congregation(s).
  
  I think Brother Starry Eyes thought we should stop the Elder's Meeting in our tracks and pray for guidance on this issue. He didn't actually say this, but it was the only explanation I could think of for what path he thought we should take. Of course no prayer was said, but plenty of opinions were expressed.
  
  I hope this wasn't too disappointing of a thread for you. It's just a snapshot, as well as I can remember, of the inner workings of Elder meetings.
  
  (BTW, Wednesday night won out and our family got to watch The Office for the next few seasons before we switched congregations.)

  om
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  59

  Elders finally took me to the back room...

  by OneDayillBeFree in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  after several months of leaving the meetings as soon as they ended or only staying for "the first meeting" then leaving the "second part", the elders finally cornered me at last night's meeting.. they said they were concerned about me and that being that i am a young brother in a recently divided congregation they saw so much potential in me to help out the congregation and become a ms.. i told them i was thankful for their thinking of me to help the congregation but that at the moment i could not due to my job.

  then the began asking personal questions that got on my nerves.. they asked where i worked and how much i made.

  they asked if i was going to college and what i was studying and for how long.

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  Open mind

  There is one exception to the "just say no to the back room" advice given here. If they claim to have received information that you have been involved in "gross or serious sin" then if you refuse to meet with them, they can DF you in absentia. But chances are they would at least tip their hand a little bit if they were pulling you in for something judicial. Just to make sure, you could say something like, "No, I'm fine right now. Thanks. No one's accusing me of "gross sin" or anything are they?"

  If you ask them straight up, they'll have to admit one way or the other if they're trying to hang you with a Judicial Committee. Short of "gross sins", you can politely decline and you're pretty much untouchable. But don't cop TOO much of an attitude or they could play the "Loose Conduct" card on you. (Blatant and shocking disrespect for Theocratic Order or words to that effect.)

  Best of luck with your education, career and fade!

  om
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  13

  Polarity, Reiki and their ilk

  by Hortensia in

  1. social
  2. current

  i owned a massage school, taught massage for over 20 years, practiced massage for nearly 30 years.

  massage/bodywork -- some folks who do bodywork don't like the word massage but i don't care.

  bodywork sounds like car repair to me.

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  Open mind

  Hortensia: "I stood up finally and asked him "what studies?"

  ROTFLMAO! That is just too funny. Sounds like a genuine "fart in church" moment.

  Wish I could have been there shooting video.

  om
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  39

  Quentin (from JW-net) is dying

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  quentin robburts has been on jw-net off and on for over 6 years and he is one of my oldest and most loyal friends.. his wife called me awhile ago and gave me the news.. quentin was rushed to the hospital's emergency room with acute renal failure and congestive heart failure.. .

  this does not surprise me for the following reason.

  his pain doctor put him on oxycontin last thursday.

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  Open mind

  Sad news Terry. Wishing Quentin and his wife strength during this time.

  om
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  13

  Polarity, Reiki and their ilk

  by Hortensia in

  1. social
  2. current

  i owned a massage school, taught massage for over 20 years, practiced massage for nearly 30 years.

  massage/bodywork -- some folks who do bodywork don't like the word massage but i don't care.

  bodywork sounds like car repair to me.

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  Open mind

  While you put a finer point on it than Randi, I still think he would be give your post a

  What's it like being a "heretic" in your chosen field? Have you always been able to see past the woo?

  I couldn't help thinking of one of my favorite Tim Minchin quotes while reading your words:

  Do you know what they call "alternative medicine"
  That's been proved to work?
  Medicine."

  If you've never read or listened to his beat-style poem "Storm", you really should:

  http://www.altairiv.net/Storm.html

  om