Posts by neverendingjourney

5

Where's all my old posts??

by DATA-DOG in

my profile says that i have only made 86 posts?!?!

wth?!?

where are all my awesome posts from the past???.

I wouldn't be devastated if my history disappeared...posted too many intimate details of my personal life on earlier threads, basically treating JWD as my diary. That was all good and well until I started meeting a few people from this site in the real world. That's when the anonymity disappeared, at least with respect to those specific people.

35

Hi! Long time lurker finally signing up!

by LosingMyReligion in

jw
friends

ok, so the time has finally come to register an account on this site.

not that i think i have much to contribute to the discussions here, but more out of a desire to show that yet another person has learned ttatt.

i am a fader, not discussing ttatt with anyone as i know the inevitable outcome it would have.

neverendingjourney

Do you have any documentaries you would recommend to explain these concepts in a way that makes it understandable for someone who is not well educated in science?

Although it's a bit dated, I would highly recommend the original version of Cosmos by Carl Sagan. Sagan had a real gift for putting complicated scientific concepts in terms the common man could understand.

It was once available on Netflix. If it's no longer on their streaming catalog, it might be on youtube.

35

Hi! Long time lurker finally signing up!

by LosingMyReligion in

jw
friends

ok, so the time has finally come to register an account on this site.

not that i think i have much to contribute to the discussions here, but more out of a desire to show that yet another person has learned ttatt.

i am a fader, not discussing ttatt with anyone as i know the inevitable outcome it would have.

neverendingjourney

I feel that the complexity and the order of everything in the universe is a sign of a plan, or order if you like.

We all go through our own journey in discovering where we fall on these questions, but let me suggest that an unfiltered view of the universe actually reveals a considerable amount of evidence of a chaos, randomness and disorder. As witnesses we were selectively taught examples that might suggest design while ignoring everything else. There's a considerable amount of literature on this topic as well as good scientific documentaries if you, like me, prefer documentaries over books.

Best of luck to you.

20

Is child abuse becoming the 'Benghazi' of exJW's?

by Simon in

i've been noticing a trend recently that seems to becoming prevalent in posts which i think is a little sad and counter productive where, whatever the topic is actually about, someone will be keen to remind everyone about child abuse issues within the wts.. any sort of abuse, especially that of children, is a very serious issue but i'm not sure it's prevention is necessarily best-served by brining it up at every opportunity.

it ends up looking a little like the republican party's obsession with benghazi where they harp on about it to such an extent that people have become blind to it and it almost becomes a punchline.

people become less and less convinced of the claims because they hear them too often.. trying to turn any discussion into including comments on it, however well-intentioned, starts to look misguided at some point.

neverendingjourney

Part of the problem is that there isn't anything particularly pernicious about the Watchtower's treament of child sexual abuse as compared to other major religions.

It's hard for us who've been personally affected by this religion to keep its importance in perspective. It simply doesn't register in people's consciousness. It would garner perhaps a footnote in a history book written about our era. So everyone's attention is focused on similar issues that occurred within the context of larger more established religions that they actually know and care about.

I'm sure it's frustrating for those who want to call attention to pedophilia issues within the Watchtower, but the reality is that people don't see the need to focus on a problem in a minor religion that's already been extensively covered in the context of the Roman Catholic Church (among others).

Perhaps some of that frustration is expressed on this forum in the form of repeatedly bringing the issue up where it may not really belong.

10

Testing to see if I can start a post at all

by Open mind in

jw
friends

i tried starting a thread with a picture of an irreverent nativity scene and i guess the hoooly spirit must have stopped it.. .

now just seeing if i can start a thread at all.. .

om.

neverendingjourney

Your holy spirit comment made me remember something.

I found this site about a year after I stopped going to meetings. I was mostly out, but I still believed it was the truth on some level. Or at least I felt there was enough of a chance that it could be the truth to where I didn't want to completely "go apostate."

After a few long nights of reading the board, I began to put any lingering doubts to bed...sort of. I remember composing a terribly long introductory post spanning several pages on Microsoft Word. Then I tried to cut and paste it onto the forum using my newly-created account....and....nothing. I kept getting error message after error message. Maybe it was the programming/indoctrination or maybe there was still some lingering doubts way inside my subconscious, but I didn't attempt to post my story until many weeks later. When I was a witness and something like that would happen I would attribute it to the holy spirit trying to lead me in the right direction.

After a while I learned it was simply a well-known quirk of the forum software. If you wanted to cut and paste you had to use Microsoft notepad or some other cheap software that didn't come with a bunch of coding. The software threw up whenever you tried to paste something with a bunch of source coding (or whatever it's called). In hindsight, I'm glad I was never able to post that original story. It included way too many personal details. The introductory post I eventually submitted was extremely long anyway, and I probably cut it down to a quarter of the original length.

180

Please post new forum feedback or questions here

by Simon in

well, the switchover happened - there were a couple of things i had to fix which meant the posting was disabled for longer than i planned but it's now enabled and some people have already posted.. if you have any questions about the new format or suggestions on how to improve it, please post them here.. if you are having trouble signing in or posting then you'll need to email me instead.. many thanks to everyone for their patience during the changeover !.

neverendingjourney

Thanks, that should be fixed in the next update. For now, just click your name and go to the public profile page everyone else see's and those links work, e.g.

Thanks!

180

Please post new forum feedback or questions here

by Simon in

well, the switchover happened - there were a couple of things i had to fix which meant the posting was disabled for longer than i planned but it's now enabled and some people have already posted.. if you have any questions about the new format or suggestions on how to improve it, please post them here.. if you are having trouble signing in or posting then you'll need to email me instead.. many thanks to everyone for their patience during the changeover !.

neverendingjourney

When I click to view my profile it says something like "X posts" and "Y topics." When I click on the X or Y (presumably in order to pull up a list of the threads I've posted in) I get a "page not found error."

44

Men are not looking forward to becoming Elders or Ministerial Servants

by Hidden-Window in

jw
friends

i have noticed an apparently increasing number of men who are not interested in becoming ministerial servants or elders.

i also know of some that have voluntarily stepped down (which is my case) for no obvious solid reason.. i remember, during my teenage years or even during my twenties, the brothers were always looking forward to being appointed... although many still do, i have noticed there are many others with whom you do not know what the deal is.. since there is no freedom of speech within the organization, we remain in the dark about the motives and desires of everybody else.

i attend a congregation with only two ministerial servants, while it is full of men who do not seem to be willing to do more.. it is hard to tell exactly what is going on, since honesty is not possible while you are inside, but i am starting to think that more and more are becoming disillusioned.... .

neverendingjourney

When I was in, a lot of women wouldn't consider dating a man unless he was serving in some official capacity. On the flip side, having some sort of appointment could give a young man access to women he'd otherwise have no shot with. The incentive was such that a lot of young male JWs would seek the appointment even if they weren't fully invested in JWism.

In my experience the kids usually get married before they're old enough to be serioiusly considered as an MS (unless they're the super-zealous type that makes elder by 22). I suppose, though, that women marrying men that aren't at least an MS may be an issue, since it managed to make it's way into AMIII's zone visit talk. Though, by that logic, men wearing tight pants is also an issue in the org - trying to make sense of that talk is a bit of a crapshoot.

This was the general rule in my area. If you were a young man who (1) avoided getting into serious trouble with the elders (2) was regular at all meetings and (3) put in at least 10 hours a month in field service, you'd make ministerial servant by 20/21.

If you became a pionner straight out of high school, you'd make ministerial servant by 19. Even super dubs would not make elder until 25 (although I heard rumors of a few men here and there who were appointed at 24, but I never personally knew of any). But by that point, most JWs were either married or engaged. The crucial timeframe was 18-23. That's when the action happened.

I saw a fair amount of hypocrisy from my peers, guys who chased after "privileges" to get an in with certain girls, and almost as importantly, the girls families. If you weren't a pioneer, an MS, or at least on track for an appointment, you were at a serious disadvantage. I know because I lived through this.

I became a regular pionner at the age of 17. I graduated one year early from high school in order to focus on JW stuff with the ultimate goal of going to Bethel. Believe it or not, I was motivated by a sincere belief in the religion. Elders and elders' wives would go out of their way to introduce me to their daughters at assemblies. It was a feeling like none other. I felt like I was king of the world. A few years later my zeal had waned and I found it harder and harder to recapture that joy I once had for the religion.

I was publically reproved for drinking when I was 20 or 21. I can't remember the exact year anymore. In any event, I went from feeling like some giant stud to feeling like an outcast. My reputation had been destroyed. I began dating a girl a few years after my reproval and it was going great until her family found out I'd been reproved. You'd have thought her dauther was dating a drug-dealing, gang-banger with a felony conviction. It was awful.

44

Men are not looking forward to becoming Elders or Ministerial Servants

by Hidden-Window in

jw
friends

i have noticed an apparently increasing number of men who are not interested in becoming ministerial servants or elders.

i also know of some that have voluntarily stepped down (which is my case) for no obvious solid reason.. i remember, during my teenage years or even during my twenties, the brothers were always looking forward to being appointed... although many still do, i have noticed there are many others with whom you do not know what the deal is.. since there is no freedom of speech within the organization, we remain in the dark about the motives and desires of everybody else.

i attend a congregation with only two ministerial servants, while it is full of men who do not seem to be willing to do more.. it is hard to tell exactly what is going on, since honesty is not possible while you are inside, but i am starting to think that more and more are becoming disillusioned.... .

neverendingjourney

Have JW women "lowered" their standards?

When I was in, a lot of women wouldn't consider dating a man unless he was serving in some official capacity. On the flip side, having some sort of appointment could give a young man access to women he'd otherwise have no shot with. The incentive was such that a lot of young male JWs would seek the appointment even if they weren't fully invested in JWism.

The farce was clearly visible back then, but people still insisted on the formality. I can think of many examples of young women passing up young men they had interest in to marry a "spiritual brother" (i.e., one with an appointment) only to have the "spiritual brother" fall out of "the truth" altogether and begin treating her like garbage.

58

Window-washer is the cover of Feb 2015 WT, "How to enjoy your work!" Hahaha!!

by EndofMysteries in

.

after all the jokes and satire on this website about jw's only being able to amount to window washers and house cleaners, the cover page of "how to enjoy your work" showing a window washer and cleaner in the back ground.

i almost wonder if some awakened, still-in, from this site is part of the writing department or illustrations and put that in there as an inside joke for us?.

neverendingjourney

"Hard work" JW-style has the virtue of not being troubled by retirement plans. The end is so very near, preparing for one's retirement is unnecessary

There was an elderly JW lady in an adjacent hall who died a few years back. She and her husband converted and were baptized in one of the big NY assemblies during the 50s. They had a falling out with both of their families over religion. Their only son was mentally handicapped and had died prior to when I first met her. So had her husband.

She lived a model JW lifestyle. Worked a few odd jobs here and there in order to focus on service. Needless to say, she had next to nothing saved up for retirement. The congregation quickly tired of her. She was left on the curbside of her assisted living facilty more than once, her ride failing to show up. The "brothers" made little effort to hide their discontent of being given the "privilege" of picking her up. Eventually, they tired of it and made her call in to the meetings. Her health quickly deteriorated and the elders jumped on the chance to put her in a full-on nursing home where she was largely forgotten. She died several years later and few people showed up to her funeral.

This was her reward for a lifetime of obedience. Even though she died nearly a decade ago, I still tear up when I think about it. She was a very sweet lady and didn't deserve it. She made a dumb decision to join a cult, like many of us did, but there was nothing but warmth and kindness in her heart. Choices have consequences, though, even when those choices originate from good intentions.