Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

9

Another Family Escapes Their Clutches

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

my coworker actually was involved in training me, and i used to be a quiet good little jw when he met me.

i first shared information about him on this forum 7 years ago when he was just starting to learn that i was no longer going to the kingdom hall.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/125918/1/pressure-to-conform-from-his-wifes-congregation#.u6t3c5rx-uy.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Sounds like a good plot for the next WT video!

35

Elder: I threw out all WT & Awake and only keep the last ten years...

by adjusted knowledge in

jw
friends

i had a recent conversation with an elder from my mother's congregation.

he with another elder was at my mom's house.

my mother has all the bound volumes for both the awake and watchtower plus most of the older books.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

They should put expiration dates on all the WT litteratrash, so everyone knows how quickly it will become "old light".

Better yet, as soon as the magazines and books arrive at the congregation, just toss them in the dumpster. It saves the trouble of opening, counting, distributing, and then destroying.

30

New DVD review

by Laika in

i managed to catch the new dvd on youtube last night before the inevitable takedown.

as a film i felt it wasn't anywhere near as good as the prodigal movie, the story wasn't as dramatic, the characters much less interesting and developed and the direction weaker.

i found the prodigal relatively entertaining (all things considered) this one was just dull.. here are some of my random thoughts anyway [spoiler alert - ha!].

The older son and daughter and daughter's boyfriend seem older than high school kids, both in how they look and how they talk. It just seems weird. And the daughter doesn't have her phone locked? Her brother can pick it up and start reading everything? That conversation in the car between the bro and sis was weird. Clueless to reality. The less JW we were, the better I got along with my siblings. The "break-up conversation" was really strange. She should have just said she didn't want anything to do with him because her church said he was too worldly and was going to be destroyed at armageddon. And the conversation with the boss was unrealistic.

Obviously, they don't address the kangaroo question for Noah's ark.

When I recall how joyfully JWs sing about millions being slaughtered "at your very side," I'm not sure what would have been on Marcus' recordings that would be worse than that. The whole story of this boy being some kind of "rap master" is completely unbelievable.

Yeah, the "Uncle Marcus story" is dumb melodrama. All these years and the kids knew nothing about this? The "reenactment" is instantly fake to me bacause they did the shot of the supposedly racing car with the rain rolling down the windshield rather than being pushed up by the motion. A mistake like that, to me, is akin to having Jesus wearing Nikes.

Something really weird was the extremely small cast. This family lived in a vacuum. There were no JW friends shown or even spoken of. No friends now, no indication of any friends in the past. It's like they and the couple in the basement were isolated from any other JW contact. There is absolutely no extended family here. No grandma or grandpa, cousins. There aren't even any neighbors. The ending seems rather creepy that they are this isolated, friendless family with aging children who have no plans for the future.

The casting did seem to have racial issues going on.

In the end, I think that with the magical negro moved out of the basement, this "new spirituality" will last 6 months, tops.

30

New DVD review

by Laika in

i managed to catch the new dvd on youtube last night before the inevitable takedown.

as a film i felt it wasn't anywhere near as good as the prodigal movie, the story wasn't as dramatic, the characters much less interesting and developed and the direction weaker.

i found the prodigal relatively entertaining (all things considered) this one was just dull.. here are some of my random thoughts anyway [spoiler alert - ha!].

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Have only watched part of it so far. The guy playing the dad looks so familiar to me... just a whole lot older than I remember. I'm sure I know him from bethel but can't recall his name. It's drivin' me nuts.

While this might tug at the heartstrings, the first thing I see is that they aren't like any JW family I've ever met. While some JW dude may start to think, "I should do more...", it's easy to dismiss it by saying things like:

"I'm not making tons of money like this guy. I don't have a huge house and fancy cars for my kids. We're barely scraping by."

"My kids are not as bad as his. They aren't trying to be rock stars or running the school newspaper."

Which, BTW, are there still school newspapers and would they write about gay marriage? Ours only wrote about ordinary school stuff like sports, parking issues, and preventing dropouts.

28

Expressions on faces at DC/RC

by BU2B in

jw
friends

i have become more observant at the last couple district conventions of jws faces and enthusiasm and it seems to be very somber.

i remember a couple of years ago i was an attendant at one of the upper sections at the blue cross arena in rochester, ny and in afternoon session at least half were curled up with their eyes closed, some with blankets.

the applause seems very forced and mechanical.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"Every JW event I can recall, the bathrooms always smell like one giant fart. I don't know what it is, but that's always the case."

These arenas are typically designed for events that last 2-4 hours. The discrap crapventions are 3 consecutive 8 hr. days or so. It can easily overload the ventilation and plumbing systems.

12

Jesus' 100th Anniversary of Kingdom Rulership - ONLY 100 DAYS REMAINING

by Calebs Airplane in

"on october 2, 1914, charles taze russell, then president of the watch tower bible and tract society, boldly announced: the gentile times have ended; their kings have had their day.

how true his words proved to be!

-watchtower may 1, 1992 page 6.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

So many other centenial anniversaries coming up... 2018, 2019... time to get out the Revelation's Bland Climax book and mark down the dates of all those trumpet blasts etc. So many false prophecies to memorialize.

91

one reason for the dumbing down of the org

by Magnum in

a lot of us have said that theres been a dumbing down in jw land.

its just not like it used to be especially a few decades ago.

it seems to me that if jw are right and the end of the world is near, the spiritual food should get tastier and more nourishing as time goes on, but it's getting more and more bland and less nourishing.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

"We are the bOrg. Resistance is expected. Not much we can do about. We win some and we lose some. Our lives suck, but the empty promises are keeping us in. We try to recruit more bOrg, but we pretty much suck at it. So we mostly focus on trying to keep the kids. That usually doesn't work. Oh well. Let's go back to the cube and fantasize about playing with pet pandas in a futuristic fantasy."

122

Disturbing Footnote in Tomorrow's Study Article...

by HeyThere in

article is basicqlly about families where a spouse is working away from home for an extended period, etc...a foot note says basically that some studies have shown that working away from home can cause serious consequences, such as infidelity, homosexuality, or incest.

.

pull it up on jw.org...that is what it says.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

I suppose that in an earlier draft of the footnote it said:

"Reports from the conduct of previous WT presidents and GB members indicate that living apart from a mate or children in order to work at headquarters or visit branches is a factor that for some has contributed to serious problems. These include infidelity on the part of these leaders with maids, housekeepers, nurses (who really have no nursing training), dietitians, etc. There is also reason to include homosexuality as a result. When these facts are discovered by the rank and file JWs, there are increased behavioral and spiritual problems, aggression, anxiety, depression, or leaving-the-organization tendencies."

After this was put through the WT proofreading cycle, the actual facts were completely concealed.

69

G.B. TALK URGING CHILD BAPTISM!

by The Searcher in

the introduction & conclusion to this video is in german, but david splanes' words are loud and clear in english - get your kid baptized asap!.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h33pwdsuvlq&feature=youtu.be.

.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Has anyone tried the reasoning...

"Sure, among JWs they think it's wonderful to make their little kids go d2d and baptize them when they're prepubescent, but what do onlookers really think?

"From my experience, when the shoe is on the other foot, JWs reason that infants being baptized and teenagers going through confirmation is coercion and the kids aren't mature enough to make an informed decision. It's really quite hypocritical of the JWs to practice the same things that they condemn other religions for doing. And if a JW is called before a court or draft board, what are people going to think when the JW says they were ordained as a JW minister at the age of 10?

"Similarly, when a child goes to someone's door to talk about religion what is the real response going to be in the householder's mind? Again from my experience, some householders may think it's cute, others have no hesitation to be rude and nasty, but most will feel pity for the kid. They may listen, but will they really respect the religion for this tactic? Can the householder really believe that this child has explored many religions and been able to conclude that they have 'the truth'? If a child was going d2d selling insurance, what would you think of the company? Would you think of the parents of the child? would you think, 'this kid must really be an insurance expert!'?

"And as I look back, how unfortunate that the kids have to spend so much time preaching, but they don't get any presents at Christmas or birthdays, and really don't get to have any fun. Particularly in my history with the religion, they don't have picnics or anything fun for kids like they the little that they used to. At best they'll get an ice cream cone at FS break. It just ain't right."

122

Disturbing Footnote in Tomorrow's Study Article...

by HeyThere in

article is basicqlly about families where a spouse is working away from home for an extended period, etc...a foot note says basically that some studies have shown that working away from home can cause serious consequences, such as infidelity, homosexuality, or incest.

.

pull it up on jw.org...that is what it says.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Wait... didn't Russell, Rutherford, and Knorr spend a lot of time away from their wives "for society business"?

Maybe those are the reports that they are referring to.