Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

14

New Years Resolutions

by Bumble Bee in

jw
friends

i haven't made any yet, not sure if i will or not.

i did make some resloutions last year and for the most part did stick with them.. i had this link sent to me on facebook, thought i'd share it here for those of you that did make resloutions and need help sticking with them.. .

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

My resolutions for 2008:

Be 15 lbs overweight (in preparation for the famine during the Great Tribulation ;-) - done
Argue more - done
Make no more than three resolutions - done

I believe I'm way ahead of everyone and it's only January 2 !!

30

George Couch Dies - Brooklyn Bethel

by SadElder in

jw
friends

george couch, a longtime fixture as the big wig of home overseers at brooklyn bethel, died friday.

.

we never interacted much with them, he was a strange duck from our brief visits with them over the years..

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Ah, yes, W-A-C, Bethel won't be the same without George and his morning worship comments! Here's a few quickies:

Commenting on the noise that us bad, bad single brothers made when we cheered during Monday Night Football and the sound would echo down the hallways: "Brothers, there's no need for all the hootin' and hollerin'. The television works only one way. They can't hear you."
On not visiting nightclubs in NYC, specifically Greenwich Village: "Brothers, why in the world would you want to go somewhere and eat from the same plates and forks, and use the same doorknobs as homos?"
On not taking visitors to Greenwich Village: "There's no need to take your family or friends to the village to see the homos walking around in dresses and carrying purses. They probably have plenty of people like that back where they live."

The memorable quotes could go on for hours, but you really need to hear them from George to understand his style. When I was still in Bethel, a Brooklyn Bethelite told me that the deaths of two people would change the world forever. The death of Fidel Castro. And the death of George Couch. I suppose that George's influence had faded enough in last years that Bethel really won't change much after all.

I knew George's nephew very well. Awesome guy that I unfortunately lost touch with. Ben, if you ever turn up here at JWD, send me a PM buddy.

39

You just can't reach some people-they just don't get it!

by dawg in

jw
friends

hey guys, album is going great so far... i hope we can finish it in 2008, around may or june.

anyway, i just had a thought which made me stop in for a while.

i was discussing something with a friend the other day, i hadn't even started speaking nor had i brought up the core of my point before he started screaming like some wild manaic; he started making up "straw man" arguments one after the other ad infinum, yelling like a banshee and accusing me of all sorts of thoughts that i don't believe... it was really bazarre.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Hey Dawg,

There is an old rhyme:

A man conviced against his will,
is of the same opinion still

When people have strongly held opinions, particularly on religion and politics, facts and logic are ignored. Additionally, the JW religion strongly programs the "all or nothing" mentality that if an adherant begins to weaken even on something relatively trivial (like oral sex inside marriage), then alarms go off, suddenly they sense that they are returning to satanic pagan christendom and will be destroyed at Armegeddon. I've found that many seem to get uncomfortable about expressing almost any personal opinion.

You've already had some great feedback on your thread here. Maybe the only thing I might add is that when I get into things with my parents, I remind myself and them of the good that they have done for me and how they've tried to do what they thought would be best. I know I have plenty of bad days where things I want to express just come out wrong, I get frustrated and may appear to be angry when I'm not really. But I always try to fix my stupidity ASAP, and cut others plenty of slack for their bad days. I've found that it makes problems and bad days less frequent and less serious. Anyway, now I'm rambling and will stop...

Take it easy Dawg, and have a Happy New Year !

25

Will the WTS start taking a hardline towards all the ''faders'' in the org?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

'' faders'' are a thorn on the sides of the wts.

they miss meetings,don't contribute any money,don't go out in service,and can contribute towards the ''spiritual sickness'' of the local congregations.. will there come a point where they will ask each and every ''fader'' if they wish to remain in or out of the congregation?

can they come up with scriptures to warn the congregation that you are a ''fader'' and are be marked?

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

A recent Circuit Hounder tried to get the local elders to go after the faders to see if they didn't consider themselves Jehovah's Witnesses anymore, basically a verbal disassociation by these faders. So, he laid out this work for the BOE, and we ignored it. Next visit, we just said they didn't DA themselves. Why would we go after the problem-free faders when there are lots of problems with those currently attending.

And, most families in our cong have some faded members and are on relatively good terms with them. DF/DA them would only create more problems and actually produce even more faders. As others have mentioned, the bOrg already is taking a hard line verbally. IMO, if they start chasing down and DFing faders, most of the faders won't really care, but it will be very discouraging to the folks still in the cong.

112

Devastating post coming next year

by darth frosty in

jw
friends

with in the next week and a half(maybe sooner) there is going to be a very insightful post about the borg.

merry christmas every one, and a happy new year.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

An upcoming Stubby Edition of the Watchtower reveals that Daniel's "King of the North" is....

A) China
B) North Korea
3) Iran
4) still Russia
5) back to Germany
F) the United Nations
G) Canada
H) New Hampshire
9) All of the above

24

Is it official policy that elders MUST advise the parent to report abuse?

by Must obey! in

notwithstanding the plain fact that the watchtower's heinous "two witness" rule is obviously flawed (scripturally and in terms of natural justice), it seems to me that as long as the elders are advising the parent/caregiver to go to the authorities in every case where an accusation of child abuse has occurred that this is sufficient for the elders to discharge their legal duty, shouldn't it?.

i have heard rumours that this is in fact the official current policy (since when i don't know) of the society: that they tell the elders to advise the parent/caregiver to inform the authorities of alleged child abuse.

but how firm is this policy?

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Hey Dinah, you want me to elaborate on:

1) how little I know about the state laws [only paid attention to the states I've lived in]
2) how much I detest the bOrg's policy [yeah, I detest it]
3) what the CO said [the 2 witnesses rule, wait on Jehovah, children fabricating stories, Satanic media, and at the mention of the WTBTS cash payout, he said it's often cheaper to pay to settle than the time and expense for the Society to litigate. BULLSH1T ! All of it.]
4) what I'd do with the crowbar and his cranium [there are video games and movies portraying such things (which the Society warns against viewing)]

24

Is it official policy that elders MUST advise the parent to report abuse?

by Must obey! in

notwithstanding the plain fact that the watchtower's heinous "two witness" rule is obviously flawed (scripturally and in terms of natural justice), it seems to me that as long as the elders are advising the parent/caregiver to go to the authorities in every case where an accusation of child abuse has occurred that this is sufficient for the elders to discharge their legal duty, shouldn't it?.

i have heard rumours that this is in fact the official current policy (since when i don't know) of the society: that they tell the elders to advise the parent/caregiver to inform the authorities of alleged child abuse.

but how firm is this policy?

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

The MSNBC article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21917798 referenced this pdf on individual state reporting laws:

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/TVNews/Nightly%20News/2007/11-Nov/reportinglaws.pdf

As I understand from it, state laws differ with several states still having nothing on their books either way. This is where the Legal Department comes in, to tell the elders what minimum is required in their state.

This whole subject is still handled unethically by the WTBTS and their attitude toward the victims makes me sick. A recent comment from the CO on the subject made me want to take a crowbar to his head.

24

Is it official policy that elders MUST advise the parent to report abuse?

by Must obey! in

notwithstanding the plain fact that the watchtower's heinous "two witness" rule is obviously flawed (scripturally and in terms of natural justice), it seems to me that as long as the elders are advising the parent/caregiver to go to the authorities in every case where an accusation of child abuse has occurred that this is sufficient for the elders to discharge their legal duty, shouldn't it?.

i have heard rumours that this is in fact the official current policy (since when i don't know) of the society: that they tell the elders to advise the parent/caregiver to inform the authorities of alleged child abuse.

but how firm is this policy?

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Currently, step one is still "always call Society's Legal Department first" and they will direct you on your local state law as to whether you are required to report. However, elders are not instructed to tell the parents/caregivers/victims to go to the police. Instead, elders are instructed not to tell the parents/caregivers/victims not to go to the police. Consequently, one body of elders may interpret that as, "Yes, they should report this to the police." However, another body may interpret, "We won't tell you not to go to the police if you think the Christian Congregation isn't capable of handling wrongdoing [you faithless one that wants to drag Jehovah's Organization and Name through the mud]."

Confused? That's because many of their policies SUCK and the elders have no qualifications to deal with serious crimes. On one hand, the bOrg will hide the wrongdoing of a child molester and give him safe haven in the congregation. On the other hand, they will disfellowship a single brother for "loose conduct" if the Judicial Committee thinks he got a little too touchy-feely with his girlfriend => http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/19/148922/1.ashx (Jake, haven't heard from you lately, hope you are okay...)

33

WT Comments (12/24 CULT. QUALITIES) FEATURING WANDERLUSTGUY

by V in

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

WLG - Fine job conducting ! You really brought out the "CULT", "TIES", and "PUKE" in the subject CULTIVATE QUALITIES THAT CAN HELP YOU MAKE DISCIPLES

I'd like to add that para. 11 brought tears to my eyes...

To increase their opportunities of finding sincere ones, some Kingdom proclaimers have changed from full-time to part-time employment. Thousands of Christians have learned another language in order to reach certain ethnic groups in their area. Other disciple-makers have left home and moved to another area or country to share more fully in the harvest. (Matthew 9:37, 38) All of this calls for a self-sacrificing spirit. But more is needed to be an effective disciple maker.

Yes, I gave up college, never had a full-time job, moved to Bethel, spent personal time learning another language, was completely self-sacrificing, and yet I found that WTBTS said that more was needed from me. That's when I mentally said, "screw you!"

Yeah, let's be more like Jesus. Jesus didn't start preaching until he was 30, finished when he was 33 1/2, and has taken the next 2,000 years off to let others make his disciples for him. Okay, I've done over 5 times my 3 1/2 years of preaching, so, I'll take the next 11,000 years off...

If you need me, I'll be waiting with OBVES for God to kill 6 billion people so I can have my pet tiger.

17

I'm back... and OFF of Paxil. But memory loss??

by Confucious in

jw
friends

hey friends.... been a long time since i've posted.. some of you will remember me.. i still troll in from time to time.. one interesting thing, i'm finally off of paxil now.

my depression was real bad after a bad experience at the borg.

i was on about 40mg for about 5 years - which is a significante dossage.. about a year ago, i started weaing off and six months ago i went completely off of it.. i feel good and very refreshed.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Con, Thanks for sharing.

I'm also on an SSRI, now for 3 years. I look forward to not needing it someday.

Besides the effects of medication, stress, and trauma, as mentioned, depression itself can cause spotty or slow memory recall. I had noticed it early on as a consequence of unipolar depression itself. Depression would also cause me to become anxious because of memory problems. In actuality, I often found that when talking to other people without depression, their memories were even worse than mine. So, I just stopped worrying about it and have found that the memories seem to come back as needed.

I know my description of it must sound weird, but hey, I'm an old, single fart in a weird religion...

Billy