my wife told me of a friend of hers who is going through a difficult time in their life.
they are what i would describe as a 'blind follower' of wt teachings, but it does give them structure that would otherwise not be there in their life.
anyhow, this person is having a tough time, the elders know about it and yet not one of them has either visited or called to see how they are!.
The elders are doing nothing because there is nothing they can do.
When elders visit the weak its to try to get them into service, when elders visit the strong it's for a coffee.
Your wife can do more than elders ever will. That may well wake her up more than anything.
oz
were you a sought after associate?.
were you often invisible?.
did other witnesses view you as "exemplary"?.
Baptised at 18, and considered good enough to open mettings with prayer. During my twenties I was considered an 'idiot', told so by an elder and a wannabe elder MS on a shepherding call. man i wish i had seen the light right then and there!
Worked hard to be spiritual after that and became a regular pioneer along with wife, became a MS, did accounts, went on shepherding calls. Moved to serve where the need was great? at the beach no less! We were the congs golden children, the ones most likely to succeed, went to all the gilead meetings at conventions, applied and were accepted for bethel construction in Oz, had to cancel as we got knocked up.
I was on a fast track to elder as best i could tell, I mean, the elder body just loved me, everyone did. I dont mean to sound like i had tickets on myself, i mean to say they had great expectations because were were real popular and seen as good asscociation.
I gave public talks around adelaide and even interstate, took a bookstudy if the elder was sick, Amazing what you can do when you are trying to kill your authentic self.
Then i dropped the bomb about my double life, my dead faith, my disbeleif in god caring. They were so desperate to keep me as an MS they let me remain as one until I said no more.
Funny thing is that i never saw any shonky elders, no golden handshakes, was never privy to scandels. I was so dumb that i never questioned a single 'truth'. What i questioned was my own evilness and lack of faith.
I disapeared from WT life like a blown light bulb. Not one single 'friend' ever ever approached me again even though they knew no details (other than what my now hateful wife must have told them)
All that confirmed to me that they were false friends every single solitary one of them. There is not a genuine caring bone in that god forsaken evildom of a 'religion'
So glad to have left.
Oz
..... you to stop attending ?
injustices ?
disagree with the teachings ?
I stopped in 1998.
I had lost all trust that I mattered to God. My internal battles over the flesh and spirituality near killed me literally. I didnt think prayer did anything other than bounce off the ceiling and was nothing more than an empty ritual at meetings. I studied and prayed like crazy and nothing, nadda, zip. Nothing from the so called caring god, not one blip of transmission or even comfort. The elders were useless, just repeating WT rhetoric of pray and study.
I pretty much decided I wanted to be a 'worldly person', free from the things in christianity that were sucking the life out of me. They were crushing me to death by making what were normal things and desires into signs of evilness.
I dropped all 'privledges' and stopped door to door, then all meetings. It was a horrible time of my life, my wife loathed me. I left the marriage. As hard as that was, I still believe it was the correct thing to do.
life since has had a few downs, but nothing like being a JW, just normal stuff. I am glad to say that with no support group around, i was able to repair the damage to my self and build a new life. A real good one, far better than anything i could have had as a WT slave.
Oz
another interesting video by "the snarky apologist" on youtube.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3aqh5xnzxa&feature=em-uploademail.
And if that fire lookout guy reports 20 false alarms...HE LOSES HIS JOB you dumb pricks!
Why do they need to keep alert so that jesus accepts them? I though he already did that in 1919...
Oz
ok ,so this is my story , this jw girl came on vacation in my country as a friend of my girl-cousin who is not a jw but were classmates at uni .
my cousin introduced her to me but she didnt tell me that she was a jw from the very first moment we flirt each other.we went on beach ,on bars ,cafes etc and she acted so wordly ,in fact i thought she could be a good one night stand with her behaviour .never saw anything weird about her that could lead me to question something, with the peak in the club where we danced together while hugging very passionatly .
i tried to kiss her that night but she kept her distance , i didnt notice any bad on that.anyway, next day we flirt again at the the beach and at night too .
She had her fun, accused you of being different so she could ease her conscience.
you should have listened to your friend at the start and not pursued her.
you know the right answer, you just don't want to hear it...so hear it is;
RUN
how loud do need that yelled?
oz
if you want to get technical, jws have not "disfellowshipped" anyone publicly in several years.
they stopped saying,.
"joe blow has been disfellowshipped.
I think a few changes helps to show how banal and sick they are:
Later that day, during lunch, Katty, an inactive
deaf knitter, approached Gabriela to ask about
the craft show. Gabriela replied frankly: “It was
beautiful! But now as a professional knitter, I want to
stay faithful to wool. So I must let you know
that I can’t be your friend anymore because you use Nylon.
Being your friend can affect my
status in the craft. You need to change. It’s important
to get back to wool and also to talk with
the senior knitters. I know you can change for the better.”
Thanks to Gabriela’s forthright but loving admonition,
Katty talked with the senior knitters, received a new ball of wool
, and became active in knitting once again.
i am posting to ask this group of wonderful people to help my friend who is with me now.
we are discussing her serious doubts and the barriers she is facing as the wife of an elder with small children.
she is desperately looking for help to pull away without causing dissention in her otherwise very good marriage.
I would also suggest she settle in for the long haul
She will be unlikely to wake up her husband in a month. This would have to be a well planned exit, starting with self education and months of planning. Then the dropping little bits and asking the awkward questions gently gently.
that would be my approach at any rate...I wish your friend well, she is in a good place here, the advice i got when i joined was huge in helping me reach my teenagers with TTATT
Oz
an insider at bethel has confirmed that there will be a new book released this summer at the district assemblies.
the society is using some new technology called "current light.
" it allows them to print the book with certain parts in permanant ink (as has been historically used) while other parts of the book have erasable ink.. as i understand it, sentences that begin with words such as "evidently, apparently, obviously, it appears that, likely, clearly, doubtless" and numerous other phrases will be in a slightly different font so that the "current light" sentences can be easily changed when needed.. for example:.
read 1984 big brother
Winston worked in the department that constantly updated the media so that it always reflected current truth
I am sure the story is not lost on the WT
Oz
where can i plug in my i-pod to read my downloaded publications ?
.
''look i am happy to be ressurected, but...where is my penis''?
oz
52 degrees celsius is 125.6 degrees fahrenheit.
that's hot no matter how you measure it.. where i used to live in the desert we had about two weeks every year with temps over 120 degrees f. i once experienced walking in 128 degree weather.
not good for humans at all.. i hope the weather cools soon -- that is hot enough to keep wild fires burning for a long time, hot enough to kill people.
Crikey!
I thought 47 degreec Celsius where i am was hot...felt like i might spontaneously combust when i was walking around in it.
Oz
