Interesting. They expect children to sit like stautes for 2 hours. Yet when I was a MS, I and some other MS would go in the back and take naps during the meeting. We'd cover for each other. For example, if one brother had the last part on the service meeting, he'd go sleep in the back room and someone would go wake him up in time for him to give his part. I was the one who started that arrangement in my congregation. The brother on the sound system would sit and work on the accounts report or literature order while the meeting was going on. I would sometimes sit in the audience and write letters to not-at-homes and count the time, not paying attention to the meeting until it was my turn to go up and give my part.
snakeface
JoinedPosts by snakeface
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50
Don't you DARE to get up!!
by stillin9 ininteresting points from this week's wt study (dec 15 2010 study edition):.
par 12: "do i encourage my children not to view the song between the theocratic ministry school and the service meeting or the one between the public talk and the watchtower study as a sort of intermission,an opportunity for them to leave their seats unnecessarily, perhaps just to stretch their legs?".
why do they have to make such a big deal out of everything?
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21
Song- "we're Jehovah's Witnesses" in honor of this weeks WT study
by stuckinamovement inthis was the last song of the service meeting this week.
the new version sounds like a death march anthem.
the melody has changed and i think the words have also.. i truly used to like that song and it was one of the first song's i could sing as a kid.
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snakeface
saltyoldlady, I agree with you. I am a muscian and I loved the songs in the brown book. When sung correctly (which unfortunately was difficult) they had feeling and passion. As soon as I got the new songbook and started looking thru it (and playing them on my piano in order to learn them) my first thought was that all the new ones were written by one person. I thought of the scripture where Jesus said that his sheep flee from the voice of a stranger. It was as if the organization abruptly got taken over by some other religion. The songs are more like chants. Lifeless, shallow, without much feeling. I felt "stumbled".
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snakeface
Probably:
"The End Is Near!"
or maybe:
"The New System Is Right Around The Corner"
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73
My Labrador died can anyone please help me. I can't stand the pain.
by Witness 007 inmy wife recovered from depression just 14 months ago and things have been going well.....so much so that i started a buisness for her and we are two weeks into it.
my labby was ill vomiting abit of discomfort, i thought great, you ate something bad again!
the vet gave him a shot and sent us home.
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snakeface
Yes, aquagirl, sometimes a cat or other animal who needs a loving home can help us to move on with our lives.
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I swear some JWs don't believe in forgiving and forgetting. It's like a tattooed scarlet letter.
by miseryloveselders inmy dad ticked me off the other night, to the point i had to hang up.
i didn't abruptly hang up, but rather i told him i had company.
we were discussing a sister at my hall who did something years ago.
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snakeface
I have seen this too. Not only a past disfellowshipping but even minor things and also gossip and rumors are held against the person indefinitely and follow him/her to their next congregation.
Witnesses are conditioned to look at the bad in each person so they can tell them how much "they" (the other person) need the kingdom. Other religions teach to look for the good in others and build on it.
I knew of an elderly couple, (couple A) now deceased, who were baptized in 1950 (before I was born!) Shortly thereafter they witnessed to their friends (couple B). couple B also got baptized. Later on Couple A became inactive for many years. When I met them they had just returned and were active in the congregation, and remained so till their deaths. But behind their backs Couple B always made comments like, "Well I never fell away or had any doubts, not for one second. I was always completely faithful.." I always LOVED to use the scriptures on them (couple B) about being "faithful in what is least" and "gadding about, talking of things they ought not..."
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54
Do you think a lot of JWs are ashamed of their beliefs?
by I quit! inthe reason i asked this is because i'm going to the funeral of a man who wasn't a jw.
my mother-in-law has lived in the same neighborhood as him for years and knows his wife.
i asked her if she was going attend the funeral service.
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snakeface
Even when I was very "high profile" and very active - giving Sunday talks, conducting the Theocratic Ministry School, etc - I went to neighbors/relatives/coworkers funerals and weddings in their churches - was even a best man in a Baptist wedding, and pretty much everyone in the congregation knew about it. I'd tell them, "It's a conscience matter, right? RIGHT?"
All my neighbors and coworkers knew I was a "deacon" (as they'd say) in my church. However, I was able to tell that most in the congregation - even "appointed servants" - were ashamed of their beliefs. I guess many did not want to be there but had to because of families or other ties, and some were just not sure of their beliefs, and others just did not want to be "a theatrical spectacle".
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Local Elder advises Young woman to make up with abusive husband
by troubled mind injust never ceases to amaze me how things in the organization stay the same .
you would think by 2011 these guys could come up with something better than " makeup now ,you know jehovah hates a divorcing !
" ( but obviously he doesn't mind a woman being abused !
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snakeface
One congregation I was, this one elder and his wife always sat in the front row. He'd always walk with his arm around her; I thought it was romantic. After they moved away I found out he was always beating her. The reason he'd walk with his arm around her was because she was in so much pain and could hardly stand up. I guess they sat up front to hide her face. It seemed that many in the congregation knew about this yet they'd all sit and listen to his public talks and the congregation would accept field service reports from him. I told the elder body the whole congregation is LUCKY I did not know about this because if I had, our congregation would have been on the news!
A few years later, when I was a MS, I was in a car group with elders and another MS. The elders were talking (and laughing!) about one particular couple who recently moved in to the territory. We all knew the husband was wacko. The elders were saying the wife had come to them to report abuse and that the husband threatened her with a pair of scissors. They elders had told her that was because she talks too much, and she should shut up and let the husband talk. (then they giggled) I asked the elders if they showed the husband the scriptures that say "Husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies," and, "become imitators of Christ". I also asked them if the GB has provided guidelines on what the elders and MS should do if a brother ends up violently killing his wife and the media comes to the Hall with TV cameras to question the elders on the matter.
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My Trip to the Unitarian Universal Church
by NewChapter inso, pretty much i no longer care to believe in a god.
but, either because of my 20 years in a jw daze, or because humans just desire this, i miss the community.
so, i went to a unitarian church this morning.
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snakeface
I am so glad this subject has been brought up. As a child I was a devout Catholic, very involved in church. Was an altar boy, played the organ on Sunday...it was an important part of my life. When I became a JW I again was very high profile in the circuit. On the platform at just about every meeting giving talks, and very active in many activities. After leaving I became irreligious. I wondered of most ex-jw's become that way, irreligious.
Over the past few years, at times "worldly" friends have invited me to visit their churches. Not to join, but just to visit with them on particular holidays such as Easter or Thanksgiving, to be followed by a meal. I've always told them I'm not "a church person". Now I realize that was rude of me and that I was missing out on many things.
So recently I've been thinking of joining a church, mostly for the "fellowship" and networking and because I would want to participate in the music and singing (such as chior). I do realize this would involve a committment on my part. I started reading about various religions on Wikipedia, and found two that seem to interest me. One is The Unity Church and the other in The Unitarian Universal Church. Maybe I will visit one this Sunday, and the other next Sunday. Also, last night I emailed a friend who had invited me to his church some time ago and told him I've been thinking of looking into it, and I asked him to tell me about his church. I haven't heard back from him yet.
I wonder if what most of us ex-jw's experience is, not the fact that we may not believe every single thing a particular religion teaches, but that we are conditioned to believe that have have to believe everything that religion teaches or we don't belong there; in other words, "all or nothing". Religions such as these two (Unity, and Unitarian Universal) apparently allow for members to have their own thoughts/beliefs/conclusions; members apparently are not required to believe everything and in the same exact way.
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Elder Missing 24 hours...
by sleepingbeauty ina brother i know of was made up as an elder only some mere 6 weeks ago.
out the blue he has gone total awol and has now been missing over 24 hours.
i wonder if the stress of becoming an elder at 27 yrs old got to him !!!
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snakeface
I thought men had to be 30 to be appointed elder, and 18 to be appointed MS. I guess that has changed.
The last 3 or 4 years I was in, I did see a pattern of brothers getting appointed elder, then within 6 months stepping down or being "removed". It must be that the sudden increase of responsibilities brings stress upon him and his family, and disrupts their lives.
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73
My Labrador died can anyone please help me. I can't stand the pain.
by Witness 007 inmy wife recovered from depression just 14 months ago and things have been going well.....so much so that i started a buisness for her and we are two weeks into it.
my labby was ill vomiting abit of discomfort, i thought great, you ate something bad again!
the vet gave him a shot and sent us home.
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snakeface
It is so encouraging to see all the supportive posts here! I lost 4 of my dogs in December and one at the beginning of January. They were all old; the oldest was 16. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that someone directed me to a support group, which really helped me cope.