Posts by lv4fer

38

Do the Witnesses "manipulate" recruits?

by refiners fire in

jw
friends

do they "mystically manipulate"people joining them?.

im inclined to say they dont.. they are almost unique in this.. practically every cult ive joined, i could recite a litany of manipulation techniques applied to me during my joining process.. the dubs study with people, systematically, unemotionally.. noone else does this in my experience.. people who join the dubs join under "intellectual conviction".. do you agree with this view or not??.

im most curious to hear opinions on this.

lv4fer

Alot of their publications will quote from various sources and you think wow they've really done their homework. I know I made the mistake of not looking up the info myself and checking their sources. Of course their sources tend to be biased because they are trying to prove their point. You may find one source that says they think Jesus died on a stake and they will quote that one source, even taking it out of context to prove their point whereas you will find 10 that don't back up their line of thought. My mistake and the mistake of others (perhaps) is that we don't do our own research, we take their word for it and they suck us in.

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown

34

No windows on Kingdom Halls?

by just_a_girl in

jw
friends

i just read a post on another site i belong to (non-jw related) where a person asked if anyone knew why jws do not have windows on their kingdom halls.

a few other people responded saying that they had noticed the same thing, that they thought it was b/c the jws believe that windows are just an adornment, hence a distraction?.

in my 20+ years of being a jw and attending quick builds, i never noticed this ... it never even dawned on me ... and now that i try to think back, i can't remember there being any windows at the khs i attended?.

lv4fer

At our kingdom hall they have a huge picture window right behind the platform. They have the blinds closed during the public talk, but during the WT study they open it up and it's beautiful, we live in the foothills and the mountains and the oak trees are quite majestic. It gives you something to look at during the study when your daydreaming (oops I mean paying close attention!)

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown

1

I guess it was a sherpherding call?!

by lv4fer in

well we got a little visit from a ministerial servant that lives up the road from us.

he is kind of a strange fellow, older man kind of rambles on a lot, not the brightest star in the sky.

he came by to see how we were, to show his concern for my family because we have missed alot of meetings lately and we missed (god forbid) the special talk.

lv4fer

Well we got a little visit from a ministerial servant that lives up the road from us. He is kind of a strange fellow, older man kind of rambles on a lot, not the brightest star in the sky. He came by to see how we were, to show his concern for my family because we have missed alot of meetings lately and we missed (god forbid) the special talk. He started off by saying that he's missed us and then he started telling us about the special talk and how the same talk was given in all the congs. around the world. He then proceeded to tell us how all of christendom is going to die and onlyl Jehovahs Witnesses will be saved at armageddon. He was saying how christendom doesn't believe in the ransome sacrifice and I said wait a minute, you can't speak for other people and you can't judge them. I turned the tables and asked him what is the single most important thing that we must do to gain everlasting life. He kind of stammered a bit and then said well we have to proclaim jehovahs name to the world. I said no your wrong, the bible says that in order to be saved we have to accept Jesus Christ as our savior that is what will determine wether you will be saved. He started saying some other stuff. Telling my husband and I we should study the Require brochure, I then said no we currently are studying the bible not any particular book or publication. We seemed to be getting alot out of it. I then told him it was late and that I didn't mean to be rude my husband and I have to get up early and would like to go to bed soon. He said oh and then apologized for staying so long (hour or so).

A funny side point is I have this dog (lab mix) she's a real sweetie wouldn't hurt a fly. During the time he was talking to us the dog was about 3 feet away and everytime he started raising his voice as he was speaking she would look over at him and us and start growling at him real quietly! It was great. I guess she could feel our tension with him.

My husband then said after he left that my wish to slowly fade away will probably not happen that things are going to start happening.

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown

20

Pioneering slips Again

by metatron in

jw
friends

april 2001 - lists number of regular pioneers.

for january 90,477. april 2002 - lists number of regular pioneers.

for january 89,007 (u.s.).

lv4fer

That is pretty sorry that the number of pioneers are decilining. Especially when you take ilnto consideration that they lowered the number of hours a couple of years ago. I think it's 75 or 80 down from 90 per month. OF course because they have always discouraged higher education people can't support themselves and can't remain pioneers they have to work longer hours to make ends meet.

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown

23

taboo

by teejay in

if a tree falls in a forest when theres no one around, .

does it make a sound.... when it hits the ground?.

just kidding.

lv4fer

I've been married for almost 20 years and I've never had sex with anyone else during that time, I can't say that I've not been attracted to anyone else during that 20 years I'm married not dead but it's not right. I made a commitment when I got married and I am a person of my word. I expect the same from my spouse and will not settle for anything less.

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown

21

I want to talk to a friend HELP

by lv4fer in

jw
friends

i have only two close friends who are witnesses that i care about.

i would like to share my feelings with them and still not get dfd.

do you think it is possible or should i forget it.

lv4fer

Thank you all for the great advice. It's really hard to play the double role, I'm not a good liar, my one friend asked me the other day why I've missed so many meetings lately, usually I use the work excuse, which in my case can be true, she then said well you need to cut back in your work, it's affecting your spirituality. Her daughter is very close friends with mine and she made a comment like I was beginning to think you were going to stop coming to meetings. I had to laugh to myself because I would love that to be the case, I just dread going to any meetings at all. It took all that I could muster up to say oh no thats not it I've just been busy. How long does it take to fade? 6 months, a year? District assembly is coming up, I'm expected to attend, I would rather go to the dentist!!! HOw do you people keep up the double profile?

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown

21

I want to talk to a friend HELP

by lv4fer in

jw
friends

i have only two close friends who are witnesses that i care about.

i would like to share my feelings with them and still not get dfd.

do you think it is possible or should i forget it.

lv4fer

I have only two close friends who are witnesses that I care about. I would like to share my feelings with them and still not get dfd. Do you think it is possible or should I forget it. Where is a good place to start as far as giving them information to help them see the real truth. Is this a really bad idea? Advice please.

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown

30

30+ years of Field Service Observations

by Tulsi Das in

jw
friends

some very random thoughts based on 30+ years of field service activity.

would especially enjoy responses by jt, alanf, amazing, & others.. why they do it.

1. guilt.

lv4fer

The only reason they love it is because they have nothing better to do, and they like the social aspect of it. You get to spend time with your friends. You don't have any other friends because that would be wordly association. You can't watch T.V. because during the week its only soap operas and talk shows which you are discouraged from watching and you won't watch if you are "spiritual". You don't have a job(mostly women) because you are discouraged from working secularly and you don't want to be seen as too materialistic. If you do have a job it's something like cleaning houses because you don't have an education because you were discouraged from getting one. I'm sorry to ramble this is just my observation and experience.

51

It hit the fan

by truthseeker1 in

well, to bring you guys up to speed, here is what happend this weekend.

i told my wife how i was feeling and why i didn't believe the wt was not god's org.

it went pretty bad.

lv4fer

Jaded that was great, I've heard that so many times and now only to throw it back at them.

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown

51

It hit the fan

by truthseeker1 in

well, to bring you guys up to speed, here is what happend this weekend.

i told my wife how i was feeling and why i didn't believe the wt was not god's org.

it went pretty bad.

lv4fer

Truth, You said that others made mistakes in the bible but Jehovah used them. Yes people do make mistakes but didn't make decisions that effect millions of people, nor did they claim to be Jehovahs Organization.

Jehovah doesn't have one organization. That was done away with when his son Jesus Christ died for us, he then opened it up to everyone who believes in Jesus. That is what saves us, our faith in Jesus Christ not belonging to any one organization. I'm not saying that if you are a witness that you won't be saved because a lot of them do put faith in Jesus and it's between them and him.

It's not easy to stay in an organization that controls your life and who you can and cannot talk to. They judge people as less than good associates based upon wether they agree with their interpretation of the bible. That is wrong because what they interpret today may be different tomorrow and maybe that person they judged adversely believed in what they now view as correct. Think for yourself don't let an organization do it for you.

"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

Rita Mae Brown