140. the life of a pioneer141.
searching for friends of peace142.
preaching to all sorts of people143.
If it is anything like the previous songs, I feel bad for those who have to hear them weekly and attempt to sing them.
Of all things, the change of songbook gave me a nudge toward the door (though not the final push)...the new music was just terrible.
i'll start off with this one:.
some years ago when i was formulating my exit, i employed for some time an ms brother from another congregation.. i'd had a couple of young "worldly" lads work for me but they proved unreliable as they used drugs or alchohol and consequently would'nt arrive at work and such like.. so when i was was contacted by this brother and spoke to him and heard he'd worked at the australian bethel for some time on construction and wanted an opportunity to learn the trade of bricklaying ,i thought ,"great someone to finally trust and be reliable".
he was in his 40's at the time and he worked like a trojan ,was honest ,really likeable and interesting ,could play the classical guitar beautifully ,had a beautiful family.
how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.
how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.
how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.
There were some ex-JW websites that I accidently stumbled upon that actually delayed me awakening. I hate to name names, but both Six Screens and Danny Hazzard’s site perpetuated the “apostate” stereotype that had been part and parcel of my lifelong indoctrination.
how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.
how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.
how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.
I agree 100%. But it was an uphill battle just to start investigating. I remember the fear and the skepticism to information that was potentially critical to the org. Of course, once I saw the men behind the curtain, it was downhill from there.
I have a vague memory of sign wielding "apostates" at a convention back in the 80's, but I was a child. The next time I encountered them was when I went to visit Bethel in 1990...I was absolutely frightened! The signs about Jesus was my mediator too did not sink in. There were also signs that basically said to "arrest Fred Franz"...that did not help in the least.
I remember ten years later, a person dropping seeds of thought to me, like how the organization used to teach that Jehovah lived around a certain star. It sounded like nonsense, but then, I had no access to the information and I didn't seek it out. And then when I found he had looked at "apostate" information on my computer (along with gay porn), that really made my aposta-alarm go off.
I guess the old saying is true that, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."
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sorry to be so blunt, but you only have yourself to blame if you realize something is wrong but allow your cognitive dissonance to kick in.
if you are confronted with facts which are reported by reliable sources which are hard to dispute and deny, and you choose to dismiss these as "apostate lies" rather than looking at these from an objective point of view, it's your fault and you deserve the consequences of willful ignorance!.
Let me add the truism: People don’t always remember what you said, but they always remember how you made them feel.
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sorry to be so blunt, but you only have yourself to blame if you realize something is wrong but allow your cognitive dissonance to kick in.
if you are confronted with facts which are reported by reliable sources which are hard to dispute and deny, and you choose to dismiss these as "apostate lies" rather than looking at these from an objective point of view, it's your fault and you deserve the consequences of willful ignorance!.
I cannot imagine harsh tactics could ever help people under undue influence. I know when I was in, that would’ve never helped me. I was entirely blind. I remember when people at the doors would say harsh things to me, it hurt, but it did not help me think. They just looked like persecutors, which was what I was expecting. On the other hand, when I read Crisis of Conscience, what struck me the most was the kind and reasonable tone.
something occurred to me last night.
people that made their pilgrimage to jw mecca (bethel) would often be excited about some silly things, i say silly because for those of you who were there or lived near enough to be involved in these things regularly they lost their magic.
i am talking about on tours one of the most memorable things people talked about or looked forward to... lunch.
based on what we've seen, it seems to me that of the seven, splane and jackson are the smartest; herd, lett and morris the least intelligent; and sanderson and losch somewhere in the middle.
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what's your impression?.
I think Splane isn't as smart as he thinks he is.
Lett would definitely be toward the bottom...
something occurred to me last night.
people that made their pilgrimage to jw mecca (bethel) would often be excited about some silly things, i say silly because for those of you who were there or lived near enough to be involved in these things regularly they lost their magic.
i am talking about on tours one of the most memorable things people talked about or looked forward to... lunch.
I haven't been since 2000. I went to Brooklyn, the Farm, and Patterson. I remember the model of the Temple they had at Patterson, but other than that, it was somewhat of a letdown.
Sometimes I do wonder about touring without the blinders, but then why punish myself?
something occurred to me last night.
people that made their pilgrimage to jw mecca (bethel) would often be excited about some silly things, i say silly because for those of you who were there or lived near enough to be involved in these things regularly they lost their magic.
i am talking about on tours one of the most memorable things people talked about or looked forward to... lunch.
Yes, it is no more than a factory tour. It should inspire one no more or less than that of any other company. But when one has the blinders on the most mundane things take on grand significance.
