Posts by Muddy Waters

15

Infuriating Elder recorded on JWStruggle

by dhlpcjw in

help from a loving jehovah's witness elder part 1. this elder is clearly out of touch with all emotion period as this poor girl pours her heart out to him.

can these untrained, unloving, pharisees possibly be fit to represent a god of love?

a god of anything?

Muddy Waters

Oubliette, you said,

"This woman is clearly in need of serious psychological counseling and help. She is an emotional mess.

The problem is that both she and the elders think that she can get that help from the elders. This is wrong."

...

YES!! *THIS*!! You are so right -- "THE PROBLEM IS THAT BOTH SHE & THE ELDERS THINK THAT SHE CAN GET THAT HELP FROM THE ELDERS."

The arrogance, the hubris, the pompousness and sheer idiocy of the GB and WT policies & dogma create situations like this where people SUFFER and dangerous things can, and do, happen.

The WT policies and dogma allow men (at the top) to rule over others, and they then state that every weakness or infraction is a sin, personal failure, imperfection, or a "falling short of the mark." They do not address mental illness except as state of "spiritual weakness", or as a state where one is not being faithful or reliant enough on Jehovah. It is a constant refrain of different ways to "blame the victim" and not accept any responsibility or accountability for themselves.

You see see this more in part 2, where all the elder can fall back on are organization policies & directives and then, ultimately blaming her and her son for not being at meetings enough.

15

Infuriating Elder recorded on JWStruggle

by dhlpcjw in

help from a loving jehovah's witness elder part 1. this elder is clearly out of touch with all emotion period as this poor girl pours her heart out to him.

can these untrained, unloving, pharisees possibly be fit to represent a god of love?

a god of anything?

Muddy Waters

Wow. Am also wanting to hear Part 2 and the elder's response to her.

She he is pouring her heart out to him and he doesn't even acknowledge her pain or suffering, or apologize for his part in the, shall we call them "misunderstandings" -- just starts talking about the way things are done in the organization.

He he reminds me of that clueless boss in the movie "Office Space", where he goes, "... yeah... " really slow and not-getting anything!

She says to him, "... YOU are Jehovah's representatives!"

And he goes, ".... right...."

She says to him, "... I love you guys, and you - you've known me from infancy... and you're our shepherds and I love you!"

And he goes, "... Uh huh..."

!!!

33

Govening Body and JWN

by John Aquila in

do you think any members of the governing body visit this site-jwn regularly?.

how about the heavies in the organization, like the writers, lawyers, and other who work at headquarters?.

for all we know john aquila could be a member of the gb..

Muddy Waters

I sometimes wonder about this too... About 3-4 years ago I posted here and elsewhere that a large part of my awakening happened when I re-looked at the book, My Book of Bible Stories, which I was going to give to our little grandchildren... The pictures were suddenly so shocking and awful to me, imagining seeing them thru their little eyes.

and then a year later or so, out comes Caleb & Sophia....

Geez. I'm hoping it was just a coincidence. But they still have stupid pictures in the WT and books, so who really knows...!

13

Spiritual Chess - A Short Story

by DT in

i wrote a short story about what might happen if a jehovah's witness and an apostate decided to play a game of chess.. you can read it here http://blog.sparlockofthemultiverse.com/spiritual-chess-a-short-story/.

Muddy Waters

Ha! Very clever! Nice work, very enjoyable read. Love the analogies.

20

Street Witnessing - did you ever do it?

by Muddy Waters in

i remember in our congregation, there were a few older pioneer sisters who would start counting their time early - even before the service arrangement - by standing at a street corner and holding the magazines up in front of them and hoping that any passersby might stop to take one on their way to work or whatever.

as a fresh, new dub, i had heard about this "street-witnessing" work, but there was only one time i ever actually saw one of these older sisters doing this.

and even then i was shocked and embarrassed for her.... because this poor old sister was standing there, all by herself, holding up the watchtower & awake magazines, yet looking as sad and depressed as she could possibly ever look, her whole mouth was turned down just totally sad as she stood there, observing all the "dead" people walking around, hurrying to catch buses, get kids to school, get to work, etc.

Muddy Waters

Haha, I have enjoyed everyone's comments, thank you!

33

Teddy Hero Worship Continues -- Sept 15 Study Edition Bio on Melita Jaracz

by LostGeneration in

very weird article, you can read it here if you can tolerate such nonsense:.

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20150915/melita-jaracz-blessing-in-life/.

basically teddy was a super, duper spiritual giant who went undercover behind the iron curtain, sorta james bond like.

Muddy Waters

Here are the paragraphs at conclusion of article that I was speaking about:

"MEETING NEW CHALLENGES IN LIFE"

Melita Jaracz and other beauticians in the Bethel beauty shop

"After so many busy, happy years with my husband, adjusting to the present challenges has not been easy. Ted and I loved meeting visitors at Bethel and at our Kingdom Hall. Now that my beloved Ted is no longer here and I am not as strong as I used to be, my association is more limited. Nevertheless, I still enjoy being with my dear brothers and sisters at Bethel and in the congregation. The Bethel routine is not easy, but it is a source of joy to be able to serve God in this way. And my love for the preaching work has in no way diminished. Though I get tired and cannot be on my feet for any length of time, I get much satisfaction from sharing in street witnessing and conducting Bible studies.

When I see all the terrible things happening in the world, how glad I am to have been in Jehovah’s service with such a wonderful marriage mate! Jehovah’s blessing has truly enriched my life.—Prov. 10:22."

33

Teddy Hero Worship Continues -- Sept 15 Study Edition Bio on Melita Jaracz

by LostGeneration in

very weird article, you can read it here if you can tolerate such nonsense:.

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20150915/melita-jaracz-blessing-in-life/.

basically teddy was a super, duper spiritual giant who went undercover behind the iron curtain, sorta james bond like.

Muddy Waters

Sad article, really.

She says at one point, that she cannot describe how sad and lonely she feels without her husband, Ted, and that she still misses him. I thought, "Yes, I bet you CAN'T talk about that!! About how sad and lonely you feel, and didn't even have children together... because to do so would feel like you are expressing doubt or weak faith or that you are overly-grieving, thus not spiritual. So of course she "can't" describe how lonely she feels!! :(

And at the conclusion of article, you can read between the lines: it sounds like life is hard for her now and Bethel life is difficult. She says she doesn't enjoy the same amount of association before (because of health problems, but is it perhaps because her rock star husband is now dead, and she is but a lowly elderly female...?) She also can't do as much physically, sounds like she may even be dealing with pain... yet of course is still expected to do as much as possible and keep running on that treadmill....

20

Street Witnessing - did you ever do it?

by Muddy Waters in

i remember in our congregation, there were a few older pioneer sisters who would start counting their time early - even before the service arrangement - by standing at a street corner and holding the magazines up in front of them and hoping that any passersby might stop to take one on their way to work or whatever.

as a fresh, new dub, i had heard about this "street-witnessing" work, but there was only one time i ever actually saw one of these older sisters doing this.

and even then i was shocked and embarrassed for her.... because this poor old sister was standing there, all by herself, holding up the watchtower & awake magazines, yet looking as sad and depressed as she could possibly ever look, her whole mouth was turned down just totally sad as she stood there, observing all the "dead" people walking around, hurrying to catch buses, get kids to school, get to work, etc.

Muddy Waters

I remember in our congregation, there were a few older pioneer sisters who would start counting their time early - even before the service arrangement - by standing at a street corner and holding the magazines up in front of them and hoping that any passersby might stop to take one on their way to work or whatever.

Did any of you ever do something like this? As a fresh, new Dub, I had heard about this "street-witnessing" work, but there was only one time I ever actually saw one of these older sisters doing this. And even then I was shocked and embarrassed for her.... Because this poor old sister was standing there, all by herself, holding up the Watchtower & Awake magazines, yet LOOKING AS SAD AND DEPRESSED AS SHE COULD POSSIBLY EVER LOOK, her whole mouth was turned down just totally sad as she stood there, observing all the "dead" people walking around, hurrying to catch buses, get kids to school, get to work, etc.

And I remember feeling shocked at the way she looked... Her demeanor was so off-putting, and she stood there so mutely, holding up the magazines like they were more important than the Bible (which, to JWs, they are!) and standing still as a statue to boot.

I could not believe that this was "street witnessing"!! What happened to the scriptures about "boldly speaking in the market places", etc? She looked like a parody from a bad movie set. Yet I later learned that this was how it was done, so that people wouldn't complain about being approached or "solicited"...

It never made sense to me, especially after all the court cases we had supposedly won about our right to preach and defend the good news, blah blah blah.

But of course I submerged this unfaithful, disloyal thought. That was about 20-25 years ago. Damn.

10

The Watch Tower Society reveals itself

by Doug Mason in

over time, the watch tower society has completely changed many of its beliefs.

for example, until recently, the wts said that the emblems of the memorial represented the church, the 144,000, that the emblems did not symbolize jesus.. at times, the wts changes the name of a belief while it continues the teaching, for example, the wts used to say that jesus and the 144,000 together were the "the christ".

today, the wts denies this teaching but the name "anointed" means "christ".. do you want to see what the watch tower reveals about these things and more?

Muddy Waters

Lots of work and research, thank you. This is a valuable resource.

40

What is Your Brainwashing IQ ? Take the Quiz

by Finkelstein in

so how much do you understand about brainwashing, its application and effects ?

essentially lures people into its grasps and then brainwashes them for exploitation and manipulative purposes by using mental indoctrination techniques.. here's a quick quiz to take to answer some of these questions.

http://voicesfordignity.com/brainwashing-iq/.

Muddy Waters

20 out of 21

very interesting quiz! I learned a lot that makes me feel better about myself, but increases my anger toward WTS!