bottom line is this.
she came in from the weekly meeting, we sitting and talking and she said.
the society is giving us some food.
I said, you know it's not from the org, its from the government who is providing origanizations with charity status these oportunities.
Say what?
My mother was bragging on the food she got from the society's farms. I just assumed it was true. I'm not near her so I can't examine it. How did you find this out?
we all know the gb like to impose rules upon the rules... but did anyone else out there have parents that implemented rules upon those rules?
mine did.
my mum tended to copy whatever the elders wives were doing and took it to the extreme.
No pierced ears. Based on some scripture that says you're not supposed to put holes in your flesh. That's not an exact quote but that's how Mom interpreted it to me. Didn't matter that nearly every female in the cong had them, I wasn't allowed cuz the Bible said so. Around age 12/13, my older sister snuck me out and got my ears pierced anyway. Mom had a fit but soon after she was buying me pierced earrings. I'm sure if I were to ask her about it today she'd deny ever forbidding it, just like she denies banning the Smurfs, friends, and anything fun.
ever heard of it?
i have but never realized the full meaning.
this is the tactic the wtbs uses to control people.
@jaydee Thanks for posting! I've only seen the Charles Boyer/Ingrid Bergman version which is excellent. Can't wait to see how this one compares. Kinda of cool that this story is the reason why we have the term "gaslighting" today.
jws re-name things so they seem like they are different than other religions.
(of course we know they are different but that's another story).
i was just thinking about those things where they are like most everyone else in christendom but the re-name it to seem different.. for example god forbid they have a church, it's a "kingdom hall".. they don't have pastors and deacons they have "elders" and "ministerial servants".. they don't have tithing but they will have family heads fill out a paper saying how much they can contribute on a monthly basis (not sure if there is a name for that...unless it's tithing.
Jesus died on a torture stake not a cross.
Jonah was swallowed by a big fish not a whale.
Adam and Eve ate the fruit not an apple.
JWs observe the memorial not celebrate Easter (yet both occur coincidentally close to each other and concern Jesus' death/resurrection, hmm...)
We were always careful to say John the Baptizer instead of John the Baptist. Baptist for some reason was a taboo word.
Along with the ones NikL mentioned, it all just seemed so nit-picky to me growing up. Church or kingdom hall...who cares? The kids I went to school with also knew about Moses, Noah, the Garden of Eden and believed in Jesus just like I did. How was that possible if we were the only ones with the "truth"? The more JWs brought up how different we were, the more similarities I saw. I could never buy into "all roads lead to one god" so I finally concluded they were all wrong.
well, very little, to be honest.
the structure and commitment of the ministry provided discipline necessary to my life.
therefore, i did it, as required, and felt some sense of fulfillment at the bible study stage.. i do like talking to people.
The best thing about going in "service" was when it was over.
Here, here. It's great that some people actually got something out of it. Communication skills, confidence, etc. On me it had the opposite effect. My personality is introverted, reserved, a bit shy. I hate small talk, initiating conversations, faking friendliness, pushing ideas on people, invading their space. I don't care to be on the receiving end of it either. FS was the last thing I should've been participating in. It's too bad that in JW land, everyone is expected to do the same thing. And it's sad that spirituality is measured by how many hours you turn in each month. If I had been allowed to have a role other than preaching, something that made use of my natural talents, I might've stayed in longer.
an easy way to stump the delusional jws at your door is come to the door with sunglasses on holding a sign with the words in the above title, and not say a word.
the reaction will be priceless.... hopefully it will wake up those that still have some use of their thinking abilities..
They'll probably reason that you must have some hearing if you knew they were at the door. You gotta give JWs a little credit.
rebel8 - I needed that chuckle today, thanks!
i'm new here; one of my relatives was a member on this forum a few years ago and told me about it.
anyways, as a sister who has been in the org since childhood and now in her late 40's (plus as a woman of color), i have noticed that a number of brothers have an ageist attitude.
they are very accepting of young women under 26 and rejecting women over that age, particularly those in their 30's and over.. is this an unspoken mindset from wthq (specifically from bethel), or is it that quite a number of males (sorry, i'm not sexist here) have this type of mentality?
riddle What part of Popeye never gets rusty?
His pipe?
just a side note that i found interesting and sort of upsetting, the wt that the jw's will study on sunday the 18th of september has the words undeserved kindness mentioned 50 in just 19 paragraphs.
really they need to beat it into their people that they are very worthless and do no deserve anything from god?
so much so that they use the words over and over, don't they.. lits .
What exactly is the "kindness" that we're so undeserving of? Not being turned into bird food at the Big A?
had two lovely jws (stephen and ruth) visit this morning.
this was our second study in the last 2 weeks.
they first knocked on my door (bell is out) 3 weeks ago and i shared my testimony and we arranged to meet last tuesday which we did.. our first study went like this:.
Opening her mind to the inconsistencies of her religion. I like Vanderhoven's method of backing S&R into a corner with their own JW literature. Could he do that if he weren't Christian? Maybe, but maybe the fact that they all share a common ground (belief in the bible) makes S&R more open to discussion.
As much as I would love for JWs to leave belief behind completely, that's probably not a realistic path for most. Even some athiests on this forum were believers for a while before settling on logic and reason over faith. I understand your position, but if Vanderhoven can get these JWs to examine their beliefs more critically that's a huge accomplishment in itself.
Genuine question. Would it be better for our JW relatives to convert to Judaism or Islam rather than embracing a godless reason and rationalism?
Better for them or us? I'm selfish and I want a JW-free family so I can share my thoughts, opinions and life with them without fear of rejection. I'm less concerned with whatever belief system they choose, than how that belief system instructs them to act towards those outside it. They could embrace reason and still suck as people.
had two lovely jws (stephen and ruth) visit this morning.
this was our second study in the last 2 weeks.
they first knocked on my door (bell is out) 3 weeks ago and i shared my testimony and we arranged to meet last tuesday which we did.. our first study went like this:.
We should be fighting to free the people we love from the faith based mentality which is at the root of all these problems.
Vanderhoven I bear you no ill will but I hope no one has a discussion with my Mum like you are having with these two JWs, it would only reinforce the trap she's in.
That's a bit of putting the cart before the horse isn't it? I gently suggest to my mom that there is no Jehovah and I don't believe in god altogether she responds with "Even people we meet at the door don't talk like that!" In other words, those worldly Christians who are part of "false religion" still hold more credibility with her than an atheist. She will never entertain any argument I put forth to explain my (non)belief. At her age, I don't hold out hope that she will ever be free of JWs, but if anyone has the best chance of opening her mind it'll be a Christian. Flies being more attracted to honey than vinegar or however it goes. Yes, I'm the vinegar.
