Posts by Spiral

16

Beards a-poppin!

by neat blue dog in

i live in a pretty conservative area of the united states, and in the past two decades i can remember 2, that's right, two instances of seeing a jw with a beard in my area.

(not counting myself at times, 😜, and i'm obviously not counting bearded visitors dressed in casual clothes).. however at this year's convention, i saw about a dozen bearded jws .

this is like an explosion where i live.

Or maybe, just maybe, there's such a shortage of younger brothers who are "reaching out" (blech) that they are willing to budge just a little. (I have heard that there has been a real shortage of worker bee MS-wannabes volunteering to the the grunt work. That makes it hard of the special ones to do what they need to do.)

So, giving in a little on beards might help. Later, of course, they might change their minds and pull the carpet right out from under the bearded ones. There might not be anyone left to care.

3

Need help finding a Watchtower quote

by Zoos in

mid to late 70's, watchtower made a comment regarding the constantly changing doctrines of "false religion" and how discouraging it was to their flocks.

i can't remember enough exact key words to pull it from the archives but i know i have seen it quoted and discussed on this site.. thanks in advance for your help..

Spiral

Wow, Zoos. I don't remember these quotes but these are gold. How appropriate these are, as nothing changes as quickly as beliefs in JW land.

26

Were You Surprised You Remained a JW As Long As You Did?

by minimus in

jw
friends

we have been told there's no place else to go.

and to some degree mentally speaking, that is true especially if you were raised in the religion.

at 50 i was out of the organization's clutches.

Spiral

Actually, as I think about it, I would say yes. If it was easier to leave I think I would have left long before I did (when I was about 50 as well). Hard to quantify, because mentally I was out way before I was physically out.

24

What changes would JW.org need to make to become a normal Christian denomination.

by UnshackleTheChains in

i am interested in getting people's thoughts on this.

on average 40 thousand people leave the organisation yearly for one reason or another.

the experiences all over the media are proof of this.

Spiral

All of the above. Plus (if not mentioned) a total stop to the preaching work. And, instead of the meetings as they are, offer youth activities, senior activities, events, helping at soup kitchens, etc. Stuff that really matters to people. AND - quit talking about the destruction of the world, and stop the bunker videos.

There would be nothing left that any of us would recognize.

15

I remember my Grandfather who was a CO saying;

by dogon in

i was thinking of my co grandfather who passed on a few years ago.

his wife my grandmother passed on in 99. i can remember him saying "i know after armageddon i can not be married to her but maybe we can live next to each other.

not sure where the cult stands on this issue today.

Spiral

I didn't know the teaching had changed on this.

How cruel, really. They are so dogmatic and certain about their teachings....... until they are not. A lot of damage is done to a lot of people, and the faithful don't dare complain.

18

The coordinator of cong visited me last night

by Chook in

he ran into me a work and asked could he come , i said only if you're by yourself and don't wear company garb.

3 hours later and i might as well talked to myself.

i used every illustration and persuasive argument.

Spiral

Good for you! They need to hear a bit of "reality", even if it doesn't stick.

23

chasing me for a report

by Phoebe in

jw
friends

i'm fairly new on here and i've told a lot of my story but to recap, after 60 odd years i've stopped going to the meetings.

my husband had already left the truth years ago and my children didn't become jws.(phew!).

i had a horrendous childhood growing up as a witness which included sexual assault by a close relative, also a jw.

Spiral

Phoebe, I have so much respect for you, what you've had to deal with. I am sure the reporting of time (SERIOUSLY????) is the last straw for you, of course!

Why not report 200 hours for each month? Obviously bogus and untrue. But, when were the elders ever interested in truth?

35

Convention invitations

by dothemath in

so everyone is supposed to get all excited about the invitation work starting tomorrow, according to the announcement from the platform.. maybe this makes sense if you're giving out invitations in the city where the convention is, but what if you're many hours away?.

a huge part of western canada is scheduled to attend edmonton alberta this july.

so how does that go over giving out invitations in winnipeg, about a 13 hour drive(that's just driving time).. i know some are actually planning on flying there, so i can't see getting excited about getting the public to make the trek.. i was curious how this is going over in other areas?.

Spiral

It doesn't, but it keeps the worker bees busy. Here locally we are 3 hours away from the convention site. I am sure no one who received an invitation will drive down and attend. Funny how no one puts that together.....

6

New Letter CONG 06/20/2017

by Edison Trent in

a new letter became available.

i got it from a friend of mine in a german congregation.

he told me the book is not available until now, because the revised bible haven't been released in german.. to all congregations.

Spiral

@ttdtt - what a riot this whole love hate relationship with the internet, tablets, and websites is. I can remember getting criticized for having a job that involved being on the computer and internet a lot (this was the early days, needless to say I didn't quit) because Satan was going to take over my brain, blah blah blah

Fast forward a decade or so when I was out and happy, I come back to take my Mom to meeting and she's upset people have stuff (i.e. ipads, etc.) and she doesn't have one or understand what's going on. She had been so "righteous" because she didn't know anything about the internet or computers and that really bit her in the backside. I bought her a ipad and we take that thing to EVERY meeting we go to EVEN THOUGH SHE'S CLUELESS just because I want to make a statement. (OK, and maybe it's partly "my mom with dementia has a better ipad than you" but anyway......) That's quite Christian of me, I think, and I learned it at the KINGDOM HALL

12

The most dangerous congregations are the isolated ones that only have 1 or 2 elders

by Chook in

the elders only have to fake it for cos visit, then the poor sheep get shorn for anther 6 months and just when publisher billy thinks the co will save their souls from these tyrants elders a new co comes onto the seen, and of course he is trained only to listen to the elders.

so the vicious cycle of religious rape continues until billy and his mates burnout..

Spiral

We went to one small town congregation where Stalin was the PO and it was horrible. Maybe 45 publishers, just a miserable place to be. That was the start of my way out the door. Stalin managed to DF the only other alpha male brother one year and that just made things worse. He moved and is now inflicting his special brand of misery on another small, rural congregation.

Here where my Mom is now is also a small rural congregation. Years ago when we were here it was surprisingly progressive with a lot of more sophisticated business owners, etc., but one particularly onerous CO put an end to most of the good mojo going on. Now it's just sad. No education, no business people, no prospects, just a wreck. Fairly nice people though, but messed up and distracted, so they don't fuss with me at all. (There's a plus.) The older ones that I still know I still try to visit and help out (they are all old and sick) which I would do for anyone.