Topics Started by TMS
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My Pseudo-Education Hasn't Hurt Me None, I Can Still Read the Writing on King Belshazzar's Wall~Part III
by TMS inbefore i go to extreme south texas, let me acknowledge an early influence that gave me self-worth, self-assurance, self-esteem and the feeling that i was as good as any damn person on this planet.. larry ranch, my congregation servant in renton, washington(home of boeing aircraft), was on my dad's judicial committee.
my dad had sexually molested my sister, sandy, repeatedly.
my dad got probation from the judicial committee.
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My Pseudo-Education Hasn't Hurt Me None, I Can Still Read the Writing on King Belshazzar's Wall~Part III
by TMS inbefore i go to extreme south texas, let me acknowledge an early influence that gave me self-worth, self-assurance, self-esteem and the feeling that i was as good as any damn person on this planet.. larry ranch, my congregation servant in renton, washington(home of boeing aircraft), was on my dad's judicial committee.
my dad had sexually molested my sister, sandy, repeatedly.
my dad got probation from the judicial committee.
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"Where Is Jehovah In All of This?" My Wife, July of '93
by TMS inthe title above is a question asked by my wife seemingly hundreds of times in 1993, the year our only child was disfellowshipped.
the entire story exceeds the reasonable limits of this forum and i have to suppress the urge to write it.
instead, i will give little snippets, what a certain elder said at this or that point, how jehovah's organization treated us, how we handled our gradual awakening to, yes, "the truth about the truth.
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My Pseudo-Education Hasn't Hurt Me None, I Can Still Read the Writing on King Belshazzar's Wall~Part II
by TMS inwhat a risk; installing part ii before determining if anyone ever cares for part i. .
joe b. barnett, a cool, charismatic jw, married my aunt doris.
he sold his '55 orange and white chevy convertible, bought a vw bug and pioneered.
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My Pseudo-Education Hasn't Hurt Me None, I Can Still Read the Writing on King Belshazzar's Wall~Part I
by TMS inmy maternal grandfather, adolph joseph deman, was in his mother's womb as the family crossed the ocean from east flander, belgium.
he was the first to be born in the u.s. in 1885. his father's death in 1888 contributed to his departure from school and work as a lad in the iron mines of republic, michigan.
the house he later built on a homestead in maple valley, washington, near kent, was a substantial pillar in my unstable early life as a precocious jw child in a dysfunctional home.
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Would Prince Rogers Nelson Have Been A More Effective Spokesperson for JWs Than Stephen Lett?
by TMS inhearing about governing body member stephen lett, i had to check him out on you tube.
in short, were i still a jw, i would be embarrassed to be represented by this mouth-agape, cornpone, dufus.
he would be the kind of public speaker the local congregation might appreciate, but who you would not send out to another congregation.. in contrast, the last few weeks i took the opportunity to play every video on you tube where the late prince rogers nelson explained his beliefs as a jw.
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One of the Most Obscene Phrases in Any Language; the Judicial Committee
by TMS ina tribunal of religious, if not spiritual, men, whose decision can alter lives, disrupt, no, destroy, families, ruin young lives, create angst, pain, depression, hopelessness, sorrow, despair can be the job for three typically unqualified men known in jw land as the judicial committee.. my first judicial experience as a kid of 18 serving on the jc involved disfellowshipping an elderly sister for apostacy when she would not promise to quit frequenting a neighborhood christian science reading room for personal study.
my second big case involved a baptized 12 year old who allegedly stole a hot wheel from k-mart.
he admitted to nothing, answering every question with "i dunno" and was put on probation, the 60's equivalent of reproof.. in subsequent years, i "served" on committees judging accused adulterers, fornicators, thieves, gamblers, non-providers, taking up boxing, slanderers and yes, apostates, sitting also on so-called appeal committees as well.
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Embracing, Not Running From, My Repressive JW Heritage, Finding A Few Things Worth Salvaging
by TMS inyes, we could have been born in an alley in calcutta or with the physical deformities associated with thalidomide.
instead, we were born into or introduced to a repressive, american, religious cult, that shielded us from the warmongering game of chess, the militaristic boy scouts, fornication-inducing sock hops, the twist, as well as the hokey pokey.
we heeded the warnings, avoiding the greedy self-worship associated with masturbation, decadent rock 'n roll and anything preceded by the word "extra-curricular.".
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A Comment by Lieu Made It Obvious That I Could Not Be A JW in 2016
by TMS inthe following comment by lieu on another topic shows me that i would be totally frustrated, actually exasperated, stifled and depressed in the modern form of jwdom: "therein lies the real problem billy, no one is paying any attention at regular meetings let alone conventions.
it's too boring, intentionally i think.
humans aren't hardwired to sit through hours of lecture with no interactions.
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My Personal Invitation to the Celebration of the Lord's Evening Meal
by TMS inby no means is this a heartwarming "experience" illustrating how an ex-jw skillfully "reached the heart" of a current jw, moving them to re-examine their belief system.
that won't be my take on my half hour visit with an elder's wife last sunday.
no one scored points here as is almost always the case in these interactions.. we live at the extreme southern tip of texas, on the u.s.-mexico border in a city of about 200,000. twenty years ago there were 20 spanish language congregations, 2 english.