Posts by Tameria2001

33

Door-to-door preaching as surveillance

by john.prestor in

i wanted to share some thoughts about jehovah's witnesses and their door-to-door preaching.

door-to-door preaching is supposedly about gathering converts, but in fact, as we frequently discuss, doesn't actually bring that many "sheep-like ones" in.

i want to suggest that a second meaning (what we call the latent meaning in academia) is facilitating surveillance of the congregants who attend some congregation.

Tameria2001

They are a nosey bunch, aren't they? I remembered something that happened to when I was engaged to my husband. Before we were married, I made a few trips to his home, we lived 2 hours from each other. Each of these trips resulted in me bringing down a carload of my stuff (mostly books) to his place. At the time he didn't live to close to any of the other JWs, but this one day they came knocking at his door. I was putting up a bookshelf and putting away a whole bunch of books. I had books dating from the early 1950's all the way through to 1993 (that's when we were married). Years earlier an older sister had given me most of those earlier books. I'm so glad I don't have them anymore, it's a real pain lugging those things around.

Back to what happened, I was putting the books away, and my future husband was in the bathroom taking a shower. At the time he worked at a poultry processing plant, and let's just say he did not smell very nice after his shift. I heard a knock at the door, so I quickly knocked on the bathroom door, and told him he had a visitor. I hid in the bathroom, while he went to see who it was. All he had on was a bath towel wrapped around lower part of his body, It was a JW, and a ministerial servant, who came and stopped by when he saw my car in the driveway. He asked where I was at, and my future hubby told him that I had gone for a walk, while he was in the shower. I can't even believe the number of hoops that we had to jump through.

31

Role Call!

by new boy in

jw
friends

how many here have been active here on this site in the the last seven days?.

Tameria2001

21

Movies that make you cry?

by new boy in

jw
friends

there have been many but i had a total melt down at the end of sophie's choice.

i hadn't cried in years before i saw that movie in in 1982. i was still very much a jw at the time.

i have no idea where the pain and sorrow came from, maybe it was the fact there are things people have gone through that we have defied all reason logic.

Tameria2001

Movies that made me cry were:

Grave of the Fireflies
Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008)
Into the Forest of Fireflies
Wolf Children
The Wind Rises (2013)
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
My Girl
Steel Magnolias
My Dog Skip
Million Dollar Baby

19

Dreading the new system of things

by Addison0998 in

was i the only one who secretly dreaded the new system of things a little bit when i was a believing witness?

of course i felt very guilty, because of all the sick and heartbroken people who needed a perfect world to live in.

but there are a lot of nice parts of life i was going to secretly miss.

Tameria2001

To tell you the truth, I was not looking forward to it one bit. The thought that was going through my head was all the cleanup, and not the clean up of the dead, but other stuff. All those government labs where they work on all those nasty viruses, nuclear waste, nuclear and chemical plants, junkyards, and all those huge @$$ buildings. Even if they did collapse, there would still be that huge mess that needed to be cleaned up.

I asked my mom about that stuff once, and her answer was, "Oh Jehovah will deal with all that stuff." I'm thinking where in the bible did it ever say he was going to do it?

Then to top it all off they kept talking about the slave class at the meetings, it made me feel like "paradise" would be not a pleasant place for those of the slave class.

Even with all that, I didn't like the idea of thinking that God would kill off everyone who was not a JW because I knew some JWs who were not on the up and up, and looking for ways to cheat their fellow man, and fellow brother (I personally knew of a couple of crooks). While there were those who were not JWs and they were good people, doing their best in caring for their families and fellow man.

When I was a JW, I also never felt like I was good enough to survive Armageddon, even though I was doing a lot of stuff for the organization. Pioneering at 90 hours a month, working on the kingdom hall projects as part of the electrical crew, doing those 5-minute parts at the meetings that they gave the sisters, going where the need was greater; those where you go for two weeks at a time, and a whole lot of other things.

Eventually, I got to where I didn't even want to be in the new system, because of all the crap that goes on inside those congregations.

4

When you were still a JW, or if you still are what was one of those wild or crazy thoughts that went though your mind

by Tameria2001 in

jw
friends

before i left the organization, i remember having this thought go through my mind, it was not something that i dwelled on too much.

i was thinking of an interesting way i could get away with something, especially with my anal jw relatives, my brother-in-law was the worst.

i didn't have this idea pop in my head until after i had moved into a duplex, and then it went off like a light bulb.

Tameria2001

Before I left the organization, I remember having this thought go through my mind, it was not something that I dwelled on too much. I was thinking of an interesting way I could get away with something, especially with my anal JW relatives, my brother-in-law was the worst. I didn't have this idea pop in my head until after I had moved into a duplex, and then it went off like a light bulb. It was this, I had this thought of living in a duplex, but both sides of the home. One side would be for when the JWs came over, and have the appearance of what you would see in any typical JW's home. While on the other side, with a door that would connect the two sides, but a hidden doorway. The other side would be for all the "worldly" desires, you know things like Halloween, Christmas, video games, questionable movies, research on the Watchtower, and so on.

15

Dating another Woke exJW or no?

by caves in

i find that the people here speak in a way i can understand because we have one thing in common if nothing else.

so my question is , would it be easier to date someone that has been a jw and woke up or not?.

i would love for someone to 'get it' without having to explain much.

Tameria2001

caves- I totally understand how you feel super guarded, I am the same way. If it were not for my husband leaving when I did, say I did it on my own, I would be a total recluse, I'm not far from being that as it is now. It's something I've been working on, but after what I've been through, and I'm pretty sure that most who been in our shoes can and fully understand. My husband, on the other hand, he is a total social butterfly and makes friends easily.

102

The Biggest Issue Is Not Guns—It Is Mental Health!

by minimus in

jw
friends

crazy people shoot up places and kill people.

take away guns and they will find knives, poison, bombs , etc.. seriously, there are a lot of mentally unhealthy people!

they need professional long term help..

Tameria2001

On a serious note, the former marine guy who killed those 11 people in California lived with his mother. I bet his morale was in the dumps because he had to go live with his parents again. I wonder if his so-called friends made fun of him because he was still living at home. It's hard to pick up chicks at the local country western bar when they find out you live with your mom still.

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I was briefly watching the news and they were talking about this man. One thing they said that he was assaulted by some men at that bar earlier. It sounds like he decided to give out some retribution.

15

Dating another Woke exJW or no?

by caves in

i find that the people here speak in a way i can understand because we have one thing in common if nothing else.

so my question is , would it be easier to date someone that has been a jw and woke up or not?.

i would love for someone to 'get it' without having to explain much.

Tameria2001

It depends on the person's view of the JWs. Have they completely moved on, or do they think it is the "truth"? A few years back my sister (she left the JWs as well), started to get interested in a guy. There was something about him that caused them to click. Then one day I got to meet him, and instantly I picked up from the way he was talking that he too was a former JW. I even asked him, and he said he was. So I asked him about his views on the JWs and the Watchtower. His response was that he still felt like the JWs were the truth, and eventually he was planning on going back. When my sister learned this (she was there for the conversation), she decided to break it off. She had no plans on ever going back, and she didn't want to be tied down to someone who was planning on going back.

Now on the other hand, if the other person feels the same as you, it can be a good thing. My husband and I both were raised in it since we were both 4 years old, both our parents became JWs for the same reason, that was to survive the end of this system of things back in 1975. In his heart, he never believed them, but got baptized because of peer pressure from everyone in his congregation, including his parents. We both officially left the organization at the same time, and I will say it was very nice to have someone close to me that I could talk to about my feelings, and he could do the same with me.

102

The Biggest Issue Is Not Guns—It Is Mental Health!

by minimus in

jw
friends

crazy people shoot up places and kill people.

take away guns and they will find knives, poison, bombs , etc.. seriously, there are a lot of mentally unhealthy people!

they need professional long term help..

Tameria2001

if you remove all legal guns you will cause many many more gun deaths - I'm not sure I follow ... please be patient with me and explain. XD

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Because if all legal guns were removed, only the criminals would still have their weapons because they don't care about the law and won't turn them in. One thing that you don't hear much in the news is when a legal register gun owner does go in and stop someone from carrying out their evil deeds even further. Even if guns weren't the issue, those who are determined to cause harm would still find a way.

With all that said, to legally own a gun, requires an extensive background check on the purchaser. My husband had to go through that background check, and it took ten weeks before he was approved. On the plus side for those who choose not to own a gun, the criminals don't know who does or doesn't own a gun, unless someone advertises it.

There are even places still in the United States today that if you or someone in your household doesn't own one, your life expectancy won't be very long, not because of the human factor, but wildlife. There is a very long history with this tool, and this alone is what makes gun ownership a hot topic for this country. This nation was founded by the way of the gun. All a gun is is a tool, and it all depends on who handling this tool. It takes the human factor to decide how it is going to be used. Will it be for the benefit or the harm of others?

23

How many Witnesses would drink the cool aid at a "Jonestown?"

by Witness 007 in

so my mum died from mild form of lukemia which can simply be treated with a blood transfusion each month.

to me this was a watchtower assisted suicide.

the liaison elder encouraged her to "stay strong" and said a prayer.

Tameria2001

I'm pretty sure my mom would.