Posts by James2300

31

WT Payments.

by caspian in

jw
friends

just recieved a new letter from the society.

it is another begging letter for contributions, in it they explain the british tax relief given to them as a charity .

for every 1 pound donated the goverment will give them an extra 28p if it is donated under the gift aid arrangement.

A lot of people ask where the money goes. Basically, it is reinvested back into the org. When you consider the immense size of the Society's holdings in over 100 countries and the size of their publishing operations, it is not hard to see that the Society spends massive sums. Many people point out that the branch offices are staffed by volunteers. However, there a number of studies that show that over the long run volunteer labor is often more expensive. At Brooklyn, the Society's Laundry department cost much more than if it were outsourced. I believe the same would hold true for Food Service and other departments. (Though not Construction--the Society does save money there.)

Hope this helps,

James

29

how many ex circuit, district ,zone overseers ?

by dannywalsh in

i am interested to hear from former circuit,district ,zone , bethel branch overseers or those who were elders or served as gileadgraduate missionaries or special pioneers who have left the wt society because of doubts or crisis of conscience because of wt theology and practices , as i find it encouraging to hear from thier experiences and im sure others on the forum would too

James2300

What about Bethelites? They got a better view of the org than Gilead grads, traveling overseers, or special pioneers.

31

WT Payments.

by caspian in

jw
friends

just recieved a new letter from the society.

it is another begging letter for contributions, in it they explain the british tax relief given to them as a charity .

for every 1 pound donated the goverment will give them an extra 28p if it is donated under the gift aid arrangement.

James2300

I left Bethel a year ago and I still get a letter every month asking me to pay $13.87 for phone calls and food I bought during my last week at Bethel. Lol

113

Ex-JW Singles

by SpiceItUp in

inquiring minds want to know who out there is single.

lets see if we can hook anyone up.

how about a love connection on the jwd.

James2300

Well, I can't resist posting here either. I'm in San Diego, California and would love to meet anybody local. I was raised a jw and left a year ago. I'm 24 years old, going to college full-time and I teach test prep classes for high school students on the weekend. Well, that's all for now.

James

6

Bonham (sp?) Texas and the CCJW

by James2300 in

many of you may know about the famous incident in bonham (sp.?

) texas in the 1980s.

here's a brief overview for the rest of you: a body of elders turned "apostate" in this town.

James2300

Hi all,

Many of you may know about the famous incident in Bonham (sp.?) Texas in the 1980s. Here's a brief overview for the rest of you: A body of elders turned "apostate" in this town. The society wanted to get rid of them, but the body held title to the Kingdom Hall. A lawsuit emerged as well as some more underhanded tactics by the society. The Society set up surveillance on brothers in that area. A friend of mine who was there at the time told me that the name that the elder body decided to use was the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Of course, about two years ago the society adopted that name for one of the new corporations--the one under the Service Committee. I'm curious if there is any link. Does anyone have any info that might shed some light on this?

Thanks,

James

17

Thermodynamics Falsifies Evolution

by SYN in

jw
friends

.

an interesting article.

your comments, guys?.

James2300

Well, that article misses the point. Under the second law of thermodynamics the entropy of the entire universe will increase. You can have specific spots of order as long as the entropy of the entire universe continues to increase.

There are non-evolutionary complex structures that form without breaking this law. For example, waves are complex structures as are tornados.

31

Anyone been assaulted by a Jw?

by avishai in

jw
friends

not including immediate family or sex abuse.

James2300

Twice,

The first time I provoked this other Bethelite and he took a swing at me. I ducked and he missed.

The other time a Bethel elder got in my face and starting shoving me. I just walked away.

14

My bethel application

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

i only did the two week temp thing, but i still had to fill out a long application and send it back.

one of the questions that stands out in my mind was something to the effect of: "do you believe that the organization of jehovah's witnesses is god's sole spirit directed organization on earth?

when i read that, i felt a strange sensation.

James2300

HEY,

I worked in the Laundry! D'oh

33

Subtle Control Methods

by James2300 in

there have been a few threads on the subject of whether witnesses are a high control group or a cult.

some of the more overt methods of control have been mentioned, such as direct statements in the watchtower, the practice of disfellowshipping, the power elders have, and so on.

the results of these control techniques have also been mentioned; for example, many mention the intimidation, humiliation, fear, and powerlessness they felt either as a witness or while trying to leave.

James2300

Pathofhorns,

Hey, thanks for the compliment. I think in many ways we have barely scratched the surface.

Waiting,

Hey thanks for the compliments. My story is similar to many people. I was extremely zealous and one day opened my eyes and began to think for myself. I started pioneering at 16, a ministerial servant at 17, big service meeting parts, pioneer seminar interviews, circuit assembly parts at 18, first public talk at 19, bethel at 19, switched to spanish at 20. I was super zealous at service--one August I got 128 hours to meet my yearly quota pioneering. At bethel I auxiliary pioneered twice. Although I worked in a servile department (the Laundry) I got a lot of responsibility fast. I spent so much time trying to discern the "hidden order" behind the way Bethel was run, I finally realized it wasn't inconsistent with the way a worldly corporation was run.

I spent my last year researching everything about the jw's and especially bethel. I read memos and looked for patterns, I listened to people talk at the tables, I asked overseers why things were done this way or that and I asked older ones about historical stuff. Although I knew the publications pretty well, I delved into the older publications for the first time, and looked at current publications more closely. I even got a book on logical fallacies and looked for errors during the wt study. I moved to a room a floor from the main library so that I could spend all my free time there. I used vacation days, overtime comp time, and even ditched work (cheating on paperwork) to study. I went to the main branch of the New York public library and read every book they had on JW's.

I was very careful not to tell anyone what I was thinking. Although I read info from a lot of "apostate" site, I never posted anything. I left Bethel a year ago and slowly, carefully faded away. I'm settled and don't care anymore whether I get "caught" or not. So, that is why I only started visiting this site and posting here recently.

I really appreciate the kindness and friendship that exists on this board. It is very different than what I expected ex-jw's to be like.

Thanks,

James

22

ex-Brooklyn Bethelites on this site

by James2300 in

jw
friends

hey everyone,.

i've never posted on any of these site before but i thought this might be worthwhile.

i was at brooklyn bethel from 1998-2001. i worked in the laundry.

James2300

Cyberguy,

Hey, thanks for the words of welcome. As for what opened my eyes, I'm not really sure what prompted me to start viewing things critically. I suppose it was a confluence of a lot of things--hypocracy, problems at Bethel, harshness of Bethel elders, switching to a Spanish congregation and "starving spiritually" from the adjustment period, dissatisfaction with Bethel life, buying a book on logic, outside reading, etc. Whatever started it, I began researching the "truth" anew about 9 months before I left Bethel. I wanted to prove it to myself over again. After some serious study about the reasons for my faith, I found that there were a lot of inconsistencies in Society doctrine. Then, I began to read from "apostate" sites and was shocked about a lot of things regarding JW history and operations. At Bethel, I could see that a lot of observations about the "work" were true. I was also able to research JW history through the publications at the Bethel library as well as by talking to older ones at Bethel. Most of the accusations by "apostates" that I read were true. By then, it went all out the window.

James