Many people joined JW as an act of desperation during the personal crisis and they have not see any way out like did my parents. WT offered a hope of impending changes, new world with petting zoos and good health. It suppose to happen really, really soon. I often wonder why my parents accepted bible studies with my JW relatives, but eventually only my mom got baptized. I think it was all due the difficulties the faced in the communist era. My father was a military officer, but was anticommunist and deeply Catholic. He was able to do his job during much liberal, and relaxed 1960's era in Czechoslovakia until Soviets crushed Prague Spring in 1968. Later my dad was purged from his job and lost everything, income, friends, allowances, social prestige. We had no place to live, he could not find job as he was enemy of the state. My aunt offered bible studies and my parents were on the hook. Jehovah was coming and he was much stronger than Soviet Union their tanks crushing the society. New world looked so good, and early 1970's WT promised the end of the system was months away. My parents got hope. My father eventually backed of from baptism, because he said that WT was making too much BS, and he could not reconcile his Catholic education with WT doctrine. After 1975 came and go, he said WT is based on lies. My mom 40+ years later still maintaining the hopes that the New World is coming really soon and she will not die.
Posts by kaik
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11Is this a big reason that JW's are so attractive to some out there?
by dubstepped inin another thread i saw it mentioned that this elder and his wife were trying to preach to the poster here and said that they liked that jw's had answers to their questions.
i've heard that over and over throughout the years, and it does make sense on a level.
people in other religions sometimes have questions and are told that this or that is a mystery, or that they just have to have faith, etc.
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What percentage of the population are gay?
by fulltimestudent induring the long debate on the question of gay marriage, there have been many competing answers to the question of, "how many people are gay?".
a very anti-gay christian minister in sydney, the reverend fred nile, (who is also a member of the state parliament) claims that the percentage is as low as 1%.. some university (u.of new south wales) research in sydney has suggested 5%, but the authors of the study cautioned that there was a problem in the fact that an unknown number of respondents would likely not admit to being gay.. there are other problems in asking the question.
for example, what does being gay mean?
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kaik
There is a also a difference between same-sex behavior and same-sex desire. Most of the same-sex experiences are not necessary coincide with attraction to the same gender, and is often due institutionalization of people within close space like in prisons, barracks, and boarding houses. The study on same-sex attractions were already conducted in the 19th century and their finding is not much different from today. In Austria empire and Prussia had estimated that about 2% of men were homosexual based on arrest records and subculture around 1850. In large cities like Berlin, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna about one man in 50 had continuous same sex experience or lived in domestic partnership around 1890. Austria attempted to decriminalize homosexuality as early as 1850's when new constitution was written up together with criminal laws and significant material was presented by Austrian scientific community. -
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Nicest thing a JW has ever done?
by aintenoughwiskey inhere is a change of pace, what was the nicest thing a jw has ever done for you or you have seen done?
it wasn't all bad all the time!
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kaik
I have a fond of one sister, that already passed away. She was an excellent cook and baker and she used to share recipes all the time. After book study, she was baking all the goodies, decorated cakes, and even made marzipan decorations. A she shared with everyone. Sometimes she just left wrapped pastry and baked goodies and they were delicious.
There was also one sister who was very well off, because she inherited a huge property in the countryside. She did a lot of field service among homeless people and poor, and was giving them food from her farm like eggs, poultry, and home-made canned products. Otherwise my KH had attitude everyone for on its own, and there was not much social interactions.
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Do JW still drink like a fish in small gathering??
by James Mixon inin the 60's and 70's when i became a mindless cult follower there.
were gathering for the elite and they would get sh---t face, i mean down right.
drunk.
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kaik
My JW uncle was alcoholic. He was so many times drunk that it was embarrassing; and he usually crashed at my granny so my JW aunt would not know how wasted he was. My granny eventually refused to open the doors, so he sometimes went to our house and my dad let him sleep a bit on the couch to sober up. As the time progressed, my uncle drunk even more (late 1970's) and got violent to the point that he beat up my father who ended at emergency room to get stitches while neighbors called cops. Afterward, my father refused to open the door at night as he was afraid of the welfare of the kids and my mom. My uncle came drunk several times afterwards, banging on the doors, throwing rocks into the windows, until he passed out on the doorsteps. Last time I saw him 25 years ago, and I think he died from cirrhosis or something similar.
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Pope Condemns Weapons Industry and Those Who Make Weapons
by fulltimestudent inthe (almost) pacificism of the jws was one of the things that attracted me to the witnesses when young.
i wondered today, when i read this headline:.
pope francis suggests those in weapons industry can't call themselves christianat rally of young people in turin, francis issues his toughest condemnation to date of the weapons industry, criticising investors as well as workerspeople who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves christian, pope francis said on sunday.link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/22/pope-francis-says-those-in-weapons-industry-cant-call-themselves-christian.
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kaik
Many weapons have civilian use and dual usage within every day life. Think of satellite communications, fuel, aerospace industries, aircraft, etc. During the flooding or disaster like Katrina, National Guards or other military units are the only one capable to deliver necessary supplies and start doing search and rescue mission. When bridges are swept in 60 miles stretch of the coast or major waterway, everyone is glad for the military pontoons, until all the infrastructure could be restored. -
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Demons
by Pattytheperfect1 inthis isn't a joke and i don't post here often but i had a conversation with my grandma i found comical and thought i'd share.
my uncle lives far away and my grandma wants to go visit him but says she is afraid of the demons in his rental home.
she is afraid a demon might follow her home.
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kaik
Yeah, JWs and the good, old, demon stories. I used to hear them a lot. Years and years back there was a woman in the KH who insisted that demon was sitting on her chest at her sleep and she was so scared that she felt asleep on her love seat. She used to complain in the KH that she felt something heavy sitting on her and was freaking her out. Later she was diagnosed with some kind of cancer in the lung and she eventually passed away. She also claimed that the demon was following her everywhere as she had this condition in any places where she went.
I agree with Lisa, that it is widespread delusion among JWs. However, I would not underestimate medical condition like mental issue, dementia, or starting of Alzheimer where one JW claimed that demon was misplacing his stuff.
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I had breakfast with 50+ JWs on Sunday
by zimunzucz inwe pulled into a hotel parking lot saturday around 6pm on the return leg of a wonderful family vacation to new england - an then fate stepped in---a man in a suit got out of a car with the rest of a picture perfect family.
i immediately noticed all the name tags--- and my blood pressure spiked 50pts- damn!!
i was booked in a 4 story hotel full of jws-- the only time they took off the name tags was in the swimming pool- they were so proud of themselves.. at 6:30 am the hot water went cold in the wife's shower- what do you expect on the 4th floor when a herd of jws is trying to get ready at the same time?
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kaik
Faye, back in the Czechoslovakia under commies, the publications were done on the xerox or some kind of hard film, that was like scroll because they were not cut or assembled into notepad format (around 1975-1980). Later they came printed on yellow paper without pictures in small A4 notepad format. However, I remember books were always bound with pictures as far as 1970's and blue cover. My mom has these WT printed on yellow paper bound, because over time the were falling apart for that reason. I believe she has these on the xerox foils in her basement in the box if they did not fade completely. Last time I was at her place, she still kept my WTs from 25 years ago with my notes in it and she tried to leave them with me. Wasn't sure it that was an attempt on her side for me to see what I have missed or not.
During the 50's JWs depended on books published immediately after war and prior WWII. In Czechoslovakia, JWs were legal in interwar period as it was parliamentary democracy, and immediately after war until communist takeover in 1948. JWs were outlawed later in 1950 during the crackdown against all religions under Stalinist regime. We had one old JW who had these books visible at her bookshelf like Harp of God printed in 1920's and entire Rutherford collection - all in Czech language, but she never allowed anyone to read it or borrow it. During liberal 1960's and under Prague Spring events, communist regime tolerated JWs and I do not remember ever my mom had issue with the regime for being JW.
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Being marginalised by JW's and family, how to combat it?
by Crazyguy inwhen one leaves the religion and fades it starts to become obvious that they move on with out you but this is not enough for them so they also marginalize you, loose respect for you etc.
they even tell stories about you.
example my wife talking to my mother tells her that i now believe aliens came to this planet and created man.
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kaik
The best way is to start your own family. Move away and live your own live without worrying about something that you cannot change. -
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I had breakfast with 50+ JWs on Sunday
by zimunzucz inwe pulled into a hotel parking lot saturday around 6pm on the return leg of a wonderful family vacation to new england - an then fate stepped in---a man in a suit got out of a car with the rest of a picture perfect family.
i immediately noticed all the name tags--- and my blood pressure spiked 50pts- damn!!
i was booked in a 4 story hotel full of jws-- the only time they took off the name tags was in the swimming pool- they were so proud of themselves.. at 6:30 am the hot water went cold in the wife's shower- what do you expect on the 4th floor when a herd of jws is trying to get ready at the same time?
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kaik
My mom is witness for 40 years, but I think she was studying with them through my relatives already in the 1950's or so. My relatives are three four generations of JWs. Over the time, my mom accumulated all these WT publications and she got them bounded and has them in her bookcase. Her elders asked her several times to surrender these prints, and even sent my cousins to acquired from them. Couple months ago, my mom asked me what to do, she does not want to give up old publications and even my sibling accused her that she keeps apostate literature. My advice was to give it to national archives or university instead. I am not surprised that witnesses are extremely reluctant to acknowledge mistakes from their old prints, but they still consider their organization as a God's channel of communication. They will never learn, but it is always good to use their BS for counter-argument(s). -
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I had breakfast with 50+ JWs on Sunday
by zimunzucz inwe pulled into a hotel parking lot saturday around 6pm on the return leg of a wonderful family vacation to new england - an then fate stepped in---a man in a suit got out of a car with the rest of a picture perfect family.
i immediately noticed all the name tags--- and my blood pressure spiked 50pts- damn!!
i was booked in a 4 story hotel full of jws-- the only time they took off the name tags was in the swimming pool- they were so proud of themselves.. at 6:30 am the hot water went cold in the wife's shower- what do you expect on the 4th floor when a herd of jws is trying to get ready at the same time?
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kaik
Love it!
The best is to use their literature against them, dig some old print from WT.