Posts by willyloman

27

I need a strategy---Any Ideas?

by codeblue in

jw
friends

in about a month, i will be at a family reunion.

none of my family knows i am fading.

i was on the phone the other day and a family member asked me where my d.convention is and i (totally offguard) said "i don't know"...they replied: "shame on you"...yikes....yes, i am the youngest of the family, so hearing that made me want to just crawl in a "hole".... well, i need a strategy for how to answer any questions on the religious nature that they may bring up....i do not plan on disussing my fading process, i am not there to discuss it, but to have a "nice family reunion" (only 1 is not a jw---so she will never bring up anything in relation to religion).

willyloman

code: You are experiencing what every "fader" goes thru. You have two choices: ou can step up the fade and just get the hell out, or you can go with the program. If you choose the latter, you'll have to stay current on stuff.

For instance, find out which WT has the schedule of Dist. Convention sites (it's one of the first issues in each new calendar year, I forget which and am not at home so can't check). Browse thru current magazines and memorize the covers; then when you're asked if you read an article in the new magazine, you can say, "That the one with the drug addict on the cover? I haven't finished reading all of it yet. What's it about?"

This little bit of "homework" should cover the toughest questions you'll be asked.

104

"The Apostates Are Infiltrating The Congregations Now"

by minimus in

jw
friends

at the circuit assembly, my mother mentioned to me that the society is warning of a new danger.

there are witnesses that are on the internet reading apostate things but are still members of the congregation.

they are slowly being infiltrated by the 'apostates' and are still amongst us.

willyloman

They've been doing that for as long as I can remember...

Undercover: I agree some CO's are never satisfied, but the CO's I dealt with in recent years were SPECIFICALLY questioning why meeting attendance had gotten so low. Their concern was over recent phenomena. During the 70's and 80's, meeting attendance was much stronger: over 100% on Sunday was the norm, with percentages in the high 80's or low 90's during the week.

By the late 90's, we were getting figures as low as 60-something percent for book studies, high-60's or low 70's for the school and 80% on Sunday, sometimes less. In my last congo, the number of pubs dropped from 130+ to the mid-80's in just two years, despite the fact that we were in an area that was exploding in terms of population growth. On a typical Sunday 50-65 publishers out of 85 showed up, which is well under 80%. These same kinds of trends were obvious throughout the circuit, except in Spanish congos -- due to increased immigration and high birth rates.

These trends were clearly cause for alarm on the part of the CO and he was under direction from the WTS to find out why the slippage and report back.

104

"The Apostates Are Infiltrating The Congregations Now"

by minimus in

jw
friends

at the circuit assembly, my mother mentioned to me that the society is warning of a new danger.

there are witnesses that are on the internet reading apostate things but are still members of the congregation.

they are slowly being infiltrated by the 'apostates' and are still amongst us.

willyloman

Whenver an argument breaks out on this forum (as it does earlier in this thread) about whether attendance at Kingdom Halls is up or down, I just think back to the last five or six meetings our body of elders had with the circuit overseer in recent years. At every single one of them, there was a part on the agenda where the CO asked the elders to explain the low attendance at meetings. He'd ask why the friends aren't coming like they used to. It was clearly a big problem.

We'd ask him if our congo was an exception, and he'd tell us that the problem was circuit- or district-wide. He always stopped short of saying it was a nation-wide trend but I know brothers on the other side of the continent and they report the same decline in meeting attendance at their congos.

So when scooby and others weigh in with their 'all the halls are full in our area' reports, you have to take those with a grain of salt. There are surely areas where rapid population growth or other factors will contribute to what looks like a surge in KH attendance, but overall I am convinced there is a huge problem system-wide. And what's more important: The WTS is convinced there's a problem, too.

45

My silent ongoing fight against the org.

by The Grudge in

i?m posting today to get some things out that i haven?t been able to share with anyone else.

because they don?t want to hear it.

i?m living in a world of jw?

willyloman

Brother Grudge:

Welcome to this board, and congratulations on displaying the courage to come here and share your intimate thoughts. I only started doing that myself several months ago and believe me, it has been the best therapy I could have hoped for.

I was, until very recently, and elder and WT conductor whose entire family was in "the truth." I am on my journey "out" right now, fading rapidly and (so far) successfully. My wife is coming with me and our grown children are rooting for us from the sidelines, even though most of them are still "in" because of marital or social ties not easily shaken. I have been pleasantly surprised that, once I made a conscientious stand, my whole family has been supportive.

Recently my wife told me, "When you started looking on the internet and running out things for me to read, I was angry with you. I thought you were going off the deep end. But everything I read made sense and expressed my own feelings and frustrations, so I kept an open mind." It worked out that way because I was very SELECTIVE about the materials I presented her with; I weeded out all the crazy stuff and wingnut philosophy and printed out the cream that rises to the top on this board. I approached it the same way she did when she helped me "learn the truth" 30 years ago, by feeding me the best parts, a little at a time.

I have come to realize that the way "out" is the same way we all got in, only in reverse. So my advice is to treat your wife with tenderness the way you'd want to be treated, continue to feed her, but feed her small bites and don't give her more than she can chew. This is what she did with me three decades ago and I bought into the JW program, despite many misgivings, because it brought us closer together.

Love is a powerful force, my brother, and Truth will out. Paul wrote that love never fails and Jesus said the truth shall set you free, and both of these principles -- if you apply them -- will work for you in this situation.

6

Headline: "Jesus returneth, stumbles"

by SixofNine in

jw
friends

june 25, 2004 .

fellow christians, .

the second-coming of jesus christ was a magnificent and joyous day for all.

willyloman

Thanks for sharing. Brilliant satire. Someone I heard speak recently (NOT at the KH) summed it all up perfectly: "The god I worship is a big god; I used to have a small god." Your post demonstrates that many people have Jesus all wrong, or they have the wrong Jesus.

25

New book: The Four Presidents of the Watch Tower Society

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

new book out in two weeks!.

the four presidents of the watch tower society.

[the following are the first four pages of introduction to the above-named book].

willyloman

What a shame this has to be written anonymously; as someone pointed out, it will be depreciated by JW critics as a result, in much the same way writers on this board have taken to task the WTS for its own anonymously-written publications and bible translation.

In addition, the misleading title (why not: The First Four...? or the "founding presidents"?) implies a sophomoric editing/publishing approach. It would be sad if all these personal, significant insights into the WTS history are relegated to the bargain bin because of these shortcomings. Oh, WE'll read it. But will anyone else?

34

What would you say to Gods' answering machine?

by Sirius Dogma in

jw
friends

.

thank you for calling god, please leave a message at the beep or press 5 to leave a fax.

<beep>

willyloman

Reboot wins, so far.

21

I was wondering: Am I the only Belgian ex-member of the JW on this site?

by Prins Vaillant in

jw
friends

i am still a newbee because i was a lurker for 6 years :) but in all those years i never saw one posting from a belgian ex-jw.

it would be so comforting to see somebody from my own area.

so i would like to address the belgians and ask them to reveal themselves to me.

willyloman

Apparently so, although there IS a Belgian waffle club and you're welcome to join us for breakfast.

That's just a little example of Yankee humor.

Welcome to the board!

10

John and Revelation

by Valis in

hmmm...this has been covered before i'm sure, but since we have our own prophets of the apocalypse, i thought we might have a rehash....when john wrote revelation was he hallucinating?

had he gotten into the stash of mountain laurel leaves or what?

it seems to me such a radical departure from the loving kindness espoused by the teachings of jesus, one wonders what he was thinking.

willyloman

Mankind will have made substantial progress when we are able to view Revelation as a work of art and diagram it much the way we do other works of abstract art and literature, i.e., the works of Picasso and the writings of James Joyce. Until then, unfortunately, we let all that religious stuff get in the way.

55

The Watchtower Attendance Crisis

by metatron in

jw
friends

if the average congregation has about 83 publishers in the us, then the organization may be sinking into a crisis.. take that 83 and consider that half the congregations may have less.. take away '15 minute publishers' who don't attend.

take away completely fake publishers who rarely attend.

take away increasingly tired publishers who 'feel sick', are depressed, or just want to stay at home and watch tv.. .

willyloman

Until then, as Paul advised concerning slavery we advise concerning its lingering trace, segregation: "Do not let it worry you."

Which advice, if taken, would have eliminated the abolition movement, the Emancipation Proclamation, various civil rights voting acts, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s entire career! Way to go, Watchtower.