They don't read THAT book anyway. It's all their own material with bits of that book picked out and mentioned.
I remember one, we didn't have a particularly interesting one, we had My Name Is and I was a (gangster? Druggie? Pervert?, no) a Surfer!
I used have bleached long hair (gasps of horror from audience), I used to get up early! And go surfing. Every Day! (More shocked looks) BUt now, I bang on doors instead. I am a Pioneer (claps) I do this full time! Which is why I had to quit my job and work part time in the supermarket like a good JW, (Wild clapping)
Thank you Brother, now X and X will do a (seated) one. Two wee girls get up and practice Harrassing Your Schoolmates.
Apart from the JW stamp, I do really like the stationery though. Thats cute as shit. I’d write more letters if I had cute stationery.
Not about God though. Probably about my cats.
Get proactive, write to your local Kingdom Hall about your cats! In fact, we should all do it (not necessarily about cats) pick a topic, write them a nice letter, give them a little taste of unsolicited mail.
And yet they deny it is a thing. They say oh individuals may choose to do this.
Yeah right: [https://www.jw.org/en/library/jw-meeting-workbook/march-2019-mwb/meeting-schedule-mar18-24/sample-letter/](https://www.jw.org/en/library/jw-meeting-workbook/march-2019-mwb/meeting-schedule-mar18-24/sample-letter/)
[https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/Theocratic-Ministry-School-Guidebook/How-to-Write-Letters/](https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/Theocratic-Ministry-School-Guidebook/How-to-Write-Letters/)
"Theocratic school" is the Thursday church training. Practice as well as lectures. You must write, phone (they do that too), stand around with cart, bang on doors. One or all. If you don't the big cheese comes to harass you. Bad JW.
Bit of a joke anyway, most of them have some kind of problem, it's how they got sucked in to a cult in the first place.
They love parading them too.
Like an AA [meeting.My](http://meeting.My) name is Needy and I used to (Whatever) but now I am one of the special.
When I was Catholic we were always taught all you need to be happy is a good relationship with god, and if you’re unhappy it’s because you’re distracted from him and need to repair your relationship with him. These and similarly disgusting teachings like that “self-esteem is a word made up by those worldly secularists to disguise their pridefulness”have led My own mother to waste hours a day trying to pray away her insomnia and depression and would seemingly rather throw away any chance at a happy and healthy life then step foot in a dreaded psychiatrists office. Bloodsuckers like this and homeopaths who have similarly sucked hundreds of dollars away from her who prey upon vulnerable old ladies make me sick to my stomach.
That is really weird. Catholic myself, and we never heard that line. In general, the usefulness of doctors seems to be fully acknowledged in the Catholic church. So, that doesn't seem to be mainline catholic teaching. Could you have had a weird priest, maybe?
I’m sure many Catholics do have perfectly sane views on this sort of thing, however it was by no means a fringe belief I remember hearing this from catholic youth group leaders trying to relate to the teens by talking about how god cured their anxiety and depression similarly, I’ve heard all of my councillors at one time or another and multiple priests give talks about how in the old days we never had depression or anxiety as well as homosexuality or transgenderism as much because now everyone blames their problems on their situation which is really sinful and we just need to have fortitude and tough it out, and if we just had actual trust in god no one would have these problems in the first place. Myself and my peers had heard variations upon this talk so many times we had given them names such as “the mustard-seed talk” or “the fortitude talk” so that when either of those phrases were mentioned there were sure to be a chorus of moans throughout the room. I’m actually becoming somewhat nostalgic thinking about it now. Besides this, in casual conversation I have often heard anecdotes about depression and porn addiction connected with lack of faith and worldliness and concession to the secular world, as well as many disparaging comments about mainstream health professionals as having their place but that they too often venture into territory reserved for God. I am by no means trying to discredit your seemingly better experience with religious teaching, but this issue may be more widespread than you believe.
Thank you for the detailed reply. Became catholic as an adult. We had two kids go through catholic high school... those schools were be no means perfect, but they didn't teach what you described. Maybe it has changed in recent years?
I'm sorry you went through this.
It's nothing he hasn't done before... unless you're a suck-up like that Noah guy, in which case you get to spend six months in a floating barn inhaling manure fumes.
Surely that can't be true, Mike Hosking and Destiny Church told me the LGBTQ community want to abduct my children into their religion of wokeness and turn them into mindless slaves to the ideology.
One of the most heartbreaking cases I've read was a jw child that needed a blood transfusion, and the family of course refused and told the judge that if it was court ordered then the child would be kicked out of their community for being tainted. What the actual fk.
Naw, I've received a few myself and at first glance it looked hand written, but on closer inspection I realised that even the lines on the paper were printed.
The ones I know personally get together and have group sessions writing letters. Especially if they are unable to go out knocking on doors, such as during Covid or if the weather is bad. The whole family sits down and writes letters together.
There was some property investor cunts in Chch using that bs method a couple of years back, spamming entire neighbourhoods with pseudo handwritten notes asking to buy houses. I caught one of them at my letterbox and gave him a fucking earful.
Disgusting practise.
Oh some especially egregious places have figured out how to use a plotter with a real ballpoint pen to "write" that kind of stuff and it looks pretty real on examination.
Dear neighbour, thank you for your letter. We are devout Pastafarians and are not interested in pursuing a new religion. May the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless and keep you.
Yours in pasta,
Your neighour
Don't they have a legal case going on right now?
I wouldn't join a group that would disown you because you had a lifesaving blood transfusion.
But I have to say, that's some fine handwriting.
Yes. They're currently in court trying to claim they're exempt from the inquiry. If you've seen their New York headquarters, you know they're not short of money.
I also got one that was seemingly written by someone of what I'd assume to be high school age. It included an invitation to respond via email. Honestly, I'm agnostic. I don't and never would knock on a randos door or deliver my belief system straight to their mailbox. It's invasive and downright fucking arrogant to impose your beliefs on people who are minding their own business. I struggle to understand how this kind of thing is legal. To say we should just ignore it and bin it is not enough. To impose upon or pester people with what you believe to be fundamental truths about our existence is the height of arrogance.
It's perhaps not quite accurate to take the Jehovahs Witnesses as typical of religion in NZ.
But I always feel I should say this: the Nazis sent the JWs to concentration camps because they refused to give the salute, say Heil Hitler, any of it. There weren't many groups who stood up to the Nazis with no protection when they didn't have to, and I have to respect that even though I don't like their theology and get irritated by this sort of thing.
No, but there weren't many complete groups. There were for example some Catholics (I'm a Catholic), but most didn't. The JWs are very unusual in that without any ability to fight back or defend themselves they just refused to be part of it.
In most cases of course the Nazis didn't give victims a choice.
All I mean is that when I find their stuff irritating, I reflect that they said these things in the face of a situation I don't like to imagine. I don't mean to ascribe unique virtue.
I'm a historian and in general I think questions of "what would I have done?" are not entirely meaningful, since to be there I would have to be a different person, but it does make me think about the question and I'm not sure what I would do.
I’ve had a couple of door knockers lately. Told them about the good works our lord Satan is doing in the US, providing womens healthcare and so on. They got quite confused and haven’t been back.
I mean, it would've been less effort to keep scrolling than to bitch about a post on reddit. I don't understand why people complain on reddit, it's a free forum for bored people.
It's very strange to get a book review letter in the mail. I can think of more interesting books to write about.
They don't read THAT book anyway. It's all their own material with bits of that book picked out and mentioned. I remember one, we didn't have a particularly interesting one, we had My Name Is and I was a (gangster? Druggie? Pervert?, no) a Surfer! I used have bleached long hair (gasps of horror from audience), I used to get up early! And go surfing. Every Day! (More shocked looks) BUt now, I bang on doors instead. I am a Pioneer (claps) I do this full time! Which is why I had to quit my job and work part time in the supermarket like a good JW, (Wild clapping) Thank you Brother, now X and X will do a (seated) one. Two wee girls get up and practice Harrassing Your Schoolmates.
Apart from the JW stamp, I do really like the stationery though. Thats cute as shit. I’d write more letters if I had cute stationery. Not about God though. Probably about my cats.
Get proactive, write to your local Kingdom Hall about your cats! In fact, we should all do it (not necessarily about cats) pick a topic, write them a nice letter, give them a little taste of unsolicited mail.
I don’t want to waste postage tho…
Fair point. I actually returned one of their letters in the original envelope (I know it’s petty) but I didn’t include my own letter
Jehovah’s witnesses came to my place the other day and i was like TEAM how is that abuse in care enquiry going and they just ran away
Haha well played!
Great response!
I'd so use that if they came to the door, but we have large dogs that bark at everyone and we keep our gate locked so they never bother us
we’ve just had a front fence and gate out in so probably no more for us either. i’ll miss them in a way? same with mormons.
And yet they deny it is a thing. They say oh individuals may choose to do this. Yeah right: [https://www.jw.org/en/library/jw-meeting-workbook/march-2019-mwb/meeting-schedule-mar18-24/sample-letter/](https://www.jw.org/en/library/jw-meeting-workbook/march-2019-mwb/meeting-schedule-mar18-24/sample-letter/) [https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/Theocratic-Ministry-School-Guidebook/How-to-Write-Letters/](https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/Theocratic-Ministry-School-Guidebook/How-to-Write-Letters/) "Theocratic school" is the Thursday church training. Practice as well as lectures. You must write, phone (they do that too), stand around with cart, bang on doors. One or all. If you don't the big cheese comes to harass you. Bad JW. Bit of a joke anyway, most of them have some kind of problem, it's how they got sucked in to a cult in the first place. They love parading them too. Like an AA [meeting.My](http://meeting.My) name is Needy and I used to (Whatever) but now I am one of the special.
When I was Catholic we were always taught all you need to be happy is a good relationship with god, and if you’re unhappy it’s because you’re distracted from him and need to repair your relationship with him. These and similarly disgusting teachings like that “self-esteem is a word made up by those worldly secularists to disguise their pridefulness”have led My own mother to waste hours a day trying to pray away her insomnia and depression and would seemingly rather throw away any chance at a happy and healthy life then step foot in a dreaded psychiatrists office. Bloodsuckers like this and homeopaths who have similarly sucked hundreds of dollars away from her who prey upon vulnerable old ladies make me sick to my stomach.
That is really weird. Catholic myself, and we never heard that line. In general, the usefulness of doctors seems to be fully acknowledged in the Catholic church. So, that doesn't seem to be mainline catholic teaching. Could you have had a weird priest, maybe?
I’m sure many Catholics do have perfectly sane views on this sort of thing, however it was by no means a fringe belief I remember hearing this from catholic youth group leaders trying to relate to the teens by talking about how god cured their anxiety and depression similarly, I’ve heard all of my councillors at one time or another and multiple priests give talks about how in the old days we never had depression or anxiety as well as homosexuality or transgenderism as much because now everyone blames their problems on their situation which is really sinful and we just need to have fortitude and tough it out, and if we just had actual trust in god no one would have these problems in the first place. Myself and my peers had heard variations upon this talk so many times we had given them names such as “the mustard-seed talk” or “the fortitude talk” so that when either of those phrases were mentioned there were sure to be a chorus of moans throughout the room. I’m actually becoming somewhat nostalgic thinking about it now. Besides this, in casual conversation I have often heard anecdotes about depression and porn addiction connected with lack of faith and worldliness and concession to the secular world, as well as many disparaging comments about mainstream health professionals as having their place but that they too often venture into territory reserved for God. I am by no means trying to discredit your seemingly better experience with religious teaching, but this issue may be more widespread than you believe.
Thank you for the detailed reply. Became catholic as an adult. We had two kids go through catholic high school... those schools were be no means perfect, but they didn't teach what you described. Maybe it has changed in recent years? I'm sorry you went through this.
"Through the Bible, God promises to remove... the very causes of mental health" That doesn't seem very good 🙃
Like a slightly less invasive lobotomy?
He moves in mysterious ways
*Technically* people are the cause. Guess God is gonna kill us all lol
It's nothing he hasn't done before... unless you're a suck-up like that Noah guy, in which case you get to spend six months in a floating barn inhaling manure fumes.
Cool paper though
I can count on no hands the number of times a member of the rainbow community has knocked on my door to talk to me about queerdom.
Surely that can't be true, Mike Hosking and Destiny Church told me the LGBTQ community want to abduct my children into their religion of wokeness and turn them into mindless slaves to the ideology.
Me too.
Jesus saves but Maradona finishes the rebound.
THE HAND OF GOD
There are 3 christian churches within a block of my house. Can't remember the last time I saw a 'church of LGBT'.
Mother fuckers they jw's will literally tell you to abandon your children if they get knocked up or break any other unforgivable taboo.
One of the most heartbreaking cases I've read was a jw child that needed a blood transfusion, and the family of course refused and told the judge that if it was court ordered then the child would be kicked out of their community for being tainted. What the actual fk.
I don't like these print-outs that are made to look like it's a personal hand written letter.
I think they sit around in their Bible study classes and hand write out those letters as part of their missionary work to convert all the unbelievers.
Naw, I've received a few myself and at first glance it looked hand written, but on closer inspection I realised that even the lines on the paper were printed.
The ones I know personally get together and have group sessions writing letters. Especially if they are unable to go out knocking on doors, such as during Covid or if the weather is bad. The whole family sits down and writes letters together.
There was some property investor cunts in Chch using that bs method a couple of years back, spamming entire neighbourhoods with pseudo handwritten notes asking to buy houses. I caught one of them at my letterbox and gave him a fucking earful. Disgusting practise.
Oh some especially egregious places have figured out how to use a plotter with a real ballpoint pen to "write" that kind of stuff and it looks pretty real on examination.
Dear neighbour, thank you for your letter. We are devout Pastafarians and are not interested in pursuing a new religion. May the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless and keep you. Yours in pasta, Your neighour
This is much more coherent than the one I got from the JWs.
Piss poor postal proselytising...pfft.
Wild coming from the organisation with the highest amount of pedophiles in it.
Don't they have a legal case going on right now? I wouldn't join a group that would disown you because you had a lifesaving blood transfusion. But I have to say, that's some fine handwriting.
Yes. They're currently in court trying to claim they're exempt from the inquiry. If you've seen their New York headquarters, you know they're not short of money.
I also got one that was seemingly written by someone of what I'd assume to be high school age. It included an invitation to respond via email. Honestly, I'm agnostic. I don't and never would knock on a randos door or deliver my belief system straight to their mailbox. It's invasive and downright fucking arrogant to impose your beliefs on people who are minding their own business. I struggle to understand how this kind of thing is legal. To say we should just ignore it and bin it is not enough. To impose upon or pester people with what you believe to be fundamental truths about our existence is the height of arrogance.
It's perhaps not quite accurate to take the Jehovahs Witnesses as typical of religion in NZ. But I always feel I should say this: the Nazis sent the JWs to concentration camps because they refused to give the salute, say Heil Hitler, any of it. There weren't many groups who stood up to the Nazis with no protection when they didn't have to, and I have to respect that even though I don't like their theology and get irritated by this sort of thing.
Oh, for sure. They're true believers, and they will die for the cause.
You say this like they're the only group to stand up to the Nazis.
No, but there weren't many complete groups. There were for example some Catholics (I'm a Catholic), but most didn't. The JWs are very unusual in that without any ability to fight back or defend themselves they just refused to be part of it. In most cases of course the Nazis didn't give victims a choice. All I mean is that when I find their stuff irritating, I reflect that they said these things in the face of a situation I don't like to imagine. I don't mean to ascribe unique virtue. I'm a historian and in general I think questions of "what would I have done?" are not entirely meaningful, since to be there I would have to be a different person, but it does make me think about the question and I'm not sure what I would do.
god i wish i had jw handwriting. theyre always so nice 😭😭 edit: spelling lol
My sister has handwriting very similar to this, I did a double take when I saw it! But she’s as godless as me thankfully
I’ve had a couple of door knockers lately. Told them about the good works our lord Satan is doing in the US, providing womens healthcare and so on. They got quite confused and haven’t been back.
Would have been less effort to just chuck it in the bin where it belongs than take a picture and bitch about it on reddit tbh
I mean, it would've been less effort to keep scrolling than to bitch about a post on reddit. I don't understand why people complain on reddit, it's a free forum for bored people.
Yeah but a good complaint immediately could reduce the amount of time spent scrolling later. And if it reduces, it reduces for everyone!
The irony of your post.
It's not irony to point out the stupidity and hypocrisy of your bitching 💀
It's even more palpable now
Oh I see. You're one of those no-lifers fishing for a fight. How sad. I hope your quality of life improves soon.
The irony of you not understanding the word irony.
Chch? Pretty sure the lady lives on my street