What did I miss? (Also, a brief Open Mind family update.)
by Open mind 24 Replies latest jw friends
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Open mind
(Sorry for the first blank post. IE seems to have messed it up. Now logged on with Firefox.)
Hello everyone. Haven't been around much in the last 3-6 months.
If there's a bit of news or a thread that you really liked, please post a link with a brief description of why you liked it.
Lazy? Sure. I do miss this place but not enough to spend countless hours wading through months of threads in order to find out that Minimus was finally banned two months ago. (Joke. Waves to red dot.)
Update: My wife is LOVING not being an active JW. She hasn't stepped inside a Kingdom Hall for over 6 months now. (Maybe longer). I went about 4-5 months without attending, but finally went a to a meeting a couple weeks ago in order to get a little reindoctrination before an upcoming visit with my parents. (Man those new songs suck SO BAD!)
Kids are in High School and college and are able to actively, openly engage their minds in various topics and debates. It's also great to be able to have lively conversations with them without the Borg Elephant standing in the room. Abortion, sexuality, crime and punishment, drugs, assisted suicide for the terminally ill, careers, politics, economics, religion, etc. All are approached openly and the discussion goes wherever that particular rabbit hole leads us.
On the topic of sexual morality, it's interesting to me that even though my wife and I aren't promoting abstinence until marriage, our kids aren't seeking out promiscuous flings. They know that we won't judge them if they do, but that there is a personal psychological and emotional price to pay that comes with it. If they happen upon the right person I'm sure they would let their relationship go as far as they are comfortable. But their life focus is mainly school and other fun activities and, for our oldest, a part-time job.
We are reaching out and making a few very close non-JW friends, but thanks to fading, we still have an OK relationship with extended JW family.
Personal career note: I recently had an evaluation and my manager commented that I have evolved from an average employee to an exemplary one. The eval was glowing from start to finish and it felt really good. As I was driving home I realized that he was right. 4 years ago (approximately) I was an elder, husband and father while working full-time. I was definitely an average employee because a lot of my mental energies were taken up with pointless Congregation drama. Then I went through a couple years of trying to slowly awaken my wife and kids which also took up an ENORMOUS amount of mental and emotional energy. But about two years ago, we had all come out the other side and I was able to really start giving my career more attention. Looking back, it's really a no-brainer, and I'm just glad I didn't LOSE my job in the process.
The Watchtower likes to brag about not having paid clergy (even though that's what COs & DOs are). IMO, paid clergy make a lot more sense if you're going to have an organized religion. You really can't "slave for two masters" so why not pay to have good, qualified shepherds who can really put their heart and soul into helping out the flock? Just my $.02. (BTW, I'm pretty much done with organized religion.)
Best regards,
om and family -
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Open mind
Thank you mankkeli.
After wading through the first 5 pages of your first thread, I'm going to hazard a guess that you're probably the closest thing to a JW-apologist that JWN currently has. Thanks for the ID.
Anyone else have a thread they enjoyed?
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Berengaria
Hello OP!!! Beks here. Nice to see you again. May I introduce you to our new "friend" mankkeli?
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Open mind
Hey there Beks!
How are you ya freakin' left-wing, commie liberal?
( Just teasin. I'm just beginning to sprout my political wings. I'm all over the map, issue by issue. )
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mankkeli
I'm not a Pro-JW, Pro-JWs are not so active on apostate cyber world. they might just prop in once in a while
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mrsjones5
Smooth move trying to take over another's thread Manny. Not!
Nice update OP, glad to hear things are going well for you and your family outside the bOrg.
Congratulations!
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Found Sheep
yeyeyey for you... and yes he is our latest????