i really hope to get a ton of responses for this topic, so even if you're just browsing through postings and topics, please add your two cents...however brief.
i am really curious to know who our "heroes" are, those people we admire, identify with, emulate and recieve inspiration from.
feel free to even list former heroes and perhaps why you were taken with admiration for them at that point in your life and maybe why you don't feel that way any longer.
There are lots of people I admire - usually the sort that stuck their neck out for others, or those who had a hard life but didn't go around moaning or complaining. Also a few others who I just love for their works or spirit. Some I just like because I admire them for who they were. Ones that spring to mind
Sir Ernest Shackleton
Roger Casement
Oscar Wilde
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Wilfred Owen
Michael Bentine
My Mum and Dad
Sorry they're all men (apart from my Mum!)
Terri
-------- matthew ---------
mat 1:19,20 19 however, joseph her husband, because he was righteous and did not want to make her a public spectacle(ref- de 22:23,24), intended to divorce her secretly.20 but after he had thought these things over, look!
jehovah?s angel appeared to him in a dream, saying: "joseph, son of david, do not be afraid to take mary your wife home, for that which has been begotten in her is by holy spirit.. mat 6:14,15 14 "for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you; 15 whereas if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.. mat 7:1,2 "stop judging that you may not be judged; 2 for with what judgment you are judging, you will be judged; and with the measure that you are measuring out, they will measure out to you.
ETAN,
I found your post very interesting and helpful. I have printed it off to read properly later on.
If there is one thing I hate about the WTS, it is the policy of disfelowshipping people. It has got to be one of the cruelest and warped things to do to somebody - to kick them out of an organisation they may have spent years in, cut them off from their family and friends, humiliate them by making a public announcement and to not let them give their side of the story to anyone. It is so crafty the way it is done - they can boot you out on a whim and nobody can ask you what the hell is going on because nobody can speak to you. They are winners all the way.
If these sanctimonious elders could see the damage they do to people through their irresponsible behaviour, they might think again before setting themselves up as judges of their fellow humans. If there is any justice in this world, any elder that has sat on a judicial committee where a person was DFd should be made to pay compensation to the person they harmed.
Terri
comments you will not hear at the 10-12-03 wt study
review comments will be in black and parentheses ().
wt quotes will be in
What hinders people from putting their confidence in God? All too often, some are confused about why bad things happen. Many are taught that God is responsible for suffering. When a tragedy strikes, clergymen may say that God "took" the victims to be with him in heaven.
"Where are their examples or proof? I did an informal survey and called 7 ministers or priests, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Friends (Quakers), LDS (Mormons), Episcopalian (Anglican) and asked if God had chosen those people to die or if it was an accident; if God is responsible for suffering. I was told without exception that God was not responsible for suffering and that God was not responsible for "taking" people before their time (old age)."
I found this very interesting. I have never thought to question this before, although, as I was once a Catholic, I don't recall a priest ever saying this. I do get annoyed when I hear the WTS constantly running down the RC church. I know they have many faults, but so do the WTS - a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.
I found your review very good and was going to take it to the KH with me, only I ended up not going Will I die at the big A now???
Terri
it is true that jehovah's witnesses have their own language.
an "outsider" might not have a clue to what certain words might mean.
for example, "the truth"-----if a person heard that expression, they would never have connected it to only the jw religion.....can you think of language that is exclusive to "watchtower" world??
Shamus,
Not sure if it's been mentioned, and it's not strictly a WT word, but the overuse of 'meaningful' gets me.
A meaningful personal study routine, a meaningful answer, a meaningful share in the ministry etc.
Also, while I'm thinking about it, 'personal study'. If I say this to a non-JW, they think I'm studying for college or something. But to a JW, it means sitting at a desk surrounded by WT literature. I used to get so worked up because my personal study is always hit-and-miss and everyone in my KH is so spiritual.
Terri
why do jehovahs witnesses insist on calling god jehovah?
would you call your father, dad, or whatever by his first name?.
if we were created by god and he is indeed our "heavenly father", then would it not be blasphemous to call him by his first name?.
I have never liked the word Jehovah. I don't like Yahweh either. In fact, I feel absolutley nothing whenever I use these names or simply God, Jesus or whatever. I really want to use a name that makes me feel like something out there is listening to me, but I am still looking. All this stuff about calling out to Jehovah whenever you need help or are distressed - it just does nothing for me. I always felt such a fraud praying before and after Bible studies when the prayers meant diddly.
Terri
how's this weekend been going for you?
we had a sudden cold snap yesterday bringing the temps right down low, so today we're 'enjoying' cool, windy rainy weather.
oh well, we're cozy inside.. looking back over the week, we've been heartened to recieve communications from exiting dubs.
1. Trouble
4. You'd done something wrong
16. Lady - you've been opening your big gob again!!
Terri
....save the "the day i got out" posts, surely some here can dreg up some happy times of when they were witnesses, it can't all be negative.
for me, i can remember some great people, some do's some co's some elders, some pioneers some just plain ol' publishers like me.
come on everyone.......dig deep now.....
Scooby,
Of course we all have some good memories about being a JW, just as an ex-Catholic, ex-Baptist, ex-Muslim or whatever would have some happy memories. But these are memories everyone has in general about their childhood etc. None of my happy memories are directly connected to the fact I was a JW. They are connected to my children growing up, their friends, my family, get-togethers, parties, holidays etc. These are memories people have the world over. I would have had these good times even if I hadn't been a JW. Being a JW did not increase my happiness, increase my circle of friends or increase my self-worth.
The people in the organisation are basically sound. I made many friends - I have also made a few enemies due to the fact that I speak my mind. I know I shouldn't, but I have this urge to open my mouth and speak sometimes, even though I am a woman Outrageous, isn't it!!
The overwhelming feeling I get when I think of the WTS is unhappiness. Sorry - but that's the way it is. I am definitely on my way out.
Terri
.
for those of us who had a lifetime of trying to do it right under all kinds of very difficult tests of faith while imperfect,how do you think jesus would of done if he had to be tested for a lifetime of say 70 or 80 years and not just three and a half years.. what if you had only three and a half years to prove faithful knowing that in just three days after you died you would live again in heaven and would that have been easier than having to spend a lifetime trying to be faithful through all the years of 70 or 80 yrs.. just asking,it's something that i was thinking about today.. blueblades
Didn't Jesus have a head-start? He was perfect! How unfair was that?
If I was made perfect, I'm sure I could remain faithful for 60 or 70 years, let alone 3 and a half.
To make it fairer, Jesus should have been a real, ordinary, imperfect man. God should have taken away his perfection. He should have been prone to illness, depression, financial stress etc. Then I wonder if he would have stuck it out up to the point of death?
You cannot compare Jesus with us ordinary mortals who live horrible, crappy lives, plagued by illness, worry, stress, no money, bills up to the eyeballs etc. To stay faithful under these conditions would really mean something.
Terri
the other night i'm in bed trying to fall asleep with my tornado of thoughts swirling this way and that and for no apparent reason i started to have an anxiety attack thinking about death.
it was easy to accept so many things about death when you believed it's never going to happen or that if it does i'll be back..just like arnold.. when i speak to non-dubs they don't seem to experience it as much because death has always been an accepted part of life to them.. i can't go back to thinking like a dub and i admit i'm a non-bible believer now and not even sure about the existence of god..at least not the biblical one.
so i guess i can only look forward to a long healthy life and hope that the last thing i see before i die is the face of my daughter holding her grandchild.. have many of you had this anxiety attack after leaving the borg?.
When I was a kid I was pretty morbid and thought about death quite a bit for a young 'un. It mainly started after my dad died when I was 9.
When I became a JW I was so happy to have the answers I had been looking for. I stopped fearing death.
Since I started to draw away from the WTS, I am back to the way I was as a child. I think about death a lot. I don't mean to - the thoughts just creep into my head. I wish I knew the answers to all my questions. I get down about it quite a lot. I feel as if I have lost something. As a JW, I thought I knew why I was here and where I was going. Now I just don't know any more and I feel on edge most of the time.
Terri
let's do some speculative thinking about the watchtower's future!.
suppose some holes are legally poked thru the watchtower's actions on disfellowshipping,.
whether in the us or other countries.
This is something I have often thought about.
There are so many laws now to protect the individual, can't the WTS be done for a breach of human rights or something?
Putting pressure on others not to associate with friends or family members has got to be a breach of something.
Also, making an announcement in front of 100 or so people that 'so-and-so' has been DFd or DAd seems to be bordering on defamation of character to me. Can't this be construed as slander?
There has to be a way to stop the WTS using this horrible practice. It causes so much harm and I have seen the damage it does.
Terri
