franklin J

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Posts by franklin J

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  91

  My Brother Died Today

  by Blueblades in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  i consider all who post here as my family.we have all been hurt in some way.my brother died today.. blueblades,who has six sisters left.mom,dad,one sister and two brothers died.i'm the only man in the family now.

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  franklin J

  Blueblades,

  My condolences are with you. I am sorry for your loss

  Sincerely, Frank
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  14

  What books did you study?

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  before you got baptized, what were the books that you studied with your bible study conductor?

  the "essential" one that i studied was the live forever book.

  when i was a child, i had to study my book of bible stories, great teacher, and your youth (twice).

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  franklin J

  does anyone remember the old "Paradise lost" book? Big, orange with lots of picures?

  Frank
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  14

  Are you happy with your last salary increase?

  by BeelzeDub in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  working in the it industry pay increases have been historicly good.

  this weeks computerword www.computerworld.com has an piece on the salary squeeze.

  for my job the average increase nationwide is 2%.

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  franklin J

  no
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  25

  Have you been able to make up for the lost years?

  by woodland in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i feel that my education was stunted due to the jw belief that education is not important.

  as a result i have not been able to follow my dreams, or follow the career i?m sure i was put on this earth to do.

  does anyone else feel this way?

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  franklin J

  hi woodland,

  Yes, the picture is me ( who is Bono?) and is within the past year.

  My parents, although JWs, and dad was an Elder, did encourage me to higher education, if that is what I wanted. Dad was an Engineer, and he took some criticisizm from the local Elders for his encouragement of Higher Education. I had a particularly hard time due to the fact that I was a full time pioneer since age 17. I have come to the conclusion at this phase of my life ( 47 and counting) that education is very valuable at any age, and I continue to try and increase my continuing education. The real problem is that as we get older and our "real" responsiblities, like paying a mortgage and raising a family, tend to dominate our lives and pursuing an education and a career becomes that much harder. I know many who are living through this and it is not easy. I fault the JW belief for not promoting education; obviously they know they will lose much of the following . As one person told me early on" this is not a religion for inteligent people who can think for themselves". And I apologize to any one posting here who may be offended by that comment, but in my experience there is truth in that statement.

  Frank
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  25

  Have you been able to make up for the lost years?

  by woodland in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i feel that my education was stunted due to the jw belief that education is not important.

  as a result i have not been able to follow my dreams, or follow the career i?m sure i was put on this earth to do.

  does anyone else feel this way?

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  franklin J

  Woodland,

  I think this is a sore subject for many.

  Personally, I have tried to recapture some of those "lost" years and experiences. I would like to think that it is never too late.

  In my case, I was raised in the Truth, and started to fade at age 21, when I decided that I wanted to study architecture and go to college. By the time college ended 5 years later, I was 26 and was fully OUT the door. ( RUN ! RUN! and don't look back!) In that sense, I am lucky to have accomplished that much. The real test came later when I tried to assimilate myself in the real world; not so easy.

  I realized that I had grown up in an insulated vacuum, of sorts; a rarified sheltered world of Pioneering, ministerial servant responsibilities and Eldership as the ultimate goal. This was all "out the window" and I was not able to cope with the real world and real responsiblities. It took 2 years of therapy and deprogramming to ease the transition; and several more years for the fog to lift. I had th ehelp of many good "worldly" friends.

  There are others who woke up years later, and blame their devotion to the "Truth" of robbing them of a direction in life. I cannot blame them for feeling bitter or resentful, I would feel the same. But life goes on and is worth living and pursuing ( at any age) a dream. An open mind and willingness to proceed is all that is required....

  Frank
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  16

  JW's at my door

  by Dawn in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i got a visit at my house .

  well - i asked them a few questions they couldn't answer - so they're going to do some research and come back.

  they did offer me a free home bible study (cool - free!!

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  franklin J

  Dawn,

  Have fun with it...( way to go!!)

  But in my experience, knowing the mindset that they have at your door; in their minds they will always be right, and you will always be wrong.

  Frank
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  41

  Att: ex-Elders and Their Kids: Did You Really Have a Regular Family Study?

  by Room 215 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  friends, this is a sort of poll, directed mainly at -- but not limited to --ex-elders, their wives and kids.

  it was my impression that, with the possible exception of meaningful personal prayer, the other aspect of the idealized, exemplary jw lifestyle that was portrayed at the assemblies and at meetings-- the regular, weekly family bible study -- was the one most neglected.

  it seemed to be something the ``other" spiritual family did and the one thing we constantly agreed we ``needed to work on.".

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  franklin J

  My dad was an elder, and we had our "family" watchtower preparation regularly on monday evenings. It was expected that we would prepare and comment at the Sunday Watchtower study. It was a real treat when I got to invite a buddy over to prepare with us. ( UGH! In hindsite, we would have had so much more fun going out drinking!!!) We also went out in " The field service " every saturday morning, as a "family".

  My parents, irrespective of the watchtower teachings, believed and instilled in me and my 2 sisters, the meaning of family unity. Now that I am a parent, I recognize how important that unity is.

  I credit my parents with teaching me good values, not the WTBTS

  Frank
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  6

  Jesus Actor Struck By Lightning

  by DevonMcBride in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how bizarre.

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3209223.stm.

  jesus actor struck by lightning.

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  franklin J

  sounds like a great publicity stunt to me
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  9

  Secret To Life

  by Paradise Found in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to me it seems the highest form of life is to find something you love and give your life to it.. with me its beer, music and painting.. but the things i love have given me everything.

  freedom, peace, success in my profession as an artist.

  finally and most importantly 12 years of marriage.. what are the things you love ?

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  franklin J

  Paradise Found,

  I agree with your thinking. The items you speak of have also brought me much fullfillment ( beats going door to door) and I might also add, my children have been the "icing on the cake" in my life. Having them here is the greatest high. As Mega Dude says in his post, different people might have different "truths". I do believe this is an accurate observation.

  Frank
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  51

  Would You Rather Be Told The Truth Or Not?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you wanted to know something that ultimately could hurt you or make you confronted with something that you would never forget (no matter how much you tried), would you still want to know?

  or would you rather just not know certain things??

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  franklin J

  FACT:

  "you will learn the truth; and the truth shall set you free"...like it or not, I think most of us on this board have learned the truth.