a new montra that was recently adopted by the wife and i is this:.
dont give them more power than they deserve.. here's why i say that, and i point this to those of you still in the congregation, still trying to decide what you want to do.. recently, our family had a little family reunion gathering of sorts, and we were in the company of some extended family that were either df or da, to varying degrees.
we made it very clear, to any and all in attendance, that we wanted to be respectful and kind, despite any previous perceptions about our "status".... and that our feelings on a lot of things had "softened", and "changed" over the last 2 years.. i am being purposefully slightly vague, but i think you get the point.
The more recognition and acknowledgement members give the elders the more they believe it. Therefore, my point of view is to do the complete opposite. The more prestigious the title the less I think of you. I treat the lowliest friends as if they were royalty.
"Power wears out those who don't have it."
~ Giulio Andreotti (1919 - 2013)
in a separate thread on the very latest figures for the current world wide annual report of jws, discussion turned to how "we'll know decline has really set in.
one of the posters said: .
the figure that interests me most is the number of congregations.
In my part of the country you had (South East U.S.) quite a few congregations perhaps around 10 form out of 1 in about 23 years or so.
The JW's are opportunistic weasels that wait for people to experience hardships and tragedy in order to give false hope into joining their cult. And while they received free, they don't give free. Then enslave you, condition you, and program you to do their bidding. Sorry had to vent a bit. I'm finished.
hello first of all to those that remember me.
i'm doing well, 10 years since my missionary trip to cameroon.
i've met a couple of goals.
"They do read up on the Internet. Being a JW used to have real purpose and identity, now, more of the West goes to the KH the same way others go to church. Friends and family are there, and the rest is just window dressing."
This is becoming true more and more everyday. God bless Tim Berners-Lee and MIT's J.R. Licklider.
comments have been made suggesting that records about child molesters within the watchtower society are held in congregation files indefinitely.
what would your understanding be on this subject after reading the statement below?.
.. "letter should be sent within one week.
Thanks Atlantis, and WiFiBandit.
does anybody have any tips for conversation starters to covertly feel out someone in the cong that you suspect is a "knower" about ttat?.
any success or experiences to share?.
There really is no way of knowing by looking at someone. The way I can personally tell is by engaging different people with different topics and start mentioning things like 'new light' and arrangements that seem odd, etc. and then ask for their opinion. Of course if the person you are talking to is a die-hard JW they may turn you in but if they respect you enough to keep the convo to themselves then go ahead and give it a whirl.
I've never encountered someone who directly said something contrary to the newest teachings or arrangements. But I know of some brothers by having talked with them that they have reservations regarding certain arrangements and teachings.
prologue... .
a brief precursor about myself.
i've been lurking around for almost 2 years.
A very big welcome YinzerDad!
Your story mirrors mine and many, many members here.
We cannot get back our childhood. Even in JW promised Paradise, we cannot revert back to childhood and experience those little things and like you point out, the ability to become passionate about something that leads us to something bigger and better in life.
I look back at my childhood and Mom was the classic uneducated, struggling, and miserable person which is exactly what the JW's look for. The vulnerable! And therefore, I join you in regretting the fact that I was never afforded a truly free and normal childhood. Those that are on the outside looking in cannot possibly understand but you sum it up nicely when you write:
"What I can't get back is my childlike ability to imagine what I want to be when I grow up. Because that's what kids do. And it is a fundamental point in childhood development because that's when you develop a passion for something. It could be a passion for leadership, for sports... something. I was never afforded the opportunity to do that. Because the end was nigh."
I feel your pain Yinzer, I and many of us here. And I, like you also attended college. Hang in there. And live life. Live everyday like it's your last day. Live it for yourself. And live it for those that never got the opportunity to do so.
T.
thinking about life in general reflecting on the abundance of life on this planet , it became obvious to me that every living thing , those flying in the heavens ,living on the earth , or existing in the oceans , is all possible for one reason , and one reason only.. every living thing exists at the expense of the death of some other living thing , life and death go hand in hand.. the same is true even in the microscopic world .. every living thing feeds off some other unfortunate living thing.that`s nature at its most basic observation , but true.. what the noachian flood story overlooks is the vast amount of living marine life that existed and flourished and not influenced or affected by what supposedly went on , on land.. 99.9 % of all living creatures if not 100% live by the death of some other living creature and the same would have to be true in the garden of eden if it was to have existed in the first place .. no thing can live if it does not devour some other living thing .
a fact of life .. apologists are welcome to support god , by suggesting miraculous interventions by god that have no scriptual basis.
i guess any nature video of the animal kingdom , marine life in the oceans , or videos of the bird life , as in nature series should make this clear .. smiddy.
From a June 1, 2015 ScienceDaily.com article:
"In the beginning, there were simple chemicals. And they produced amino acids that eventually became the proteins necessary to create single cells. And the single cells became plants and animals. Recent research is revealing how the primordial soup created the amino acid building blocks, and there is widespread scientific consensus on the evolution from the first cell into plants and animals. But it's still a mystery how the building blocks were first assembled into the proteins that formed the machinery of all cells."
it's been a while since she's posted.
i'm hoping she's ok.. for those who are new here mouthy (grace) is our forum's adopted grandma.
she has been posting here since the beginning.
will soon be discussing w/ somebody still in about that.
i want to make sure i am not missing anything good.
so any scriptures, articles whether wt articles or secular about effects of shunning, etc, or your arguments against how wt interprets their scriptures, etc.
I've always wondered how Jesus could be so forgiving, so loving, so comforting, although he did say some things that were questionably mean (pearls before swine) and yet, Jehovah allowed rape, killing of children, and Paul would be unloving by isolating people from their own families which equates to mental anguish and abuse.
