so i woke up this morning and feel really crummy, i don't know whats wrong but i feel like crying.
what the heck is wrong with me?
you know do you have days when you wake up and feel an overwhelming sadness wash over you, or feel like you are kind of empty?.
like this: me and my disfellowshipped brother the day of his wedding. two of the happiest ex-JWs on the planet, that day.
as a devout jehovah's witness, mrs. merle is prohibited from celebrating her birthday.
but a week from tomorrow, relatives and friends will flock to the camoset village country living mobile home park in johnstown to attend a super bowl party that just happens to feature ice cream and cake.. "that's why we're calling it a super bowl party," explained her son bob merle, 73, who lives just five trailers down the road.
"we don't celebrate birthdays, but we have to celebrate 100 years," said mrs. mechem, 78.
Me, if I were in the company of a centenarian and they wanted to smoke a cigar and dance naked across the rooftops, who am I to say no?
ahahahahaha! thanks for the visual!!
if you haven't already, please read the thread richie's elders: deaf?
dumb?
if you haven't read it, you won't get the following.. so last wednsday night, after the fine spiritual feast prepared by the governing body and delivered by their "spirit appointed" waiters, i was approached by an one of the brothers who served on my judicial committee.
It reminds me of how I was once counseled by an elder at Bethel for smiling too much.
Smiling too much? Do tell...how was smiling too much a bad thing?
are people excited by anything in the organization?
are they tired?
mostly missing?
I swear, I hate the word 'zeal' because of hearing it so much as a kid. I've got your zeal right here! I think it's funny that when I was a kid, my siblings and I had to be barfing up a lung to be able to miss a meeting, and then we had to lie in bed and read literature! now, I call my parents on a Tuesday or Thursday night without thinking (that is such a lovely feeling, to no longer hate Tuesdays and Thursdays!), and my first question is, "What are you guys doing home?" They listen by speakerphone instead of going to the meetings. What kind of a joke is that? They count field service by calling and sending letters. They basically never leave the house, anymore. *shudder* so glad I got away!
not all that post here threw the bible and the bible god out the window when they exited the dubs, but many have.. for me personally, i never doubted god or the bibles authenticity untill years later when i began doing a re-search on the bible canon and how it was formed.
from there, i began looking at the sceptics view of the bible and it's god which then changed my views.. i guess my question is, why did you ( those who disbelieved god/bible upon exiting the dubs)... throw god and the bible out the window before you had re-searched it enough to make you believe contrary?
if all you really knew was that the wtbts was bunk, what made you feel the bible and it's god was bunk too?.
oh, I spent my last year at home tearin' up (as in 'reading voraciously and taking notes') the Aid book and the Concordance. then I went to the library and started reading all the books on religion. what I learned made me laugh out loud in the library! it's no more creator-ordained than my last journal entry! where's the dinosaurs? where's the Native Americans? about that time, I started inviting the Mormons in when they called, so I could practice debating. oh, my parents thought I was finding my zeal! um, yeah, but not for what you think!
I don't believe in the bible, and I'm okay with that. although my favorite scripture is still Jeremiah 25:27, for obvious reasons (hi, I'm five).
one time I did this guy's taxes, and he got a huge refund because he hadn't done them in three years, and he was SO happy, he offered me a quarter of KB! his roommate is the guy who wrote the marijuana rule book. I love this place!
i went to the circuit assembly last weekend.
we went up friday, so we could have some time to chill before the assembly saturday and sunday.
our "christian convoy" happened to include a very nice family that is new to our congregation.
I admire your willingness to speak up and engage people in worthwhile conversations that make them think. You never know, you may have "planted a seed". Go Richie!!
according to our new co, elders nor their children are allowed to go to college.
my dad is being deleted.
evidently new material was presented at the elder school.
There is an elder's daughter in Olathe, KS, who is going to KU for a four-year degree in Computer Engineering. I wonder if she'll have to quit, now. maybe that'll finally wake her up to the fact that you can't be both a "good" JW and live a "normal" life.
I keep getting this urge to go to a meeting, introduce myself but not mention that I was ever affiliated. I want to see if I describe my lifestyle (going to college, supporting the local music scene, married but to a worldly guy), if they'd still tell me I'd need to change to fit in. Oh, who am I kidding? Even if they said it was all okay, I wouldn't join. Their basic tenets are full of crap.
auld soul posted about a mirror site at www.reexamine.org/quotes/index.htm and so i checked it out.
i went onto the homepage www.reexamine.org and surfed around a bit and clicked onto the "community portal" and found a download section: .
http://www.reexamine.org/index.php/reexamine:community_portal:publication_downloads:secret_publications .
that Custody brochure is a TRIP!!
These are questions directed to the non-Witness parent:
Child's freedom of choice:
•Do you object to your child being exposed to
different viewpoints? Religious viewpoints?
•Do you object to the school teaching children about
different nations/cultures and their religions?
•Do you object to your children learning about the
religious viewpoints of their friends and their
friends' families?
•Do you want to prevent your children from learning
about their other parent's views?
•Does your spouse prevent the children from
knowing about your religious views?
•Why do you want to stop the children from learning
about his/hers?
•How can a child be allowed to choose his/her own
religious persuasion unless he/she is exposed to
his/her parents' religious choices?
•Do you love your children only so long as they are
in your religion?
• Will you still love your children if they become
Catholics, Jews, members of the United Church,
Mormons, or Jehovah's Witnesses?
Especially this one:
•Should your children be allowed to choose which
religion they wish to follow?
Funny thing, if these questions were directed at the Witness parent, how they'd squirm in their seat!
