Posts by somebodylovesme

14

Reasoning behind no "God Bless You!" when sneezing

by kristyann in

jw
friends

what, exactly, is the reasoning behind jws not being allowed to say "god bless you!

" after someone sneezes.

i remember going to my boyfriend's house and no one said it and i thought it was just plain rude... but they are rude people in every other regard, anyway.

somebodylovesme

I say, "Gesundheit!" ... which just means good health. It's half habit, half a way of saying, "Hope you're not getting sick." Of course, sneezing doesn't mean you're always getting sick ... but I hate having drippy icky colds where I'm sneezing all the time. :(

30

JW Children, Holidays, and Memories

by somebodylovesme in

my husband and i were walking through the store today and we passed a display of valentines -- you know, the kind that school kids buy and exchange in the classroom.

i paused and glanced them over, remembering how much i used to love holidays at school.

(husband is an inactive/faded jw; i was never one.

somebodylovesme

Poppers ... That is such a great idea!!

Okay. I think I'm definitely going to do that. Might make some homemade ones with construction paper and everything ...

thank you!

30

JW Children, Holidays, and Memories

by somebodylovesme in

my husband and i were walking through the store today and we passed a display of valentines -- you know, the kind that school kids buy and exchange in the classroom.

i paused and glanced them over, remembering how much i used to love holidays at school.

(husband is an inactive/faded jw; i was never one.

somebodylovesme

Damselfly - Normalcy (or at least the appearance of it) is so important to kids. Even though I know that my husband turned out happy and well-adjusted, and that I probably hold more bitterness than he does over it, I still ache for all the kids who were denied those little tokens of friendship and belonging.

Meems - Sometimes I want to make a shirt that says, "Pagans have more fun," and wear it around town ...

Juni - I still remember seeing this almost childish light in my husband's eyes on the first Christmas he ever celebrated. We visited my family, and he wasn't too excited about it (he never really got the appeal of it), but man ... by the end of the holiday, he was glowing. At least you have fun with the holidays -- and more importantly, are able to share them -- now.

30

JW Children, Holidays, and Memories

by somebodylovesme in

my husband and i were walking through the store today and we passed a display of valentines -- you know, the kind that school kids buy and exchange in the classroom.

i paused and glanced them over, remembering how much i used to love holidays at school.

(husband is an inactive/faded jw; i was never one.

somebodylovesme

My husband and I were walking through the store today and we passed a display of Valentines -- you know, the kind that school kids buy and exchange in the classroom. I paused and glanced them over, remembering how much I used to love holidays at school. (Husband is an inactive/faded JW; I was never one.) I made a comment about the cards and we kept walking.

A minute later, my husband told me that he actually used to get lots of Valentines in elementary school, even though he was a Witness. He never gave any, of course, but his friends and classmates always gave him one. I asked what he did with the cards, and he shrugged. He said that since he couldn't take them home -- his parents would have a fit, of course -- that he hid them in his desk at school under his books. He would look at them from time to time at school, and then at the end of the year, he would have to throw them away.

For some reason, his story just hit me, and (being the sap that I am) I got all teary-eyed right in the middle of the store. I could just picture him, seven or eight years old, sneaking a peek at a Valentine under his math book -- and how wrong it is that parents would forbid their child to receive a note of friendship from classmates. That he had to hide them. That he had to throw away those mementos before summer vacation. That it had to be a secret.

I just wanted to share that. Anyone else have any holiday stories from their days as a Dub child?

SLM

2

Religious Groups Get Chunk of AIDS Money

by sf in

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060129/ap_on_he_me/aids_prevention

by rita beamish 1 hour, 54 minutes ago

president bush's $15 billion effort to fight aids has handed out nearly one-quarter of its grants to religious groups, and officials are aggressively pursuing new church partners that often emphasize disease prevention through abstinence and fidelity over condom use.. award recipients include a christian relief organization famous for its televised appeals to feed hungry children, a well-known catholic charity and a group run by the son of evangelist billy graham, according to the state department.. the outreach to nontraditional aids players comes in the midst of a debate over how best to prevent the spread of hiv, the virus that causes aids.

somebodylovesme

I volunteer at a local (American) AIDS service organization. We cover prevention, testing, counseling, support, and direct care. Most of our budget comes from donations, although we do get an (ever shrinking) amount of federal funding through Ryan White.

Last year, the staff tried to get the area churches to help us with one of our biggest fundraisers. We were looking for donations, participants, a helpful word ... anything. This isn't a huge city, but it's far from a small town. Our staff contacted dozens of churches. Do you know how many would help?

One. One church in our community would help out with a program that raises money to provide food and medical services to people living with HIV/AIDS in our city. The others, I guess, were too busy preaching "abstinence" rather than following Jesus's example and helping the sick. (And that one church was not the Kingdom Hall.)

I hope that those who take this money use it to take care of people, and not to preach at them. I hope that our leaders come to realize that HIV transmission is a complex problem that cannot be solved by screaming, "STOP!!" at school children. I hope that we can develop policies in the future that are not rabidly heterosexist. (How does "no sex until marriage" work if you won't allow all of your citizens to get married?!) I hope that we can develop a message of safety and responsibility rather than fear and punitive moralism.

I wish people didn't have to die because of other people's ideologies.

Many more thoughts, but they're scattered in my head, so I'll leave it at that.

SLM

25

Why do you accept ancient religions?

by free2beme in

jw
friends

back hundreds of years ago, people actually blamed illness on bad spirits and even believed in bleeding people to cure illnesses.

people would also use leaches on people to get the blood out.

doctors on the battlefield did not do something as common as washing their hands between patients, to avoid spreading infection and disease.

somebodylovesme

Garybuss -- Can you tell us where that picture/copy came from? It's fascinating and I'd like to share it with some "faithful" friends ...

SLM

14

My No, Blood card

by ColdRedRain in

jw
friends

today at school, i saw a dub displaying her no blood card.

that gave me the idea to make a card that i can carry around in case, god forbid, i'm found unconcious and i need a blood transfusion, but i might be in the care of a jehovah's witness or if my hospital records show me as a jehovahs witness.

.

somebodylovesme

Oh my gosh, that is AWESOME!! Ha!!

I bet hubby will want that one now ...

SLM

14

My No, Blood card

by ColdRedRain in

jw
friends

today at school, i saw a dub displaying her no blood card.

that gave me the idea to make a card that i can carry around in case, god forbid, i'm found unconcious and i need a blood transfusion, but i might be in the care of a jehovah's witness or if my hospital records show me as a jehovahs witness.

.

somebodylovesme

This post really got me thinking, because if my husband and I were ever both incapacitated, then JW family members may be left to make medical decisions for us. Since hubby is a fader, I don't think they would think twice before saying, "Of course he doesn't want blood!" even though he hasn't carried a No Blood card for at least four years.

I like the card made above, and I stole some of the language to tailor my own. This is what I came up with, and I was wondering if I could get some feedback on it from anyone who knows more about these things ... There's no law in my state requiring certain language for advance directives, but there are requirements (two signatures plus have it notarized) to appoint a patient advocate -- someone to make decisions for you. I think spouses are automatically one's advocate, but I'm throwing it in there anyway to avoid any Terri Shiavo-like problems. So, here's my draft:

Living Will / Advance Medical Directive

I, [my name here], being of sound mind, submit this writing to be an expression of my consent to any necessary medical services if I should become incapacitated.

I authorize my husband, [husband’s name here], to make any and all medical decisions on my behalf. I hereby appoint him to be my Patient Advocate.

I hereby consent to receive blood transfusions. It is my express wish that if a transfusion or any blood products are needed, that I DO want them to be administered to me.

Please DO NOT allow any persons who currently adhere to the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses to refuse blood on my behalf. I do not follow their teachings. If I am unconscious or otherwise incapacitated and need a blood transfusion, I give my authority for any medical professional to provide a blood transfusion or any other necessary care to me.

Photocopies of this document, after it is signed and witnessed, shall have the same legal force as the original document.

I sign this document after careful consideration. I understand its meaning and I accept its consequences.

(signatures, etc)

... I realize that it's very redundant, but I don't want any mix-up or misinterpretation.

I'm going to run it by an attorney and then hubby and I will each carry copies on our person at all times.

Thanks for this post. I never would have thought to do this otherwise. Hopefully it'll never be an issue ... but there is no way either of us is going to do for a faith in which we do not believe.

SLM

7

TORT OF MISREPRESENTATION

by DazedAndConfused in

it is also stated on this same page (785):

2. jehovahs witnesses, blood transfusions and the tort of misrepresentation page 785.

i am not one for long posts but this time i felt this was important.

somebodylovesme

I haven't read the article and I'm not an attorney -- but I'm fairly confident that in the U.S., the Statute of Limitations has already passed for any civil claims stemming from misleading statements made prior to 1975. I think most time limits on tort actions (like fraud and libel) range from 1 to 5 years on average.

The way around that is to use the Discovery Rule, which states that the statute of limitations begins to run at the time you did or reasonably should have discovered the injury. In this case, though, it seems like the reasonable time to "discover" the injury would have been soon after 1975.

... and all of that is assuming the courts would go anywhere near a suit based on 1975 misrepresentations. I don't think they would, personally.

Just thoughts. I'll be interested to follow this whole saga ...

SLM

15

The Watchtower and Awake!Timely Journals of Truth?

by Rooster in

magazines that advocate truth.

3 jehovah is "the god of truth.

" (psalm 31:5) his word, the bible, is a book of truth.

somebodylovesme

The first time I read it I threw up, the same there after until I had tears in my eyes.

... Well, when I read the magazines, I feel nauseous, too ...