the january 15th wt, "can you control your future" is the prelude to the feb 1st watchtower that contains the 2004 annual service report statistics.. .
in the second study article (pages 15-20), the gb acknowledge the fact that people aren't paying attention to their waffle.. .
there are some surprising statements in the last paragraph, but first, let's highlight some points in this article.... .
I don't really buy it that the decrease is only 3%. It's probably much bigger. 3% is a nice figure for giving existing believers a big guilt trip, any bigger number than that would just bring the morale down too much and make people start wondering.
They don't need to be honest about this--who checks it to make sure it's correct? They haven't been honest about anything else, so why believe this?
englishman had his op today and all is going according to plan.
he's feeling woozy and sore tonight, but hopefully that will pass in a day or so.
chris says he will probably have to stay in for about a week, but no doubt he will be posting if he can get hold of a laptop.
BEST WISHES EMAN 4A QUICK RECOVERY!!!
Yes! Get well!
i am so glad that i found this site.
i have been reading these posts and they have made me feel so much better.
my family was "in the truth" when i was little, and i feel like i really had a messed up child hood.
Welcome!
wow, where to start?
well a couple of months ago, when i went to the assembly, seeing my sisters all skinny, and then going to bed bath & beyond and stepping on a scale....triggered me.
i felt so crappy.
that's great, jwbot! good to hear you are feeling better and school and everything is going ok. sorry about your sisters, maybe you being the strong one can give her a little courage.
I'm sorry for your loss, badboy.
bit of background.
i grew up as a jw i left the church when i was 14 because a ministerial servant who was conducting a one on one baptism study with me said that i couldn't ballance my dreams of being a professional singer with the so called "truth".
i stopped the study and told my mom i no longer wanted to be a witness.
I was so relieved and delighted to find out it wasn't for real. I always expected I would die at Armageddon because I never really gave it everything I had. I'm so glad I didn't or I would probably still believe it. Then I was really angry that my whole life was screwed up by a bunch of lies. Still kinda pissed about that... but I think I have come around mostly to acceptance. These things happen. This isn't the only cult out there, and even mainstream religions can be pretty bad for people.
I'm just so glad I found out.
mentions millerites...but no jw's...darn it.
op-ed columnist apocalypse (almost) now.
by nicholas d. kristof.
Interestingly, it's currently the #1 most emailed article in the NY times.
I didn't know the left behind series was all about that... somebody at work gave the book to me, but it ended up in the dumpster before I bothered to read any of it. I don't know if this person who gave it to me really realizes the message in that book, because when she is doing her Christianity marketing on me, she says the complete opposite. How lame. My respect for her just went down a notch.
i felt it hypocritical to take a turkey abviously meant for thanksgiving.
i didn't like buying the easter candy after easter either as it was "food sacrificed to idols".. years ago at a place i worked they gave out a xmas bonus which i returned.
( a few hundred dollars which we sure could have used) they assured me that it was an "end of the year" bonus.
I didn't think it was too big of a deal to take that stuff. I know some witnesses who wouldn't cook a turkey on thanksgiving but maybe the next day. They can go to work on thanksgiving and christmas if they really want to be considered good christians, instead of staying home and enjoying the day off, as the "world" does.
my husband and i amuse each other with recollections of the "spiritual" language, sometimes with tears of laughter.
we sometimes gasp at the thought we took all that stuff so seriously for nearly 40 and 33 years.
every meeting, we had to be there, listening to the demands for obedience, loyalty,and submission.
I'm appalled that I ever believed every damn thing they told me.... how stupid of me!
Welcome Wizedup, I just love the name you picked for this forum!
she has cancer and is not expected to live.
she properbly has only a short time to live.
how sad!
I'm very sorry.
