I was never asked if I did 'dedicate myself', but when I heard it being mentioned in the talk for my baptism, I remember sitting there quickly trying to say a silent prayer saying, "I do", but I didn't, so I guess I lied. I didn't have a clue what it really meant anyway. Give me your life, or else? That's what I felt.
Posts by 4JWY
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29DID YOU DEDICATE YOURSELF BEFORE BAPTISM OR DID YOU LIE?
by free2think ini was just wondering when you where going through the questions for baptism did you know you had to dedicate yourself to jehovah before hand or did you lie?.
i didn't know i had to so when i went through the questions i had to lie and say i had.
i always felt bad about it afterwards and quickly did a little prayer that night.
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Breaking the news to my family this week....if I can get up the nerve!!!
by Juniper inso, here's the deal....i've spent the last two years riding the 'inactive' train and it's gone pretty smoothly.
but it's gotten to the point where i have to tell my folks that i don't intend to ever go back.
i've been putting it off because i know my dad will want to hear exactly why i want to do this, and then (obviously) try and 'reason' with me to think otherwise.. i love my family a lot, but i can't lie to them anymore and continue to blame my lack of meeting attendance on fabricated excuses.. i'm trying to find a way to just say that i don't want to do it anymore without having it turn into a theological argument.
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4JWY
I told my dad point blank, "I'm not coming back" as he tried to encourage me to return after taking what he referred to as the "break from the meetings" he assumed my family and I had taken.
I explained that we are now using our own brains. God given if they be - meant to be activated individually.
Just as there are no two snowflakes alike, who I am, differs from who you are, personalities are unique.
No one will convince me I should take mine off and put on a homogenous one. Everyone finds their own truth.
All the best to you
4JWY
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4JWY
Thanks for the memories -
When i was a kid, we used to do the Morse code, between houses, out of our bedroom windows using flashlights at night to send messages to our friends. Lotsa fun.
Not that I know the Morse code, but we looked at our cheat sheet with the alphabet listed and did the dot, dot, dash, dot, dash, dot etc all night long.
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4JWY
Ha, new tactic I see ---- from the comments:
Had one of the witnesses come up to me at Barnes & Noble last night while I was reading a book on Buddhist philosophy. She gave me a bible and said, "you should really be reading this." I held up my book and said, "No thanks, it's against my religion." I knew she was from this group because she still had her name tag on.
So, who's up for hanging out at B & N, in the book aisles of philosophy, religion, psychology & self-help, romance novels, computer games, history, science (hell, the whole store for that matter) etc sections to do a little counter, or aisle witnessing of our own?
I'm sure many of them are lounging in the seating areas, with their Starbucks in one hand and WTS books in the other, waiting to pounce on us - of course, counting their time all the while in these cushy surroundings.
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What to do?
by adam1989 inive currently been dating a jw girl for aboit 10 months now.
i met her at college and eventually we started going out.
at first is was difficult with me it took her a while to open up to me especially with holding hands and kissing.
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4JWY
adam1989 -
I forgot to say - "Welcome!"
In the "Best of" section there are many threads dealing with your situation that I'm sure would help you:
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20
What to do?
by adam1989 inive currently been dating a jw girl for aboit 10 months now.
i met her at college and eventually we started going out.
at first is was difficult with me it took her a while to open up to me especially with holding hands and kissing.
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4JWY
....there are plenty more fish in the sea
Please, you are so young - JUMP in that sea and enjoy the beauty of life all around you. Get your education, grow, expand your interests, experience relationships.
Although I was that JW girl once, and hooked the worldly guy, got him to convert, raised kids in the cult together, it took us 25 years to come to our senses and do the release together back into the sea of a real life.
I might add - I had dated other 'worldly' guys, all hidden from friends/family which is very stressful. Some were lengthly relationships - in all cases, the guy's, like you, were agonizing over what to do when they realized the difficulties that would ensue if we continued on, and we'd break up. JW's are just in another place, it's a way of life, not a religion. To this day, as friends, I am in touch with a couple of these past flames, and were they surprised to hear that after 30 years, I am now out and free to be me.
Good Luck in making a decision.
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Honoring Last Wishes - JW Death
by 4JWY ini have a dear, long time friend who left the org along with her spouse and teens, about three years ago.
last week, her father, who had always been a sort of jw, died.
he left his final wishes in writing that he did not want a "memorial service" upon his death.. her brother, who is an elder, has convinced her that they will be having one anyway - of course at the kh.
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4JWY
Yes, madame's idea was pretty good. If I wasn't clear across the country from my friend and this situation, I would be inclined to follow through with it myself.
At my own jw mother's memorial, the PO was reading the list of the survivor's names, all of us who were seated directly in front of him. Everyone was acknowledged BUT the one 'worldly' relative present, my mom's sister. With much difficulty, I'd located her while she was on a cruise ship up in Alaska to inform her of mom's death, and she left her vacation to come to this KHell occasion.
I was fuming that he had conveniently omitted her, so after "Life Without End", I stepped up on the stage and informed him of his 'oversight'. The crowd was already dispersing and he had to step back to the microphone and inform everyone who the lady with the family was, my mom's sister! My aunt has never gotton over it - and I would say that memorial was a 'witness' that backfired.
Thanks again everyone for reminding me that I am sane in my now xdub thinking (imagine that - thinking!) on this subject of last wishes.
4JWY
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Door Sign keeps JW's away
by Wordly Andre inmy door sign actually keeps jws away!!
this past weekend while doing some house work i looked out of my front window because i saw shadows, i walked to the kitchen and looked out my side window, only to see two young brothers walking away.
one was about 19 and the other looked to be 14, i kind of wish they had actually knocked, im always prepared for them.
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4JWY
Ours reads:
Solicitors:
I do not ring your doorbell and impose my product or faith on you. Please show me the same courtesy.
Thank you.
(It is the only one that has stopped them short of ringing. The No Trespassing one with an artistic graphic of a video camera staring at them did not work.)
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Yeah, so I go to the meeting the other day
by JamieL inso i live in indiana, and we got a lot of snow the other day.
so i come home from work and it is really pretty bad out, but i've lived in indiana a long time and i've driven in snow and it's not hard you just need to be careful.
so i go to the meeting (yeah i'm dfd i told all you guys this).
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4JWY
"maybe I should just walk up to one of these punk kids and tell them to get real and be who they really are"
Jamie,
I think you should make this your mission and be sure to live by your own words too.
Don't waste any more time - I was raised in the box and wasted 42 years of my life in there, until finally listening to my own teenage son who was attempting to be real.
Life is a joy, the present is a gift - live it.
4JWY
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Honoring Last Wishes - JW Death
by 4JWY ini have a dear, long time friend who left the org along with her spouse and teens, about three years ago.
last week, her father, who had always been a sort of jw, died.
he left his final wishes in writing that he did not want a "memorial service" upon his death.. her brother, who is an elder, has convinced her that they will be having one anyway - of course at the kh.
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4JWY
That is how abusive people get their way, one of their methods at least. They make the people around them afraid to upset them. And we enable them by not speaking our minds, and not taking any stand out of fear of 'upsetting them'. Let them get upset, maybe they'll get tired of it eventually.
Exactly Hortensia. I shared some of my very strong feelings similar to this in an email to her, along with this quote I have posted on my fridge:
"Never for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions."
She sees herself as non-confrontational, the result of being raised to be 'Sarah-like', so she struggles with this in many areas. I hope one day she will be able to move beyond that.