From my experience, not all about me:
Hair too long
Suit too gold, wrong color, style issue
Buttons/broaches too shiny
Hair wrong color
Didn't shave before meeting
Must wear suit jacket even in 100 degree weather out in service
couple of weeks ago an elder took a young man aside and crawled all over him after the tms for wearing a "skinny" tie.
it was one of those 2 inch wide ties.
nothing bright or scandalous about.
From my experience, not all about me:
Hair too long
Suit too gold, wrong color, style issue
Buttons/broaches too shiny
Hair wrong color
Didn't shave before meeting
Must wear suit jacket even in 100 degree weather out in service
from an informant who contacted atlantis:.
.. i consent to my relevant medical records and the details of my condition being shared with.
the emergency contact below and/or with member(s) of the hospital liaison committee.
ok, so....does everyone who has ever been born, and lived on this planet called earth....get ressurected?.
doesnt that sound like pissin in the wind?.
destroy everyone......just to bring em back......to destroy them again....... seems like a neverending cycle..
Ha, I've thought about this. When someone dies, from Leonard Nimoy to their cousin twice removed named Bert, they always look forward to seeing them in paradise. I even saw a post on a JW forum the other day where a person quoted the scripture that Jehovah will satisfy the desire of every living thing and they wanted to see cousin Bert, so therefore they were sure of them being resurrected. I remember making fun of worldly people and how they thought everyone went to heaven at any funeral. JWs think everyone will be resurrected, so what's the difference?
I do still believe in such hopes, but I no longer stand by any side of things. I'll let Jehovah sort it out. Not my circus to manage.
i have very recently come out of a bout of severe depression which lasted for years.
i have ginormous underlying issues which i hardly talk about, especially to my family.. today my sister came in, wanting to force me to do something she wanted.
her strategy was to make me feel bad for feeling bad, just to show me that my problem (which she has no idea of but thinks she does) wasn't the biggest in the world.
I went through a really bad period with depression, suicidal thoughts, all of that fun stuff. One thing I've learned since is to see people for their intentions. Telling you that others have it worse is a poorly executed plan for a good intention. They're trying to help the only way they know how. Comparison is something that we all do in this culture.
With that said, it isn't effective. Try going into the breat cancer ward and telling them that the people down the hall have more deadly pancreatic cancer. That's not cheering anyone up.
Personally, I hope that you can open up about whatever you're dealing with. I found solace in a podcast called The Mental Illness Happy Hour. That is one eye opening show. I don't use it for comparison, but it gave me a new perspective on the baggage that so many of us carry. It helps many to hear similar stories and to know that they're not alone. When you bring things out in the light it is hard to stay in the darkness.
Best wishes. I hope thar you find a ladder out of the darkness.
i've watched the reaction to the nepal disaster for the first time with eyes opened.
lots of comments about praying for the brothers and sisters affected.
the official release on the website references only the sister and her two children that died, along with the impact on the brothers there.
from the perspective of the jehovah's witnesses public witnessing cart.
a family put this skit on for going away party for our missionary family.
[ i can just imagine what the villagers are going to say about the crazy missionary gringo and his cart.
Did they just boo the one black guy in the skit? Lol. Why does he have to be the ne'er do well in the production. Maybe I'm wrong on the color of the skin in the video, but if not......
If nothing else, that whole thing is embarrassing. Just hokey and ridiculous.
my zealously fanatic jw mum is aware of my current "tourist-jw" life.
what she doesn't know for sure is that she's part of the ones who brought me to this.. my mum was a quite moderate jw, she even got publically reproved once.
in our house, there was no daily text, no family study, no eating together, no preaching together, no watchtower study...even though she regularly checked my wt to see if i studied it.. being a single mother, she had a quite busy work schedule, so from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to bed, you'd better not waste a single minute of her time needlessly.
I feel for you TIAT. Not in the second act portion of life where family now has any control over my wife or I, but in that I watched the dog and pony show often. My dad was an elder and gave talks about happy family life as all of his kids, and even his wife, rolled their eyes. He was full of crap up there. He did the same on assembly parts. My mom has even left the auditorium during his parts.
As a young person I was a great example in the congregation. I was therefore asked to do several parts. I distinctly remember that if my answers to whatever questions I was asked in the interviews wasn't good enough, I would be coached into giving better answers. You know, not truthful ones, but ones that set a higher standard. My wife was on parts as a kid, and she too had her stories massaged to be more than what they were.
So, it doesn't surprise me one bit that anyone would lie around the circuit or on any part. Happens all of the time. It is easier to lie in that way because the lies are often things that you feel guilty about. Your mom probably felt bad on some level that she didn't study and such with you, and she intended to, so that's all that counts. In her mind, she probably did at this point because she can't bear the shame of not having done so. How sad that all of that is put on everyone to the point of shame that motivates one to tell revisionist stories.
I believe very little of any personal experiences given from any stage. I assume most to be exaggerations at least, outright lies at most.
i was thinking of starting a topic on thoughts that go through your mind while attending meetings.... right now i am at the meeting and thinking ... we study about jesus's courage to stand by rightness and truth, about him getting in conflict with religious leaders who thought of themselves as experts of the law, jesus understood truth and god differently of them and he had the courage to speak out!.
so we study this, but after that we draw the concluzion that courage is to go preaching and identify yourself as a witness .... well, this in not what i understand from jesus's courage!.
back in the day, when my family moved to a new congregation, i fell head over heels with a young sister who was an elder's daughter.
it wasn't long before we were talking about marriage and i was contemplating buying her an engagement ring.
my parents were not happy at all.
Funny the things I accepted back then that now make my stomach turn. I read this to my wife, and she said that her father told her the story recanted earlier by Joe and Faye. He was trying to get her to test me. I would have passed with flying colors back then.
A person I know had a young sister that he was dating and she inquired of the elders about him, and they told her family that they wouldn't let their daughter marry him. Yeah, he had some issues in life, but at least he was real about them. They were more mental issues than anything, and I don't think it should be up to them to decide who is or isn't worthy of a marriage mate. After all, many of those same elders live in absolutely miserable marriages like the one I grew up watching. Not the person I want marriage advice from.
you know, i always maintained that during this fading process, and while learning ttatt, i would not let myself get "bitter twisted and angry".... but, in all honesty, if i examine myself, i have become quite bitter toward the org, toward the false friends and the gb.. i have become angry as i see the extent of damage i feel being raised in "the truth" has done.... i feel hurt towards the lost opportunities in life etc.... how do i not allow myself to get too swallowed up by such bitterness?.
i have always been a very happy, positive, selfless person.
i can put people at ease, i am someone people feel comfortable chatting to.