Posts by Balsam

63

Today I seized the day...and disassociated myself

by carpediem in

jw
friends

and i feel good!

it was a long time coming.

i stopped going to meetings june 09. the reason i left it so long is because my husband is still in and for this reason i see witnesses from time to time.

Balsam

Congradulation I know it feels awesome when you finally decide enough is enough then you set yourself free at last.

64

Get the elders to leave me alone!!

by bottleofwater in

my dad read something online that i posted and told the other elders (he's the boe coord.).

they've read me articles about homosexuality and tried to coerce me to stay with the family instead of living with my uncle for a week.

i went to my uncle's anyway.

Your living with your parents, its their home your under their rules. Your 19 you have your own ideas and you need to be working on getting out on your own. Be respectful if your needing to return to your father's home, he pays the bills, he puts the roof over your head. I know your all ready to sprout wings and fly and live your life as you see fit but you can't do it and live with your Dad. You understand honey????

When I left my children's father my oldest son who was 18 continued to live with his JW Dad, he soon learned his Dad had rules for living there and he wasn't willing to follow any of them anymore. He was forced to move out and his Dad went on a campaign to bring him back to the fold or be df'ed. Fact was my son could not be himself at his Dad's house so he moved out. I hope you've got a job and do that too.

a Mom

3

Help with some eye opener links

by goman in

jw
friends

friends who email me occasionally.. what are the best internet sites that i could use to help open their eyes of understanding?

preferably, if i could copy and paste most of the words.. because of j.w.

lurkers i will not tell exactly when i'll email these to their brothers to keep them guessing.. thanks..

Balsam

Encourage them to read books like "1984" or watch the movie "V". Read biblical authors like Bart Erhman who explains how we came to have the form of Christianity we have today. Witnesses will be leary of web-sites if they think for a moment that so called apostates are on there. Some of the atheist sites can really cause some rethinking though if you want to recommend some of them.

http://www.bartdehrman.com/

http://atheistbiblestudy.freeforums.org/religious-discussion-f2.html

http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml8914.htm

22

I Don't Believe In God ...

by snowbird in

jw
friends

... said my very handsome 16-year old g'son.. he's the obama-look-alike whose drawings leave people in awe.. why doesn't that upset me?.

thanks to all who have let me know that it's ok to express disbelief in a creator.. syl.

Balsam

Something I'm proud of in my sons is that they continueously question, the cool thing is Juddaism encouraged questioning God. Be proud of him for his ability to reason & think for himself. At first I felt uncomfortable then I realized I'm the one who taught him to think out of the box after I left the witnesses.

Mom of two strong minded boys 27 and 22.

27

Summer Assembly and Botox

by GrandmaJones in

jw
friends

another no-no from the wt.

this was obviously some sort of manuscript talk, i was there and heard it at the st. louis assembly and asked around, and i know it was at other district conventions.

what business is this for the fds to be in, not a scriptual affair at all.

Balsam

That is pretty funny they didn't want anyone getting botox, I imagine that was just the elders preference passed on to the crowd. Push up bras, girdles, face lifts, boob implants all might be up for ban. LOL

108

do you believe in karma?

by SpiceItUp in

jw
friends

we have all heard the cliche' "what goes around comes around" but do you really believe it?.

i know this person that for many years has been unkind, devious and vengeful and then over more recent years has had bad luck everywhere they turned around.

i mean one thing after another.

Balsam

Should we look at so called Karma, when a person suffers in their life as some sort of punishment from bad deeds in a past life? I think that is wrong. Many times as we go through life we can discover that many of the miseries we might suffer may be a result of bad choices we've made, but I don't think it is a result of karma. I have heard people who don't understand buddhism well say that people are suffering because of the bad karma they have built up. But that is not entirely accurate.

Anyway I would have to say no to the orginal question here.

32

What has Worked for You When Trying to Reason with Witness Relatives?

by flipper in

jw
friends

hello folks.

a loaded question for sure.

after being out of the org.

Balsam

Love them unconditionally, don't threaten or demean their belief's and tell them exciting things you've learned that are outside the mental box JW trust. I successfully brought both of my grown sons of out if the witnesses. It took time and patience and not getting angry or discouraged.

Ruth

84

DF'd and struggling....LONG POST........my story.

by confuzzled777 in

how do i make a long story short?

i am fully aware that if anyone in my area were to read this that they will know who i am.

i was disfellowshipped on january 28th 2010 after an "interview" about an evening of bowling with friends and family back in november 2009. i was among 4 who were disfellowshipped and 6 who were publicly reproved.

Balsam

Hi Confuzzled777,

Wow I've know a few who were df'ed for drunkeness but it was after several warnings. Sounds like the Elders were out to get you and make an example of all of you. Welcome to the forum stick around read and talk it will be very healing for you. I've been df'ed for 9 years after leaving my abusive husband and divorcing him. I've found happiness and many many better and closer friends. Be patient give yourself time to adjust to your new position. I sincerely hope your parents won't turn their back on you but will love and embrace you no matter that they are still in.

Balsam

69

The Watchtower is now the world's largest magazine!

by life is to short in

jw
friends

newsmaxs magazine just published an article that the watchtower is the most read magazine out there it evens surpasses time.. i have never heard of newmaxs but i just was emailed this and thought you might find it interesting.

i am sorry i do not know how to give the link so i am cutting and pasting.

if someone can do the link it would be great.

Balsam

This always cracked me up when it was mentioned at conventions. I thought of the hundreds of magazines and books stacked on our book shelves at home and no on reading them. Then there is the tons of magazines that end up in landfills as was mentioned by others. The fact they produce all those magazines is totally worthless if their not read or that no one is even interested in them.

Balsam

66

Highlights of Annual Meeting 2010

by elderelite in

for those who are interested, the following changes were announced yesterday at the agm.

1) mts school has been done away with.

a) in its place two new schools have been formed.

Balsam

I remember an Elder that used to be in my congregation, he was always bragging how he went to the annual meeting every year. In other words how special he was because he got to hear anything new that was going on in the organization. He was arrogant, proud and down right anal about his association with the WTBTS. When he used to talk about the annual meetings I would just tune out who cared it was stuff that didn't usually affect the rank and file.

Hey so do they still have the book study anymore? If so when do they have it?

What about the ministry School do they still have that? When?

I think I recall that there was only 2 meetings a week now is that right? So much has changed since I left 9 years ago.