Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

199

Why don't you just take it like a man?

by AK - Jeff in

in a recent thread, i was basically called out in this manner.. here is part of the quote:.

mean no disrespect with the following but i have to ask, when you disassociated yourself what did you think would happen?

did you expect witnesses to suddenly change to accommodate you?

Midget-Sasquatch

Blacksheep

I'm still going to a few meetings, like the CO visits, and the Memorial, and a few sessions of the Assemblies/Conventions , just to keep the sliver of a relationship I still have with my family. Like you all fully understand, if I didn't try to "fade" (a horrible flop so far) and just DA'ed, that would kill it completely.

So yeah, I'm with you that losing the ties isn't our choice. But its a very real consequence of choosing to leave the JWs. So far I've been suspending my entire right to live out exactly the way I want to because I want to keep my family. I don't want pity from anyone and am not playing the victim because I completely own up to my inaction in all of this. I totally understand how hard it is. Thats why I'm still stuck in this limbo even to nearing the age of 36.

I'd love to Borg to change on the shunning policy but I doubt it. Its too much of a useful conforming tool that many other groups use too. Other teens I grew up with have been really true to themselves and happy with that for almost 2 decades. So Lola's point about having to move on is valid. The sooner the better is also valid. I'm really happy for those that can do it sooner.

What's unwelcome and definitely not needed is her almost purposefully curt and flippant approach.

21

Watchtower Moving its Headquarters from USA?

by Amazing in

jw
friends

i may be behind times, but i have not seen this issue come up.

i have had some contact with jws inside the organization who said that the society is planning to move its headquarters from brooklyn, ny to canada, lock, stock, and barrel.

is this an urban legend, a jw pulling my leg, or is it factual?

Midget-Sasquatch

Maybe he's thinking about how all the magazines for Norht America are going to be printed from Canada. That's all I've heard.

32

Don't You Hate It When A Witness Says "We Miss You At Meetings?"

by Wasanelder Once in

jw
friends

don't you hate the hypocrisy when you run into a witness you haven't seen in over 5 years (even thought they live less than five miles away in the same town) and they say, "we miss you at the meetings?

" they can't call or stop bye to say hello, but they miss me at the meetings.

what crap.

Midget-Sasquatch

This just happened to me this past week because of the CO visit. I only showed up for part of the Tuesday night meeting (took off half way through because I was starting to feel ill, who wouldn't?) and then I showed for the whole Sunday meeting. The CO himself actually came up to me and said "We didn't see you much at all this week, but I'm glad you could make it today."

I really wanted to say "Yeah, sure you did. You're just sorry the seats are getting emptier and you may eventually lose this tour of glory."

But I didn't and instead gave the sorta true reply that the job I'm at has changing shifts and it just so happened that this week had me working for most of the evenings. I even lied that I had to get the Sunday traded off just to make it.

Not a word from any of the two elders standing beside him though.

35

Pentateuch

by Pippa in

jw
friends

hello.

can anyone tell me who wrote the pentateuch?

i'd be interested to hear.. pippa.

Midget-Sasquatch

Pippa,

I'n nowhere near being a scholar of any kind. And darn glad I'm not like the "celebrated scholars" of the WT. (You had to be on this board way back to probably get that reference).

Anyways, Leolaia and Narkissos are extremely well read on these matters and they're very understandable, for the most part (meant in good fun there guys). Just keep on asking and there's alot one can learn. I've had several things clarified for me. I found Friedman's book more persuasive than the other one by Thomas Thompson. Friedman's book is primarily concerned with the Documentary Hypothesis, while the other one touched on the idea of a redaction during the Maccabees, but was mostly about showing how archeology speaks against any real state of Isreal having existed before the Hasmodeans.

35

Pentateuch

by Pippa in

jw
friends

hello.

can anyone tell me who wrote the pentateuch?

i'd be interested to hear.. pippa.

Midget-Sasquatch

Pippa

Did you come across that idea of such a late date (the Hasmonean period) from the book The Mythic Past? I read that book quite some time back, and if I remember it right, the thrust of the book was about the nation of Isreal being a complete myth. And how to galvanize the people against the hellenizers the bible was redacted to suit their ends. It was talking about alot more than just the first 5 books though. It also had a blurb about olive production being important in the land. Irrelevant to this thread, but that sticks out to me too now from that book cuz of my heritage. :)

If thats the book you're thinking of, then read Friedman's book too if you haven't yet. Its an easy read. A big plus for me, although I appreciate being exposed to terms like "preterite"....honestly I do :)...and the points he makes come off as stronger than the bible being maccabean propoganda. There's some intertestamental books that do that anyways. I can easily see the exiles from Babylon needing a redacted collection of texts bringing together the Samaritan traditions and the Judean ones to have the new leadership be validated to some legitimate past. To form an identity. The Hasmonean period, to me anyways, was more about maintaining an already existing identity against an assimilating threat.

43

WT Society Makes JW's Feel Bad about Themselves - No Self Worth

by flipper in

jw
friends

i have noticed this a lot in attitudes of witness relatives i've talked with over the last few years , as well as other former witness friends i have talked to.

many witnesses feel bad about themselves due to having it drilled into them that we are all " sinners " who allegedly inherited " sin and imperfection " from adam and eve .

that essentially humans are " born dead " or in a " dying " condition due to alleged " inherited sin " .

Midget-Sasquatch

To everyone who posted here,

Thank you.

199

Why don't you just take it like a man?

by AK - Jeff in

in a recent thread, i was basically called out in this manner.. here is part of the quote:.

mean no disrespect with the following but i have to ask, when you disassociated yourself what did you think would happen?

did you expect witnesses to suddenly change to accommodate you?

Midget-Sasquatch

Vinny

Thats a fair summary of the whole thread as I see it. Although I disagree that some people are just posting here to be "after" Lola. Its an emotionally charged matter and naturally people are going to react heatedly.

Lola

I don't expect you to reply ( I think you made a good call in that respect ). You said:

Yes it’s painful, I won’t dispute that but again we all make choices and we have to live with the consequences of those choices and it’s a tradeoff, you get to live your life as you want but in the process you have to give up a lot. Again totally unfair and wrong but that’s what it is and until the society changes the way they deal with DF’ed and DA’ed ones we all have to understand the sort of treatment that we will receive if we make the choice to leave.

I'm the last person to tell others how to say things. I put my foot in my mouth and show completely oblivious tactlessness so many times, its sad. But this quote above is a hundred times more helpful than the short verbal quip. Again, I never argued with your essential points. Just the delivery.

199

Why don't you just take it like a man?

by AK - Jeff in

in a recent thread, i was basically called out in this manner.. here is part of the quote:.

mean no disrespect with the following but i have to ask, when you disassociated yourself what did you think would happen?

did you expect witnesses to suddenly change to accommodate you?

Midget-Sasquatch

John Doe,

OK. Yes, alcoholics need to be told to stop drinking. But you're not acknowledging that a curt remark such as "take it like a man", maybe a quick smack to one's face, does nothing to really help. Maybe if this were the movies.

Lola makes a valid point about not staying too long in a depressed funk and to stop keeping ourselves in the role of victim. But at the same time, you've got to treat the victim compassionately and tenderly till they're ready and strong. Each of us are different in the amount of time we'll need.

199

Why don't you just take it like a man?

by AK - Jeff in

in a recent thread, i was basically called out in this manner.. here is part of the quote:.

mean no disrespect with the following but i have to ask, when you disassociated yourself what did you think would happen?

did you expect witnesses to suddenly change to accommodate you?

Midget-Sasquatch

lola28

While I, to a point, understand your position about not being governed by bitterness, and accepting that we can't change everyone's behaviour, I respectfully want to say that taking your position (as it is) isn't helpful at all. Just give up on what are the closest relationships we have had?

I'm a "fader" (a horrible failure at this too, since I'm still showing up sporadically at the hall). You're apparently a more successful fader, but maybe you weren't as close to the jws, as many of us were. Its difficult to accept having intimate relationships cut off, not because we mistreated the others or were "bitches of the block" or "jerks" but only because we no longer believe the same things. Yes, we've got to move away from them if that side repeatedly makes it known that they want nothing to do with us. We need that time to grieve that loss then first. In that first stage of grieving, why not see if we can affect just the individuals closest to us, by letting them know how upsetting it is to us to lose them in our lives?

40

"the Truth". So many changes prove they never had it.

by lurk3r in

jw
friends

i often wondered about this when i first started questioning things.. .

any jw that has died in decades past, how are they even eligible for ressurection?

during the time in which they died, they were never taught "the truth", as everything changed.. any jw today, looking forward to armageddon coming tomorrow, isn't being taught "the truth" either, as will be made manifest by more doctrinal change.

Midget-Sasquatch

Son of Man

Who are you to thinkyou are able to tell me what to do?

Imagine you were at Billy's door and he told you face to face what he put in his reply. Very simply to understand that he's not really telling you what to do. Just where else to do it.