That's a nice thing. There are good people all around, right?
You know, I'm not a believer and although I've had my share of problems with people claiming to be Christian I know all aren't the same.
Christmas day my family decided to get together at my older sister's place since she's the only one with kids. She was "born-again" about 8 years ago and became really vocal about how if the rest of us weren't saved we wouldn't go to heaven and all that kind of stuff. It was hard to be around her, and even though her church-going fell off a bit, she sometimes still is.
So, anyway, on Sunday she invited the pastor from this new church to come over and he did. It felt kind of strange at first, mainly because my family and I were feeling ambushed...but we all acted like it was nothing. I ended up getting into a conversation with the pastor and we talked for nearly an hour...not about god or religion, but other things. When we all sat down for lunch and started talking, my sister suddenly blurts out that I'm an aethiest. But without an awkward moment passing, this pastor told my sister it didn't matter what I believed because he thought from our conversation I was a good person. And he said something about how god didn't need for people to believe because god knew what was in people's hearts--whether it was good or bad...and he added that even some of the worst people can redeem themselves and they didn't need to say they believed in god to do so. He believed that was all god's work but god didn't need his name mentioned in all his work.
It wasn't something that changed my mind about god- but it was nice to hear and nice for me to know my sometimes-semi-fanatic sister had to hear... even if I know she was thrown off and I know still pissed I didn't get a talking to from her new preacher.
So, ya...it's nice not to have dedicated people of religion come at you but rather generally care and act like humanbeings rather than recruiters.
under74
JoinedPosts by under74
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25
One of my pastors just called...
by mrsjones5 into see how i was since it's been a while since i've been at my church.
he didnt call to ask if i still believed in god.
he didnt call to ask if i doubted that he and the other pastors represented god.
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under74
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Why do churches still make me panic ?
by Aiesha Harley ini'm really glad i've found this site a week ago.
reading some of the stories and comments on here has really helped.
there are so many out there who's lives have been ruined by the so-called truth.. i was brought up in the truth as an elders daughter, youngest of 5, a brother and sister had been disfellowshiped, other brother had left as a teenager and my other sister is still sitting on the fence aged 40 going on 15, if she'd made a decision instead of sitting on the fence i'm convinced she wouldn't be the alcoholic mess she is today!
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under74
OH, and I have many of the same issues as you...although my father was never and elder...although my grandfather is. Up until a year ago my closest friends didn't know I was raised JW. Some friends still don't know...it's not that I'm ashamed anymore, it's more like I don't want to deal with what a couple other people have done when I told them. That is, comparing it to their mainstream religion and acting like they knew more about controlling religions and cults than I do. But then again, I guess they mean well or some of them anyway and I'm making assumptions about friends that I probably shouldn't. I think I'm just at a point right now where I don't want to deal with that anymore because of other things going on. BUT I also don't want to feel like I'm keeping things from friends...which I do feel sometimes.
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Why do churches still make me panic ?
by Aiesha Harley ini'm really glad i've found this site a week ago.
reading some of the stories and comments on here has really helped.
there are so many out there who's lives have been ruined by the so-called truth.. i was brought up in the truth as an elders daughter, youngest of 5, a brother and sister had been disfellowshiped, other brother had left as a teenager and my other sister is still sitting on the fence aged 40 going on 15, if she'd made a decision instead of sitting on the fence i'm convinced she wouldn't be the alcoholic mess she is today!
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under74
dub means Jehovah's Witness or JW which can be pronounced jay-dub-ya from that we get "dub"
Didn't welcome you before because this is the first time I'm seeing your posts--so welcome. Happy you're here and hope you stick around a while. -
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Its Gadgets birthday
by mouthy inhappy birthday paul hope you have many,many more birthdays to follow.
love ya .
grace
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under74
Happy Birthday!!!
Did you get my christmas present yet?? -
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Lern,to/spel;and "punctuate"!!!!!
by bigmouth inmaybe i'm tired but........at the risk of seeming overly critical,there have been a number of posts on this forum where the spelling and punctuation have been abysmal.i have no problem with the occasional error but the subjects here tend to be somewhat more complicated and it makes it too much of an effort if i have to keep re-reading things to figure out what the missing word was or where the sentence ends.one academic said it was no big deal as even his professors were poor spellers!well i've got news for you guys, if you don't sharpen up your grammer i'm not even going to try to give you the courtesy of figuring out what you're talking about.
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now,i'm going to have shower and go to bed and i want this thing sorted out by tomorrow.love pete.
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under74
I thought for a minute it was satire but satire would have been more like:
Maybe I'm tired but...............at the risk of seeming overly critical,there have been a number of posts on this forum where the spelling, and punctuation have been abysamal I have no problem with the occasional error; but the subjects here tend to be somewhat more complicated and it makes it too much of an effort if I have to keep re-reading things to figure out what the missing word was or where the sentence ends one academic said it was no big deal as even his professore's were poor spellerswell I've got news for you guys, if you don't sharpen up your grammer I'm, not even going to try to give you the courtesey of figuring out what you're talking about now,---I'm going to have shower, and, go to bed an I want this thing sortet out by tomorrow.Love Pete.
Okay, that's mean of me. Pete, relax. You're on the internet, not in a classroom. Love u74 -
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Weird day with a bit of a shock
by ballistic inweird day with a bit of a shock.
for some time now my best mate and flat mate has been couging up blood and sweating, and a few other things... anyway, came back from hospital diagnosed with tb (tuberculosis).. for those in other countries, tb is almost illiminated in great britain, and children are routinely immunised (including my flat mate) but there are still 7000 cases a year here.
it has 99% successfull treatment rate and yet worldwide still claims 2 million lives.. anyway, i went straight to the hospital for x-rays and... amazingly (as i seem to catch every cold and flu bug going around), i don't have it.
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under74
I know it's dramatic...I've been tested for it twice. Had a boyfriend that came down with it. Then a year later a close co-worker came down with it. Both of them ended up okay because of the medication available and I was clear both times...but it was stressful both times.
I don't know what the statistics are in the US but I have heard TB numbers have rose here in the past 10 years. -
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Childlessness: Missing Part of My Humanity
by prophecor insomehow it just occured to me, i've no idea where this came from all of a sudden, but not being one who's ever had children of their own, i feel the missing portion of my humanity has been lost in this.
those who are biological mothers and fathers have a kinship with thier children that defies the normal comprehesion of those who've never had them.
it came to me while watching a movie tonight, minority report with tom cruise.
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under74
I don't know prophecor...I think-
1) not everyone should have kids. It doesn't mean they are bad people. What I mean here is a lot of stupid people have kids...and usually the dumbest have the most.
2)It's not a bad thing to not have any of your own.
Even if a kid isn't bilogical, it doesn't mean you aren't a real mother or real father to them.
3) Our society puts a lot of emphasis on having children...especially biological children--like this is what makes you a whole person. Personally, I think this is wrong and in a way brainwashes people into thinking you have to have a child in order to be right.
I just think that you can have a kinship with kids without being a biological parent. And that if not...as in you don't have biological kids or have developed a good relationship with kids not your own, it makes you know less of a good person. In fact, in many cases I think realizing this can make you a better one. -
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under74
lol
hey, merry christmas ballistic! -
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Are You Truly Happy
by Golf infor me, i've learned to be content.
a to what makes me happy, well, i'm happy when other people are happy.
i'm happy when i give my grandchildren plenty of hugs and kisses.
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under74
"...there's gotta be something that makes you happy."
I agree, sometimes it's even just the little things. The first cup of coffee in the morning with a cigarette (and no, I don't encourage people to smoke...just saying it's a beautiful combination), being able to talk to a friend when needed, eating a good meal, being able to remind yourself that you left a controlling religion which is probably the hardest thing you had to do--so you can do about anything now.
I think though, that since I've never seriously thought about suicide I may just be easy. -
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THE MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR THREAD!
by Dansk inplease post your christmas and new year messages here so that we can keep them altogether:
merry christmas & a happy new year to everyone on jwd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ian, claire, karl & dominic
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under74
I'll bump this one again! 2:30am here...can't sleep even though I had a long day. We tried to pull another Santa thing on my younger nephew and and my neice about 2 hours ago. My younger brother played santa again...It worked last year--last year, my nephew was so excited to catch a glimpse of santa he had to be held back so he wouldn't get to close and realize it was my brother.
They didn't want to get up this time. My older nephew was in on it for this round (he was in charge of waking them up and getting them in the hallway) but in order to prevent his little brother from running out towards Santa he told him before bedtime (he told us afterward) that if santa saw him he wouldn't get any presents. it sounds mean but he meant well lol! And as for my niece, her reply was, "I'm cold. I'll see him next year maybe." She did come out about 15 minutes later to see if santa was still around.
So, it was a bust this year. BUT as my older nephew pointed out, "it was exciting to us!" So, we had a good time.
Sorry for the long winded story...I'm tired. ANYWAY, Merry Christmas everyone!