david nelson passed away today.. many years ago (50's and 60's) i'd heard that the family had some ties to jw's in some fashion.
any truth to that one?.
len .
Harriet was a life-long smoker, so I seriously doubt she was a Witness.
Her obituary (http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-04/news/mn-46403_1_harriet-nelson) mentions that she smoked "for years," but other sources say she smoked from the age of 13 until her death, although she hid it from the public to preserve her wholesome image.
we are celebrating xmas this year for the first time.
it's kinda weird because, even though we're doing a xmas tree, decorations, gifts, we're more or less taking the christ out of christmas.
so how about the rest of you non-christian heathens?.
I celebrate Christmas as a purely secular holiday, although I do occasionally send out religiously themed cards to my Christian friends that I know will appreciate the sentiment.
I do not give or accept gifts. I encourage anyone who is inclined to buy a gift for me to spend that money on their children or donate it to their favorite charity.
i was shocked ( though i probably shouldn't have been ) when reading the new elders manual concerning whether elders have to confess up about former sins from a few years earlier.
notice this on pg.
38 , paragraph 19 : it states, " if it comes to light or an appointed brother confesses that he has committed a disfellowshipping offense years in the past : the body of elders may determine he can continue to serve if the following is true : the immorality or other serious wrongdoing occured more than a few years ago, and he is genuinely repentant, recognizing that he should have come forward immediately when he sinned.
I know that this thinking was in place in 1997 when was I removed as a ministerial servant. I had confessed something that occurred about six years previously when I was fifteen. A judicial committee was formed and it recommended that I be removed as a servant and privately reproved. The CO and another elder encouraged me to appeal the decision based on the fact that the sin had occurred so long before and was unknown to the congregation. They reasoned that Jehovah had continued to bless me as evidenced by the fact that I had been appointed first as a pioneer and then as a ministerial after the time of the sin.
While I was appreciative of their advice and support, I chose not to appeal the decision as I was already battling doubts and had committed other "sins" I had not confessed. The whole procedure really highlighted to me that the organization was not spirit directed. Why would Jehovah allow sins to remain hidden for some but not others?
where in the world was the holy spirit?
.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39978891/ns/local_news-indianapolis_in/.
Maybe she called an elder a baldhead and he called a she-dog to come attack her and the other disrespectful youngsters in the congregation
i was telling my sister that i downloaded a copy of the new "flock" book (don't worry, my sister doesn't bat an eye over my doing things like this) and she was asking me if there was anything "good" or "juicy" in it.
imagine her shock when i told her that members of the flock can be df'd for keeping an untidy house.. seriously, i think they were talking about hoarders.
that is even worse!!!!!!!!
I once knew a woman who the elders would not approve as a publisher because of how unclean her house was--but it was nasty--full of animal feces. The woman was obviously metally ill though and I always felt that the publishers who studied with her were taking advantage of her limited faculties.
as each instance of shunning happens to me, it seems even more ridiculous than the last.. this weekend i took our kids to the park - wife opted out, understandably - and we let our daughter call my parents to inform them we'd be there.
this was my first time in the presence of my parents since our df announcement two weeks ago.. my mom and dad were 10-20 feet away much of the time and yet they never said a greeting or.. well anything.
at one point my daughter, who is aware of the shunning, mistakenly thought my mom called my name and shouted excitedly, "mawmaw, were you talking to daddy??
I'm really glad that your mom and dad are still spending time with your kids; I was afraid that they wouldn't. I still hope that this situation makes your mom think. She loves you so much. She has a deep investment because of her years in the organization, but I keep thinking that she loves you more.
Do you remember the disfellowshipped people that lived next door to your grandma? I never knew them because they were disfellowshipped long before I ever lived in Texarkana. Anyhow, when their adult son died I remember your mom taking them a card and a covered dish. She knew that they were disfellowshipped, but she did that anyway. Of course I am sure that her actions in that instance were at least somewhat motivated by a desire to help them return to the organization. But it still seems to suggest at least a little hope that kindness toward her own son might win out over dogmatic obedience to rules. I also remember that she was much easier on your brother than your dad was.
And as for your dad...he's a tough one. After I was disfellowshipped, though, he still continued to speak to me at work because he felt that if he ignored me completely it would look bad to our coworkers. We never talked about "spiritual" matters, but we didn't solely discuss work related thing either. And, when I was in the hospital shortly after I was disfellowshipped, he called a few times to check on me--but he thought that I was trying to get reinstated so I am sure that is what made the difference.
I do feel sorry for your parents. I know them and I know they are good people; they would not have been so good to me and put up with so much out of me if they weren't.
As you know, my close family never shunned me. Sometimes that makes it harder for me to fully empathize with those who have lost their families. Seeing your experience though is really opening my eyes to how horrible this is for all involved and makes me dislike the organization even more. You and your mom and dad deserve better than that.
..and it is driving me crazy.
these kids are 16 and 17 years old.
the jw boy is such a great kid, with a wonderful heart.
Of course an educator must always proceed with caution when dealing with matters of religion. Attacking the faith of the JW student (or even just a perceived attack that is actually just the sharing of factual information) to warn his classmates could have undesired negative consequences--complaints from his parents, etc. The best thing to do is to use reasoning to help the students come to the conclusion that the Witness religion is not for them on their own. You can do that without ever directly mentioning Jehovah's Witnesses.
You may even be able to similarly sow seeds of doubt with the Witness student. I was a Witness kid that Witnessed all the time at school because it's what I thought I was supposed to do, but a few years later here I am.
since i've been out of the jw religion, i've had no desire to attend any churches.
although i've always liked the way many churches look with the (stained glass, etc).
growing up our kh was so ugly and boring to look at.
I attended and joined a United Church of Christ for a while before ultimately embracing the atheism I've always felt. The UCC offers a great amount of personal freedom and typically shies away from strict dogmatism. Additionally the UCC is very devoted to social justice, which was perhaps the biggest draw for me. The pastor of the church I attended remains a friend of mine and I still turn to her for her input on matters of faith and social responsibility from time to time.
i did not sleep well last night.
i tossed and turned until 4 am .
got up and decided to see what was going on.. i am so disappointed in some of you.. simon posted a thread requesting people not post links to the new shepherding book.
Thank you for efforts Lady Lee...this thread reinforces my view that you are a voice of reason
i'm a long-time lurker (and hopefully successful fader) who finally took the jump and registered on jwd.
thank you all for the great information over the years!.
as you can tell by my username, i'm a big weezer fan.
F'n awesome.... Watchtower Kitsch at its finest
