.
... today i choose to eat pancakes.. i don't know why, but i hear it's pancake tuesday, and it sound pagan.. kwin
Hey Bebu,
I wasn't here last year (on the Forum), but beignets sound good to me any time. Like a cloud filled pillow of carbs just waiting to fill your stomach along with strong chicory cafe au lait. Best served on Decatur St in New Orleans.
Thanks for the memory
POs Son
.
what about it...i know for me i got gifts throughout the year but i didnt get as many as my friends did on their birthdays etc....what about you...do you or did you replace b/days and christmas gifts or celebrations with anything else whilst being a jw and in particular anything as personal....
If you look back a few pages on the site, you will find a reference to "Family Day". Several of us described the replacement holiday we received as kids.
(Ex)POs Son
some got baptized as kids.
others---a lot older.
at whatever age you were, did you really know what you were getting into?
AloneinOH, you have a similar story to mine. About 15 years ago, all the 12-15 year olds in our cong were doing the cool thing of getting baptized. There was joy abounding, lots of fancy custom leather bibles and engraved Cross brand pens going around. It felt like graduation season whenever an assembly came around. I refused to jump in the water with everyone else.
Well, now its fun to sit back and watch. (actually its sad). I hear of all the folks I grew up with... lets see here, one pregnant without benefit of marriage, several who "fail to thrive" in general, a few drunks, some married and divorced. Every one of them risks "getting caught" and being DF'd for living pretty standard lives. Several want out of the bOrg, but cannot make the step as they will lose all their friends. And, here I am, still a Christian (acording to my own bible) and never have to worry about getting caught at an R-Rated movie, at the package store, enjoying a sports event or (heaven forbid) doing outdoor choures on Saturday morning! I even invite friends from my old congregation over to my house, and they have a great time!
So, to answer the original question, YES, I was truly aware of what baptism WOULD have meant to me, it would have been a life sentance to guilt and fear, and I am glad I need not worry about it.
.
ok, here is one to enjoy:
what odd, silly, embarassing, inappropriate or just plain weird announcements have you heard at meetings, conventions and assemblies?
My folks tell the story that my father (PO) was giving the local needs part one Thursday, and as everyone is quietly paying attention (dozing?) - my little brother at the age of 3 or so was taking of my mother's clip-on pearl earings and afixing them to his own ears for the rows behind to see! Just funny!
did you have the above instead of xmas?.
we did as a family with about 16 going to it and giving gifts normally feb time.
now though we have been banned from going as we had xmas this year and you can't have both it would seem.
What was interesting about not doing the holidays is that on Thanksgiving, we would stay home, but we were allowed to watch the parades on TV. They were (and are) Thanksgiving Day parades, not "Autumn Fest" parades or the similar. But we couldn't go to the town parade on Memorial Day (I mean the real Memorial Day - a veterans holiday for those of you outside the US).
On Independance Day, we were allowed to watch the fireworks on TV, and go watch the neighbors shoot them off (I even brought the police scanner to warn if they were coming to bust the party), and my JW mother even joined me a few years ago at a July 4th picnic/fireworks. But, again, no going to parades in town, or anything like that.
At Chirstmas, we would drive around (especially in the rich neighborhoods) and gawk at the Christmas decorations. But, of course, we couldn't have any of our own.
Do you see a trend here? And, look at my screen-name. We were not an "un-spiritual" family. Makes you think.
did you have the above instead of xmas?.
we did as a family with about 16 going to it and giving gifts normally feb time.
now though we have been banned from going as we had xmas this year and you can't have both it would seem.
Oh, Yes.... Family Day... Twice a year for quite a while. It was Christmas without the tree. Our grandparnets would come down, even spend the night sometime. Mom would make a big dinner and we would all have the gifts that were due on birthdays and Christmas. None of our free "worldly" friends understood why we got gifts on a random Saturday .
Now, being grown and a "true" christian (non-Dub), I enjoyed our first Chrsitmas with our baby(8 months now), but my parents (still Dubs) were noticably absent. Eventually this will have an effect on her. I wonder if I will reinstate Family Day, for the sake of my parents who surely would like to enjoy seeing the baby open gifts as she had on Christmas, and will in a few months on her birthday. Anyone have an opinion? Do I cater to their religious needs or do I force them to conform to our lifesyle, ie: get stuck giving gifts on other times than B-days and X-mas.
Thoughts please?
after being in the org for 20 years, being regular at every meeting.
i must have sung the songs hundreds of times, but i cant sing the first line of any song off by heart..
i asked my husband, kids if they could, they also cant.. can you?.
BTW, did you know, the songs in the songbook were in Alphabetical order. The first word of the song is what they went by, not the titles.
Um, I think that this disclaimer is written on the first page of the song book. Anyone have one to check it out?
so we have our circuit overseer this week.
we're getting the crap kicked out of us (figuratively) for our meeting attendance.
we have attendance in the 70% range for some of our meetings.
I actually remember some live paino music at my grandparents hall in the early 80's. We used tapes at our hall then... so it was neat. I think there were 1 or 2 others congs that did it,... I remember visiting others when my PO Father traveled for sunday talks.
with the latest insider news regarding the awake magazine going to a monthly publication, now would be a good time to examine a brief history of how jehovah has blessed the organization by simplifying it.
1993 paid for literature went to donation-based literature.
mid 1990s no food at assemblies and conventions.
Can we bring our own paper towels too?? Maybe them we can use more than just one.
Can you imagine going to any other convention and being told how many paper towels to use, and "not to cook in your hotel room"?
.
ok, here is one to enjoy:
what odd, silly, embarassing, inappropriate or just plain weird announcements have you heard at meetings, conventions and assemblies?
OK, here is one to enjoy:
What odd, silly, embarassing, inappropriate or just plain weird announcements have you heard at meetings, conventions and assemblies?
