a couple of years ago, sitting at starbucks outside patio, i became "aware" of a feathered mafioso i eventually named edgar.so weird and varied have been our adventures, i began writing about them.this is only the latest installment in what i like to call: the edgar chronicles_______edgar colludes with the rooskiesi sit carefully selecting which words to use--there are pitfalls to my tale.2 chinese ladies are problematic for a writer who is an olde white male.what if i accidentally stereotype?
i dare not!with your kind permission, i will change the sex and country of origin of my 2 characters to avoid going off the rails.instead, this story is transformed into 2 *russian* guys!
that you crow.
At least those mentally diseased Russians didn't wear that getup and try to infiltrate a prom somewhere, brazenly flouting their own culture in a cynical attempt to offend peace-loving gyno-Americans. (Chortle, chortle!)
Another great tale, Terry! May the Great Edgar and his humble chronicler live on to time indefinite, regaling us with tales of derring-do or something like that. Salaam, Salaam.
well, as you all know, my wife (unstuck) and i are not df or da.. we just stopped attending several years back after my "apostate" online activity was found by a nosey employee of ours while she was working in our office (long story if anyone wants to know - it would have to be another thread).
we never met with any elders - no congregation judicial activity occurred (as we would never consent to do so anyway).
so our policy has been to be the same kind, loving, normal people we have always been.
It's a shame when otherwise wonderful people just cannot see that they are going far "beyond what is written."
Years before my father's death, he had to move into assisted living and later a nursing home. I would fly into town every few weeks to visit him. When my sister told me that I could no longer stay in her home when doing so, and that she and her family would no longer even share a meal with me, I said, "No matter how you treat me or what you say to me, you will always be welcome in my home. I would never judge you or treat you differently over something as silly as different religious beliefs." She replied in the most accusatory manner you can imagine, "You're just being magnanimous!" Like that was a bad thing. Go figure...
FYI, I have never been DF or even DA, though I was openly "living in sin" at the time and had been quite vocal (in private) about my view of the Organization and its practices. My father, a Congregation Servant and later Elder for several decades, knew all about that and never once asked me to stop visiting. I called him every single day for years, and he always seemed glad to get my call.
My sweetheart and I married over a year ago and I haven't said a word about the borg to anyone she would know, yet the shunning continues. Self-righteousness must be a heavy burden indeed. Too bad...
boe file: (massive)language-englishzipped with separate file folders1910--2018downloadhttps://we.tl/v4e9zbinxpatlantis!.
Thank you so much, Atlantis! There's simply no telling how many people will be helped by having this documentation available.
family including dog and then herself?.
I don't know how much (if any) of a role the disfellowshipping and shunning played in this tragedy, but more than a few have speculated that a distraught POMI (physically out but mentally in) JW might decide to end it all in despair, and then decide to take his or her family with them to "insure they'll get a resurrection after Armageddon."
The Witnesses currently teach to most everyone who dies before Armageddon will get at a tentative resurrection after Armageddon under the "resurrection of the unrighteous" principle. I've read accounts of those who were told by their relatives that they'd be better off to take their children out back and shoot them than to leave the Truth™. And who hasn't heard someone say, "Well, at least he died before Armageddon"?
The Governing Body doesn't actually encourage murder to achieve everlasting life for a loved one, but their teachings do create an atmosphere in which mentally unbalanced ones could easily draw that conclusion. So they do bear a measure of responsibility, in my book.
I think they also realize now that the no blood policy is a gross misapplication of Scripture which they would love to distance themselves from. But they can't, because it would undermine their self-assumed "spiritual authority" and might make their followers wonder what else they could be wrong about. Never mind about the thousands of unnecessary deaths of sincere true believers and their children. Their image as God's Anointed Ones must be upheld! For this too, they bear a heavy responsibility.
Dad blame it, I hate this blanking religion!
Die-hard JWs will say the same thing about this article as they do about the 2009 Awake! article that says no one should be forced to choose between their beliefs and their family. To quote my erstwhile sister, "That doesn't apply to us! We have the Truth™!"
They will say that the general principle in the paragraph doesn't apply to disfellowshipped or disassociated ones, but only to the public in general. And yet... just as Gorbatchov and others pointed out, you can bet WT lawyers will cite this article in court to try to show that JWs are not extremists and that being shunned is not absolute and therefore not all that bad after all.
who among us has known a jw who has committed suicide.
i believe this as a separate subject has not been covered..
I heard many years ago that a young man about my age who I had vaguely known as a teenager had shot himself. This was long after I had moved away, but I did remember him. His dad had been my optometrist since I was a child in grade school. The dad was also an elder, though not in my congregation. I don't know much more about it, but have heard it was related to alcohol and drugs. An affluent and supportive family doesn't mean a person won't have internal conflicts, and some folks are just overwhelmed by them. So sad...
The only other case I recall involved a very likable and meek man who had been a "Servant," a term preceding the elder arrangement, since the 50's or 60's. He had gone to the same high school as Elvis, though he was a year or two behind him. He claimed to have known Elvis then but was not a close associate. I've seen his high school yearbook and it confirms his claims.
Anyway, he seemed like a model Witness, though a bit timid and reserved and something of a hypochondriac. I was shocked when I was told he had died, and flabbergasted when I found out he had committed suicide. He had told his wife he didn't feel like going to the meeting that night, so she and a friend went on without him. When the wife returned home, she found him dead in his car in the garage with the motor running. He left a brief note apologizing ("Sorry this happened. I love you all"). An elder gave a memorial talk at a funeral home, and mentioned several times that suicide was not the "unforgivable sin," and that we shouldn't draw any conclusions because no one could know all the circumstances or what was going on in his head. Ok, fair enough.
Fast forward about 10 years... I hear from a very reliable source that what actually happened was that his wife had caught him in the act of molesting his young granddaughter and was going to turn him in to the police the next morning. She had given him that evening to prepare himself and get his affairs in order. Since he was already dead, she never reported it to the elders or the police. But she confided in some of her closest friends, and that's how I got the story, albeit with one degree of separation. Very few know even this much about what happened. And I doubt anyone but the wife knows the whole story, even now. Again, a very sad tale.
I for one am glad Crisis of Conscience is finally back in print and legally available and affordable to just about anyone. No price gouging here, as far as I'm concerned.
I also want to thank Debra personally for her efforts in the face of much undeserved sniping. And that's on top of her personal burdens like her own health and that of her dear husband. I think everyone, and I mean everyone, should now just shut the fork up about how long it took, or what it costs, or who wrote what part, and either buy the blanking book or don't. I'm definitely gonna buy one and I hope she makes some serious coin, especially after what she's been through to make this happen.
My hat's off to her for another reason, too. I am absolutely certain that Watchtower would have paid her millions for these copyrights, no questions asked. All she would have probably had to do was let them know she would entertain an offer. She could probably have named her own price. Obviously, she believes in what she's doing and values her word to the Franz's more than money. So if she makes a few bucks, more power to her.
Thanks, Debra. Take all the time you need to grieve and recover. We'll welcome you back whenever you're ready to jump back in the fray. Godspeed, good lady.
jw: didn't we just hear somebody say that the sun's gonna blow up?.
me: well, they were saying that it will expand and eventually burn out.. jw: but it can't do that, it just keeps blowing up inside and getting more power.. me: well, they were talking about stars in general, how they have a life span.. jw: but god didn't make it that way, it's firmly established to time indefinite.
it's not like the sun is a regular star.
"You will NOT challenge my superstitions with your science and logic!"
starbucks conversation today.... "oh my god!
i recognize you!
"you-you're graham somebody...air supply...the tall one.
Great pic of you and your daughter and the other lady, Terry! Is that a recent photo?
so, my son bought me a device that allows me to look up and watch anything i want.
i remember years ago , i enjoyed the television show hee haw on sunday evenings.
i naively thought it was wholesome family entertainment.
To The Real Edward Gentry:
Dude... you need to get out more. I think your drawers may be on too tight.
