Posts by crazycate

28

I called my mom.

by lisavegas420 in

jw
friends

after more than 20yrs without a relationship....after more than 5yrs without hearing a word from her, i called.. out of the blue, i just called.. me: hi, mom, it's me lisa.

mom: oh, hi.. me: well, it's been a long time, i just wanted to check and see how you and dad were.. mom: we're fine.. the conversation ranged from, the weather, my husband, my children and grandchildren, (whom she's never met) my animals, gardening.

we talked about how dad was doing now, (after a stroke) how he walks with a cane, and uses an electric wheel chair when they go to walmart.

crazycate

Good for you! Doing the right thing is its own reward; if your mom continues to talk to you, that's even better. One thing that led to my departure and my husband's is that we realized we could never cut off our children. We also said "no" to the elders that tried to insist they get baptized at a young age. It's heart breaking to think of the families that have been destroyed because children get baptized, then grow up and decide they want to do something different. Or the people that get disfellowshipped and then are forever cut off from their families because they decide they don't want this religion anymore.

Cate

9

wedding anniversarys

by Adrianoblue in

jw
friends

you`ve probably had this topic before, but there always was this one thing which kept bugging me: here in germany it is pretty common for married jw couples to celebrate their wedding anniversary each year.

do jws in the us or elsewhere do the same?.

well, the reason i`m asking, is the fact that i never really understood what the hell is the difference between such an event and a birthday party?.

crazycate

Marriage is God's arrangement, but so is birth. Remembering the vows we made when we got married and focusing on continuing to make the marriage work; remembering the importance of living the life you were given in a way that God would approve; what's the difference? It's all in how you spin it.

Let's face it, we celebrate anniversaries because we are happy to be married and because it is fun. We would celebrate birthdays because we are happy to be alive and because it is fun. How many people really spend their wedding anniversaries in soul searching and meditating on their determination to keep their marriage vows?

Cate

21

Running ahead of Jehovah

by donny in

jw
friends

as i was exiting the society back in 1992, the elders were frantically trying to reason with me and kept saying that i was trying to run ahead of jehovah or running ahead of the organization?

just what does that entail?.

or they would tell me to "wait on jehovah" and eventually some of my beliefs/issues will be in line with the truth.

crazycate

This is one of my big issues. If God doesn't lie, then what would you call "revealing" information to his earthly agents that is wrong? What they call the light getting brighter, is nothing more than correcting things they had wrong. Now that's fine, if you admit it. If the organization was to say, "We are trying to figure things out, but sometimes we get it wrong and have to make corrections," that would be okay. But what they do, in effect, is blame all the wrong information on God and make it a disfellowshipping offense for anyone to disagree with them. When they say that we shouldn't run ahead of the organization, they are saying that we might be right. Why should anyone have to wait to do things or see things correctly until the organization does. Why is it necessary to die rather than accept an organ transplant one year, but the next year you can accept one and live? You didn't just prove your faithfulness to God; you followed blindly an organization that had it wrong!

Cate

30

Hello

by CandleSurgeon in

jw
friends

hello, some of you may know me by my screen name others probably don't.

so a friendly hello and a quick bio for those who don't know me.. .

i am 25, d/a'd when i was 22. i was a born-in, my family shuns me because of my d/a'ing.

crazycate

Hi! In my opinion, at the age of 22 you were finally old enough to consider getting baptized. It makes me crazy that children are baptized, too young to make such a decision, and then shunned forever after when they are old enough and make the decision not to be a witness!

So, sorry about the shunning, but glad you are moving ahead with your life!

Cate

3

A Fantasy Governing Body Press Conference

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

a parody press conference.

my name is gerrit losch, and i am a member of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.

as you know, we hardly ever give interviews unless we feel pretty sure that we are going to get some unearned good publicity and goodwill.

crazycate

Hilarious! Thanks, I needed a laugh!

Cate

24

Where else will you go?

by wary in

jw
friends

the po comes to see me and talks round the houses trying to find out what my problem is.. so i tell him "look its something i have to sort out for myself and i dont want to destroy your faith and make you start questioning so id rather not tell you".

he already knew cos the first elder went to his house the second he left mine and told him about [what i thought was a private conversation between mates,] my issues.. so he proceeds to tell me a story of a brother he knows who was always very studious and knowledgable about all prophecies and the details of our beliefs.. well the guy suddenly stopped attending meetings last year, dont know why but the po seemed pretty upset about it as he was an old friend.. so he says " i said to him, but john, where will you go now on sunday afternoons,!

and really wary where else will you go?".

crazycate

You don't have to know where you are going to know where you shouldn't be.

Cate

19

Elders, positions of trust?

by asilentone in

i think that i have seen the words "elders are positions of trust" before, something like that.

if you can find wt article containing similar words like that, i would like to see it again.

thanks!.

crazycate

Elders are a "hiding place from the wind," unless they aren't. Almost all aren't. Most have an agenda, or at least are biased. People they like get treated one way, people they don't get treated another. Most POs or whatever they are called now, think they are in charge of "their" congregation. They act like a sheriff rather than a shepherd. They like having a reputation of being a kick-ass PO who keeps his congregation clean. They want to look good to the CO.

When I talked to a friend about the damage a "bad" elder can do to people, she admitted that some have caused a lot of trouble and pain, but said that there are good ones. Well fabulous. How do we avoid the harmful ones? And why would a loving God allow such men to have positions of power over people? Friend answered that this can serve as a test of our loyalty, that we don't leave the organization just because of bad elders. So this is God's plan? To tell us to look to these men as a place of safety and help and then go, "Ha, Ha, got a bad one! Let's see how you handle that!"

Cate

48

I want to leave but don't know how

by God_Delusion in

hi.. i have been a witness since birth (will be 30 years in june 2009).

got baptised when i was 15 (pressured into it by my parents, plus, i was promised my first home pc if i did get baptised before turning 16).. both my parents serve in the uk bethel.

i have an older brother and younger sister, both of which are witnesses.. i am married to a witness and live in cyprus (i am english).

crazycate

First of all, Welcome!

Secondly, I think you have to be honest with your wife, or what is your marriage worth? That being said, it is possible that going slowly will be better than dumping it on her all at once. How about just starting with, "this is really bothering me..." Maybe she will admit that there are things that bother her too and you can have a conversation. Witnesses are trained to raise a mental wall if their beliefs are attacked. Perhaps coming at this obliquely will keep that wall from going up.

Cate

6

The cult of confession

by megaflower in

jw
friends

how did you feel about telling(confessing) to elders either about yourself or something you saw that the society considered a sin against the organization?

personally, i never did because i always questioned most of the elders motive.

i did not want to be a busybody but there where many in the kh who were always monitoring others activities.

crazycate

Is there any scripture that says we must confess our sins to men? There is one that suggests asking for help if one is sick, which I suppose some might say could be "spiritually sick" as well, but even so, it is a suggestion, not a command.

Cate

22

The WTS need a new tentacle of control

by passwordprotected in

the watch tower bible and tract society was founded on the belief that armageddon is imminent.

in the late 1870s when charles t russell gave up his business interests and began preaching that christ had returned - invisibly, of course - in 1874 and that by 1914 the current system would be over with, a religious model pinched from the adventists and millerites, was established.. 1914 came and went, this old system lumbered on, and the wtbts in the person of russell began re-reading his favourite biblical texts and re-calibrating his 'pyramidological' calculations.

yes, his prophecies hadn't come true, but the bible students lived to predict another end of the world.

crazycate

Very interesting PasswordProtected.

Cate