Carmel

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Posts by Carmel

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  11

  Bamboozled.

  by Blueblades in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one of the saddest lessons of history is this: if we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.

  we're no longer interested in finding out the truth.

  the bamboozle has captured us.. it's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken.

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  Carmel

  The very day I was baptized at the tender age of 12. When none of the promises came true I knew it was a scam and began plotting my escape. It took a little over two years to extricate myself from the claws of the "mother" . Life has been great every since!! carmel
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  43

  Fading In? Am I nuts?

  by jaydoe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am a baptized jw that faded some years back.

  in those days i deeply believed in the org and became disillusioned by some things happening in the local congregation.

  following some research on the net i decided to fade out of watchtower existence because i did not want to keep mixing with false religion (or so i thought at the time).

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  Carmel

  Neirther want of friendships or approval of family could ever get me to cross that "threshold" again. Call me an absolutist, but frankly, the WBTS is so full of crap, you'd need a honey bucket the size of Texas to service it. carmel
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  10

  259 seconds. What is it's Biblical significance?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  well 259.2 to be exact.

  .

  top prizes to be won for the first correct answer!

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  Carmel

  That would be a lot of chinese shirts with one sleave longer than the other! (sold as seconds on the silk path) carmel
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  39

  No DC next year, last DC?

  by doinmypart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a relative said there may not be dcs next year.

  he said on the last day of this year's dc when the final speaker goes through all the reports & experiences, the speaker said next year's dc have not been planned yet and the gb will make an announcement later this year.

  did anyone else hear a similar announcement?

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  Carmel

  i converted to ac a long time ago anyway..... carmel
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  35

  Where do you go for your spiritual needs?

  by Blindbutnowisee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i never was baptize as a jw.

  i use to study with them for years, i even went as for as becoming a unbaptize publisher.

  i gave up being a publisher because i did not feel genuine in my efforts to preach.

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  Carmel
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  14

  Saw an old JW friend at the bar last night ....ooops

  by troubled mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  last night my husband and i went to the local hole in the wall bar for supper .

  real small local bar .

  we sit at a table and my husband notices this guy behind me at the bar is a witness he knows from another town a few hours away from us .

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  Carmel

  so....middle child,,, can't you root for Army to whoop Navy in feets ball? carmel
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  25

  What are you doing for Fourth of July?

  by PEC in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here i go again, i am going to keep doing these until, i get at least a hundred replies to one.. middle of the week, no vacation, staying home.

  anyone want to come over for a bbq?

  i am in san diego, ca 92126. pm me if you are interested.

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  Carmel

  If it ever stops drizzeling, I'm headed to the links for 18 holes with my broker. Otherwise, maybe a spin on the Vulcan 800 or diggin in the garden.... carmel of the " whatever I dam well please" class
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  27

  What do you think?

  by jaguarbass in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my wife of 35 years and i were talking last night.

  i was raised a witness.

  she became a witness on her own volition at about 13 years old.

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  Carmel

  Jag, At some point along the way it seems to me you also need to look at the fact you allowed yourself to be taken in and flumexed by the JW line. Once you walk away, isn't it time to stop feeling victimized and bend your will toward a more satifying life style? I don't mean to be harsh, but resigning yourself to being angry is symtomatic of a cycle of blaming everything on someone else or some other entity. I think you can rid yourself of all that if you really want to but it may well require professional help. I wish you well. carmel
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  40

  How open-minded are you since leaving Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by nvrgnbk in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Carmel

  Do you want a qualitative or quantitative answer? If the latter, about 27, if the former, nearly but not entirely! carmel
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  7

  What do YOU stand for?

  by RollerDave in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after everything i had ever believed unassailable proved to be as a wisp of smoke in the breeze, i was forced to asnswe that question.. since i no longer stand for the wts, what do i stand for.. my lifetime of misery would be a complete waste if there isn't some positive way to frame it.. i figure, we come into this world kicking, screaming, naked, wet, and cold.

  we have nothing, not even a name.. our name is the first thing we get, and it has no meaning until we provide the context with our lives.. when we die, our name and what it has come to mean is all we can take out of this world with us; he who dies with the most toys still dies and gets no further benefit from his worldy goods.. so, what do we stand for, what shall our name mean.. i have not had the most optimal life, i suppose, periods of submersion in the wts fantasy world interspersed with episodes of incredible violence and deprivation.

  i have both been the victim of harm, and regretably inflicted my fair share of harm as well.. i have made choices so stupid that it was all i could do to set things right and live them down.. i have had a corrupted view of reality while under the spell of the wts that affected me equally whether i was in or out, either way i was damned.. i never expected to live, the big a was just around the corner and there were all these pesky bullets whizzing past my head and a knife in me; but here i was in my thirties with a second chance.. a relatively clean break.. of course, i was now confined to a wheelchair and poor with bad credit, but i was at rock bottom so the only way to go was up.. it could have been worse, i never picked up a criminal record, even though i rightfully deserved one.. what to stand for.... one has to stand for something.

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  Carmel

  Dave, Your frankness is refreshing! When I left the borg as a youth, I had no "rudder" no sense of what was really right or wrong. Societies and cultures have different definitions of what is appropriate and even within a culture there are subcultures that define these things differently. I simply stayed out of jail at all cost after a one time experiance allowing others to overly influence me. That was the bare minimum, stay free! Since then I've adopted the philosophy and belief that all our moral and ethical standards are taught to us either directly or subtley even if we don't acknowledge it. We don't have innate ethics or morals. We learn them. So what you've adopted as appropriate behavior is likely in line with what the majority of the world holds as appropriate and the clinker is that these can be traced back to certain individuals that came on the scene through out history and taught them in times of great turmoil bringing humanity back to its "center" so to speak. Of these "spiritual" leaders we owe our very existance since we would only be rival cave dwellers without their training. carmel