in mid-1975: i grew a mustache while i was a ministerial servant (california bay area).
i recall being asked to conduct the book study while my hair was growing.
several acted odd toward me because there was still an ongoing argument about whether having such facial hair was appropriate for men of good example.
Great story.
I've never been a 'beard kinda guy' myself but I know they were frowned upon in my congregation.
There would always be a visiting speaker or 2 that would turn up with a well-kept beard and the elders would all look a bit nervous.
I did go thru a phase in the mid-nineties where i grew my sideburns really long (it was sooooo cool) but no-one said anything....
hey y'all!
i haven't been online for a looooooong time, and just wanted to say hello, and yes, i'm still alive.
apologies to anyone who wrote me and didn't get a reply.
Blimey- Hellooooo!
Good to hear from you, hope you have been keeoing well...
Dont be a stranger (and all that jazz)
Paul
the ridiculous teenager is me.
this story takes me back to 1969, when i was 15 years old.
we were attending the international assembly at wembley stadium, near london, the only time, i think, that wembley was ever used for an assembly.. if youve ever read any of the stories i posted on jwd over the years, youll know that i was never one of those kids growing up in the truth who always had doubts about it or was unhappy and miserable with the religion, just waiting for the chance to get out.
I remember singing backwards, miming etc. the thing that stands out most though was the brother in our congregation (and I think here was a a brother like this in EVERY hall) who sung badly out of tune and carried the last note of the verse, right into the first note of the next verse (hope that makes sense).
when i first got the courage to sign up to jwd all sorts of emotions flooded in.
mostly i was angry at having wasted years of my life struggling to please the watchtower society and god.
in one of my first posts i asked if anyone had gone and apologised to former bible students for teaching them lies, and i thought perhaps i should.
Sounds like you are going about it the right way.
Looking back I'm glad I never 'brought' someone 'into the truth'. I must have lacked Holy Spirit.....
If I had maybe i'd feel different. Now if I got an opportunity to talk to someone I used to know as a JW, I think I'd put things to them much the way you have.
Let us know how this goes....
the ridiculous teenager is me.
this story takes me back to 1969, when i was 15 years old.
we were attending the international assembly at wembley stadium, near london, the only time, i think, that wembley was ever used for an assembly.. if youve ever read any of the stories i posted on jwd over the years, youll know that i was never one of those kids growing up in the truth who always had doubts about it or was unhappy and miserable with the religion, just waiting for the chance to get out.
Fantastic story! I know exactly what you are saying.... it was almost competitive.
I love the bit about the 'scouting' procedure. I can imagine how this would go... maybe like a football scout-
"We've been watching you brother, and we have seen you have some great moves. We wondered if you would like to come down to Bethel and try out with us.... we have a few members of the remnant who want to see what you can do..."
Brilliant.
what reasons do you have about why the witness religion is so crummy?.
one main reason is that they say "we have the truth.
they are liars.
They say they are following God/Jesus, but they are just following the Governing Body. The trouble is they are all hopelessly lost.
i woke up to my kids all sick, a letter in the mailbox (put there sneakily sometime early this morning) saying that we should 'return to serve jehovah and become one of the family again' (cannot understand the association of meeting attendance = being part of a family.
family is family no matter what they choose to believe.
) and to top it all off, our 10 year old dog who has been really sick past week, had to be put down a couple of hours ago.
Wow, what a shocker!
Theres not much i can say thats not already been said. My thoughts are with you though....
All the best
PaulJ
the lead article on the watchtower home page is about gay marriage and how to make it acceptable to jehovah: http://www.watchtower.org.
but unfortunately, they still aren't handing out tickets to the corporate jet.
ah well, "glass half-full" i suppose... .
lol ACE!
Paul of the not-gay-nor-no-longer-a-witness-but-finds-this-funny class.
have you ever been in a position where you really needed your friends - ie a relationship break down, or some other event and expected your friends to rally and support you.
only to find that those friends are nowhere to be seen or heard and when you tentatively enquire how they are in the hope for some kind response you get - "oh well you'll get over it.
" or words to that effect and by email.. i have as you can guess a reason and recent experience of my own that i'll share later, but i wondered how do you handle that?
Thats really sad Crumpet you deserve better than that
have you ever been in a position where you really needed your friends - ie a relationship break down, or some other event and expected your friends to rally and support you.
only to find that those friends are nowhere to be seen or heard and when you tentatively enquire how they are in the hope for some kind response you get - "oh well you'll get over it.
" or words to that effect and by email.. i have as you can guess a reason and recent experience of my own that i'll share later, but i wondered how do you handle that?
There are different kinds of friends. There are the 'good-time' friends and ones that are there for you no matter what.
Sounds like the ones you mention are just good-time friends. They say you know who your true friends are when you need them.... A friendship needs to go both ways.... (ahem) giving and receiving....
If it was me, from now on I'd be friendly with them, but thats about it. I dont need people like that in my life... in fact who does?
