it's been 12 years since i first read ray franz's books and the scales came off my eyes.
by that time i was in my forties.. since 2002 i went back to school and have worked with 3 very professional organizations.
but my biological clock is ticking away and while my peers are looking forward to retirement, i am only beginning.
Totally can relate wannaexit and others. The best, most productive of my years spent knocking on doors and attending mind numbing meetings that regurgitated the same bile week after week, year after year.
And agree it took until my early 40's to realise that I was living in Zombieland.
The only way I can deal with this situation is to live in the moment and appreciate the gift of life that many missed out on. Now that is a true miracle.
Ain't life grand?
i have a 2500 word essay due next tuesday, so i shall be invoiced until then.
and, i already have been turned upside down.. even though there are set topics for the main essay, it is possible to negotiate for an essay on a subject of personal interest.
i'd been thinking about the development of leadership in the early christian congregation, so i asked my lecturer, if i could write on that.. he asked me for a brief outline of what i was thinking, so i reviewed my early thoughts - that jesus primarily had left no clear instructions (because he was expecting divine intervention and the restoration of the kingdom), but he had trained his disciples in missionary work - which i interpreted to mean that jesus expected his own ministry to continue, to provide the judean people with continued guidance, modelled on what he (jesus) had done.. but as christianity developed (and the expectations of jesus remained unfulfilled) a different model developed and i wanted to explore the model we see developing in the nt (think pauline) and where that model came from and then transformed into the monarchial model with bishops.. .
Today I was listening to the (Aust) ABC and a speaker made a very good point. He said that Jesus was a Jew and once all the symbolism and myths in the "New Testament" are removed, he remained one. He said his teaching style was classic for Nazareth where he was raised by using parables and not writing anything down (he/they were uneducated) He noted that there were "Christian" groups which attended Christian meetings one day then went to the Synagogue on another up until the yr 150CE.
His point was that Christianity was a Roman concept.
i've been doing some research about famous witnesses.
some were raised and eventually left, while others came in as adults.
they range from sports players, musicians, and entertainers.
been out now for 10 yrs but life is a mess.
starting to think its because i have no spiritual compass.
why shouldn't i consider going back?.
You drop this bomb and don't even the decency respond to the thoughtful comments of others.
Can you see that possibly you are playing the victim the same as jws do (all the the world is satanic etc)?
You didn't mention god in your reasons for going back(wards). Don't you think there may be a problem with your reasons to return to a religion if god is not one of them?
so, i am in washinton state visiting my son and his family and we went to a concert that had a fortune tellers booth, actually a gypsy wagon.
i decided to do something no jw would ever do, have a tarot card reading.
i wasn't really expecting anything, as i don't believe they are connected with the satan, but i don't believe they can actually read your future either.
I tend to not comment on these posts as the response is using fairly basic e.g. people make guesses about what they read in the media cold reading etc.
I tested a card reader yrs ago post JWs. He recorded the session on cassette so I could analyse later. I gave him nothing except yes no answers through out the hour session.
He was uncannily correct not asking if any point was accurate, just statements. Your mother died when you were 8 for example. What was interesting was that he (accurately) told me that I had a job in New York and my future would be in the States and that I would retire in Indonesia. All correct at that time.
What was interesting was that I intentionally changed that course. My interest is what ability the mind has to "tap into" the mind of another. Nothing spooky, nothing religious just waiting for science to crack this current mystery.
law school is obviously not the hardest program to follow.
it isn't something that can be replicated on the internet.
a first year student can find the law.
law school is obviously not the hardest program to follow.
it isn't something that can be replicated on the internet.
a first year student can find the law.
law school is obviously not the hardest program to follow.
it isn't something that can be replicated on the internet.
a first year student can find the law.
to answer my question, no i do not pray over meals anymore exept for when i am with other jws i do a 15 second head bow for appearances sake.
i just came to the realization god had nothing to do with whether i ate or not.
many believers are starving right now whilst many non-believers are eating like kings.. also why should god give me food while he lets little children in dprk concentration camps starve to death.
Actually even as a fully fledged jw I couldn't see the reasoning behind those public silent prayers and in fact prayers at home over food. Isn't god the "reader of hearts"? I always had mind pictures of the Pharisees when it came to prayer. Yes I did it but like most of the jws I knew, my mind was on the thought of getting into the food before the kids ate it all not god accepting my "appreciation"!
reading over the woody allen thread i noticed a couple things but didn't want to side track the "discussion".
1) woody allen is creepy.
2) nobody really seemed to care that his ex-wife was abusive towards her children.. an example i think is perfect was the release of twilight where you would see lineups of 30-40 year old women making very inappropriate comments about a 16 year old boy.
My neighbour was fighting for custody of his son. It cost a small fortune but it was close to happening after numerous years. His ex seeing the coming court decision suddenly claimed that he had sexually abused their boy. He now is fighting for ACCESS! Last time I saw him he reckond his legal team said that the accusation is legally baseless and they will easily over turn this but he is broken as he hasn't even seen his boy in months. Oh and after his ex throwing the pedo acusation around, there is no doubt some of the shit will stick....