thom

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Posts by thom

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  56

  My mom's being told to shun me.

  by GetBusyLiving in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  those goofy bastards are up to their old tricks again.

  some background: i disassociated a year ago and explained why i was leaving to my mom, who agreed with me and told me that she's been thinking of leaving the dubs for nearly ten years.

  she's been inactive for the past year and happier than ever.

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  thom

  Wow GBL, I'm glad your mom sees that you are more important than a bunch of old men to her.
  Sounds like that elder's wife might be helping to nudge her in the right direction.
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  12

  Is sunshine and fresh air counter productive?

  by Darth Yhwh in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ive attended meetings at a handful of kingdom halls in my day.

  i would venture a guess of approximately five or six.

  ive also driven by many more.

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  thom

  The halls I attended as a kid had windows. They were also broken into multiple times (by way of the windows) and were vandalized. Not much if anything was stolen, just pulling down the information board papers and throwing time slips and stuff like that all over the place.
  In Indiana in the 90's, our hall was broken into (through the windows) and KKK propaganda was spray painted all over the interior.
  In my experience, it would seem that the halls with windows seemed to have trouble with that sort of thing. The main hall from when I was young has been rebuilt without windows.
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  36

  praying for mass destruction and death

  by Cognitive_Dissident in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so i was writing a paper the other day, specifically about the skewed world view that i had had as a witness, and i typed the following - .

  pain, misery, strife, these were all things that used to prove to me that jehovah's witnesses were correct in their assessment of a dying world which was soon to be liberated/obliterated by the hand of god.

  this "liberation" was something that i desperately longed for.

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  thom

  ---"I remember as a kid being out in service and listening to the JW adults as they pointed out the specific houses of dead "worldly" people they would like to move into after armageddon."---
  I remember as a kid hearing people in car groups referring to a house now and then as a "goat barn". After a while I realized that their view of the people that lived there was pretty much as non-human, worthy of death.
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  15

  Prohibition or what ?

  by KAYTEE in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  according to the wt, the wine is passed around, once a year, to all those who have been "chosen".

  they believe that this is a requirement, set out in the holy scriptures and is proof that they are of the anointed class.. has anyone any idea what happened during the time of prohibition in the us, when it was against the law of the land to purchase alcohol?

  did they use a substitute?.

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  thom

  As some have mentioned, I would think that wine for religious purposes was most likely exempt.
  Here in Arizona (and probably other places) Indians may smoke certain things for ritual purposes even though it's illegal for any other purpose.
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  4

  Ireland anyone?

  by AuntieJane in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am so excited.

  my husband said we could plan our first trip to ireland in the spring.

  we'd like to rent a house (not luxurious) so that our kids can join us.

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  thom

  Sounds like a wonderful trip! I'm jealous :) I hope you have a great time!
  I've never been to Ireland. I used to travel to Scotland for business and I loved it. I hope to get to Ireland sometime, but it'll have to be on me as I don't travel outside the U.S. for business anymore :(
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  20

  What are your weekend plans?

  by joelbear in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  tonight i am going for a walk with my dellpod on and listen to some tunes.. come home and watch a movie.. tomorrow, i will finish painting some little wooden animals i bought to put on stakes in the front yard.

  then pottery class.. then dinner with friends at a thai restaurant.

  then mitch comes home for one night of snuggling.. sunday.

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  thom

  Going to an all-JW anniversary party tonight.
  Taking my daughter clothes shopping tomorrow, then I have to do about 5 hours work before Monday morning.
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  36

  praying for mass destruction and death

  by Cognitive_Dissident in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so i was writing a paper the other day, specifically about the skewed world view that i had had as a witness, and i typed the following - .

  pain, misery, strife, these were all things that used to prove to me that jehovah's witnesses were correct in their assessment of a dying world which was soon to be liberated/obliterated by the hand of god.

  this "liberation" was something that i desperately longed for.

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  thom

  I started having that realization about so many people dying in my late teens. I'd meet people or have friends and started thinking that God was going to kill them and it really bothered me. I stayed in until I was 39, but that thought really hit me hard sometimes and ate at me.
  It was probably the biggest thing that got me to leave entirely. I decided that whether or not JW's were correct, I didn't want any part of a God who would do something like that. I actually still felt JW's were correct when I left and only started learning many things to show me otherwise AFTER I left.
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  42

  I received an E-mail from an old friend....how do I respond?

  by schne_belly in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  to my dear xxxxx hello there-how are things going with you?

  i've been thinking of you a lot, i've wanted to write you this for quite some time.

  i guess we both know that things aren't the way they used to be-between you and i; between you and jehovah's organization-and i just want you to know how much i miss you.

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  thom

  As others have said, I think she really is sincere but she's so conditioned that she doesn't see how it's really just a guilt trip.
  ---"I just want you to know that I will always be here for you if you decide that you want to support His organization again"---
  She says "I will always be there for you IF", showing a condition to her associating with you again.
  I would try a friendly reply if I'd reply at all.
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  18

  JW funerals getting more personable??

  by Alana in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i went to a jw funeral wednesday.

  it was for the dad of two good jw friends (at least back in the days) of mine.

  he was one of the nicest men ive ever known.

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  thom

  When my grandmother died about 10 years ago, I remember the talk being mostly about her life, childhood, marriage and family. I actually learned quite a bit about her life from that talk. The "preaching" part was actually pretty short near the end of the talk. I thought it was done pretty well.
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  45

  Anybody else have this announced? Special Meeting on Friday night

  by CaptainSchmideo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  all baptized brothers asked to come to special meeting friday (tomorrow) at 7pm.

  bring the new organized book.. don't know what this is all about.

  judging from past experience, a whole lot of something about nothing..... .

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  thom

  I remember meetings like that. Usually it was sit around and discuss the various "privleges" and who does what and who's not good at what.
  Once a MS commented that I (me) played a song a week or so back and it skipped a couple of times, but when he played it himself after the meeting it didn't skip. His suggestion was that I didn't know what I was doing. You know, it's real complicated to stand there staring at a record and making sure it doesn't skip. I thought I did a pretty good job of popping the needle back into place without messing it up.