oh my god.
i am so excited.
we're going to visit vermont and quebec city this time.
I envy your excitement to see your 'Grace'. I lost my "Will" years ago and still miss him desperately. My husband doesn't get it and its sad, cause anyone with a good friend should. I hope you have a wonderful visit. Canada is a marvelous place!
Shelly
did things happen eg people told you things that got you doubting about the wts while you were on the field service?
.
i recall a girl i had never met before who was crying (after we talked for a while) for being shunned by another local congo, and i thought that it was too cruel to shun people and something was not right with the jws.
A young 'born again' in my school-her name was Debbi Schoon-was everything wonderful that the Borg said the world could not be. She was a direct contradiction to hypocrisy (all Christians are hypocrits, you know!), dishonesty, moral laxity, etc etc, that we were always told the "world" was. I started paying attention to all the kids in school-and there were a LOT of really nice kids who were not doing drugs, cheating, etc etc and that was my first clue. But Debbie was the "born again" that got me paying attention, cause she was the one that was out their with HER faith and her beliefs. Wasn't obnoxious about it, but everyone knew where she stood. And that made me open my eyes. I had other experiences, but that was one that I would count as FS since I did try to talk to her about my religion. Whats funny is she tried to talk to ME about Jesus, and her faith in HIM. Hmmm.
i just wanted to tell you all how very much i loved each and every one of you.
most of you know the last almost 2 months have been hell for me.
from my dad's death, that i found out about on the internet, and was unable to go to having missed alot of work recently due to heart problems and tests.
Shelley, you are one of the nicest people on this board and would be sorely missed. I am glad we aren't missing you today!!! It is trite but true that suicide is a perm. solution to a temp. problem.
The guy-you did the good thing and dropped him-you obviously have your priorities where they belong. The things that get you down are external-your internal is wonderful, warm, funny and insightful. Don't let the outer stuff get to you. It passes, but YOU will always be you-and stupid men, stupid relative and health problems are passing. Two of them are out of your control, but you have control of your health and your life. What do we always say here? Living well is the best revenge. So live WELL, be happy and (scuse my french) F*** the b*stards. You are lovable and you need *your* love more than anyone elses.
We love you.
Shelly-The other one.
i just had a flash back to when we used to have to clean the kh.
each group had to take it in turn to do the cleaning.. in our group we had a bunch of lazy b*****ds, so it was left to us kids and our dad to clean the kh, bogs, etc.
even my mum used to find some excuse to duck out.. so if meetings, door knocking, studying, praying wasn't enough we also had to spend a couple of hours cleaning every month or so.
I think they still do it themselves. My mom was feeling bad about not doing it recently(3d abdominal surgery in 18 mos)
BTW they probably do a better job than paid professionals and it gets them out of field service which I think is why my mom likes doing it. She is working for the org. w/o having to do FS.
i get the feeling the society is gonna suffer a huge loss of number, with people who are in getting old, those 'raised' in the so called truth leaving and less and less interested ones because more people are aware.. .
it has its ups and downs but it seems the ups aren't as big as they used to, some never recovered from 1975 and others from the 1995 generation thingy.. your thoughts?.
David Koresh was never more than a blackhead on the face of religion. Now they have 'a few followers left'. I don't think a few fringies pose quite the danger of a large corporation such a the WTS. Billionaires. If there are a few JWs in the far distant future I can live with it. What bugs me is that they have credibility because of their numbers and their money and their publishing. They are 'recognized' as a religion. They should not even have that courtesy. THAT is what will end, and that is what I am looking forward to.
recently i have noticed a difference in peoples attitude towards others.
i remember the day when others would open the door for you or smile when they look at you.
i remember the day when you were merging onto traffic and people would let you in.
I live near Seattle. The joke here is that everyone is so polite that we cause accidents by yeilding too much. I don't know about that! I think my impression of other peoples kindness has a lot to do with my mindset on a given day/week/month. The worse I feel, the worse everyone else IS. I am usually in a pretty good mood, which makes you ALL look much better. Society can be a reflection of us, I truly believe that.
Shelly -of the artlessly scattering daisies around class
i get the feeling the society is gonna suffer a huge loss of number, with people who are in getting old, those 'raised' in the so called truth leaving and less and less interested ones because more people are aware.. .
it has its ups and downs but it seems the ups aren't as big as they used to, some never recovered from 1975 and others from the 1995 generation thingy.. your thoughts?.
Hi, I keep trying to post, but it won't let me. Trying again.
They are gonners. Eventually no one will remember them, no one will even recognize the name. The most active generation they have now is the 60+. Young people have more access to information and those who grew up in it grew up in a time that really showed the warts of the org. New prospects have access to info before they ever even get involved. People can be good hearted and naive. Most are not stupid. Most people value intellectual honesty, integrity and personal morality-they don't want to damage the lives of others. Hard to preach things you KNOW are lies when that is the case-even if you are in a rut and don't know how to get out. They are losing their American base which supported the rest. They are in sorry trouble and will be like the Shakers by the time my kids have grandkids-if not MUCH sooner.
when i found this forum i was skeptical, even a few of my topics may have been a bit biting, but i have learned a lot.
after 33 years in the org.
and swallowing everything hook line and sinker for absolute gospel and feeling dirty over nothing wrong.
Truly good news to make you happy!
i just got an email today telling me of an email circulation among the jws about an newspaper article in coquitlam, british columbia in canada.
currently, the jws are not exempt from paying city taxes.
it reports that the council is reviewing its policy on tax breaks to be given to certain groups.
JW Facts: >>>>What hypocrisy. JWs can not get involved with politics even when their lives are at stake such as in Malawi, but make an exception if it is to save the Organization money.
I just sent this email to Janis;
Hi Janis,
I saw your article on giving Jehovah's Witnesses a tax break, and felt it worth responding. As a group Jehovah's Witnesses are encouraged to isolate themselves from ?the world?, apart from the evangelizing work that aims at growing their organization. They do not provide hospitals, schools or charities. The 2005 Annual report for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia shows they had revenue of $16,434,005 but the total listed under Shepherding (hospital information, legal support, humanitarian relief work) was only $1,391.
Jehovah's Witnesses make use of Canadian infrastructure but do not give back to the Canadian system in the way mainstream religious groups do, so it is unfair for them demand equal recognition and tax breaks on the basis of religious or charity status.
JWFacts made good points. A non-profit charitable org. that substantially works to improve things for folks in THIS life perhaps deserve tax breaks. The WT/JWs do not.
Of course, as a former JW 'associate' I am interested to know if the JWs are being encouraged by the organtization to vote in this or if it is a rumor, local directive(which is unsupported by the WTBTS) or ?? I lived through Malawi/Mexico times. I would be angry if the org. was behind this, but understand if the locals 'lost their theocratic head' in it. We know that the WT will find a way to just make up the difference on the backs of the congregation-as always. Of course there are no answers here that will make me feel positive towards the WT, only some that will further cement my negative view of them.
a man that works at the corner has been especially nice to the kids and i over the last years.
he had to go back to pakistan recently for 6 months.
he did get married during this time.
I am happy for your friend. Most of that culture practices marriage where the spouse is chosen by the family-and it seems to work for them in that place, so who are we to say with 'falling in love' and a divorce rate that is so high? I am happy when anyone can find love-not going to question it. Good for them! I hope she is so happy as he is. I hope that her experience in the States is just as positive.
