the witnesses always say they are free in christ, i beg to differ, i don't know how many stupid unscriptural laws they have but lets start a thread on how many dumb witness laws you know and have heard of that make no sense or completely unbelievable, it is like they have a second talmud.
cant have walt disney movies or stuffed animals as this is magical.
cant have beards.
Looking Glass - I forgot all those! Sheez, how quickly I have forgotten everything as my life has changed.
I remember another pioneer at my pioneer school proudly telling the group that wouldn't window clean (yep, the stereotype doesn't end there) a fairy shop because of course everyone knows that fairies are really just little angels, like cupids, and that is Satan's way of demeaning the angels. Everyone nodded in agreement and I was sitting there just thinking 'wanker'.
i was just thinking today about the old days going door to door and street work and i have some very fond memories of those days.
coolhand and i used to go in street work everyday together when we were pioneering.
i used to be my happiest when i was in the preaching work.
Oh I so don't miss it. It was painful and felt like such a waste of time.
However, I do have fond memories of when I first started Pioneering (only did it for 8 months, after 6 mths auxiliary, boy it feels strange to use those terms now) and was still enthusiastic. Myself and a girlfriend used to talk about sex the whole time (because of course we were only 18 and not getting any!). I used to hope no one would come to the door so our conversation interrupted. I laugh now how obsessed we were.
I also remember some fun times with the other regulars on calls, just talking and having interesting conversations. Yes, it probably was all smugness and how better we were than the rest of the world, but I didn't know better at the time and I just enjoyed the socialisation.
Still, after I stopped pioneering it wasn't long before it was a slow decline of less and less service. I don't think I went out for two years before I left. But of course, that didn't stop me being plagued by guilt. That was the best thing about leaving, not feeling guilty about being slack anymore.
the witnesses always say they are free in christ, i beg to differ, i don't know how many stupid unscriptural laws they have but lets start a thread on how many dumb witness laws you know and have heard of that make no sense or completely unbelievable, it is like they have a second talmud.
cant have walt disney movies or stuffed animals as this is magical.
cant have beards.
Ooh, I have another good one, heard this at the last District Conv I went to (when I was just on the cusp).
If you have someone over for dinner whom you know doesn't drink alcohol for conscientious reasons or had a drinking problem (because of course they wouldn't have one now, no Witnesses have a drinking problem!!), then you should cover over and hide your wine rack so as not to stumble them.
That comment pretty much tipped me over the edge!
the witnesses always say they are free in christ, i beg to differ, i don't know how many stupid unscriptural laws they have but lets start a thread on how many dumb witness laws you know and have heard of that make no sense or completely unbelievable, it is like they have a second talmud.
cant have walt disney movies or stuffed animals as this is magical.
cant have beards.
Lover of Truth - that same reasoning was used by a very 'respected' brother from the platform about giving gifts to children. "Witness parents who give gifts to their children through the year are making up for lack of birthdays, xmas etc and are spoiling their children" He didn't have kids of course.
the witnesses always say they are free in christ, i beg to differ, i don't know how many stupid unscriptural laws they have but lets start a thread on how many dumb witness laws you know and have heard of that make no sense or completely unbelievable, it is like they have a second talmud.
cant have walt disney movies or stuffed animals as this is magical.
cant have beards.
I remember when Smurfs came out as a kid, they were my favourite toy and I loved the movie (Mum said it was the worst kids movie she was ever subjected to).
Anyway, not long after, no witness kids had Smurf toys because of some urban myth about a demonic possessed Smurf toy running down the aisle at the KH.
To give credit to my Mum, she never believed in all that stuff, but for appearances sake - so as "not to stumble" - we would all still go along with some whack jobs comment from the platform. That's what worries me the most, that I went along with so many things I didn't at heart believe with, talk about peer pressure.
Some others (am I allowed to include comments from the platform or are you looking for hard and fast 'rules', not just local incidents?):
Brothers can't wear coloured shirts to the meeting.
Can't have a blood transfusion.
hi i am back.
haven't posted here in a long time.
i even went back to the jws for a while and then quit again.. i lost my best friend to throat cancer in march 2006. we had been very close for 14 years and i was convinced that i would still be able to 'feel' him, or best case scenario, 'talk' to him after he died.
Fairchild - sorry for your loss. Sounds like you have been doing it tough.
Don't know if this will help, but I just read it and thought of you - take from it what you will. If it doesn't serve you then happily toss it
"You can be abandoned by everyone, and you can lose everything – except yourself. So why not look there, within you, where your only real possession, your only real certainty, can be found? Whether you are on earth or in the other world, you will never be separated from yourself. To remain master of every situation, you all have at your disposal something that cannot be taken from you by anyone or anything. And this something is yourself. In life and in death, throughout eternity, you will be with yourself. Yes, you can be sure of that. Everything else is uncertain and may slip away from you. And this ‘self’ which nothing can take away from you is your awareness of yourself as a divine spark, thus your awareness of the capacities you have received from the Creator and the opportunities you are given daily to put them to work."
is homeopathy ( the treatment of a disease using, in small doses, drugs that produce symtoms like those of the disease so that one's natural immune system can fight off the disease ) popular among active jw's ?
my son who was raised as a jw has a large ( adult male palm size ) fatty growth on his back.
his jw mother is treating him with homeopathy, as is a so called doctor.
Don't take what I said as a carte blanche statement - I don't believe stupidity or ignorance makes a cult, rather the way they handle their authority. I am ready to forgive ignorance and even if it was incredibly stupid even for those times (and it wasn't really, medical knowledge was a lot more limited then and on top of that you have fairly uneducated, read 'sometimes stupid', very limited brothers making decisions from the scripture on subjects they should have admitted they knew nothing about and then saying it was the 'word of god' - that's the cultish part).
All I am saying is that all of us, every one of us, is only able to make decisions limited to our knowledge and experience at the time. And in the end, if all of us were to endlessly examine every single fact on any one single issue, we would all be inert. It is impossible for us to know everything. We should however have a good attempt at being open minded so, should new information be presented that is reasonable, we will look at it and be prepared to be wrong. At least have a go at looking at both sides of any situation. If you still favour your original position that's ok, but hopefully you won't be so dismissive of those who take the polar position.
I am so relaxed about being mistaken because my ego is not caught up in being right - and I actively encourage my children that it is ok to make mistakes and mess up - as long as they aren't hurting another human being.
I am new here, so for instance I understand that others' interpretation of my comments are very limited to what they know about me. I can't help it that they intepret me incorrectly, I just recognise that is a limitation - but that doesn't mean anyone who gets me 'wrong' (by what I know I mean) is stupid, wrong or limited in a retarded way
(ha ha ... sorry, just got sidetracked with a Borat moment ... I'm back now)
I work in the field of psychological and emotional health - you know, one of those people that the Society strongly cautioned not to go to? And there is still lots of people out there WHO ARE NOT WITNESSES that think it is quackery. I just don't like it when people lump everything on the witnesses when in fact a lot of it is human nature.
I have people who come to see me who are on pharmaceutical drugs. Personally, I wouldn't touch those types of drugs but I don't go into a rant about conspiracy theories on drug companies (and no, that's not what I believe, so don't go there). I personally wouldn't use them because I have so many tools and resources at my disposal that I can easily go the more natural route. I don't judge someone however for where they are at at that point in time, where they make decisions limited to their knowledge, experience and emotions. And quite frankly, if it gets them to the healthy place they want to be, what does it matter? (again, I could get sidetracked by that generalisation, but I have already written too much)
I think dismissing homeopathy or [.... insert any other modality you like] as quackery is offensive and hurtful to the thousands of people who attain genuine relief or even cure from this practice. Science can prove the placebo effect works, but they can't prove why. Until anyone can scientifically prove why it genuinely works for some people, then you can't unequivocally use science to prove why it doesn't work for other people. Just because science has now demoted Pluto from planetary status doesn't mean the huge rock in our solar system doesn't exist!
is homeopathy ( the treatment of a disease using, in small doses, drugs that produce symtoms like those of the disease so that one's natural immune system can fight off the disease ) popular among active jw's ?
my son who was raised as a jw has a large ( adult male palm size ) fatty growth on his back.
his jw mother is treating him with homeopathy, as is a so called doctor.
Dr Mike maybe that's the mysterious universe trying to tell you something?
Ha ha, I am only joking - just taking the piss out of myself I know the feeling, have had the same thing happen before. Of course - only briliant in my mind ...
is homeopathy ( the treatment of a disease using, in small doses, drugs that produce symtoms like those of the disease so that one's natural immune system can fight off the disease ) popular among active jw's ?
my son who was raised as a jw has a large ( adult male palm size ) fatty growth on his back.
his jw mother is treating him with homeopathy, as is a so called doctor.
Ackack: That's very interesting that you are telling me what I "should" do. I think that's why I left the org ... ?
You have completely missed the point of what I am saying. I am not saying homeopathy is right or wrong - I am defending the unknown and the mysteries of life from the minds of people like you who think that only science has the answer (even though, for the general part, most balanced scientists are constantly recognising that they do get it wrong - but hey, at least they admit it, unlike you and the witnesses).
As for the all the rubbish witness stuff about not taking vaccinnes - that is soooooo old. Yes, the witnesses get it wrong with their teachings, but a balanced person would also recognise that their limitations were often as limited as the consciousness of the world around them. Use that stuff as fuel for fire for cover ups and false prophecies. It wasn't the witnesses of the day who used to put epileptics in asylums 100 years ago, it was doctors (with their scientific understanding of the world) - it goes on all the time in every aspect of human life and evolving consciousness and knowledge, not just limited to the witnesses.
In my experience, and it is my experience, here in Australia, nearly every single witness would take a vaccination and have done for the past 40-50 years! In fact, one of the reasons I left the witnesses was because I was considered too alternative and anything outside of kath & kim mainstream must be demonic! (k & k reference for my aussie friends).
hey my fellow brothers and sister in the lord....i need some help in figuring out the meaning to this song.. it by five for fighting and it's called superman(it ain't easy) i'm stumped and i love to sing and play the song on my gee-tar.. here's the lyrics.
i cant stand to fly.
im not that naive.
Hey Gumby - that's one of my favourite songs! I used to wonder what it meant listening to it also (I love it more for the music, but even tho I didn't understand the lyrics properly, they still grabbed me, maybe the way it's sung). But now you have written the words down I kind of agree with Sad emo. Funny, when I read the words I actually thought of Jesus and wondered how much the bible misrepresents the very human aspects of him - as this song tries to convey? (not that I am saying the song is about Jesus)
