i was always "encouraged" to have friends in the congregation but my folks always understood that i wasn't content with just that.At Uni i had a wide and diverse circle. I always enjoyed my nights out with them far more than meetings. Likewise sitting down over a coffee with one or all of them was far more enlightening than anything i experienced in the hall. My family always used to make the argument that they weren't "real" and that when things got tough they would fall away. Funnily enough when my uncle died suddenly last april, and we had to travel to galway for the funeral, non of my JW friends made the trip (he was a very active one, with an unbelieving and lovely woman) two of them came up for the funeral. I love my real friends in the hall. :-) i'm just glad that the fact they were in the world never bothered me
isthisit
JoinedPosts by isthisit
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16
Had dinner with some worldly friends, WTBTS is full of it
by thecarpenter injust had dinner with some worldly friends and relatives and what a great time i had.
it was sobering to think that i cut them out for so long and yet they are such nice people.
we were conditioned to believe that they were bad influences and were demon possessed but actually are quite decent and church going people with real strengths and weaknesses like everyone else.
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a bit more of my story, maybe some advice needed
by isthisit inso, i'm in my twenties (still in) and with a sister who is 27 and neither of us are happy in the borg.
part of the problem is that she is divorced but not scriptually.
her ex was a nasty nasty piece of work and she was better off without him.
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isthisit
so, i'm in my twenties (still in) and with a sister who is 27 and neither of us are happy in the borg. Part of the problem is that she is divorced but not scriptually. Her ex was a nasty nasty piece of work and she was better off without him. Anyway we kept things quiet for quite some time, but we wanted to start being a normal couple (obviously within the witness constrains).
Anyway she is american, and in the last three weeks we have both been offered post graduate positions in the states, in the same city though not at the same college. Visa applications are a bitch and a half, i have to high tail it to the embassy at least once a week. Anyway here is problem (or perhaps solution).
We are engaged and are hoping to marry soon after going to the states. We have been told catagorically that we can't because it wasn't scriptural (obviously been beaten around is not grounds enough to leave someone). my elders are usually very reasonable but they aren't budging on this. If we do marry i apparantly will lose any prospect of privileges in the future. Both of us are talking about DA'ing or else getting married by a justice of the peace, and then living with being marked for an eternity.
What is the best course? we tend to think DA'ing. This really is the last straw. We are both tired of giving lipservice to something that we really no long believe in. Do we make a clean break? -
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DC in Ireland: Warning about groups of bros who want to modernise the WT
by truthseeker in.
i just heard this from someone who attended a district convention in ireland.. the brother told me that the speaker said that there were brothers forming groups to try and modernise the watchtower society.
has anyone heard anything like this in the usa?
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isthisit
there was an "apostasy" here in the 1980's and it caused some problems, some of them got "god complexes" themselves and others left and did nothing else. we had our convention 2 weeks ago and there was nothing mentioned about this. As for last week i can't say. Most of the main ones involved are either inactive on the campaign front or else moved on.
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Big announcement after all DC have ended?
by Quandary ini was told by a reliable source that the organization will be making a "big announcement" at the end of the summer when all the dcs have ended.
has anyone else heard this?
maybe this is the "new light" they have alluded to in recent wt study articles?
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isthisit
our conventions have already been planned for next year, we were told so at last weeks "banquet". i likewise heard this thing about an announcement. I was told off by the person telling me for being cynical about it. my response was "surely if the GB knew the date, they'd tell us straight away instead of all this hearsay about an announcement, remember no one knows the day or the hour". I'll put my money on a tract campaign, perhaps we are taking part in a new interpretation of a "trumpet blast" :-P
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"Oh that I should have to go thru this..."
by Hellrider inwhen my mother was on her deathbed, she mumbled these words: "oh, that i should have to go thru this...".
i was the one sitting there when she said that, half-way into a coma, and she sounded kind of surprised when she said that.
she was fanatic in her belief in jw-doctrine (although she was inactive the last few years of her life), and she fully believed that armageddon was coming "any day now".
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isthisit
I come from a long line of JW's, when my Grandmother died, i was sat having a beer with my dad (he is the PO) the day between the death and the funeral, we were talking about Grandma and Grandpa, what they got up to etc, and then he said something to me that i never expected to hear from him, "i remember being expressly told at an assembly that i would never have to bury my parents, the end was so close, and here we are, both dead within a year of each other, this means either the end is close or else everything i've believed in is bullshit". These words are verbatim (sic). He made a will the next day. It was funny, all my uncles and aunts said the same thing over the next day or two. Of course everything is now back to normal, but it was a chink i was never expecting to see.
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Do you feel as if you're eternal or temporary?
by JH in.
we were all taught that we would live eternally and we all beleived it.. how do you feel now?
i still beleive i'll be here in 1000000000000 years eating poutine and drinking beer.
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isthisit
temporary. it is what has driven me since i was about 16. I always hated talking to brother and sisters, and them saying "well there'll be time for that in the new system". I always viewed it as an excuse for lazyness, so the striving after being all i can be, within the constrains of the "truth" and soon , outside, drives me. my philosophy is , 80 years is just enough time to make a difference, so utilise it to the full....
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What is the most objectionable thing you have heard off the platform?
by restrangled ini know many have quoted ridiculous statements from the assemblies etc., i just wonder what irked you most off of the platform in your own kh.. the one that sticks out in my mind was when we had a guest speaker on a sunday for the public talk.
i don't remember the theme but his main point was the starving people in africa did not need food.
he stated they needed spiritual food and would opt for that over a meal because they realize they could eat in the new order and there was no need to send any donations directly.
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isthisit
this MS ( young and eager,the type that will shake the right hands for a bit longer than necessary) said that "if you get in the car and don't put on your seatbelt straight away, the angel steps off the bonnet"-him saying this in a hall where the PO was just recovering from a car accident. he said some other things, but they are too specific to my hall, ireland is a small country and.....
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31
may i say hello?!?
by isthisit inhello my name is isthisit and i have a confession to make, i'm an active jw and not happy.
i am a lurker here and have to start posting.
i am 22 and have been "born and raised" as well as being 4th generation.
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isthisit
thank you for the welcomes :) it is nice to know i can be myself here instead of the front i have to put up at the hall week in week out. i'll eventually be more open about myself, but sufficed to say i am 22 and lonely :), it is nice to be welcomed amongst friends...
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31
may i say hello?!?
by isthisit inhello my name is isthisit and i have a confession to make, i'm an active jw and not happy.
i am a lurker here and have to start posting.
i am 22 and have been "born and raised" as well as being 4th generation.
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isthisit
i probably am the reason they say not to go to college, it teaches you how to study properly, how to think outside the box. I've seen some hypocrisy, both in my own hall and in the larger organisation that i don't like. Likewise the entire principle of "only jw's will be saved" has never ever sat well with me. I suppose college has taught me how to think like a human rather than a theocrat (no pun intended :))
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31
may i say hello?!?
by isthisit inhello my name is isthisit and i have a confession to make, i'm an active jw and not happy.
i am a lurker here and have to start posting.
i am 22 and have been "born and raised" as well as being 4th generation.
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isthisit
hello my name is isthisit and i have a confession to make, i'm an active JW and not happy. I am a lurker here and have to start posting. I am 22 and have been "born and raised" as well as being 4th generation. I buck the trend slightly and have just finished my bachelors and am about to go travelling for a while. I frankly am miserable and feel sort of trapped. My father is PO, i have numerous family members (immediate and extended) in bethel. I know its not the truth but find it hard to leave. I love my friends that are still in, but i love my friends that aren't. I don't know what to do. I am miserable, thank goodness for the board- it gives me a bit of hope that i will eventually find the strength to leave....