i don't know how so many who seem to be certain this life is it after being jw's seem to happily accept it and be fine with it.
i am living and trying to live as if this is it.
i want there to be a future life/afterlife, something, but i see how fast life comes and goes and even if i'm living it to the fullest, there is no peace for me with the thought this may be it.
If I could do Christina Aguilera as part of the "Make a Wish" thing before I died ...
Really????? Christina???? I agree that she was hot a few years ago, especially around the time that the 'Dirty' album/song came out. She always dressed slutty, but at least she was hot. Now she just looks like a worn-out slut.
i don't know how so many who seem to be certain this life is it after being jw's seem to happily accept it and be fine with it.
i am living and trying to live as if this is it.
i want there to be a future life/afterlife, something, but i see how fast life comes and goes and even if i'm living it to the fullest, there is no peace for me with the thought this may be it.
I like what Mal said in Firefly, "Everybody dies... Somebody's carrying a bullet for you right now and doesn't even know it. The trick is to die of old age before it finds you."
I don't think any one of us would want to die next week unless you're suffering in excruciating pain from a terminal illness. I'm just now starting to be ok with the idea that there may not be an afterlife. I haven't resigned myself to that belief yet, but it no longer causes the dread that I used to have. The only regret that I would have about dying next week is that I did not wake up sooner so that I would have had children of my own that I can pass on my own values to.
If you live your life to appreciate the small moments, you can experience what many have called "an eternity in a second". I've experienced those seconds and look forward to experiencing many more. Even if I never have children of my own, I know that I have and I will have an impact on the world around us. Even if no one remembers my name 100 years from now, that doesn't mean that my life had no value. Everything we do has an impact (think of the butterfly effect). What we do today will never be done again in the same time and space. It is forever written in space-time.
These thoughts are what keep me sane after waking up from a life where I lived for a future and put off everything today. I've started to learn how to live for today. How to not put things off. How to make a difference. How to say "I love you" frequently to those that I care about.
To summarize: Would I be ok with dying next week? No. I've just woken up and I want to live. Would I be ok with dying next year or the year after that? I'd rather it be like the bullet with my name on it and not know it was coming.
just recently i've been thinking about trying to talk about ttatt to my father.
i'm just trying to find an opportunity.
i know he will never leave it - or i would be surprised if he did.
i have been trying to discuss and reason with jws about their beliefs for some time now and it usually ends in "agree to disagree".
i just don't feel like i am getting anywhere, they get their guard up super easy and will dismiss anything no matter how logical or factual.. so the other day i tried another tactic, instead of arguing for another point of view i started to agree with them.
this made them much more talkative and open, their guard went away somewhat.
Almost all JWs have some form of emotional trauma somewhere in their past. My trauma was almost a decade old and I had buried it deep down. When my brother (raised around JWs) expressed a sincere interest in becoming a JW, I was excited to help him. He, not being weighed down by GB rules on apostate material, researched the heck out of JWs the same way he does everything else. He came to me with so many questions, but with a sincerity for the truth.
The trauma I had experienced so long ago resurfaced and something clicked. I realized that I couldn't help him to become a JW until I answered questions that I had suppressed so many years ago.
The take away for me is that many JWs have seen or experienced injustice in the congregations. Asking questions that help them think can cause past experiences to resurface and open them up to questioning their beliefs.
here is a fairly detailed article on the history of the movement in mexico.
it's in spanish, but i passed it thru google translate and it does a pretty good job at translating the document.
it's an article from one of the most prestigious universities in mexico.. being in a predominantly hispanic circuit, we have several brother and sisters from mexico who were witnesses under the conditions that existed back then.
10/8/93 awake article about child abuse misconceptions, checkout the second misconception: children fantasize or lie about abuse.. this article notes how it's extremely unlikely that children lie in cases of abuse (95% in some estimates are truthful) and how even among the ones who lie it's usually when they make a claim (in truth) but then subsequently lie and say it didn't happen, when in actuality, it did.. given this knowledge, why the two witness rule?
95% odds that the child who claims abuse is telling the truth by the awakes own admission, that should be more than enough to change policies of the wts.. http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/g19931008/about-child-abuse/#?insight%5bsearch_id%5d=8d161c40-c4d0-4ddb-aadf-bcf2b480d55b&insight%5bsearch_result_index%5d=0.
The problem is not "the two witness rule". The problem is that they view it as a sin instead of as a crime. It is rape of a child. The problem is that they don't report it as a crime or encourage the parents to do so. They don't need a 2nd witness to do that. Who cares if the guy is df'd or not? Who cares if he ends up on a secret list up in NY? They'll never give up the 2 witness rule as they hold the bible as their highest power above any common sense.
If they would report every instance of child abuse, then the abusers would be properly investigated and the abused could get actual help by those trained for such problems. They would also get their "2nd witness" in many cases as prior letters to the boe state that the physical evidence can be the 2nd witness. More abusers would be df'd. But honestly I would rather that the abusers be turned in to the authorities so that they could be put on the national sexual predator list. I'd prefer that over the abuser being df'd. Then parents could easily check the list to see if any in their congregation were on that list.
The media and most here are attacking the wrong policy. Instead of attacking the "two witness" policy, attack the "call the legal department first" policy. Attack the "we report where required" policy. Those policies need to change. Then the "two witness" rule would have very little impact on the outcome of child abuse cases.
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you can probably guess how this story goes.. i began dating a non-witness boy.
he knew i was a baptised witness and understood the consequences i faced for dating him.
we agreed to keep our relationship secret, which was easy considering our 200 mile distance.
I agree with traveb. Let your family know that you love them even though you don't see eye to eye on religious beliefs. You might want to mention that you feel you were too young to make such a big commitment at 16. This may give your parents something to think about.
Also, don't go wild and crazy and end up in a position where you have to "crawl back". Sometimes that happens no matter what we do, but it's best avoided as it would only serve to reinforce their opinion that those that leave JWs end up failing.
was talking to an ex-bethelite who is still very well-connected to those in the ivory tower.. he says that there will soon be a(nother) large number of us bethelites who will be "reassigned to the field" as pioneers and special pioneers.. he did not give his source, but he is pretty reliable.
incidentally, he was "reassigned to the field" in the last big purge about 7 years ago.. i imagine those so reassigned would be pretty teed off.
let go just before the golden lakeshore palace was completed..
He has a piddling little minimum-wage 10 or 15 hour part time job somewhere, and daddy pays for pioneering ($25,000 Jeep, free gas & health insurance, free rent to live at home, free family vacations to Europe, etc.)
How is it that the R&F buy into the idea that everyone should pioneer. In almost every example I've seen, the pioneering/full-time service skips a generation. The pioneers/full-time servants are reliant on other people to continue living. Not everyone can pioneer or enter the full-time service and the org keep on running.
I'm not sure if the higher ups know this and press it because they know that those who can't will feel guilty and support them monetarily to assuage the guilt or truly buy into the idea that "Jehovah will provide" if the majority of JWs finally quit their job and pioneer. I've heard it said by a CO and at a convention that having everyone pioneer and reduced contributions would be a good problem to have and that Jehovah would provide.
are jws trying to make dysfunctional kids that wont "fit" in normal society so they will "return to jehovah"?
because there have been many stories about young people who have been out in the world only to find how bad it was and how correct the org was.. a good jw kid with "good" jw parents will have many big issues, some examples:.
fear of demons (fear, misfit).
