so, i'm visiting mom and had a great drive with her today in the mountains.
it was gorgeous and a good day overall.. i asked her a little advice about a issue i am having in my marriage/business about going beyond my comfort zone.
i am trying to figure out what is reasonable for my husband toask of me socially when it is totally out of my comfort zone and i discussed that i didn't want to be close minded and stubborn just because i am squirming a bit at what he is asking (nothing actually wrong, bad or anything like that, just not natural for me).
Last year, my mom confided in me that she hates going out in field service and always have. She said that when she was a kid and her and her friend had their turn to go knock on a door, they would pretend knock and come back and tell them no one was home. What's funny is I use to do the same thing! Then, this past September, she signed up to regular pioneer! I don't get it! Why do they allow themselves to be tortured!
I wonder if she still does the fake knock! :)
you maintained a level of personal decency and integrity that you almost certainly would not have had if you had chosen another direction.. sure, you would have had some very "colorful" friends and experiences if you had gone another way, but you still chose the more "edgy" people in the congregation as your friends and you still enjoyed yourself, even if there were a lot of phony constraints.. you looked for ways to be of value to others.
don't stop doing that!.
you kept the darker side of your personality in check.
You maintained a level of personal decency and integrity that you almost certainly would not have had if you had chosen another direction.
This comment really bothers me. I don't understand why witnesses assume they have the corner on human decency and morality. This makes it sounds like the JWs were keeping our unfettered barbarian ways in check just enough to be decent people.
My experience since being out of the organization is that most people "in the world" are quite decent human beings, quite naturally so. I don't mean to suggest there was nothing good out being raised a Witness; just not much.
One thing I have noticed about growing up a JW is that they are absolutely not racist in any way. Or at least, that was my experience. After leaving, I was quite surprised to find out how racist some of the world still is.
i am inactive for about 10 years now..
Inactive. 12-13 years now. Hard to keep track of how long after a while.
so my wife goes to a high school graduation for a congregation member.
she spends hours at the party, she has cake, she gives a very decent gift.
she brings home leftovers from the party for me and her.
College has become like the gay policy in the military. Don't ask, don't tell.
........ well at least the ones i encountered on my recent holiday to orlando.
now i know that its a tourist destintion so everyone working in the hotels and parks are on their best behaviour.
but i have been to tourist towns here in the uk and europe but not one is on a par with you guys.. my husband and i haven't stopped talking about to anyone that wants to listen.
In rural parts of Texas, when you pass someone on the road, you wave at them ... or nod. Everyone does it! Kids not from the area get a kick out of it when they visit because they love waving at everybody.
On a side note ... this is a question for the ones that do not live in the states. Here in the US (in the places I have lived), when there is a funeral procession coming down the road, this is what it looks like: there is a hearse and all the cars behind it have their lights on to indicate they are with the procession. Sometimes the procession is escorted by the police. All the other cars on the road (on both sides) pull over to the side of the road until they pass. It is considered a sign of respect. Does this happen in other coutries? Just wondering.
well, it has come to another fork in the road.
i have been going to other meetings and skipping more.
car groups and two bros tried stopping by my house recently but i was not home or gates were locked.
If you officially disassociate, you are acknowledging their system has merit and you are still playing by their rules. Just walk away. You owe them nothing.
after leaving the jdub world, for awhile it still seemed like the bible was still a holy book, something valuable, worthy, etc., and that the jw religion had just corrupted it and used it to their own ends.. i thought that jesus was like a bhudda, a guy going around taking about peace and love and who exposed the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.. .
but he also said some hurtful things, harmful things, things like dividing up your family, things like whoever had more affection for their family than for him was not worthy of him, to not take time to bury your father but go preaching instead... to send out his followers without any food for the day but to rely on the kindness of others and believe that that kindness and charity expressed gods blessing and favour.... bah!.
i now believe jesus was just another man, saying both good things and stupid things.
Apognophos, I couldn't have said it better myself!
after leaving the jdub world, for awhile it still seemed like the bible was still a holy book, something valuable, worthy, etc., and that the jw religion had just corrupted it and used it to their own ends.. i thought that jesus was like a bhudda, a guy going around taking about peace and love and who exposed the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.. .
but he also said some hurtful things, harmful things, things like dividing up your family, things like whoever had more affection for their family than for him was not worthy of him, to not take time to bury your father but go preaching instead... to send out his followers without any food for the day but to rely on the kindness of others and believe that that kindness and charity expressed gods blessing and favour.... bah!.
i now believe jesus was just another man, saying both good things and stupid things.
The canonization was a political process.
Exactly! And would you trust today's U.S. Congress to decide which books belong in the bible and which books do not? Because that is exactly what happened in the time of Constantine. Our view of Jesus today is the view that Constantine and his chosen bishops wanted us to have. There were many other gospels about Jesus that may have given us a bigger picture of what kind of MAN he really was. Those are now lost to the ages, all because he wanted the controversy to stop.
This forum is short on the arts and humanities.
I don't this forum ever claimed to be about the arts and humanities. And if you don't involve science, and math, and history when looking at the bible, all you will have is blind faith.
after leaving the jdub world, for awhile it still seemed like the bible was still a holy book, something valuable, worthy, etc., and that the jw religion had just corrupted it and used it to their own ends.. i thought that jesus was like a bhudda, a guy going around taking about peace and love and who exposed the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.. .
but he also said some hurtful things, harmful things, things like dividing up your family, things like whoever had more affection for their family than for him was not worthy of him, to not take time to bury your father but go preaching instead... to send out his followers without any food for the day but to rely on the kindness of others and believe that that kindness and charity expressed gods blessing and favour.... bah!.
i now believe jesus was just another man, saying both good things and stupid things.
The truth is ... we have no idea what Jesus said or didn't say. It is a story written long after he may or may not have existed.
I personally believe that someone named Jesus probably did exist. I also think he was simply a human, like you and me, except a bit crazier and narcissitic. I think the story of Jesus today is nothing more than a tall tale. An exaggeration. Like Paul Bunyan, or Johnny Appleseed.
according yearbook - 1994 official name wts in poland was:.
*** yb94 p. 247 poland ***.
imagine their joy when, 40 years later, on may 12, 1989, the director of the office for religious affairs approved the charter of the straznicatowarzystwo biblijne i traktatowe, zarejestrowany zwiazek wyznania swiadkow jehowy w polsce (watchtower bible and tract society, registered religious association of jehovahs witnesses in poland)!
their actions on judical commitee are "sacrament of confession"
That is new.
I'm sorry. How is this new?
