my fading brother just informed me of two jw suicides in his area within the last few weeks.. one was recently disfellowshipped.. the other was an active publisher, possibly a ministerial servant.
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both left young children behind.. the cases appear to be unrelated.. of course suicide is nothing unique to jehovah's witnesses.. but most of us know that as a group they are no happier than any other segment of the population, quite possibly less so due to the burdens placed upon them and their paradisaic hopes that go perpetually unrealized.. .
I actually think that this repeated message that they are the happiest people on earth makes individual jws feel that there is something wrong with them if they are not happy... just one more thing to live up to... it's telling them that if they are living up to all they are supposed to do and pleasing Jehovah then of course they are happy. If not...something is wrong with them. So they try harder and are still miserable... It's a viscous cycle.
Coffee
i remember reading on a thread probably a year or so back that some of the wt shareholders, some of the many who are now shareholders of multiple wt companies, are not jws!.
can someone enlighten me on this and how this could come about in the first place?.
i take it that should the wt actually 'dissolve' these shareholders would take whatever is left financially in the companies!
There were indeed non-JWs in the past. Some real characters
Looks like this is the cause of the confusion...and why we thought some of the shareholders were non jws.
Your question is a good one... follow the money... I wish I knew.
Coffee
i remember reading on a thread probably a year or so back that some of the wt shareholders, some of the many who are now shareholders of multiple wt companies, are not jws!.
can someone enlighten me on this and how this could come about in the first place?.
i take it that should the wt actually 'dissolve' these shareholders would take whatever is left financially in the companies!
spent a few minutes googleing this subject....and found this.
http://www.cesnur.org/2007/bord_chryssides.htm won't help with the names of shareholders..but adds a little more to the question.
Coffee
now that i'm in my late 40's, old means about 80 years old.... i'm still young at 47, i think .
lovelylil is right. It's just a number. I feel younger now than I did 20 years ago. It helps to be happy.
Coffee
thought i'd do another one on halloween!
i'm in the spirit!
no pun intended !
I'm not dressing up, but my cousin is. OMG she did a trial run... funniest thing I ever saw. She dressed up as an old lady...really old with teeth falling out etc and an old housecoat and shawl and funky pearls...with her stockings down around her ankles with fluffy slippers. She's going to work that way tomorrow. They have a contest for the best costume. She looks demented as well as 110 years old. She'll scare all the customers away... She works at Home Depot.
Coffee
tape recorders during a committee meeting I wonder why...
Coffee
i received my copy of barbara andersons cd paedophilia in an american religion a month or two ago, and i have been reading through it since.. what follows, although i have called this a review, is in no sense a scholarly consideration of the legal merits of the cases described, a task for which i am wholly unqualified.
these are, rather, my subjective reflections on the material presented, the impressions i gathered while reading the legal filings, my untrained, common-man appraisal of the cases laid out in those documents.
ill also admit to being swayed by tone of voice adopted, and to using my own common-sense yardstick in determining the reasonableness of the statements made, the responses given and the arguments put forward.
Thanks Dave....
Coffee
i received my copy of barbara andersons cd paedophilia in an american religion a month or two ago, and i have been reading through it since.. what follows, although i have called this a review, is in no sense a scholarly consideration of the legal merits of the cases described, a task for which i am wholly unqualified.
these are, rather, my subjective reflections on the material presented, the impressions i gathered while reading the legal filings, my untrained, common-man appraisal of the cases laid out in those documents.
ill also admit to being swayed by tone of voice adopted, and to using my own common-sense yardstick in determining the reasonableness of the statements made, the responses given and the arguments put forward.
How is the media coverage going... any news of the publicity for the CD and Paedophile issue? Wasn't there supposed to be some publicity...or did I miss it?
Coffee
i'm not an inspired prophet - nevertheless, let me tell you what the future will be for ordinary, middle.
class people in the united states:.
inflation is going to accelerate and making a living for families is only going to get more difficult.. the real standard of living in the us may fall.
The flip flopping on this issue can make your head spin. I think they get scared when the numbers drop. Most jws who go to college are exposed to other points of view. It's a threat to the borg.
My x (who is still a jw) hated the fact that I went (even just the 1 year) to college. He repeatedly tried to make me admit that I had sinned against Jehovah by going. Unbeknownst to me he took college classes while we were married... and after the divorce he got his degree while the attitude towards college had softened. When our son graduated from high school the x wanted him to go to college...and said son wanted to take a year off to figure out what courses he wanted to take. He started college a couple of years after High School...and a couple of years later his dad said he really shouldn't be going to college because it was a waste of money. My son stayed in college. He had escaped the borg by then. You could get whip lash trying to keep up with their policies.
It's all about control...and money and keeping the rank and file busy peddling magazines
Coffee
anonymity is a good thing.
i have never told anyone this and it bothered me really bad for a long time.
leading a double life at an early age as a jw probably is an indication that you are really not going to buy into the program.
Sophmore year in High School. English class. We had a grammar workbook with daily quizes. It was always open book. Honor system. I looked ahead for the answers because once you finished it, you could spend the rest of class reading from a list of selected books. I couldn't wait to get to the reading. Read Crime & Punishment, 1984, Tale of Two Cities, and many others that year.
I didn't get caught until the last semester. My teacher was very disappointed in me... I felt very guilty because he knew I was a jw and I was aftraid I had stumbled him.
Coffee who still loves to read...and should be doing paperwork right now for my job instead of taking a break to see what's happening on jwd.
