coffee_black

Joined

• started 195 topics
• posted 3,271 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by coffee_black

• 
  7

  The Patriarch and the Prodigal Son

  by NeonMadman in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i'm trying to get a copy of a book published many years ago entitled the patriarch and the prodigal son, by joel stanley.

  it is an account of his growing up as a jw, and includes accounts of alleged child abuse in his family.

  i'm hoping someone here has a copy they're willing to sell, or knows where i can get one.. joel grew up in the claremont, nh area, and became a friend of mine when i was a young jw in western mass.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  The time frame is right. Have you tried doing a white pages search in the New England states? Shouldn't be too hard to locate. Are you still in MA?

  cb
• 
  7

  The Lesson of the Iceberg

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the most dangerous part of an iceberg is the part you cannot.

  however great the visible part may be, remember that it.

  only exists visibly because a much larger body of ice is hidden.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  Welcome,
  The story is tentatively set to air on May 28, on NBC Dateline.
  Not CNN.
  so sorry to hear of your terrible experience. There are many with similar experiences. It's time for it to be exposed.

  cb
• 
  7

  The Patriarch and the Prodigal Son

  by NeonMadman in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i'm trying to get a copy of a book published many years ago entitled the patriarch and the prodigal son, by joel stanley.

  it is an account of his growing up as a jw, and includes accounts of alleged child abuse in his family.

  i'm hoping someone here has a copy they're willing to sell, or knows where i can get one.. joel grew up in the claremont, nh area, and became a friend of mine when i was a young jw in western mass.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  Hi,
  I think I vaguely remember a Joel from the Claremont cong. We used to stay outside Ludlow, Vermont each summer, and the closest congregation was Cleremont. It's many years ago. A JW family owned an old farmhouse outside of Ludlow, in Andover, and my family was very close to them, so we had the run of the place. We vacation pioneered nearly every year there. I'm back in MA now, after living in Florida for 20 years. We may know some of the same people. Did you know the Brooks? Chris Brooks married Doug (last name?) So very long ago. The Newtons were the owners of the farm. They were from Melrose, MA.
  cb
• 
  13

  A happy people?

  by myself in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  viewing the tennesseans article today "disfellowship described as being 'worse then death'" one of my co-workers asked if this was true.. i told him that many have viewed it that way in different aspects.

  some have been driven to suicide because of not knowing how to deal with the prospect of being df'd.

  they are cut off from their family, and the only people they have really been allowed to associate with as friends.. this brought out a question from my husband on the way home from work tonight: "are jehovah's witnesses really a happy group of people?".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  JWs are told regularly that they are the happiest people on earth. When you're a jw, and you're not happy, you think there's something wrong with you. So if you just try harder, study more, go door to door more, then you will be happy. So you try harder. Now you're unhappy and exhausted. Still something must be wrong with you, so you try even harder. It doesn't work, but you have to keep up the facade, because everyone is watching, and you don't want anyone to think you're spiritually sick. It's a vicious cycle.
  I have truly been happier since I left the organization than I have ever been. Every aspect of my life has improved.

  cb
• 
  25

  What "hooked" you?

  by roybatty in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  im not sure if this has been discussed before but id be interested to read some comments from those who became jws later in life.

  what caught your attention and sucked you in?.

  my parents became jws when i was 5 years old, so it was pretty much the only way of life that i knew.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  I was born into it, and so was my Dad. His parents had arrived from overseas, very young and naive, and friends of theirs started associating. They got involved out of loneliness, being in a new country so far from home.
  My Mother wasn't born into it. She started studying because her first fiance died 2 weeks before they were to be married, and witness relatives of his were at the funeral with all the right answers about his tragic death. She met my Dad not too long after that, and they dated for 10 years, because at that time you were supposed to wait 'till after armageddon to get married. Finally someone high up at headquarters married, and it seemed to give permission for others to get married. Dad was 40. Mom was 33. I came along 2 years later.
  Didn't mean to write a book here. Sorry. Just seems loneliness and tragedy can lead you right into the clutches of the borg.

  cb
• 
  38

  X-FILES Final Episode

  by Yerusalyim in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, i just watched the final episode of the x-files!

  who else is disappointed?

  does this mean that dana and mulder are christians now?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  Just watched it. Did the scene with the military court remind you of the borg? A kangaroo court that completely ignored the evidence, and would do anything to cover up their deeds? I was struck by some paralells in this episode. Am I the only one?

  cb
• 
  31

  JW Thinking

  by silentlambs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the following was posted in my guestbook today.

  rather than offer a comment i think the words speak for themselves.. silentlambs.

  time: .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  That's the kind of thinking that has allowed the problem to go unchecked for so long. It's so convoluted that it makes me dizzy.
  Not an ounce of human compasion or decency. Sick.

  cb
• 
  18

  Ozzie's Weekend Poll #5

  by ozziepost in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yes, it's that time again!

  time to put your feet up, relax with something nice to drink, and muse over dubdom for a couple of minutes.. last weekend we asked: "what did you like most about the meetings?

  " so, to be fair to objectivity, we should ask for the 'other side'.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  The singing. Sounded like funeral marches. Except in the congregation I grew up in. There was a sister who fancied herself an opera singer.
  All you could hear above the droning was her voice sounding like a cat being tortured. I still cringe when I think of it.

  The seats were always uncomfortable. In that same congregation we had metal folding chairs. A couple of hours in them was awful.

  cb
• 
  10

  Are children dying? Or arent they?

  by flower1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  *** watchtower 1998 december 1 p.14 defending our faith *** .

  4 second, jehovah's witnesses have been targets of false accusations-barefaced lies and twisted presentations of their beliefs.

  as a result, they have been the object of unjustified attack in some lands.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  It's no wonder witnesses have trouble facing reality about the borg.
  They have no idea what truth is. The watchtower is so busy talking out of both sides of it's mouth, it makes your head spin. Truth is irrelevant. Whatever perspective that produces the desired effect of the moment. And they call that Christianity! Not even close!

  cb
• 
  46

  ex-jws and cognitive dissonance

  by HildaBingen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  mystikool told me i should endure.

  he said it not right for me to drop out when there is battle to be fought.

  so i no longer offended.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  coffee_black

  Hilda dear,
  You are becoming very boring. Counseling might be useful for the split personality disorder.

  cb