Posts by riko

54

Skirting the issue

by Virgogirl in

what argument is put forth that women must only wear dresses or skirts to the meetings or in service and are not permitted to wear slacks?

where does it say it's wrong for sisters to wear pants, and how are they convincing women in 2005 to buy into this?

i remember many bitterly cold chicago mornings with frozen legs running to doors and back to the warm car as quickly as possible, wearing a skirt which was ridiculous and inappropriate to the weather conditions.

riko

The 'curt' answer I always used to get was that it's out of repect for God...but shouldn't our respect for God be a personal thing, doesn't mean too much when it's forced and resented. In your heart, you could be being respectful to God in whatever you wear, whatever feels appropriate to you, and with God being able to read your heart condition and all....there shouldn't be limits.

I can understand where it's come from in a way but I still don't agree, if the 'truth' is meant to be so personal a thing, why won't the society let us make up our own minds?

34

Street work

by pratt1 in

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maybe this only happens in urban neighborhoods but when i was growing up, many dubs engaged in street work, basically offering the magazines to people on the street as they walked to a destination.. usually it was an area with a lot of foot traffic at a time when many people would travel the area.. did you or people in your congo engage in this and were there any funny stories relating to this practice?

riko

I must've blended quite nicely into the background of the Kingdom Hall as I couldn't walk the road between my college and the bus-stop without being stopped by a brother in the cong...no matter how many times I told him I was a JW, he'd stop me again a few weeks later...talk about feeling like part of the furniture

I only went on street work once, I don't remember talking to anyone but I DO remember buying a rather fetching bit of nightwear from the local department store...

lola, you do not need to explain the reasons for your actions to anyone, we all have our own lives, opinions and ways of doing things, you're entitled to your own

25

New tattoo on tuesday

by FreedomFrog in

jw
friends

hey guys, .

well, i've been wanting a tattoo for almost a year now.

i wanted a raven picture, but couldn't find one i liked...the parlor showed me one that i absolutely loved.. i'm getting this tattooed on my wrist...what do ya think of it?.

riko

My my that is a beautiful tattoo...I'm a big fan of body art and that's a lovely piece of work. I'm hoping to get my first tattoo soon, after I scrape my mother back up off the floor...she hasn't quite recovered from the navel or the lip piercing yet...

10

In Field Service was it

by oldflame in

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when you went door to door did you find it easier to begin discussions easier with women or men ?.

i found it much easier with females than with males.

riko

old people, men or women, most of them were at least polite and occasionally respectful of the fact you have a faith in god. But most of the time, a not-at-home would have suited me just fine....I got very good at knocking 'with a sponge' as my mam called it....barely loud enough for even us to hear. Then I'd tiptoe back down the garden path and close the gate VEERRY quietly behind me...

14

How were your presentations?

by Mysterious in

were you the kind that stayed up for hours the night before finding the perfect point and the perfect scripture...or were you the one that was hastily trying to through something together the morning of and panicking when you realized the circuit overseer was visiting.

and then there was me...i was lucky if i knew which magazines were "it" for that week, lucky if id read more than the first page, and developed a good deal of improve skill when that 25% "at home" rate popped up on my 1 door in 10. eeps.

im not sure if anyone realized just how seat of the pants my approach to field service actually was.

riko

oh wow, even now the word 'presentation' sends waves of terror through me. As not the most confident person in the world to begin with, I used to shake like crazy when I was holding the mags out to the householder, I must've looked a right tit. My approach was always take as long as I could to introduce the magazines, throw in the words 'bible' and 'jehovahs witnesses' and wait for the door to close in front of me. Much less frightening than them accepting the mags, I was so unprepared for this that I never knew what to say afterwards! As for return visits, it was a case of....'erm, here's the new magazines...um....hope you enjoy them...see you in 2 weeks!' I just never had the confidence or the conviction in what I was preaching

16

My First "Birthday" party!

by tall penguin in

my former colleagues at the clinic i used to work at took me out for lunch today.

what i didn't know was that they'd arranged a "birthday" party for me.

although my birthday isn't until june they wanted to celebrate the 25 birthdays i've missed while a jw.

riko

LOL I agree, henceforth birthdays must be celebrated for a whole week to make up for a lifetime of none.

Wow, that is special though, a very happy un-birthday to you, can you imagine how much you're gonna love your real birthday in june now?

22

Hi

by finallyfree05 in

i'm new and this is my first post......mine is a long story i will share later.

i'm at work and just wanted to say hi to you all

riko

Hi there finallyfree, I'm also very new here so I really look forward to hearing your story

33

My so-called life

by riko in

hello everyone..i just wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my experiences.. i'm 23, have been raised in the truth all my life.

when i was 18, i made a foolish decision to get married, something i knew deep down i wasn't ready for, still being very much in the 'bloom of youth'.

i reluctantly saw my future as being one of jehovahs witnesses and with all my adolescent drives, i moved away from home to marry a man with about the same maturity as me.

riko

Again, thanks so much for the warmth of your welcome and words of encourgement, it's comforting to know I'm not the first person to experience these feelings, in fact, there's more people out there than I realised! It's good not to feel so 'unique' in the experiences I've had, it gives me strength to read of the way many of you have overcome your past life and I hope to follow the same way.

I look forward to spending a lot more time on this board. Thanks

11

Serenity

by Jordan in

oh my god!

that film is beyond awesome!

if you're not doing anything else tonight go to your local cinema and see that film.

riko

Oh my....Firefly was one of the most amazing sci fi shows of recent years, cut down before it had chance to *ahem* fly

Serenity is a fantastic film, Nathan Fillion has me in stitches, he's such a great character, loveable but a total and utter git, with some of the best one-liners on tv.

I say, bring back firefly! Even though SPOILER ALERT****it'll never be the same again...

33

My so-called life

by riko in

hello everyone..i just wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my experiences.. i'm 23, have been raised in the truth all my life.

when i was 18, i made a foolish decision to get married, something i knew deep down i wasn't ready for, still being very much in the 'bloom of youth'.

i reluctantly saw my future as being one of jehovahs witnesses and with all my adolescent drives, i moved away from home to marry a man with about the same maturity as me.

riko

Wow, thank you everyone for your kind words. I've been on this forum for a couple of hours and already the people have given me more support and made me feel more welcome than 20 years in the 'Truth'. The Truth, it's ridiculous we're meant to refer to it as that, yet more manipulation. A child grows up calling it the truth, how could they question that if it's the truth.

Dansk, thank you for the welcome! You're right, I hope more people will open their eyes and see the orginisation for what it truly is, sooner rather than later, it's comforting to know there are people out there with more compassion in their little finger than the society in its entirety.

Dawn, thank you for the advice, a college course does sound like a good idea, it's almost like starting school again the way it should have happened the first time. It's something I have considered as well as counselling, I'm not sure how easy it is over here but I'll certainly look into it.

consider this your chance for a rebirth

I suppose when you're so far down, the only way is up, eh? jgnat, what you've been through is horrific, you have such amazing strength.

I'm so touched by the response I've got here, I can't thank you enough. It's so encouraging to meet people who have been in the same place as I am now and to see how strong they've become

thank you