onacruse

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Posts by onacruse

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  10

  Help Save Amina Lawal

  by AMNESIAN in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to have an amnesty international letter sent in your name appealing to nigerian authorities for this young woman's life, follow the link from:

  http://www.oprah.com

  amina lawal, a 30 year-old muslim woman, was sentenced on friday 22 march 2002 to stoning to death by a shari'ah court at bakori in katsina state in northern nigeria.

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  onacruse

  Just plain DISGUSTING.

  Thanks for the link, Amnesian. I sent my letter.

  Craig
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  10

  DF announcements...Is this funny or sad?

  by Double Edge in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  something just struck me as being kind of funny, and never being a jw i'm not sure if it's amusing or sad.

  in the various christian churches i've attended no ones 'departure' is ever announced unless there's a farewell or party, always 'positive' - wishing the departees 'good luck'.

  am i getting this right...everytime someone is df'd or da'd an announcement is made, usually on thursday nights (or whenever).

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  onacruse

  "...although many more committed DF-able offenses but gave an awe-inspiring display of repentance in order to continue to have the privilege of serving as a Jehovah's Witness."

  LOL Gopher! So true!

  Statistics for the last 50 years do show that the average df'ing rate is about 1% per year, and about 40% of those df'd get reinstated (as per WTS statements, don't have a ref handy ). However, there are "runs" where a congregation will go for years without any df'ings, then all of a sudden there are a slew of them. My last cong went for 10 years without a df'ing, then had 8 in one year, including 2 on the night I was df'd (haha, the PO even made sure to add that the df'ings were not related...the other was also a brother...gossip would have made us homosexuals, no doubt). In that year, there was a "numbing" effect...pubs acted stunned, even overwhelmed (how could this be happening in OUR cong?).

  "The congregations life's blood is gossip."

  Marilyn, hahaha...what? You don't mean that everybody rushes home after a df'ing announcement and immediately calls everybody they know to tell them the latest news??????? LOL (btw, I beat you by 2 years...but I came back for 19 years of more)

  Craig
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  21

  Do you accept anger from others?

  by kenpodragon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i would say that i get up each morning in a pretty good mood.

  i get ready for work, drive there and then go about my business.

  because people want to give you the anger to make them feel like others are having a bad day too, when you bounce it away.

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  onacruse

  I can really relate to this. As a construction superintendent, I am daily coordinating dozens of trades-people, all of whom come to the jobsite in various frames of mind. Most are just there ready to do their job. That's the simple part...I tell them what they need to do next, and work out a few details. Others come there with various personal problems weighing on them. That's the personal part...I need to listen for a while as they unload, sympathize as best I can, and then they too clear their minds and get on with business.

  The hardest part is dealing with those that are just plain pissed off...pissed that they're not making enough money, pissed that some other sub is in their way, pissed that the schedule changed by one day...just pissed and determined to stay that way for the whole day. Then I have to "harden my heart" as it were, and leave them with their own anger. I refuse to take it from them. Unloading is one thing, torturing is another. I've had to (reluctantly) use my authority to shut them down, for the sake of the morale of everybody else on the jobsite. But their ball of anger is theirs, not mine, not somebody else's.....period.

  Craig
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  8

  Chasing shadows of the past

  by kenpodragon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember being a child and playing in a park.

  we would spend our summer days in the park, with all the freshly cut lawn, the swings and the sand to play in.

  every once in a while, we would get the bright idea to try and chase our shadows to see if we could out run the darkened shape.

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  onacruse

  "One must always maintain one's connection to the past and yet ceaselessly pull away from it. To remain in touch with the past requires a love of memory. To remain in touch with the past requires a constant imaginative effort."
  Gaston Bachelard

  I don't regret my past...it made me what I am today. And, quite frankly, I'm pretty darn happy with who I am today.

  Not that I can't make a few improvements!

  Craig
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  14

  Thanks from Cassi and Max

  by maximumflash in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sorry i could not make this post ealier than this but things have been a little rough around our neck of the woods here lately.

  where to start, my daughter was admitted to the hospital about 3 weeks ago with a kidney infection.

  she stayed for a few days and the doctors were concerned that she may have had appendictis.

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  onacruse

  ((((Max and Cassi)))

  Sheesh, what a year this has been for you!

  Glad that you are all still hanging in there...looking forward to seeing you both again in chat

  Craig
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  29

  My Redemption Against the JW's

  by Reborn2002 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  quite a while ago i made a promise to myself not to allow the organization known as jehovah's witnesses to have an effect on my life any longer.

  i had washed my hands of them and their disgusting propaganda machine disguised as a religion.

  an old addage says the best revenge is to live life, and to live it well.

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  onacruse

  Right in line with the Jason I've come to know.

  I dare say what you just did soundly beats my chuckling rather loudly at my last Memorial.

  Good job, man, good job!

  Craig
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  31

  Important announcement about Englishman

  by TruckerGB in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  he's going to be a grandad!, .

  congratulations eman.

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  onacruse

  CONGRATS, E-MAN!

  Pretty unusual for a 30 year old guy to be a grandpa, isn't it?

  Craig
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  21

  I Knew I Loved You

  by bikerchic in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i just heard this song today on the radio coming home from work.

  i remember when it first came out a couple of years ago and i couldn't listen to it.

  it was for me one of those songs that made me wonder why i couldn't have a love like that.

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  onacruse

  Nah, Katie, ya didn't embarass me...

  Thanks everybody...this is just incredible.

  Craig
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  61

  Are we wrong to attack the Elders?

  by MARTINLEYSHON in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i see a number of board members alluding to the elders as antagonists.

  this is amoral.

  there is an inference that these ones ( elders ) can think for themselves, they cannot.

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  onacruse

  The chairman (DH) of my last JC was a close friend for almost 20 years. He did prison time in WW2 because he was a JW. He has always been a man with deep concern for others, and helped me many times. He was the hold-out on the JC, and it took the other 2 elders 6 meetings and 1 1/2 years to finally grind him down. I grew up with one of the other elders, and the third elder had been to my home several times and expressed his respect for my extensive Bible study.

  During the JC's, I brought up many Scriptures, to which they had no response. They were knee-jerking to the trumpet of Society policy.

  About 2 months after I was df'd, I happened to meet DH in a hardware store. He told me how disappointed he was with the way the JC went, and added "Craig, I'm just too old to change."

  In the end, we all have to live with the consequences of our own decisions. If we look back and see that we have compromised our principles for the sake of some "position" or simply out of fear, then we shouldn't be surprised if others lose some degree of respect for us.

  Attack elders? No. Hold elders accountable for their actions? Yes...same as for all the rest of us.

  Craig
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  22

  how did you guys do it?

  by Realist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have to say i admire everyone who was strong enough to leave the wt organization.

  alone these horrible stories about armageddon must scare the hell out of everyone who was brought up with it or who was in the org for several years.

  hell even to me they sound really frightning and i don't believe in this nonsense.. secondly you loose most of all of your friends!.

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  onacruse

  Elsewhere, I hear ya, I hear ya.

  The need to make a decision? The power to make that decision? The strength to live with the cosequences of that decision?

  I could offer so many experiences and explanations, but, bottom line...like Dede said...Survival. I simply reached the point where I couldn't live with myself as a JW. My strength came from the very simple fact of...I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE. It was either stay there with my leg in the trap, or knaw off my leg and escape.

  And, here I am...happier and healthier than I have ever been (wounds do heal, after all). Who woulda thought?

  Craig