hello, benext here.
this evening i became aware that my name is on the lips of all the loving gossipers at my former place of worship.
i need to be vague at this point but someone let the cat out of the bag about some personal information they had learned about me.
imho, the WTS is more likely to bust somebody for gluttony than for gossip.
Gossip is the social backbone of the org.
benext, sorry that you are the target of such sociopathic behavior, but I would say: get out of it before you get used to it.
Craig (of the former Bethelite class)
PS: Is this Walls been at Bethel for over 30 years? If so, I think I know who you are talking about...the name rings a bell.
i've been enjoying christmas for several years now but have never put up a tree.
not that i have any lingering feelings against one in my home, it's just that i've never felt a tree or decorations to be of any importance compared to what christmas really means to me.
i could care less about the tree, it's how tight the gifts for the kids are packed under it.
Katie and I were looking last week at some fake trees...I sorta liked the fiber optic variety. Here in Oregon we have all kinds of tree lots spring up after T-day, and we can get a cut tree for pretty cheap. Haven't decided yet...but DID put up a couple of strings of those beautiful blue "icicle" strands.
A first for both of us!
Will follow up with the "tree" part when we get there.
Craig
hi friends,.
i posted a few weeks back and mentioned a recent wt article that implied russell's writings were somehow beneficial.
i thought the irony was worth sharing.. the watchtower, april 15, 2002, page 28.... "as observed in 1925 by remigio cuminetti, banchetti showed 'much sympathy' for the work of the bible students and was 'fully convinced' of the doctrines as explained by them.. on one occasion, banchetti was discussing russell's writings with a man named j.campbell wall.
LOL
If the WTS still thinks so highly of Russell, then they should refer all dubs to The Chicago Bible Students, PO Box 661335, Chicago, IL 60666-1335 for the latest copy of Bible Study Review. It has an excellent discussion of Epochs and Dispensations, complete with Russell's Plan of the Ages charts.
Craig
well last week i got my first real shun.
most the time it would be people i know, they would just look away or pretend i wasn't there, you know not really a person anymore.
last week it happen, this time with someone who was one of my best friends.
Keith, I got your voicemail last week, but it was on my cell phone that I now no longer use much. Also, my e-mail has changed.
Sorry I haven't gotten back to ya.
I'll e-mail you my new #'s.
Craig
what is your personality type?
take one of the tests below and then post your results.
i have taken this type of test many times.
Don't tell me that I'm the only ISTJ?!?!
Pegged me pretty good, but then so did Katie
Craig
getting all settled in here...sort of says that most of the boxes are unpacked (why won't she let me look into the closets?)..
don't women ever throw anything away???!!!
roflmao.
I AM TAKING NOTES...
and will not forget those who encourage Katie in her profligacy.
i was invited to be a guest speaker at the saturday night aa speaker's meeting.
this meeting usually has a large crowd and they get somebody with longtime sobriety to come up and tell his story of "what i used to be like, what happened, and what i'm like now" as an example for others.
i'll have eight years in january, so i guess that makes me fairly longtime.. i told them:.
scoot, yes indeed, progress is good enough, "perfection" of the JW/religious type is unattainable. That's one of the incredible things about the addictive personality that came on me like a flash. At a Salvation Army bookstore I found a book The Addictive Organization, written primarily as a primer in bureaucratic organizational behavior and structure. The similarities between the WTS and Big Business just blew me away, ESPECIALLY insofar as the expectation of perfection was concerned. The compulsive devotion to the "cause" and consequential addictive action/reaction syndrome...it was almost like the first time I read Crisis of Conscience.
Again, COMF, thanks for bringing this subject to the board, and sharing your own experiences. This is the kind of self-analysis that merits all the thought and attention it can get, imho.
Craig
i was invited to be a guest speaker at the saturday night aa speaker's meeting.
this meeting usually has a large crowd and they get somebody with longtime sobriety to come up and tell his story of "what i used to be like, what happened, and what i'm like now" as an example for others.
i'll have eight years in january, so i guess that makes me fairly longtime.. i told them:.
COMF, congrats on having almost 8 years!
I've had almost 6 years at a stretch, though not for the last 5. Chaired quite a few AA meetings myself, while still a dub. Never allowed my religious background to be a topic for discussion (hadn't yet made the connection between addiction to substance and addictive behavior in a religion).
What has stuck with me most, during all the last 12 years since my first AA meeting....TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE.
Have paid some heavy prices for it, but finally have self-respect.
Second...KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.
Lot's yet to learn. Sheesh, lot's and LOT'S yet to learn!
Third...ONE DAY AT A TIME.
Making progress, slow but sure.
Craig
getting all settled in here...sort of says that most of the boxes are unpacked (why won't she let me look into the closets?)..
don't women ever throw anything away???!!!
roflmao.
LOL @ myself...I was WONDERING when one of you women would step up to the plate and admit to being packrats!
Craig (of "this former bachelor needs packrat Katie" class)
just thought i'd share an article on the net i'm finding rather interesting.
they are presenting the history of christianity in a chronological way that makes everything a lot easier for me to picture and understand.
maybe it's me, but the society's publications never laid things out clearly for me.
B2DF, good thread.
"He created a new Christian movement...Christian groups typically met in the homes of individual believers, much like home churches do today. Leaders were both men and women. There was no central authority, no standard style of organization at the local level, no dedicated church buildings or cathedrals."
Just this last few months I've been seriously rethinking my opinion of the Bible. Not to discard it, or discount it, but to put it in proper perspective. Among other things, I've come to feel quite strongly that Paul's writings, though included in the decades-later-determined Bible canon, are not by any means necessarily inspired...especially when considering where Paul departs from the simple message of Christ. Somehow smacks of the same bureaucratization to which almost all religions have succumbed. After all, Paul was raised a Pharisee; the stains may have been harder to remove than he thought.
The historical development of Christianity is a real eye-opener.
Craig
