onacruse

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Posts by onacruse

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  10

  Runaway Kids

  by animal in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  since i am home a few days, i figured i would try to post a new question and see what happens.... were you a runaway from home, due to the jw's, or were you the parent of a runaway?

  as many know, i was.... i split in 72 when i was 15, waiting for the world to end.

  i ended up in prison, lived on the streets, and tried/sold drugs to survive till i was 18 or so.

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  onacruse

  The only member of my family to run away from home was my Dad, when he was 13. Never went back, joined the Navy as soon as he could...and the military "blind obedience" training he got there was the pattern of his life for the next 50 years.

  He's changed a lot over the last 10 years, but the emotional scars caused by his parents' rejection still run deep...very deep.

  Some of those scars, as usual, were (inadvertently) passed on to us kids, and were borne with by Mom. I'm glad to say that we have all reached a point where we can acknowledge, without rancor, that Dad is doing the best he can. Not excuses, just reality.

  Craig
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  12

  A small victory

  by acsot in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, my mom is elderly (80 yrs.

  old) and not able to get to all the meetings like she used to (which is definitely a plus for me!

  btw shes living with me now, since last spring, cause shes not able to keep up with things anymore).

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  onacruse

  ascot, "small" victories such as yours are sometimes really the most telling, because it's that first small break in the dam that MUST happen before the cracks spread and the whole edifice of self-denial falls.

  I suspect that as more and more "stalwart" JWs age in this "old system" (probably much to their surprise and dismay), such conversations as yours will be more common.

  At least we can hope so, eh?

  Craig
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  15

  ScooterGirl

  by shera in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  thanks for your e-mail.just wanted everyone to know what a nice person you are.. thanks for helping me understand a situation better.it is hard to read people over the net.

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  onacruse

  Here, here!

  Craig
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  14

  Mystery of life, or my ramblings

  by Vivamus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been thinking back on the moment my grandma died.

  it's a strange thing, seeing someone pass away.

  it truly made me think on the meaning of life.

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  onacruse

  "To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them: but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we know what we do not know?"
  Socrates

  Or, perhaps in modern vernacular: "Ain't been there and done that."

  And, as others have said: "Not to live is worse than death."

  But I still do miss my younger brother.

  Craig
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  28

  Told my JW Story at AA Meeting

  by COMF in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  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:.

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  onacruse

  A hearty welcome and handshake to you, rebel!

  The elders' predisposition to remind you/us of our past "weaknesses" and use it against us to their advantage is but one more example of how stuck most of them are in the quagmire of their own muddled thinking. Not to mention unChristian by not truly forgiving.

  Like an old-timer once told me: "Minds like concrete...thoroughly mixed up and firmly set."

  Craig
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  16

  Are we really apostates?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if the jehovah witnesses are really the one and only true religion, and we did quit, then i agree that we are apostates.

  but since we seem to all agree that they made wrong prophesies, and changed so often the meaning of the bible, why then do we call ourselves apostates?

  if we quit a religion that didn't have the truth, then why are we so hard on ourselves?

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  onacruse

  Actually, the Greek root verb aphistemi, with its NT derivatives apostasia and apostasion, is a very generic term for "to put away (transitive sense)" or "to depart (intransitive sense)." Most of the Biblical usages have nothing to do with defection from a religion.

  With this in mind, I am happy to be identified as an "apostate," since I HAVE put away a lot of garbage and departed from my previous life-long mindset.

  Craig
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  21

  Amazing, Little Toe and others ?

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  i'm sure there are a few others we haven't heard from in a while (unless i've just missed the posts .

  hope you guys are ok!

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  onacruse

  Yeah, I've missed Little Toe too! You can't hide out on the "island" forever, eh?

  Seen a few of crusty old bearded Amazing's posts lately

  Craig
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  23

  Inky Pinky Ponky.

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  inky pinky ponky.

  father bought a donkey.

  donkey died.

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  onacruse

  This version sounds more Brit:

  Inky pinky ponky,
  Daddy bought a donkey,
  Donkey died, Mummy cried,
  Inky pinky ponky.

  http://www.infosources.co.uk/writenu/nrym3.htm#skips

  btw, persistent memory reversion to childhood experiences is not a good sign, E-man...

  but it makes you eminently qualified to be a moderator!

  Craig
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  7

  HOW MANY CIRCUITS R THERE?

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read something that in canada the numbers of circuits is decreasing, how about britain.any statistics?

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  onacruse

  hehe...maybe we should start a scorecard for Matty/blondie posting races??

  Craig
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  61

  You can't please all the people all the time

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is about running the forum:.

  it's a balancing act.

  it is impossible to please everyone all the time and i don't go out of my way to try to please anyone ... i just do what i think is right.. some good examples are controversial topics: if i lock or delete something that is controversial then i am accused of "stiffling free speech".

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  onacruse

  Or, as the Stones said, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try real hard, sometimes you get what you need."

  fwiw, Simon, you're WAY more tolerant than I would be.

  A big THANKS to you for maintaining the decorum of this forum.

  Craig