joelbear69

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Posts by joelbear69

• 
  10

  19 years, pretty amazing

  by joelbear69 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it was 19 years ago today that i met my life partner mitch.

  i love him so much it aches.

  he has saved me from disaster .

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  joelbear69

  It has definitely been a good run so far.

  Thanks for the kind thoughts.
• 
  20

  The backtrack on 1914 is going strong!

  by hamsterbait in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the bible students taught that christs return in 1914, would be preceded by an invisible presence from 1874.. when these prophecies failed, judge rutherford revised the teachings, and said that christs return in 1914 was also invisible, and that the world had ended (invisibly!!

  ) in 1914. hence "the world has ended - millions now living will never die" talk.. even when we were studying in 1969, we were taught that christ had already come.. in 1993 the district a$$embly talks gave new interpretations of mark 13, luke 21, and matt 24, and said that many of the features we had been told applied from 1914 were actually still in the future.

  this meant that he could not have come in 1914.. christ did not sit down on his glorious throne in 1914. hence noolite on the sheep and goats parable.. people "faint out of fear" was not at the threat of nuclear annihilation, but terror at the "celestial phenomena" (glorified fireworks, actually) let off by jehoobie to terrorize those who had not bought the witchtower.. now we see it in black and white:.

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  joelbear69

  I do agree that 1914 will be phased out. But I do not believe

  they will talk about new dates. They will pull off something

  like. You should look at the current signs around you to

  know that the end must be near. The chronology stuff will

  all fade away. People can't understand it anyway. There

  will be more annointed. There will always be some annointed

  around, to keep up the mythology and to keep the guys at the

  top legit.
• 
  10

  19 years, pretty amazing

  by joelbear69 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it was 19 years ago today that i met my life partner mitch.

  i love him so much it aches.

  he has saved me from disaster .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  joelbear69

  It was 19 years ago today that I met my life partner Mitch.
  
  I love him so much it aches. He has saved me from disaster
  many times.
  
  It makes him cry to watch me sob over the loss of my family.
  
  We have built a good life together. I am thankful.
• 
  31

  Stop buying things made in China

  by joelbear69 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  reasons.. 1. china has a horrible human rights record.. 2. they are evaporating the us economy.. stop buying.

  tell your store manager you won't buy their products..

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  joelbear69

  I already boycott WalMart, they are evil.
• 
  4

  Joel's Pioneer and Bethel Chronicles Part 2

  by joelbear69 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1975, i started my senior year of high school.

  there was no sign .

  that the great tribulation was going to start in october.

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  joelbear69

  1975, I started my senior year of high school. There was no sign
  that the great tribulation was going to start in October. Peace
  and Security had not been declared. Babylon the Great showed no
  signs of falling. I got razzed a good bit at school about it because
  even many non-witnesses knew that we were expecting the end of the
  world that year.
  
  I no longer cared about the razzing because for
  the most part I was no longer a believer myself. I knew 1975 was
  bogus. I was going to have a good time my senior year. I got a
  job at McDonalds (the condition for me owning a car). Working at
  McDonalds was horrible sweat shop labor. They would never allow
  kids to be treated that way today. But I had a car. And you all
  know what that means. I had freedom. I could move about on my
  own free will. And so I did.
  
  I tried to make up for lost time by diving into school and those
  evil extra curricular activities. I was the President of the Foreign
  Language Club, Treasurer of the Beta Club, Editor of the school
  yearbook, Captain of the Academic Bowl team and a member of the
  school's Math Team. I had a blast. All the bullys who had made
  my life miserable since 7th grade seemed to disappear. I suppose
  because I was acting more like a normal kid. Only one of two
  held on to trying to torment me, mostly for being gay. They had
  all figured it out, as much as I tried to deny it.
  
  Oh my god, I wore silver rimmed, blue tinted glasses to school that
  year. My Elton John look I suppose, but I had not considered how
  gay it would look. I was going for a laid back bohemian look.
  
  With the car, my mom and I no longer had to stand out by the street
  in front of our house waiting for witnesses to pick us up for the
  meetings. In these days, we didn't see much of my Dad. He stayed
  out drinking with his workmates til way into the night most nights.
  I sometimes would go days without seeing him. Of course I was
  expected to take mom to all the meetings and out in service. I
  no longer really paid attention at the meetings. I spent most of
  my time ogling the cute brothers in the hall and hiding my adolescent
  reaction to this under my bible. I avoided service at all costs,
  claiming I had schoolwork to do.
  
  I spent a lot of time with my high school friends. Just cruising
  up and down the main street in Valdosta and hanging out at Shoney's.
  My friends would pair up and make out. I would wish I could make
  out with David, my first major love. I only had one date in high
  school. I took a girl named Susan to see Monty Python and the
  Holy Grail. This is not a good date movie, although I thought it
  was hysterical and was forevermore hooked on Monty Python.
  
  I was 5th in my class of 351 seniors. I exceled in all subjects
  and loved being editor of the yearbook. I knew mom and especially
  dad would never allow me to go to college. We had vicious fights
  about it at home. They would not allow me to sign up for scholarships.
  My teachers and counselors advised me to leave home. I was too
  gifted not to follow my dreams they said. So I actually did fill
  out an application for the local university, but mom and dad brought
  over all my witness friends. I succumbed to peer pressure. I had
  known these kids for years. We had grown up together. This was my
  gang. My witness gang. I also had a worldly gang. I had fun
  with both of them. What would I choose.
  
  Well, I couldn't stand the thought of losing my witness friends, so
  you guessed it. I didn't go to college. I therefore had no clue
  what I was going to do for a living. My plan was to major in Math
  and Statistics and become a college professor and researcher. On
  a whim I sent my SAT scores to Stanford. I was in the 93rd percentile
  of those that sent in their scores. I knew I could be accepted.
  But no, I never applied.
  
  One day at the breakfast table my sister in law suggested I try
  banking. That's what she did. So, I tried it and quickly got a
  job as a teller at a local bank.
  
  Next Chapter: Someone dies, Someone leaves.
• 
  31

  Stop buying things made in China

  by joelbear69 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  reasons.. 1. china has a horrible human rights record.. 2. they are evaporating the us economy.. stop buying.

  tell your store manager you won't buy their products..

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  joelbear69

  Consumers run the marketplace.

  If we stop buying, companies will stop having things made in China.
• 
  31

  Stop buying things made in China

  by joelbear69 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  reasons.. 1. china has a horrible human rights record.. 2. they are evaporating the us economy.. stop buying.

  tell your store manager you won't buy their products..

  1. 
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  3. 
• 

  joelbear69

  Reasons.

  1. China has a horrible human rights record.

  2. They are evaporating the US economy.

  Stop buying. Tell your store manager you won't buy their products.
• 
  2

  Arthur C. Clarke has died at age 90

  by mrsjones5 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/19/arts/obits.php.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwnmcu3u09w&feature=related.

  rip mr. clarke.

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  joelbear69

  his books make me start thinking of different possibilities

  My favorite of his is Childhood's End. I've read it at least

  10 times
• 
  22

  The angst of dealing with family when they are still in and you are not...

  by Layla33 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't think you ever truly make peace with it, somehow you learn to maneveur and swim in it like most things.

  i have been out for so long, it's almost like a shadowy memory when i was in, but for my family it is all they have ever known and dared to know.. i feel for the people whose parents have cut them out completely, but mine never truly did that.

  i guess we just loved each other a little too much to even think about losing the other completely.

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  joelbear69

  I think it is definitely better to be shunned completely. The back and forth thing
  keeps you confused in your mind and your heart. Besides, they are supposed to
  shun you completely. It makes it easier for everyone involved.
  
  I wish they would stick to their rules. I would have been able to move on
  with my life much better.
• 
  22

  The angst of dealing with family when they are still in and you are not...

  by Layla33 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't think you ever truly make peace with it, somehow you learn to maneveur and swim in it like most things.

  i have been out for so long, it's almost like a shadowy memory when i was in, but for my family it is all they have ever known and dared to know.. i feel for the people whose parents have cut them out completely, but mine never truly did that.

  i guess we just loved each other a little too much to even think about losing the other completely.

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• 

  joelbear69

  Well, I have similar experience and feelings.
  
  I am out 20 years this year. My mom still really
  doesn't think I don't believe it anymore and
  when I even hint that I have a different belief
  system she starts telling me how it makes her
  physically ill to think I'm no longer a witness.
  
  The only good times she can remember from our
  lives is when we were out in service together.
  Great. She was happy. I am insanely miserable.
  In shear mental agony almost the whole time I
  was in field service and at the meetings.
  
  Boring repetitive heinous agony.
  
  My mom and dad didn't want kids, they wanted
  pets. I asked my dad once what his favorite
  memories of me and my brother were. He said
  he liked it when we were small and he could
  completely control us.
  
  My parents don't know me. They can recognize
  my physical body, but my spirit and mind are
  totally unknown to them because they just block
  it out. I'm not sure if it would have been different
  if they were not witnesses.
  
  My whole family has blocked me out. They don't
  actually shun me. But the don't allow me to talk
  about my life or my beliefs or feelings or desires
  or dreams. They never did.
  
  I don't have a family. I have recently realized
  that I no longer have any love for any of them. It
  has simply died after a lifetime of trying to get
  them to want to know me and love me for who I am.
  And this goes far beyond the gay thing. Its just
  feelings about life in general. Politics, history,
  art, love, war, peace, trees. You name it, I'm
  a stranger in their midst.
  
  I'll see my relatives two more times. At my parents'
  funerals which I will attend out of respect, but not
  love.