Wow! Welcome to its_me! and Coffee House Girl and Krettnawe, too!
~Sue
betterdaze
JoinedPosts by betterdaze
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35
I'm new here
by Diamonds ini stumbled across this website a few months back and have often read the topics posted but this is the first time that i've posted anything myself.. all my family are jws - i got baptized when i was 17 but started to fade when i was about 20 and finally left at 22 when i managed to escape to university and move away from home.
ten years on and i am still out of the org but never disfellowshipped (although i would have been if they'd have known what i've been up to!).
the relationship with my family is not great - i get on with some members better than others.
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Freeminds life stories
by besty inthanks to many contributors over the years freeminds has best part of 100 life stories on the site.. http://www.freeminds.org/life-stories/index.php.
day in day out these stories are being read - in some cases they have many thousands of page views.
imagine how many people have been helped by reading real life stories written first hand?.
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betterdaze
Besty, you have a PM.
~Sue
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Advice on how to proceed ?
by man in black in.
one of my son's who is 21 recently met a person in one of his classes at the local college who is a pioneer ( parents are forcing him to do it).. this person (lets call him ted) is really fed up with this religion.
and is seriously considering ways to leave.. his dad is a pioneer/elder, mom is a pioneer also, i don't know if there are any brothers or sisters.. my son wants to proceed carefully, mom and dad don't know who we are, or what our status in the religion is.. they sound like uber-control people, they always check teds cell phone to see who he is talking to (the kid is 18).. he is planning to move out next year, do any of you have any suggestions as to how he could/should proceed ?.
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betterdaze
Do everything you can to make good grades, earn your degree, secure a paying job, get that first apartment. (Make sure you have a decent car to get around in so you can keep that job/apartment, too!)
Have at least 3–6 months expenses saved up for when the congregation kicks you to the curb, because there is a very good chance your own flesh and blood will not be there for you, either.
Do what little you must to please your parents in the meantime, go with the flow. As little as possible to keep them at bay so you can stay in school and keep learning and growing toward your independence.
You have your entire life ahead to do as you choose, but for a few short years yet, you must live under the(ir) radar. Stay in school and do not let any JW talk you out of it.One day, you will breathe free! Keep that as your goal. For now, focus on passing grades, and planning to be 110% independent if/when your present life-support system goes kaputt.
~Sue -
35
I'm new here
by Diamonds ini stumbled across this website a few months back and have often read the topics posted but this is the first time that i've posted anything myself.. all my family are jws - i got baptized when i was 17 but started to fade when i was about 20 and finally left at 22 when i managed to escape to university and move away from home.
ten years on and i am still out of the org but never disfellowshipped (although i would have been if they'd have known what i've been up to!).
the relationship with my family is not great - i get on with some members better than others.
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betterdaze
Welcome, Diamonds!
~Sue -
53
Would you NOT hire a JW because they're a JW?
by Open mind inwould you let a jw's religion affect your decision to use their services?.
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om.
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betterdaze
I am conscientious anyway in everything I do & a bit of a perfectionist because of the line of work I'm in, so not all JW's make bad empoloyees.
What Heartofaboy said. And because I was always available to go the extra mile and work holidays, I received some major promotions and the pay that goes with that, too.
~Sue -
22
St. Patrick: A Covenant with Brotherhood of the Snake?
by cameo-d inpious legend credits patrick with banishing snakes from the island, though all evidence suggests that post-glacial ireland never had snakes;[38] one suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the druids of that time and place, as shown for instance on coins minted in gaul ...... .
could it be that this legend originates from a covenant agreement between the doctrinal control of religion and the brotherhood of the snake?.
the valley of armagh.
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betterdaze
Happy Saint Pat's, cameo-d!
Not to go off-topic, but did you catch these recent articles?
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I reveals secret snake
The Queen's loyal serpent: 400 years on, a painted-over snake reappears on portrait of Elizabeth I
As an art history geek, this stuff just fascinates me to no end. :–)
~Sue -
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betterdaze
BorgHater, I just adopted a black cat named Bear! It was his shelter name; not only resembles one, but he makes distinct gurgly-growly sounds, too. Found that out on the ride home!
His Petfinder pic:He reminds me of this famous poster:
Or this one:
Now, I'm a diehard Maine Coon lover, and found a young cinnamon beauty... but she was a hissing, snarling mess, attacking the shelter volunteers, other cats and visitors on three separate occasions. It's just pitiful that some miscreant maltreated her to the point where she's practically unadoptable. I wanted to be more than just a food dispenser and scratching post!
I also wanted a mature companion who had the capacity to love me back, where the "crazy old cat lady died" or the family moved, etc. After about 10 trips to as many shelters... I found him! Sugar Bear sauntered right up to me, extended his paw, and the second I looked into those peridot green eyes I knew: He is THE ONE.
Somebody showered a lot of love on my Bear before his incarceration, that much is obvious. We're so happy to share our lives with this older gent!
~Sue -
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Weird New Jersey: Mystery Knitter
by betterdaze inwest cape may police ask 'mystery knitter' to apply for permit after local interest growsby maryann spoto/the star-ledger.
march 13, 2010, 7:30am.
katelyn mccormick (back), who recently moved across from the park, thinks the .
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Weird New Jersey: Mystery Knitter
by betterdaze inwest cape may police ask 'mystery knitter' to apply for permit after local interest growsby maryann spoto/the star-ledger.
march 13, 2010, 7:30am.
katelyn mccormick (back), who recently moved across from the park, thinks the .
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betterdaze
West Cape May police ask 'Mystery Knitter' to apply for permit after local interest grows
By MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger
March 13, 2010, 7:30AMKatelyn Mccormick (back), who recently moved across from the park, thinks the
knitted art adds to the vibe of the community. Mysterious knitted cozies have been
appearing around trees and lamp posts at Wilbraham Park in West Cape May since
the end of February.WEST CAPE MAY — In a town that holds annual festivals celebrating the lima bean and the tomato, West Cape May residents pride themselves on being part of a quirky, artsy community.
So when colorful knitted scarves mysteriously started popping up around trees in Wilbraham Park in January, folks there were more amused than surprised at this latest artistic expression.
They call it the case of the Mystery Knitter, and these homemade works have taken on a life of their own, attracting international attention to this tiny Jersey Shore community and brightening an otherwise long, drab winter.
"It’s just something nice, something fun, something light,’’ said Mayor Pam Kaithern. ‘‘It’s not war, political fights, health care discussion. It’s a nice diversion.’’
Kaithern said she’s talked to newspapers and radio stations as far as the United Kingdom about the scarves that come in all colors and widths, transforming the dull tree trunks into rainbows.
It started with a couple of scarves wrapped around a few tree trunks in the park. Then another. Then another. Soon residents looked forward to searching for the latest additions. And they weren’t disappointed.
Susan Longacre, a resident of Victorian Towers
in Cape May, thinks the knitted work around the
park is wonderful. The scarves recently started
appearing on the poles of traffic signs in downtown
West Cape May.Diane Flanegan, a local artist who owns a framing shop and art gallery on Broadway, suspects the notoriety drove the Mystery Knitter out of the park to avoid being spotted. One of the scarves is on a pole about half a block from her shop, not far from the park.
Police Capt. Rob Sheehan showed up at Flanegan’s shop Thursday to ask her and her husband to reveal the identity of the Mystery Knitter if they know it.
"We don’t know the identity and we don’t want to know," she said. "We’ve had such a hard winter here. To me, it’s just delightful. I love it," Flanegan said.
Sheehan said he’s not looking to get the Mystery Knitter in trouble. He just wants the person (or people) to get the appropriate permits from borough officials to adorn public spaces.
"We’re not anti-art. We don’t want it getting out of hand where the park will get all junked up," he said. "We’re not going to be arresting anyone for knitting."
Some residents have taken to erecting signs in front of their homes urging the Mystery Knitter to "keep on knitting." But not everyone in this town of about 1,100 people embraces the scarves.
Kaithern said a few residents have expressed concern the wrappings could harm the trees and that they could become an eyesore as they become weather worn.
The mayor wondered whether scraps of the yarn might eventually be used by birds to line nests around town.
She mused, "Wouldn’t that be a cool kind of recycling?"
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If WT Had a Charity Project...What would it be?
by cameo-d ini envision something like a "great educational effort" where they would sponsor third world 'foreigners' in an esl class and would teach them to read using only awake!
magazines.
(*watchtower magazines for advanced students).
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betterdaze
Literacy
For decades we have organized literacy programs throughout the world for people who have had little or no opportunity to receive formal schooling.In Brazil, Sirley, a middle-aged teacher and one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, made it a weekly practice to convert her living room into a classroom. At about 2 o’clock, Amélia, an 82-year-old student arrives. Already she is reading better than many youngsters in high school.
Amélia is following in the steps of the more than 60 senior citizens who have graduated from the free literacy classes that Sirley is conducting in her hometown. Sirley’s volunteer work was featured in the Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Sudoeste. After noting that she has made “a huge contribution to community life,” the newspaper article said that Sirley’s method of teaching the elderly is so effective that “after just 120 hours of classes, they are writing letters, reading newspapers, and coping with numbers and other day-to-day tasks.” Literacy classes conducted in hundreds of Kingdom Halls throughout Brazil have already helped more than 22,000 adults in that country to learn to read and write.
Similar programs of Jehovah’s Witnesses have yielded success in other parts of the world. In the African country of Burundi, for example, the National Office for Adult Literacy (a department of the Ministry of Education) was so pleased with the results of the Witnesses’ literacy program that it gave an award to four of the program’s teachers for “the hard work put into teaching others to read.” Government officials are especially impressed that 75 percent of those who learned to read and write were adult women—a group that usually shies away from attending such programs.
On November 17, 2000, the Association of Congolese and African Journalists for the Development (AJOCAD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo presented the Certificate of Excellence to Jehovah’s Witnesses for “their contribution to the development of the Congolese individual [through] the education and the teaching contained in their publications.” In commenting on the award, the Kinshasa newspaper Le Phare said: “It is difficult to find a Congolese in whose hands the Watchtower and Awake! magazines or other publications published by Jehovah’s Witnesses have not passed.” As noted by AJOCAD, the publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses have proved beneficial to a large portion of the Congolese population.
