do household chores without the rush....... spend time with my little neice(now fatherless) without worrying..."i need to take her back home, i gotta study that wt lesson for tomorrow!".
hang out with my younger brother without thinking..."crap it's monday...that lesson in the "revelation" book ain't studying itself!".
visit my sister without thinking......."should i see her before the meeting or after field service?
It's great, isn't it. And I am jealous, as Anewme said, you are getting out while most of your life is still ahead of you! I would love to turn back the clock and exit at your age.
Basically, you can just live life as you see fit and quit playing the mind games of the borg.
with all the wt society's money?
how about setting up an education fund for the children any anyone who was ever a jw?
(i didn't want to hijack the thread about "would you ever return")
Definately reorganize the religion into one that focused on community responsibility and charity work. Then I would stop the useless expenditure of time and money being spent on their preaching work and encourage all to spend what time they could on improving their neighborhoods and doing charity work.
just an interesting thing that the ms molester on the run that we all have known about for some time is now getting circulation among the friends.. i've gotten 2 emails from elders with the link and it uses words like 'reproach' and to 'watch your kids' at the kh.. even though it's 'old' news it won't take long to get through the r&f now.. i consider this a great thing.. 5th.
p.s.
of course, i already got a 'well things are getting worse everywhere' response.
It still amazes me that jws are so blind to what is going on in their own religion. I was talking to a jw and they knew nothing of the settlements, the sale of properties in Brooklyn, the plans to build a new highrise in Brooklyn, or the elder from Bethel that was arrested for pedophelia.
I don't understand why the news doesn't pick up on these settlements more though.
so three weeks ago my wife and i had an emotional discussion wherein i finally told her that this religion was not the truth.
there was much emotion, a chill has ensued in our relationship.
(i haven't been to a meeting in 4 months now, and have not reported time in two months) i am sure many of you know the drill.. towards the end of our conversation, she asks: but what do i tell the friends when they ask about you?.
My son asked me the same question. I told him to just tell them I was still sick, which is true. When I see others in the grocery store or elsewhere, we talk briefly, but nobody ever asks why I quit going. I think we all know they don't want the real answer.
in the 1950's i remember they used to say what they were disfellowshipped for, whether it be fornication, stealing, etc.
then it was disfellowshipped for "loose conduct", then "conduct not becoming a christian.
" then it was simply "disfellowshipped" or "disassociated.
Yep, that's the way I see it too. Only now they make sure everyone knows why they made that announcement a couple of weeks later when they give the local needs part and blatantly tell all but the tiniest details.
I remember looking forward to those local needs parts to break the monotony and hear the latest gossip. I am ashamed of that now.
as i've mentioned, i've stopped going to meetings three months ago, this morning i took my kids to breakfeast and they asked if i was going to meeting.
i told them no becasue i had something to to.
my youngest wanted to know why i have not shaven, really did not respond.
If you want to attend with your wife and kids, go ahead. No big deal. It doesn't mean you have to buy into it. If it makes your family happy and you don't care then that's all that matters.
is there anything that could happen in your life that would convince you to return to the wts?????
?.
By the time they made all the apologies and started teaching things that were really true, I don't think it would be the same religion anymore. Then I would take a good look at it.
They would have to respect each human conscience and not force anything upon people and we all know that is not going to happen.
last evening, as i rested my body and mind while watching the sun set, i realized how important it is to take time for mental relaxation.
just to calm the mind and quiet all the constant noise that runs through my mind.. i have to keep reminding myself though, because it is so easy to fall back into the pattern of constantly thinking, planning and deciding.
i need to take time to just be still because i see a difference in my physical and mental health when i do.. i was so used to cramming as much as i could into each day for 30 years as a requirement for some future reward.
Sounds lovely Snarf. That's something I have been thinking about adding to the backyard; the sound of running water is so soothing. Sounds like your a morning person. I have to enjoy the evening because my mornings are taken over with arthritis.
I actually feel cheated when I don't get to enjoy the end of the day and the sunset.
in the garden of eden, god supposedly didn't want adam and eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.
he preferred they remain innocent and incapable of deciding for themselves what is right or wrong.. along comes satan who wants them to eat of this tree and says they will become like god, knowing good and bad for themselves.
he says they will be like god.. as we all know, they chose to eat and find out what they were missing.
That's where I get confused. If they really had free will, they had the power to choose between good and bad all along. So why did eating a fruit make things go so bad so quickly? The very first human born killed his brother. Where did he get such a bad idea so quickly?
Shouldn't God have taught his children to progressively learn to make decisions like we do our children? And why would he allow them to be exposed to a creature that was much more experienced and bound to be able to fool them. The Bible does say that Eve was fooled.
last evening, as i rested my body and mind while watching the sun set, i realized how important it is to take time for mental relaxation.
just to calm the mind and quiet all the constant noise that runs through my mind.. i have to keep reminding myself though, because it is so easy to fall back into the pattern of constantly thinking, planning and deciding.
i need to take time to just be still because i see a difference in my physical and mental health when i do.. i was so used to cramming as much as i could into each day for 30 years as a requirement for some future reward.
Snowbird,
I had a doctor ask me once if I rushed around a lot. I was having physical illness that was influenced by stress. I said no, but then got to thinking about how I really was rushing from one thing to another constantly. I was raising children, working part time and pioneering all at once. Now that I think about it, I can't believe I was so unkind to myself.
My husband will not answer the phone when he is taking time off. He says anything important and they will leave a message. Good idea, really.
I like your routine. It sounds relaxing with the backroads and the garden, etc. I spend a lot of time just in my backyard. It is like a park as we have lived here 20 years and have planted so many beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers to watch grow and bloom. It is my sanctuary.
