http://oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/front_page/101671540232151251.xml.
shunning in spotlight .
wendy y. lawton .
The Bible is their bedrock. Witnesses live their lives in strict accordance to its teachings and follow a rigid moral code. Stealing, drinking, smoking, premarital sex -- all are forbidden.
Wrong on the drinking. It's not forbidden. Witnesses drink as much as everyone else (perhaps more, as some have made the argument).
I've yet to read a newspaper article in which the reporter got it right.
Dedalus
hey all.
i just got home from the hospital earlier this evening, but i wanted to post a few pics of my lil man for you.
i can't believe he is finally here!
If it turns out that your lil man likes older girls, I have a daughter who's 7 weeks old!
http://barr.nervestaple.com/gallery/files-view.php?ViewNode=1016340203PNcmU
Dedalus
my wife just left me this morning.
i've been crying all night.
i am so drained.
I'm so sorry, rem. When I log onto this site, I invariably go looking for your posts first. This one I was very sad to read. Check your e-mail, and be in touch as you can ...
Dedalus
a good poem by one of my favorite living poets.
i posted this once before -- worth posting again.
any opinions about it?
A good poem by one of my favorite living poets. I posted this once before -- worth posting again. Any opinions about it? / Dedalus
A KNOCK ON THE DOOR
They ask me if I've ever thought
about the end of the world,
and I say, "Come in, come in,
let me give you some lunch, for God's sake."
After a few bites it's the afterlife
they want to talk about. "Ouch," I say,
"did you see that grape leaf skeletonizer?"
Then they're talking about redemption
and the chosen few sitting right by His side.
"Doing what?" I ask. "Just sitting?"
I am surrounded by burned up zombies.
"Let's have some lemon chiffon pie
I bought yesterday at the 3 Dog Bakery."
But they want to talk about my soul.
I'm getting drowsy and see butterflies
everywhere. "Would you gentlemen
like to take a nap, I know I would."
They stand and back away from me,
out the door, walking toward my neighbors,
a black cloud over their heads
and they see nothing without end.
new light right from the official web site of the jw`s.
http://www.jw-media.org/beliefs/beliefsfaq.htm yes if you scroll down you will find this:.
do you shun former members?.
My mother, when being shunned or generally mistreated by my JW brothers (her sons) after leaving the Organization, showed them this quote. When they found out that she'd gotten the quote online, they said it was obviously from an apostate site.
Dedalus
if u r a dub dont go 2 anymore assemblies!
it is possible that you will die.
really.. this is not a nice friendly post to any active jehovah's witness but is something they should read anyway.
Mindchild,
I still disagree with you in all of the ways you'd probably suspect, but it's okay -- we can agree to disagree here, I think. I doubt more arguing between us would get us anywhere, and I don't think too much is at stake. It's good, in fact, that we awful apostates have differences of opinion, even if the language gets somewhat intense from time to time.
Peace.
Dedalus
if u r a dub dont go 2 anymore assemblies!
it is possible that you will die.
really.. this is not a nice friendly post to any active jehovah's witness but is something they should read anyway.
Dedalus, your thinking doesn’t surprise me. People don’t like to think about unpleasant things and often attack the messenger.
I didn't attack you, I attacked the message.
In fact, I think the best revenge someone as an individual could have is let someone else remain a dub!Some dubs need to be dubs and that's fine. What's wrong is when those dubs hurt other dubs or non-dubs by following their own idiocy or the directives of the Organization. Some people on this board work hard to see that dubs and former dubs can be protected for the lunacy of certain Organizational directives. But not all dubs are to be pitied, not all are bad, not all are victims, not all lead empty lives. Some are quite happy in their dub-dom.
It is a bit like watching a frog get boiled alive, thinking they are nice and safe but their life is getting sucked out of them.It might indeed be like that for you and me and many dubs who are trapped inside, but many are happy in their cage and wouldn't know what to do if let out.
Regardless, as per my comments above, the negative impact of the death of thousands of Witnesses would affect everyone in a bad way. I think we should tell as many dubs as we can about things like this. I would love to see them increase their security at their assemblies and make themselves less of a risk.This isn't what you said. You said they would die and you wrote it in a way that almost made it seem like a fantasy of yours.
I would love to see them make their assemblies members only, to keep someone from the outside from using them a platform for mass murder.You would like them to become more paranoid and suspicious of each other and of non-Witnesses? You would like them to become more isolated and esoteric and cult-like?
BTW, someone who wants to use anyone for a platform for mass murder will succeed sooner or later. I go to games here at my University with thousands of parents and students, and though there is security, it'd be the simplest thing in the world to get past it. Does that mean I shouldn't go to football games anymore? Or that only students and alumni should go to these games?
My thread my be uncomfortable but these are not fun times anymore as American’s have become the hated empire all around the world. Do you get it?There is some truth to what you're saying, but it's mostly lost in the hyperbole.
Dedalus
is it because we're a cynical lot?.
maybe because we were the first generation of latch-key kids who learned how to raise ourselves?.
what is it that makes it so 'hard to lie to a gen xer?
Like Farkel, I don't think the WTBTS will ever fall, but I do think "Gen-Xers" will transform it drastically. One thing about us is that we never really carried a sense of urgency with our supposed convictions. Yeah, we are Witnesses, there'll be a new system someday, now let's get drunk and watch TV, okay? That was the tone of my Witness late adolescence/early adulthood.
Thing is, since these Gen-Xers can't even convince themselves of their convictions enough to follow through with them to any meaningful degree (regular pioneering, elder stuff, etc.), how will they be of any use to the Society? Moreover, how will they convince THEIR children that "this is the truth"?
I think it will take 20 to 30 years to see how things shake out. Maybe I'm wrong and there are enough goody-goody zealots (but god, how we "normal" Witnesses hated those of our age group who were like that, how we utterly disrespected them) to take the lead and run with it. I tend to think not, though.
Dedalus
if u r a dub dont go 2 anymore assemblies!
it is possible that you will die.
really.. this is not a nice friendly post to any active jehovah's witness but is something they should read anyway.
What a stupid ugly thread. Yes, we don't agree with the Organization and its policies. Yes, the Organization has done Bad Things. Yes, it is important to make people aware of those Bad Things.
But using terrorism as a way of scaring Witnesses away from their conventions -- that's just dumb. You may as well argue that we shouldn't go to football games. Or concerts.
There is nothing intrinsic about Witnesses that should make them a target for terrrorism, and what bothers me about your post is that it implies that there is. I hate the Organization, but I respect that Witnesses want to meet in large groups for their insipid spiritual goo, I mean food. The "warning" of this thread is unwarranted. It's reaching.
Dedalus
when did the phrase "dress, grooming and entertainment" become such a mantra for the watchtower society?.
this may just be my impression, but in the late 1970's and early 1980's, there didn't seem to be a part on every district convention and circuit assembly program about "dress, grooming and entertainment.
" but in the 1990's, there sure was.. even as a faithful witness, i started to find this emphasis a little embarrassing.. i mean, couldn't there be something more important to worry about?
Dress, grooming, and entertainment are all outward and pretty easy to evaluate and judge. The cultivation of one's intellect and the careful exploration of one's spirituality, however, cannot be measured with a glance. The Organization, ever concerned with appearances, naturally favors the former.
Dedalus
