i'm recently widowed, 7mos, suddenly lost husband from heart attack, married 29yrs, have been inactive for around 5yrs and don't plan on going back to jw.. we were very close and i miss the daily interaction and conversation.
my daughter, 25, lives with me but it's not the same.
is there anyone els out there that would just like to chat,e-mail?
Welcome to the forum.
So sorry to hear about your loss.
My dad was in the military. He was a marine. We moved around, but only in the states. He was overseas without us.
That must have been some switch going from the service to Jehovah's Witnesses. Yes, when you feel ready, tell us why you made an exit and how you found us here.
By the way, I am 55. I'm not a terribly interesting person, I fear, but we are all here to contribute our little bit and make you feel at home.
here's my story: .
i had only one experience of being counseled by the elders, and it was in a tribunal thingy many years ago when i was 18 living at home with my 'presiding overseer' father.
my dad was overly upset imagining i was smoking pot!???
stained,
He then went on to threaten me that If I did not comply with what he required me to state he would be forced to remove my dad from his position and make me an outcast. My dad loved his position, and i loved my dad (even if he did turn into a jerk after his appointment). Teddy was emotionally blackmailing me into complying with his requirements!
So let's see. You did not actually smoke pot. Therefore you did nothing unscriptural. But your thoughts needed to be controlled by these men to the extent that you must say that you think it is wrong to smoke pot.
It seems a bit like the movie that was out awhile back with Tom Cruise, where a person could be arrested because it was determined that they "would have committed a crime" if not stopped before.
Wouldn't this occasion have been a perfect time for a man who was supposed to be a spiritual shepherd to comfort a sheep, believe in them, caution them, and inspire them to serve God?
No, it is easier for them to destroy the spirit in a young life, and "show them who's boss."
Hateful people.
I don't think of anyone on this forum as a twit, and really don't know what this post purports to be about.
Therefore, I will just use the occasion to show off my picture.
I finally chose one that I thought was clever. When I first posted I was so depressed that I couldn't even think about finding a picture. Now, my mood has definetely improved.
I used to be a fun person who loved to laugh and have fun. I feel that I am getting back to that somewhat, now, and wanted my picture to reflect something light.
just wanted to share something with you all.
about a month ago i call my very active jw father and ask him a few questions about an awake article (the famous one oct 8 1968) and about the "obedience and submission" article and to call me back and give me some information.. well he did not call back and friday my sister in law calls me and tells me that some jw are saying i am an apostate.
i ask were did they get that from ( because i have not talk to any jw about my findings, except my dad) and to my surprise she said my dad.
The more scared people are, the more violently they react.
Just think of all the warnings they have been receiving at the conventions. The word goes through the congregations in hushed tones.Fear grips the rank and file. It is like they are talking about people turning into werewolves or talking about some sort of horrible plague. The first reaction, then, is fear. Lashing out. This sounds like what dad is doing. I mean, really, an axe to mom's head? He is using words that he feels will make you feel the worst, because this is such a fearsome thing to him.
You will need to have patience here. You have had good advice from others who have said be the one to show love. Yes, maybe a letter stating that you love them both and there will be no axes to heads!
here is a picture-based explanation of the "seventy years" prophesied by jeremiah.. http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/70_years_of_servitude.pdf.
please note that there are several pages and that you should set your pdf reader to full page.. as i said before, i have a red-green color vision deficiency, but this time i have taken the plunge and used color.
please tell me where i need to make corrections with the colors.. as always, i appreciate your suggestions for improvements, corrections and additions.. doug.
Celebrated WT scholars have proved
I don't understand. In what way, or by whom, are they "celebrated?"
i joined this forum on 1may2007 with a promise that i would tell more about myself as time went on.
well, here goes.. i was born and raised in the black belt of alabama in wilcox county.
it is supposedly called the black belt due to the color of the soil, but i have a strong suspicion it is also due to the fact that there is such a heavy concentration of black people in the dozen or more counties that make up the black belt.. my parents were sharecroppers which was simply a form of whitewashed slavery.
Thank you for your well written story, snowbird. I am wondering-did you get to go to college? Or did you follow the JW pattern of no education? If you did not, you should. Your style of writing is easy to read and interesting.
specifically christmas appears to be the one holiday to which all others compare.
we either joyfully or sadly recall past christmas holidays.
as i recall, they were controversial in our family even before i was born.. im going to go back a couple of generations in my story to give you a bit of background.
pmouse
I enjoy long, interesting stories. Please continue......
apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere (i can't find any thread that mentions it).. letter read out at meeting on thursday confirming public talks to be reduced to 1/2 an hour - watchtower same length (one hour).
no new outlines to be given out (yet) , but brothers to reduce the length of their talks by cutting out non-essential material.
no start date given for the change.
Once they cut out any extras, it will be basically a manuscript talk, with no room for experiences, etc. Just think, each talk will now be practically word for word the same, and so the same words will be heard over and over again each time the same talk is given.......
elder's wives - the general impression of them in my congregation is that they are not to be messed with.
ews are all smiles in front of guests but brutally unaccomodating to more familiar brothers and sisters.
they put much effort in making "good" comments at the meetings, with the occasional veiled insult directed at certain individuals (i suppose this is the only outlet for a lady in jehovah's patriarchy).
Elder's kids - My cong tends to assume that they know all the leaked secrets about the cong. Funny how the gossipers tend to make that assumption rather loudly when the elders' kids really know nothing. They must know that these kids make easyscapegoats when in actual fact they are real channels of information. Another presumption is that elders' kids have a measure of immunity. I think this latter one is true.
My husband was an elder. I was the wife who tried never to know what was going on. I dutifully sat in the front, studied the WT and Book Study books even though many times I could not understan the gobbledy-gook such as the generation change. My husband, daughter,and I always answered at meetings at least once. We cleaned, usually the bathrooms. In short, we tried our best to do everything expected of us.
Guess what? Many times the elder's kids do know the secrets of the congregation. We were friends of another elder and his family that had a daughter close in age to ours. This child heard the elder when he told his wife many of the things that were going on, and she told my daughter. I didn't find this out until later.
Do the elder's kids get off easier? Yes, definetely sometimes. It depends on the congregation and the power of the elder.
When my daughter did some normal teen things, the power broker elder in charge decided to bully my daughter, humiliate, and berate her. The other elders followed his lead. My husband, the one who cared about others, was shown the door.
dear friends!.
we invite you to russian forum for jehovahs witness.
http://allistinawt.ucoz.ru/forum/.
Wow, thanks for the invitation from a very long way away!!!
