1. Marijuana
2. Smoking
3. My Led Zep albums, (have those back now, though)
j
little drummer boy's comment on the d&d thread made me think about this:.
when i became one of the borg, i threw out about $600 worth of pnp materials and books, a fact that i was proud of at the time and which makes me sick now because almost all of it is irreplaceable.
he also threw away who knows how many cds that were "bad" for dubs; also threw away a framed picture of a dragon that was really cool, and maybe some cool rock band t-shirts.. i don't remember having to physically throw away a lot of stuff, but i had to resign from the citizen's band i was in (played the clarinet), threw away my good friends from high school, etc.. what did you all throw away when you became dubs that you regret now?.
1. Marijuana
2. Smoking
3. My Led Zep albums, (have those back now, though)
j
i thought i'd open a discussion on the mental health condition of most practicing jws.
and get viewpoints on what kinds of mental health effects the wts.
may have for most of the people that are practicing witnesses.
I have seen many a JW w/ mental problems, some of which were family members. I have wondered about this for a long time, in my human mind I have come to this conclusion: 1) they either start out w/ having mental problems and are looking for something better and are susceptible to the JW or 2) they are fine until they are in the religion for an extended period of time and are worn down mentally by all the "you are not worthy" and "the end is soon to come" brainwashing (but since they will not allow their members to seek therapy, the disease of the mind just continues)
It's a vicious cycle. Typically, many who are unstable are attracted to the WTS, (my anuts, uncle, mother, etc). However, their conditions usually only worsen, (all are very bad alcoholics now, and mother dead from DUI). Thier children, including myself, suffered from clinical depression from exposure to all of the negative energy the WTS created. I'm now healthy, now that I am out.
It's the same typical problem eveywhere in the WTS.
j
cults come and go so do you think the wtbts will eventually come to an end?
i think about this sometimes and i wonder if i will live to see it.
the reason why i want it to end is because i don't like the administration.
If the WTS is going to survive, they will have to morph, (as many religions have done). Somehow, I doubt this will happen though. Today, they are far too stodgy, for the world in which we live, (i.e. the Internet, Cable news, etc). Unless something happens soon, (it won't), they will loose numbers in droves. They may successfully tap other markets, but most of those markets don't have the deep pockets the org. needs. Having said that, I don't see any wholesale "end" happening soon. Just a significant reduction of numbers that will hurt them, and force them to sell off properties and assets. Once these are depleted, then maybe...
j
looks like the all-powerful creator of everything has to hide behind humans when confronted with opposing ideas.
sure, allah can rant on and on about how he wants to kill and torment the unbelievers, but what happens when someone simply questions allah?
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetnews&storyid=2007-02-22t130227z_01_l22432925_rtrukoc_0_us-egypt-blogger.xml&src=rss&rpc=22.
"If there's one religion that's more screwed than the one we were raised in, it's this one"And, of course, Born Again Christianity. All 3 will die for what they believe in = fanatics.
Yup.
j
just wondering if any one else but my self uses jwd during work hours.. my dial up at home is slower than a snail slithering through molasses.
at times i want to tell my clients to sit down and wait while i post something on jwd, but i can't.
hopefully i'm not being monitored !!
At work now,(actually in an airport), but yes.
j
i think it's an atempt to catch faders or atleast make active dubs feel special.
it also could be a cost cutting measure to though.
getting rid of the km's and even up awakes and watchtowers would save some trees.
Bottom line: Cost Cutting, period.
If they can somehow use the new format to manipulate the r&f, than that's gravy.
j
30 of my 40 some years on this mortal coil have been spent as a witness.
once i was old enough to realize the meetings were not a place to play and run around i understood the gravity of my situation.
"just love jehovah and do his will" i was told.
On the surface, your story is similar to many here. Welcome!
If I could give one phrase of advice, that would be "Be patient".
It takes time dealing with the "Dazed" feeling of coming out of the WTS.
I like the semi Led Zep handle, though.
j
it seemed that running my business and all the meetings at the hall, plus my social life was taking a toll on my time.
there was a brother at the hall, that was married, and a very good public speaker (used to be a radio announcer) .
anyhow, he was always short on cash and was agreeable to my offer as follows............... if i was assigned to give a talk out of town at a neighboring congregation, i would pay him to take the talk for me as a substitute (at the time $25.00) and then i would stay home that day.. i gave him $10 for an instruction talk, $10 for a service meeting part, and $5 for anything else such as reading the watchtower sundays or a bible reading, etc.. it was a 'win, win' situation for both of us.. outaservice (now out of money).
Definately one of better ones I've heard in a while.
No, can't say I've ever heard of something similar.
j
i made another thread like this, but it was specific to one career.
personal experience; main point of thread in the last paragraph.. .
i'm 21, attending a community college for a networking degree.
I'm not entirely sure where you are, but the IT industry in the US is still basically strong, despite resourcing and offshoring trends over the last few years. It is more like where it was in 1994, (when I started), as opposed to 1998, but still not bad, by any means. Networking still offers some very good jobs, but CONVERGENGE is very imporatnt these days. You know, the voice and video stuff. Many "data only" guys either don't care about this or just refuse to care, so if you spend your time learning these things, you will do well, in all likelihood. Knowing VoIP technolgies and related stuff really matters for most "cool" jobs.
my $.02
Jason V. (never been without a good job in IT yet).
there seem to be quite a number of atheists who comment here.
when they argue how bad religion has been for society they point to actions done in the name of religion that are indeed horrific, such as the inqusitions.
there are also examples of course of non believers who have done great damage to society.
Madame Q,
You also pointed out some good ones... I didn't know the specifics about Marie Curie. I always felt she was somewhat of a martyr in her studies.
j