Best wishes, Friend!
CoCo
compound complex
JoinedPosts by compound complex
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17
Happy Birthday smiddy
by smiddy inand a happy birthday to anybody else who born on the 5/7 month.
smiddy.
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Is it wrong to change your religion?
by stuckinarut2 inis it wrong to change your religion or abandon beliefs you were once taught?.
let this article help you decide.... http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102009251.
clearly, no one should be shunned, or mistreated if they discover facts about their former faith....
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compound complex
Greetings, stuckinarut2:
I attended several churches of "Christendom" before arriving at "The Truth, according to Jehovah's Witnesses." I never could have foreseen leaving what the Society has called 'the beliefs we once held dear.'
Least of all could I not have imagined learning the truth about the Bible, my using the word "truth" loosely.
So, my answer is NO!
CoCo
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MY BEST FRIEND
by compound complex inhe walked right past me, looking straight ahead.. years before, hal and i walked the same path, the best of pals.
laughing and joking while endeavoring to maintain some level of decorum during our serious work of being a theatrical spectacle to men and angels.
although we hadn't seen each other in years, hal must have gotten word .
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compound complex
Likewise, stuckinarut2: well written and expressed!
You summarized in a couple sentences what our similar experiences are all about. You hit the nail on the head: CONTROL! I had never quite thought this out in the manner you have so clearly put it.
I certainly feel no guilt about separating myself from falsehood; of course, the sadness of losing kith and kin takes its emotional toll.
Thank you very much!
CoCo
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MY BEST FRIEND
by compound complex inhe walked right past me, looking straight ahead.. years before, hal and i walked the same path, the best of pals.
laughing and joking while endeavoring to maintain some level of decorum during our serious work of being a theatrical spectacle to men and angels.
although we hadn't seen each other in years, hal must have gotten word .
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compound complex
Thank you, Gulf Coaster and ToesUp, for your replies. They're much appreciated.
The above is a composite tale of what many of us -- you, too, GC -- have dealt with. You know, getting shunned for some silly infraction of Society rules and regulations yet another committing a moral wrong and getting by with it.
A whole jumble of ideas hit me as I put "pen to paper." Some JWs don't go by the rules and treat you decently, as a Christian should. In this case, "Hal" is weak morally but a follower of Church directives.
Gratefully,
CoCo
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MY BEST FRIEND
by compound complex inhe walked right past me, looking straight ahead.. years before, hal and i walked the same path, the best of pals.
laughing and joking while endeavoring to maintain some level of decorum during our serious work of being a theatrical spectacle to men and angels.
although we hadn't seen each other in years, hal must have gotten word .
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compound complex
He walked right past me, looking straight ahead.
Years before, Hal and I walked the same path, the best of pals. Laughing and joking while endeavoring to maintain some level of decorum during our serious work of being a theatrical spectacle to men and angels. That really does sound a bit off. Well, we were both hams and took well to the stage when portraying some Bible character of yore. Hal truly brought the house down when playing Samson. Many a gal in the audience -- teenager, pioneer, elder's wife -- secretly yearned to play his Delilah. Some not so secretly.
Yes, so many years before. We guys went our separate ways but did manage to stay in touch. Not so much, though, as the years wore on . . . and on. Despite his "imperfections," the sort that required him to appear numerous times before a church tribunal, Hal had a way with tears and tugging at the heart strings of even the most dour and impassive elder. Oh, he wasn't totally disingenuous; just a little. Hal was giving and loving and genuine. His scarlet sins were always washed clean by his judges. Even, to some extent, by not a few betrayed husbands. Word of Hal's occasional diversions, his straying from the Highway of Holiness somehow made their way to me. Nevertheless, he was always my best pal.
On the other hand, I seemed disinclined towards pursuing matters of the flesh. Pretty much an introvert and never a matinee idol type like Hal, I sought my own level and kept my nose clean. Books, however, were my downfall. Learning. Exploring new ideas. Sharing those thoughts. Strangely, my friends and family shut me down and said I was being disloyal to our Creator. He knew what was best for us. His appointed leaders would interpret his Word for us and that's all we should need. Deliberately wandering outside safe, church-ordained guidelines to so-called intellectual freedom was a snare, a death trap.
It seems I put the inescapable conclusions I had drawn ahead of church wisdom and directives. Those same loving elders who had forgiven Hal and tried his tears so many times showed me no mercy. Maybe I should have cried.
As the church grapevine tends to do, it grew and flourished under the hot sun of judgmental human scrutiny. The fruit, under such perverse growing conditions, was bitter to my taste. I was forced to eat the grapes that set my teeth on edge. Although we hadn't seen each other in years, Hal must have gotten word . . .
I never left my hometown, but I was all alone. Friends and family refused all contact with me. If I hadn't made friends outside the church over my years in business, I would have been totally bereft of all human connection. Coming out of my morning haunt, the Pine Cone Cafe, where I catch up with the locals on what's happening, I began walking up Broad Street and noted the familiar gait of someone I had known. The face was familiar although lined and crowned by graying wisps of hair. It was Hal. No doubt.
He walked right past me, looking straight ahead.
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The Natural Beauty of Your Neighborhood
by compound complex indear friends,.
one of my greatest enjoyments is a daily walk.
i see things in far greater detail than when i am driving by.
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compound complex
Thank you, punkofnice and zeb, for responding.
I'm sorry, punk, that your surroundings are not so nice. Going through this thread from the beginning may brighten your horizons!
I was in Australia, zeb, about 17 years ago, on the Gold Coast. I stayed in Noosaville. Think that's the name. I wanted to move there. Loved the jacaranda trees. Eucalyptus has always been my favorite tree. Very "big" here in California. Would love to see your photos.
Best.
CoCo
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The Natural Beauty of Your Neighborhood
by compound complex indear friends,.
one of my greatest enjoyments is a daily walk.
i see things in far greater detail than when i am driving by.
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293
The Natural Beauty of Your Neighborhood
by compound complex indear friends,.
one of my greatest enjoyments is a daily walk.
i see things in far greater detail than when i am driving by.
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At a regional convention today....
by Nobodyspecial init really stands out to me just how phoney the bonds of forced brotherhood are.
the smiles are paper thin when they see each other in hotels.
the laughs forced.
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compound complex
In reply to the post of kairos, regarding the Cow Palace:
Been there and Candlestick a few times; however, . . .
in the late '60s, I believe it was, we attended the week-long convention at Kezar stadium, San Francisco, CA. Bone chilling fog penetrated our parka-clad bodies, ensconced in sleeping bags. As the saying goes, "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco." [not Mark Twain]
BTW, with service in the morning and programs starting in the afternoon and concluding at around 9:00 p.m., it was a week of very long days.
CC
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TERROR
by compound complex inpointless .
pointless and a waste of time (though it is 3 o'clock in the morning) to remain in bed when the energy expended in tossing and turning can be put to better use elsewhere.
better use when i can get my mind out of the gutter and the realms of depression and despair that cater so willingly to the man held captive in his nightly horizontal prison.. i am up, thrusting myself from the uselessness of too much sleep, too much recumbence, too much nothing.. it's a given there's a force directing me beyond voluntary reflexes.
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compound complex
Thanks, Nancy!
Just now saw your post.
Clever, as ever!
CC
