i am wondering a few things.... when you were an active jw, did others in your congregation leave for true apostacy reasons and did you know?
when (year) did they and what year did you leave?.
how many people were in your congregation and how many left before you did (or you think left)?
I left in 83. I never saw or knew anyone who left the tower before I did, personally.
I knew of people who left the tower were called apostates. I knew of the book "30 years a watchtower
slave" by William Schnell.
It was my mothers religion and I was looking for a loophole and I found it in 1975. It just took me 7 more years
to figure out or realize that I could just stop going to meetings.
i've got one!.
you don't have to wait in long xmas lines at the store to buy xmas presents.
as a matter of fact, you don't have to buy a damn thing!.
The best thing for me is I didnt go to Vietnam and get killed or crippled.
The witnesses dont go to war.
War is just a way for the rich to make more money.
i have read this on this site and know some that do this type of work.
if most jw's are window washers, what other occupations are considered the type of jobs that a witless would have.
.
The brother who was a window washer in my hall back in Cleveland was/ is very well off. He lives better than my worldly neighbors
who are school teachers, nurses, firemen, policemen, politicians, business owners.
He started out cleaning windows and ended up owning the company that cleans all the windows in downtown
Cleveland.
Many of my JW brother in laws back in Cleveland were union carpenters
and were able to retire at 50 making 50,000 a year for the rest of their lives.
99% of the witnesses I know/knew personally are very well off.
Of all the people I know they are the most prosperous.
Sometimes I think they were blessed for staying with the organization and I was cursed.
But I chose the road, I have gone down.
The 2 Bush dingbats. W and then his Daddy.
The nut doesnt fall far from the tree.
i am sure that this question as been asked before.
when i think of my life now,a lovely kind beautiful wife, two happy healthy kids, good job, nice home, real friends.
yes since i left the jws almost twenty years ago i can honestly say i have lived my life.. when i eventually left the death by bordem cult ... i had nothing, a loveless marraige i only stayed in because of the jws, no friends, no home to call my own, in debt, i had a wife who was so depressed she shooped to make herself happy.
I couldnt have stayed and been a bad influence on my son.
He was 10 when I left. Since I left he has a 4 year business degree and 2 medical degrees.
It was too hard to find work as a witness, any job with any security or money was wrong.
Since I left, I still havent been able to find a good paying fullfilling job that treats their employees decent.
Maybe next life.
http://cgi.ebay.com/portable-kameraphone-phonograph-jehovah-watchtower-/190467777187.
jehovahs witness kameraphone, a portable phonograph.
they were called kameraphones because they looked like box cameras, and were imported from europe and used by jehovas witnesses to play bible discourses while doing their rounds.
I know they used to use radio before I was born.
ONe of the most popular AM stations in Cleveland back in the 60's
that played the Beatles, the stones and all the good rock and roll
was WHK.
Its still in business, Its Ohio's oldest radio station.
WHK was the Jehovahs witness station, We Herald the Kingdumb.
At least thats the story they told me back in the 50's at the Hall.
Back in the early 60's there was only AM radio there was no FM as far as I know.
At least in your car there was only AM, and if there was a FM there was no good
music on it untli underground radio started in the mid to late 60's
Once FM came around in the late 60's it opened the door for all the clasic rock music that
we have today. The Who, Jethroll Tull. Bruce Springsteen, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Greatfull DEad, etc...
i really don't have the time or the finances for a professional psychiatrist.
i know i am depressed and i know why.
the problem, as i have said before in one or two other threads, is that the solution won't really change my depression and may, in fact, make it worse.. so i am resigned to being depressed but would like to know if there are some coping techniques or other suggestions.
Go to CVS or Wallgrens and tell the nurse practitioner your depressed and you want Bupropion.
It cost about 5$ a month. Most likely they will give it to you because you asked for it.
After you take it for a month you wont be depressed any more.
Thats the easy and effective way to deal with depression.
If you cant bring yourself to take a pill every day for 5$ a month.
Put a rubber band on your wrist and every time you think a bad thought that leads you to be depressed
snap the rubber band.
When you snap the rubber band, and it stings, the sting is to remind you to think a happy, non depressing
thought.
Thats called rubber band therapy it works if you work it. It takes more effort than Bupropion.
If you dont know what thoughts lead you to be depressed than your going to have to pay a therapist.
He wont tell what thoughts make you depressed, you will have to pay him and tell him.
When you tell him what those thoughts are
remember them,
then put a rubber band on your wrist
and every time you think one of those depressing thoughts, snap the rubber band and then think about something else.
Something good and happy.
It works if you work it.
the bible teaches a resurrection of the dead, but does it teach a second chance after death or a judgment based on our life before we died?.
hebrews 9:27 says: " just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will .
appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.".
I enjoyed your post, Terry and found it to be very truthful.
i received this message from a jw on jwc@fe, after i asked some simple questions:"miss jada, every sentence or phrase in the bible can very easily be turned into a question.
it doesnt take much to raise questions.
even jesus himself left some questions unanswered.
Ignorance is bliss
Ecclesiastes 1:18 says ..."he that increases knowledge increases pain."
In some respects I was happier and my life was simpler before I ever started examining the scriptures.
1 John 4:1 say:" do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expression to see whether they originate with God"
In my case when you start examingn every inspired expression, it takes you down a never ending rabbit hole
Maybe that is how we are to spend our life, chasing God.
my wife & i really love the blues.
i'll start out with one from stevie ray .
so lets have fun , post us all some blues people !
