Posts by Open mind

54

Hello, its good to be back, seriously!

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

for the last year or so, the opening lyrics to gloria estefan's "always tomorrow" have been howling at me.. i've been alone inside myself, far too long.

never really wanted it that way, but i let it happen..... .

(btw, the message in that song is great for former jw's, if you want to think about the lyrics that way....).

Open mind

skeeter:

That was a lovely read on my mid-morning break.

om

54

Hello, its good to be back, seriously!

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

for the last year or so, the opening lyrics to gloria estefan's "always tomorrow" have been howling at me.. i've been alone inside myself, far too long.

never really wanted it that way, but i let it happen..... .

(btw, the message in that song is great for former jw's, if you want to think about the lyrics that way....).

Well Daayyyuummm.

Until today I would have put you near the top of a short list of former JWNers who I thought got their shit together and moved on.

So on the one hand, I was very happy to see that you're back because I always really enjoyed your posts. On the other hand, I'm sorry you've been damaged so much that you felt it would be good to come back here for support and camraderie. (Hope that makes sense.)

Bottom line: We're here for you!

Hey, not sure what part of the country you're in, but if Flipper does his Lake Tahoe Apostafest again this summer, it's a really fun time.

Again, welcome back!

om

41

Surrounded - Yet All Alone at the same Time

by offgrid5150 in

jw
friends

i've been lurking for a while,but figured i'd introduce myself.

i was born in, and i'm 30 years old.

it's hard to just read as a guest, and not share with anyone eventually.

Open mind

Welcome offgrid5150!

(Guessing by your name are you a little bit crazy and living in the boonies?)

That's great you're able to confide in your brother. I awakened to TTATT about 7 years ago and had to patiently wait another 2.5 years for my wife to finally smell the JW coffee. Thanks to my DFed older brother and this place, I was able to vent, fume and scheme without alarming my wife.

I'll be sending you a PM shortly.

Best regards,

om

9

Interview with an apostate: Hortensia

by Hortensia in

tell us a little about yourself and your family.. divorced, no children.

two sisters, various cousins, aunts, uncles.

none of them jws any more.. were you a born in or a convert?.

Open mind

Thanks for sharing your past here Hortensia.

I'll be sure to tell my wife about the Chinese Boob Test!

Best regards,

om

17

Interview with TD

by TD in

i'm not an 'apostate' in the technical sense, but many of these questions did strike a chord:.

tell us a little about yourself and your family.. grandparents were contemporaries of russell.

one pair liked what they heard and were loosely associated with the bible students.

Open mind

Thanks TD!

om

37

"What exactly is his world view? from Cofty I see nothing but, anti-life, anti-love, anti-hope"

by cofty in

villagegirl's question on another thread was probably supposed to be rhetorical but i want to respond to it.. many times people of faith express similar misapprehensions about those who don't share their views on eternity.. i want this to be a positive thread.

an opportunity for atheists to share what moves and inspires them.

what do you live for, what gives your life meaning and purpose?

Open mind

Great post cofty.

Just want to echo a theme already stated here, but with my own personal experience.

About 15 years ago, I used to listen to a Jazz radio station in the SF Bay Area and at the end of the show, the host would always conclude with the following line:

"And remember, Life is not a dress rehearsal."

I heard her say this dozens of times and as a pretty-much true-believing JW, I always remember discounting it in my mind with this thought:

"Uh, no, Life actually IS a dress rehearsal. This is not the REAL life. We've got to jump through the WT hoops properly now so that in the future, we can enjoy the REAL life."

Having left all that behind, I find it very refreshing to fully embrace those words now.

LIFE IS NOT A DRESS REHEARSAL!!

Best regards Cofty,

om

30

Tea

by Hortensia in

jw
friends

i was raised on lipton tea.

my mother saw tea as the solution for everything.

no matter what the problem, she'd suggest a cup of tea.

Open mind

Hey there Hortensia!

If you ever make it down to the San Francisco Bay Area, we'll have to take you to this place on Clement Street.

http://www.aromateashop.com/store/

The proprietor's name is Haman and he's got this fancy marble tea table/bar thing for making tea in the "Kung Fu" method. He says Kung Fu actually just means "great effort" or something similar. Anyway, he puts on quite a show and you can try out tons of teas for free before buying some to take home.

Take care,

om & wife (she's the tea addict in our house)

97

First post

by thedog1 in

jw
friends

this is a very strange thing for me to do.

i have been an active witness for over 25 years.

i currently serve as an elder and i conduct the watchtower study.

Open mind

Check your PMs in a minute. They can be a little tricky to access the first time you try it depending on what browser you're using. Click on the little envelope and when you click on a PM topic, sometimes it doesn't come through right. Then you have to use the "back" button and try it again before you can see the private message.

om

97

First post

by thedog1 in

jw
friends

this is a very strange thing for me to do.

i have been an active witness for over 25 years.

i currently serve as an elder and i conduct the watchtower study.

Open mind

Welcome to JWN thedog1!

You said: "I don't know how I could explain it to others, and when I have to conduct he upcoming study clarifying the 'this generation' teaching, again, what will I do?"

Here's a couple of options for conducting the WT study:

1. Call in sick. If the content of what is in the upcoming WT is so repulsive to you that you can't bear to conduct it, don't. You can only use this card selectively in the months ahead though.

2. If you can stomach going through with the conducting, just conduct the WT study in a fairly lackluster manner. If you're following the Branch guidelines for WT conductors, you're not supposed to be saying very much anyway. Just let your local fellow elders do the unpleasant task of parroting the latest "new light".

As far as explaining it to fellow JWs in a one-on-one setting, how does this sound?

Over the last several decades the maximum length of "this generation" has gradually increased. "Generation", as defined by the F&D Slave was at one time a little less than a human life span. (At least some Armageddon survivors had to be alive and old enough in 1914 to understand the import of world events.) Then it grew a bit longer to an entire human life span. (Some Armageddon survivors just had to be ALIVE in 1914. ) With this latest understanding from the F&D Slave (make sure to throw in lots of F&DS references) "generation" now has grown to longer than a single, very-long, human lifespan. It's one of those deeper Bible truths so I don't think I would recommend trying to explain it to a brand new Return Visit unless they brought it up.

Best of luck on the road ahead.

om

26

Service Meeting Part about Sisters Wearing Head Coverings

by TTATTelder in

this week's service meeting had another part about women wearing head coverings.there's already been a post about it, but i would like some thoughts from the forum on the scripture referenced.

11: 3-10. i want to focus on verses 4-6. it says this (nnwt):.

"4)every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head shames his head; 5) but every woman who prays or prophesies+ with her head uncovered shames her head, for it is one and the same as if she were a woman with a shaved head.

Open mind

Hmmm. I'll have to make sure my rebellious wife calls in to the KH tonight so she can mend her Jezebel ways!

On second thought, maybe we'll just catch up on old episodes of Sons of Anarchy instead.

om

p.s. check your PMs in a minute