Thanks for all the replies everyone!
Since we didn't get a going away party, I think we'll count our first Lake Tahoe Apostafest a few years back as a "Welcome Home" party.
Open mind
JoinedPosts by Open mind
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14
Faders: did local JWs give you a going away party?
by Open mind infor those who choose to fade, leaving your old congregation is often a first step.
did you switch congos while stll in "good standing" (tm)?
if so, did the local jws try to give you a going away party?
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Open mind
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Faders: did local JWs give you a going away party?
by Open mind infor those who choose to fade, leaving your old congregation is often a first step.
did you switch congos while stll in "good standing" (tm)?
if so, did the local jws try to give you a going away party?
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Open mind
Hello,
For those who choose to fade, leaving your old congregation is often a first step. Did you switch congos while stll in "Good Standing" (tm)? If so, did the local JWs try to give you a going away party? Did you accept?We were in the same congo for well over 10 years. I had served as an elder for most of that time. Raised our kids there. I learned TTATT about 2.5 years before my wife did. As soon as the blinders came off for her my first move was to "step aside" as an elder. A couple months later, we decided to switch congos. Since there was no obvious external reason for our move (job change, aging parents, being asked to move to help a different congo, etc.) the local JWs probably took our decision as a bit of a "screw you". Therefore, no one organized a "going away" party for us. On the one hand, it hurt a little bit, but overall, we're glad we didn't have to put on fake smiles and deal with a couple hours of nosy questions.
How about you?
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American Sniper - courage or cowardice?
by Simon inthe movie american sniper is breaking box office records and of course there is some irony that a movie about a sniper is released on martin luther king day (who was shot by one).. but of course there is a world of difference between an assassin and a military sniper ... or is there?.
some are making a big stink about it and claiming that "snipers are cowards".
it seems unfair to me.
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Open mind
Curtis LeMay, the American General who led the systematic carpet bombing of Japan for 14 months, said that 'if the US had lost the war, he and his fellow officers would have been tried as war criminals'. (Approximate quote.) Robert McNamara, who served as a Captain under LeMay, performed statistical analysis of the efficiency of the US bombing. He later went on to serve as Secretary of Defense throughout most of the Vietnam War. He agreed with LeMay's comment. The documentary "The Fog of War" was quite an eye opener for me.
Two take-aways that have stuck with me were:
1. The above comment about war criminals.
2. The total destruction from the two atomic bombs was substantially less destructive than the "conventional" bombs dropped in the previous 14 months. The estimates of lives lost from the atomic bombs are 129,000-246,000. The estimates of lives lost from the conventional bombing of 67 Japanese cities leading up to the end of the war are 241,000-900,000.
In addition to loss of life, the physical destruction of Japanese infrastructure of Hiroshima and Nagasaki pales in comparison to the toll taken on the rest of the country as the following chart shows:
Effect of Conventional Bombing on Japanese Cities
The table below notes the effect of conventional bombing campaigns on Japanese cities.
City Name % Area Destroyed Yokohama 58.0 Tokyo 51.0 Toyama 99.0 Nagoya 40.0 Osaka 35.1 Nishinomiya 11.9 Shimonoseki 37.6 Kure 41.9 Kobe 55.7 Omuta 35.8 Wakayama 50.0 Kawasaki 36.2 Okayama 68.9 Yawata 21.2 Kagoshima 63.4 Amagasaki 18.9 Sasebo 41.4 Moji 23.3 Miyakonojo 26.5 Nobeoka 25.2 Miyazaki 26.1 Ube 20.7 Saga 44.2 Imabari 63.9 Matsuyama 64.0 Fukui 86.0 Tokushima 85.2 Sakai 48.2 Hachioji 65.0 Kumamoto 31.2 Isesaki 56.7 Takamatsu 67.5 Akashi 50.2 Fukuyama 80.9 Aomori 30.0 Okazaki 32.2 Oita 28.2 Hiratsuka 48.4 Tokuyama 48.3 Yokkaichi 33.6 Ujiyamada 41.3 Ogaki 39.5 Gifu 63.6 Shizuoka 66.1 Himeji 49.4 Fukuoka 24.1 Kochi 55.2 Shimizu 42.0 Omura 33.1 Chiba 41.0 Ichinomiya 56.3 Nara 69.3 Tsu 69.3 Kuwana 75.0 Toyohashi 61.9 Numazu 42.3 Choshi 44.2 Kofu 78.6 Utsunomiya 43.7 Mito 68.9 Sendai 21.9 Tsuruga 65.1 Nagaoka 64.9 Hitachi 72.0 Kumagaya 55.1 Hamamatsu 60.3 Maebashi 64.2 I highly recommend this brief clip from "The Fog of War".
Also, after watching American Sniper, I thought it was more anti-war than pro-US flag waving, although there was certainly a fair amount of that.
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Conti Appeal Preview - Oral Argument Jan 14
by Chaserious inwith hopefully a good deal of interest here in the conti appeal tomorrow (or later today, depending on where you are), i thought that on my ride home from work tonight i'd preview what to expect and what i think the key issues are for any who are interested.
i have had a busy few weeks and haven't had time to read everything, but i had some time to look at the appeal briefs during my work commute the past couple days.
it'll be interesting to see what develops out of the network news coverage of this case.
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Open mind
Marking. -
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Conti Appeal Oral Arguments slated for 9 A.M., Jan. 14, 2014. Recap of Defendant Watchtower's Complaint of Errors for your info.
by AndersonsInfo inconti appeal hearing-summary of watchtowers complaint of errors with plaintiff's reply.
the following statements were taken from the introduction of respondents brief a136641 -attorney richard simons' response for plaintiff.
defendants argue that the affirmative duty imposed by the trial court impinges on their religious freedom.
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Open mind
Let's say it goes all the way to CA Supreme Court and WT loses there. Can WT then try taking it to the US Supreme Court?
Sorry if this has already been asked before.
om
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Becoming officially inactive
by All for show ini don't want to turn in my token time anymore.
it's only a few hours counting what we do with the kids.
i don't want it counted for their skewed statistics- or to just for the sake of doing it.
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Open mind
By going totally inactive you do pop up a bit more on their radar as a target for shepherding, so that MAY be a reason to turn in token time.
One obscure reason in favor of going totally inactive is it starts the clock ticking towards when the elders are allowed to not pursue judicial action against you. This is particularly true if you've moved to a new area. There's not a set number of years, but in practice it's usually around 3-5 years. After that, if some JW from the area you previously lived in sees Xmas lights hanging on your home and tattles on you, the elders have no obligation to hunt you down for a JC.
If you were a particularly "high-profile" JW, (ex CO, DO, Uber-Elder, etc.) they may still come after you anyway.om
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Ever tried "Dry January"? Join Ms. OM & me for a 30 day liver vacation!
by Open mind inthere are a few things i picked up from watchtowerism that i still find value in.
(although, i could have easily picked them up elsewhere.).
one of these is the 30-day test to abstain from all booze.. .
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Open mind
Xanthippe: I was a bit surprised that a didn't lose a single pound but a good idea to give your liver a rest.
I haven't lost any weight yet either.
Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't be substituting ice cream and cookies for the booze!
om
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Ever tried "Dry January"? Join Ms. OM & me for a 30 day liver vacation!
by Open mind inthere are a few things i picked up from watchtowerism that i still find value in.
(although, i could have easily picked them up elsewhere.).
one of these is the 30-day test to abstain from all booze.. .
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Open mind
LOL @ JakeM2012. !! -
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Ever tried "Dry January"? Join Ms. OM & me for a 30 day liver vacation!
by Open mind inthere are a few things i picked up from watchtowerism that i still find value in.
(although, i could have easily picked them up elsewhere.).
one of these is the 30-day test to abstain from all booze.. .
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Open mind
Thanks for all the replies everyone!
Hope the drinkers here realize we're not standing in judgement AT ALL. For us it's about checking our will power and also gauging the strength of this particular habit. At 2 1/2 days in, we're doing fine, but I have to admit the habit is very powerful. One thing that helps us is to have some substitutes available rather than just plain old tap water. For dinner we'll have chilled, sparkling water, perhaps with a bit of lime. In the evening, a cup of Good Earth non-caffeinated tea helps me continue the habit of sipping on something while reading or watching a movie.
Also, in the interests of complete transparency, we fully plan on boozing it up one Saturday night during January. It's the night one of our employers has an annual employee dinner and the gourmet food and world-class wines that are poured that night are just too much for us to pass up. So, we're not technically going 30 days straight. It's 30 out of 31 days.
To life!!
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Ever tried "Dry January"? Join Ms. OM & me for a 30 day liver vacation!
by Open mind inthere are a few things i picked up from watchtowerism that i still find value in.
(although, i could have easily picked them up elsewhere.).
one of these is the 30-day test to abstain from all booze.. .
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Open mind
Thanks for the refs ADCMS!
To sparrowdown, I can't remember for sure, but it's quite likely that I went home after that JC and had a stiff drink myself.
om