That's lovely jgnat, it looks very warm as well, just in time for winter.
I enjoy knitting myself, having learned it from my mother at an early age.
iamfreenow
JoinedPosts by iamfreenow
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My new pink scarf
by jgnat inhere's my new pink scarf, knitted in five days.
it's pink and long and very fluffy.
it absorbed a lot of hyper energy, as i'm coming off a very stressful month at work.
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Hi everyone
by iamfreenow ini haven't posted for a while, but my friend linda (fullofdoubtnow) has kept me updated with what's been happening on the board, so i've been with you all in spirit.
i've managed to keep myself fairly busy since leaving the witnesses though.
i am attending a couple of evening classes, on tuesdays and thursdays, keeping busy on former meeting nights, and i have been going to church on sundays, something i never in my wildest dreams thought i'd do at the beginning of this year!.
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iamfreenow
Hi Latte, I am quite enjoying both my classes and life at the Baptist Church. There are peole there who I actually preached to when I was a JW, so you can imagine their surprise when they saw me walk in for the first time, but they're getting used to me now.
Abandoned, thankyou for that, I am loving the writing couse, and I will certainly contact you. Lnda has offerred to put some of the things I have written on to her pc, as I haven't got one of my own yet. I haven't written a lot yet, but I do enjoy writing, so I will be in touch soon.
Bubble, thankyou for the birthday wish, this is the first I have ever celebrated! It's fine being 60, I can recommend it!
love
Marion
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Retiring today!
by iamfreenow intoday is my 60th birthday, so i am now officially retired!
actually, my last day at work was yesterday, and my colleagues gave me flowers, wine, chocolate and took me out to lunch.. this is the first birthday i've ever had as a non jehovahs witness, and it feels very strange to be even acknowledging it, let alone celebrating.
i am going out tomorrow evening with trev, linda and a few other fading or former jws for a curry at a local restaraunt, which i'm very much looking forward to.
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iamfreenow
Today is my 60th birthday, so I am now officially retired! Actually, my last day at work was yesterday, and my colleagues gave me flowers, wine, chocolate and took me out to lunch.
This is the first birthday I've ever had as a non Jehovahs Witness, and it feels very strange to be even acknowledging it, let alone celebrating. I am going out tomorrow evening with Trev, Linda and a few other fading or former JWs for a curry at a local restaraunt, which I'm very much looking forward to. Linda suggested it a few weeks ago, and I had the impression that there was only going to be her, Trev and a fader who helps write Trevs website there, but apparently there will be 12 of us, so it's going to be my first ever birthday party! I'm sure we will have a lovely evening, the first of many.
love
Marion
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Hi everyone
by iamfreenow ini haven't posted for a while, but my friend linda (fullofdoubtnow) has kept me updated with what's been happening on the board, so i've been with you all in spirit.
i've managed to keep myself fairly busy since leaving the witnesses though.
i am attending a couple of evening classes, on tuesdays and thursdays, keeping busy on former meeting nights, and i have been going to church on sundays, something i never in my wildest dreams thought i'd do at the beginning of this year!.
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iamfreenow
Hi everyone,
I haven't posted for a while, but my friend Linda (fullofdoubtnow) has kept me updated with what's been happening on the board, so I've been with you all in spirit. I've managed to keep myself fairly busy since leaving the Witnesses though. I am attending a couple of evening classes, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, keeping busy on former meeting nights, and I have been going to church on Sundays, something I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd do at the beginning of this year!
I've been taking a class on Tuesdays on computers, which I found hard going at first, and still isn't easy, I suppose I'm not technically minded, but I'm loving my Thursday class, which is on creative writing. Having said that, I'd rather be struggling through a computer lesson than attending the School and Service Meeting at the Kingdom Hall on a Tuesday! I've been to a few churches since I left the JWs, but the last few weeks I've been going to the same one, and eem to "fit in" there. It's a Baptist Church not far from where I live, and the congregation are very friendly, and don't put any pressure on me to "do more". I go on Sunday mornings, and apart from telling me I would be welcome at the other meetings, they don't press me to attend. How differrent from what I've been used to for so long!
I have been shunned a few times by my former friends, which hurts, as I've known some of them all their lives, but I knew what to expect when I left the Witnesses, so I don't feel anger towards them, more pity as they are still trapped by the Watchtower and its false doctrines, whereas I am free of those things. My JW son shunned me initially, and refused to let me see my grandchildren, but the last few weeks he has relented, and has brought the children round to see me, and I am so happy about that, particularly as his wife did not agree with what he is doing, but he stood up to her and did it anyway. I don't think the elders pprove either, but he seems not to care about that either, so maybe there's hope for him yet!
That's a little update on me, I hope to be able to post a little more soon.
All my love
Marion xxxx
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Some incredible new publisher statistics and Graphs
by jwfacts ini have been doing some analysis on the declining growth rates of the watchtower society and they are very encouraging for all ex jws.
i will try to link to some of them below, but for the firefox users or anyone wanting to see the source table they can all be seen at http://jwfacts.com/index_files/statistics.htm.
number baptised compared to increases in publishers and number that have stopped publishing.
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iamfreenow
That is good news. Having only recently quit the JWs, I have been aware of a gradual decline for some years, but I know this will make sorry reading for everyone in Brooklyn Bethel, and most elders as well.
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I had a cool dream about my old congregation!
by AlmostAtheist inhey guys,.
i had the weirdest "kingdom hall" dream i've ever had last night.
so weird and fun, that i want to share it with you!
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iamfreenow
Perhaps Jehovah is calling you back Dave. If you respond, your cool dream will probably end as a nightmare!
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Naughty! Naughty!, who's selling the DUBS answers?
by fokyc inlast night my wife came home and told me that some of the dubs are buying their ministry school answers from the internet!!
this is the item in the km:.
question box km september 2006 for britain.
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iamfreenow
it's probably an inocent thing, people sharing a useful tool with their friends. But the Society sees this kind of interchange as threatening.
They might see it as an example of some JWs thinking for themselves, and we know where that can lead, as do they.
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I saw a beautiful thing yesterday --- a gift from God
by jgnat inyesterday i saw a couple i hadn't seen for many years sitting together on the bus.
i'd always wondered if they had managed to stay together.
they looked the same, save a few more dry wrinkles, as they did twenty years ago.
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iamfreenow
What a lovely story, thankyou for sharing it. It is sad about the baby, but they are still together.
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New Website for those raised JW
by mblack ini just want to let you know about my new website.
i was raised jw and disfellowshiped at 16. along with a few of my own experiences that i relate, i interviewed fourteen people raised jw for my senior thesis in college.
after quite some time i have finally gotten it up on the internet.
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iamfreenow
Hello Marie, and welcome to the forum, I will have a look at your site soon.
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Question for JW believers...or whoever wants to answer
by kittyeatzjdubs ini often wondered this myself a lot growing up, and i must know.... if there was no paradise hope, no promise of living forever or having your dead loved ones resurrected....would you still serve your god and follow the organization?
would you have ever began studying with the witnesses for that matter or stayed in the ''truth'' if you were raised in it?.
because isn't that the golden ticket that jw's wave in front of their studies or interested ones?
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iamfreenow
When you are brought up in the Watchtower Society, as I was from birth, you have the hope of eternal life in paradise dangled in front of you from a very early age. You are told to expect ridicule at school, possibly bullying, but are continously told that it will be all worthwhile in the end, because one day all the ridiculers and bullies will be gone, and you will be with your brothers and sisters in paradise.
And you tend to believe it, because it's what your parents are telling you, what your friends in the congregation are telling you, what you are being told at conventions, and what the Watchtower's leaders are telling you, so it must be right.
So you endure all the ridicule, all the bullying, all the disappointments, like 1975 and the 1995 generation change, because you absolutely know it's going to be worth it in the end. This terrible system is going to end soon, Armageddon is just around the corner, and after that corner is turned, all the wickedness will have ended, and you wil be living in perfect conditions with perfect health, and will be able to enjoy both through all eternity.
Without that hope, why would anyone become a JW? There would simply be no point enduring all those things without the promise of a reward at the end of it all. I have heard people say they would serve Jehovah without that hope, because it's the right thing to do, and I have probably said the same thing myself, but those saying it haven't had that hope taken away. No one knows how they would react if suddenly the Governing Body announced that maybe the new system might not happen after all, or it wasn't going to be as wonderful as the picture they have always painted of it. I rather suspect that the worldwide figure of 6.5 million active JWs would diminish overnight if they did not have that hope. It's all that sustains most of the ones I know, and it's all that sustained me for many, many years.
Marion