Posts by OnTheWayOut

19

Looking for a bit of advice in a difficult situation

by Oversteer in

jw
friends

i'm looking for a bit of guidance here and not really sure where to turn.

maybe someone has been in a similar situation and can help me out.. currently i'm an awake, baptized jw.

have been for a few years.

OnTheWayOut

This is a quagmire. You are willing to break the JW rules, but the person receiving the gift is not. If you told the doctors in secret that you are willing to have blood, should it be needed, they still know your sibling is not willing. You leave them in a bad place- "try not to give you blood, and don't say anything if you do have to, and yet still risk the recipient's life."

If your sibling is not 100% with you, willing to just shut out other people from knowing that either of you will take blood if needed, then I would suggest you just walk away from it. I wouldn't even bother to find out if I was compatible, as that just gives your sibling more to report to the elders- that you went so far in pressuring them as to even see if it could be done. I might do it on the low down- ask the doctors to determine if I am compatible without telling my sibling, fully explaining the stupid JW thing. Your sibling could change their mind, but I doubt it.

I know a life is involved, but it's their choice.

12

Taking up a Cause

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

so recently, my jw wife asks me if i ever considered taking up a cause.it was a question out of the blue, coming off of a discussion about politics.

so while it was unsaid, she was really getting at whether i was considering being politically active in some way.. i already have a standard answer that i have used before with other people, so i said it.

"no, i will be content to work and get by then retire and sit in the sun with a good book and a cold water.

OnTheWayOut

My replies:
out4good4: "Whatever the hell I want" is definitely part of the plan. I got about 10.5 years to go.

OneEyedJoe: glad to help. I thought on that for quite awhile before coming up with the right explanation.

stillin: I am with you on the "already gave" part. Not so much with the "felt good to..." part. Oh, at the time, I felt good. But my angle is that I feel bad about putting so much into something I was wrong about, so maybe never again.

slimboyfat: one never knows. My wife's "service" is token at best. She may find some things more worthy of her time and I will support any effort to do good that is not part of religious recruitment.

kairos: sitting in the sun is kind of a zen/mantra thing. Everyone seek inner peace before spreading your message through any other cause.

Dagney: great thoughts. If "they" are going to criticize any good cause I take up, then I might actually take up a worthy cause just to rub it in their faces. But probably not. I like the freedom to not bother.

Nihilistic Journey: I have considered food trucks for the hungry and the like. Maybe one day I will have a passion like yours.

Darkknight757: I like the RAC thing- Should be RAK, but anyway- I have done some of that. No commitment, just a kind deed here and there. I may add that to my answer.

12

Taking up a Cause

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

so recently, my jw wife asks me if i ever considered taking up a cause.it was a question out of the blue, coming off of a discussion about politics.

so while it was unsaid, she was really getting at whether i was considering being politically active in some way.. i already have a standard answer that i have used before with other people, so i said it.

"no, i will be content to work and get by then retire and sit in the sun with a good book and a cold water.

OnTheWayOut

So recently, my JW wife asks me if I ever considered taking up a cause.

It was a question out of the blue, coming off of a discussion about politics. So while it was unsaid, she was really getting at whether I was considering being politically active in some way.

I already have a standard answer that I have used before with other people, so I said it.

"No, I will be content to work and get by then retire and sit in the sun with a good book and a cold water. That's it. No causes for me. I picked up a cause once before, and I was so deeply involved in it, really thought it was important and put so much of myself into it, but it turned out that I was SO WRONG. I don't want to do that again."

That really threw her for a loop. But she gathered herself together and came back with a good zinger.
"Some people help animals or children. You don't want to do that?"

"Well, that's a nice thought. I suppose there are many causes that are virtually impossible to be wrong about. If anything really gets me started with a passion, maybe if something happens in my life to really effect me, I will consider taking up a cause. But it would have to be a sure thing that facts cannot show to be the wrong cause."

Not an earth-shattering topic, I know. But that's the only progress I manage with my JW wife these days. Just as I don't have a passion for a cause, I don't have a passion for arguments about so many issues. I am not even standing up for liberalness and atheism on the internet that much these days.

14

My funniest stand up JW Jokes so far

by usualusername1 in

jw
friends

in the last couple of months, i have been practising my stand up.

so far these are my best jokes:.

not celebrating birthdays and christmas has saved me so much money.

OnTheWayOut

I like that last one. Ba-da-bing!

8

Was pyramidology a distraction to hide Russell's true source?

by Crazyguy in

russell was big in to the pyramid at giza but i'm trying to understand his line of thinking?

in the early 1840s and author by the name of john aquila brown wrote a book called the even-tide.

in his book he lays out the times of the end and his ideas on the book of daniel.

OnTheWayOut

Charles Russell and his father were heavily influenced by Millerites. I believe that they believed, at least Charles seemed to. He really seemed sure of Nelson Barbour's thoughts that the end of the world would arrive in 1878. He sold his businesses and heavily financed Barbour and 1878 came and went.

Russell went his own way and started the Watchtower Society.

So your guess is as good as mine on whether he still believed in the end of the world coming and pyramids pointing the way, or if he was just trying to be in the business of selling Watchtower printed material to make up for losing so much money.

12

Second birthday!

by Nihilistic Journey in

turning 42 and celebrating my second birthday!

there's some strange crap only we could understand..

OnTheWayOut

Happy Birthday. I love having birthdays ever since I got them back.

26

2017 JWN Christmas Card Exchange

by blondie in

jw
friends

in years gone by i have organized and coordinated this.

pm me if you want to be added to the list giving me your snail mail address and/or your e-mail for those with tech skills and a safe e-mail.. do this by december 14, and i will pm the list to each person on it.

latecomers will be added but you may not get it by christmas.

OnTheWayOut

If it's bound to be 20 or less, I am stepping up and joining. If it is more, all the better. I was worried that my JW wife would see me getting 100 cards, but she can handle a fraction of that.

41

That One Defining Moment That Changed Your Life.

by new boy in

it seems that many times in life there is a moment or an action that changes your whole world.

it could be just a look that someone gives you.. many times it can be something rather small.

something hardly noticeable by anyone but you.

OnTheWayOut

There were several important moments for me. One of the biggest, despite me not leaving for quite awhile after it, was when the 1995 study article about the generation came out and it rocked my world about needing to have a career and a retirement plan because I was probably going to die "in this system of things." But it wasn't just the article. I was deeply put off by this abrupt change and talked to an older elder about it. His simple answer to my questions about this humongous change was "Eh, the society changes things once in a while."

That was the beginning of the end for me. It totally changed my outlook and my way of being an elder. Again, I started planning for living to old age, but I also learned to tell others to do the same and not to tell the elders every last thing they are doing wrong, but to just "fix it" on their own if they wanted to stay out of trouble. And I started to question things freely, at least to myself and eventually did the research that freed me after a few more important moments in my life.

25

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

by ttdtt in

jw
friends

i hope you are all having a nice day with family and friends.. :).

OnTheWayOut

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I am thankful I can participate in such a holiday. It's at the firehouse this year, so that's good- Deep fried turkey and all the side stuff.

I was invited to my dad's Thanksgiving feast (never a JW) but will have to visit him tomorrow.

I embrace holidays such as this and Christmas and birthdays. It's something to be thankful for.

34

Why didn't God also reveal himself to the Canaanites just as he did to Moses in the burning bush?

by deegee in

why didn't god also reveal himself to the canaanites just as he did to moses in the burning bush so that the massacre/genocide of the canaanites could have been avoided?.

why didn't god also invite the native palestinians into his covenant, giving them the same laws he gave the israelites, and establish an egalitarian society where people of all races could live together in harmony?.

instead, he ordered his people to invade and slaughter the natives, killing them to the last man, woman and child, specifically instructing them to show no mercy to anyone under any circumstances.

OnTheWayOut

I like Crazyguy's short version. But to add a thought to David_Jay's comments- there was a time when Jews assumed the stories were literal. But as time went by, as more was shown to be just stories, there came to be thoughts that these stories were allegories, fables.

They still mostly believe that much of it is literal.