i prayed before i came on here.
i know that it weird.
i have been reading here for a long time.
Welome BonaFide,
This is a great group. I know you will be welcomed by all (most anyway). We do have a few who have their own
agenda, but for the most part I have found everyone to be wonderful. I hope you find this a place where you can
vent and share. To me prayer is vital for every decision I make. I think God is directing you here.
Love and hugs,
Velta
and my sister who left jw at 16..............and we had a freakin blast!
not my best grill out moment ...but not a failure either.....just thanks guys and gals..........oompa.
ps...and ya...kinda weird cause my wife is at a dc in antother state.
Oompa and changeling,
Food is great, but fellowship is all about the
fun and talking and getting to know one another.
Sometimes food gets in the way. hee hee
Glad you had a good time. Sorry your wife is missing
out, Oompa.
Love and hugs,
Velta
i have posted my thread regarding that i went back to a few meetings.
within that the debate came up about 607 v 587.. for me i have seen many criticisms against the wt society that i agree with.
but i have never been able to find conclusive or 100% proof that doctrines or beliefs are wrong.
I finally got it after reading the KIT three times trying to prove the WT right about the "great crowd" being on earth.
I prayed for Holy Spirit (finally found out I could by just reading the Bible NWT and finding the scripture at Luke 11:13 which says that
God "will give holy spirit to those asking") and started reading. I thought since Bro. Russell had found out the truth for himself that way,
that I could too. Well, imagine my surprise and shock!!! I could not find any scriptures that said they were on earth, but lots of reasons
to show they were in heaven. To me it was a mixture of emotions. I found myself mentally free from WT doctrine in that area, but a whole
'nother clutch of emotions about the future.
I am happy that I found this first truth that started me out of the WT thinking.
So glad I am now free!!!
Velta
just curious .
any symbolism or meaning to your avatar choice?
mine is actually a gif .
Awakened at Bethel
Just me... I change my pic sometimes, but I still use my own pic. I use my own pic to show I'm not afraid of revealing my identity and my anti-WTS stance.
How do you change your pic? I tried to this morning and it is still the same. Does it take time to appear?
Velta
i see on the news that coast highway 1 in california is still closed and that esalen and nepenthe and other places in big sure have been evacuated.
that's such a beautiful area and i've had many nice lunches at nepenthe.
makes me sad for all the animals that live there too - seems as though california will just completely burn down one of these days.
We were at Tahoe Friday and Saturday. There was not a lot of smoke there, but on the way
home there was a area where the smoke almost obscured the mountains in the distance. It was also a little smoky
in the Valley, not as bad. The sky is gray today, even though there are no clouds. There must be smoke higher up I cannot smell it.
I Thank God for that. I think it has affected our lungs at least to some extent. It is not as easy to breathe, however, not extreme, and my
eyes water and burn a little bit.
We had 1400 fires burning last week. Not sure what the number is today. It is sure to affect our economy adversely.
Velta
what the bible really teaches: the firstborn of all creation.. jehovah's witnesses teach that because jesus is called "the firstborn of all creation" at colossians 1:15, this has to mean that jesus was the first creation by god.. .
since jesus is called "firstborn" because he created all things and existed before all things, this shows that he is not called "firstborn" because he was the first thing created.. paul himself, at colossians 1:18, explains that he is referring to the position or rank of "firstborn," because paul says jesus is the one who has "preeminence" or "first place" in all things.
therefore, paul was not saying that jesus was the first creature created by god.
Undisfellowshipped,
I appreciated this article. It gives a good view on what this word "firstborn" could mean. The Bible says that Jesus is "the only-begotten Son" of God. What does that mean? When we hear the word begotten in the Old Testament, it always mean the BIRTH of a child. How Jesus was born of God, we can only imagine, but this word means more than just created. In Colossians 2:9 it says in the KIT Greek to English:" because in him is dwelling down all the fullness of the godship bodily." Everything has its own nature. Each animal species is different in its nature and the species only "beget" within their kind. The canines beget canines, man begets man, God begets God.
I suppose it really doesn't matter if Jesus was created or not. The Bible says that he is above all things and deserves worship. If the Bible was clear on each doctrine, then we would not have to try to understand what it means. The way it is we just have to accept that we cannot say that the "Bible says" and expect everyone to understand it the same. This is why, I believe, that it is impossible to have a "united" belief. It is up to God to read the heart and accept us for who we are and not what we believe.
Velta
i'm feeling so down lately my psycology has reached to the bottom.
sometimes i wish i never been born.
looking back my life all there is left is pain.
I am so sorry that you had a typical JW life. A lot of us had that. I grew up a JW during WWII. I was tormented by other
kids for not saluting the flag or standing for the national anthem, I was called a fascist, nazi, I had rocks thrown at me. I was punished by my teachers
and expelled from school. We all had that kind of stuff happen because we were different.
My husband and I were JWs for almost 50 years. We were disfellowshipped in 1983. We did not stop living our lives.
We went on. You cannot let the Watchtower control your life!!! It is your life. You have to make the decision to live
it the way you want to. No one else can do that for you.
I am praying for you.
Love and hugs,
Velta
hi everyone..... v just posted about this, but since i am interviewed in the video i wanted to start my own thread to get the word out... let me know what you think... my real name and pic are in the video, along with some of my gilead experiences..... lance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enkkm_aa_j4.
the link to this vid is:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enkkm_aa_j4 in case you want to comment there..... .
Hi Lance,
Blew your cover big time. hee hee
Loved the way your presented your information. No anger, No JW bashing. Just facts.
How can any JW object to that? Well, we know they will. The truth is just too much for
most of them to bear.
Thanks for sharing your exeriences. I know that it will influence people whether they are
JWs or those who are studying with them or those who they meet at the door.
Velta
looking back i realize that the way it was handled was probably the best of my experiences with committee meetings.
at this committee meeting, they asked me if i was disfellowshipped 3 months ago, i couldnt believe that!
" i asked him why the announcement hadnt been made and he said he didnt know.
Welcome, Paranoid,
A lot of us here still believe in God. We are so glad you found us. Your story was so typical.
We can read every story that people have written here and it will come up with a common thread.
So glad you are out and going back to school. We cannot function in this world without an
education. I don't know when the Watchtower will ever get that.
Velta
gas to hit $7 a gallonby marty jeromeapril 29, 2008 | 2:00:00 pmcategories: alt fuel, business, finance, fuel economy, policy, post-petroleum.
both qatar's oil minister and the head of opec can see oil hitting $200 a barrel before the end of the year and one analyst says gas could reach $7 a gallon within four years.
but this seems to explain part of what's happening with the price of oil.
Here is an interesting perspective on the oil crisis. This is part 1 or 7 parts.
