since i stopped being a jw i haven't prayed.
so the other day i went to supper at my parent's house who are still jw's, and they prayed before we ate.
it was a very strange feeling, and it stirred up alot of weird feelings.
Yes, I still do, personally and with my family at meal times.
I must admit that though that my prayers have changed for the better. I no longer pray just for the brothers and sisters. I feel that we need to pray for all people in need and want. I feel happier with my prayers now.
Eyeslice
for education or just for fun?
usually i read for self-improvement-always trying to figure out why i am the way i am and stop it!
but sometimes i read just for fun.
Into Thin Air
An excellent book if you are at all interested in adventure or climbing.
Eyeslice
.
i am leaning toward buying a dell notebook.
who uses dell, and if so are you happy with them?.
I have had a Dell Inspiron 2500 laptop for 3.1/2 years now running Windows 2000 professional and never had a bit of bother with it. It needs a re-installation now but that's about it.
Having sadi that, I still think that buying hardware is a bit of a lottery.
Eyeslice
a coupie of nights ago, i was sat watching an old video-clip of the village people singing "ymca"on tv.
the thought occured to me that the wt most likely have a down on the ymca (they have a down on most things), so i searched ymca on my wt library cd.. well, that was interesting all right.
however, one part of the article reminded me of brooklyns excuse for being party to the un as an ngo.
Englishman
You are so sad - watching Village People and searching the WT CD.
Come to think of it I can't find mine and I am in the middle of watching a Kylie Minogue video - what sort of article should I look up?
Eyeslice
i attended the meeting today, hoping for some encouraging words.
i arrived while the prayer was in progress, i waited, then found my way to a familiy i enjoy and sat with them.
the speaker was visiting from another congregation.
Some do and some don't - as shown by the responses to this thread.
The problem many JWs have is a they have a 'managed' view of events. The WTB&TS has for years been preparing them for a global disaster; worse than a natural disaster, a disaster at the hands of God. This has hardened the compassion of many. But, on the other hand many, including COs and DOs have been troubled by their consciences and have left.
Eyeslice
to whatever religion's website you surf, all have a comment on the tsunami in south asia: be it catholic, protestant, adventist, mormon, new apostolic or whatever.
they try to give comfort and encourage people to donate for the suffering people there.
but if you go to http://www.watchtower.org or http://www.jw-media.org there is no mention of it (at least by now).
I checked both the official JW website and the JW media site. Interestingly, there is no feedback facility, e.g. email us. It appears they want to give out information but actively discourage any comments.
Eyeslice
there has been a bit of stick about the negative comments about islam on this board, so i thought i would start a positive thread.. towards the end of the 90s, i lived for a year in an asian country with a population of over 100 million muslims.
all muslims i came across were honest, decent people.. a couple of years back, i went to work in iran for a couple of weeks.
as a result i had a couple days off at the weekend, which also happened to coincide with a public holiday.
Until Islam decides to join the 21st century, they're going to continue to be left behind."
Hopefully, they will. I am heartened by the progress that is being made especially by highly educated young Muslim women who still remain loyal to their faith. These are the ones that will lead the way in changing many of the negative things raised in this thread.
Eyeslice
probably you all noticed that when disasters strike, news papers sell better.
the tsunami was a good example.
is it that people love to read bad news rather than good news?
Yes.
came across this from one of the "faithfull".... now just watch out now you inactive ones there's a tsunami looking for you, so just be sure you "keep you eyes on the prize ocean".
just spoke to [some bethalite at a bethhell near you] last night.. she was telling us of the news regarding our brothers and sisters in the tsunami region.
in one area all the brothers were at the meeting when it struck, except for one sister who was home sick and a 6 member family of inactive ones who were caught up in it because they hadn't gone to the meeting.
Even before I was out of the JWs it bothered me when I heard stories of how people were saved because they were at the meeting or the assembly or some such nonsense.
ditto for me too.
I can understand some of their reasoning though. JWs are trained to think of themselves as a world-wide united family. Hence, this sort of news is regarded as news of one's own family.
Eyeslice
how do you feel when donating to charities?
do you make choices?
of course you will check if the organization is serious but do you also check if it has a religious background?
When I was active, I rarely gave to 'religious charities', though I would to non-religious worldly charities. Things are different now, as I do not have the same prohibitions.
Just a thought, but my guess is that many JWs do not give to any other charities other than the WTB&TS.
Eyeslice
