Posts by still

41

Another Elder Suicide?

by still_in74 in

well it looks like a southern ontario elder just took his own life.

i cant go into details as we live in a very small world in "the truth" and even the smallest amount of detail on this one could quickly connect this to me, so for now its on the d-low.. it is a relative of a very close friend and he is godsmacked by it.

he said to me, " we sure seem to be seeing more of this lately arent we?

still_in74

I don't know if you took ofense on my comment of this brother as having a mental illness but

no i didnt take offense or was I implying anything, Your comment just caused me to connect to this thought. So many times, whenever someone "spritiually strong" leaves the truth/becomes inactive/commits suicide, its almost taboo to admit or even suggest that they have doubts about the "truth". Typically any of those actions indicates that doubt exists otherwise they would be so happy all the time none of these would ever happen!

Thus to "not" say they have a "mental problem" would be tantamount to saying they doubt its "the truth"

41

Will The New Watchtower Kill Off The Awake?

by metatron in

jw
friends

i don't know if any of you have considered this but is the new watchtower arrangement partly intended.

to permit the end of the awake magazine?.

it is a financially difficult thing for a religion the size of the "truth" to publish one - much less two .

still_in74

the awake would go first, the WT is the flagship. The continuous never-ending mouthpiece of Jeh for over a hundred years. As long as there is an org there will Watchtowers in the d2d work.

Also, they will never put the OKM in the Watchtower as the OKM is specific to the country or geographic location that it is being used in. It would mean printing different WT's for every country and that is significantly more costly considering the logistics of it.

A tiny, thin 2 paged pamphlet printed with one colour on newsprint cant exactly be all that expensive.

41

Another Elder Suicide?

by still_in74 in

well it looks like a southern ontario elder just took his own life.

i cant go into details as we live in a very small world in "the truth" and even the smallest amount of detail on this one could quickly connect this to me, so for now its on the d-low.. it is a relative of a very close friend and he is godsmacked by it.

he said to me, " we sure seem to be seeing more of this lately arent we?

still_in74

The first one was a "brother" with mental illness

did you ever notice that anytime a JW commits suicide they are ALWAYS labeled as having a "mental illness"?

As if to say that NO sane JW would ever have reason to want to die?

As if to imply that if you have suicidal thoughts its not because "the truth" isnt making you happy but because your mental?

As if to "save face" for the family and to cloak the real issue with mental instability and give Jehovah a reason to forgive the dead guy? Thus now they have a reason to "stay strong" so they can see their dead "mentally ill" loved one resurrected without the mental illness that caused him/her to do such a crazy thing that was soooooo out of character for that person.

Every person I know of that has gone through with it has been described as "having something wrong mentally" as they never would have done such a thing if they werent.

41

Will The New Watchtower Kill Off The Awake?

by metatron in

jw
friends

i don't know if any of you have considered this but is the new watchtower arrangement partly intended.

to permit the end of the awake magazine?.

it is a financially difficult thing for a religion the size of the "truth" to publish one - much less two .

still_in74

i have to admit, this looks like a very real possibility. With the focus of the Awake! on more "spiritual issues" after the shift to monthly printing, what would be the difference between the public watchtower and the Awake? Why have 2 mags that are light and diplomatic?

I really can see truth to this. While I dont think they WTBS will eliminate the Awake altogether I think they will change it somehow or "incorporate" it into the public watchtower so that now we are actually "placing" 2 mags in one or have some "special series" of awake articles in the public WT every now and then to get everyone all excited for a "special magazine day"

hehe, I remember when the Special mag days started it was this big deal and everyone would meet at the hall and there would be this huge group out, then it seemed like we were having them all the time. My last cong even had one on their own a few weeks before an "official" one and then no one showed up the real special mag day. Guess what, --------- local needs. hehe, we got counseled for not being excited to follow the society's direction. Well what did you expect Br. "Stoic"? How special is a day you have every week? That was funny...........

124

Disgusting comment re: education from Tacoma 2007 District Convention

by Justitia Themis in

this is from saturday afternoon program.

the speaker first starts with what he called the "alphabet soup" of degrees....a.a., b.a., m.a., ph.d., etc.

; he said they were nothing more than "sheepskins on the wall.

still_in74

dont forget, most District level talks ARE READ directly from the outline word for word. I will listen at my convention for the "D.E.A.D." apellation.

41

Another Elder Suicide?

by still_in74 in

well it looks like a southern ontario elder just took his own life.

i cant go into details as we live in a very small world in "the truth" and even the smallest amount of detail on this one could quickly connect this to me, so for now its on the d-low.. it is a relative of a very close friend and he is godsmacked by it.

he said to me, " we sure seem to be seeing more of this lately arent we?

still_in74

Ya know what keeps me going? Appreciating the here and now and not living in the past and future. Really feeling, experiencing life as it happens, letting those experiences make me turn water into wine, lemons into lemonade

well said Mr. Flipper. Thank you, you have given words to think about this week.

And thanks to all of you. I talked to my wife today about it and we came up with 5 witnesses (1 raised but not baptized) that have commited suicide in the past 3 years that we knew directly or through an immediate relative. How many people know 5 people that have killed themselves? And I know of other cases after the fact as well.

Every now and then i get that feeling of experiencing life in the moment for even just a nano-second. Its a great feeling but vanishes so quickly. It would be nice for all of us to feel that everyday.

Thanks so much!

41

Another Elder Suicide?

by still_in74 in

well it looks like a southern ontario elder just took his own life.

i cant go into details as we live in a very small world in "the truth" and even the smallest amount of detail on this one could quickly connect this to me, so for now its on the d-low.. it is a relative of a very close friend and he is godsmacked by it.

he said to me, " we sure seem to be seeing more of this lately arent we?

still_in74

well it looks like a southern ontario Elder just took his own life. I cant go into details as we live in a very small world in "the truth" and even the smallest amount of detail on this one could quickly connect this to me, so for now its on the D-Low.

It is a relative of a very close friend and he is godsmacked by it. He said to me, " we sure seem to be seeing more of this lately arent we?"

What could I say? We both know of a "hush-hush" suicide only a few weeks ago. The tone of his voice was almost leading to something, he has made some subtle comments in the past and I wonder if he is having the same feelings I am having. I cautioned him that I have some feelings on that subject but that I dont share them as I could get into trouble, but we are going to get together and I think I am going to have my first conversation with a friend about what I am going through. (except for you all on JWD of course!)

I know a family member of a former longtime elder/CO that in one year left his wife and had an affair, got DF'd and killed himself. This was only a few years ago. How does one cope with the thought that they have either 1) condemned themselves to no resurection or 2) spent their entire life living a lie? Although I would never contemplate suicide, the feelings I live with everyday have me so down that if I didnt wake up tomorrow at least this pain would go away. But this isnt about me, its about more Witnesses waiting for happiness that will never come and hating the journey. Isnt happiness supposed to "be a journey" and not a destination? The realization that the destination isnt there is too much to bear, its the only thing that has kept them going on in this "wicked world" for as long as they have and its gone.

38

My JW Friends Visited My Daughter & Wanna Keep It Quiet From Other JWs

by minimus in

jw
friends

my daughter is at home with her new daughter and an older couple visited them in her home and brought some lovely outfits for the baby.

they stayed for about a half hour and ther company was very much appreciated.

the following day they were at a jw get together along with my mom.

still_in74

The Jehovah's Witnesses are nothing but a gang of bullies

Gary, you are an identical twin of a dear friend that I lost not too long ago. Hence when I read your posts and I see your picture my heart automatically softens when I think of my good friend. He was a good person, and yes he was a JW for the last few years of his life.

But regardless I must disagree with you here. JW's aren't bad people, we just live in fear everyday. I can finally admit that to myself, and now I can see it the eyes of others when they are having problems. We are terrified of "getting in trouble". "What will people think of me?", "What if I stumble someone?", "What if I die at Armageddon?" They shun people because if they dont they lose "everything".

I have shunned people in the past and I never felt good about it, (I dont any longer) and yes I make mistakes but I am a good person. We just want to be "good servants of Jehovah" and this is how we/they have been taught to do so. Even now, knowing what I know, I struggle to change my thinking.

If they werent good people, they never would have been searching for "the truth" (even if they didnt actually find it)

16

Jehovah Witness confusing doctrine about abstaining from blood

by Blindbutnowisee in

why do jehovah witnesses say they abstain from using blood when they are now allowing their members to use certain blood fractions.

the answer i always get "if their concious allows them its ok it not for us to judge".

if that is the case, whole blood should also be allowed if their concious allows them to.

still_in74

the erosion of this insensible doctrine will continue.
Don't be surprised if one day it is entirely a matter of personal conscience.

Terry, I am still in and have not filled out my new blod form. This issue is actually the beginning of my present "self examination".

Below is a portion of a long winded PM I sent a kind elder on JWD that has given me much needed support........

I have found lately that the more I meditate on the new view on blood the more this bothers me. No one can say that this is new light, "for with evil things Jehovah cannot be tried". Jehovah could never "withhold" an understanding on something that could/would mean the wasted deaths of his true servants and the pain for the families that goes with it. We all know the GB vote on these things and this issue no doubt has been debated for years. If the majority on the GB did not feel that this new view on fractions was not scripturally sound it would not be a "conscience" decision. But if this view is now considered scriptural then the previous understanding is therefore "unscriptural". Is this unscriptural view on blood Jehovahs fault? Of course not!

Unfortunately all of this had created in me a very "fleshly" view of the society. The entire blood issue, from its inception is "fleshly" reasoning. How could the WTS reason for decades that blood is wrong as it is to be "poured out on the ground" and not used for any other purpose, then to say that the fractions in the blood arent really blood so they are ok? Has the blood still not been "poured out"? Has it still not been used for another purpose?Has this not nullified the society's reasoning behind the entire blood issue to begin with? Or is this just the beginning? The history of the WTS shows time and again that this is how they broach change, slowly over years. 5-10 years from now blood transfusions will be a conscience decision. You watch. But how many more people will die? Who is responsible for them? Jehovah or the WTS? And why would it even be a conscience decision? If it werent for the WTS telling us for for decades that blood is wrong it wouldnt bother anyones conscience. If/when it is scripturally a conscience decision how many will choose not to "sin against their conscience" solely because the WTS has created in them such dissonance?
Considering how the GB works we can be certain that if the majority believe that fractions are ok then there are without fail some who believe the entire use of blood to be a conscience decision also. It is only a matter of time.

Long story short, I completely agree with you.........

17

Has anything changed with JW's?

by aniron in

there seems to be now a lot of reports of jw's actually speaking to those of us who have left.

even to df'd and da'd ones.

i had a mail today from da'd jw saying he was in pc world when he saw a jw from his old congregation one who had ignored him times before.

still_in74

Or are individual JW's thinking "I'm going to wave, talk to that person. Whether its wrong or not."

thats all it is. I have always been unable to completely avoid any interaction, whether it be a nod and a smile, a wave, or a brief trivial greeting.

A few months ago a DF'd person recognized me (i am "still in" remember) and he started talking to me. I chatted with him for a few minutes. No big deal. Some are a little more/less orthodox than others when it comes to this.

still_in74

Posts by still_in74