Posts by Flowerpetal

52

Your Top Ten Books

by GinnyTosken in

jw
friends

i love the book lists on amazon; i get lost in them for hours.

recently someone asked me for book recommendations, and i thought it would be fun if we shared our lists of top ten books that helped us think our way out of the jw dogma.

im putting aside the obvious ones, like crisis of conscience and apocalypse delayed.. heres my list, in the order i discovered them as best i can recall.. ginny.

Flowerpetal

I forgot to mention that I also read "The Way Things Oughta Be" by and "See, I Told You So" by Rush Limbaugh. Also most books by John Grisham, The Partner, being the best, IMHO among his.

I have read the Dune trilogy plus the fourth book in that series; most all of Marian-Zimmer Bradley's books about a planet called Darkover, The Autobiography of Malcom X and many, many more books over the years since 7th and 8th grade, when it was that my English teacher for both years, encouraged reading 4 or 5 books a month. In fact she required it.

52

Your Top Ten Books

by GinnyTosken in

jw
friends

i love the book lists on amazon; i get lost in them for hours.

recently someone asked me for book recommendations, and i thought it would be fun if we shared our lists of top ten books that helped us think our way out of the jw dogma.

im putting aside the obvious ones, like crisis of conscience and apocalypse delayed.. heres my list, in the order i discovered them as best i can recall.. ginny.

Flowerpetal

Comf, you said:

For the great joy they gave my kids, and the delight I took in reading and acting out the stories for them:
1. Fox in Socks - Dr. Seuss
2. Ten Apples Up On Top - Unknown
3. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb - Unknown
4. Go, Dog, Go - Unknown

I read those books to my kids too, as well as other Dr. Seuss books. I especially like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Also there was a great book by Richard Scarrey about manners and politeness. Lowly the worm, was one of the characters in it that I especially liked.

13

Allow me to introduce myself...

by MuzicmanCa in

i am a new face to this website, although i have poked around in it for some time.

i was born and raised as a witness starting in brooklyn, new york in 1973. i was disfellowshipped on my 26th birthday, november 20th, 1999. i am not one of those that feels bitter about it.

i know full well that the jw's have a code of morals and behavior that quite honestsly, i did not live up to.

Flowerpetal

Hello Muzicman! I enjoyed your post. I am a JW but I never thought of the WTS as the "truth" as some think of it. I believe as far as the basic doctrines of the Bible, they have the correct understanding. Those doctrines being no immortality of the soul; no hellfire and no trinity. I have been a JW for a long time and have always thought of being "in the truth" as meaning that we have the truth about what the Bible teaches, (although there are many Bible verses, in doing research) that the society doesn't comment on or emphasizes the wrong point, IMHO, but in my chats with people of other faiths, I find the same thing with them.

The the encouragements by the society to draw closer to God, and get in a personal relationship with him, are the things I have tried to follow. The encouragement to be balanced and moderate in habits were also things that make sense, and because of that I don't have to stay away from foods I enjoy because they are "fattening" or will give you cholestoral problems, etc., etc. Alcohol is also something I enjoy and haven't abused, so I can enjoy a drink once in a while, without becoming dependent on it. I find myself relying more and more on things Jesus said.

I think there is a little battle going on, and a friend of mine, has pointed this out to me as well,in certain departments in Bethel, and it comes out in WT study articles. For a while, you might see a series of articles about Jesus, and the great sacrifice he made, and that he is our Lord, etc. etc. Then a month or so later, you'll see some articles about the organization: don't forget about it, serve with it, etc. etc. I truly hope that the winning side will be the side that emphasizes Jesus; We, as a whole, don't give him enough credit in God's purpose.

34

belly up to the bar, guys and gals

by unanswered in

jw
friends

with all the confrontation/negativity on the board these last few weeks, maybe we all need to sit back and have a drink, or a cup of tea or coffee, if alcohol's not for you.. seriously, i'm not trying to pretend that i haven't gotten caught up in the negativity at times, or trivialize important issues/feelings, but things haven't been as fun, lately.

i've noticed a change even in the short time i've been posting.

i didn't start this topic to point fingers or to act like my opinion is somehow special, but wouldn't it be nice for all of us to see an increase in civility?.

Flowerpetal

I'll take a Bloody Mary and say that I think debate and discussion is very good -- as long as you attack the issues and not the person.

Show respect for the other person's side of the debate, and if you get hot with anger and have a knee-jerk reaction because of what somebody said and can't wait to get you hands on the keyboard, why not first type your anger in a word processer, off-line, and read it before you decide to send it. (cooling off period)

38

3 Gods Equal 1 God?

by 7robert7 in

jw
friends

as i sat back thinking of some of the discussions i've had with witnesses over the years, one always stands out.

the issue of the trinity teaching, whereby father(jehovah), son(jesus), and holy spirit when combined equal one god.

a witness friend from work once said that it was an impossability, and was beyond human understanding.. i asked him what he thought we believed about the trinity, to which he responded with a math lesson.. 1 jehovah god + 1 jesus god + 1 holy spirit god = 3 gods, he went on to state that 1 + 1 + 1 can never equal 1 god, it always equals 3. to which i added a little math lesson i learned as a child.. 1 jehovah god x 1 jesus god x 1 holy spirit god can equal 1 almighty god.

Flowerpetal

1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 x 1 = 1 as well.

16

Greetings from the Newbie

by Yerusalyim in

jw
friends

greetings one and all, many of you will know me from rick's board, for those of you who don't here's a bit about me.

my association with the society is through my wife.

when we married she was an inactive memeber (she had disassociated herself over guilt from her divorce), after marrying me, she became active again and was reinstated.

Flowerpetal

Yeru,Zazu, and RHW,
OK I see what you all mean now. Something I knew one could do, I just never thought of it as giving legitimacy to the society.

16

Greetings from the Newbie

by Yerusalyim in

jw
friends

greetings one and all, many of you will know me from rick's board, for those of you who don't here's a bit about me.

my association with the society is through my wife.

when we married she was an inactive memeber (she had disassociated herself over guilt from her divorce), after marrying me, she became active again and was reinstated.

Flowerpetal

Welcome Yerusalyim!

The one statement you made about you hoping your wife doesn't officially disassociate herself because it would acknowledge that the society still has a hold on her. That is an interesting thought and one I don't believe I have heard before. Can you elaborate?

26

THANKS TO MY PARENTS AND JEHOVAH!

by militarywitness in

jw
friends

wishing every single human being around the world, happiness, peace; physical, mental, and emotional health, and above all: love.

i'm a twenty something years old male, born and raised in the organization.

i disassociated myself a few years ago due to my disbelief regarding many things in the bible.

Flowerpetal

Englishman, you said:

Indeed, why not have more than 4 wives? The answer is, of course, that it would be totally impossible to keep up with them, as women, unlike us chaps, are able to think of more than one thing at once.

My hubby brags that he can read and watch TV at the same time and still know what's going on in whatever prog he is watching. Funny though, I believe he just says that, because when I ask him what somebody just said on TV, he says "I wasn't listening," because his head is buried in a book! LOL

12

What About C.O.'s?

by metatron in

jw
friends

this is a part of the sociological puzzle that's worth.

what motivates these guys to hang on?.

's i've encountered in the past ten years are.

Flowerpetal

I have also noted that a lot of CO's wives get sick. The one we have now, his wife is the exception, but either of them can eat certain things. In a few months, it will be their last visit with us, and he is supposed to be going to a school for CO's. They didn't mind eating at the KH and wanted as many to come to the meal as could.

The last CO we had, had this thing about eating at someone's house who had pets. Well since the majority of people in my cong has pets, They never at at anybody's house. A group of us would take them out to eat. But guess what?? He's out of the circuit work now--I think he was getting burned out---they have a dog now! LOL

The one CO whom I thought was one of the best we had years ago, he and his wife wanted their meals at the KH as well. Our KH has an apartment attached for the CO and his wife.

20

New Lurker

by YoungerTom in

jw
friends

i'm new around here please be kind to me.

i have been lurking for a while and finally figured out how to post.. my question to you is.

is jesus the mediator for everybody or just the annointed?.

Flowerpetal

Hi Farkel, what I was asking is that Adam and Eve were both new. Neither one of them knew what sin was. Perhaps CTR's teaching on the ransom, reaches as far back as Adam and includes him as well as Eve.