jw children miss out on so much.
i was raised as a jw and there were so many school activities that i wanted to participate in but was not allowed.
i remember my gym teacher encouraging me to go out for soccer, i asked my parents if i could and of course i knew the answer would be no even before i asked.
When I was a senior in 1965, I went to my senior prom and went with a witness boy. Another witness couple double dated with us. So I didn't miss out on that.
When my daughter was 3 in 1980, I enrolled her in dancing school and she stayed with it until 14 or 15 when high school cirrculum was getting a bit rough so she quit dancing, but it was her own decision.
just a few thoughts on the paradise earth doctrine since this is always the issue when a jw appears:
the scripture most jws use when on service is matt 5:5 "blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth"...
i have seldom met a jw who applies this scripture to the anointed!
Brummie, you said>>What should disturb every JW (though it seldomm does!) is that the society suggested this New Light may have been communicated to them by resurrected spirits of the dead! While the governing body had no problem with this, the Bible condemns it!
The Revelation book commenting on Rev.7:13-14. States:
“Yes, that elder could locate the answer and give it to John, this suggests that the resurrected ones of the 24 elders group maybe involved in the communicating of divine TRUTHS today” (page 125.) Is this not communicating with the dead! or put another way ‘receiving messages from the spirit world’?
No not to me---even though I don't agree with what the Revelation book says here, it does say that one of the 24 elders group IS resurrected. If that person is resurrected, and is in heaven, that person isn't dead anymore! So it's not communicating with the dead.
seems that the page view out number the posters who actually reply to the thread.. my guess is that there's alot of active jws who are still active within' the so called "truth" are visiting this forum and reading all the threads.
i don't blame them for not wanting to reply for fear of being found out.. how many of you were still active when you found a forum like this one and lurked around for a long time?
how many of you left the organization as a result of reading this forum or other forums like it?.
I joined this forum in April of 2001. I'm here infrequently and still an active JW and like to read the other side of the coin. It's hard to believe (not that I don't) that so many of you have had bad experiences with elders or the congregations you were in...and for that I feel sorry that you had these experiences. It is not the norm. I don't know what I would have done if I were in your shoes, but I think I would have tried very hard to find a congregation that treated people better than the congs you were in before you left completely. But I haven't walked in your shoes.
I've read Ray Franz' book, Crisis of Conscience, but have also read other books as well. To me it all comes down to whether or not a person believes and puts faith in the Creator. Application of the scriptures, especially those in the Greek Scriptures, are all interpretations of man, and I think we all have to travel through them somehow in our own way, and take the apostle Paul's advice, to become a mature, spritually full-grown man, so that we can each have a good conscience towards God and not judge others. I pray that the GB are working towards that end..and maybe they are. One of my friends compares the old ones who are dying off, to those who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Maybe he's right.
you have been following the news for weeks on iraq and wonder, "when will we attack and get this thing done?
" finally we invade and the war is in full swing.
the economy, which has been struggling for months now, finally caves in and major retailers fold as of the results of an extremely poor holiday shopping season.
I don't see the point in running back to the KH or the org if you have left it. To me, in the final analysis, it all comes down to you and Jehovah. All of us have to answer to Him and there isn't going to be any GB there or elders to put their 2 cents in because they will have to answer as well. So I guess we would all be in the same boat.
november 15, 2002 wt page 9. christians need one another.
ephesians 4:25: "we are members belonging to one another.".
introduction.
<P><STRONG>Blondie>>Flowerpetal</STRONG>, is this an example of a comment we won't hear at the WT study? <DIV class=quote>I wonder if any of you know that JW Chat is closed and the Online Friends in California is shut down.</DIV> <P>Blondie<IMG class=smilie src=" ">(what's JW Chat and Online Friends)</P> <P><FONT face=VERDANA>FP>>From Beans' link: ( which was in this thread)</FONT></P> <P><A href=" http://Quotes.JehovahsWitnesses.com" target=_new> http://Quotes.JehovahsWitnesses.com;I went there and read some quotes, and then I cliked on his last paragraph that said "be on your way" and saw those other links.
"></FONT></P>
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over the past few months i've found it hard not to feel anger and bitterness at wasting my youth on the watchtower , all the things i didn't do that i wanted to and will never be able to, at least not in the same way.. learning my father is dying of cancer has not helped, i feel his life was wasted in the truth, he was only tring to do what he thought was right.i think of my parents as a young couple just married in 1972, and reciveing a call from two young witnesses of a similar age.they must have believed they had found something special that they could give to their children.. sometimes i wish these things had not happened.. and yet would my life had been better if they hadn't?.
would my parents still have been together after 30 years, what would my childhood have been like if my dad had not learned to control his temper?being a natural rebelious idividual how would i have turned out, knowing how most of my friends from school turned out?would i have developed the qualities that i now value without by upbringing?not worring about being different anymore?would the paths i could have gone down been any better?i would certainly have not met my wife, and the experiences i have enjoyed as a result,my desire to now push myself and accomplish something great in my life may not have developed so strongly, the desire that may possible move me to success.. the irony is that being brough up a witness has shaped my personallity, determined the people i have met and those i have avoided, maybe my life would not have been so could if those witnesses had never called on my parents.
Hi Sleepy!
I think about these things as you do. I was raised as a witness (and still am) as my mom became one in 1941 from Roman Catholicism. My father was an "inactive" Catholic who really never opposed my mom. If she hadn't become a witness, I suppose I'd be the type of Catholic my cousins are.....as I have plenty of them and they would probabaly have been who I would have associated with, and are not the "good" kind. It's very true that because of the people we encounter during our lives, or situations, we make decisions based on those things. I often think what career path I would be on now, if I had chosen (in vocational school in the '60's) one subject of study over another.
Well a lot has passed since then...I am married, with two children---a girl 24 and a boy 17. The girl finished college and the boy will be going after he graduates next year.
However where I'm at now, I guess you could say is a spiritual journey. I have always read fiction books throughout my life, but now I'm interested in non-fiction stuff. Right now I'm reading a book on spiritual warfare, which is written by a trinitarian....very good stuff. Being on a JW message board on AOL, I also get to read what others who are of other religions believe. But I also want to read books on other subjects such as Why We Go to War, The New Thought Police, and one which is claimed to be an easy read on economics. I feel my eyes have been opened in many ways, yet I am not quite ready to give up on the people at the WTB&TS. If I take the view that they are just imperfect men, just giving opinions about the scriptures, then I am OK...because every other kind of "spiritual leader/s" do the same thing. I put all my trust and faith in God FIRST anyway. I try to live a life that I think he would approve of, so in that vein, I don't feel I have anything to fear for the future. And it seems my mantra as of late is that none of us know, even the GB, what is going to happen in the future--and we all may be in for surprises----whether we are JW, orthodox Christians, or whatever.....
Well that's my 2 cents.....
november 15, 2002 wt page 9. christians need one another.
ephesians 4:25: "we are members belonging to one another.".
introduction.
I wonder if any of you know that JW Chat is closed and the Online Friends in California is shut down.
i have been pondering the whys of jws who regularly, and not-so regularly post to the board.
the possibility then struck me that maybe they are assigned--have special dispensation--to associate here in order to retrieve any "misguided" or "lost" sheep and bring them back into their fold.
or are they, thenselves, on the edge, wanting the freedom we now have?
Hi Witchywoman! Know what else is funny...my very good athiest friend has a screen name similar to yours!
Anyway thanks to you and all who made me feel welcome. I'll stick around for as long as I can.
i have been pondering the whys of jws who regularly, and not-so regularly post to the board.
the possibility then struck me that maybe they are assigned--have special dispensation--to associate here in order to retrieve any "misguided" or "lost" sheep and bring them back into their fold.
or are they, thenselves, on the edge, wanting the freedom we now have?
dmouse, I understand. As an athiest once told me, "we all have our bite marks--but we heal and move on."
i have been pondering the whys of jws who regularly, and not-so regularly post to the board.
the possibility then struck me that maybe they are assigned--have special dispensation--to associate here in order to retrieve any "misguided" or "lost" sheep and bring them back into their fold.
or are they, thenselves, on the edge, wanting the freedom we now have?
SYN, I liked your post and your sense of humor. OK so maybe in your book I am an X-JW. I have no qualms about that.
My motivation to stay associated with the society? Honestly, I don't know. I know that many things have been hidden that I didn't know about--like their membership with the UN, and their still holding stock with the Rand(?) Corporation. Maybe I am hoping things get better--and I do see a softer attitude toward their view of people in the world. One thing I do know, is that the messages I received from their articles, was to develop a personal relationship with Jehovah, which I have done. Which means if the society is ever dissolved for whatever reason, I will still have HIM. Others who are organizational type JWs will run around like chickens with their heads cut off, not knowing what to do, but I believe those who rely on God more, will be better off.I do speculate about where God is or his son...especially the verses in the Bible which speak of Christ's return. Where did he go that it is called his return? Those are questions I don't have answers for but I still have faith that something will be done to make this earth a better place to live in the future. I have faith, but I sometimes don't understand how long God expects us to continue with it. And I have questions about when will he decide it's His due time to do something. I am sorry about Farkel but I know of some JW men who went to prison too rather than serve in a hospital. Their attitude is not one of Farkels, but men can do some strange and horrible things in the name of religion.
Maybe God and his Son are not in this part of the universe at all, thus the "return" might be when they come back and see how things progressed or not progressed on this earth. I think about that often.
