please excuse the ambiguity of this email, i am confused and unsure of my feelings about my family and have not seen them in a while now.
my mum has tried to organise a visit but i have avoided going to see my family.
i have seen my sister but the last time i saw her there was quite alot of upset (if you see my last family related post!
This is where the JW teachings come back to bite the parents on the ass. We were raised to believe that family bonds are irrelevant. Our REAL family is the people who happen to agree with us.
Maybe being away from your family is the right thing for you. But be sure that it's not just an extension of the above false teaching.
but check out the picture ... does this look like a couple in love to you?
.
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20061015/article_01.htm.
(don't be offended I called you a filthy whore, I actually thought you were a man. Men don't mind being whores I think)
but check out the picture ... does this look like a couple in love to you?
.
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20061015/article_01.htm.
She's sitting so far away from him
Of course she is FFM you filthy whore! They're NOT married YET! They should always remain more than arms lenght apart so that one doesn't accidentally touch the other's naughty bits.
The thing that offends me is that there doesn't appear to be a chaperone present. If it wasn't for yer mans BO and aweful shirt, they'd definitly be fornicating.
first a bit of background (in case you are not familiar with my family history)... my mom is 68, my dad is 63. they run their own small business which involves my dad travelling all over the country and my mom running the office.
my dad is an insulin dependant diabetic and my mom suffers from chronic high blood pressure.
my only sibling is a sister who is 27 and lives in bethal.she is a housekeeper and her husband repairs the shoes there.. today i call my mom to say hi... the conversation goes something like this..... me: so when are you going back to work mom?.
That sucks Princess. You know your sister won't do anything to support them - that would get in the way of her own ministry - they can't move in with her at bethel. So that means you're stuck with 'em. Dang. What can you do??
in post-jw life, it seems to me that acceptance of this basic fact of life, the reality that we will die, is a healthy thing to do.
yet, i believe that most jw's cling to a hope that armageddon will spare them death, even when they see death at the doors.
they have never prepared themselves for the reality, and when it becomes inevitable, the pain of that realization must be intense for some of them.
Hortensia make a great point. It IS a 2 step thing to get over. 1) We WILL die and 2) Theres nothing else.
I've never believed the end would come in my lifetime, so I've always accepted #1. But only recently I've had to face #2. My wife really has a problem with this. She does accept #1. Her father died over 10 years ago, but she's never really mourned him properly, because she's haning onto the hope of #2 and that she'll see him again. Even though he wasn't a witness, and according to the WTS he won't be coming back - she hopes that the GB might have got this one wrong.
I don't know if it's intentional, but these beilefs make us devalue our current lives. They're only a few years full of nothing meaningfull, the good stuff is all to come in the future. So we never get any enjoyment out of life. I'm 37 and freaking out because of all of the time I've wasted in my life. I can't imaging coming to this realization at 60+. The other thing is that we never mourned our lossed loved ones. They're only sleeping. Lucky actually - they don't have to see the great tribulation. Only a few more months and we'll be reunited. I guess mourners aren't good salespeople on the ministry.
anyone want to help me put together this guide?
i think in the goal of "serving united" we need to have consistent standards.
you know what i'm talking about - when a "friend" of a faithful witness expresses some "weakness" the strong friend will punish the weak one.
Wow Coco. I never heard of THAT one before! I didn't know you had to get medical certs to prove illnesss.
anyone want to help me put together this guide?
i think in the goal of "serving united" we need to have consistent standards.
you know what i'm talking about - when a "friend" of a faithful witness expresses some "weakness" the strong friend will punish the weak one.
OK - maybe extreme sickness should be punishable with a one-level smack down.
PO -> Lowly elder
Elder -> Min Servant
Min Serv -> Publisher
Publisher -> Wordly Scum
Wordly Scum -> Shunned Wordly Scum
anyone want to help me put together this guide?
i think in the goal of "serving united" we need to have consistent standards.
you know what i'm talking about - when a "friend" of a faithful witness expresses some "weakness" the strong friend will punish the weak one.
jgnat -- "You missed a great talk." period.
Ha, sorry. Correction accepted.
Just a couple weeks ago someone did say that to me something like - "You missed a very upbuilding talk". I said - "Oh darn. What was it about?". (blank stare)
anyone want to help me put together this guide?
i think in the goal of "serving united" we need to have consistent standards.
you know what i'm talking about - when a "friend" of a faithful witness expresses some "weakness" the strong friend will punish the weak one.
I'm a fader and have been experiencing some of this punishing by my very close friends since missing most meetings and no field service.
This WILL be the first memorial I miss (not that I'll MISS it). I wonder what the punishment actaully will be. Shunned until the next memorial?
i'm sure this has been discussed in length, but i'm a newbie :).
one item that really shocked me, back when i believed this was 'the truth' was the lack of response to the 9/11 attacks.
as all of us, we were really shocked and really were looking for comfort at the meeting (school/service meeting).
I remember the "ghost stories" being emailed around like this --
"Brother ____ who was working part time at the towers was having a rough time getting started that day and was running late for work. This was the first time he'd ever been late. Well because of this - his life was saved. We can clearly see the hand of Jehovah working to protect his beloved sheep."
Sickening.
