vivalavida

Joined

• started 9 topics
• posted 228 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by vivalavida

• 
  127

  PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

  the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

  the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  Voted!
  
• 
  49

  Repeal of Internet Neutrality. How will it affect surfers?

  by Fisherman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  today the fcc voted against internet neutrality..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  Even though I am not really directly affected by this, I found this article's point of view interesting and illuminating.

  "Good bye net neutrality, hello competition"

  Vivalavida
  
• 
  15

  Attractive Sisters: what are you lurkers thinking right now?

  by pomo6780 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  dear lurkers, you won't be disappointed by this topic.

  when i was in the org, there was a strict dress code.

  no woman was attractive, and when i was a young witness child i was conditioned to believe every woman in the world must be ugly.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  I have to laugh... obviously you never went to some of my Spanish congregations! Lol... the question is a Spanish congregation WHERE?

  I started and spent all my JW life in Spanish congregations in many different countries and of many different social and economical levels. Many in Latin America (Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico), several in NYC and a couple here in Germany. And in my opinion, it is not necessarily the attractiveness but more the ability to present themselves in an attractive way.

  But I must say that there were a complete range, going from amazingly beautiful to ugly as !"$!.

  In fact, when new galaadites were assigned to our territory and they happened to be females and young, we found them attractive. I guess we felt attracted to the fact that they were different which, probably is what happens for Americans visiting Spanish congregations in the US.
  

  Just my 2 cents!

  Vivalavida
  
• 
  6

  How do cultural norms impact Witnesses throughout the world?

  by optimisticskeptic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  an easy example is beards.

  i hear they're not unusual in places like europe, even on appointed brothers.

  it also seems like they're becoming more accepted in more liberal parts of the states.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  SlimboyFat no, you did not make that up. I live in Germany and was once visiting the parents of a friend in the area of Saarland and was invited by a couple of elders and MS to go to the sauna. The last thing I expected was a mixed sauna complex with bar, 5 saunas, heated swimming pools etc. etc. and everybody running naked all over the place.

  In the same congregation in Saarbruecken, the WT conductor sported a full beard.

  Believe me, on that trip I went from surprise to SURPRISE very fast!

  Vivalavida
  
• 
  58

  Non JW wife/JW husband Christmas tree debate

  by spacegirl443 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first post here and looking for advice and help.

  sorry in advance for it being so long :(.

  i'm a happily married woman (no kids) who is a non-jw, presbyterian to be precise.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  Spacegirl,

  You are welcome, glad I could be of help.
• 
  12

  He killed them because they expelled him from the Jehovah's Witnesses - Canal de Noticia (Venezuela), Nov 28, 2017 - Two JWs found murdered

  by darkspilver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this tragic story has been developing over the last couple of days in venezuela.

  there is a mixture of reports and accounts coming in..... two jehovah's witnesses (and fleshly sisters) aged 71 and 65, where found murdered.

  a 26 year male suspect has been arrested.. in the apartment where the two where found dead, the words "death to witnesses" (“muerte a los testigos”) had been scrawled onto one of the walls.. he killed them because they expelled him from the jehovah's witnesses - canal de noticia, nov 28, 2017. .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  The articles linked in reddit do say that the sisters expelled him. Obviously the journalists have no clue how things work in JW world. In other articles though, the explanation is definitely clearer. They do imply some type of revenge because the sisters as well as the perpetrator, a music teacher, were JWs. Whereby he was recently expelled.

  It is obvious that he is the murdered because they captured him in his house where they found a computer that belonged to the sisters, dresses with blood of the sisters and the marker he used to write "Muerte a los testigos" (Death to the witnesses) in the victims' apartment.

  A tragic situation.

  Vivalavida
  
• 
  58

  Non JW wife/JW husband Christmas tree debate

  by spacegirl443 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first post here and looking for advice and help.

  sorry in advance for it being so long :(.

  i'm a happily married woman (no kids) who is a non-jw, presbyterian to be precise.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  Testing the links, they seem not to work directly. If they don't, go to this link:

  http://jw-wayback.org/static1/bibliotheque

  and navigate from there to "English" then "Magazines" and from there pick "Awake" or "The Watchtower" and go from there. The pages on the respective PDFs are on my previous post.

  I hope it helps.

  Vivalavida
  
  
• 
  58

  Non JW wife/JW husband Christmas tree debate

  by spacegirl443 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first post here and looking for advice and help.

  sorry in advance for it being so long :(.

  i'm a happily married woman (no kids) who is a non-jw, presbyterian to be precise.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  Hi Spacegirl,

  Welcome to the forum!

  I have read the whole thread with lots of interest. I believe all the ideas and tips from the others here are on spot. I definitely hope that it all works out for you and your JW husband. I am of the opinion that if you manage to work out all the quirks and problems caused by one of you being a JW and you love each other, you should stay together.
  

  I just wanted to share an interesting link with you about an article I recently read. I think the more you know and the more arguments you have, the better. Not that he will accept them, but information never hurts in my opinion.
  

  Here is the article: "The Myth of the Pagan Origin of Christmas".
  

  Having said that, I do agree with the others that it has much more weight to use their own literature, as in the already mentioned article from the 1960 Watchtower which, by the way, you can read in its totality online HERE, just go to page 736.

  The other article from the Awake of July 2009: "Is it wrong to change your religion" can also be read online, just go to page 220 on that PDF.

  I definitely believe those two articles are your best bet.

  Just my two cents.

  Vivalavida
  
• 
  3

  Need to know the source of a piece of information

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am translating the article of the "last days" in jwfacts.. there is a statement i cannot verify.. between 310 and 312 a.d. plague killed up to 99% of people in the northwestern provinces of china.. it seems to have come from the following book:.

  end time visions: the road to armageddon.i cannot read that book, it seems to be on scribd, but i can´t download it.. https://www.scribd.com/document/287995996/armageddon.

  could someone find that piece of information in the book and let me know in what source i can confirm the information?i cannot find anywhere that states such a thing....

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  Page 274 on that Armageddon book (which is page 280 on the PDF file)

  
  
• 
  44

  A WTF Moment While In the WTS

  by Searching in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  has anyone else had a moment, while still within the organization (and before learning ttatt) that caused them to stop and go, "this is kind of messed up.".

  for instance, back i believe in the early 2000's, i was attending a dc with my family.

  it was announced at the beginning of the convention that there was going to be a special announcement at the end, so for everyone to please try to remain until the very end of the meeting.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  vivalavida

  For me, it was this in "Our Kindom Ministry" from September 2007 (wow over ten years already). It made me wonder what were they trying to hide and resulted in me giving myself permission to do some research and, as they say, everything after that is history.

  

  Vivalavida.