Fine thoughts Terry.
Cheers
first off, if you are in a safe place inside your head, merry christmas.
i was fortunate to have had childhood christmases in my home growing up.
many born-ins are probably never going to know what they missed.. also.... i am thinking about all the nice, friendly, happy things i've given up for jehovah and it saddens me.
Fine thoughts Terry.
Cheers
my parents joined when i was born and left when i became an adult.
they're very controlling people.
i recommend the book 'if you had controlling parents' because i think people raised as jws will relate to it.
Sadly no but I have seen a few peope become JWs when they have young children and I think there can be a couple of things at work:
at one time most of us here identified as jws who follow the wbts gb/fds who claim to follow the bible etc.
some of us are journeying to a new identity, others may feel they already have a new identity.. although we likely have gone in many different directions, we share a common past which only ex-members can really understand and explain.
please could we each respectfully share and celebrate our unique perspectives of where we have come from, and where we each are now at on this journey?.
Old identity - I probaby appeared cold and aloof to a lot of 'worldy' peope, despite the fact that my natural personality is outgoing. I knew something was amiss in my life but couldn't put my finger on what it was <<<<like Truman. I felt frustrated and isolated from my fellow man.
New identity - I am much more interested in peope and my community. I think I was frightened of getting close to peope before because I knew that the JW awkwardness would become an issue at some point; it was easier just to fling a barrier up from the start.
happy festivus and as always............. be careful during the feats of strength!!!!!!!
!.
Before anyone asks:
i just got my offical grades from my school.
for the first time ever in my life i earned a 4.0 gpa for this last semester.
i made the dean's list again for the fall 2011 semester.
Well done.
1. motorcycle.
2. new septic tank.
3. cemetary plot with stone.
A deluxe bible.
regarding what some have said here about the wt being a false prophet.. i would like to make my point regarding the wt not being a false prophet... so please, if you can be patient enough to read this, at least try to understand what i am getting at.. a false prophet is one who, according to deuteronomy, makes a false prediction of the future and claims that the prediction came from god, or in other words claiming that 'god has said he will do a certain thing at a certain time' etc.. for example, hypothetically speaking, if someone had claimed: "god will bring about the end of the world in 2010", they would have been proven to be a false prophet, obviously.
but, as an example, imagine a man who claimed the position of a prophet of god, (as moses did, because although he was not the type of prophet that predicted the future.. he was still a prophet or spokesman for god) and that he had publicised worldwide, according to his interpretation of a (for example) prophecy found in the book of isaiah, that the world would end in 2010.. and he had also stated that he was not saying that god will end the world in that year.. but only that there was biblical evidence that god might do so.
that would clearly have been a mistake.
my all time favorite is "blackadder's a christmas carol".
The Two Ronnies and Only Fools and Horses. Cue anyone not in the UK going 'huh?'
the 2012 yearbook has released the publisher statistics for the 2011 service year.
a scan of the report can be found at http://www.jwfacts.com/images/2011-publisher-report.pdf and i have started updating the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.
as expected, it is following on from similar trends to the last 15 years.
I heard there's precisely 0 genuine governing body members left.
how wonderful it was... i saw two women over the road knocking on doors .
i could see they were jws...i prayed & asked they would call here... but no!!!!
the lord sent two men!!!!elders!!!!
Nice work Grace. x