as those of you who are aware of debi and i, we've had some serious problems.. today, i found out, "i" was the problem.
the book "obsessive love" by dr. susan forward, bantam books.
unfortunatly, this book describes me almost to a tee.
The author of "Co-Dependent No More" is Melody Beattie. The book is out of print. Some copies are available online at Barnes and Noble. Follow this link: http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/OopBooks/OopResults.asp?userid=18X4G51LDS&mscssid=R09P4R21V0AB8LQ9W0D7EXL2JMP07E8F&keyword=Co%2DDependent+No+More
Best wishes
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
latest wt (questions often pretended to be from readers).
lets you pray for df'd people in private.
wow, this.
Lauralisa,
It would be difficult to find such a scripture. The way DF'ing is carried out (shunning to the extreme) in WT-land is not clearly supported by scripture.
So it amounts to a man-made rule regarding a man-made situation.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
latest wt (questions often pretended to be from readers).
lets you pray for df'd people in private.
wow, this.
This reminds me of a Kingdom song they sing, "Be Forgiving".
It starts out:
True forgiveness is a virtue
That we all should cultivate
It will keep us from resentment,
From the bitterness of hate.
These are mere words they sing.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
this observation came to mind in a related thread on cultural changes in the jw community over the years, as the organization evovles from a feisty, intensely radical, militant band of `theocratic warriors'' to a more maintream religion.. as the passage of time has eroded almost all of the plausibilty in the chronological component of their message (remember how big a part of our preaching was ``doing the 1914 drill'' -- you know: 2,520 minus 607, plus no zero year = 1914; ask yourselves how few modern and younger jws can do this by rote nowadays), teh focus has shifte to ``ain't we the greatest?
almost every wt issue runs articles featurng sanitized, idealized, versions of aspects of their modern history.
jws in the concentration camps, the atlanta penitenitary for rutherford and his gang, praise from public officials for jw comportment at assemblies, quick-build kingdom halls, disaster relief for their own kind, lifestyle makeovers, the experiences of oldtimers who unapologetically squandered a lifetime living in nomadic, vagabond poverty out of a suitcase or shuttered away in bethel or a missionary home, etc., ad ininitum, ad nauseum.
Room 215,
This is a real good point you bring up. Idolatrous reverence for the organization has replaced anything resembling pure Christianity. It's "my religion, right or wrong", blindly defending it in the face of incalculable harm and innumerable scandals (up to and including harboring of child molestors and going to bed with the UN organization.) It must truly disgust the God that they claim to worship.
I've been told "you turned your back on Jehovah". To them, Jehovah means the sum total of the earthly organization + Jehovah + the heavenly angels, I guess. Strange definition, but it's how they choose to accuse.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
latest wt (questions often pretended to be from readers).
lets you pray for df'd people in private.
wow, this.
Metatron,
Are these prayers for ANYONE disfellowshipped, or for those who are deemed to be taking steps proving their repentance? How broad was the statement allowing such prayer? (I ask, because I wonder if my JW relatives will be praying for me even though I am not taking any such steps toward reinstatement.)
Thanks. (& thanks for the post, "Questions TO readers"...)
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
here's another fun quiz from emode.... .
http://www.emode.com/emode/tests/aura.jsp.
we don't need a psychic to tell us that you're giving off a gold vibe.
Agreeing with Not Interested....We need to meet at "a smokey bar" again.
Jason: good to see you out here!!
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
claiming that its adherents are the true christian followers of jesus, the watchtower of november 1, 2001 illutrates how "christians today make good use of jehovah's long-suffering".(p12).
three pictures are shown:.
1. cheery well-dressed older man volunteering a comment at a kingdom hall meeting.. 2. mother and father leading a family (bible) study with their three sons.. 3. young woman and female companion at the door of a stranger offering the "purpose" brochure.. and there you have it.
Jesus said (Matthew 11:28-30) that people would be drawn to him because they are loaded down, but his load was light and refreshing.
How different are the experiences of some who try to measure up to the Pharisaical rules and expectations of the WT Society. As in your example,
One man I knew stopped his studies with me and stopped attending the Kingdom Hall because he felt that he could never measure up. He heard the comments at the meetings and saw the illustrations and realised that his family was not like that, and so he felt inadequate and inferior. He gave up.It's probably a wise choice on his part not to try to join a group where he'd be burdened with those expectations!
Speaking of doing nothing, Freddie it's Saturday morning... Isn't it time to be out in your Field Ministry? Hurry up before they get to the donut shop!
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
a circuit overseer, jarome sexton, ma circuit #4 is telling the congregations "the brothers were at ground zero", reading scriptures to firefighters and military personal and they would cry as they heard the words.
"as people ran across the bridge what did they see ' read gods word daily' ".
the dam doors were locked!
Fredhall, I didn't say you took advantage of the event. I said you have been sucked in by the propaganda.
Nice try at hijacking another thread, by the way.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
a circuit overseer, jarome sexton, ma circuit #4 is telling the congregations "the brothers were at ground zero", reading scriptures to firefighters and military personal and they would cry as they heard the words.
"as people ran across the bridge what did they see ' read gods word daily' ".
the dam doors were locked!
FredHall and all other loyal sheep have been "sucked in" by the WTS propaganda designed to take advantage of this most horrible event.
Similar "feel good" propaganda came out of the special assembly day here in Minnesota, as it was directly told to me by an emotional attender. (Of course, a representative of the WT Society was there to tell the, ahem, "TRUTH" about what supposedly happened --- aid being given by headquarters to victims, people embracing the Bible's hope at "the site" of the tragedy, bla bla bla.)
The JW's who weren't at "the site" of the tragedy will never know what really happened, neither will we. However, we can use logic to deduce what is probable. And logic you used, well stated:
... no non rescue personal were allowed on site at ground zero. Under those conditions you could tell the toughest person on the planet a frog had been run over in Wisconsin, and a normal response would be to get emotional.Even if the JW's did succeed beyond all odds to reach the people with their message of hope, remember that (as has been pointed out by Farkel and others on this board) the hope consists primarily of the notion that 99.9% of humanity will be destroyed in a worldwide Armageddon far more vengeful than the attacks on New York and Washington, DC.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
i sent the article below to larc several months ago, and he suggested posting it to this forum.
it's written by james c. moyers, a psychotherapist practicing in berkeley and hayward, california.
moyers works with individuals and couples.
Java,
Thanks. This article hits the nail on the head, on several points. It is SO hard to unlearn old ways and embrace a healthy new existence. This article, with its definitions and explanations, help us come closer to self-truth, and hence, recovery.
Wow, this is deep.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
