I have an uncle who's been in Bethel for 40 years. Last week I asked my dad if my uncle survived the layoffs. He said yes, because he's over 60 and Bethel knew that anyone in that age group would have a very difficult time finding a job and supporting themselves. I asked him if he didn't think people in their 40s and 50s might have a little trouble as well. Silence... and then he started in with the party line of technological advances, etc. I wish I knew a way to make him start to think, but considering how long he's been in, it's probably for the best that he stays where he is.
hemp lover
JoinedPosts by hemp lover
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23
Service talk on changes at Bethel, layoffs, spirit of urgency
by truthseeker inlast week an elder who has served in bethel gave the service meeting talk, which referred to the front page of the sep km (which i don't yet have) on the governing body's letter to all publishers.. he started by saying that "drastic times call for drastic measures" - bethel was going through periods of rapid change.. he referred to a symposium given by brother jaracz and splane last december, where they tried to brush off the layoffs saying everyone had to keep "up with jehovah's celestial chariot".
bethelites were being reassigned to the field, and this would be difficult for them.
some in bethel who were being reassigned had been there 20 or 30 years.
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A chilling 9/11 blog:
by SixofNine inthought i'd share this.
warning, it's not an easy read.
also, if you buy this guy's book (about his time as a marine in afghanistan and iraq), you won't be sorry.
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hemp lover
This is so freakin' sad. Do you have this guy's book?
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Revised Letter to my Mother--Possibly the LONGEST in history...
by Confession ini posted another version of this a few months back.
at the time i asked for comments on it, and subsequently ignored almost everything anyone told me.
" others recommended a differet tone.
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hemp lover
Wow. That's an amazing letter. You had so many WT quotes that I'd never read before, like this:
We may think of study as hard work, as involving heavy research. But in Jehovah's organization it is not necessary to spend a lot of time and energy in research, for there are brothers in the organization who are assigned to do that very thing
Directly counter to "researching as the Beroeans did," isn't it?
I understand completely why you need to say these things to her. In my own case, I felt by keeping quiet about the WTS, I was being dishonest to who I really was. And I really had nothing else to lose as far as family contact. I wrote a really long letter several years ago, thought not as long as yours. I wasn't posting yet, so my ex-husband posted it for me.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/59590/1.ashx
Mine was more from the angle of finally being honest with them about where my head was my whole life. If I had read your letter first, I would definitely have ripped off a lot of the reasoning you used at the beginning about how the WTS discourages its followers from really studying and thinking. So I think that, by writing this letter, not only have you helped yourself (and hopefully maybe someday your family), but you've also helped people on this board with some really thought-provoking material.
Thanks for sharing this and please let me us know what kind of a response, if any, you receive.
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Materialism and those with "spiritual experiences"
by slimboyfat inmore and more i find myself coming to a materialist view of the world.
i don't believe in afterlife, ghosts, angels, auras, astrology, revelations and the like.
so what am i to make of people who claim to have spiritual experiences?
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hemp lover
"Is there another possibility that allows for the integrity both of materialism and of persons claiming such experiences?"
Um, an open mind? I used to try really, really hard to explain away other people's spiritual experiences, but I'm thinking now that maybe I was just jealous that nothing like that ever happened to me. I think healthy skepticism is....healthy, but I feel sometimes like I'm surrounded by people who are so dismissive. Who the hell are we to say that someone's lying or being deceitful about what's probably the most amazing thing to ever happen to them?
And I agree with Ross that he's an idiot. ;-) -
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Today I was un-shunned.....
by AK - Jeff innot typical of my sil to do more than just a casual greeting and look nervous when i run across her somewhere.
last time i met her in public at a restuarant she tried to weave across the room and hope i did not see her [fear of eating with an apostate i suppose.].
today the opposite - i came in to the restuarant and she was there, seated alone.
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hemp lover
Perhaps she has noticed that I am not dripping blood from my fangs nearly as much as she thought I was previous.
Or perhaps she feels awkward eating alone in a restaurant. Maybe she forgot to bring a book.
Significantly though, in these situations I've found is that you never say what you'd really like to say - it's as if it's an unwritten/unspoken agreement not to go there; conversations remain pleasant but in a sense with a big chunk missing.
This is so true...and so frustrating.
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Requesting Experiences...
by LtCmd.Lore ini just thought it would be nice to have a documented case of someone other than a jw having been 'protected' from rape, carjacking, murder or mugging in an unusual way (ie.
praying, preaching or screaming 'o my god' and the guy stops and apologizes.).
the idea is that i can the relate the experience to a witness, .
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hemp lover
As I recall, there were several Witnesses who did die in the towers that morning. Hmmmmm.
Exactly. Can you imagine how their families felt when they read the letters that went round after 9/11 about the JWs who were supposedly saved?
My daughter and I were planning to take the subway to the WTC that morning and go to the Statue of Liberty from there. Instead I slept late. Did God make me sleep late? Doubt it - I'm a lazy ass all on my own.
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Ever tempted to reveal yourself?
by 5thGeneration in.
being from canada and still "active", i always wonder whether i know other canadians on this board.
trust me, some of you would know my family.. however, still being "active", i guess i'll have to wait to see some day.. anyone else same deal?.
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hemp lover
LOL @ KK
"Darn, our minds are all swilling around in the same sewer. It was my first thought when I saw the thread title, too."
Ditto. I actually have revealed myself as I was a flasher for Halloween several years and 30 pounds ago. That was one of the best nights of my life. ;-) -
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on conscientious objectors...e.e.cummings:
by SixofNine ini sing of olaf glad and big.
whose warmest heart recoiled at war:.
a conscientious object-or.
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hemp lover
Bloody brilliant...never read that one before.
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Jehovah's Witnesses, Child Abuse and Love
by Big Tex inin reading thirdwitness of late, i am reminded now how painful it was to deal with that level of cold, harsh denial.
for those innocents hurt by this strange, mean little sect i submit ...
october 8, 1993 awake: tragically, adult society often unwittingly collaborates with child abusers.
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hemp lover
(((jwcol))) I'm so sorry. You say he's in your district. Are you still attending meetings?
Excellent post, Chris.
I know that in my father's case, he convinced himself that the abuse cases he dealt with as an elder were isolated one-off type instances and that he was right to wait on Jehovah....each time.I've often wondered what these men think in the middle of the night, when no one's around and there's no game to play, really how do they justify it?
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Will You React With Prejudice?
by Jamaican JW inwill you react with prejudice when faced with "absolute truth?
sometimes, an irrefutable "truth" can be spoken.
and yet, this statement or fact of "truth" can be glossed over or dismissed or not recognized by the community at large, because of preconceived ideas taught us and engrained in us, from our previous upbringing or training.
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hemp lover
LOL at Big Tex. Very nice.