well - i today i had the opportunity to tell my wife i no longer believe in the things that i have spent my life immersed in and that i didn't want my life run by 9 geriatrics in brooklyn.. her reaction was understandable her first questions was "what have you been reading"?.
i didn't mention this site but told her i was shocked by something i heard regarding the wts's ngo status with the un, dissapointed by the new light on the generation and disturbed by the flip flopping on blood fractions.
i explained how these things were at best hypocritical and at worst have meant some people have lost their lives unnecessarily because of the societies previous position.
Altar Ego--No one can because mankind isn't. The ruins of cities have been discovered that are more than 6,000 years old, like Catal Huyuk in Turkey and if anyone wants to correct my spelling, please do! The standard answer is, of course, that radiometric dating can't be trusted. Which is nonsense, as a bit of clear-eyed research will quickly show.
Forgive me for hijacking.
startfragment.
by the 1990s it became necessary for me to seek work outside of music.
barbara, who had to help support our family in the mid-1980s, was working as a legal secretary and suggested i consider doing the same.
Thank you thank you thank you for sharing your experience. Some of the songs in that 1982 songbook are notoriously bad--even the most ultraconservative Witnesses snicker at the "molested bees" and at the rhyming "mendacious, efficacious" etc. in another song. And yes, the "controlling body members" line in Make the Truth your Own always struck me as really weird. Also, the dirgelike Lazarus song which suddenly and unexpectedly turns into a joyful little hopscotch. Too strange.
but i don't write this for sympathy.
actually, i just thought you all would like to hear how i am doing, esp with a little space now between me and the borg.
(its been 3 years).
Jeff, I always enjoy your posts. You are doing a lot of good--maybe more than you realize. "Did you know I regret how I left?" Why is that? How did you leave?
my wife has been out of work now for over a year.
she is tail-ending her unemployment very soon.. our county is experiencing close to the worse rates of unemployment in the country right now [ elkart, indiana - obama's economic poster child ] is just 50 miles away.
our county has a rate nearly equal to theirs.
I'm so sorry. It sounds like you're handling it very intelligently. We are just hanging on, financially, watching our debt tick upward month by month. I start working in Sept.; until then, it's touch and go. Actually, it'll be touch and go after that too. God, my whole life has been touch and go, now that I think of it.
the "package" for americans to attend the paris convention this year was $2600 per person including airfare ($2000 w/o airfare).
the optional dinner vouchers were an additional $160 per person.
all this for 5 days.
I have a close relative who's paying $3,000 to go to Hawaii for the convention--from the West Coast of the US. She's paying $150/night to share a hotel room with another sister who's also (I assume) paying $150/night for accom. And that's not the Deluxe class, that's for the next one down. SOMEBODY's making off like a bandit on this scam. Any former Bethelites on board who can shed light on the exorbitant prices to attend int'l conventions?
hi.. i have been a witness since birth (will be 30 years in june 2009).
got baptised when i was 15 (pressured into it by my parents, plus, i was promised my first home pc if i did get baptised before turning 16).. both my parents serve in the uk bethel.
i have an older brother and younger sister, both of which are witnesses.. i am married to a witness and live in cyprus (i am english).
Shoot, that was supposed to be set off as a quote...
hi.. i have been a witness since birth (will be 30 years in june 2009).
got baptised when i was 15 (pressured into it by my parents, plus, i was promised my first home pc if i did get baptised before turning 16).. both my parents serve in the uk bethel.
i have an older brother and younger sister, both of which are witnesses.. i am married to a witness and live in cyprus (i am english).
If I'm wrong, I'll take the issue up with God when he returns. If He doesn't find my lifestyle to fit his fancy, then I'll tell Him to do what He must. But it will be on my terms. I love you all dearly, and I wish that it didn't have to be this way. But I have the rest of my life to live, and I want to get started living it." Nicely put, ph!ll. Courageous and dignified. Not to hijack the thread...Welcome God Delusion. You're in a tight spot but seem like you're handling it intelligently.
who i am is inconsequential.
it's safe to say, however, that i am between a rock and a hard place.
or perhaps...a watchtower and a hard place, more accurately.. i was raised a jw--mom got baptized same day i turned 4 (in 1986), alleged that 'satan got to' me because i wanted to do fun stuff on my birthday rather than go to the convention to see her get baptized.
Welcome, partner! I, too, am still maintaining something of a facade for the sake of family. It sucks. But at least you know your own mind and you know the "truth about the truth." You can do the slow fade, as I am, akin to pulling a bandaid off hair by hair.
This is a good place to be. You will learn lots.
his article was published by f18news on: 23 july 2009. russia: jehovah's witness lawyers deported for defending extremism cases?by geraldine fagan, forum 18 news service <http://www.forum18.org>.
four lawyers defending jehovah's witnesses have been deported since march, forum 18 news service has learned.
a leaflet by a traditional mari el pagan priest is among the latest additions to the federal list of extremist materials, meaning it is banned throughout russia.
I'm disconcerted by the level of support voiced here for Russia's chilling suppression of basic freedoms. No one--not Moonies, not Seventh Day Adventists, not JWs--should be subjected to this level of oppression. Russia persecutes JWs today, and tomorrow it will be Mormons or Buddhists or homosexuals or...hmm, Jews maybe? Anyone care to remember events from WWII Germany? Who are any of us to decide who should be entitled to fundamental human rights? Take it away from anyone--and you take it away from everyone.
There are legitimate ways to shed light on cults or other kinds of organizations that cause problems, but denying due process and resorting to physical abuse isn't among them. This report is nothing to be cheered.
hello all, i have been lurking, looking, reading, and digesting for around 2 years and it seems the time is right to post.
i recently had one of those moments at the kindom hall where i found myself looking around thinking "am i the only one who gets it, why doesn't anyone else have this puzzled look on their face?".
said during is second talk to the congregation "all of our food, our magazines, and all our wonderful books, and videos come from/through these 9 men".
Welcome, swa--looking forward to hearing your story!
Wow! I've never heard it expressed so plainly. Seems like the official take on the FDS is slowly but steadily shifting to being just the GB. Still, hearing a CO state it so forthrightly from the platform is fascinating.
