Posts by Initiate

Chuckles:) I hope I dont have the calling. Assuming you meant that in response to my comment about going to church. I am just thinking about attending, not believing. Oops, did that give it away?

120

Who Am I?

by Initiate in

jw
friends

now since coming to this forum i have noticed that people are always using a variety of ids.

some i suppose are trying to hide.

others use a variation of their main id.

You made a good stab at evaluating that poem. I will say however you try to read too much allegory into the allegory. Each line is literal. The literal then is to be evaluated as allegorical. Except for the last line which is literal, literal. Remember the poem was in answer to Lilacs, who asked a specific question. So the poem does not say anything about me or who I am, except to answer her question only. Again you are on the right track in evaluating the poem, you simply tried to read a bit more into it than I wrote.

120

Who Am I?

by Initiate in

jw
friends

now since coming to this forum i have noticed that people are always using a variety of ids.

some i suppose are trying to hide.

others use a variation of their main id.

Initiate

Farkel:

I will write something then and let you take a stab at it based upon my writing style. I am going to choose a topic. I am not writing these things for debate. I am merely writing them so that you may see how I write and then determine if it fits a writing style you can recognize. I am going to try to be as honest in my writing as I can and not change my style. Of course, due to the nature of this game, (and I hope everyone is having a bit of fun with it) I will probably unconsciously change some things. But I will attempt to keep it straight forward. I also expect that if I write enough there should be no question who I am. Hygh's bad poetry comment aside.

In particular I want to talk about religion. I have been thinking about going to church the past several days. Belief is not a motivator with me. I think it is a connection that I seek. The witnesses are very skilled in drawing people to them. One of the methods they use is providing them a sense of community. How many of us talked often about the international brotherhood while we were witnesses. How unique it was. How you could go anywhere and people believed the same things. They did the same things. You could trust witnesses. You could even stay in their homes. I did on a number of occasions. Including one time when I went with a group to visit bethel. Some witnesses the group had known, and that I had met, allowed me to stay in their home during that time. I had a grand time. I felt a closeness, a brotherhood.

After I left the witnesses I began to notice that other groups used similar terminology. Brother, Sister, unity. Some of these groups were religions. Others were simply people of like mindedness. Bikers for instance. I knew many biker groups that had the custom of the Holy Kiss. Men kissing each other. More than a few fellas told me that when they first ran into it as bikers themselves, they were shocked. But it began to create a closeness. Again a feeling of community.

In each case there is something that draws the people together. It can be something as simple as a game, Chess perhaps. Something more serious, such as religion. One group I know is fathers who are fighting for visitation rights. They of course have a unique dynamic since the issue was their children. But each group does have a similar bond. A common theme I have noticed is the statement "no one is as ____ as ___". You can fill in the blanks yourself. No one is as honest, as loving, as hospitable, as frank, as ready to defend, as as as. And of course the last blank is simply the name of the group.

It gradually began to dawn on me that they were in a sense right. If I was a biker, I could certainly trust bikers better perhaps than police. If I am a police officer, my first place of devotion is other officers. The feeling is real. Some may say that the reasons for the feeling are tenuous. Nevertheless the feeling is in fact there. Rather than dispute whether the feeling is deserved I have acknowledged that it exists, and that it felt good.

Being a part of a community feels good. I enjoyed it. I think most people do. Here we have a sense of community. Hopefully this sense of community will make me recognized by my words. My beliefs. My feelings. And of course my writing style.

And while having a sense of community online is very fulfilling in some ways, I need more. It is for that reason, among others, that I have thought to go to church this sunday. I have been to church only 3 times since I left Jehovah's Witnesses. One of those times was an empty Catholic Church. They always keep them open and it was nice to wander around without any pressure. There was a sense of the sacred within that building. The other church was ICOC. International Churches of Christ. I went there shortly after I discovered the facts about the claims of the witnesses. I had read a lot on cult behaviour. I wanted to see if these people, who are also considered a cult, used the same tactics as the witnesses.

They did. The presentation was vastly different. Rather than the quiet, somber, school-like atmosphere of the witnesses, it was a joyous, rucous, singing, foot stomping affair. One of the times that I went, the entire day was run by the children and teens. They gave all the talks the adults would normally have given. All of the experiences. All of their questions and fears they discussed and answered. But the similarity lay in the message.

It seems with groups like these the message, is, yes, the message. The core of their belief, as with the witnesses, lay in bringing in new followers. Telling as many people as they could about the truth. That their was always only one Church. One church in Corinth. One Church in Athens. Not several churches of Christ. One Church. The International Churches of Christ. ICOC. The Boston Movement.

And yet it was still appealing. Despite my misgivings. I did not continue to study with them. Nor have I gone to any further meetings. I might go on occasion but I doubt it. I will most likely wander a few churches, perhaps going to church once a month. Perhaps I will go weekly, and make sure I go as I just said, to different churches. I wish to be careful, that while filling something I think is a need, I do not again get wrapped up into the idea that a man has to tell me everything. Of course I doubt there is a great chance of that happening since I simply do not accept the things most men say anymore.

If I do go to church I will keep you all posted on what happens here and there. I hope Farkel that this gives you enough to start your analysis. I have reread it a couple of times and it seems to be fairly true to my writing style. So I think that some, especially those that know me personally, and there are a few here, will recogize who I am. Hope you are all having some fun with this bit of diversion.

If you have any more questions, then ask and I will answer.

Clue number 3: Was my comment to butalbee.
Clue Number 4: Was my answer to Xena
Clue Number 5: Is this answer to Farkel

120

Who Am I?

by Initiate in

jw
friends

now since coming to this forum i have noticed that people are always using a variety of ids.

some i suppose are trying to hide.

others use a variation of their main id.

Initiate

Xena

I am a shish kabob.

I am those thought to wear horns
and I am those who did wear them
I am those who lost wars
and I am those who did win some
I am those who had to flee
and I am those to whom they fled
I am the Diaspora, not Jewish
and I am that which I just said
I am of the hunters in the snow
and I am of the fishers on the sea
I am from the old world
and from there, there in me are three
I am yet from the new world
and there I have lived and will die
So plainly I will tell you now
Oh that which you sought to know
I live in the place where mounts are not Too
high and valleys are not too low
And in this place I say to you
Oh do you need yet another clue?

120

Who Am I?

by Initiate in

jw
friends

now since coming to this forum i have noticed that people are always using a variety of ids.

some i suppose are trying to hide.

others use a variation of their main id.

Initiate

Butalbee, behave before I forget who I am!

120

Who Am I?

by Initiate in

jw
friends

now since coming to this forum i have noticed that people are always using a variety of ids.

some i suppose are trying to hide.

others use a variation of their main id.

Initiate

I have answered the first question proposed to me. Thus you have clue number 2. When there are more questions, simply ask. I will answer speedily.

120

Who Am I?

by Initiate in

jw
friends

now since coming to this forum i have noticed that people are always using a variety of ids.

some i suppose are trying to hide.

others use a variation of their main id.

Initiate

Lilacs:

I am that which the moon reflects.
I am that which blankets the earth.
I am that which is above.
I am that which comes below.
I am that which the Lord was killed upon.
I am that which sits atop the steeple.
I am not that which is why only.
I am not that which is drunk.
I am not that for which Monty Python searched.
I am not that which is hidden behind the veil.