how many out there heard that statement in their lives?.
the big one for me was: "if it wasn't for the truth"...your father would have beat the tar out of you.
funny, thats all i remember happening through the years.. r.. .
My mother's favorite:
"If it wasn't for the Truth, I wouldn't be able to bear the pain of losing my family."
Of course, if it wasn't for "the Truth," she never would have abandoned her family (my brothers have been distanced because they never baptized and married non-JWs; I've been rejected because I'm gay).
Try and get 'em to see the logic of that.
Jankyn
for those of you who grew up in the troof, what do you remember about christmas eve and christmas day?.
i recall an empty feeling.
it was a special day all over the world, except for the jws.
Mom was third-generation JW, but old enough to have celebrated Xmas before it became a huge no-no. Dad was baptized in order to get her to marry him, then disfellowshipped in 1968 (but they didn't divorce, just lived in a "divided house").
Dad's birthday (also not celebrated) is on the 23rd. He'd generally come home drunk on the 22nd and stay that way 'til New Years. We had no clue he was depressed because of the holidays/b-day/etc. Mom just insisted it was because he was "worldly."
He would often buy those big Xmas stockings full of candy for us--which Mom then "removed" from the stocking and pulled all the pretty Xmas wrapping off before allowing us to have it--the day after Xmas, so there would be no confusion.
It pretty much sucked.
Jankyn
only about 15 minutes ago, i learned that my father died up the hospital this morning.
Badboy,
I am so sorry for your loss. My dad died last spring; I won't say I know how you feel, but I send you love.
Jankyn
after reading the latest awake ( jan 07) on sickness, i was amused by their efforts to simultaneously straddle.
world developments and pander to their audience.. they describe modern wonders emerging ( nanotechnology!
genomics!
Next month , they will tell you how to"avoid homosexuality". That ought to be a hoot!
Oh, crap. Is there really an article on homosexuality coming up? Those things usually make my mother unbearable for two or three months! And she's supposed to come for a visit in March (of course, we'll be footing the bill for a nice hotel, since she can't sleep under the same roof as a pair of middle-aged lesbians in flannel pajamas!).
Arrrgggh.
But you're definitely right, Metatron. The only "innoculaton" the GB really worries about is the one that prevents thinking.
Jankyn
if there ever was a throw away bible, it is the new world translation bible.
i got to thinking this morning about how many i once had when i was a jw.
here is the list as best as i can remember.... 1 old green hardback nwt with the dinosaur on the inside cover.
As a(n unbaptized minor) JW, I had:
2 old green Bibles,
2 of the mid-70s version with the black covers (one of which my JW grandmother had rebound with a Make Sure and my name on the cover),
1 KJV published by the WTS that had been my dad's when he converted in the 50s.
I still have all 4 of those (the first green one for sentimental reasons--my mother used it as a weird sort of baby book, with programs from my first assemblies, my first time-slip for field service, my first school assignment and my attempts to duplicate pictures from the Paradise book).
I now also have:
1 Oxford RSV with annotations,
1 KJV with annotations,
1 ASV (with the words of Jesus in red!)
1 parallel Bible,
1 Interlinear (the old purple one that the WTS put out--I picked it off my grandmother's shelf after she died),
1 1984 revision of the NWT,
and the Anchor Bible versions of: Genesis, 1 & 2 Kings, Matthew and Mark (from my days as a religion minor in college).
Jankyn
our friend hambeak just got the most dreaded phone call from his jw child.
the news was passed on as he was asked for by name and not as"dad" and let known that "they" just called to let him know that his other son, brian, age 26, is dead.
he was in a car accident.
I am so sorry for your loss.
Jankyn
woooohhooooo!
finally!!!
you may before your emperor !!!!!
I bow before you.
Jankyn
if salvation could be compared to trying to get from los angeles to santa catalina island (about 20 miles out in the pacific) and you could not take a plane, helicopter, or take a boat, but you could only try to jump or swim, then salvation might look like this:.
the typical protestant view of salvation: no matter how strong you are, or how well you can make the long jumps, no one can jump 20 miles.
jesus died and made the jump for you so that you do not have to jump in the first place.
Ab-so-looot-ly brilliant, Jim!
I saved this at home for my never-was-a-JW partner. She's always had a rough time grasping how different the JW view of salvation is, and I suspect that this description may clear it up a bit.
Great work.
Jankyn
hi.. after lurking for a number of months i have decided to join in and hopefully connect with a few people who will know what it has been like to grow up as me.
i left the truth a number of years ago for two reasons, one of which was my sexuality, which i knew to be unacceptable to my brothers and sisters.
since then i have alone in my isolation, hopefully through this site i can rectify that.
Mouthy, you warm my heart.
I grew up JW and came out at about 16. It sucked. I'm okay now. But I've discovered that recovering from the JW upbringing took even more work than coming to accept my sexual identity.
I think there's a blog for gay ex-JWs...maybe somebody can post the link.
Jankyn
i just realized that it was five years ago, today, that i joined jwd.. i didn't think i'd be around very long - i didn't think i had a lot of residual "stuff" to deal with - was i ever wrong!!.
thanks to everyone who has made jwd what it is - a safe haven, a place for fun and friendship, a place to talk about our jw experiences and figure out what comes next, a place where we can offer support and friendship to people who feel lost and alone.
when i joined, there were less than 2000 members, and we've grown to over 25000 memberships.
Happy anniversary, Scully! I always look for your posts--
Jankyn
