Aside from what blondie said, check into whether you have a teaching hospital or research facility anywhere near you. (Virtually every city has at least one.) I did an intensive CBT program that usually costs upwards of $10,000 for absolutely nothing because I agreed to let my sessions be part of a research study. So in exchange for me being Patient 123 (or whatever it was) in a study report, I got the best therapy available for a whopping $0. And actually, they reimbursed me for travel!
Palimpsest
JoinedPosts by Palimpsest
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25
I can't really seek professional help. Any self-help suggestions for depression?
by easyreader1970 ini really don't have the time or the finances for a professional psychiatrist.
i know i am depressed and i know why.
the problem, as i have said before in one or two other threads, is that the solution won't really change my depression and may, in fact, make it worse.. so i am resigned to being depressed but would like to know if there are some coping techniques or other suggestions.
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Why don't JWs celebrate Thanksgiving
by levicolemagic inmy first post here.
i wrote this little article about why jws don't celebrate thanksgiving.. check it out here: http://hubpages.com/hub/what-jehovahs-witnesses-believe.
let me know what you think of it.. god bless.
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Palimpsest
Your link won't load for me right now for some reason, but patriotism is always one of the big ones cited for Thanksgiving. To the JWs, you're celebrating the "founding of America," so it's nationalistic. I don't know if they still use that excuse in Canada or other countries with Thanksgiving-type holidays.
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Did leaving the WT build greater appreciation for or kill your reading of the Bible?
by lepermessiah ini am really on the fence on this issue right now and would love some opinions.. i find that i dont sit down and read the bible for long periods since becoming inactive, but on the other hand, individual scriptures mean much more to me now.. i will sit down and look up some favorite passages from time to time and feel like its the first time i really "got it" - without the jw goggles on.
i love matthew chapter 23, since i think it describes to a tee the situation in jw congregations.
i think if jesus returned today, he would blast the elders and "leaders" of the borg in a similar fashion (along with most religious leaders) .matthew 24 is actually more interesting to me now, simply because my whole life was waiting for the 1914 generation to end sometime during the reagan era!
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Palimpsest
I don't accept the Bible or Christianity as anything other than the work of men, so there's that. But I've come to really love the Bible as literature. I think reading it from that perspective -- that it's a really fascinating myth cycle with rich storytelling, good-vs.-evil characters, and interesting parables -- makes one appreciate it a lot more. I was always warned away from reading it as literature, because JWs think that demeans the book or takes away its meaning, but even strong Christians I know often say they enjoy approaching it from that viewpoint. Seeing it with new eyes really helps you get what the collection is truly saying.
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Latest apostate warning in Feb 15 2011 Watchtower
by dozy inandre, who had served jehovah for years, had the bitter experience of being led astray.
by apostate thinking.
he felt that having a quick look at an apostate web site would not be dangerous.he recalls: initially, i was attracted to the so-called truths that the.
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Palimpsest
I love that they don't provide details, as usual. What were the criticisms? And why were they wrong? Come on, "Andre," spill your made-up dirt...
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TSA Tells Woman to Leave Insulin Pump At Home
by Yizuman inquote:tsa to traveler: next time, leave your insulin pump at home?.
woman complains about tsa screening at local airport.. wednesday, november 17, 2010. .
as we hear from more outraged air travelers about the humiliating procedures they're being forced to endure to pass through airport security checkpoints, comes this doozy out of fort lauderdale / hollywood international airport.. .
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Palimpsest
When my husband had a pacemaker put in, he alo received an ID card for it.
ID and medical notes mean jack these days. I have one for a liquid medication I have to carry, which is properly labelled and meets all TSA requirements, and the workers basically just laugh at it. They're quick to say things like, "We're never required to accept those" or "We don't take chances." In fact, I've watched workers throw out EpiPens and breast milk for other passengers. For some of these TSA workers, nothing you do, say, or provide is ever enough. It's asinine.
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Question regarding JW Baptism Procedures
by donuthole incan anyone fill me in on the following --.
just as you are in the baptism line a brother asks you, "have you ever been baptised before?".
was this standard procedure?
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Palimpsest
I don't remember being asked of me in the mid/late '90s. All they did with me was confirm my name and tell me not to slip on the wet floor. Maybe I had a bunch of slackers.
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If Worldly people stop donating blood Witnesses wouldn't have any "fractions" to use!
by Witness 007 ingreatest religious hypocracy ever.....witnesses would be disfellowshiped for donating blood.....but can use fractions kindly donated by "worldly" people so witnesses can heal!
they condemn the blood banks as greedy, corupt, unsafe institutions.....yet they use them!.
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Palimpsest
Isn't it fitting that an organization that exists entirely for its own benefit would support such a one-sided relationship with the outside world? The WTBTS has no desire to give to anyone outside its flock; it just wants to take. In fact, that's the only reason for luring anyone in at all -- what can it get from them?
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Palimpsest
I'm sure some people may be prone to lie and want to garner attention and claim to have had an NDE or OBE, but there are those (like my mother) who are not.
I believe you when you say that your mother would not lie about something like this. But I don't see why it has to be seen as a "lie." Could it not also be that she genuinely believes something happened to her, but that she is wrong?
We've seen this happen countless times with "recovered memories," est/Landmark therapy programs, sodium amytal abuse, and so on -- people wind up sincerely believing something that did not happen. They're in no way liars; they're just experiencing a quirk of the psyche. Can we really discount the idea that good, honest people are "remembering" something inaccurately when they talk about NDEs? What empirical evidentiary support do we have for believing what they have to say about these experiences that they feel they've had? Statements of character just don't cut it here.
We can prove that the brain is able to "remember" things that didn't happen; the scientific community widely accepts that. We cannot prove or disprove that someone has had an NDE. Both factors combine to mean that we just don't know. But to ignore the existence of false memory when considering reports of NDEs would seem to be dishonest, in my view, and to be frank, unfair to the people who feel their lives have been touched by these experiences.
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How many of you atheists, agnostics, deists are celebrating Xmas??
by SweetBabyCheezits inwe are celebrating xmas this year for the first time.
it's kinda weird because, even though we're doing a xmas tree, decorations, gifts, we're more or less taking the christ out of christmas.
so how about the rest of you non-christian heathens?.
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Palimpsest
Who says you have to celebrate Christmas or any other far flung festival of religious origin. I know alot of people who never been associated with the JWS and they never played up to this bogus religious event either. If your daughter has been indoctrinated with JW beliefs she most likely wont miss participating big time into Christmas celebrations. Why is it that people who leave the JWS think they have to automatically celebrate anything, you'd be surprised to know how many people not JWS, shrug off these old traditional celebrations as well. Make your own individualist self expressive thought the most important to you and your family rather than being influenced from outside social events such as these old traditional celebrations.
Equally worth asking is why people who leave and choose not to mark these occasions so often feel that others shouldn't as well.
There is no right or wrong way to be an ex-Dub. If you don't want to participate, cool! But no reason others can't. You choose to emphasize the religious aspects of Christmas, some of us choose to emphasize the secular aspects...pick the approach that works for you. I won't force you to wish me a Merry Christmas if you don't force me to avoid saying it myself. :)
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Have any religions in history ever died out?
by mamalove ini looked this up just now and came up with this list:.
following are the religions that no longer exist.. .
1. sumerian religion.
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Palimpsest
There have been more religions in world history than we even realize. Your list is only going back a few thousand years...think about all of the faiths that existed before recorded history. Also, bear in mind that almost all religions, up until just several hundred years ago were small, localized cults that died out with population shift, natural disasters, missionary efforts, etc. (The examples you cite were/are incredibly expansive and cover countless individual cults.) And even major Protestant demoninations like the Methodists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians have been bleeding members for decades. Religions absolutely die out or, like Black Sheep said, morph into new forms.
The trick is remembering that we're talking in historical time. "Quickly" in history can mean a few thousand years. So no, it probably won't die out tomorrow, but it will eventually. They all do.