Posts by Miss Chievous

5

What do I say?

by Miss Chievous in

a young man in my local cong has recently lost his mother due to her refusal to take blood.

he is a believer and i obviously don't want to destroy his faith but what can i say to him that will comfort him without having to lie?

i get so angry when i think about the situation he finds himself in - needlessly without his mother for the rest of his life (he is an only child too and they were very close), i don't want to go and see him while i am still so upset myself in case i say something wrong.

Miss Chievous

A young man in my local cong has recently lost his mother due to her refusal to take blood. He is a believer and I obviously don't want to destroy his faith but what can I say to him that will comfort him without having to lie? I get so angry when I think about the situation he finds himself in - needlessly without his mother for the rest of his life (he is an only child too and they were very close), I don't want to go and see him while I am still so upset myself in case I say something wrong. Has anyone been through this kind of situation? How did you deal with it?

Love,

Miss C

26

Ireland

by asilentone in

jw
friends

i have never been to ireland.

i might go to ireland one day.

.

Miss Chievous

I'm from Ireland, most people who come here are either looking for their ancestors (over 70 million people in the world claim to be of Irish decent, our greatest export is our people cos we can't provide jobs for them...) or looking for "the craic" (look it up on wiki). We have great swathes of unspoilt countryside, I'd recommend Counties Wicklow, Donegal and Kerry for spectacular scenery. Dublin is the capital city, it has been modernised in the last 15 years, still has some great Georgian buildings though. We don't have great weather, our summers are usually cool and wet, winters are colder and wet. Spring is the best time to come, we truely do have 40 shades of green to offer!

If you have stereotypical country peasent type images of us you'll be disappointed, we have grown as a country and become far more multicultural. You generally don't have to worry about crime, except in Dublin at night, but our standard of driving leaves a lot to be desired! We generally a friendly bunch, just don't mention the Catholic Church, bankers or the English and you'll be fine! Those who like the stuff say that Guinness tastes the best in Ireland, if you tour the brewery you can sample it for yourself.

One last thing, in a land of 4.5 million people, there are only 4300 witnesses, it's highly unlikely you'll bump into one of them!

Miss C

47

Do you miss God?

by wobble in

if you are one of the posters on here who has got to the point where you do not believe in god to any great extent, do you miss "him".

i find that i rarely used to ask god for anything, or load him up with my problems, everybody elses were far more urgent, but i did used to feel moved to praise him when i saw the beauties of creation, a sunset etc.. i now feel an urge to still do that, but do not believe anyone is listening, do you get moments like that ?.

love.

Miss Chievous

I had the same feeling earlier today, was watching a nature program and wanted to thank Him for the wonderful things I was seeing. Having educated myself about evolution lately, the idea of the God that I was brought up to believe in does not sit so easily anymore. I still feel an overwhelming desire to correct others when they make erroneous statements about Him!! If I don't pray I do feel something is missing, I came to rely on prayer so much more as I was fading. I don't really know if anyone is there to hear me but I'll keep talking for now just the same! They say that those who pray live longer, healthier lives so there's obviously no harm in it!

Miss C

5

If power corrupts....

by Miss Chievous in

we all know the phrase about the corrupting nature of power.

if humans are so corruptible does this point to a need for god who is above corruption to lead us?

or is god already corrupted because he is almighty in power?

Miss Chievous

We all know the phrase about the corrupting nature of power. If humans are so corruptible does this point to a need for God who is above corruption to lead us? Or is God already corrupted because he is almighty in power? The angels were not above being corrupted but is God different?

Miss C

41

Have you Been Shunned Even Though Just Considered " Inactive " ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

many of us here on the board are " inactive" , myself included.

have not attended meetings or gone out in service for years.

i haven't now for 6 years + .

Miss Chievous

I am inactive and nobody in the cong, even the elders, know my reasons for leaving. If I see any of my cong in the street or have to attend a funeral at the KH everyone will say hello, give me a big hug, look sad and ask me how I'm doing but nobody ever comes to visit me or ring me to talk otherwise. My oldest friend in the org moved away some years ago and we would email and chat on the phone regularly until her brother found out and told her to stop talking to me. I suppose they think they're doing it for my own good!

Miss C

187

Favorite Love Songs?

by Robdar in

jw
friends

until recently, i have never been in love.

oh, i had lots of lust, but i cannot say honestly that i was in love.

silly love songs made me roll my eyes heavenward.

Miss Chievous

Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpO9MSEWpxc

70

How many of you were baptised at a young age?

by lepermessiah in

jw
friends

one thing this site has made me reflect on the baptism practice in jw land.. many of us were raised in the religion, thus you were given the pressure early on to shoot for baptism as a goal.. i remember feeling bad because i waited until the ripe old age of 14 to take the plunge.. looking back, i realize that when i was 14, i didnt even know what my favorite color was, let alone have enough knowledge to make a life altering decision.

yet, growing up in that climate, i would say anyone who waited past their early teens to get baptised was viewed with great suspicion and was likely to be viewed as "bad association".

kids who took the dip at 8-9 years of age were viewed as "wise beyond their years" and the like.. how old were some of you when you were baptised, and what are your feelings on the matter?.

Miss Chievous

I was 16, was brought up in the org but parents weren't great about family study (thank goodness!) so had a study with a sister in the cong and decided I was ready. Mum and Dad thought I should wait, didn't listen to them, I knew it was the right thing to do. Why are parents always right in the end?

Apart from the issues everyone else here has mentioned I noticed with all the young people in my cong that as soon as you were baptised you were basically left to your own devices. The support from others died away and it felt like a big anti-climax. I know of one sis whose family came into the org when she was 12, she had to be dragged along for a few years, eventually had her own study and by 16 she was baptised, at 17 she was disillusioned and left. Wish I'd seen through it so fast!

I always wondered why Jesus was 30 before he was baptised, now I understand.

Miss C

154

JW Apologists please tell me where your God was when .....

by wobble in

during the dark days of the second world war , the monsters that ran a concentration camp decided to hang a child.. they hung the poor little chap so that it took half an hour for him to die, all the while making the other inmates look into the face of the child.. where was your god then ?

was he not strong enough to do anything or did he just not care ?.

if the first then he is a very weak god, if the second then,.

Miss Chievous

Ok I'm going to play God's advocate for a bit, don't hate me for it!

Why should God interfere in what happens on earth? From his point of view he has given us the Bible as a guidebook on how to live, he has made it so simple (love God, love your neighbour as yourself) that we can't go back to him and say we could't understand how he wanted us to live. He even sent his Son to earth to help us and give a model of how to live.

That's all very well you'll say but he has the power to do so much more doesn't he? Of course he does but he has also given us freewill, we as humans can do what we please, we can either live as he would like us to live or take our own path. How can he interfere without taking our freewill away? Humans seem to want it everyway, we want to live as we see fit when it suits us but as soon as we start suffering we want God to make it all better. Innocents do suffer but we can only blame our fellowman for that, not God.

Maybe he has to let the whole system man has built collapse (religous, political, business, social) before he can step in and save us from ourselves, maybe that is the only way we will learn?

Am I still thinking too much like a JW?!

Miss C

15

What translation of the Bible do you use?

by Miss Chievous in

after leaving the org i got a compemporary english version of the bible and although it is not a word perfect translation it is so easy to read, something i never found with the nwt.

it is the youth version of that translation and along side the scriptures it has small sections on bible history, major themes running through the scriptures, questions and answers on important issues, advice on real life situations and how to be christian.

makes bible reading much more enjoyable.

Miss Chievous

After leaving the org I got a Compemporary English Version of the Bible and although it is not a word perfect translation it is so easy to read, something I never found with the NWT. It is the Youth version of that translation and along side the scriptures it has small sections on Bible history, major themes running through the scriptures, questions and answers on important issues, advice on real life situations and how to be Christian. Makes Bible reading much more enjoyable. I am wondering what other translations people here like using.

Miss C

10

Woman died after refusing transfusion (Belfast)

by BluesBrother in

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/woman-died-after-refusing-transfusion-14604429.html.

saturday, 19 december 2009. a jehovah's witness who refused a blood transfusion in hospital had a 98% chance of surviving the bleed that killed her - if she had been given the procedure, an inquest was told yesterday.

grieving husband philip baxter said his wife anita (56) did not want to die but did not want a blood transfusion.. a coroner has called for hospitals to consider seeking a court ruling in similar contexts, where a patient refuses blood on religious grounds.. mrs baxter, of naas, co kildare, died of acute cardiac failure caused by blood problems in tallaght hospital on september 15, 2009. the jehovah's witness died five days after surgery to remove a tumour from her colon, after which she suffered significant bleeding.. surgeon diarmuid o'riordan told the inquest there was a 98% to 99% chance she would have survived if she was given the appropriate blood transfusion.. dublin county coroner's court heard yesterday that mrs baxter signed an informed consent form stating she didn't want blood, even as a life-saving measure.

Miss Chievous

I have known this sister since I was a child, heard about her cancer, operation and subsequent death all in the space of 24 hours.

The Health Services Authority in Ireland are now considering new powers for doctors in situations where the patient is unconcious at the time of an emergency due to blood loss even if they say they don't want blood under any circumstances. They said it might be necessary because faced with a life and death situation the patient may want to change their minds. Could this stand up in court?

Miss C