Posts by joannadandy

Scooby--c'mon dude, this is not the place for your piss poor attitude! Someone is showing a little bit of excitement over something so personal and you have to trash it? What if you bought a lovely work of art, you put a lot of thought into it and it really spoke to you on personal levels, and you posted a picture of it here in excitment and someone said, "Wow Scooby, what were you smoking? That is the stupidest thing you could have ever bought--it's so ugly!"

Personally I am not crazy about tats either. I think they look better on other people. But if you want to critique tats, or voice your disgust over the trend in general, why not start a thread on that? Don't bring it here.

That was pretty crappy man.

12

Please help if you can.

by acts1-8 in

jw
friends

i am writer currently working on a book about the watchtower.

i am in need of testimony's from ex jws who are willing to have them published.

any help, advise or testimony's would be appreciated.

joannadandy

It might be helpful if you told us what your book was about first, and what kind of stories you were looking for. It would save you some time too. There is quite a spectrum of what people can offer you here...

6

I am waiting for some new understanding

by spiritwalker in

jw
friends

recently the actually value of the un has been questioned on a global scale.

with many nations ignore the un and even using it as a subject of humor, in that it has proven to be useless.

the united states seems to care less and less about what it does and seems to be building its own way of doing things, without the un involved.

joannadandy

Actually I just had a conversation with my JW dad about this.

Of course watching the news and world events he can't help but utter, "The end is soon".

I asked him, "But I thought the prophecy was that the UN would take over as nation unto itself and sort of lead the world. The United States pretty much ignored the UN, how can they be in league together?"

He thinks that it's just nations IN the UN that the prophecy is talkiing about.

To which I said, "Well France and Germany are in the UN, but think vastly differently from the United States on world affairs...how can they all combine to lead the world into the great day of Armaggedon?"

He then went on about how maybe that's how it would happen--such discord between the united nations--

To which I said, "I thought the prophecy said the UN had to be a ruler, even if it was for a short time. It doesn't look like anyone pays heed to the UN."

No comment.

He and I have also talked about how all religion will be done away with--thus the testing and persecution of JW's and then the end will come. To which I said, "But Dad, there is a huge resurgance of religious fervor--Bush is the most religious president we have had recently. How on earth is the UN going to get people to abolish all relgion anytime soon--the end is at least 20-30 years away...and that's with a short persecution time".

I am evil. He usually just bristles that I don't understand anything. And I don't. But I am comforted by the fact that neither does he or any other JW for that matter.

The UN thing is of total interest to me. It's becoming more and more of a lip service organization, and I would not be surprised to see it's demise in my lifetime...leaving the JW's to have to re-write even more doctrine.

20

Unsolicited Advice

by pettygrudger in

jw
friends

do you feel compelled to give advice to your friends if you think they are making bad choices?

if it's not threatening to your friend in a physical way - do you live & let live - even if their choices have the potential to hurt them emotionally at a future time?

what is the "right thing to do in these situations"?

joannadandy

What is the "right thing to do in these situations"?

"Right thing" is such an evil phrase. LOL. For me, if I think a friend is making a serious mistake...I can't sit by and say nothing. I mean I care about this person right?! However I am usually really cautious about how to word things. I usually try to ask as many questions as possible so I have a full picture of what's going on. And I try to really listen before I jump in. And I always try to preface it with, "This is what I am seeing in this situation." Followed by all sorts of comments starting with "In my experience". I think it's important to not get jumpy, even with a close friend.

How did they react?

Most good friends will thank you for your input, understand why you feel the way you do, and realize you have their best interest at heart. (There is a big difference between unsolicted advice and critical analysis of someone's life; ie. "Good christ how dumb can you be? Remember the last hairbrained idea you had!")

However, I have found most people are going to do what they want to. Advice or not. It might stall them, but for the most part you do have to live and let live. And you also have to be there for when perhaps things don't work out, but you also have to be there when your advice was wrong and you perhaps need to eat some of your words. It's all a part of the friendship process.

There was only one time in my life where I felt the advice I gave wasn't heeded and I needed to end the friendship as a result. Her bad choices, and constant whining about how terriable her life was, was too much of an emotional drain on me. And since I felt her choices were the absolute WRONG choices, our friendship had to end. I sometimes wonder if that was the right course of action--was I being too hard on her? Was I shunning her now? (Not to say I cut off all communication with her--I just made it known I didn't like the person she had become because of her choices).

Have you had friends give you unsolicited advice?

Yup.

How did you feel?

Depended on my friend, how it was said, and when it was said.

Honestly, when I was younger my attitude was usually, "thanks but no thanks". Because I was so different, and my situation so unique. Oh god, how I giggle. I realize now how much problems are universal. Some of the details may different, but the nuts and bolts usually boil down to the same age old dynamics. It's not easy--but I have been working on taking advice, even the unsolicited variety very seriously--and weighing it into my understanding of myself and my situations.

I sort of liken it to painting on a huge canvas. Sometimes you get so engrossed in your little section you can't see everything all around you. You get so wrapped up in one element that you fail to realize (usually) the insignifigance of what you are struggling with. Sometimes you need an outsider to tell you how big your canvas is, and where you should really be paying all your attention.

Ok that was a crap metaphor I realize, but it's the best I've got.

26

any movies with prominent JW characters?

by Azalo in

jw
friends

ive seen the one with kevin costner.

"perfect world" i think, any others?

joannadandy

I can't think of any...quite a few come to mind with just the typical pot-shots at the door knocking.

My guess is people don't know enough about them to write a character about one. And if they did--how boring. LOL!

Actually--I think it could be interesting to have a JW character. Of course you know that movie would be banned outright as pure apostacy. *rubs chin*...I have always wanted to try my hand at a screenplay...

My guess is, unless it was comedic--I doubt there would be much interest in a script of that nature...my two cents.

29

Do you really LIKE yourself?

by Tatiana in

jw
friends

as it's a new year, and most of us made resolutions, i'd like to know what about yourself you would truly change if you could?

if you had one wish and it meant you could magically alter something of yourself, what would it be?.

what quality about yourself do you wish would go away?

joannadandy

nope

48

im very upset

by Shytears in

jw
friends

.

i know its been awhile...i dont have to much to say right now.im at a loss for words..im dissfellowshipped now..the announcement will be in 2 weeks.i just need some support..

joannadandy

(((Shytears)))

I was wondering what you were up to recently--I haven't seen you around here lately.

I know right now it probably feels like the end of the world, but it's really just the begining. You've got your whole life ahead of you and you can do whatever you want when you turn 18.

I agree with some other posters here, college is a good idea. I'm sure you could get some financal aid, and there are always loans.

Please keep us posted and let us know if we can help in any way at all.

57

The Society is gonna let you off your homework kids!

by nicolaou in

from the current (uk) edition of 'our kingdom ministry'.

take a close look at paragraph 4. am i the only one who can see the old pattern of the 1980's re-emerging?

i had thought that the watchtower had begun to take a more reasonable approach to the secular education of it's members children yet here they are again in 2004 willing to jeopardise the education these young people receive for the sake of indoctrination and control.. .

joannadandy

The gall of these people!

If they don't get their homework done they call the teachers and explain that Christian meetings are more important?!

Nice. So pretty much anytime a JW kid doesn't feel like doing homework on a tuesday or thursday they have an out from their parents?!

GAH!

And as a teacher, your hands are tied.