Posts by joelbear

and indeed, when i stressed how god had comanded the making of the angels for the ark, they said they would do some research this week on the ark and its roll in worshiping.

joelbear

Susan,

The best gift you can give young witnesses or young people in general is the gift of self esteem and self confidence.

Talk to them. Let them talk to you about their goals, dreams and interests in life. Encourage them to follow their bliss and offer to help them in any way you can.

Helping them understand that their dreams and goals matter will help them ward off dependence on a group of any kind for self fulfillment.

hugs

Joel

14

A Letter to the Elders

by AngelofMuZiC in

jw
friends

dear fellow board members,.

my mother is still a member of the org, and as i see it, fully intends on remaining a member.

she does not agree with everything the wts says, (the elders don't know that) and she has told me that she would never disown me for them, nor have they asked her to.

joelbear

Joanne,

Your heart is definitely in the right place. I have called elders from time to time when I knew things at my father's or brother's house were blowing up or about to blow up.

Your letter may make you feel better but don't get your hopes up that people's behavior will change. Witnesses label people and it is mighty tough to near impossible to make them change those labels.

hugs

Joel

5

How much does the WTS owe YOU?

by CornerStone in

jw
friends

i was just thinking, (whoops!, can't do that anymore, 8/1/01 wt), after reading my bible i came across a passage that discussed payment for christian workers:.

7what soldier has to pay his own expenses?

and have you ever heard of a farmer who harvests his crop and doesnt have the right to eat some of it?

The Watchtower Society owes me nothing. What I gave of myself, I gave because I thought the message had value to people's lives. When I stopped believing that, I stopped giving, but what I gave I gave.

peace

Joel

6

Jesus SWAT Teams

by Kent in

jw
friends

there will always be enough idiots around to keep the christian swat teams running :) .

yakki da.

kent.

joelbear

Hi Kent,

Its clear what you are against. What are you for? Is there a way to make the world a better place or do we just aim for a huge free for all?

5

Where is Sideshow Bob?

by Mommie Dark in

jw
friends

if any of you have the elusive priest-king's e-mail addy, please check on him.

it's not normal for him to remain silent for a whole week.

unless he is off for a refresher course at clown college, how could he avoid commenting on some of the recent hot posts?

joelbear

He has disappeared at times in the past. It allows him to make grand entrances of reintroduction.

hugs

Joel

30

Now That I've Joined, I wish That I Hadn't

by TR in

jw
friends

any one here get that sinking feeling when you were an active jw?

i'm not talking about the point where we developed doubts about the borg, but just the shear weight of responsibility on your shoulders to uphold "god's kingdom" ala wts.. the topic of doing all you can was brought up frequently.

some would try to sooth by saying "as long as you're doing your best, jehovah will accept you.

joelbear

I remember when I was at Bethel. We had a talk on wholesouled service and I didn't feel like I was doing enough so I signed up to auxiliary pioneer one month.

Joel

10

The Good, The Bad and Evolution

by Defender in

jw
friends

in the bible account of genesis, there we were told that adam and eve ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and bad and thus, like god, they started to know good and bad.

these few words and actions apparently changed the course of humanity.

even if we assume that this account is just a fable and did not actually happen, a number of questions and issues come up namely;.

joelbear

Great post and great question defender. You are, by the way, one of my favorite posters.

You say evolution incumbered humans with the need to choose what is good and what is bad. Here, I disagree with you a bit. Evolution does not evolve good and bad, it evolves physical traits and instinctual evolutionary survival strategies. Evolution does not see murder as good or bad. Murder is an evolutionary survival strategy.

ESS's occur on several levels: the individual, the immediate family, the species and I believe also on the scale of the ecosystem. I believe we have a number of stratified ESS's that constantly test themselves to see if they are the best ones for the occasion.

This folds up into my belief that all life is actually a united interdependent system that is evolving at both the individual and cosmic level.

Morality basically comes down to an ESS (evolutionary survival strategy) that keeps us from conflict with fellow humans and thus adds to the probability that we will have a successful life. If we murder, steal, attack, rape, etc. we are opening ourselves up for retaliation either by the individual or the group. I think this is true in other species as well, especially the higher primates. Even in lower species, avoiding conflict with others in the species is usually a good thing.

Thanks for a neat topic.

hugs

Joel

20

JW Kids

by patio34 in

jw
friends

greetings and felicitations to all,.

tonight i attended my first al-anon meeting--it's for families of alcoholics.

i've been having trouble with my daughter and drugs.. but anyway, the meeting was in a catholic church area.

joelbear

Hi Patio,

I am also an Al Anon. I went to meetings every day for about 6 months, then tapered off to about 3 times a week for another year. It, simply said, saved my life. My father and my brother are my Al Anons and they drove me into the ground with their abuse while drunk or while needing a drink. My mom and I were the enablers, tiptoeing around them trying not to set them off or give them a reason to go out and get drunk. AAAACK!!! I was one sick puppy and still battle my old behaviors daily although they are more under control now.

When I was a kid I was lucky that I had 5 or 6 witness friends that did a lot together. We were a close knit group until we got to dating and courting age, then we split up and went in separate directions.

We had small get togethers almost always at our house. My mom made great cookies and we had some just wonderful times. Can't say that I was deprived in that area.

When I stayed in high school and expressed interest in college my friendships chilled. I caved in to this pressure and dropped my plans for college. I did a lot for friendship when I was younger.

hugs

Joel

5

i jusr made an ass out of myself !!!!!!

by jurs in

jw
friends

hi folks,.

i've been on this expose the organization kick.

i'm so angry mainly at myself for being suckered in that i guess i'm running on emotions rather than using my head.

joelbear

Hi jurs,

You by no means blew it. You are entitled to all of your emotions including anger. If we didn't express our emotions we would make ourselves sick. Anger is one of the most dangerous emotions to try to swallow.

Sounds like she needs to think the witnesses have the truth. Just like a drug dealer never runs out of victims neither will the Watchtower Society. It supplies a numbness that people need either to get through hard times or to get through life in general.

While a spiritual religion or philosophy should build our self confidence and self esteem up as it helps us to become better people, a cult does just the opposite, since it is in a cult's interest to keep you dependent.

Congratulate yourself on your bravery. You can't make someone else ready to live. Trust me, I've watched my whole family muck their lives up beyond hope.

big big hugs

Joel
www.joelbear.com