Cicatrix

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Posts by Cicatrix

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  15

  how we get trapped!

  by the mole in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my dad and i spoke over lunch the other day about our religion.

  he told me that he bumped into two of my cousins who are pioneers at the auburn congregation..he told them he was disapointed and was not invited to their party...after he told me his conversation with them he repeatedly kept on saying "the truth".

  i finally corrected him and told him that was one of the ways to suppress him buy using words like that to inflict guilt and that there is no other truth when there is.

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  Cicatrix

  "When you do hear people say it, can't you just kind of hear the capital "T" they use when they say "the Truth"?"
  
  Oh, yes, yes, yes! I even remember vaguely a talk that was given at an assembly about truth with a capital T.
  
  I had issues with the words "the Truth" after I left.I didn't slip into using the the words, I couldn't use the word truth AT ALL, lol. I started going to another church. The reverend, who has some insight into what it's like for people who have left a high control group, gave a really nice sermon, and clarified that at that church, everyone is on their own journey for truth WITH A LITTLE T. It kind of helped me be able to feel a little more comfortable with the word "truth," but if it's used in a religious context, or the words "the" and "Truth" are strung together, I still have a tendency to want to bolt.
  
  I now refer to the organisation as the Watchtower Society, and I always say "they" when I speak of other members. After two years, I don't feel as though I am one of them anymore. Now all I'm dealing with are the strange issues of being an "ex" JW, like not having references to look for a job, and not having anyone to put down as an emergency contact on my kid's emergency cards in school.
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  19

  Behind the yellow smiley face (Wal-mart)

  by Sadie5 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's been a year since i started my job at wal-mart.

  it has been an eye opening experience how they treat their workers.. here is one the ways they cut costs.

  i was hired as a sales clerks which is the lowest paid position.

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  Cicatrix

  I have a relative and a friend who both used to work at WalMart, so I've been aware of this issue for a couple of years.
  
  I don't shop a whole lot at WalMart. We get our groceries from a store called "Aldi". Most of the stuff is store brand, and you have to bag your own groceries, but they cost about half what stuff at WalMart costs, their cashiers make $10 per hour, and the store closes on holidays. I don't know what kind of insurance benefits the staff gets.I haven't heard any of the employees complaining, in fact, I heard one employee praising the company.
  
  Anyone here work at Aldi? I'd like to hear from insiders.
  
  We buy our meat from a local meat market. It's a little more expensive, but we are helping support our local community members instead of a huge corporation.Plus, the hamburger doesn't shrink, tastes a lot better, and doesn't come in those nonrecyclable plastic containers that WalMart uses (we don't have a recycling center that will take that particular plastic around here).
  
  We also shop at Kroger's, because they pay their employees well here.We also frequent the farmer's market in the summer.
  
  I get most of my clothing and a lot of furniture at Goodwill. I consider it recycling;)We hit the clearance racks at JC Penney and Sears for anything we can't find at Goodwill or yard sales.I also like to buy gently used furniture from the want ads. I figure that way, the money is being directly funneled back into the economy.
  
  It takes a little more time to do this instead of "one stop shopping." I can go yard saling all day and only end up with a few quality items, but the savings is usually phenomenal, and I think it's well worth my time to help out the local economy and mom and pop enterprises.
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  20

  MY COUSIN RETURNS Franz' book TO ME - THANKS BUT NO THANKS

  by JT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we invited them into the family room , their eyes just popped for they recall when lady ?c?

  and i got married and was living in the basement of an older couples home so that after leaving bethel-------- i could stay in the full time work, we were shooting for the traveling work.

  as he put it, you all done went materialistic on us.

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  Cicatrix

  "one would think that after awhile some jw would reconize, why is it i as a grown man can;t discuss these issues openly among fellow jw
  
  that really should be a red flag-
  
  when you take a college class and tell the class that you were part of a group that forbide open and free discussions, you always get some student from some commuinist or dictator type country who will speak up and say
  
  i know all about that, my dad was killed, etc"
  
  JT-
  
  This is how I met and became good friends with a woman who is an exile from an Eastern European country. She had been a journalist there, and spoke out against the regime. All of her writing and her typewriter were confiscated, and she had to flee for her life to the US.
  
  She was trying to get others in our class to understand how lucky we are to live in a country where we do have relative freedom. The majority of the class couldn't get what she meant, as they had always been free. She had a bit of a language barrier, so I explained to the class what she was trying to say. She asked me why I was able to understand, when no one else could, so I explained my background to her.
  
  Education really is power. Perhaps that's why those in the WTS who have been in elder positions and the like are sometimes more able to easily discern the irony of the fact that the WTS condemns other churches that forbid their members to read WTS literature, then issue the same rule for their own "flock." They are intimately involved in the judicial decisions that are made, in the decisions of what members of the congregation are to know.They have seen the naked Emperor, and often have to try to cover him up, lol.
  
  Most Witnesses also have not done an indepth study of the material in the bound volumes. They just aren't interested in going back into all those old issues (and I think the WTS tends to stay away from making quotes like the examples that you gave, now).Most Witnesses also haven't been trained to use critical thinking skills. They've been coached that everything they read is "the truth" which has been channeled from God to the faithful and discreet slave, then into the WT and Awake. To question something that is written within those "holy tomes" is to question the black and white belief system that has given their lives meaning.
  
  I certainly understand your frustration, though. My mother has started studying with the JWs again. She is the one who tried to convince me for years that the WTS is a cult. Now she tells me she is only studying because she likes the company, and she could never understand the Bible on her own if she just tried to read it herself.And to add to the irony, she has a degree in psychology, and took comparative religion in college!!
  
  Critical thinking skills are only employed when a person is motivated by something to make them stop and wonder. If the belief system serves a useful purpose, the person doesn't want to see the discrepencies. They may even admit they exist, then refuse to explore the issue any further, because it's a lot of work to change an entire belief system.
  
  Often, though, a thought that you've left with someone may come back to mind years later, when they start to experience some turmoil.
  
  So who knows, maybe some day, you will be having a party for the person who sent the book back with a note. Then you will be able to take that note out and laugh about what they did, then celebrate;)
• 
  25

  You know your a mother when .....

  by Angharad in

  1. social
  2. humour

  got sent this in email this morning.. .

  1. you count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they're equal.. .

  2. you have time to shave only one leg at a time.. .

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  Cicatrix

  Lol:)These are so true.
  
  And may I add-
  
  you wear the macaroni and yarn necklace that your child made just for you out in public.
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  13

  How many brought to the JWs by the door to door work?

  by undercover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  minimus stated in another thread that 99% of newly baptized jws are children/teens of jws.

  another poster said that they knew of only one person baptized in 20 years of door to door work.. let's do an informal, unscientific poll/survey:.

  how many here were brought into the "truth", whether baptized or unbaptized publishers, by means of the door to door work having no prior experience with jws?

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  Cicatrix

  I was. I had never even heard of Jehovah's Witnesses until they showed up on my doorstep when I was sixteen.
• 
  68

  Would Anyone Really Notice If You Were Gone???????

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what do ya think?

  ?

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  Cicatrix

  Lol, Elsewhere.
  
  Alas for them, for the first time in twenty years I would no longer be on call.
• 
  29

  new to here

  by aka_duffy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  about fifteen years ago, i just kind of stopped attending.

  not that i'm any happier, but i don't have a group of people dogging my steps, waiting for me to fail.

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  Cicatrix

  Hello and Welcome:)
• 
  18

  Catholic Church: Sorry little girl... you're going to hell

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and there is nothing you can do about it because you can't eat bread!.

  http://www.cnn.com/2004/us/08/19/communion.denied.ap/index.htmlchurch says girl's communion not valid.

  brielle, new jersey (ap) -- an 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first holy communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating roman catholic doctrine.. haley waldman, 8, is shown in her communion gown in this undated family photo.. now, haley waldman's mother is pushing the diocese of trenton and the vatican to make an exception, saying the girl's condition should not exclude her from the sacrament, which commemorates the last supper of jesus christ before his crucifixion.

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  Cicatrix

  Awww, I'll give her a hug when I see her then. According to my in-laws and the ministers of several religions, I'm going to be there too;)
• 
  56

  Preaching Doom and Gloom in October?

  by Sassy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my ex husband (who is dfd but not a professsed apostate) told me yesterday that in october there is going to be a big push for preaching doom in service.. like the last chance to get people in before the end.. .

  has anyone else heard this?.

  i assume either his brother who is a dub or his mother have passed this on to him, in order to scare him to come back quick before everyone dies.. .

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  Cicatrix

  I remember some time back they correlated the date for Halloween/All Soul's day with the flood.
  
  I wonder if their choice of October for major campaigns has anything to do with that, or if it's just a good way to get the rank and file to "jump start" their new service year creating a sense of urgency.
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  68

  Would Anyone Really Notice If You Were Gone???????

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what do ya think?

  ?

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  Cicatrix

  My kids probably would when they ran out of clean towels and food.