Posts by jws

63

Celebrities and their stupid comments

by freedom96 in

jw
friends

dixie chicks, playing a concert over seas, announced that they were embarrassed that our president is from texas.. why don't they keep their dumb ass comments to themselves?

why do many of these entertainers think we give a sh*t what they think???.

play your music, act, entertain us, but keep your yappers shut about politics!

jws

By the way, just a disclaimer. My last post was sarcasm.

I have to agree with the first poster. They should be more dignified when speaking out about their political views. I get so mad when I see and hear celebrities speaking out on different politics. Most of them do not have a clue what they are talking about.

On the other side of the coin, I get angry at celebrities who are pro-war and express that opinion, when they have no clue what they're talking about. Sometimes the only thing they seem to be demonstrating is that they will be patriotic to whatever the government is doing, whether it's right or wrong, they will follow happily. (Hmmm... sorta like being loyal to the WTBTS, right or wrong?) Unfortunately, it usually comes down to an issue of patriotism, not issues. "You are wither with us or against us".

Unfortunately for me, I've seen where the administration has stretched the truth and has been deceitful. If they do have any credible evidence for their claims that have not been debunked, I have not seen that. There are weapons inspectors on-site looking for weapons and not finding any of the WOMD they are purported to have. The way justice works in America, if somebody had reason to believe you had something illegal, a search warrant would be issued (UN weapons inspectors). If they didn't find anything, you wouldn't be hauled off to jail and punished. And before they found anything, it would be called a lynch mob if you were hauled off and punished - vigilante justice. Maybe they punished the right guy, but wouldn't you want to wait for proof? Yet this administration is asking us to jump the gun. They KNOW that WOMD exist, so we must go to war, mostly based on heresay and photos that could be interpreted many ways. I think that Bush's policy is fair game to criticize. Besides, this whole thing is the UN's ballgame. They imposed the sanctions, it's up to them to enforce them and decide whether they were violated and how to punish violations. We are getting awfully jumpy about enforcing somebody else's sanctions.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'd rather let things play out diplomatically and let the inspectors keep searching. When and if they do find something, then a course of action can be decided on. That may involve force, but I'd be more OK with it once they find evidence on-site. In much the same way I'd want evidence to convict a criminal, not heresay and falsified "evidence".

And let's face it, for the most part, nobody really cared about Iraq until the propaganda started in. So a lot of this feeling among many is because the government got them to feel that way through propaganda. That can be scary. In much the same way, Hitler whipped up national fervor against the Jews and other enemies of his.

That's why I'm opposed to our president's course. I've been reading about it and I've formed my opinions based on research. Maybe it's wrong or faulty, but I've looked into it at least. I'm not just following or bashing somebody based on patriotism. It's based on the issues at hand.

63

Celebrities and their stupid comments

by freedom96 in

jw
friends

dixie chicks, playing a concert over seas, announced that they were embarrassed that our president is from texas.. why don't they keep their dumb ass comments to themselves?

why do many of these entertainers think we give a sh*t what they think???.

play your music, act, entertain us, but keep your yappers shut about politics!

jws

the moral fiber of our nation is turning to crap because of these "Liberal.. free minded freaks"

Yeah! Damn those liberals! Always wanting things like racial equality, equality of the sexes, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, peace, a clean and healthy environment. How dare they ruin our moral fiber!

Let's go back to those good old generations when blacks couldn't hold good jobs and had to sit at the backs of buses and were hung and beaten for the color of their skin and back when women stayed home, barefoot and pregnant, where they belong. And everyone was Christian or ashamed to admit otherwise. When people just didn't criticize anything, since the government always knows what's best for us. When the president could commit crimes, order assassinations of those damn liberals and set them up (cointelpro). Back when we could jump into any fight we wanted with such great results, like Viet Nam, or overthrow other rulers simply to protect American companies and their overseas investments - screw their democracy - America is the important one. And companies could dump whatever they wanted into fields and streams or pollute the air. Who cares if people were dying of cancer, think of all that moral fiber they had. Ah, the good old days before all those damned liberals ruined it all!

30

Anyone here can post anything they want...how much is true?

by berylblue in

jw
friends

as i wrote my last post about d. h. (the jw woman who was superficially shot by her abusive non-jw husband), it occured to me that the entire story sounded fabricated.

but it got me thinking...i wonder how many of our posts here are fabricated, exaggerated or embellished?

has anyone here actually been caught in an outright lie?

jws

Well, online some people will say things sarcastically or humorously too, to make a joke. I wouldn't call it a lie, but if somebody didn't understand the context, or the person making the post, they might see it the wrong way.

There's also people who post what they've heard. They may be faithfully presenting it, as it was heard, but the information may not have been accurate to begin with.

And also, there's our own faulty memories. As time goes by, I might remember only parts of an event and try to tell it and tell you this or that happened. But that's me reanalyzing things based on what I remember. Then I remember some more details and realize that's not why things happened that way at all. I wasn't deliberately lying, I just wasn't remembering everything.

And there's also the, shall we say, mentally challenged? JW door-to-door reaches all kinds of people. Sometimes those people are insane and get duped into being a JW or become one because somebody's willing to pay attention to them. Some of those are ex-JWs now. With their mental state, some of the things they say and remember aren't accurate at all.

And yes, there are liars. If it sounds too fantastical, it probably is.

But I believe a lot of the people on this board and I'd say that lying is rare.

36

Do You Still Feel Obliged To Answer To The Elders?

by minimus in

jw
friends

.

for some, there is real fear that they must speak to the elders if they decide to stop by your house .some don't know what they will do if the elders begin questioning them.

what will you do if they want to talk to you?

jws

I haven't seen or heard from my elders in something like a dozen or so years. I really feel no obligation to them and feel no intimindation from them. In fact, a few years ago, I had the pleasure of arguing with my dad's elders over my his medical treatment (he had switched congs so they weren't the same elders at my last hall). It felt great to actually argue with them and score a few points and make them look stupid, without feeling guilty or in fear of not respecting their "authority".

Although I must say, I still feel obliged to play by enough rules to stay hidden away and not get DF/DA for the sake of keeping my JW family members talking to me. If that means I have to talk to one, I'll try my best to keep maintaining my "fade away" status. But, seeing as though I haven't heard from them in years, I don't see that happening.

47

Here we go again - I think I'm toast this time

by DanTheMan in

jw
friends

in september 2001, i had a brief relationship with a coworker.

nothing came of it, we weren't a match.

but i was attracted to her, and i still am somewhat disappointed that more didn't come of it.

jws

Refiners fire said a lot. Growing up JW, relationships with women were serious. In my area, JWs didn't really date unless they intended marriage. Imagine what this does to your perceptions. As a young JW, you find a girl you're attracted to, ask her out, then proceed down that road to marriage. There was no casual dating just to see whether you even liked somebody. You were almost committed to marriage starting with your first date.

In the real world, that sort of thing doesn't play out. I went through it. I would get all serious and scare women away. I thought I was a descent, nice guy that women were supposed to want, but that seemed to scare them away. I was quiet and shy too. Don't ask me why, but a lot of women seem to be attracted to a challenge, not the guy who is willing to have a relationship and be devoted to them. Even though they always complain men are afraid of comittment. And I apologize for generalizing here.

It seems that when I developed more confidence, I had a more aloof attitude. I sent out a different vibe. I attracted a lot more women and didn't get too focused on any one or hung up if the relationship didn't go well and I dated a lot more people. I didn't push for building a relationship. I just went with it and had fun. Not too worried about whether it ended or not. It seemed the more I would send off the vibe that I didn't care, the more women would be attracted to me. Eventually I found one who pursued me and stuck after me and we happened to be into a lot of the same things and got along great. We dated for about 4 years and got married and have now been happily married for another 4 years.

I haven't read about your past history with this girl and I don't know you. But it sounds similar to me in my first years after becoming an ex-JW. This relationship was a long time ago and you're still obsessed. No doubt you are sending out that vibe constantly. It's in the way you talk to her, the way you look at her, the things you say and don't say, your tone of voice. Us guys are often easier to read than we think. It may be that she's picked up on that and it has been wearing on her. Perhaps she feels nervous around you in the first place and overreacted to your comment. She's the one who cut it off, right? So if it hasn't happened again by now, it probably never will. So such comments will never be welcomed and better left unsaid. It only frames you, in her mind, as somebody who won't let go. And people who don't let go can be a legitimate danger. I don't know exactly what was said or how it was said, but I like to try to see both sides and I can see where she might have gotten spooked.

Like I say, I don't know either of you personally, and I don't mean to turn it around back on you. Sorry if I'm way off the mark, but there's two sides to everything.

29

How long could you live without electricity?

by JH in

jw
friends

i lived through the ice storm of january 97 in quebec.

i spent 1 complete day without electricity.

it was about 25f (-5c) outside, and i had no heating.

jws

I've got camping gear for camping trips that includes a propane space heater (except it's supposed to be used in open spaces with ventilation). So we could huddle around that, if we use it outside where it is presumably cold. We also have a fireplace, but only a few logs. We've got a Coleman grill with plenty of fuel and a pretty good supply of water. Also have the power inverter for my car, but that isn't going to run too many things. The main thing would be to keep food cold if power was lost in summer. I think I need a generator or to invest in solar.

10

Watchtower statistics

by Realist in

jw
friends

has anyone actually added up the numbers in the wt statistics?.

look at http://www.watchtower.org/statistics/worldwide_report.htm.

if you add the numbers up you get actually 5,682,705 witnesses....not 6,117,666.

jws

Anybody sum the individual populations for each country. I'd like to compare the ratio of total JWs to total population and see what direction that's going in.

28

I went to the Assembly....

by teenyuck in

jw
friends

i was at home and a man came to the door...i knew immediately he was a jw brother, however, he was quite handsome (no offense) and very well built.

he looked like a cross between brad pitt/tom cruise/evan marriott.... he wore a very nice dark gray suit that formed perfectly to his sculpted muscles...he had a very nice book bag.

black, brushed silver hardware.

jws

I started to wonder when the assembly had an interactive Watchtower study with people raising their hands and microphone carriers walking around. I had a really odd, but awesome dream this morning too, but don't think I should share .

I'm in no position to analyze dreams and tell you what they means, but some things I did find interesting is that you only mentioned sisters in the audience, no men. The only man was the one in control on the podium. And the sisters were mostly described as old ladies, leaving you as the lone, young female.

Funny how dreams are. A passing thought can end up in a dream later on and you can't figure out howor why that one thing caused such a significant role in the dream. The very act of being on this board may have set up the whole JW theme.

29

What's The Worst Pressure You Endured Because You Were A JW?

by minimus in

jw
friends

was it internal or external?

i know of some that pioneered because they felt they had to.

we know of many that felt awful because they were ridiculed because they were witness children and had to get baptized and face school pressure, all the while hating it.

jws

I think the worst pressure was the Kindom Ministry School. When I was a kid, I was quiet and shy in the first place. Facing a room full of people, with all eyes on me was pure torture. I never wanted to join the KMS. It's been so long I don't remember whether I was made to or whether my parents signed me up without my OK. And the KMS never did anything to help me with public speaking either. The problem was probably confidence. All I felt before a talk was scared. All I felt afterwards was rage for having been made to sign up and go through that. Now I have more confidence and can speak to groups if I need to and I didn't learn that from the KMS. The KMS never addressed my confidence. Especially when they publicly critique you from the stage afterwards. Like that's supposed to boost my confidence.

And yes, another of my worst fears was going out in service in my school's neighborhood. I felt terrified of running into a classmate at the door and then being made fun of at school. For some reason or another, I don't think the school's territory and the congregation's territory overlapped by very much and my parents were somewhat sensitive to this when they requested territory cards. But, there'd be times when we'd go out as part of a group and end up in the school's territory because somebody else checked out the territory card.

39

upcoming elder visit, need help

by greven in

jw
friends

i have been inactive for quite a while since i started to do research on the society.

the elders knew about this and even encouraged it, until i started to ask the wrong type of questions, mostly of the kind: "can you provide verifyable evidence for that?".

anyway, they wanted to meet to discuss my current position towards the religion and towards the bible.

jws

Since that time I do not consider myself a JW. Now, I could have submitted my DA letter right away and I would be free, but would make it very difficult to convince my parents and other relatives of the same. A better attempt would be to continue in my research getting more and more material and gradualy introducing evidence to my relatives. Since my progress in this is very promising (my parents already agree on several opinion against the society) I wouldn't want to risk it by getting DA'ed. In the end I might not get them out but at least they will understand me better and not shun me. So basically I try to be a wolf in sheeps cloth so to speak. Stealth will aid my goal.

I don't know how deeply engrained into this your relatives are. But beware. I've heard of people agreeing just to get you to incriminate yourself even more. Once your guilt is unquestionable, they'll go running to the elders with what they know.

It's entirely possible that the elders are visiting as a result of something your relatives told them you had been saying. Though if it's only 2 elders, it's not a judicial committee yet. But they may likely have info that they consider credible because it comes from a loyal dub. And if you (the one who's been questioning) tell a different story, they will believe you are lying to them. Then it could turn into a judicial committee.

Good luck on getting your family out. It's hard to do from the outside.