Princess - Cool!
I still have the picture of my family sitting there in the heat with our water bottles that looked like beers!
Kaethra
JoinedPosts by Kaethra
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20
Anyone go to an Internatinal Convention????
by VeniceIT ini know i've posted about this in the past, but there are so many new people, and sooooo many lurkers i thought i'd bring it up again.
i went on 2 convetion tours and have to admit we had a wonderful time.
i also made some really good friends from all over that i haven't been able to keep in touch with.
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67
Spirits/Entities - A question for all.
by Nemesis ini would like to ask a question if i might: how do ones here view spirits?
(not the alcoholic kind) i have left the org.
now for at least 5 years, although i did go to the memorial last year, but not where i used to go to the hall; i was not df or da.. .
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Kaethra
Nemesis -
I've always believed in spirits, and I still do after leaving the jws....at least, I feel pretty certain that they exist. And no, I have no evidence to offer, other than anectodal "evidence" from persons that I trust are telling the truth. I feel differently about them now though. I always thought that it would be a terrifying experience to have contact with them, but from hearing other peoples' experiences, it doesn't seem to be terrifying in most cases at all. Most people seem to be like you in that the experiences leave them feeling quite calm.
I did always wonder about the Watchtower's explanations of ghostly activity, i.e. the ghosts were really "demons" who were only pretending to be dead people in order to trick people and make them believe in the lie of life after death. I always thought that that explanation simply did not make sense.
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20
Anyone go to an Internatinal Convention????
by VeniceIT ini know i've posted about this in the past, but there are so many new people, and sooooo many lurkers i thought i'd bring it up again.
i went on 2 convetion tours and have to admit we had a wonderful time.
i also made some really good friends from all over that i haven't been able to keep in touch with.
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Kaethra
Yup...Poland, 1989, while it was still behind the Iron Curtain. It was a great experience. (Except for the boring convention itself...conventions were boring as it was but when you don't even understand the language and you still have to pretend that you're paying attention, it's even worse!)
Then my parents and I spent a month or so touring the rest of Europe. It was wonderful.
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Slander in the congregation.
by VioletAnai inkaethra's comment on a sister's paranoia about slander behind her back got me thinking of my mums own suspicions.
she married my dad when he was an unbaptized person and this was frowned upon.
she'd been previously married and had to divorce cause he had another wife in another country.
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Kaethra
VioletAnai,
I'm sorry about what your mom has had to endure.
I would like to point out, however, that my friend is not being *paranoid* about slander being spread about her. I'm certain that she is indeed being slandered, for many reasons. Slander is a very effective borg weapon when the elders find one difficult to deal with for one reason or another...it would seem that you are already aware of this because of knowing your mom's history. My friend was difficult to deal with because she left an abusive husband...her husband, on the other hand, is well-connected in the congregations and has all his "privileges" intact. (My friend has not been disfellowshipped nor disassociated, by the way.)
I once heard an elder conducting a meeting on the topic of disfellowshipping say that a person can be reinstated but that 'it's never the same'. I remember thinking at the time, 'What a cruel thing to say...what's the point of being reinstated if it's never the same? Does Jesus' sacrifice mean nothing for the reinstated then?' I believe that that elder's comment reflects the mind set of the leadership and thus the majority....that is, that those who have been disfellowshipped and reinstated are still considered by many to be fair game for the vicious borg gossip mill.
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9
My JW friend and Silentlambs...
by Kaethra ini caught up with an old friend on the weekend.
she's still a loyal dub but has had terrible marriage problems in the past (they've been divorced for some time now) and feels that she has been slandered in the congregation.
she's also pretty wild for a dub...anyway, that's a discussion for another time.... over lunch, we got to talking about one of her friends (also a dub) and she mentioned that she is very promiscuous.
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Kaethra
Ranchette - I offered to email her the Silentlambs website but I got the "deer-in-headlights-that-sounds-like-an-apostate-site" look and so I backed off. Too much information too soon will frighten her, as it would any dub. I just want to make sure that the door is open in case she ever wants to question things. For a jw, she is very non-judgemental, no doubt from everything that she has experienced in the congregations herself.
P.S. I made your spinach dip at my Christmas party this year...it was a smash!
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My JW friend and Silentlambs...
by Kaethra ini caught up with an old friend on the weekend.
she's still a loyal dub but has had terrible marriage problems in the past (they've been divorced for some time now) and feels that she has been slandered in the congregation.
she's also pretty wild for a dub...anyway, that's a discussion for another time.... over lunch, we got to talking about one of her friends (also a dub) and she mentioned that she is very promiscuous.
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Kaethra
I caught up with an old friend on the weekend. She's still a loyal dub but has had terrible marriage problems in the past (they've been divorced for some time now) and feels that she has been slandered in the congregation. She's also pretty wild for a dub...anyway, that's a discussion for another time...
Over lunch, we got to talking about one of her friends (also a dub) and she mentioned that she is very promiscuous. I asked her if she had been sexually abused. She said 'yes, by an elder.' The elder has been disfellowshipped but she didn't know if he had been reported to the police (not bloody likely). As he has not gone to jail, it would seem that he was not reported. Then she said something to me in a shocked voice. She said she had heard at a meeting the other night something she had never expected to hear from the platform. She said that the "brother" counselled the congregation that there are pedophiles in the organization and that they should not trust their children with anyone. She couldn't believe it. Well...this proved to be too much for me to resist. I told her all about Silentlambs and the upcoming Dateline story. I told her that that was probably the reason for the announcement and she agreed that it was probable. I'm certain that they are trying to prepare the rank and file for this shocking exposé. I tried to be as neutral as possible for fear of alienating her but I couldn't help but get a few digs in about how the truth has to come out and how the borg has vilified the Catholic church over the same issue, and how the policies of "two witnesses" and not reporting abuse to the authorities has resulted in rampant child abuse in the org.
So, I guess Silentlambs really is making 'em shake in their boots after all!
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125
Ya'll dont believe in God?
by flower ini have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.
i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.
this is disturbing!
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Kaethra
Expatbrit -
Don't mean to be a drag, but I'm logging off now....it's past my bedtime. I'll definitely have a look at your thread tomorrow. :)
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125
Ya'll dont believe in God?
by flower ini have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.
i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.
this is disturbing!
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Kaethra
Expatbrit
Yes...
Even being "self-sacrificing" (borg term *hack*) has its own reward....
I am reminded of a "Friends" episode in which Joey challenges Phoebe to perform one completely selfless act. Everything she came up with was wrong of course, because no matter what she sacrificed, she always ended up feeling GOOD about what she had done for someone else...so there was no truly selfless act.
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125
Ya'll dont believe in God?
by flower ini have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.
i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.
this is disturbing!
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Kaethra
Expatbrit,
"Doing good is its own reward"
For me, the reward is in knowing that I did something right, perhaps something that helped someone else, perhaps something that merely validated to me that I am living by my own code of ethics. I don't expect, need, or even want external validation for my good conduct. Despite my many doubts about the bible, I do believe in Jesus' words to not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. (maybe he was talking about masturbation...hell, I don't know!)
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125
Ya'll dont believe in God?
by flower ini have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.
i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.
this is disturbing!
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Kaethra
Ashi,
First off...I'm a dudette! (High Elf Ice Bitch - ask Six of Seven)
Secondly, perhaps you are right about Ab's comments...but I have seen this same argument over and over from him and other atheists. I've never seen it qualified by a 'believers do good but not solely because of religious guilt'. It is always presented as though believers in anything beyond the scientifically provable are somehow doing good only because of the supernatural ramifications of their actions...as if the atheist, free of any ramifications good or bad, is somehow better for extending kindness to her fellow human.
Flower - glad I could help. (((Hugs))) to you!