i am due in the middle of october and my husband and i cannot come up with a name.
i almost had him sold on venus, until he asked people at work what they thought and he got wierd looks.
i wanted to name the last baby sidney, but let him name her because he has never gotten a chance to name a kid before.
My favorite girls name, which I was planning to name my own:
Arden
I went with another name only because I had to stick with the cheesy idea of 'everyone in the family starting with the same letter'...I am sure you've met those types before...hee hee.
Of course, I am particularly partial to the name Katherine...she could call herself 'Kat' on-line!
i thought it would be interesting for people to just post a few things about themselves so we can get to know each other just a bit.. try posting 10 facts about your life.. joel.
1. i was born and raised in south georgia.. 2. my favorite subject in school was math.. 3. i was in the fulltime service (bethel and pioneer) for 4 years.. 4. my favorite color is blue.. 5. mitch and i have been together over 12 years.. 6. we live in a suburb of atlanta georgia.. 7. we love to eat out and have friends over for dinner and board games.. 8. the only sport i was ever any good at is tennis.. 9. my favorite tv show of all time is the simpsons.. 10. we are both naturists and wish we could lay on the beach naked every day.
1. I was born in RI, raised on Long Island, New York. I currently live in Orlando, Florida
3. I am second oldest of 5 children, 2 boys/3 girls
4. I am left-handed
5. I just turned 26 years old
6. I have 2 beautiful children, 4 years on Thursday(boy)/1 1/2 years(girl)
7. My favorite musician is Billy Joel.
8. I speak Polish.
9. I love card games, mainly poker.
10. My video collection mainly consists of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Aliens Trilogies, basically any sci-fi/aliens/action movies.
Joel-great idea!
Kat
i found this place, purely by accident, and have been very amazed, at all of these touching, personal revelations, that many are sharing, here.
i actually was doing a search, jus tryin to learn how michael jackson's appearance came to be so radically changed..(that's a whole nother topic, and i came away, feelin sorry for him, after all i read, but, another time ) and ran across this forum.
im 41, was "raised" in the truth, my mother and her whole side of our family are long time witnesses, my father converted when i was around 4 years old.
Hi Gimme,
Just wanted to throw in my welcome!
Kat
when i first started studying 10 years ago with jw's i felt uncomfortable using jehovah's name.
i can't explain why but i avoided using it.
after awhile it became a beautiful name to me.
Absotively-Posilutely!!! (if you've never seen Oliver&Co. then disregard my silly little remark)
I am totally in the same boat. I stopped using the name Jehovah altogether. Now it's just God. I keep associating the name 'Jehovah' with JW's. Whether it's His name or not, I can't bring myself to use it at this moment.
Kat
do you believe that humans are capable of complete sexual monogamy?.
i believe 100% emotional monogamy is obtainable, but i'm not sure about sexual monogamy.
does gender figure into the equation?
Yes. I believe not only some, but many humans, are capable of complete sexual monogamy. I actually think it's very easy for some. Then again, it's just the opposite for other people. It depends on who you are asking. I agree with teejay...there is simply no solid answer to this.
My $.02
Kat
is it true statistically,j.w's suffer from depression far more than the rest of us?
Dave,
WOW! I can't put into words everything that I am thinking but your post blew me away. I don't know how much of your post applied to me but I felt I related a little to it. I used to have an irrational fear of death that I couldn't find the cause for. I used to lie awake at night just worrying that I or someone I love would die and how I would not be able to handle the latter. Mostly my kids...I most often had this extreme worry about my kids dying all of the sudden. This would literally keep me awake for hours. Just the thought of death itself; I dwelled on it. I couldn't get it out of my mind. I started to think there was something clinically wrong with me.
I was born into the 'truth' and have, from the time I can remember, been afraid, no...TERRIFIED of Armageddon and the subsequent destruction. Whenever a big storm would blow through town I'd start crying and asking my mother if Armageddon was here. When the Gulf War came around I was convinced, in my warped mind, that it was a sign that the end was iminent.
I can only say that I wasn't crazy after all, thank God. (Well, I hope I wasn't crazy!) Things changed when I 'left' the 'truth'. I had been inactive for a long time but never stopped believing. Now I don't worry about death so much anymore because I no longer believe that I will be vengefully destroyed one day soon. I no longer believe that my children will be destroyed because I am not a JW. It was that simple. I guess that all those years I was sure that I wasn't good enough to make it to Paradise and I let it affect me deeply. Now that I no longer believe what I was taught, I feel 100% better about life in general. I no longer worry that I will cause the death of my children. I think that was a huge problem for me. I still worry about many things but no more than anyone else. So I truly believe that being a JW can cause depression and/or anxiety in some people. I don't know if it's common but it's definitely very, very believable.
Kat
it's obvious that the sense of freedom is a dominant.
feeling among most persons here, but it would be .
interesting to hear in what way(s) you feel you .
As other posters have mentioned, I have also lost that judgemental attitude. I feel so much more respectful towards people who do not share my views. I am also much more open-minded, willing to listen and learn from other people. I am happy to have been thrown off my high-horse. That's the biggest change, and I thank my lucky stars every day for it. I feel like my heart has actually grown--and those silly JW's say you become evil...bah!
Kat
with all the problems in the 'truth' and all the things that we know are wrong with it there seems to be aspects of their theology (i.e the sequences of the world powers, statue in daniel, the promise of world restoration again found in daniel) that to me still make sense.
although i cannot follow a religion that believes in the destruction of all humanity barring those that respond to their own preaching work i still believe in a creator and cannot accept the teachings of other religions that have no purpose for the earth and believe that mankinds only destiny is in heaven.
my mind keeps telling me that if god was behind a religion it would be so much better than that of the jws.
Individual,
Something was said on this thread that really caught my attention: Not WHERE do I go, but to WHOM. I really like that statement. Of course, this comforting thought didn't just fix all my confusion and feelings of inadequacy but it definitely made a difference. Personally, I would still love to find a place I could be happy with, I could accept. But the more I search the harder it gets. I keep finding little issues that just bother me. I am making the mistake of looking for the 'perfect' religion. I haven't found it and I am not sure it exsists. There are a million beliefs floating around, and it's quite a tough job to try to figure out who is right and who is wrong. Trouble is, this whole search of mine was just getting out of one thing and trying to jumping into another. I think I was so concerned with finding the 'right' path after discovering I was on the wrong one, that the whole time I didn't stop to think if that path is even made up of church buildings. It could just be a private road starting with me and leading to God, with no middle man.
But, (now here is where I confuse even myself), as comforting as this thought is, I still crave something. I said earlier somewhere that, maybe it's my JW upbringing, I don't know; but I know I won't feel comfortable just sitting at home forever--it might be a totally superficial, unnecessary thing, I admit it freely that it's quite likely--but I still want to find a place to go, a place to fit in, if only to have that feeling of unity within a group of people. I miss that terribly. However, I strongly believe that this is not a guilt thing--this is a simple desire. Hey, I am a sociable person; I love talking and learning about God, so I would naturally want this. Maybe this void will go away, maybe not.
Either way, I am no longer in a rush. I am happy right now just learning again, trying to decide for myself what I feel. Someone once said (I wish I could remember who) that however long it takes to get into this kind of religion, expect to take up that same amount of time to mentally get out. It's tough. Just give yourself time.
You might decide that you don't need church after all, that you don't need an organization to represent you in your relationship with God. I think whatever makes you comfortable is all that matters.
Kat
a board game especially for those with an interest in the workings of the organisation.... maybe one board for jws and one for exjws?.
heres a few ideas to start us off......... little houses = kingdom halls.
big hotels = assembly halls.
LOVE IT!
The fake money could be used not as 'dollars' but in denominations of service hours.
And how about a "Get out of Field Service Free" Card?
Good Idea, IW
Kat
here is a photo of my stepfather and mom, at their wedding in november 1969. mom has one of him with hayden covington and milton henschel taken forever ago, but i like this one better.
mom looks good at 57, don't you think?
henry was 54, and you can see the twinkle in his eyes.
They made a beautiful couple. He looks like he was a genuinely nice person! Glad you could share.
Kat
