It cannot happen this year. It is predicted by so many worldly and pagan sources that it would be disgraceful to god if their predictions would hit the target better than his spirit guided organisation's.
CP
wachtower dec 1 2011 p.10 "french village faces influx of apocalypse believers...they believe the world will end 21 december 2012 when the end of....ancient maya calander...despite predictions by calamity-howling religious leaders, pseudoscientists, and any other prognosticators, earth will be in existence for a long time...when will this occur?
no human knows.
jehovah's witnesses do not try to predict when god will destroy the wicked...{really?
It cannot happen this year. It is predicted by so many worldly and pagan sources that it would be disgraceful to god if their predictions would hit the target better than his spirit guided organisation's.
CP
...for helping me see the light.. in 2008 i voted for the first time ever.
i voted for obama for president because i truly believed he and biden were a better choice to lead america than anybody running with sarah palin.
she scared me and still does even though i respect and admire john mccain.. being in texas and enjoying our relatively strong local economy i voted for rick perry to remain as governor and voted a mix of republican, democrat, and one libertarian for the other state and local positions that were up for election.
I guess he is stating that he will never vote for Liberals, but Democratic, Republican and Environmental parties are all OK.
CP
Mr. Flipper thank you for your viewpoint. I do understand it is most common standpoint in this forum and kind of reason d'etre for this forum in overall. I might have said it earlier that for me it is really irrelevant if JW belief is true or not, for me it simply do not matter. I find the expectation of paradise with friendly people without sickness and worries appealing and charming, that is why I really do hope this would be true one day for humanity. But personally I do not want to live that way, therefore I pass. CP
Assuming JW religion has truth, what would be the final end result of living obedient and active witness life is something I really do not want to experience. Therefore I rather stay outside, but wish at the same time that all the hopes and expectations of witnesses will become true for them.
CP
my dad recently found out i wasn't coming to meetings and going out in field service.
he found an excuse to get me alone in his car and just lit into me about it.
he said that if i'm not going out in service that i'm not one of jehovah's witnesses and the brothers won't be able to trust me when the time comes to go undercover due to being attacked by the authorities.
In case you have really determined not to be part of JW when big A occurs, I guess it wouldn't really matter to you if you would or wouldn't get those secret directives. They wouldn't be your ballgame anymore as you are waiting the ground to swallow you or your nearest building to crash over you. If you have again chosen to try to reach the life in eternity in paradise that would obviously matter.
CP
i recall going to the second half of a thursday night meeting after what was meant to be a cheeky after work beer (three strong beers downed quickly on an empty stomach).
i would have been ok had a caring elder not decided to grab me for some encouragement afterwards.. i hoped the faint odor of smoke on my clothes (smoking in pubs was still the done thing in those days) wouldn't be noticed but hard to hide alcohol on the breath.
i tried to say very little and talk in a way that avoided me beathing over him.
Yes ocassionally, to conventions more often. Best memory is however when I was in fancy wine tasting (release of a new product) and this occured same time as the meeting. Event was filmed and televised later that evening as one insert of the late evening news. There I was, smutting my wine (tenth I guess) and small talking to gorgeus lady in national news. Some friends made me aware that they had seen me there with some notable wink. I have no idea what story my wife had told them about my absence from meeting.
Those were the days
CP
I never booked from list. I made my own arrangements and if the property was on the list it was certain I could get the room cheaper.
I was so cheap.
CP
this is my first post on this forum, though it feels like i already know some of you here.
i have been lurking for a couple of months now, and i must say, there honestly seems to be more love and respect here than any forum i have ever seen on any forum of any kind.
i am 25 years old, married 3 years to my wonderful wife who is 22. we had a somewhat classic jw upbringing... which i now know has been our biggest problem.
Welcome aboard captain
I can relate to your experience in so many levels. I simply did not make my move so early in my life and it was not based on research of any sort. I guess it is because I do not have any doctrinal issues (they simply do not matter to me at all) I have taken different approach with my wife. Ofcourse deep inside I wish she would leave the religion, but as long she feels satisfied being there it is absolutelly OK with me. Ofcourse we have the bonus of being together already longer time and getting through lots of trouble in our relation. We both know that we have strong feelings and strong relationship. We agreed to disagree, I will not live forever with her in paradise, and she will continue to support witness activities. We also agreed that she may believe whatever she likes and I do not try to impact her. She agreed to do the opposite, she will not bring the teachings to my table. In a sense we agreed to live in divided household and it has worked sofar. Ofcourse I see as my obligation to release the secret announcements to her in beforehand.
I assume that your wife, even not well educated, has strong belief in JW teachings. She has planned eternal life with you in paradise, where you both would be perfect and even more lovable than today. Maybe you could have tens of children and hundreds of grandchildren and so on. If you leave the religion and she stays, it is like telling her I do not want to live with you in all eternity, I rather die. That's more or less what I had to say to my wife. On top of that if you try to activelly persuade her out of the religion, she could feel that you try to kill her too, end is anyway so close. Try to put yourself to her position and imagine what your words could mean to her. Ofcourse I cannot say if your wife has felt it this way, but that is my experience with my wife, which she very openly admitted.
I would suggest that you try to study how the life of those who live in divided households look like, could it be an option you could manage to live in, would you think your wife could settle with that kind of scene. If she is not prepared to face the facts of teachings, she is not at all supportive to your efforts. I think there is certain amount of wisdom in what is thaught specially to sisters living in divided households, try to win them without words, get them interested by your example. You could choose the same approach. If it is important to you to know how the teachings relate to reality, please keep on studying. But maybe it is not wise to challenge your wifes standpoint when she is not up to it. Show with your own example how satisfying your life is without JW circles, try to spend lots of time with her, do fun stuff together, show her you care. Maybe one day she would like to join you in your activities even a meeting night, maybe again another time too.
CP
Get a room
CP
my wife who is in a never ending study seems to be learning a lot about 'headship' lately, and i notice that this weeks okm shows that once again on tms night they are going to emphasize the principles of headship from the reasoning book, page 253 in the english version..