i think there are a lot of ways to get your hands bloody without actually joining the military or shooting a gun indiscriminately at foreigners in their own country.. can you think of ways that jws are participating in sponsoring wars without "going to war"?.
The WTBTS has a stock portfolio. It makes sense. I never thought it was so godly to do all the research and the anxiety with the market falls. Does anyone have any idea what they hold? Friends have invested in mutual funds for green industries and microloans.
There is no excuse for holding the munitions stock, even if it were for one day. There are probably peaceful uses of the technology.
I never thought of this. Thanks.
ok.... looking for some logical explainations.... my daughter, ali, who i've been posting about on the forum...who has developed congestive heart failure.... has had some spooky experiences lately in her house.
here are a few of the things that happened:.
about a month ago, ali and her son david, heard noises from the attic above ali's bedroom...that sounded like something was being dragged across the attic floor.
Spirits do not exist. People believe in the paranormal is irrational. There is not one shred of hard science suporting it. Read medival accounts of incidents like this and see if anyone believes anything besides hysteria. The problem is the mere belief in spirits can terrorize one and create havoc. I suggest reading C.S. Leewis' Screwtape Letters.
She could be "gaslighted' but it seems far fetched. Exclusing spirits, this is a matter for the police. Our minds can plays tricks on us. Perhaps read the Amazing Creskin's site. Certainly, if she is "gaslighted" self-care is impossible. Police are trained to ferret out such characters. Prison is where they belong. Maybe paying a lawyer a small sum to speak with the landlord. Again, one of the last people I would want to know I was suspectible to such influence is my landlord.
The vast majority of people wouldl find this mirthful. I lose things and then find them. My memory is not focused on every little element in my life. This sounds like too many JW demon stories.
in the supreme court of the united states, october tenth, 1988, case no.
88-1374, filed on june 22, 1988, clerk joseph f. spanol, jr.. on that date and file number, the attoreny james m. mccabe,and donald t. ridley, 25 colombia heights, brooklyn, ny 11251 (718)606-4993, attorneys for amicus curiae, watchtower bible and tract society of new york, inc. filed a "friends of the court" brief on the behalf of the famous preacher, jimmy swaggart and his ministries.. why would the watchtower society, direct channel for jehovah's holy spirt, which also godly hates babylon the great, which also christiandom is the largest part, go into the supreme court of the united states and file a legal brief to help jimmy swaggart's ministries in his trial which was case no.
88-1374: jimmy swaggart ministries, appelant vs. board of equalization of california, appeller?.
The amicus briefs I worked on in civil rights were carefully coordinated within the civil rights division. Every group helped every other group decide which points to highlight with their individual expertise. The final rest was a coordinated set of briefs. My client agreed to not press certain issues that were a problem for another leading group. The Witnesses may not have coordinated its amicus briefs. Somehow my image of a Witness lawyer is one who is tainted. The overall mindset to be a Witness is so contrary to the way the overwhelming majority of lawyers approach life.
Paying things to Caesar sounds absolute to me. Jesus did not qualify it. There is one rule for the rank and file and another for the leadership. Could a rank and file member suggest this legal strategy. The hierarchy is clear. My father, who gave me no toys and dressed me in thread bare clothes, supported immoral sisters with their bastard children. The children's wardrobe was so much better than mine. To this day I am stumped as to how the girls strutted the cloting. We could starve while the Society is enriched. I still feel guilty if I watch Swaggart, Graham, Falwell, etc. They can spend countless thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, supporting Swaggart so Swaggart is enriched.
Their solution is not principled. It is understandable for a wordly organization. They claim, however, to be the sole organ of Jehovah's will. Their legal advice makes sense to avoid taxation but it is alsp pharisaical. Contribution, donation -- we are on substantial legal nitpicking grounds. They wrote so movingly about the org.'s noncompliance with the nazis, which was not true. Yet they comply with the government. If the GB is the only group, why didn't the GB know the precise formulation.
This case is interesting, not for the actual legal ruling, but as an example of how hypocritical they are. I noticed as a teenager that their hours for pioneer service completely complied with Selective Service rules regarding draft exemption. It completely correlated. Why 100 hours and not $102? Where is this in the Bible. I imagine that different countries had different pioneer commitment hours.
I've attended churches and great emphasis is placed on individual spiritual development and cohesiveness of the community. The Witnesses don't seem to care about individual growth. All the focus is on bringing new meat into the fold.
it was not a light slam of flesh and bone against a slanting wall of the derelict cabin.. animal rage set its talons upon an unsuspecting, trusting child and sent her hurtling into the air and, upon impact with the splintery cedar paneling, edging downward, painfully downward by a stop-go motion that could hardly be described as sliding.
landed in a shocked but still breathing heap, she lay quiet until the beast left its lair.
once out the ill-hung door and into the labyrinthine wood that all but put the tiny speck of four rotting walls safely off the map, mommy went to work.
The comination of Witness culture and my father's unrestrained rage led to a terror of a childhood for my siblings and my mother, so gentle, was beaten more severely than we were. This situation was so different from the images presnted in the Kingdom Hall. The Witnesses deny the level of abuse. Sick people are attracted by religosity. Paul's letter imploring children to be subservient and the old spare the road and spoil the child were used for legitimacy as we risk our very lives. I've posted elsewhere concerning my story. His actions were over the top. The psycholgocial abuse of being told as a young, impressionable child that I was so bad no man would ever want me. His publicly declaring to the overseer's wife how bad I was but what a delight my sister was hurt me to my very core.
A large part of life is spent combatting the impact of those years. I wrote to a teen fashion mag for advice. They wrote back to a friend to get in touch with a family service bureau. I was certain Jehovah would slay me for speaking against them. Many times I called and hung up at the last minute. I crumpled the paper up and hid it in my room. My mom, the snoop, found it and called herself. The outside world saw us as subservient but I could talk about my father and the Witnesses. The lies were no longer internalized. I had an ally. I placed an order for guns an knives to level the playing field. A mom occurred where I realized my life was just as precious as his. No one else was protecting me. A rape monitoring system went into effect.
My mom was adamant that the brothers would back up and any reference to Witness teachings would only increase his feelings of grandiosity and narcissim. The agency, used to allying with religions, were shocked. My mother was right. They were lingering when I was quite young. I saw my mom being beat and perhaps even raped on a frequent basis. I prayed my heart out to Jehovah for my father to be active. My prayers were answered. I shared my dream with my mom. She was upset that I prayed for it. He would only become hugely worse which did happen. His outrageous sayins, desinged to pummel me, were said at Kingdom Hall to leaders. No one moderated his views or pointed out that I was fine. They agreed with him. I was too afriad to look at boys, I never knew a school dance, etc. They saw him pinch me severely and even kick me. Only now, later in life, do I begin to appreciate the waste, the unnecessary ruining of me.
A boyfriend and I were in Southampton on Long Island on the main tourist commercial strip. A fat woman came along, very downscale, screeching berating things at a two or three year old. Everyone, perhaps at least 100 people, cease their activity and stopped. We all wanted to be witnesses to her hitting the child. No cell phones existed. I superconcentrated to get the detials correct.
He was over the top. What Christian watches the torture of Christians and looks the other way.
my name is jaime and i'm here because my fiance recommended this site.
i am not, nor will i ever be, a jehovah's witness.
i strongly believe it is a cult, but i also am respectful of the choice people make to associate themselves within the witness "world.
I thought I was raised by nutty Witnesses!. My family dates back to Russell's days. Growing up, I feared rejection so keenly b/c of the Witnesses. My grandmother and aunt were present in our lives. We never invited them to patriotic festivals at school. As I grew older, college was a touchy subject. They were so devout. Love hinged on the WTBTS stance on anything. It was unlike normal families. They loved me. Two things happened: 1. my aunt visited my mom one day when she was severely depressed from menopause. Some witnesses made her feel like crap b/c you are always supposed to be jolly. With tears in her eyes and so devout, she begged my non-active mother to be certain that I went to dances, parties and received a college education. My shock and gratefulness persists. 2. As I grew older, I could not pretend anymore. It was harder and harder to shield my worldly life from them. I actively lied and hit things so I would not be rejected. I graduated college, was active politcally, attended rock concerts, was worldly in almost every way. They pretended they did not see. My sister infuriated me by not throwing the Christmas tree in a sheet and hoisting it out a window when my aunt showed up. No one mentioned it.
Time and baby may alter her views. You are annoyed but your husband must hurt deeply. Normal people cannot appreciate the pressure. She is not reasonable. Indeed, she is rude beyond all bounds of a civil society. Cherish your husband and baby. Now that you are older, relationships change. As I matured, I had to make sure my mom also matured. Set boundaries. Some AA meetings might help. AA talks about having no control and focusing on your responsibility. My trait of people-pleasing has impeded my life and narrowed my vision. A favorite Anglican priest once said, You can't say yes until you learn to say no."
Advice is easy. Action is hard. The baby must be such a precious gift. Witnesses will say your parents will die.......Jehovah will destroy you............Simple life pleasures will be treated as evil. My mom was raised as a Witness. Also, my father. I wish they had stood up to their families.
There isn't enough space to tell you all the horrors.
as many of you know i suffer from a few disabilities.
i also worked for many years with people with a wide range of disabilities including deaf and hard of hearing, visually impaired and blind, mobility impairments (use crutches, walkers, scooters or wheelchairs).. having been on two sides of a disability i know a lot of people are confused.. here is something from my life that i experience regularly.
i'm in a wheelchair now and although i don't use it in the house i do use it to go out.
I had utterly agonizing facial pain for thirty years with a suicide rate of 95% or more. Coping was very difficult. Words can't begin to convey how bad it was. My father was horrific with abuse. Perhaps, there was a balance b/c my mom totally supported me. She contiually gave up things to her detriment to help me. I was very independent but tied to her b/c of abuse from my father. She actually moved in with me to help. I was very dependent. I forced myself to endure thirty oral surgeries. I have a morphine pump but opiates don't address nerve pain.
One old-time antidepressant worked but its side effects were so incredibly toxic. The few meds that help with nerve pain did not help mine. One bad factor was that I was at the very top of the legal profession when I became ill. My ilness is poorly diagnosed. Dentists keep giving me weird, terrified looks. Nothing was explained. I later learned there was no cure. They were shocked I was not dead. I went from Wall St. and the Princeton Club and St. Bart's to cringeing in front of the Family Affair building, calling a friend from work b/c I feared I would walk in traffic or gain access to a window and jump of the iconic building. Normally, I would ask the police for help but I knew I would be taken to Bellevue.
I saw so many oral surgeons, acupunturists, massage therapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, dentists and physical therapists. Chinatown was no longer about food but trying Chinese herbs. Finally, I did my own research back in the days of magazines at a NY medical library. I diagnosed myself. When I spoke with teaching hospital doctors in NY and Harvard, I was told the diagnosis was a scam. Meanwhile, I am going down the tubes. I went from the toast of the town to the bottom. People attacked me on mental health units. The book described my symptoms to a T, something no other source could. My first surgery completely erased the first pain site. My entire jaw was affected. I lost almost all of it. Surgery would remove pain at one site but not another. Finally, over the course of many years, it was contained to under my nose.
The spot under my nose would not respond. I spent countless hours in psych ers to stay alive. Also, I called priests just to have someone to talk to for a while. My mom accompanied me for all outpatient visits. My life was so good and dear after the Witnesses and my father, I truly reveled in it. How could Jesus condemn me to this? He condemned people to the Holocaust. Why was I special. The medicine was the easy part. Dealing with the political issues with doctors and catering to their egos was the hard part. They want virgin patients, untouched by another doctor b/c of liability. Finally, a very prominent and innovative doctor saw a correlation between the rotted sockets in my jaw bone and the rotted hip bones of cancer patients from chemo. I flew all around the country for help. A sophisticated blood test revealed abnormalities in my blood. Every illness in my family could be seen in the blood. I was placed on blood thinners. The pain disappeared for the first time. A couple of year of here and gone followed. Gradually, the pain free moments increased.
Facing the damage to my life was terrifying. I ended up at Bellevue outpatient. My dependence on my mom was extreme and she was not immortal. She was in deep denial concering my level of dysfunction. I insisted we get pro'l help for making the transition when she died. She tried very hard once confronted. I could not wake up like Sleeping Beauty, put on a Prada suit and go practice law. So many times I've wanted to pinch myself b/c even for Ms. NY neurotic, my degradation was extreme. The opiates meant I had to be admitted to a psych unit to detox. The local hospital had the contract for heroin addiction in Manhattan. Other patients were a collection if criminal misfits fresh out of state prisons. Several times I faced death or serious bodily injury from patients losing control and becoming violent. It may be a very small population but when they act out, watch out for your very life! A woman who razored someone's mouth to death and spent time upstate was newly released. There was an argument over air-conditioning. They had no idea how it worked. No idea of air vents, etc. She came out me with full fury. Fortunately, I befriended a prostitute who was in the crack house where the homicide occurred. The prostitute tackled her. I screeched the details to the staff so if I died someone would know. The staff told me she was harmless. Since the unit was very bad and I had world ranked doctors, her assault paved my way out of there. I threatened to have the police enter the unit and arrest her.
I am recovering today. It is quite an effort but worthwhile. I volunteer for a civil rights law firm. Altho I tried hard, I did not pass my local bar but by a small margin. Recently, I've spent hours on the phone talking to friends. One of my goals is to grapple with writing about severe pain in a meaningful and eloquent way. i feel I must have something unique to say. Several people have suggested that I represent people with disabilities. There is such a need for political advocacy. The legal field is limited. Disabled people have to be vocal. A wheel-chair sit-in is a great visual. I get annoyed with other disabled lawyers who think faxing documents to overwhelm an agency at a coordinated time is a great protest. My idea is to have pain-athons the way we have cancer telethons. Pain plagues humankind. It is worse than death. We are too complicit in our oppression.
One of my favorite political statements was one I heard from Tom Daschle, the Senate minority and majority leader who received anthrax. Trent Lott made some comments favoring (I remember every Southern Dem who was pro-seg except the one I want). Sen. Daschle thought he would not exploit Lott's political misfortune so he gave a neutral statement. Lott's comments were not overtly racist. Once Sen. Daschle returned to his office, he field phone calls from the civil rights coalition. They demanded he back away and condemn Lott. Daschle rethought his earlier support b/c he had no choice within his constitency. He withdrew his support of Lott. He was not being nice to the civil rights coalition. They were so powerful within his party he could not decline. I want that earned power from the disability movement.
I spent time in pain clinics and programs. There was no answer for me. It frightens me. Basically, I just hung on b/c I was terrified of dying. A rational choice would have been suicide. Despite supporting Kevorkian, I just could not. I always felt that was my option. Now I must live with knowing I could be brave enough to do it.
This is over the top stuff. I'd rather people be impressed by my family, career and civic activities. Perhaps I could use a ghost writer. I wrote this as I went along so it may not be the best I can offer.
paul's letters practically invent christianity.. the gospels trickled in after him.. paul never walked with jesus and yet explains him.. never a quote from the master at all.. yet, paul is such a maven.. if jesus couldn't be bothered to actually reveal what he was all about to his apostles with whom he ate, drank, spoke and slept---why this persecutor, saul?.
the apostles heard every word jesus spoke and were willing to die for him.. paul didn't--yet--miraculously explained every detail of the entire history of god's purpose including his messiah.. .
can anybody provide a non-gimmick answer?.
TD,
Why would Paul make the claim to be a Pharisee? Everything I've read about them is positive, sans the New Testament.
Would you save me from accessing wikipedia and comment on the ebionites. I studied with Elaine Pagels but she never mentioned them. There may have been time constraints.
One thing I know is that I am Bible detail oriented. My Witness upbringing shows. I believe the larger picture is how do I conduct myself in light of these scriptures associated with my culture? Also, the Bible is such a source of almost everything I find meaningful in my culture. I don't see it has validity to other cultures. They can assert, as the terrorists do, that we must acknowledge their religion as true. Jews don't seem to care outside of their group. I find extraordinary beauty in the Bible. I wrote of The Last Temptation of Christ recently. Paul triumphed. His view of Christianity supplanted other viewpoints. In large measure, it doesn't matter whether he was accurate. I do notice similar stories and saying running through the canonical gospels and gnostic gospels. The interpretation is different but the core stories are the same. What does it mean to me?
Rather than posting here, why don't I go to the ballet or listen to the Beatles. The Beatles were my line in the sand against Witness pollution. John Lennon, adored by millions upon millions, was the antiChrist to my father. They mean vastly more to me than being the Beatles.
I've spent my whole life searching for something after the Witnesses. My last project was trying to learn Koine Greek when I am very bad at languages.
in the supreme court of the united states, october tenth, 1988, case no.
88-1374, filed on june 22, 1988, clerk joseph f. spanol, jr.. on that date and file number, the attoreny james m. mccabe,and donald t. ridley, 25 colombia heights, brooklyn, ny 11251 (718)606-4993, attorneys for amicus curiae, watchtower bible and tract society of new york, inc. filed a "friends of the court" brief on the behalf of the famous preacher, jimmy swaggart and his ministries.. why would the watchtower society, direct channel for jehovah's holy spirt, which also godly hates babylon the great, which also christiandom is the largest part, go into the supreme court of the united states and file a legal brief to help jimmy swaggart's ministries in his trial which was case no.
88-1374: jimmy swaggart ministries, appelant vs. board of equalization of california, appeller?.
As a lawyer, I've helped prepare several amicus briefs before the Court. When you file an amicus, it is to help the court. Of course, you are asserting your own interests. You do not become a party. As far as civil rights goes, the ACLU and NAACP amicus briefs carry great weight and are superbly written, usually by leading law school professors. It is a great privilege. I don't see why normal people should be expected to know every technicality of law suits before the Court. A copy can be found at SCOTUS.com, Findlaw, and perhaps Lois Law. First Amendment cases are considered sexy. There should be much legal commentary on the Internet. It does not bind anyone since amicus briefs do not represent parties.
The basic point is clear. I can't begin to estimate the thousands of dollars usually involved in completing these briefs. The commitment of resources is substantial. The Witnesses donated their time and what prestige they have to making certain they would not pay sales tax. Jimmy Swaggart, part of Bablon the Great, was the beneficiary as were the Witnesses and other groups listed. Considering, as someone pointed out, that we were told never to buy Girl Scout cookies, etc. donating hundreds of hours of legal time to Bablyon the Great is clearly a case of do what I say, not what I do.
Their avarice would not bother me if I could have benefited from the strong org as a member. Unlike most societies, their members receive only intangible benefits. There is no Witness Red Cross, no youth groups, nothing. I am curious as to how Scientology works. Worse than the free time to Swaggart, is the fact that there is no means by which we may get an accounting of their decision to commit this time and money to Swaggart. It was in their interest to file the brief. Their interest is not our interest.
The problem is that no active Witness will believe this knowledge. I wonder if anyone can be lukewarm or have doubts and stay in the group. All or nothing seems to reign. Throughout my life, I heard relatives who were clearly troubled by a double standard make rationalization after rationalization to comfort themselves. If it walks like a duck.....
as many of you know i suffer from a few disabilities.
i also worked for many years with people with a wide range of disabilities including deaf and hard of hearing, visually impaired and blind, mobility impairments (use crutches, walkers, scooters or wheelchairs).. having been on two sides of a disability i know a lot of people are confused.. here is something from my life that i experience regularly.
i'm in a wheelchair now and although i don't use it in the house i do use it to go out.
I was disabled with agonizing facial with a suicide rate of 95%. Now I do legal volunteer work for a disability civil rights firm. Frankly, I only go in once a week so I see no need for more than minimal expertise. When I was ill, I assumed all these programs existed for the disabled. There are a few but they don't come remotely close to fighting stigma. My goal is to find a legal job. I was at the pinnacle of my profession. People ooh and ahh over my credentials. i am the object of pity and not job offers. Granted, I most certainly do not have the skills I would have acquired w/o illness. I most certainly know more than law students who have never practiced.
I am so disheartened. Strangely, sometimes I believe in Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity. A woman I befriended in a Twelve Step program and I recently spent the day looking at Xmas stuff in NYC. She told me of a new group she was in. I dismissed it for myself. When she mentioned it the other night, I paused and said it fits me exactly. Underearners anonymous. Not earning is underearning big time. I don't know how the program will work but I feel lighter in step.
If I had not been so near the top, the fall would not hurt as much. No matter I can't seem to escape the consequences of disability. Also, I believe that my family life growing up and exposure to the Witness culture cultivated a sense of fear of success. I remember starting an Ivy League school with a full scholarship. Several parents of classmates hated my guts for doing better than their coddled kids. It was though I was supposed to dummy up so their kids would look better. Most people supported me in expansive ways. My JW relatives constantly made fun of college students. We were idiots. Many times I thought my psyche would split. I can't please my teachers, classmates and the WTBTS at the same time.
a year after my parents were baptized i was born in 1954. that same year my father was appointed presiding overseer and remained in that position until the early sixties despite the fact he was still smoking.
he gained the position by default because he was the only baptized man who could read.
thus began my life course of abuse, neglect and cult thinking.
My childhood was horrific, too. My father was a bodyguard to Rutherford and Franz. He was selected for his brute strength. The entire family was severely abused. There were several moments of fighting for life itself. I was scapegoated. The worse was when he took us to a cliff overlooking Manhattan. It was very high. I was about four, my bro was two. My bro had cerebral palsy and wore heavy leg braces. In front of a large crowd, my brother was dangled off the cliff. Tears flow as I clearly recall, how he screamed for mercy and his face was beyond red with fear. No one did anyting. Confronting my father would have been stupid, but covertly taking a license plate and calling the police would have helped.
When I had a full body cast on at fifteen, he'd came close to flinging me down a steep flight of stairs. He also knew where to hit to avoid visible bruises. My teachers knew but looked the other way. He was dying from heart disease when I was 16. He was sleeping with AM radio on my brother's FM station. Fm was wonderful then. When I took the radio to listen, he woke up and trapped me in the bathroom. He placed his body as a wedge against the door. I was so evil and causing his death that I was going to watch him die. I freaked. Despite massive amounts of adrenalin, I could not budge him. He was massive and intent on resisting with every fibre of his being. He was having trouble breathing. It was not faked. I disassociated. Altho we lived on top of other hourses and I screamed with every fiber of my being, only one neighbor called the police. The siren sounded so blessed and I was stunned by the drama. When he heard the siren, he ran down the stairs and popped a nitro people. He told the police how no good I was. They told me to stay away from him. I retorted, shocked at retorting, I can stay away from him. The problem is he won't stay away from me. They did nothing. No follow- up questions were asked.
Earlier, I wrote to a fashion mag for advice. Never did I consider consulting JW. He screamed he could kill us with backup from scriptures. The mag referred me to a social service agency which did nothing concrete. They were very concerned I was going to be raped by him. Finally, a clear rule was set that I must obey. I could not be alone with him. My mother or slightly younger bro had to be present. Something in me snapped. I started to fight back. He lost all legitimacy and I sought guns and knives to even the playing field. His next deviant action was he knew I adored school. It was my haven. He could not beat me there nor berate me. He said I was going to be pulled out of school b/c I was bad. My punishment was to bag groceries at the supermarket under his gaze. I knew i had to get a court order and go to foster care. Fortunately, he died before moving on his plan.
Yet he spent many countless hours preaching and terrorizing Catholics. I never understood his sheer hatred of them. Does this sound Christ like? The neighborhood was in a uproar b/c a nun was brutally raped in a church during off-hours. We lived in Mafiosa land. No one doubted that the perp would soon be dead. My mom had a devout Catholic friend at work. While they were all in the car, my father reacted to the crime by saying that the nun deserved it for being a Catholic nun. Lying and deceit were immoral. When he left visible bruises, both parents yelled at me and ordered me to lie or else serious further harm would come to me.
My mom was forever traumatized by being expelled for the flag salute at fourteen. My uncle, who scored the highest in NJ, had less than one week to graduate but he, too, was expelled. He could have attend Juiliard on scholarship. She was forced to not salute by her mother. We were allowed to salute the flag as long as we did not tell my father. The problem arose in junior high school when some Witnesses attended the same school. Thankfully, a large segment of black students did not salute as a political statement. I was not black, however. Approval of my teachers meant everything to me. Elementary school during the Cold War would have been unbearable. This was made worse by my father declaring we were Russian, which was not true. Half of the school day was spent with Cold War propaganda about Russia. I was terrified of them.
It truly hurt as a kid to have so few toys that neighbor kids refused to play with us. Yet I heard at Christmas that we get toys all year. What lies! We lived in an insular neighborhood where 98% were Catholics. Everyone assumed we celerbated. The priest had to say bad things about the Witnesses. When I lost my father, friends told me they sent no condolence cards b/c they did not know JWs wanted them. I overcompensate in my present life by people-pleasing. I am addicted to the praise of people for whom I have no respect.
Whenever I relate my family of origin story, I feel guilty. The damage has been life long. I relish moments when I reflect how narrow and truly harrowing my life was as a witness. The world is so nice in so many manifold ways. Sometimes I pinch myself. I must confess it as a rush for me to be on this site only a few weeks and to be able to relate my Witness experiences to others. Normally, I would have to give a crash course in the Witnesses to paint the background. Validation is wonderful.
