Posts by La Capra

61

Where were you when the realization hit, that the WTS was not in the truth?

by whyizit in

jw
friends

i was listening to a testimonial by valerie acuff and she said that she was sitting in an assembly, looking around at the crowd and thinking to herself, "this is your family, these are your people.".

she said at that moment she heard a voice inside say, "these are not your people, this is not your family, get up and leave now, and don't ever go back.

" so she took her two children at that very moment and left, and she never went back.

La Capra

Summer 1987, sitting in a redwood grove at my college with one of those "worldly" people who were more loving than the "friends at the hall." He was trying to get me all mystical, about the origins of god and the universe. And it hit me. It was all nothing. He turned my brain on, and I haven't turned it off since. No evidence I have seen, read, experienced, or heard has changed my mind. Of this, I know it's true. (thanks B.T. -those 30 minutes gave me a life.) Now, I'm an agnostic, practicing Jew who believes in some sort of singular force that connects everything in the universe (and that force would be nothing. Or perhaps I should capitalize that, Nothing...), but I doubt that Nothing is an intelligent creator.

Shoshana

26

Is there anything that's disconinued that you'll love to have around today?

by JH in

jw
friends

sometimes we get attached to certain products and they get discontinued for some reason.

i miss my marcelle shampoo.

it was the perfect hypoallergenic shampoo for me.. so, what do you miss?

La Capra

Campbell's Chili Beef.

They stopped selling it around here (California) about 25 years ago. There's a Campbell's Soup available in some parts of the US called Fiesta Chili Beef. I have no idea if it's the same thing. Haven't seen it in my travels (albeit limited travels since I started law school) since I learned of its existence.

Oh I miss Campbell's Chili Beef.

Shoshana

19

A little story of JW-childhood-horror, and am I evil?

by Hellrider in

this all happened when i was a kid, and i think i must have been around 8 years old.

we were at a meeting, and my dad (ms) had held a speech.

this didn`t happen very often, actually, this one time is the only one i can remember.

La Capra

If it helps any, I do the same thing to myself. I re-live incidents and episodes in my childhood (and, unfortunately, my adulthood too), in which I didn't conduct myself in the way, in retrospect, I wish I had. I never called it being evil. I call it being "horrid." Whatever descriptor you put to it, it is the same thing. As children, we were raised with the ever-present conditioning that we were damaged, sinful, evil, horrid (insert your favorite self-loathing term here, it works) human beings,...on the one hand. Then, on the other hand, we were conditioned to believe that we belonged to the only true religion. We were right, everyone else is wrong. Such a bizarre juxtoposition of contradictory positions...

Embarrassment, or shame, is not an unusual reaction in response to an outsider (walking into a kingdom hall, in a completely unorthodox context-as a rescue worker....) encroaching on our own private universe. The reaction of shame is to be expected when confronted with anyone who does not live in the same, conflicted, closed universe that we did. JWs are the masters of compartmentalization. When their JW lives interface with their "outside the kingdom hall" lives, watch out. Weird things happen.

To combat my feelings of truly being horrid, I have learned to review all the evidence in my life to the contrary. What takes practice is starting the review of unhorridness before I get too far into dwelling on the horridness. (That really is the trick.)

Take care with your heart, dude. Shoshana

19

Attending the Funeral / Memorialof Your JW Parent

by roybatty in

jw
friends

i'm just wondering if any df'd or da'd here have gone to the kingdom hall to attend a memorial or funeral service for a jw parent or on the other hand decided not to attened.

do you regret going / not going?

how were you treated?.

La Capra

I won't go to my mom's memorial, if it's a JW memorial service. I could just see it, me in a T-shirt printed with, "Millions Now Living, Will Never Die...My Ass." Then on the back..."What a Bunch of F***ing Liars. All of You."

But, thankfully I wouldn't go, so I could save $39 to have just such a t-shirt made. I'll do other things to memorialize my mother.

Shoshana

Edited to add: Of course I'd be sitting in the front row, flanked by the biggest, buffest bailiffs from the court house, in case their goons tried to escort me out, or worse, cover my shirt with one of their polyester sports coats... See why it's better I just don't go...

13

WTS Circle of Reasoning...

by Confession in

take a look at this, and tell me if it flows properly.

could this be simpler?

is it missing something.

La Capra

I have a small suggestion. Eliminate pronouns, so it is really clear to whom (WTBTS) "they" refers. It doesn't affect the content, or the meaning, but it does make it clearer and therefore more powerful.

There are several of these you could build. One about the generation of 1914, too, I'd imagine...(millions now living will never die...)

(my only flowchart brilliance is one for factoring quadratics for my algebra students...I love flowcharts.)

Shoshana

6

Told Mom it would be immoral to go tonight

by La Capra in

jw
friends

yeah, i did.. i called her this afternoon, after i got home from work (to check on my dad, and, well, you know...).

it turns out she picked up the nasty flu: fever, chills, scratchy throat, snot everywhere, sensitive eyes, she sounds like grover.. i gave her all the advice she usually gives me, including her favorite (and one that often kept me home from meetings in my youth), "stay out of the night air for a few weeks...".

to which she responded, "but i have to go out tonight.

La Capra

Yeah, Mulan-I thought of that. But it would mean talking to an elder (there's a reason I left).

And besides, they wouldn't tell her not to go anyway. She's probably resposnsible for delivering three or four of the frail feebles herself. They wouldn't want to lose those numbers from their tally. (I know that sounds bad, but it's true. If anyone needs somebody to go 25 miles out of everybody's way, it's my mom they call).

Shoshana (the apostate daughter of a doormat)

6

Told Mom it would be immoral to go tonight

by La Capra in

jw
friends

yeah, i did.. i called her this afternoon, after i got home from work (to check on my dad, and, well, you know...).

it turns out she picked up the nasty flu: fever, chills, scratchy throat, snot everywhere, sensitive eyes, she sounds like grover.. i gave her all the advice she usually gives me, including her favorite (and one that often kept me home from meetings in my youth), "stay out of the night air for a few weeks...".

to which she responded, "but i have to go out tonight.

La Capra

Yeah, I did.

I called her this afternoon, after I got home from work (to check on my Dad, and, well, you know...). It turns out she picked up the nasty flu: Fever, chills, scratchy throat, snot everywhere, sensitive eyes, she sounds like Grover.

I gave her all the advice she usually gives me, including her favorite (and one that often kept me home from meetings in my youth), "Stay out of the night air for a few weeks..."

To which she responded, "but I have to go out tonight." (And then I remembered...well, I already knew, she knew I knew...It's a game we play.)

And I said she could kill someone. "Mom, every frail, feeble old person is going to be there, you could give them the flu and they could die from it. Thousands of elderly people die from the flu every year. You cannot go." Then I reminded her of the story of someone we know who went to visit his elderly father while he had the flu. Infected his dad and it killed the dad...

"But it's the memorial..." She says, with this air of awe (and shock, at the notion that she could miss it...and that missing it would be the right thing to do).

"But you know you have a fever and are infectious. If you go, it would be immoral and unethical..."

Then I got my dad on the phone again and suggested to him that he have a chat with her too. He agreed about the whole thing and said he would talk with her.

Ah, man, if this apostate daughter could keep her mom from going to just one memorial....

Hag semeach. (I'm off sedering myself...)

Shoshana

29

your best prank

by KW13 in

whats your best prank you've pulled?

i can think of loads but the best one that i got to actually see without causing wwiii was when two friends were staying over.

one of them said get him something to eat...so me and his brother went and got an oxo cube and unwrapped it.

La Capra

When I was in jr high, our next door neighbors tore down a fence between our houses and were in the process of rebuilding it. While it was down, we could see each others yards. Under their covered patio, sitting on a shelf, was an empty fish bowl. So one night, I snuck over, filled the bowl with water and put in a bright orange gold fish. The next morning, I sat in my house and watched through the window.

The mom came out first, and started to get things organized for the day's work on the fence. And when she noticed the fish, it was the only true triple take I have ever seen. I nearly died, I was laughing so hard. Then she went and got her husband. She first accused him of doing it, then she accused the kids of doing. They fought and accused each other all day, while they worked on the fence.

Sometimes I wonder if they sit around at holidays and tell the funny story of the day a fish appeared in the bowl, reaccuse each other and have a good laugh.

Shoshana

55

Lola and her big mouth, stupid, stupid and sooooo stupid

by lola28 in

i posted a little about this last night but i figured i would post the rest for you guys, this is the conversation that i had last night with the sister that studied with me.

she called me and wanted to know if i had plans for the memorial, i told her that i would not be going this year and the following is the conversation we had:.

jw: oh no, you can't miss the memorial, if you can't make it to the one in your hall why don't you cme to ours?.

La Capra

Deny everything and invoke the two witness rule...Say nothing. Smile sweetly, and don't make excuses or explanations....It's all vicious false testimony. Whatever it was you said. Are you ever gonna tell us?

Shoshana (of the I hate it when I trip myself up too, class)

44

What Google Says You Need [Fluff]

by misspeaches in

jw
friends

this is funny: go to the google search engine and type in your name + 'needs' after it, e.g.

"john needs".

write down the description of the first (or best!

La Capra

Mine said I needed a pool boy.

Amen to that.