La Capra

Joined

• started 38 topics
• posted 516 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by La Capra

• 
  28

  Caffeine addiction

  by DanTheMan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  are you a recovering caffeine addict?.

  do you now avoid it altogether?.

  how did you go about breaking the habit?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  I am a hardcore coffee drinker. I can cut back, but my intake always creeps back up to too much. When I do want to cut back, I switch over to tea (like Lipton), that relieves the caffeine withdrawal, and I find it less jarring to lower the tea intake over the course of a few weeks. Then I switch back to one or two cups of coffee a day (as opposesd to 8 or 9). Right now I am in the two to three cups a day range. I love coffee. I started drinking it when I was about 5. I would never want to give it up entirely, unless it became a serious health matter. Shoshana
• 
  17

  Wedding-related dilemma: help appreciated

  by comment in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i received a phone call from an old non-witness friend tonight.

  he's just proposed to his girlfriend and they're getting married next summer.

  she is catholic; he is agnostic.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  Well, if you were to "get caught," it would have to be by two others that witness it. And what were they doing there anyway? It sounds to me that so long as you keep your eyes open and don't say "amen" after any prayers, you are in the clear (but be careful not to "think" amen). Smaller cities are tricky. Just don't advertise your presence, slip in, celebrate, slip out. (once again saved by the two witness rule.) Shoshana
• 
  23

  When Loved Ones Do Not Share Your Faith - 11/8/03 Awake!

  by Funchback in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i picked and chose the more interesting quotes.

  "how should christians treat loved ones who do not share their faith?

  "no time limit is implied in the command at exodous 20:12 to 'honor your father and your mother.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  When one does not "honor" one's parents, one runs the risk of getting cut out of the will. Of this, I am sure, the WTBS is frightfully aware. There is a financial incentive for the WTBS to remind its readers to maintain good familial relationships with potential benefactors. Or am I just looking at this from too pecuniary an angle? Shoshana
• 
  24

  What does it take to become a Circut Overseer?

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  what does it take to become a circuit overseer?.

  the watchtower bible track society relies very heavily upon these men to make sure that they have a tight grip on each congregation.. the structure for control that the wt.

  has in place needs it's eyes and ears to find out whether or not a congregation is following all the rules that the wt has laid out for it.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  I've heard that it requires a very long and painful surgery, during which the spine is removed...Shoshana
• 
  16

  How did you imagine Armageddon?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when you were a jw, how did you imagine armageddon would be like?

  did you imagine it would be short, long?

  i remember some saying that they would live in beautiful houses that god spared, just for them.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  Ok, other than the part that it would happen any second, I always imagined it very dusty...from places like churches and United Nations buildings (and my dreaded first grade teacher's house!!!) being angel bombed....Dusty. Shoshana
• 
  431

  Things Learned Along the Way

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have collected sayings, homilies, whatever along the way that crystallize something bigger i learned.

  i will post a few every day.

  if you have one, please share it.. if you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas.. to belittle is to be little.. somewhere, i got the idea if i just took care of others, i would be taken care of.. blondie

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  My mother's favorite, which I reject whole-heartedly is "Be sincere whether you mean it or not." (yes, this was the "years of therapy issue.") Shoshana
• 
  53

  What JW Teaching Did You Never Quite Totally Accept???

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  since i was raised a witness, it was only as i got older that i started to "think" about what i was teaching and believing.

  but even as a young teen, i never accepted the thought that 1975 was going to be the end of the "system of things" and the beginning of the "new system".

  i just didn't quite believe that.........what belief or teaching did you have a "hard time swallowing"?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  When I was first introduced to the concept of DNA in science class, I was incredibly curious. I began to research at the library, as much as I could and found out how closely related all life forms were, but for one amino acid here, another there...What I started to consider was that the "animal" life forms supposedly didn't undergo any changes because of original sin, but that animals had a life-span that eventually ended, as did humans. Every cell in every life form dies, including in humans. Since there were no differences between humans, and say dogs that were any greater than between dogs and say kangaroo rats, then how could the human be different enough to live forever. The whole "You can live forever in Paradise on Earth" became an instant load of hooey to me. If there were something beyond death, it wasn't gonna be forever in the same body...So the whole premise of the religion failed for me on that one teaching I just couldn't believe. I'm happy to say God hasn't struck me down yet. Shoshana
• 
  45

  Have You Ever Served as an Attendant? Share Your Stories!

  by Funchback in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i remember being a jw lad (about 10 or 11 years old).

  i would be at the circuit assembly and, at around 10:45 am, about 8 brothers would get up, walk slowly up the aisle, glancing at each row of their "section", their lips quivering as they silently count each person, trying to maintain focus as nearly each jw makes eye contact them (even though everyone knew what the attendants were doing!

  did i want to grow up to be the president of the united states?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  Funchie, no need to apologize for y'all being dorks, you couldn't help it. It was the boys o' bethel who sent those special cards to wear under you name tags that said "attendant" that had all the single sisters looking first for the tag, and then for a ring on your finger. There was no way around being a dork, or at least appearing to be one. Me, I tend to go for geeks, not dorks, but all the geeks were smart enough to get put into the sound booth, so I never saw them...Shoshana (who liked to leave things in the aisle to see if she could get them to trip over it.)
• 
  45

  Have You Ever Served as an Attendant? Share Your Stories!

  by Funchback in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i remember being a jw lad (about 10 or 11 years old).

  i would be at the circuit assembly and, at around 10:45 am, about 8 brothers would get up, walk slowly up the aisle, glancing at each row of their "section", their lips quivering as they silently count each person, trying to maintain focus as nearly each jw makes eye contact them (even though everyone knew what the attendants were doing!

  did i want to grow up to be the president of the united states?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  Funchie, I thought y'all were dorks myself. I couldn't have been more than 7 when I realized that I could count just as well as they could and everyone thought they were special "inspired counters..." My mother was never able to manipulate my attitude or conduct into accepting that a man who could count up a few hundred people was more worthy than me. There was a group of us that tried to get to go to the restroom as soon as we saw the count start. It spread to other subversive minded children who were paying loose enough attention to the program to notice some of us kids were playing a game. After a few circuit assemblies, we got an "announcement" from the stage. We considered it a victory. Now that I am a teacher and see all the creative things the kids do to entertain themselves when they are bored, I am humbled in my lack inspiration in this area. Shoshana
• 
  12

  Another JW related murder/suicide

  by La Capra in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i just spoke to my mother this morning, who at the end of the conversation said, almost as a side note, that my brother's ex-wife's brother shot his estranged wife and then himself last saturday.

  my former sister-in-law and her brother were both raised as second (or third) generation jws.

  i only met her brother a few times, never cared for him (misogynist prick), but he was a jw at the time i met him.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  La Capra

  Nathan, I am not sure that Stephanie was a JW. Her funeral was at a mortuary, not the Kingdom Hall. However, it is ironic, that Leo, the murderer got to attend my brother's wedding celebration, and I, who have never murdered anyone, did not get to attend. They'd rather associate with murderers than someone who disassociated... Soon I will point that out to my mother. The irony WILL NOT be wasted on her. The boy, who is ten, attends a very small school (with my nieces), only about 40 kids (K-8). This is something that will be with them always, so long as they are in their little town. I sincerely hope someone is thinking clearly and decides to get them all out of there into a fresh start where people won't really know what happened. My nieces deserve a nicer childhood than what has just been set before them. They will have a difficult enough time reconciling that the "God they believe in" will resurrect Leo AND Stephanie, without people constantly thinking about what their uncle did. Shoshana