To answer Vinman:-
I agree, In my world " the heart can talk"
When the heart talks, flowers can outlive this Autumn. That is evidence we should not put down the toilet.
The Rebel.
now that i have been a born again christian for 10 years, i see things that just boggles my mind.
like this: we all spent untold hours in the field service telling people (mostly christians) about the paradise earth.
that was the reason we were at their door.
To answer Vinman:-
I agree, In my world " the heart can talk"
When the heart talks, flowers can outlive this Autumn. That is evidence we should not put down the toilet.
The Rebel.
now that i have been a born again christian for 10 years, i see things that just boggles my mind.
like this: we all spent untold hours in the field service telling people (mostly christians) about the paradise earth.
that was the reason we were at their door.
SecretSlaveClass:-
Say you believed photography is magic and has nothing to do with light? Say the photographer can make everybody see things his way?
Isn't that what we believed as Witnesses? That the G.B were the special developers?And did we not trust the exact exposure of their eyes?
Now we have our own lenses, but how often can we trust what our eyes see? ( I was just watching a lady I thought was talking to herself, then moments later I saw she was in fact talking to someone)
What is my point?
A poor person can be fooled and happy as much as a rich person can be in unfooled and unhappy.
The Rebel.
now that i have been a born again christian for 10 years, i see things that just boggles my mind.
like this: we all spent untold hours in the field service telling people (mostly christians) about the paradise earth.
that was the reason we were at their door.
When Dawkins was asked " what if you are wrong? " he replied in his high voice " Well, I mean what if you're wrong?"
My point is what is so special about anyone of our opinions? we can all be wrong? why should we conclude how the many billion of Christians are wrong?
As you say we may all be wrong.
Truth is an asset we all want to process, it is also a question that has no answer.
The Rebel.
now that i have been a born again christian for 10 years, i see things that just boggles my mind.
like this: we all spent untold hours in the field service telling people (mostly christians) about the paradise earth.
that was the reason we were at their door.
Perry, many on this board as former witnesses feel our God and " church"abandoned us.
I am glad in spite of everything God and your " new" church live on inside your human heart.
The Rebel.
well it seems for many on this board the time came to leave the w.t and cross the bridge in to a real world.
speaking for myself l feel i did not enter the cold and lonely world i was lead to believe i was entering.
rather i have discovered it was no great loss leaving a world that had protected me with false, dreams, fantazy and false promises.. but what have i really achieved by my leaving that i value?.
Well it seems for many on this board the time came to leave the W.T and cross the bridge in to a real world. Speaking for myself l feel I did not enter the cold and lonely world I was lead to believe I was entering. Rather i have discovered it was no great loss leaving a world that had protected me with false, dreams, fantazy and false promises.
But what have I really achieved by my leaving that I value?
I would answer I am now able to define my very own realistic goals and live for them.
I have concluded to much thinking is shit. So questions like:-
What is the Universe? Who made it? How did it come about? no longer interest me. Everything has a beginning a middle and end, and I am just happy to be apart of that.
The witnesses are correct there will be wars and calamities, but also closer to home senseless tragic that will befall all of us. ( Which often they are responsible for) Yet the world itself and our personal life's can and should still make us glow inside. Ok I live in a land that owes something to a refugee, and everybody always has money for ice cream. But that doesn't make it as the W.T says a totally selfish land. Instead it makes me realise how fortunate I am. And I truly believe that the banality of life has a purpose- even if we may be as mortal as trees, grass, and leaves.
My conclusion- I am alive, I have my painting and my painting allows me to see more of the world my way. I am alive and when I am hungry I can eat sausage drink beer. I am alive and I left the W.T voluntarily.I am alive and I will not allow those still in ( even family) to make my life a lesser place.
I appreciate many are more sensitive and carry justified hurt inside them, but I would like this thread to highlight the good that has come from leaving the W.T. There must be at least a little good in everyone's experience?
The Rebel.
yesterday a witness friend asks why i don't attend the k.h anymore.. me:- " i don't say this often but your j.ws opinion is wrong" .
the end.. my reasons for this simple reply were:-.
a) i have grown tied of reading j.w crap.
Sabin " if you were happy with your response then it was a great response"
Agreed but on the other side imagine a man of about 50, with a wife and three kids between eight and fifteen. Should I give this man such a "vague" answer and leave, when I have facts and proof to help him and his family out of a cult?
The "confused" Rebel.
i remember seeing the ex-jws parading around outside the assembly like lepers holding placards of hate.
we were the righteous and enlightened ones... and they were lost in outer darkness.
just dont look at them was the standard response to their unwelcome presence..
TTWSYF:-
You were never a J.W so I hope I get and understand your anger. I think I understand how you can blame the W.T for taking your brother and extended family from you.
As you say J.Ws don't celebrate Xmas.I think I can imagine how you wished for Christmas with your now converted brother and extended family. But each year when it doesn't happen and he and his extended family aren't there for the good food and wine, should you blame the W.T?
Is that fair?
Your brother obviously had his reasons to join the W.T. ( I respectively say this because maybe if it wasn't the W.T it would be something else.)
What is my point? My guess is that people who are converted to become J.Ws have reasons why they want to believe what they believe. Maybe they need be isolated from the world? Maybe they are idealists,? maybe they have a spiritual need? What ever the reason, my guess is if it wasn't the W.T it would have been something else.
Sorry if my post appears harsh and insensitive?
Please don't loose courage today as the sunsets your brother may be awakening.When that sunrise happens ( and it will, if not today,another morning) you will have that great Xmas.
The Rebel.
i was just wondering who else on here cleans for a living.
we all know the dubs' penchant for cleaning, so i was wondering if my wife and i were the lone cleaners on here.
we've cleaned together for 15+ years now.
Dubstepped :-
Life is about cleaning, it is something we all do. Dishes, clothes, baths, toilets they all need regular cleaning. The last fight I had with my wife was over the vacuum cleaner. You see I was watching the football on telly and that vacuum cleaner was making a hell of a noice, so I said:-
" Couldn't you please use a broom"
She said something I won't repeat !!
On a serious note, whilst you don't need an education to clean windows, you do need self drive and determination to built that cleaning round up, You are self employed and generally earn damn good money. If you succeed at that, you can expand employ, move in to gardening and other forms of property maintainance. It seems to me cleaning can be a bloody profitable and very skilled profession,
In my local market, the fish sales people,and the green grocers are great folks, all in family run business. They talk with great humor to the customers and are just great "NON EGO" people. I also know they are very rich and as qualified as cleaners.
My point being and I really don't care about the red flags, I admire any person who makes a living that is honest, and not at the expense of cheating others. What is the difference between a dust man and a doctor? 0pportunity? Education? Ambition? What ever the difference both contribute greatly to my world and I appreciate and respect the work and effort they put in to making my world a better place.
The Rebel
i found this book by carmel reilly, it`s called dear god.
childrens letters to god from around the world.
i promise you that if you are having a bad day this book what ever your believes will lift your spirits.
Oh what a great question.
I have had so many quarrels and been so moved by so much that " I read". And still my reading goes on. To think once upon "not so long" a time ago to read was the privalige of the rich.
Oh, hang on folks, it still is the privalige of the rich. That's why I don't take my world which is a maze of book shops, universities, and Internet all full of literature for granted. I always appreciate so many in the world are still denied the privalige of drifting away in someone else words. My hope is that all those who are in that poverty, someday experience the joy of being moved by the joy of being able to read.
All life has a beginning a middle and an end,but when a person reaches the end how can we not be moved the words of that life that live on?
The Rebel s words are paintings, maybe your words are a musical note? or a quilt you made by hand? what ever your words, I hope in the future people are moved like beautiful musical tunes by them.
The Rebel.
i remember seeing the ex-jws parading around outside the assembly like lepers holding placards of hate.
we were the righteous and enlightened ones... and they were lost in outer darkness.
just dont look at them was the standard response to their unwelcome presence..
No I am not angry, but I became miserable, when I sensed it wasn't the " truth".
I new straight away when a realised it wasn't the truth that I would leave. I also became aware of an overwhelming feeling of gratitude- Yes - gratitude that I had failed so miserably in bringing anyone into the " truth"
Now I am no longer missable and I appreciate that I was born in a free land.
Maybe I have also learnt that too much thinking is shit. You don't need to think to paint, not even to write, you just need to let the HEART speak. So other people can keep their philosophies if that's what they call thinking.
So to conclude to much " bible" and to much " watchtower" well it just goes on and on, page after page, year after year. So and so begot,so and so was the brother of so and so, and the father of someone else, and that explains " The New Generation Change" yea right.
The Rebel.