Good onya Dutchie! Glad to see you got back on the bicycle!!!
Marilyn
we all know the bible's view on capital punishment.
in fact, in the 1969 edition of aid to bible understanding, the author notes the following: .
"the value of life is considered so sacred by god that the blood of a murdered person is viewed by him as defiling the earth and such defilement can be cleansed only by shedding the blood of the murdered.
Good onya Dutchie! Glad to see you got back on the bicycle!!!
Marilyn
.
question for ex jws.......what do you really enjoy doing, now that you have the freedom to do it?
I've been out so long that I've forgotten what it was like to be enslaved to the Organization.
Actually I feel a lack of freedom from life's demands anyway. I used to love to drink wine and gin and tonics, but it is ill advised because of health concerns. I would like to eat out more, but again, health needs prevent this pleasure. I find eating sparingly makes me feel healthier - and helps keep my cholesterol down. I have to exercise every day, which I do enjoy, but it is a necessity and therefore a bit of an obligation. My husband earns an unbelievable salary, but we mostly save the surplus because of our future retirement needs - so not much freedom to spend up as we would like. I'd like to buy a new car, but insurance costs and depreciation on new cars makes the old one look more attractive. I'd like to redecorate the house, but it would be expensive and I have to ask myself if it's really necessary or just me being frivolous. I'd like to buy my kids more things, but that would be spoiling them and might rob them of their desire to become independant of us. I'd like to spend a month on a Greek Island but I don't want to leave my cat in a cattery for a month. Bla bla bla. I'd like to tell my siblings that their fucking religion is a cult, but they might suspend the 2+ times a year that will talk to me. I could go on..................
What freedom? However I do enjoy being the judge of what I think is right for me and my family. Even if there are many other restraints that come into play.
Marilyn
There was some *information* from on high to the tune of discouraging pet ownership about six years back. My dad told me about it. I can't remember what the angle was now. My dad told me that the segment had gone down like a lead balloon with the elder that lived near him, because this guy is quite potty about his dog.
I think the Society decided to give up pushing this ideal. They have to be careful that they don't take away every pleasure in a miserable dubs life.
we all know the bible's view on capital punishment.
in fact, in the 1969 edition of aid to bible understanding, the author notes the following: .
"the value of life is considered so sacred by god that the blood of a murdered person is viewed by him as defiling the earth and such defilement can be cleansed only by shedding the blood of the murdered.
Yeah when some pervert abducts a child from their front garden and rapes her and kills her and throws her little body in a pond, and there is NO doubt that he did it, I would be prepared to throw the switch.
The world is over populated and there are very serious problems facing the planet - I just don't believe in wasting precious resources on people who are lost causes. What's the point in keeping them imprisoned for the term of their natural lives? What quality of life is that?
I also believe in abortion and uethenasia (if I could just spell it!!).
Marilyn
i have a long time interest in china -- and continual amazement at the similarities between the way the wts presents it's propaganda and the way theat the chinese communists do it....... last sunday, in beijing, a fire in an internet cafe killed 24 people - there was a swift response from the "leadership" -- all 2200 internet cafes in beijing were closed as a result.
just like politicians in the west, this was clearly a knee-jerk response by beijing leaders, as they tried to make sure that they could not be blamed for poor supervision of the growth of these places.. but the really interesting thing, is the way that the state owned media jumped on the bandwagon and the language they used..... .
"don't let the internet bars destroy kids" - headline in the people's daily.. .
Ss, you absolutely MUST read "Life and Death in Shanghai" by Niem Cheng. It's a true story and you don't get too far into it before the comparisons to the WTS becomes startling. I gave it to my wavering jw father to read and he made the connection without any prompting from me. He looked up from the book and said "this is like the Organisation". I had been planning to ask him but he got there first. It's about the cultural revolution when the Chinese were much more out of control than they are now. Want to borrow my copy?
Marilyn
q: have a guess what the latest subject aussie jw's are talking about when they go door to door?.
a: the child abuse scandals in the anglican and catholic churches in australia.. at last tuesdays meeting this was suggested (during talk by elder) as a really good talking point when going door to door.
(elder doing talk refered to archbishop george pell as "a liar" for trying to cover up the child abuse allegations).. from ak
Yeah well, none of the Aussies know about Dateline, so why wouldn't they ride the wave of ignorance - while they can?
oh man....check this out.. my brother, an active jw, whom i am very close too, called me sometime last year to tell me about the un issue.
i never cared to talk about religion .... most of my family is in and i'm not.
so i boringly reply,'oh yeah'..not really listening.
This proves my point that lots of JWs lurk here. I have also been found out!
My sister made some comment to my parents about Marilyn (my real name)
mixing with apostates on the internet. Geez, what a surprise! They disfed
me for apostasy 20 yrs ago! So nothing to hide on my part - BUT isn't it curious
that so many dubs are reading enough to spot a relative here! Mmmmmm!!!
for married couples who ended up leaving the jws together, which spouse broke from the jws first?
what was your reaction to your spouse leaving at first?
what made you decide to finally leave with your spouse?.
Yes, looking back I think we'd spent a lot of time acknowledging the problems
from the comfort of our KH seats. If someone had tried to talk us out of it
we would have become defensive - but as things were we were able to take our time
to wake up. It took quite a while, at least three years. There was no apostate
literature or internet. We were on our own. All we had to guide us was the obvious
faults of the WTS. Years later we learned just how sick the whole thing was. It should
be easy to show someone how bad it is - but the problem is not having access
to witnesses. Where there is access, there is a good chance of helping someone "out".
all the best to those in this position.
Marilyn
ok before we get off on the wrong foot this is not a flame war.
i read a comment by belbab on hillary's post this morning...he remarked that he had asked a question after the 09/11 attack, that no one answered.
well, i didn't even remember reading it, so i did a simple search.
I'm a slow reader and I don't have time to read even half the posts. I comment if time permits.
BUT I hate it when people put a lot of effort in and no one replies.
Marilyn
for married couples who ended up leaving the jws together, which spouse broke from the jws first?
what was your reaction to your spouse leaving at first?
what made you decide to finally leave with your spouse?.
I was feeling very tired of the whole thing. I too noticed disharmony in the cong.
I noticed A LOT of things wrong with Witness lives. Lack of love etc. My
husband and I used to talk about how annoying some of them were and how
biggoted some of the talks were. He was an MS and we'd pioneered etc, but
after a few years we came to see the hypocrisy. I remember one nite on a long
car drive, telling my husband that I had serious doubts. We talked a lot but
the bottom line was that he felt the same. He saw different problems with the
Org to me. He'd just been sitting on these thoughts, but was willing to share
when I expressed my thoughts. So our doubts doubled after that. I took on
his doubts and he took on mine. We kept going for a couple of years - going thru
the motions but it took the birth of our second child to give up entirely. We knew
we couldn't raise our kids in a religion we no longer believed in.
If I was in a relationship with a dub, I would get them out like ashitaka said. I would
go along with it, but always talk about the negatives. I'd play it by ear, and back off
if the partner wasn't keeping pace. Timing is everything. Just keep up with all the
things that are wrong, but never mention leaving. Make like you are happy to be a
dub, but a,b,c.............xyz.. bother you. Eventually, the partner will start to see all
the problems and hopefully make the connection that their religion isn't the truth,
it's a cult!
Marilyn (been out for over 20 yrs and had a wonderful life)