Even now I'm somtimes asked if I'm a 'Christian', dunno why... I never conciously changed the way I dressed or anything, so maybe I still have THE LOOK.... I was wearing a holster and gun the other day, so that wouldn't look very JW...
Max Divergent
JoinedPosts by Max Divergent
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35
Did you look like a Jehovah Witness?
by JH inwere you ever told that you didn't look like a jehovah witness?
i never dressed like one of them unless i was at the hall.
i think that people looking at me would never have guessed that i was a witness.
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How much money would it take for you to go out in service?
by unbeliever insay you had to go out in field service for 2 hours in your neighborhood and talk to your neighbors about jehovah.
what would somebody have to pay you to do this or would you not do it for any amount of money?
if i am going to humilate myself it better be worth my while.
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Max Divergent
I'll do it for a million. Maybe half a mil. If you put $250,000 on the table in used $100 bills, I wouldn't knock you back... Even $100,000... :-)
That way I could do the deed, then go back to all the houses I called on and invite them back to a huge party in thanks for their unwitting support, and then leave town with reputation sort of intact ... well, kinda ... and be significantly enriched, and all for taking part in a two hour piss take...
Max Pragmatic
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Max Divergent
Doesn't anyone think it's possible that France can be greatful, (hell they have memorials all over the place--if they didn't care, they wouldn't have built them
It seems not...
February 23, 2002, http://old.smh.com.au/news/0202/23/world/world25.html
A runway over our fallen soldiers
A planned French airport will cover Australia's war dead in tarmac and concrete, Paul Daley reports.
It has been labelled "the airport of shame", and when the bulldozers move in they will be digging into what could easily be considered a sacred site of Australian military history.
Vermandovilliers owes its survival to the Australian military. In the late summer of 1918 it suffered 6000 casualties in four days as Australian troops forced the German army back across the Somme's quagmire.
That sacrifice could not be more revered by the town. A sign on Vermandovilliers' town hall reminds that the Australian Army's Lawrence Dominic McCarthy won the Victoria Cross there on August 23, 1918, when he "single-handedly captured 460 metres of German trench line".
There can be little doubt that the Somme and the battles for Ypres, in Belgium, were as formative as Anzac Cove, even though they may not have etched themselves so deeply into Australia's psyche.
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The fight for Vermandovilliers played a critical part in the battle of Villers-Bretonneux, in which more than 12,000 Australians were killed. Many of the dead are buried in Commonwealth War Cemeteries, but thousands remain interred in the muddy earth under potato crops.
This site and those surrounding are sacred for all nations involved in World War I, but they could soon disappear under tarmac and concrete.
The developers of France's proposed new four-runway international airport and associated road systems want to build on a swathe of the Somme's battlefields, up to five war cemeteries and countless unmarked graves.
The airport, which will service 20 million commuters a year by 2015, is being presented as a fait accompli. It will, according to French Prime Minister-cum-presidential hopeful Lionel Jospin, definitely be built on the Somme - a flat expanse 90 kilometres from Paris, a 90-minute drive from Brussels and (eventually) a short train ride from Britain.
France has not publicly released any plans, and has informally signalled that while the runways and support buildings could be moved a few kilometres here or there, the project will go ahead.
This is not only bad news for Vermandovilliers, it also creates huge uncertainty for residents of other villages such as Belloy, Lihons, Chaulnes and Rosieres-en-Sainte. There are dozens of marked Australian and New Zealand graves at cemeteries in these towns, and 66 Australians are buried in a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Rosieres.
Dozens more are buried in marked graves at communal Commonwealth war cemeteries at Chaulnes and in marked graves under anonymous headstones at a plethora of small cemeteries around the proposed airport site.
The movement of marked graves, the desecration of such important battlefields and the inevitability that thousands of unmarked graves will be built over, has prompted prominent French war historian Jean des Cars to label the project "the airport of shame".
"Will the [French] Government have the indecency to profane the rest and eternal peace of thousands of men to whom we owe our existence?" he asks.
The Herald has obtained a copy of the preliminary airport plans. They show that besides the airport proper, much of the land for kilometres around the massive construction has been rezoned to industrial.
This raises the prospect of the demolition of further towns and the relocation of many more war cemeteries to make way for airport infrastructure such as hotels and shopping centres.
The French Government has conceded that a small British cemetery at Rosieres (where there are six unidentified Commonwealth soldiers buried among 60 British) will have to be relocated.
It agrees that a French cemetery with more than 2000 graves and a German cemetery with 22,000 graves will also have to go.
British historian Paul Reed, who lives on a farm close to Vermandovilliers, conducts tours of the Western Front battlefields of Belgium and France. He believes the airport will "damage this place beyond recognition".
"It's the part of the battlefields that has the most Australian visitors, and the battlefields that will be built over are among the most historically important for Australia," he says.
"There is no doubt the airport site is littered with bodies, perhaps thousands of them, of all nationalities, from all over the Commonwealth, including potentially large numbers of Australians."
Mr Reed says that while British service groups and the British Government have vocally opposed the development and planned freeway extension across battlefields near Ypres, he has been surprised at Australia's inaction on the issue.
"There's a growing awareness in Australia about what's happening, although I don't know how much awareness compared to Britain," he says.
The French Government has assured Australia that no Australian cemeteries will be affected but the Federal Government is deeply concerned about the proposals.
A spokeswoman for the Assistant Defence Minister, Dana Vale, said the minister had asked the Office of Australian War Graves to "monitor the proposals closely to ensure she is aware of any impact on Australian war dead by future or associated developments".
The spokeswoman said there were "no Australians buried at the two locations [cemeteries] that may be affected".
But she also pointed out: "The battlefields themselves are the resting place of many who fell and have no known grave.
"If the remains of any Australian soldiers are uncovered from an unmarked grave or battlefield, we will ensure they are treated with all the sensitivity and reverence due to one of our fallen heroes."
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Max Divergent
Read your history my man..... Canada, in regards to population to military ratios made bigger sacrifices than you guys
You're missing the point, probably deliberatley. Unlike the US, Canada is not being severly critisied by France for liberating Iraq because they didn't liberate Iraq.
Three countries liberated Iraq with troops on the ground, but both Canada and France were missing - they were harping from the sidelines and positivley obstructing the effort in the UN.
So what has Canada's notable contribution to WWI/II (and other conflicts) got to do with liberating Iraq? Sweet FA, except to condemn the current generation.
You're just having a nationalistic spray IMO.
Max
(In any case, the dubious honour of the highest per-capita casualty rates (at least for WWI, maybe for WWII as well) goes to a country that, unlike Canada, is still fighting with men and guns and ships and planes to liberate and rebuild Iraq - so your point is well and truly lost)
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Back from the Memorial
by ScoobySnax inwell like i say, just got back from the memorial, have been going most years, but this year i went by chance (knew it was roughly at 7pm at the nearest kh) to my old congregation that i grew up in.
i didn't find the "evil" people spoke of here on this forum, or those too stupid to see.
all i did see was people i hadn't seen in years, and let me tell you, what lovely people they were.
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Max Divergent
Hi Scooby - I'm glad you had that expereince. I went to a wedding not so long a go and had a similar experience. I'm fairly sure that if I went back to one of my old congo's it'd be the same. JW's are generally very nice, decent people (though misled into sometimes indecent actions).
Some (many?) here are outspoken, opionionated folk (not critisising, just observing) who would no doubt have stirred up the nest on the way out and wouldn't hesitate to do so at any opportunity. You and I probably didn't and would be accepted on face value back there again.
Also, many American's tend to take things like this incredibly seriously compared to the British who tend to be more convivial on the whole (and get less done in life coz they're busy chitter chattering about nothing over cups of tea or pints of best bitter).
Max
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Ever have an affair????????????????
by jurs ini've been married 14 long years to a real s.o.b.
and i think i might just take that plunge.
i was having a drink at a bar last week with a gal i work with.
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Max Divergent
Wow! Thank you to people who've been so open in this thread.
I can't speak from expereience, but from what I sense from your post I'd think that if you want to go with this person and you're in a position to accept any consequences that may come from it cheefully and at no deep personal cost, then that's your choice. If don't or you're not, then you'd be a fool ... probably. You might do better to fix the current problems one way or another before opening yourself up to more.
Personally, I've never wanted to enough and have never been ready or willing to accept the consequences (even though we've been apart for many months for work) and feel a sense of responsibility to my wonderful wife to not cause her to suffer the consequences too... but that's my happy circumstance, not yours
The lady who cut my hair today is half a well known swinging couple, works for some - totally screws up other peoples lives... I doubt there's a single answer... But don't forget that he might have the clap...
Mmmm... . if your husband really dosn't care, maybe telling him the stories of your exploits might liven up your home life too? Even if you make it up to start with... You might end up with a permenent smile... or divorced... or both...
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The Ultimate APOSTATE SURVEY!!! Check it out!! please respond!! ^_^
by NaruNaruChan inok, we all get them in the mail, but here's one geared towards us that i just wrote up.
feel free to add to it, as i'd love for it to go around a bit ^_^ .
copy and paste this into your response box because i just wrote it and i figure whattheheck, this could be good!!!
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Max Divergent
Whoops...
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44
The Ultimate APOSTATE SURVEY!!! Check it out!! please respond!! ^_^
by NaruNaruChan inok, we all get them in the mail, but here's one geared towards us that i just wrote up.
feel free to add to it, as i'd love for it to go around a bit ^_^ .
copy and paste this into your response box because i just wrote it and i figure whattheheck, this could be good!!!
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Max Divergent
What is your name? Max Where were you born? Australia Were u raised as a JW? Yep, didn't go to many meetings until I was about 15 though. Foolishly accepted a study and that was the end of me... When were you baptized a JW? 1988 I think When were you disfellowshipped, or disassociated, and for what? Walked away in 1998 Are you Married? Yes, and happily. Walked away together hand in hand...
Did you ever pioneer/aux pioneer? How long? Auxilaried twice. The second time really knocked me around - I hated and resented every minute of it. It was bloody awful and was part of my process of leaving. The first time was just as bad, but I didn't know enough to even think of walking out back then.
Which teachings of the WTBTS do you disagree with the most? 1) The ones that require JW to do things to the exclusion of their own needs - like, go to meetings/conventions/pioneering/whatever ahead of earning a living/getting an education etc;
2) The ones that distort peoples thinking and capacity to think for themselves, especially by using guilt and the sorts of manipulations Ray wrote about in In Search of Christian Freedom;
3) Everything else they ever wrote, said, implied, thought or omitted...
Which Teachings of the WTBTS do you agree with still? I can't think of a single one. And I've tried.
If you could take any of it back, would u? Like, if I could tell my 15yo self to reject the bible study and never become a JW.... Ughhhh..... I'm alive, healthy and have a great wife who I met through the JW's... so would I risk all that.... I don't know.... Are there things I'd like to undo... Of course..
What was your worst experience at the door in the field service? Can't remember... It's just one horrid blur now... Everytime someone came to the door was bad...
What was your best experience in field service? Meeting a guy for about 15 minutes who was probably a professor and the greatest teacher of all time... I was doubting, but he just prompted a few more brain cells to do their job and realise the JW were just recycling the same old religious garbage that's been coming out for 1000's of years...
What was the last memorial u attended? 1998 I think Did you have to go through therapy after leaving? No, only needed that when i was in. It helped me see the bullshit for what it was. Has anyone else quit the religion because you left? I didn't stick around to find out, and I never told anyone why because it wasn't in my self-interest to do so. My brother did though.
What did you do to your literature after you quit? It's at my mothers place Have you been to an APOSTAFEST, and was it fun? No
Did you go sex crazy when you left? ;-) We tied a few new things and our sex life is way, way better... thank you very much for asking... Would you like more details? ;-) Did you dye your hair, get a tattoo, or pierce yourself? N Have you picketed a convention yet, or will you? N
Do you have any regrets? Ughghh... Telling someone to dob on a fornicatrix bothers me... But she got out before being baptised, so maybe she came off the better for it? Do you think you will ever recover fully? Oh, I dunno...Would you ever go back? As an undercover cop maybe... but only if being anally retentive becomes a crime
Cheers, Max
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What Were You Told That You Had To Work on By The Elders?
by minimus inthe elders feel obliged to have you work on at least, something.
what did they tell you?
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Max Divergent
''Be less dramatic in your talks'"
Then there was the one where I called a whore a whore, and got chewed for it...
There was another where I portrayed magic in a positive light... I said my favourite story as a child had been ''The Magic Pudding" about a pud that kept growing back to full size after someone took a slice. The talk was about, umm.. Elijah I think? Anyway, some prophet who got stuck in a cave and his eaten food kept returning... seemed like a match in popular culture to the bible to me...
But poor ole Phil couldn't cope, and gave me public council on it... :-)
:-)
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Daughter counselled on dating a wordly guy
by minimus inmy daughter recieved this email from one of her witness "friends".
she is counseling my daughter (indirectly) about her choice to date a "worldly" guy.. hey, so, we had a talk recently that was about love & respect in your marriage.
the brother brought out that this was more for us witnesses rather than worldly people, because it seems that even in the truth now marriage has lost it's correct place.
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Max Divergent
Well, this poor misdirected girl is doing what seems right to her and isn't doing anything truly wrong (just strange and weird and nasty), and she knows the consequences may not be comfortable and that she'll probably fail (again)...
I've lost a lot of friends to this type of thing. And I try my best to help them and it doesn't seem to work. And then I kick myself thinking "what else should I have done?"
So your daughter must equally have the right do do what seems right to her, knowing the consequnces may not be comfortable.
Is she prepared for the worst case senario (which is DF obviously)? If so, who gives a rats-arse about them? Act as you see fit.
If she's not ready for that, then best to get ready for it so it's no longer a real threat (easy said, I know).
If you don't feel like ignoring them, you could offer to help sheperd this stranger she's writing about and guide her with your daughters experience; or you could get stuck into her father - he's responsible; or engage in a family orgy/love-in on their front lawn... who cares...
I'd just have a laugh about it and show it to all my friends....
Max