I would not say that it's impossible. Polygamy has existed for a long time. It just happens to have a stigma attached to it in most Western countries.
maxwell
JoinedPosts by maxwell
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40
A question
by sundialer inis it possible to love and be in love with two people at the same time?
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Poll: Affection or sex
by Mimilly inif...... you had to choose just one to have for the rest of your life, which would it be?
affection or sex?
by affection here i mean snuggling, kissing, hand holding, all the little things.
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maxwell
I'll have to go with the minority here and vote sex. I get smothered with affection. And then when people have that affection, they tend to get jealous and resist sharing you with other people. They want to to tie you down and control who you can be affectionate with. I'll have to be cautious with this affection in the future. Sex is much less complicated. It would simplify my life.
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Excluded. How did/does exclusion make you feel?
by Celtic inmany of you have felt at the sharp end, quite particularly so, social exclusion.
emotionally, how did it make you feel?
celtic mark - cornwall uk
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maxwell
I've only been disfellowshipped since early May. And I've only run into two witnesses since then. One walked pass me on the bus. The other on the street near where I work. The second meeting might not have even seen me since we were both walking pretty quickly. I should say, that my emotions may be repressed. I didn't feel much of anything. However, I haven't really had to see my family face to face since this has happened. I know it hurt me on the last phone calls with my family before the annoucement when my brothers and sisters and parents were declaring they wouldn't be able to talk with me freely any more or at all.
On the other hand, I do like the sentiment expressed by LovesDubs. So there's 6 million people on the earth with 6 billion who by religious beliefs and religious policy are supposed to shun me. Big deal for most of them. There are many other non-Jehovah's Witness people who hate or dislike me for other reasons (i.e. skin color, nationality, beliefs). There's also plenty of other people who have not formed some opinion of me and who would not shun me and who would be friendly regardless of harmless beliefs I have or my race. The ratio of normal people to (shunners+haters) is pretty high. I will put my energy into those who are open to being friends or at least being friendly. -
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Baltimore/DC
by cellomould inanyone who lives in the area feel free to respond or send e-mail.. i will be in the neighborhood for a research meeting on sept 11.
(interestingly, i began my lab notebook two years ago on september 11. this will be one of my last research gigs before i file my thesis and graduate.
good thing i don't believe in luck, considering the events of last year.
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maxwell
clash,
The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't put a face conclusively with the name. So no I don't know him. I've been in the area over 2 and 1/2 years so if he's still an elder, I probably saw him give a visiting speaker talk or perhaps a circuit assembly talk. I was in South Arlington. We had visiting speakers from Falls Church, North Arlington, North Alexandria and South Alexandria.
Maxwell
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25
Do dubs deal with death better than others?
by SpiceItUp ingoing to that funeral this week made me think about a few things.. first the family members that attended, who btw were not dubs, were shedding tears.
i did not see anyone else there crying even though the woman who died was a great friend and will really be missed.. now since the dubs have the hope of the "resurrection" does that allieviate their grief that they should normally posess?
does that mean they are "happy" when someone dies because their wait is over?
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maxwell
I don't know that Jehovah's Witnesses deal with death any better than others. I think that the reason religions exist is to give people a comforting hope of some afterlife, whether it be in heaven, russurection on earth, or reincarnation to something in the universe. I'm no historian, but it seems like just about every culture had some religion with a belief of an afterlife, but also has some grieving customs despite this belief in afterlife. My grandmother, a long time JW, grieved loudly at every funeral I ever saw her go to. And I only saw her in Kingdom Hall funerals. I don't know about funerals now, but most funerals when I was young would include a walk by the open casket and have one last look. Whenever my grandmother would get up to walk by, she would break down loudly and vocally moaning, whaling, crying. The only thing missing would be "ripping her garments" (remember the Isrealites). Some people of course would be trying to comfort her (maybe just quiet her) like my aunt and my grandfather. But my dad once told me that there was merit to the way my grandmother dealt with it. She always got her grief out immediately. I remember being over my grandmother's house one day when someone called with the news that someone had died. I don't even think it was someone really close in the family, but she immediately broke down loudly. Nobody else in the family would break down so loudly. I remember when my aunt, my grandmother's daughter-in-law, died. Although my uncle cried, he wasn't nearly as visibly grief-stricken as my grandmother. However, I think in the long run it affected my uncle worse. He has had other problems in the years since then. They are/were both JW's. So my opinion is that belief in an afterlife does not prevent one from dealing with death. However, one needs to grieve and deal with death no matter what your beliefs. I think JW's deal with death in various ways and some do it better than others. I've never had anyone really close to me die. So I've never had a real urge to cry at a funeral. But I was afraid for my mother once. She was in hospital and I saw her in a lot of pain. It was very scary and I cried when I left the room with her. I was still a JW then, but the thought of losing her was really scary. It turned out to be gall stones. Not usually a life-threatening thing. But I learned that the grieving emotions are there. When it happens, hopefully I can deal with it. Your psyche has to go through the process.
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Baltimore/DC
by cellomould inanyone who lives in the area feel free to respond or send e-mail.. i will be in the neighborhood for a research meeting on sept 11.
(interestingly, i began my lab notebook two years ago on september 11. this will be one of my last research gigs before i file my thesis and graduate.
good thing i don't believe in luck, considering the events of last year.
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maxwell
I'm near DC but I'm in Northern Virginia, which I think is almost exactly opposite of Baltimore. I'm not sure what I'll be doing that time in September. I'm planning on starting a search for another apartment in early September, but I might be able to hook up. I'm car-free now, but I can reach anywhere that is metro/subway accessible or perhaps bus accessible. I think my email is in my profile. If not, I can email you.
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Should jws drive cars!!!
by haujobbz ini was thinking about the time when i asked an elder about this because he said i had to give up smoking to become baptised,and i said that it doesnt specify in the bible that you cant smoke,he then said it defiles the flesh and that our bodies are a sacrifice to god i was puzzled because our flesh is already corrupted by sin,bacteria,pollution,etc.
he then said god will bring to ruin all those ruining the earth but think about it so does driving cars ruin the earth,he then said that gods will couldnt be accomplished worldwide without transport.but the disciples didnt use transport that polluted the earth and they managed ok,so im now thinkin how can a world wide preaching work be accomplished without ruining the earth today,well we have got the net,phones,mmm i let you all decide
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maxwell
Is the LDS those Mormon people? There's a couple of young guys who I see on their bikes all the time here.
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Should jws drive cars!!!
by haujobbz ini was thinking about the time when i asked an elder about this because he said i had to give up smoking to become baptised,and i said that it doesnt specify in the bible that you cant smoke,he then said it defiles the flesh and that our bodies are a sacrifice to god i was puzzled because our flesh is already corrupted by sin,bacteria,pollution,etc.
he then said god will bring to ruin all those ruining the earth but think about it so does driving cars ruin the earth,he then said that gods will couldnt be accomplished worldwide without transport.but the disciples didnt use transport that polluted the earth and they managed ok,so im now thinkin how can a world wide preaching work be accomplished without ruining the earth today,well we have got the net,phones,mmm i let you all decide
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maxwell
Well I don't know about jw's driving cars. But it is precisely because I am no longer a JW that I was able to sell my car Sunday. I'm totally car-free. I will now bike, walk, or ride public transit anywhere I want to go. And occasionally, I may rent a car. When I was a JW, field service was the only activity where the car was really a benefit. We had some spread out territory.
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Age Sex Location Occupation Anyone?
by Perfection Seeker in.
33 female iowa massage therapist happily married no children (yet).
anyone else?
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maxwell
25, male, Northern Virginia near DC, Patent Examiner, Married (for now), no kids
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Facing the inevitable....how will you handle it?
by Makena1 inor - how are you handling it?.
my subject is how we deal with getting older - realizing that we are headed in just one direction, aging and eventually dying.
for most of us born after wwii, raised as jw's, we did not give a thought to getting older.
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maxwell
Interesting topic and perspectives. I'm 25, so of course some people might think that my mortality isn't really staring me in face as hard as someone older than I. I was raised a Witness. My father has told me he didn't think I would get to high school in "this system of things." I have to admit, I've had to wrestle a bit with my paradigm shift. I grew up believing it was very likely I would not have to die. However, fortunately, my dad always looked at things with at least some reality. He always taught me that my life could be taken at any moment. A car accident. A murderer. Some freak nature accident, tornado. Stray bullet from some irresponsible hunter in the woods. The wrong drug at the pharmacy. A freak accident on my bike. I'm don't think I'm a morbid person. But I'd like to think that I was at least a bit realistic back then about the possibility of death given the world we live in. So although I had the hope, I considered the possibility of death. Then in 1995, "new light" on the generation. I still firmly believed in the JW's then. That "new light" really didn't shake my faith at all. It did cause me to look at things differently. So although the WTS was saying that the end was as urgent and more urgent than ever, I started considering that it was quite possible that I would die of old age. The way I rationalized it was that the end could come 5 seconds from now or 500 years from now. Either way, it would be short time to Jehovah. 1000 years is a day to God. And what's 1,000 2,000...years or any finite number of years compared to forever, an infinite amount of time. So while I want to serve God to the best of my ability, I was glad that I had already decided to attend college, and I had better prepare to take care of myself for a 'normal' life span. Of course that meant, I needed to avoid debt, (which I have to admit, I've failed to do, but it's not a hopeless situation. credit cards. I can fix that.) and I needed to make sure I saved money for retirement (I'm fortunate enough to have a job that has allowed me to start doing that.). I believed one could rely on Jehovah, but that meant that I relied on the brains and physical power that God gave me to make a living for myself. Well now that I've left that religion, presently I don't see any hope of some other life. I'm not saying that to knock any one's belief in God. However, I don't see a lack of belief in God, as a morbid or frightening way to go through life. I had observed even while a teenager as one JW's that people who lacked a belief in God or any sort of hope for some after life, still seemed to lead relatively happy lives. Some of them seemed more stable that people who claimed to believe and God. I saw that people's actual value system, the one evidenced by their actions, has nothing to do with whether they profess belief in a god or not. Some people are nice even when they don't believe they have to be good to get the reward of a happy after life. People are born, they grow old, they die. That's what everyone on earth can see. So when I dropped my hard-nosed belief in God, I didn't see that as a reason to give up hope of enjoying my time on earth. As far as facing the inevitable, I have already considered to some extent my death what kind of legacy I'd like to leave. What I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about is my decreasing physical abilities as I grow older. And I must admit that has been a source of some consternation. When I go, I hope that it is quick and painless. However, I know that if I get to enjoy some longer years, there will probably be some pains, and a greater chance for a loss of independence. I've seen how that can really hurt some older people, or even some younger people who sustain some lifetime disability. I know it would hurt me. Hopefully, I would be able to handle that emotionally, psychologically. And hopefully, if that does happen, I will have saved up enough money to at least put myself in a good nursing home or assisted care facility. I don't have any children, and personally I think having children for the purpose of having someone to take care of you in in your old age is bad reason to have children. However, I'd hate to end up burdening any other members of my family my age or younger, or older. Well those are my thoughts.