maxwell

Joined

• started 12 topics
• posted 632 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by maxwell

• 
  90

  What Was Your Reputation In The Congregation?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  were you considered a "troublemaker", a "complainer", a "fine" brother or sister?

  were you always being called before the elders for one thing or another?

  is your reputation the same here as it was in the congregation??

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  Part of my personality was the same as it is now. I was quiet and people knew me for that.

  As far as towing the JW line, I was probably seen as mostly good, but not quite stellar. I was regular in field service, studied for the meetings and answered and participated at every meetings. I did well enough to be used for various chores around the hall like the literature counter, attendant, reading at the bookstudy and mikes. I was actually trusted enough to pray in front of the congregation at the Service/School meetings. Supposedly the congregation as a whole has to have some confidence in you for that. Obviously some elders felt that way. But I never had a repuation good enough to be appointed as a ministerial servant. I think if I had been there a little longer and I had done a little more in field service (couldn't quite get that average over 10/mo.), I might have been eventually appointed to ministerial servant.
• 
  96

  What's Your Opinion of the Opposite Sex?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  are you of the mind that all men and all women are basically the same?

  you know---all men just have one thing on their mind or all women are just users?

  there's so much stereotyping when it comes to males and females...typical man, typical woman.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  I could say that all men have certain organs and all women have certain body parts, but there are a few beings in the grey area. Beyond that, I try not to stereotype. There's always an exception. I think positively about the opposite sex. I don't always agree with or understand their motivation, but I am really glad they are here.
• 
  13

  Toddler Left Home Alone Leaves Hospital

  by Xandria in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  jacksonville, fla. - a 2-year-old girl left home alone for 2 1/2 weeks while her mother was in jail has been released from the hospital after being treated for malnutrition and dehydration, officials said wednesday .

  the child, who survived by eating ketchup, mustard and dried pasta, was released late tuesday from wolfson children's hospital to the custody of the state department of children & families.

  "the only thing i can tell you is that she is in good condition," hospital spokesman david foreman said.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  Bad mother. I hope she gets her due justice.

  Amazing kid. I saw this story on tv news. One of the rescuers said that it appeared she had even tried to get into some canned food because she had torn the labels off some cans. Amazing.
• 
  32

  Did You Think "Jehovah" Was Responsible For Everything Good In Your Life?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've heard all my life, that anytime something good happened, we should thank jehovah for doing it.

  if something bad happened, like being attacked by the "demons", it was because a person didn't have the complete "suit of armor" from god.

  i know many of the "friends" that credit jehovah god for giving them a sunny morning, a pay raise at work or an end to their cough and cold.....were you one of those that believed jehovah was behind everything that happened in your life?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  I thought he was responsible for all of the abilities I had as a human and that he made it possible for me to do things that made good things happen. There were a few occasions when things lucked out my way and I thought Jehovah was responsible, but I never thought he was directly responsible for all the good things that happened in my life. But that was one of the things that went through my mind when I started questioning things. Good and bad things happen much to randomly for one to try to attribute only the good things to some all-powerful being. How would he pick and choose who to bestow the rare good tidings on and how does he choose who to ignore and allow to suffer or die? Supposedly, as we were taught as JW, God is allowing some issues raised in the garden of eden to be settled. Still what goes on now seems a bit much to settle that issue. Suffice to say, that I can see much more cause and effect from my own tangible actions than I ever did from bowing my head, closing my eyes and uttering some words to some all powerful being who would influence things to happen a certain way.
• 
  51

  Any forum members being affected by Hurricane Isabelle..is everybody safe?

  by Special K in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  quite an evacuation of coast line down in north carolina.. everybody okay?.

  special k

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  The worst is past for here. The storm's eye passed a little bit farther to the west than was expected. The worst time was between about 10 pm and 1 am last night. High winds (gusts at least 50 mph) and a lot of rain. So there are a lot of trees down and flooding in some areas. I can't see any trees down from my apartment, only the kind of debree you always see after a big thunderstorm and no flooding near me, but I know some neighborhoods have some flooding. Old Town Alexandria keeps getting shown on tv. They have been affected by a bit of Potomac Surge. It's starting to recede, but there will be a lot of cleanup there. I'm going to take a walk a little later to see what my neighborhood looks like.
• 
  21

  Does the Soul continue to Exist after the Death of the Body?

  by Blueblades in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell....the words of jesus at matthew 10:28. so,according to jesus,the soul does exist after the death of the body.but in order not to be destroyed you must fear the one who can destroy your soul.. what a way to live!.

  blueblades

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  I don't know, but if some part of me still exists after my body dies, I'll try to let you guys know.
• 
  59

  If you knew there was no reward for serving God would you still serve him?

  by Happythoughts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  do you think most people would serve him?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  When I was a JW, that was what I told myself, although now I'm pretty sure I was lying to myself. I told myself if I were truly serving God out of love, then the prize is just an extra. I also believed that God defined what was good and what was bad. If God had suddenly decided that it was good to punch out everyone I came across, then I would do my best to do what was good, although I could never imagine that God would define punching out people as good. Hmmm that sounds kind of scary considering what terrorist claim God tell them. Now I know I wouldn't have served got without a reward. Neither would I do it now. Supposedly you love God because he gave you life, admittedly a selfish reason.
• 
  51

  Any forum members being affected by Hurricane Isabelle..is everybody safe?

  by Special K in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  quite an evacuation of coast line down in north carolina.. everybody okay?.

  special k

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  I live in DC. No danger like that faced by those living on the coast, but we are also being forecasted to have a lot of rain in a short period of time (3-6 inches within 48 hours) and wind ranging from 40-60 mph. I live in a mid-rise buidling. On the first level but above the lobby level so I'm not too concerned about flooding. Hopefully, we don't have problems with the drainage system handling all the rain. Only other problem I could see for me is if some part of the power system was damaged somewhere. I've never been this close to a hurricane. I remember calling my current boss for an interview in September 1999 and they were at that time in the middle of hurricane Floyd, the last hurricane to affect this area.
• 
  15

  Any fan of Food Network?

  by sunshineToo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i love most of their shows especially 30 -min.

  meal, tyler's ultimate, food 911 and goodeats, and not to mention all the competitions and iron chef.

  i'm learning a lot.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  I don't watch that channel much, but I find Emeril entertaining. If I'm flipping through and I catch him, I might stop and watch for a while.
• 
  33

  Do you believe in free will?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  do you believe in free will?and if you do can you explain how it works?.

  i can't see how free will could work.our motivation for doing things good or bad seems to come from a mixture of genes and enviroment, and through a long and complicted process cause us to perform all the actions we experience in life.when we feel a prompting to do something ,eat sleep have sex etc, this is accomplished by our body using chemicals in our bodies to give us a feeling that we then act upon.the degree to which these chemicals prompt us is related to genetic makeup and environment.. so some people have a bigger desire to eat than others because they lack the chemical stimulation that tells them to stop eating.or some will eat less (often when ill) because the chemicals that prompt you to eat are lacking.in normal life lots of over factors will be involved to like say an important phonecall at lunch time .if your brain feels the information from that call is important enough it will send out different chemicals that will cause you to attend to that situation first if serious enought.. knowledge can modify how our bodies react to certain situations, for example a child may see an icecream van and run into the road because his body has yet to learn of the danger of running into a road.when taught how foolish this by a nasty experience or hopefully , taught about the dangers by its parents, then the body will send out a meesage to look at the road first.. our bodies tell us which ideas are good and bad according to the information it holds and we react accordingly.we can fight desires but the will to do so is caused by other desires which are prompted by the body.. to have true free will neither our genes or enviroment could effect what we decide to do.. we have to be able to do things irespective of what promting we recive from our bodies or what information we have learnt and has thus modified our bodies response.. maybe there are but i can not think of any situation where or actions or reactions can not be explianed by genes mixed with environment (often in a very complicated way).nor can i understand how free will could work,unless free will is just a random action which could not be free will in the true sense.. if there is no free will then if there were a god and we are judged on what we do then this is entirely unfair as we really have little say in what we do in life.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  maxwell

  This thread does make me think.

  Phantom Stranger,

  I do agree that a lot of reactions, responses were learned early on. I would think that a lot of that is harmless mannerisms or a particular way of walking. Then there part that determines how one would react to new situations which are thrown at the person. I probably spend less time "in the moment" that I would like to think, but it is still my choice to react immediately or to think. I'm all for expanding the "in the moment" time as well.

  sleepy,

  Sounds like you are talking about something outside the concious which is manifest in the concious as self-determination. That could be true. Some think that what really exists is some realm of the forms that is manifest in what we can hear, see, feel, etc. I have no way of verifying that. The realm of the forms sounds to me like some sort of spirit world and in that view fate would control what is manifest. In my view, I only talk about what is manifest. I face some choices more than once. I make one choice and I have set of consequences, if I make the other choice, I get another set of consequences. I suppose if scientist were eventually able to measure and/or identify these chemicals and use that to accurately predict a person's response to every situation that person encountered, then perhaps lack of self or self-determination could be demonstrated. But can one manifestation objectively study another manifestation, or is the conclusion already determined?