maxwell

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Posts by maxwell

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  7

  Mr. Microphone Hand-el-er...

  by Funchback in

  1. social
  2. humour

  reeeal mennn of geniussss....

  here's to you, mr. microphone hand-el-er (mister microphone hannnd-el-er...)

  you accepted this assignment at the age of 12 to show the congregation that you were reaching out (you want to be a servant...)

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  maxwell

  LOL, that brings back memories. I would try to be fast and be at the person before the name was called. It wasn't really that hard usually. You just follow the conductor's eyes. But sometimes you'd get someone who would look in one direction and call on someone they had seen in another direction. Then sometimes only one person would raise their hand so of course, you'd start heading in that person's direction. I would also make a point of looking up and down the rows of the side of the hall where I was standing and noting who was sitting were, especially the people who commented a lot, in order to lessen the chance that I couldn't find someone when the conductor called their name.

  I looked a few posts on the other thread. I handled the mike at halls that had poles and at halls that had just the mike which you passed down the row. And yes when we had the polls there were always those who would grab it. But generally if I had to reach and extend a bit with the pole, I would be happy to let the person hold part of the weight. The last hall I attended had some wireless mikes. That was nice. No cords to trip over.
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  36

  How far back do you remember?

  by dh in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what are your first memories?

  i started to write a post about this the other day but it turned into a bio, so i deleted it.. my first memory is my mom carrying me into a house and putting me on the floor with another boy, and talking to some guy behind me while i watched the other kid playing with a board game.

  it turned out that the other kid was my older brother, the man was my real father who i never met, and because of the time frame of events i was well under a year old when this happened.. i also remember being rocked to sleep as a baby by my mom, and trying to tell her i wasn't tired but not being able to.. do you have early memories?

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  maxwell

  I think its amazing how far back some people can remember. My earliest memory is of going to the hospital because of a hernia. I remember a yellow wristband and walking down the hallway with my parents looking into other rooms. Then I remember them rolling a large bin full of stuffed toys into my room. My parents said I was angry when they rolled that in there because it was right after I woke up from anesthesia and I was angry that they had put me to sleep. I was 3 years old. I don't remember any feelings or awareness of my age, just the images. Neither do I remember the cause of the hernia. The earliest age I can remember being aware of is age 4 and I've got several memories from that age.
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  13

  generation change

  by littlemike in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello this is my first topic on this forum.. i left the jws 18 months ago and am still recovering.

  it was after reading crisis of conscience that i was brave enough to leave although i had serious doubts before i was always scared in case it was right!!

  and i was wrong.. however when they changed the generation in 1995 that caused me great trauma as i had accepted that as absolute fact and based my life on it.

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  maxwell

  I was still in at the time of the change. Basically I forced myself to accept the twisted logic used to support the change just as I accepted other unreasonable JW teachings. But when I eventually did start questioning my beliefs, that was one of the things that pushed along the path to reality.

  1995 was the year I graduated from high school. After the generation change, for the first time, I thought seriously about growing old and dying, so that influenced decisions about schooling and getting a job. Before I thought there was little chance of me growing old and dying although I thought I could die an early death from any number of things. After the change, I thought dying of old age was much more likely, so making plans for that time seemed important. I believed that I should "rely on Jehovah", but I also believed that I should take a proactive approach and that those two ideas were not in conflict.
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  27

  Were You Afraid of Dying at Armageddon?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one thing jehovah's witnesses do is they try to make their adherents feel afraid.

  fear is a major reason to go to meetings, out in service, personal study, etc.

  jws are always talking about the great tribulation and armageddon.

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  maxwell

  I was raised in the religion and I don't think I saw it as a fearsome thing at first. As I grew up, I did have some vengeful feelings about the supposed future event. As in, that bad person will be killed at Armageddon and I look forward to watching it.

  But I have to admit in my early 20's after doing a few no-no's and never sharing that with anyone I did have some fear of Armageddon. I remember at times thinking, well I should just try to do as best I can on the hope that God will forgive me without going to the elders. Then for a short time near the end of college, I planned to simply leave JW after school and have the "temporary enjoyment of sin" (something Moses wrote; don't know the exact scripture). But later I decided I'd try to serve God again. I had a dream a little over two years ago about Armageddon. I was running with some other people, apparently trying to escape Armageddon, through this bland building, and we would always just make it through these doors that would shut vertically just behind us. Sort of like doors on Star Wars ships or Star Trek ships. Finally, we didn't make through one door and resigned myself to my fate. I was not going to make it to the new system. At that point I woke up quite frightened. Shortly after that I decided I no longer believed I would make it through Armageddon. That's when I let my mind start seriously questioning whether what I believed was reality was really reality.
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  24

  What do they say about you now that you're out?

  by ColdRedRain in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yesterday, i was on the phone with a friend i met while i was down in florida.

  we had a nice long chat about how she doesn't feel as though she wants to be a jw anymore, and i gave her good guidence, and one of the peices of good guidence i gave her was "do not worry about your reputation, your reputation is held in low esteem by people who are in themselves in low esteem.

  " she then told me about how my reputation was slammed down in florida.

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  maxwell

  I don't know what they are saying, but I actually would like to know what some are saying especially in the congregation where I grew up. One parent at one time actually told my mom she wished her son was more like me. I really hope she never said such a terrible thing to her son, but that gives you an idea of what people thought about me when I was growing up with my parents. So I wonder what they are saying now. Just an idle curiosity, not the kind of information I am actively seeking.
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  15

  How big was your book bag?

  by 2escaped lifers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  all you ex-"brothers": was this just in my area (north alabama), or do any of you remember there being an unstated, but real nonetheless, pecking order amongst the brothers that correlated the size of your meeting briefcase/bookbag to your level of spirituality?.

  don't know why i was thinking about this today.... brandon

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  maxwell

  The existing hierarchy of positions generally seemed to require those with higher positions to carry larger bags. I remember as a kid carrying in my dad's huge foot wide 2 foot high bag. You could fit everything in there. After he stepped down from his elder position, he didn't carry such a large bag any longer. Elder's would have those large bags at the talk on sunday and the school/theocratic during the week. Some might even have them at the bookstudy.

  I personally carried a small brief case to the meeting only on school/theocratic meeting. You needed something to carry all those books for a meeting like that. I remember being instructed that we should always have the Organization book and the Reasoning book at those meetings whether they were called for on a part or not. For the Sunday meeting and the bookstudy, I never carried more than the books needed so no bag needed unless I was going in field service afterwards, then I would bring my field service bag which was was a different type of bag than my meeting bag. It was probably about the same size but not a briefcase...easy to reach into. Funny, I can remember my first bag. My mother sewed it from some vinyl/leather-like material.
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  9

  Williams sisters still preaching

  by Mulan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this was in our newspaper today:.

  "jehovah's witnesses venus and serena williams still proselytize their faith, but the tennis stars now do so by phone instead of going door-to-door, serena told newsweek.

  why the change?

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  maxwell

  Yes, the utility of the sports bra becomes evident.
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  23

  What do you say when the Mormons come by?

  by MegaDude in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just got through having a conversation with two mormons going door to door on this cold saturday here in fort worth, texas.

  damn, they remind me so much of jehovah's witnesses it isn't even funny: the same zeal, the same conviction, the same confidence.

  as a matter of fact, they seemed a lot more of all these things.

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  maxwell

  I've seen the mormon guys around here several times on their bikes. But they have only spoken to me once. They must have parked their bikes somewhere that day. I was still a JW at the time and the came up to me as I was walking down the street and gave me at tract. So I smiled and waited for them to say something thinking maybe we'd have an interesting conversation, deviously thinking to myself, you guys don't know that I do the same thing you do. But they didn't seem to be in the mood to talk. They just wanted me to have the little piece of paper and they kind of excused themselves and went on down the street.

  I commute on my bike to work, so maybe one day I'll run into them while out riding. That has happened before but they were going in the opposite direction. Maybe we'll be going the same direction someday and I'll ask can I come preaching with them for a while just for old times sake.
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  11

  I registered to vote today

  by wednesday in

  1. social
  2. current

  well today i received my applications in the mail.

  i filled them out for both myself and hubby.

  i am so excited.

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  maxwell

  Congrats,

  This November will be my first time voting also. I registered last November and got my voter's registration card in the mail a few weeks later. I've got it tucked away safely in the same place I keep my social security card. I'm looking forward to getting it out and taking it to my voting location in November.
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  40

  Were YOU Considered A "Good Example" In The Congregation???

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  or were you considered "weak"?

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  maxwell

  I was given the privilege of working behind the literature counter, handling mikes and being an attendant. I was also asked to say a few congregation prayers. So I'd say I was considered to be a good example.