Posts by maxwell

29

Pledge of Allegiance

by Princess Daisy Boo in

south africa is considering bringing in a "pledge" that kids in school will repeat each day.

we never had such a thing as kids growing up, but when the national anthem was sung, we always had to stay seated and not participate.

i remember always hearing about flag saluting in other countries.

At times, it was a bit tough standing out because I didn't stand for the flag salute or the pledge. Fortunately, the flag saluting was only an issue in elementary school up to about age 9. National anthems never came up except at sporting events. I was in marching band in high school. I stood with the band the first time I was with them at a football game, but did not play. Then my dad talked to me and I didn't stand any more. I always felt subconcious then. But there is some value in having the strength to go resist the crowd and do your own thing

Despite the discomfort with standing out, I don't feel anyone should be coerced to pledge allegiance to a flag or stand during a national anthem. Refusal to do either is does not even hint at treason or wanting to harm your country and it should be a personal choice. I once went to a graduation after I had left the JW, but I was sitting with some of my JW family members. Though I personally had no problem standing for the national anthem, I decided to sit with them while the national anthem was played, because I wanted to stay seated with them. On the other, I am now in a community concert band, and I had the opportunity to play the National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" for the first time last summer at 5 concerts. It is a great song and I feel proud of my country when I play it. But the freedom it represents extends to the choice to stand or not while it is played or sung. Nobody should be a patriotic nationalist robot unquestioningly doing everything the Mother country tells them to do.

53

Things You HATED About Being a JW

by minimus in

jw
friends

there were a few things that i hated about being a witness.. i love music and live concerts.

quite often i'd have to play my music privately or hide an album cover for fear it might "stumble" someone.

i hated worrying whether someone was going to somehow get "stumbled.. regarding going to concerts, it seemed that certain artists only came to town on a meeting night and i'd miss the shows.. what did you hate about being a jehovah's witness?.

maxwell

As has already been mentioned, field service and especially phone witnessing.

I didn't do much phone witnessing when I was growing up in a rural area. But I did it a few times after I moved away from home to an area with high rise buildings. I just didn't like bothering people over and over again with things they were not interested in talking about. And phone witnessing really brought it too the fore. I try to follow a basic rule of human relations that some people think is unique to the Bible and refer to as the golden rule. I try to treat other people the way I wanted to be treated. And I know I hated to be bothered by telemarketers. When I used a landline, before I had caller ID, I'd just say "No" and hang up on them. When I got caller ID, I wouldn't even bother answering.

I once quit a job because I absolutely hated the cold-calling to set up a sales appointment. Then I moved and I had to try this phone witnessing a few time. I was completely ineffective with that method, which is actually a positive. Certain people might have the phone voice to make it work sometimes, but not me. I knew that I would not like it if somebody was trying to push some propaganda on me on the street, at my door or on the phone. So why was I bothering these people? It turns out the message isn't life saving.

107

Remember when assemblies were fun?

by Aphrodite in

jw
friends

i just remembered when i was a kid and we would go to the assembly, it was fun because we got to buy new clothes and put extra effort into looking good.

when we would get there you could save your seats and even save some for your friends, then go off looking for them.. i used to love our circuit assembly because of the food.

it was at the assembly hall and there was a big kitchen, some of my favourite brothers worked in that kitchen, sometimes i was allowed to go in and help.

maxwell

They were fun sometimes to me as well.

Yes, the food. I actually liked it. I remember Hoagies, ham sandwiches and roast beef. I have a faint memory of some hot sandwich before they got rid of that. I remember the danishes and the breakfast muffin sandwich. And chips and Shasta colas. And the food tickets. I did find that to be a strange extra step.

I used to like sitting up high in the coliseum's where the DC were held if my mother would allow it.

I actually enjoyed the dramas. I remember one "sister" bursting into incontrollable laughter during one drama when they "actors" were pretending to be on the Ark during the flood. And it was pretty funny now thinking back to seeing them sitting there rocking back and forth together. And the animated hand gestures whenever their character was supposed to be talking is a funny memory too.

I was not as wild or fun as some of you, but as a teenager, I did enjoy prowling the corridors with my cousins between sessions, talking to acquaintances from other congregations and looking at girls. One of my cousins was smooth enough to talk to a few and get phone numbers, but I never really talked to any because of my shyness. Can't blame the JW totally for my social awkwardness.

13

I missed the meeting today. It feels so good!

by outofthebox in

jw
friends

:-).

maxwell

My last meeting was April 7, 2002 a regular sunday meeting shortly after the memorial of that year. I went to one wedding since then. I haven't missed it at all.

58

How long do you stay in love?

by Thegoodgirl in

i have a question:.

how long do you stay in love?

for those of you who are married, are you together "just for the kids"?

maxwell

Gramma Velta,

I add my Congratulations on your 59th Anniversary!

58

How long do you stay in love?

by Thegoodgirl in

i have a question:.

how long do you stay in love?

for those of you who are married, are you together "just for the kids"?

maxwell

Whenever I hear someone say they are "in love" or they are "falling in love", I think they are speaking of that highly emotional, highly irrational, but very good and sometimes walking on the clouds feeling you have at the beginning of a relationship. Some call it the honeymoon phase. Sometimes it is the beginning of love. Sometimes it is just lust. I've had a similar feeling once in my life, but it lasted maybe 3 or 4 years.

I don't like the phrase "real love", but to distinguish love from being "in love", I'll use it. Real love is much more rational, and permanent. You might start out "in love", but after a while you see the faults, then each person does that something pisses the other off really bad, and they decide that they still love each other. I may be agnostic, but I still like 1 Corinthians 13. That kind of love lasts a lifetime. I think that's what most of the people who posted before me are talking about.

Yes, I still love the person who I was "in love" with.

46

What J.W teaching did you find the hardest to accept??

by karter in

for me it was the fact that god is allowing all these innocent people to get killed to prove a point ,i mean it was a big bet he had with satan.. i explained it to my wife this way if i had our children killed in the most horriable way just to show they couldn't live without me how does that make me look?.

maxwell

The hardest teaching/rule for me to accept was that apostate literature was off limits. Truth is not threatened by fallacious arguments, so if apostates are so wrong, why is it such a sin to see their arguments?

27

Giants Win the SuperBowl - 17 - 14

by pratt1 in

jw
friends

they said it wouldn't happen.. as a life long giants fan, i am over the moon!.

maxwell

I'm not much of a football fan. Apparently some other people in my apartment building are not either, because I couldn't get to two dryers next to each other in the laundry room during the game. I finished my laundry before the 4th quarter was over. I didn't watch any of the game on tv, but I periodically checked the score online while I was surfing elsewhere. I heard a couple of loud cheers/shouts from neighbors in other areas of the building, but there must have been a time lag. Initially I thought, oh it must have been a close play, but a few minutes later and I did a double take when I saw that score with the Giants up. Must have been a good game. Congratulations to the Giants.

60

Feb. 1 mass calling campaign. Will you call?

by Shawn10538 in

i'm not sure if it was mentiopned.

but i think that we are talking about not just one call from each person, but we are talking about spending a good length of time calling repeatedly.

othrwise it just won't have much of an impact.

maxwell

My hand is tired. Masturbation is quite a bit of work for a "DO NOTHING".

28

January 27th 2008

by zanex in

jw
friends

started out like any other normal day..with plans to go to taos with my girlfriend and a good buddy o mine (wlg) sorry mang...had to give u some recognition on this one...anyhow..we went out to a nice place for some breakfast..wandered around taos, went to the taos pueblos to get a chance to watch the native americans dance at the taos pueblo...then we went out to the taos gorge..which for those who dont know is a quite big hole in the ground bout a mile down...the bridge is somewhat a daunting look down for ones who have never seen it before.... anyhow...my girlfriend at first refused to step one foot out onto the bridge but with a little coaxing and a promise to make sure she wouldnt fall off i gradually brought her out to the middle of the bridge where there is a small outcropping where one can stand and look out over the gorge...we stood there staring over the side of the bridge for a few minutes then i slowly took her hand in mine and looked deep into her eyes.... ....and i dropped to one knee....(quite funny too cuz initially she was like what are you doing?

)....i still had her hand in mine and she was staring down at me like i was doing something silly or humorous like is my usual personality trait...i stared at her for a minute or two and said a few sentances of which are too personal to bring up here and then i asked her to marry me..... she looked at me and said "what?!

are you kidding me?!

maxwell

Congratulations!

I wish you success in your relationship.