portrait of a girl and her dog.
(a true story by terry edwin walstrom).
her name was cheryl ann draper and she was about 11 years old the day she begged her daddy, who worked at a gas station, to let her go with him to work.
Terry this was riveting! Truly!
I hope you print out your most amazing words and then frame them alongside the picture. That way she will always be remembered.
If I saw that framed picture with the attached story in an antique store (like you mentioned above) I would buy it.
Actually, you should submit this story and the picture to a photography competition.
Extremely well written. Bravo!
i was about 12. i took a friend along to a meeting and he said he didn't mind learning stuff but it was a shame it was so boring.. i was about 14. i had my very own bible study and took him along.
he just kept whispering about the girls there that he fancied.. i was in my early 20's.
i took along a lady that i knew.
I took a friend to an assembly for her first exposure to anything "witnessy"...
During the experiences, she leaned over and asked me why did the people get up and brag?
How was that Christian?
Now, I could set her mind at ease by telling her the experiences are made up conglomerations of events but I didnt know that at the time.
why did the sacrifice have to be so brutal... i mean what value does that add to the equation of justice.couldn't he jesus have came down and just been slaughtered like a regular sacrifice without the brutal torture.why is justice served by brutalityanyone anyone bueller... lolnow you know i don't like to type for hours but this is always bothered me
I have always been bothered by the sacrifice of Jesus but mine took a different form...
I could never understand how it was that big of a deal if he know ahead of time all he had to do was XYZ and he would get resurrected in less than 72 hours,
There are many people who die for causes they believe in with NO promise of reliving in 72 hours or even with any certainty of a future life at all.
The Bible even refers to that kind of sacrifice as saying "greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for another."
So Jesus didnt lay down his life, he surrendered it briefly, Maybe the beatings and the court trail and the horrific things he endured were to distract from that fact?
the song is 'days of elijah,' and the bit i'm referring to is about half way through, as they sing, "there is no god like jehovah":.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjz_ilp9c5a.
Its really too bad isnt it?
Jehovah is just a name. It can and should be used by anyone who wants to in any song or book.
BUT...the JWs have given it such a bad connotation that the name is controversial and conjures up bad feelings in people.
when i was an elder in the 80s, a 16 year old baptized jw girl had confessed that at school during lunch a boy kissed her and touched her privates over her dress.
the circuit overseer was in town and we told him of the situation and he called the society and then told us that mother said we were not allowed to conduct the funeral in the kingdom hall or anywhere else with the threat of removing us and being dealt with judicially if we disobeyed.
the mother who is about 79 years old comes once a year to talk to my mom about the situation.
That story breaks my heart John.
Nevertheless, Im glad you shared it. It helps me to remember exactly why I am fading, being calm with the crazy, (my siblings) and trying to rebuild and regroup.
This organization didnt deserve you.
Im glad it no longer has you.
are you on the road to everlasting life?.
note to the speaker: help bible students and interested ones to understand why and how to make further spiritual progress..
emphasize the many sources of help available, and warmly encourage them to act without delay.
All the Watchtower and the one Awake quote(s) are from the last 10 years so can we assume that they are still standing behind what theyve put in print in the last ten years?
How faithful of them!
How unchanging and permanent!
Their Holy Spirit is really coming through for them!
you know the organization is slowly going down.
not as fast as we would wish, but nevertheless it is crumbling.
five (5) year old child baptisms, smaller magazines, child sexual abuse exposed, smaller annual growth, no one wants to reach out, young ones leaving.
I think SloppyJoe called it pretty well.
In addition I think there will be assemblies will be watched from home streamed online or on TV with some provision to make sure people donate.
(just like the Mormons do it now)
A university education program of their own (perhaps online) focusing on legal, financial and IT degrees. (tomorrows window washers and janitors)
Witnessing will be done by those wishing to do so - an elite group kind of like pioneers are now. The rest will be assured their donations are "them being part" just like the Levite tribe did the worship and the rest supported that tribe.
i believe anyone who has voluntarily left a cult has shown they can adapt to new solutions, and have used " critical thinking" skills otherwise most would not have left.. yet i believe a safe place for support is still needed and this safe place i believe is searched for.. now i may not measure up to much in ways of education, but for me personally " critical thinking skills" = " new" a " new" way of thinking, that takes time for me the individual to be visual and to contemplate.
and the more i read about " critical thinking," the more convinced i am that i can live with the ridicule of those that claim i do not possess it.
furthermore i would say those that criticise others " critical thinking skills," often luck the sensibility and thoughts to snore, spit, and fart....nor would they understand a room full of tobacco smoke and cheap booze...where " critical thinking " can often be found in its most profound, in the most sensitive poems and "pictures" that were ever drawn.
SecretSlaveClass
I am fascinated by people who have the ability to communicate their ideas, concepts and insight accurately with few words and in that comment you did exactly that.
i believe anyone who has voluntarily left a cult has shown they can adapt to new solutions, and have used " critical thinking" skills otherwise most would not have left.. yet i believe a safe place for support is still needed and this safe place i believe is searched for.. now i may not measure up to much in ways of education, but for me personally " critical thinking skills" = " new" a " new" way of thinking, that takes time for me the individual to be visual and to contemplate.
and the more i read about " critical thinking," the more convinced i am that i can live with the ridicule of those that claim i do not possess it.
furthermore i would say those that criticise others " critical thinking skills," often luck the sensibility and thoughts to snore, spit, and fart....nor would they understand a room full of tobacco smoke and cheap booze...where " critical thinking " can often be found in its most profound, in the most sensitive poems and "pictures" that were ever drawn.
The Rebel
when the heart wishes to speak
this is and always has been what has the most power,
"
