soft+gentle

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Posts by soft+gentle

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  140

  Bipolar Landlady kicks me out!

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fun times.. a year and a month have passed since i moved in to the house where my cousin deb and her husband bobby live.. i had a small but comfortable room, tv, etc.. a nice cozy family situation, you might say....right?.

  i pay $600 a month to defray expenses.. hunky dory.. sure.

  until the first few eruptions!.

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  soft+gentle

  EP, why don't you help him instead of asking JWN
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  140

  Bipolar Landlady kicks me out!

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fun times.. a year and a month have passed since i moved in to the house where my cousin deb and her husband bobby live.. i had a small but comfortable room, tv, etc.. a nice cozy family situation, you might say....right?.

  i pay $600 a month to defray expenses.. hunky dory.. sure.

  until the first few eruptions!.

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  soft+gentle

  most here are struggling anyway EP
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  140

  Bipolar Landlady kicks me out!

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fun times.. a year and a month have passed since i moved in to the house where my cousin deb and her husband bobby live.. i had a small but comfortable room, tv, etc.. a nice cozy family situation, you might say....right?.

  i pay $600 a month to defray expenses.. hunky dory.. sure.

  until the first few eruptions!.

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  soft+gentle

  $600 hundred a month to defray expenses - blimey you were on to good thing Terry. Couldn't you have made an effort?

  I really don't believe your angry story (your side of it that is). Poor Debbie
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  20

  where will you go away to? versus whom shall we go away to?

  by soft+gentle in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this thread was sparked by punkofnice's thread and started a lively "discussion" in my mind about patriarchal power.

  so i didn't want to derail punkofnice's thread or tec's subsequent one, but am interested in a discussion.. punkofnice's thread.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/245335/1/the-gb-are-gods-mouthpiece-rebuttal-to-elders .

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  soft+gentle

  notjustyet

  great point

  patriachal power is usually about staying put even in abusive situations. In contrast Jesus is usually associated with coming and leaving. In fact at the point in the account when Peter asks whom shall we go away to? Jesus had asked his disciples if they wanted to leave too along with the many that had already just left him. The inference is that Jesus would not have pressured Peter to stay.
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  20

  where will you go away to? versus whom shall we go away to?

  by soft+gentle in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this thread was sparked by punkofnice's thread and started a lively "discussion" in my mind about patriarchal power.

  so i didn't want to derail punkofnice's thread or tec's subsequent one, but am interested in a discussion.. punkofnice's thread.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/245335/1/the-gb-are-gods-mouthpiece-rebuttal-to-elders .

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  soft+gentle

  this thread was sparked by punkofnice's thread and started a lively "discussion" in my mind about patriarchal power. So I didn't want to derail punkofnice's thread or tec's subsequent one, but am interested in a discussion.

  punkofnice's thread

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/245335/1/The-GB-are-gods-mouthpiece-Rebuttal-to-elders

  tec's thread

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/245354/1/GB-as-Gods-mouthpiece-3d

  (John 6.68 says

  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.)

  to my fuzzy mind both questions in the title of this thread seem to talk to a desire for the exercise of patriarchal power in one's life but I may be very wrong as many here do not seem to be looking to exercise this sort of power or to have it exercised on them. so please enlighten me - I am open to discussions from atheist's and believers. The spirit in which I am raising this issue is the same as punkofnice - which is to stimulate discussion with Jehovahs witnesses eventually.
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  34

  yet another newbie..

  by ragnarok75 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking here for some time and now that i've registered here's a little bit about myself... i'm in northern europe (so english is not my own language,but i have indeed studied it for more than 18 months) and i was born into this hateful cult in the "momentuous" year of -75.good that my parents stayed alive till then!.

  as far back as i can remember i had doubts both about the doctrines and the whole existence of god.however,i instinctively knew that these doubts are not to be mentioned.so i learned to be a fake at an early age.though having read many other stories here i realise how easy i got it.i now understand that we lived in a rather liberal area and also my family was quite liberal eventhough my dad was an elder since mid -80 and mom was really "strong in the truth".i never brought up the religion at school or with friends and was never bullied or anything.it helped that i was good at sports,especially football (soccer for americans) and football is also the source of my biggest hurt in childhood.i know it may sound very trivial,but the fact that i wasn't allowed to join a football team felt just so unjust and painfull and it lasted all through my childhood.whenever we had a new gym teacher,the first thing he asked me was which team do i play for.i was too embarrased to tell the truth and i just gave the impression that i only wanted to play for fun and not join any team.oh,how badly i wanted to!.

  somehow i managed to silence all those doubts and got babtised as a young man.very soon after the babtism i knew that it didn't have the hoped for effect of making me more spiritual and meetings and field service still felt an absolute bore.now began the long years of just "going through the motions".all my family (parents,many brothers and sisters,uncles and aunts,nieces and nephews) and most of my friends were in.i never reached out and attended only one or two meetings a week and penned my hours.i kind of liked my congregation (also,the seats at our kh were really comfy,so i often slept through the meetings) and made some very good friends.friends that - as you all can guess- didn't turn out to be so good in the end,but with whom i nonetheless had some good times and felt a strong connection to.. for a long time nothing happened that would've disrupted my rather non-eventfull life as a lacklustre jdub with at least another foot in the "world".i'd done many things that would've gotten me d'fed,but i never had any intentions of going to the elders about it and i had no pangs of conscience about it either.it was just a matter of convenience..i liked my witness friends,wanted to hold on to them and not to lose my family.. however..there was this girl... a (worldly,of course) girl that i had absolutely fell for and had a brief romance with many years ago.now she was back in my life.i must omit the proceeding turns of events for the sake of anonymity,but the end result is that i'm a proud father of a lovely baby girl.well,not so much baby anymore as she starts school soon.i love her so much and it gives me great satisfaction that she is growing free from any influence of vicious cults or of any gods for that matter.we live now in different countries but i see her often and there's always skype.. her birth also acted as a catalyst for the change in relationship between me and the society.i decided that i wanted to share the joy of her birth and existence with my family,eventhough i also knew that that would mean i'd have to go the elders too.if i didn't,they would,and that would result in automatic disfellowshippping.. a jc was duly formed and i had decided that i'm not going to go there and tell them that i regret her,as having her is the best thing that's ever happeded to me.

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  soft+gentle

  Hi ragnarok75 - welcome
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  16

  GB as God's mouthpiece = ???

  by tec in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  punk's thread got me thinking about some of the things the gb calls themselves: .

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/245335/1/the-gb-are-gods-mouthpiece-rebuttal-to-elders .

  "god's mouthpiece" .

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  soft+gentle

  to make your OP stick, tec, one would need to take human time out of the equation. In the spirit of punkofnice's thread I would try to bring temporality (human time) into a discussion with Jehovahs witnesses. To preseve Christ as the spokesman for God, or as the word of God and to prevent the patriarchal power humans assume when they they claim to speak to others from Christ or from God one would need to focus instead on experiencing Chirst/God rather than being a spokesperson for Christ/God to talk about achieving spiritual contact in human time. One can then gain power and influence in one's own life and in life in general without being autocratic and still be aware of eternal benefits.

  of course then one would be accused of implying that one is of the anointed. but i'd still say something about how time catches one off guard but I would keep it simple (then of course one would be accused of being mentally diseased). Being a risk taker I would not let any of this stop me though.
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  103

  New here and just sick!

  by msconcerned in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello, i am new and i feel soooo wrong about being here.

  anyway i am an m.s and have been disillusioned ever since the new understanding that came out in october.

  i have read many things on this board that i have and also have not thought about.

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  soft+gentle

  hi msconcerned
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  73

  New Member...

  by sosoconfused in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello everyone, just wanted to say hi and introduce myself.. i am a mid 30's just stepped aside elder, who just couldn't handle it anymore.. i am a 3rd generation born-in and former pioneer and bethelite.

  it has been a log somewhat confusing ride for me, but i am finally settling in to realizing that i need to really look at what me and my family are doing.. .

  its funny though what really got me here... it wasn't the 40 year old men telling me they were looking at boobies on the computer and hoping not to get in trouble, it wasn't the watching young people bail left and right, it wasn't the ever changing new light etc... but a simple thought.. .

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  soft+gentle

  welcome
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  42

  New here

  by His Excellency in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for the record, i am not a native english speaker, infact i recently just started studying english about 18months ago.

  so apologies for any error you may encounter in the process of making sense of my logic.. i am from a small village in a destitute and war ravaged african country, 80 percent of people in my town live on less than 50cent in a day and myself included, no roads, no hospital, no public institution, no social welfare support, no national security institutiion, nothing, just tribal factions exchanging agricultural produce and i have always wondered why jehovah would have to put the preaching work ahead of a poverty eradication program at this desperate time of our existence.. .

  it was an emotional adventure on finding answers to that question that led me here.

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  soft+gentle

  welcome