Posts by mpatrick

I hope you don't think I am. I am just here looking for help on another discussion forum, trying to defend my evil ways of being an "apostate". I enjoy coming here and reading the post, but I usually don't post unless I have a question or casual comment. You all are too quick for me with all your tongue-in-cheek replies. I am too gullible! Also, I don't feel even remotely educated enough to answer such in depth questions that go on here. I like my little discussion forum at beliefnet.com because there are only a handful of post each day and I feel as if I can keep up without getting too lost!

I posted the above post from another person because I didn't know quite how to respond to it. If you have any answers, you can feel free to post or just give me some ideas. Sometimes, I am just not that quick for a response to such nonsense. I see your URL is freeminds. Are you affiliated with it? I enjoy going there to keep up with things. That is how this person go on the subject, I posted the URL for freeminds for ones to go there and read.

mpatrick

He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.-Thomas Fuller

33

Help? Response about freeminds

by mpatrick in

jw
friends

can anyone help me respond to this post.

i have to say there are far more knowledgeable people here than i. it can be found at:.

* http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/message_list.asp?boardid=2437&discussionid=72677.

mpatrick

Can anyone help me respond to this post. I have to say there are far more knowledgeable people here than I. It can be found at:

* http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/message_list.asp?boardID=2437&discussionID=72677

EveryGrainOfSand
8/14/01 6:11 AM 7 out of 8

MPatrick, first off, I want to thank you for being so couragious as to open up and describe your own life experiences. I am sure that wasn't a very easy thing to do. Also, I want to commend you for being so very evenhanded in your descriptions of your feelings. Although you discussed your mom and some of your feelings about her example, you did not speak of her disrespectfully or with anger. In this last long post, you also conveyed a very personal description of your own feelings, what you felt were your shortcomings and how you feel those led to your decision to not pursue the faith in which you were raised. I would be the very 1st person to shout that this is YOUR right.

However, in many of your other posts, you do not treat others with the same respect you feel you owe your parents, your former congregation and indeed, yourself. I am extremely familiar with the Freeminds site you frequently refer to and I would point out to you that virtually ALL the material on that site is derived from the point of view of an individual who converted to "The Truth" as a confused young adult and then spent virtually no time in a congregation or in field service before going off to the somewhat insulated atmosphere at Bethel and this during the huge societal upheavals of the 1970's when many men his age were finding fault with organized religions. This same man chose to leave his new faith in barely 8 years of active participation. Sheesh, Mpatrick, I was a Vegaterian for longer than that. Also, since leaving, this same author has been actively involved in the highly controversial matter of "de-programming" which he now calls "Exit-counseling". While I am happy to see that he disassociates himself from the folks who believe in kidnapping adult children who choose religions their parents don't like, "exit-counseling" is not yet an objective field. Finally, this same individual has hopped from church to church since then and seems unable to find any stable community in which he can participate. Now, you and I might say, well, I guess he's just a perpetual searcher after the truth and we could probably find a few dozen solid scriptures to support this hippity-hoppity spiritualism. My own feeling is that I am not responsible for his salvation and he must do what he reasonably believes will bring him what relationship he wants with God and I cannot know what that is. Certainly I have been unable to really get a handle on what it is he is seeking although it seems he would like to find "The Perfect Truth". Well, my friend, so would I but I doubt I will here on this earth under this arrangement! At one time in my life, I might have had more in common with the Freeminds folks, but I cannot spend my whole life scrutinizing and finding fault with every single Christian organization on the planet in my valiant pursuit of complete wisdom. I honestly think that engaging in such behavior and by constantly joining, participating for a while, discovering fault with, criticizing and then abandoning one Christian Sect after another is exhausting and prideful. I can't do it and few others could either.

However, I cannot yet be completely assured on every front that I would be up to the challenges full membership often requires of a Baptised member of a JW Congregation. So, you and I have far more in common than we have in difference. Even so, Mpatrick, you must be very, very wary of Disgruntled ex-members of ANY FAITH. I have tremendous anger towards the Faith of my upbringing, however, I would NEVER ask anyone to take MY judgements of MY experiences and extrapolate them out as being typical and ordinary within the faith. To be continued...

mpatrick

He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.-Thomas Fuller

15

Timewasting guide to Field Service.

by philo in

jw
friends

here's my list of experiences and comments about time-wasting on dub field ministry.

it's a bit raw; sorry i haven't prosed it up.. -------------------------------------------------------------.

taking a personal interest in the householder.

mpatrick

I remember using the term PKT (pioneer kill time).

I remember getting started at 5:00 am doing street corner witnessing downtown and then going to the KH for the Service Meeting(30 mins away) We would only deduct time for the service meeting, we didn't believe in the 15 min. rule. We usually went door to door in the morning and bible studies in the afternoon. We would finish the day with a 2 hour dinner study. Our bible study would make us a dinner complete with homemade biscuits. We usually put in 10+hours on that day!

We also had rural territory so we always did the driving around the country-side thing and hoping someone would get stuck at a door for an hour so we could nap.

Speaking of getting stuck, I remember my brother letting me drive "once" before I had my license. We were on a back road in the country where there were very few homes. I was in the process of backing up in someone's driveway and as I slowly put on the brakes, I slowly went backwards over the hill in their back yard. I had gone back far enough that I got my dad's huge suburban stuck on the hill in mud. We spent about 15 minutes trying to get it back up the hill with no avail. So, my brother took over and decided to go ahead and back down the hill and try to drive it out another way. Well, he backed the suburban down the hill and landed the suburban in a foot of MUD, he then proceeded to spin the tires digging a one foot trench in their yard about 15 yards long and then drove the suburban around their swimming pool (sliding in the mud the whole time) and drove back up the hill getting it stuck again exactly where it was stuck to begin with. An hour later we found a neighbor down the road with a tractor that pulled us out.

Just imagine a great big circular black ditch dug around your swimming pool. It was a mess! We left a note with an apology and received a very angry call later that night. They ended up being very nice about it and didn't make us repair their yard.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

mpatrick

He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.-Thomas Fuller

116

most embarrasing thing ever at a meeting ...

by alliwannadoislive in

jw
friends

hey ... i'm just getting into the swing of this great 'apostasy' thing right ... ?

... i thought y'all out there might well have a story or two to tell, so ... plz tell me tell me tell me about the most embarrasing thing you ever saw at a meeting ...

mpatrick

I actually felt sorry for this sister, but this was funny.

A very overweight sister came out of the KH bathroom with the bottom of her skirt tucked into the top of her pantyhose.

mpatrick

He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.-Thomas Fuller

11

Other ex-cult Internet boards?

by philo in

jw
friends

sharing with the ex-mormons, i thought i'd surf for other cults message boards.

what did i find?

nuffink.. are we two communities alone in ex-cult cyber space?.

mpatrick

The reference to a couple postings a day was for the www.beliefnet.com Jehovah's Witness discussion forum

mpatrick

He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.-Thomas Fuller

11

Other ex-cult Internet boards?

by philo in

jw
friends

sharing with the ex-mormons, i thought i'd surf for other cults message boards.

what did i find?

nuffink.. are we two communities alone in ex-cult cyber space?.

mpatrick

I just meant there was alot of posting, mainly by x-Mormons. It reminds me alot of this board.

The JW board only has a couple postings a day. I would love to see some action over there-(www.beliefnet.com) since there are a many individuals from all religions that read postings just out of curiosity.

People usually come looking for reasons why JWs don't celebrate holidays or why they are knocking on their doors. Some of these postings don't even get a single response.

If anyone here would be interested in visiting, it would be a great way to educate individuals about the "truth" of JWs. I try to do my best, but sometimes I don't know how to respond. There are many educated ones here that would be of help!

mpatrick

He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.-Thomas Fuller

11

Other ex-cult Internet boards?

by philo in

jw
friends

sharing with the ex-mormons, i thought i'd surf for other cults message boards.

what did i find?

nuffink.. are we two communities alone in ex-cult cyber space?.

mpatrick

www.beliefnet.com has a discussion forum for just about every religion possible.

The Mormon board is hopping over there, but the JW board is dead.