Thanks, Tater. My father-in-law used to remind his conservative wife that the real welfare is at the top of the ladder, not at the bottom.
Posts by Mum
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27For all my Liberal/Progressive Friends
by Jomavrick ini am going to be unplugged while i gallivant around europe for a while, which means there will be one person short of holding up the conservative banner on this site.
so you can all pile on your leftist views of society, obama, health care, benghazi, irs, union thugery, socialism, redistribution of wealth, racism, sexism, gay marriage, right wing conspiracies, talk radio, fox news, wall street, the national debt, the educational system without my counterbalancing your neurotic views.
but i do love you non the less by brothers and sisters.
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14
My name is Michael.
by new hope and happiness inresearch has shown that " generally" the best way to challenge someone is to use their first name.
to me being addressed by my name " michael" and addressing someone by their christian name is more friendly than using a title.
i think it would also make it easier for elders to accept someones different point of view if they referrd to the brother by therir christian name.
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Mum
Hi, Michael. You may not realize it, but a lot of fundamentalist Christians refer to one another as "brother" and "sister." My early childhood years were spent attending such churches in the woods in east Tennessee. I think these folks did consider themselves different from "the world" and acknowledging one another as brothers and sisters kept them aware of their dependence on one another and their rejection of worldly pleasures and pursuits. They were honest, sincere, good people, with a few exceptions of course.
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66
Another Newbie
by Skinnedsheep ini recently came to the realization that the organization is corrupt and is false.
my story is similar to many i think.
i was raised in the religion, pioneered and served as an elder for a number of years.
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Mum
Welcome, SS.
My exit did not come because I woke up. I was bitterly disappointed about 1975 because I had not planned for old age and retirement. I was only 27 in 1975. I was losing what mental health I still had; i.e., I was bat crap crazy, without hope or anything to look forward to.
I wanted to go back to college to at least learn some job skills, but my elder husband was against it. Family members gave me enough money to take two classes at the local state university. We had a fight about it every day.
My cousin, who lived on the other end of the U.S. told me I could come and stay with him while I sorted things out. Little by little I came to realize that it was not evil to get an education or plan for the future. I also knew that I did not want my daughter to have the kind of life I had.
Fortunately for me, I did not come from a family of JW's. So I did not risk losing family by my choices.
Best wishes with your roller coaster ride. If you can move to another location, I recommend it. Otherwise, just keep up appearances.
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Is it proper to kneeling before adults?
by KSFernando inas per the sri lankan customs, sri lankans kneel before adults (such as parents, grand parents, teachers etc) to show their respect.. i have quoted some writings from jw literature,.. in some parts of the world, it is the custom for young children to honor adults by kneeling respectfully when in their company.
in this way, they do not stand taller than those who are older.
in these communities, it is also viewed as an act of disrespect for a child to turn his or her back to an adult.
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Mum
Welcome to the forum!
Customs and propriety are not as big a deal as people make them. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, etc. Just stay out of trouble.
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27
For all my Liberal/Progressive Friends
by Jomavrick ini am going to be unplugged while i gallivant around europe for a while, which means there will be one person short of holding up the conservative banner on this site.
so you can all pile on your leftist views of society, obama, health care, benghazi, irs, union thugery, socialism, redistribution of wealth, racism, sexism, gay marriage, right wing conspiracies, talk radio, fox news, wall street, the national debt, the educational system without my counterbalancing your neurotic views.
but i do love you non the less by brothers and sisters.
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Mum
You're going to love socialist Europe. Almost all European countries have "socialized" medicine, six-week vacations and other "liberal" benefits. Have the time of your life living in societies you totally disapprove of!
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3
Neil deGrasse Tyson Funks the Universe - Music Video
by cantleave ini found this on google+ today, as well as touching on some mind blowing astrophysical ideas, it made me laugh.
so i am sharing for your enjoyment...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e831odxzkwo.
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Mum
Neil deGrasse Tyson is brilliant! I'll bet he's a lot of fun, too!
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112
Silly TV Programs From The 1960s to the 1970s
by minimus inmcmillan & wife with rock hudson is what i just saw on tv.
watching rock hudson kiss his wife while smoking a cigarette is pretty funny.
and he solved a murder case as he lit up another cigarette at some wealthy person's party.....good stuff!.
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Mum
I was always fond of Leave it to Beaver. I wanted Beaver's life.
Even before I was a dub, I was brought up by very religious fundamentalist Christian grandparents. What struck me about TV at that time was that nobody ever went to church or even talked about Jesus. The committed "sins" (e.g., going to movies, ball games, drinking alcoholic beverages, wearing make-up, etc.) but nobody ever said anything to them about it. In fact, everybody did those things. They all had nice houses, nice cars, stylish decor, and all the amenities of modern life and seemed to do anything they liked.
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66
So apparently I'm now a Secular Humanist
by Oubliette ini was doing some research on the subject of beliefs and belief systems when i came across an on-line survey/test that supposedly helps you determine which religion or philosophy is most like your current beliefs.
if you're curious, you can take the quiz here: belief system selector quizafter answering the 20 questions the results were spit out!
tada!!!.
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Mum
I'm a secular humanist, too. Unitarian Universalist second. On another test, I was Unitarian Universalist.
Of all the religions on the list, the one that appeals to me the most is Taoism, but I scored 64%, so maybe I'm not as Taoist as I would like to believe. To me, the Tao is about reality and acceptance.
I scored pretty high on Quakerism, too. I've been reading Chesapeake by James Michener, which gives some good info about Quakers in colonial America. They were ahead of their time for sure. They were the first (not sure about that) to object to slavery and the first to free their slaves. Even when they had slaves, they taught them to read, and tried to accept them as full human beings, teaching them to read and caring about their families.
If you have not read the Tao Te-Ching, I strongly recommend it. It makes me feel centered and at peace.
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42
Can you help me encourage Reopened mind.
by TotallyADD inas most of you know we got a very angry letter from our oldest son.
it hurt her very much.
i feel so bad for her because he attacked her for what i feel was very unfair.
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Mum
When it's your own child, it's so heartbreaking. Children, even as adults, do not understand what parents go through for them.
Just before I left the JW's for good, I read Dr. Wayne Dyer's book, Your Erroneous Zones. It's about dealing with negative emotions and putting things into perspective. He talks about how people feel when their mother does not love them. He makes the point that it is no reflection on you, and it's better to forgive and accept what is. No, it is not easy.
What is called for now is patience. Just be there for your son. He does understand that you are there if he ever needs you, right? That's really all you have the power to do.
Go out there and make a great life for yourself, and one day, out of the blue, he is likely to show up because no one else can take the place of Mom.
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35
Have You Given Up on JW Friends or Family Ever Seeing The Light And Getting Out?
by minimus ini'm always hopeful but mostly doubtful that they will get out of her..
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Mum
Fortunately, I do not come from a JW family. I was the first convert in my family, and few others followed. I have a couple of distant cousins who are still dubs. I am not in regular contact with them, so I don't know what might happen. One of them is 80ish, so she's probably not going anywhere. The other is 60ish and delayed becoming a JW because she wanted to have fun in her youth. I would never give up on anyone, but I'm not optimistic.
What I am thankful for is that my daughter never bought into the dub life, even though she was born in. Did I mention that my daughter is a flippin' genius!? I am also grateful that my granddaughter was never indoctrinated. My granddaughter went to one meeting with a JW relative in her childhood, and she still describes it as "the longest two hours" or her life. She hated it! My 4-month-old great granddaughter will not be exposed to JWdom at all, I hope.
There are plenty of cults besides JW's to look out for. I want my descendants to have happy, fulfilling lives so they do not feel vulnerable and are not easy prey for all of the cult vultures out there.
My granddaughter told us the other day that a JW came to her door. She told him a lot of things she has done that JW's are not allowed to do. She reminded him that she can do these things and not worry about called into a kangaroo court, i.e., JC. She said he seemed amused. Cute!