No shepherding calls for me. I moved to the other end of the country. One sister, to whom I had been very close, sent me a hate letter. Later on, I went back to the town where my congregation was. I didn't get shepherding calls, but harassing phone calls. Good! Woke me up!
Posts by Mum
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15How Did "Shepherding Calls" Go For You?
by minimus indid you loath them?
did you feel it was a "privilege" to have the elders care deeply about your spiritual well being?
if you were an elder or ministerial servant, did you enjoy going to the homes of the sheep?.
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56
How important do you believe education and knowledge is?
by new hope and happiness inhow educated are you?
and how great is your vocabularly ect ....?.
do you think ir right to judge people by how intelligent/ educated they are and how much vocabulary they use???.
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Mum
When I was growing up, I was surrounded by family and neighbors who were minimally educated. My grandparents topped out at 5th grade; my parents 6th and 9th grades. My grandparents had to leave school to work on the farm. I respect their hard work and their skills and knowledge. They grew food from the ground up, so to speak. They could make butter, make soap (from fireplace ash, pig fat, and other ingredients I don't know), kill a chicken and make it edible, preserve food (there was a smokehouse for meat, and glass jars for canning), care for a multitude of animals, and many other skills which have been lost by most of us now. Despite their lack of education, I can honestly state that they knew as much as or more than many college graduates today.
They wanted me to be educated. It took 20 years, but I did get a B.A. degree. I make high scores on standardized tests, but I can't hold a candle to my grandparents!
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What words has the WT redefined?
by Splash inthese days, virtually every public talk speaker thinks it's interesting and intellectual to include a dictionary definition of some word.
often the word is in common use and needs no explanation, such as 'exercise', or 'knowledge', or whatever.. now contrast that to all of the words that the wt has it's own meaning for, and referencing a dictionary for the common understanding of it would be viewed unfavourably.. words like 'generation' or 'men' (as in jesus is mediator between god and 'men' - 1tim 2:5-6).. what words have the wt redefined that you know about?
- i'd like to compile a list if possible.. splash.
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Mum
Theocratic - ruled by ignorant thought police
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Question About the Governing Body
by Wild_Thing indoes anyone know if any of the current governing body members became a jw as an adult, or were all of them raised and bred a jw from childhood?.
i have a theory that the jws that are "born in" and stay in tend to be more extreme and less reasonable because that is all they have ever known, especially if they are sheltered and groomed to be a good little jw.. and i was just looking at what i could find about the newest and youngest member, mark sanderson.
he was born on february 4, 1965, and he was baptized on february 9, 1975 ... a few days shy of turning 10 years old!
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Mum
When everything is chaotic, when everyone is out of control, when hope is slipping away, one person will step up and take charge - and THAT PERSON WILL BE CRAZY!
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Carl Sagan Quotation
by Mum inthe scientific mind can hone in on some great, but sometimes obvious facts.
i love this one:.
one of the saddest lessons of history is this: if we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.
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Mum
The scientific mind can hone in on some great, but sometimes obvious facts. I love this one:
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply to painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. - Carl Sagan
'nuff said.
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22
How much time/ money do you spend to look nice?
by new hope and happiness inhaircut, cosmetics, perfume/ aftershave, clothes, botox, surgery, tan, cutting nails, feeding the body, showering.
is there no end to the needs of the living corpse?.
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Mum
Most of the time, I am at home. I wear jeans and a t-shirt most of the time, with no make-up. When I go to a job interview or a class, I wear nice suits (all of which I found at thrift stores for a song - including one Talbots). I buy expensive make-up (Clinique). I have a very inexpensive hair cutter/beautician. I don't get my nails done professionally. I don't use a lot of stuff, but what I do use is the best.
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Books that changed your life-
by new hope and happiness ini am not much of a reader as i have two many distractions, but i fancy a challenging read, so please list any book that has changed your entire world view on everything.
i remember as a teenager buying at a yard sale, norman vincent peales " the power of positive thinking" and at the time that had a big impact on me.
but i am a little bit more in to " realistic positive thinking" now..
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Mum
Your Erroneous Zones by Dr. Wayne Dyer helped me to muster the courage to start life over and remove myself from a toxic cult and a toxic marriage.
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is about a Russian gulag prisoner who realizes he is living a lie.
Vanity Fair is a classic about a governess who schemes her way into money and adventure. It's also hilarious in its observations on the human condition and the way operators operate!
There are many more, but these are a good start.
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Your final WTF? Moment!
by restrangled init was a long time coming for me.....when i read about the extened generations, after being raised on1914 being the be all end all, and millions would never die....that was the end.
i was part of the 1975 fiasco, the 6 month only truth book studies, suffered through a disifellowshipping and their version of a rewind.
i finally am free and hope others can eventually look in instead of inside looking out!
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Mum
It was the way I was treated at a JC meeting. I have posted this before as well, but probably nobody remembers. They were not at all interested in my "spiritual" well-being or my mental state (worn out, needed a change), or anything that matters. I felt that they would have taken me outside and tied me to a tree and set me alight if it were not illegal!
Being married to an elder, becoming a JW insider, and watching all the pettiness, the arrogance, and lack of perspective of the elders was also a great disappointment. Fuck it! Drive on! (FIDO)
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The Botchtower's attitude towards using the Internet
by Composer2005 inhas the botchtower discouraged or spoken against members using the internet?.
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satan / devils environment & all that j.w bs!.
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Mum
Fundamentalist groups in general are suspicious of new technology. My grandfather was a country preacher back in the day. He and his fundie buddies were against radio, against TV, not to mention jewelry, sports, movies and a plethora of other things that cost money. Gradually, they came to accept all of those things. Now when I see televangelists and their minions on TV, I can't recognize that they adhere to a similar belief system.
Like most issues, the WT has flip-flopped on this one. The internet used to be Saan's tool. I was warned by my mom that there could be "anybody on that internet," that you couldn't know who you were really talking to. (In real life, apparently, everyone I spoke to had been throroughly checked out and approved by somebody for appropriate social interaction).
Now that the WT has made the internet their own, I assume all danger one might encounter has been removed. More realistically, the WTS might hire somebody to come up with some sort of filter to block any information they don't want their drones to have access to. They're probably planning it as I write.
Information is their enemy. It's out there now, whether they like it or not, and they haven't been able to hide it. So they're building a compound of "safety" because everybody might come to know that they protect pedophiles and make up "doctrine" on the fly.
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I hope I'm not stumbling you, she said as we sipped drinks at the track...I
by MissFit ini have a sweet jw friend.
she is elderly and had heart problems and is hard of hearing.. she is a tiny thing and very loving.
she is a convert and had been "in" for around 20 years.. she came "in "after her divorce.. we started hanging out together a couple years ago when i called her for a ride to the meetings.. .
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Mum
Both of you are lucky to have each other. Bless you for bringing some happiness into her "golden years." Our primary "duty" is to enjoy life to the extent possible while we're still here. Keep up the good fun!