Ozzie! Glad you're here. Do the JW's still have your children? Life is good, thank you. I found a job with a decent retirement plan, but not until I was 48! Anyway, all's well that ends well, eh?
Cheers,
Mum, lover of cognac
Posts by Mum
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24Becoming a JW
by Mum ini rarely post here, but i often check in.
i used to post on h2o as well.
i think i once posted some of this on h2o, but there are many new ones who have joined since then.. i first encountered jw's at the age of 9. it wasn't in the door-to-door work, however.
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24
Becoming a JW
by Mum ini rarely post here, but i often check in.
i used to post on h2o as well.
i think i once posted some of this on h2o, but there are many new ones who have joined since then.. i first encountered jw's at the age of 9. it wasn't in the door-to-door work, however.
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Mum
I rarely post here, but I often check in. I used to post on H2O as well. I think I once posted some of this on H2O, but there are many new ones who have joined since then.
I first encountered JW's at the age of 9. It wasn't in the door-to-door work, however. My dad's boss was a JW, and my dad ran into him one Saturday as his boss was doing street work ('way before there were carts). My dad was not a person who was interested in spirituality or religion. He was a "good time Charlie." He did, however, understand that "kissing up" to the boss had some value. So, he allowed his boss to start a home Bible study with our family. I was in the Shriners' Hospital for Crippled Children (now the Shriners' Hospital for Children) when this occurred.
Upon my release from the hospital, my parents came and picked me up. The hospital was in Lexington, KY, and my parents lived in Dayton, OH. My mom told me on the way home that we were going to stop and visit some Jehovah's witnesses. I had heard of JW's, but only bad things. I was puzzled, but I was a quiet child who seldom expressed my feelings.
We went to the home of my dad's boss, and I was met by the boss's wife and two children (one of whom was my age, and one of whom was a few years older) who jumped from behind their door with gifts for me (a coloring book, crayons, and perhaps some other small item like a puzzle), and yelled "Surprise!" There were certain advantages to me in being a physically handicapped child. We had a nice time chatting with this family, who had the same last name we did.
In a few days, they came to our apartment and conducted a "Bible" study from the "Let God Be True" book. They were impressed with my reading ability, which was at a higher level than their son's. They were very nice people, and my sister and I would play with their kids while my mom almost always served coffee and dessert after the study. All in all, it was a positive experience for us.
Fast forward a couple of years, and our family had moved into a house, but my dad had the same job, and the "Bible" study continued from a different book, which I think was called "This Means Everlasting Life," but I'm not sure. My dad's boss didn't see much potential in our becoming Jehovah's witnesses, but he and his sweet wife, and sometimes his kids, continued to study with us. Later on, I was told that I was seen as the only potential convert out of my family.
Eventually, my dad got a Civil Service job, and no longer had the same boss. So, being the disinterested person he really was, he called off the "Bible" study. No need to kiss that guy's ass any more! :-) So, life went on for about three more years without any JW contact except occasional door-knocking encounters.
Then, when I was 15, my dad's friend in Tennessee was killed in a coal mine cave-in. My dad claimed to have participated in "James's judgment." My dad had some kind of (drug-induced?) other worldly experience when his friend died, so he decided we should start going to the Baptist Church near our house. I was the most religiously inclined person in our family, and I liked going to church. One evening, at some kind of young people's event, I won a competition answering Bible questions. My Sunday school teacher gave me a New Testament as a prize.
A few weeks later, there was a revival at the church. The evangelist Jack Van Impe was the featured guest pastor. He chose one evening to preach against Jehovah's witnesses. He thought he had "answers" to their false beliefs. He said some things about them that were not true. I don't remember what he said now, but I knew at the time there were inaccuracies in his tirade. The effect on my 15-year-old brain was devastating. It made me believe JW's were being unfairly persecuted, just like they claimed. It made me believe they must be right! I was all for the underdog when this wealthy semi-famous preacher went on the attack. So I contacted the witnesses who had studied with us and expressed my wish to become a JW. They were delighted.
Before I became a full-fledged publisher, however, I struggled with worry about whether I could be good enough (already!) One night, I spent almost an entire night in prayer because I was so apprehensive. After hours of praying, I heard an audible voice (where it came from I don't know, maybe from inside of me) say "You do what you need to do." It was not the loving affirmation I was seeking, but it jarred me. I quit praying at that point and decided to go ahead with my plans to become a JW. My Sunday school teacher tried to talk me out of it, but you know how stubborn one can be after being convinced that it's the "truth."
So, I was a JW from the ages of 15 to 32. Then, after having lived in hopes of "the last day of the last days" and considering the possibility of reaching old age in this "system," I could no longer bear it. I did what I needed to do.
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Magnificent 7 court case link v JAMES LLOYD EVANS
by KIMSILVIO inhttps://e-predmet.pravosudje.hr/print.php?sud=5044&upisnik=k&predmet=252&godina=2022&captcha_code=z6cnlb.
happy if simon wants to incorporate this link into the cedars post, i just could t make it post there and vintage was asking for it .
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Mum
This is such a farce. What Simon said.
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I need your help to get out
by ElMartin ini'm using google translate, my native language is spanish .
hola, esta es mi primera publicación en este sitio.
tengo 22 años, me dediqué a jehová y lo que creo que fue la organización de él a los 18 años.. ai am currently inactive in spiritual activities, which led me to wonder and question if the watchtower has the truth.
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Mum
I agree with punkofnice. We don't need to convince them of anything at the risk of being shunned and treated like dirt. Talk to your mother about anything you like, of course, but she's the only one who should matter to you.
I don't know if JWfacts is translated into Spanish. If you can find a translator, maybe you could post it in Spanish.
Best wishes with your journey to freedom/libertad.
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13
Had to laugh.
by Lost in the fog ini had to laugh.. i bumped into a friend who has started going back to the meetings and who has that enthusiastic arm-waving way of talking about the stuff they're hearing from the platform.. in part he's wittering on about some talk they'd had about king david and all of his ups and downs.
and says, "and as the speaker emphasized over and over again, we can imitate david because he was a man just like ourselves.".
" i finally interrupted.. that shut him up.
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Mum
Stating the facts will always shut them up or put them into an interminable defensive argument mode.
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Arthritis pain. What works for you?
by Fisherman inthere are several prescription meds people use to relieve the pain of arthritis.
they work by suppressing the immune system or by reducing inflammation.
people also use otc anti-inflammatory pills, and even anti-allergy pills are reported to work because of being able to also reduce inflammation but people tell me that they are concerned to use some meds regularly because of potential side effects in long term use.
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Mum
Have you tried moringa leaf powder? See the YouTube videos by Big Family Homestead for more information. The guy in the video claims to have cured rheumatoid arthritis and saved thousands of dollars by using moringa.
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Lifetime Regret for Not Expressing my Love to a Non-JW
by a-JW-girl ini want to impart some advice from my life experience that i hope will help others in a similar situation and prevent them from making the same mistakes i did, ruining my life.
to begin with, i’m a 52-year-old single woman, i’ve been a devout jw since i was a little girl.
i had an abusive dad who left my mom, my two sisters and me when we were fairly young.
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Mum
I find this story similar to the one of Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend. If you don't know about it, look it up. I once had a similar fantasy about a worldly guy I was in love with, but he lived on the wild side. I pined about it for years, but I came to realize that, though there was a strong attraction, we were really incompatible.
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Mum
It's "dual," not "duel" world power. A duel is a challenge to risk one's life for a foolish reason, something men used to do.
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No part of the world
by Lost in the fog inthe wt calls itself christian while at the same time insisting that its witnesses don't mix with other christian groups but remain separate.. to be no part of the world.. i was mulling this over recently in my personal bible reading.
in the first century that demarcation would have made sense because apart from your fellow worshippers the rest of mankind were going to be jewish, roman, polytheistic, pagan, or (i guess much like today) didn't really care.. christians had no worries about meeting up with other people who believed in jesus the same as they did even if there were minor differences depending on who had first taught the gospel message to them.
but nowadays there's not just one christian group against the world, there's lots of "christians" out there.
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Mum
You said it, punkofnice. A real religion is concerned about more than recruiting new members. They use some of their money to provide for the needy.
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22
My mom died.
by noni1974 init's been years since i posted here.
my jw mother died july 5th.
it was quite honestly not that emotional for me.
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Mum
Hello, noni. I don't remember you, but I rarely post anymore either. I offer my sympathies.
When my mother died, several years ago, I felt similarly to you. We had had a not-so-warm relationship. Strangely, after she died, I saw her in a dream. In the dream, she was young and beautiful and was wearing a white robe and was glowing. I was fascinated because I knew she was dead. She then turned to the wall, put her forehead against her raised forearm, and cried and cried. It was a very vivid dream, and I can't forget it. In the dream, I started walking toward her to ask what she was so upset about, and I then woke up without getting to talk to her. Somehow, I think she was really there, and really sorry about our almost constant conflict.
I felt very sorry about the queen's death, too, but, after all, she was 96 years old. I considered her a gracious and humble person, given that she had such a privileged life.
Best wishes.