Mum

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Posts by Mum

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  32

  trick or treating

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  of all the holidays, for me halloween has the least appeal.. i have a memory of going trick-or-treating once, at my "worldly" father's insistence (he roasted peanuts in the oven for the door-knockers... i remember), about the time my mom learned the truth.

  i must've been about five years old.. despite the fact that i'm a hard-core agnostic and a fear of gods or demons are a non-issue, i still have trouble encouraging kids -- under the guise of costumes and fun -- of extorting treats from neighbors.

  can i get a witness?

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  Mum

  I love Hallowe'en! At work all of us adults have a costume contest with various categories and a dessert contest.

  In the last several years, I have been a black cat, Bashful of the 7 dwarfs, Dr. Bonkers (brain surgeon), and Bunny the bathing beauty (thanks to those night shirts with the bikini-clad beauty silk screened onto them). This year I'm LulaBelle the Southern lady. I like being the characters, not just dressing up! My friends are encouraging me to get involved with a local theatre group because I get such a kick out of this stuff!

  There are other ways besides trick or treating to celebrate. Some parents I know have parties instead. Whatever you like, go for it!

  Regards,
  Mum
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  15

  Holidays

  by celebrate in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  having grown up in a jw household, celebrating holidays was always a problem.

  my mother is catholic, so we tried to celebrate, but somehow the jws always had something bad to say, or they went to another part of the house.

  a christmas tree was a symbol of satan.

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  Mum

  Since leaving the borg, my daughter and I are very big on holidays. My granddaughter has always been able to enjoy them. We all look forward to them, not because we get lots of stuff, but because we can all be together and do something nice for one another in a special way. I have always encouraged the kids to give gifts that don't cost anything, such as making coupon books with coupons for free babysitting, cooking dinner, housecleaning, a massage, or whatever the recipient likes.

  The special meals and gifts are part of the specialness as well. My granddaughter and I made a beautiful gingerbread house a few years ago. All of us participated in decorating it, and we have fond memories of that time, even though it was a very low point for us financially.

  Most of us love to have some sort of family traditions that we keep.

  Regards,
  Mum
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  6

  JW's mentioned on History channel

  by Dan B in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was watching a very interesting documentary this morning on heinrich himmler.

  for those who don't follow history, he was the head of the nazi ss, and a main architect of the "final solution".

  anyway, they mention the jw's as being imprisioned in the concentration camps.

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  Mum

  I don't consider the issue of being DF'd for not screaming during a rape to be at all minor. Have you ever been a victim of a rape or attempted rape? It's not a time to be analytical about what response is the current Watchtower orthodox approved behavior.
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  2

  Beth Sarim forever

  by Mum in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my daughter is in san diego this weekend for a football game.

  when she asked me what i wanted her to bring me as a souvenir, i asked for a picture of beth sarim.. then i started thinking about how that fine old mansion should be turned into a museum (as many shaker villages have been) in memory of the folly and foibles of j.f.

  rutherford and the organization which he molded and promoted.. this may be far fetched, but are there others here who think we should all start a fund to purchase the property at 4440 (i think) braeburn road in the posh kensington heights section of san diego?

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  Mum

  My daughter is in San Diego this weekend for a football game. When she asked me what I wanted her to bring me as a souvenir, I asked for a picture of Beth Sarim.

  Then I started thinking about how that fine old mansion should be turned into a museum (as many Shaker villages have been) in memory of the folly and foibles of J.F. Rutherford and the organization which he molded and promoted.

  This may be far fetched, but are there others here who think we should all start a fund to purchase the property at 4440 (I think) Braeburn Road in the posh Kensington Heights section of San Diego? I think it would be appropriate to frame and hang on the walls lots of documentation about Rutherford and Watchtower history as well has have a library of Rutherford's writings. To support the institution, rooms could be rented out bed-and-breakfast style.

  Farkel would make an ideal curator. We would all like to visit and spend a night boozing it up in not-so-fond memory of the original resident there, I think.

  What do all of you think?

  Regards,
  Mum
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  11

  A letter I received from a JW

  by Novus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is a letter i received from a jw, sent anonymously.

  it was hand-written in red ink, and i have little doubt that had the composer a supply of blood handy, he or she would have written using that.. this was received in response to a very compassionate letter my wife and i sent to our former friends and family, telling them of our reasons for leaving the organization.. the attitude expressed here is typical of the treatment we have received since leaving the wtbts.

  (i am roundly blamed for my wife leaving the org, since she was considered to be "strong in the truth", whereas i was always a nominal witness at best.).

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  Mum

  Welcome to freedom!

  I got a hate letter from one of my former JW associates when I left in 1979. At the time it hit me hard.
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  26

  To rem: Re: Keirsey Personality Types

  by Esmeralda in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey rem,.

  i saw your post in the astrology thread and decided to start a new discussion here about keirsey.

  i noticed how many people have been enjoying the silly little emode tests and immediately thought they'd really be amazed by keirsey.

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  Mum

  I've taken the test several times, once with professional supervision. I come up as an INTP every time. The psychologist / vocational counselor told me that I move back and forth between the thinking and feeling modes with a slight preference for the T, so I'm also partly INFP. We are among the more unsual types, about 1% or less of the population.

  Famous INTP's are Albert Einstein and Bill Gates most notably.

  I have read the profiles of the 16 types so often that I am usually able to identify a person's type after I have known him or her for a few weeks. If I don't get the type, the temperament (SJ=guardian; SP=artisan; NF=idealist; or NT=rational) is usually easy to figure out.

  Something tells me I'm an underachiever.
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  16

  US, a civilized or a barbaric country?

  by Kent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  us, a civilized or a barbaric country?

  i am fully aware i might upset some people on the board by asking what i do in this thread, and i wouldnt be surprised if someone would accuse me of attacking americans again.

  i do, however, have a reason for asking and my question is an honest one.

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  Mum

  Hi, Kent. You raise some very important issues. California has one of the best welfare systems of all of the states. However, the bureaucracies are so hard to negotiate in each and every state that a person needs to have a high level of education and quite a bit of moxy and slickness to get to the place where help is available.

  When I used to live in Tennessee and was a JW, a family in our congregation fell on hard times. The pregnant JW wife went to the local Human Services / Welfare office. The questions they asked were (1) whether her husband had abandoned the family and (2) whether she was pregnant by a man other than her husband. Because the answer to both questions was No, she was sent away! Often it is not a question of need or circumstance, but the answers to some irrelevant, nonsensical bureaucratic interrogatories.

  I don't know what others have experienced, but I have found it impossible to get help when it was needed. The one time I lost a job because of some jerk who was a corporate executive, I was denied unemployment benefits because I was "fired for cause," i.e., I failed to give this guy a coupon for a free newspaper when he checked into a hotel where I was working.

  We have welfare, and lots of it, but the people who seem to be able to get it are not necessarily those who are truly in need. They are usually good con artists who would make it in whatever system they chose to manipulate; i.e., if they were JW's they would be elders but would find a "reason" not to have to put in their time or attend meetings unless it suited them.

  The best and most sure way to get benefits is to "prove" mental illness. My best recommendation is that Farkel and Maximus go to their local welfare office in weird clothes and make statements such as, "The CIA has put implants in my shoes!" or "I am the captain of the starship Omniprize and the ship went back to my planet Gazooly without me!" or some such other incoherent nonsense.

  Regards,
  Mum
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  13

  Show me the money...Economics 101 for ex-dubs

  by Mindchild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in light of reading about the discouraging circumstances that many ex-jw's find themselves in because of not having taken advantage of educational opportunities or other employment related training in the past, i was wondering if there was an interest in discussing practical ways for people to increase their bottom line and get out of the poverty or near poverty zone.. i would think that there might not only be some useful tips and hints from some of the more successful ex-dubs but we could exchange in some downright capitalistic networking and make useful connections that might either land you a good job or better your lot in life by say getting things at a discount.. personally, after leaving the borg, i have had a fairly successful business career which included a variety of accomplishments that ranged from opening up america's first discount college textbook store to being an international privacy consultant and most recently a research scientist.. i've helped people establish credit when they had zero or worse than zero credit ratings, taught classes on entrepreneurship at college, and i've seen and networked with a wide variety of people that made amazing amounts of money by finding something they were good at and that was off the beaten path (you seldom get rich doing something everyone else is doing.).

  anyway, just wanted to see if there was an interest in discussing anything like this.. kind regards,.

  skipper

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  Mum

  There are some government jobs with good benefits which require minimal skill and education. Check out state and local government websites for job listings. I work for a local government agency and have before me the possibility of actually being able to retire one day!

  If you need help with an online or offline job search, e-mail me.

  Regards, Mum
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  49

  What would a meeting be like if.....

  by roybatty in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  everyone on jw.com were jws and attended the same congregation.

  now, i'm not saying that we'd follow brooklyn's rules (how boring).

  instead what would it be like jw.com style.

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  Mum

  A sign would be posted that said, "Children welcome" with a special area for the kids to have some fun, too. There would be no beating or slapping (to say nothing of molestation) allowed of children or adults -- just happy merrymaking everywhere! Kids would get to take a vote on guest speakers for their program.
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  19

  Some WTBTS.ORG e-mail addresses and more

  by Kent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please fill in more!.

  mark leigh or paul gillies .

  public affairs office for jehovah's witnesses .

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  Mum

  Kent, you are doing some wonderful work here.

  I think Patterson is in New Jersey, though, not New York. But most US JW's are likely to know that. However the US Postal Service does not work overtime figuring out minor errors like this. They just return to sender.