i just finished re-reading "a brave new world".
have you read it?
if so, any thoughts?.
I am reading Pepita by Vita Sackville-West. It's a great family saga about how a beautiful Spanish-gypsy woman and an English lord end up together, as told by their granddaughter. Any of the books about the Sackville-Wests are fascinating to me.
I loved How Green Was My Valley.
Wayne Dyer's writings have helped me tremendously to get a grip after exiting the JW's.
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray is a classic for good reason, and it's hilarious!
today i spoke with a former jw i've been in touch with for several years and discovered what i think could be a major bombshell for the wts.
as we all know, shunning is the most powerful weapon the wt cult has over its members and for decades the wts has been able to get away with practicing it at their whim.
the us and other courts have permitted them to to use it, even though it destroys families and has ruined countless lives.
Thanks for posting this, Farkel. There is one judge somewhere who is going to make JW's behave in a loving, caring fashion despite their theology of hate. I hope this judge's order is enforced and that the children don't have to be further traumatized by Watchtower fear and intimidation tactics.
If you know how to contact the judge, I think as many of us "apostates" as possible should write him a letter of commendation, particularly those of us who have been or have had children caught in situations similar to this one.
after seven years we finally got a call from an elder this morning.
he wants to come over and talk to steve (he wouldn't talk to me or give me any message).
this particular elder was from steve's old congregation in austin, texas.
I like the idea of being at the KH if / when they announce you are disfellowshipped. I think it would be great if we could all know when someone is being disfellowshipped, go to the KH en masse, and give big congratulations and hugs to the disfellowshipped party, and then go out for a big celebration. We should be like AA and celebrate the "birthday" of our leaving the org every year and starting a life.
I have a friend in the Seattle area, and, if I can get some time off work, I would love to be there with you if they DF you, and applaud you.
SandraC
well, i'm old as the hills today...........and for anyone wanting to know details, lets just say i'm over 21............. .
i'm leaving in about 20 minutes to go over to my horrible "apostate" friends house where they're giving me a (gasp!
) birthday partaaaaaaa!!!
Many happy returns, as we old folks say.
Happy Birthday and many more!
SandraC
have to share this experience with you all.
years ago we were advised in england that computers were frowned upon not to bother with them,anyhow i never listened & therfore we bought into the computer market,we were allso advised not to spend to much time with televisions,of which i took alittle note got rid of it for six months,it gave us back family time ,any how as you guesed it the persuasion came from the local elders ,(geting rid of things.).
we then decided to buy a caravan ,yes this was frowned upon ,as we wanted weekends away to enjoy life with the family,people complained that we wouldnot be able to meet for field service transgresing against jehovah stealing his time,anyhow we went out and bought a 23 foot twin wheel caravan the one you have to pull behind a car or jeep.. we visited lots of areas of natural beauty in england .but the story now gets interesting ,we ended up storing our caravan down in summerset ,we had great times at the site meeting all types of different people & familys,we met a special middle aged couple & there famiy became good friends,the husband has developed cancer ,has been given six months to live,he was left for deadby the hospital with no hope of seeing next christmas or beyond,, he had cancer in his liver ,i found a article on the internet wherby a (cancer surgeon ) had a way of operating on the liver ,i informed my friend ,gave his wife the contact address,and three weeks later he is booked in for an operation that will save & prolong his life,the surgeon is going to starve the infected cancerouse liver then remove the slight infected other liver which will then start to grow ,kapow a new lease of lifeto a man who was resigned for death.. my point here is.. if,we had listened to the society, (about bad associations ).
nightwarrior, that's a wonderful story. I do believe that if we just live our lives according to our own inner voice, things do get better.
As Forrest Gump said, "Some people don't believe that miracles happen every day, but they do." Thanks for the reminder of that happy fact.
Send your friend best wishes for a speedy recovery and a long and happy life.
Regards,
SandraC
after seven years we finally got a call from an elder this morning.
he wants to come over and talk to steve (he wouldn't talk to me or give me any message).
this particular elder was from steve's old congregation in austin, texas.
Are you going to serve eggnog and Christmas cookies?
Hope you have a little fun with him
i once posted about my son, and his being given a ticket for public intoxication.
well, he came home a while ago drunk.
i flew off the handle and we had a few words.
Lilacs, I am so sorry about what you're going through. I hope you'll go to Al-Anon ASAP and get some help. I used to go when I was married to an alcoholic, and it's all that kept me sane.
First, as someone else pointed out, persuasion, the best arguments, reason will not work with an alcoholic. It is not possible to talk someone out of drinking if they have "the big thirst."
Apparently there have been some studies showing that alcoholics have different brain chemistry than non-alcoholics. Brain scans of alcoholics look different from brain scans of non-addicted individuals. There is a chemical in the brains of alcoholics (I think it's abbreviated as THC) which causes them to have an intense craving for alcohol.
This is not a moral issue, a character issue, or a philosophical issue. (Your son is not "weak" any more than a person with any disease is "weak.") It is an issue of addiction. Your son needs help, counseling, AA. If he refuses the help he needs, you need to go to Al-Anon and learn to take care of yourself.
Please don't let this situation ruin your life. As they say at Al-Anon, "keep coming back" when you need some support.
i have been trying to think of a way for me to consistently receive copies of the watchtower and awake without having to give my money to the wts.
i'm stumped.
i can't go the kh to get them because they will not keep giving you stuff if you don't pay, errr, make donations.
I find the mags in laundromats all the time. I write the silentlambs, freeminds and JWD web address on the front, along with 1-800-WHY-1914 and 1-877-WTABUSE and put them in a more prominent spot where sheeplike ones might go to fold their laundry.
Thank you for your interest in keeping up with "new light" and "setting a good example" for the rest of us evil apostates.
Love you, man!
SandraC
thanks for sending me the information on asperger's syndrome (sp?).
well, i have to say that i do have many of the symptoms that were mentioned.
it was strange, because most kids i knew had trouble with math.
Hi, gil. I am another "case" of Asperger's, but it is not so apparent anymore. When I was a child, it was a serious problem. The older I get, the more experienced I get, the more failures I experience and ask myself why, the more I understand that my lack of social skills has hurt me immensely and made me into an easy victim too many times.
I hope driving a cab works out for you. It will force you to interact with people and make small talk (something I've always been terrible at, but am learning). E-mail me some time. I visit Vegas from time to time, as my daughter lives there.
i have been studying to become a witness for about 1yr now and am doing what i can to become clean to be baptised.
unfortunately almost all of my friends were bad associations and i don't deal with them anymore.
i am looking for people to chat with who have the same goals in mind that i do.
Like the others who posted on the subject, I commend you for attending AA and/or NA meetings. For your own sake and that of your children, I hope you continue to attend. If some people at the Kingdom Hall find out you are attending, they might discourage you -- with the best of misguided intentions.
Before you join the JW's by being baptized, assuming you don't want your children to get involved with drug and alcohol addiction, I hope you will very carefully consider the effect of your choice on your children. My daughter was brought up as a JW and is very bitter about being forced to go from door to door, being excluded from school parties, being excluded from healthy and rewarding friendships with people because they were not JW's and a host of other issues. If you want to be a JW, don't force your religiion on your children. Teach them right from wrong, but forget trying to make them into door-to-door literature hawkers and (in the eyes of their friends and school chums) weirdos.
Best wishes in your efforts to stay clean and find inner peace. Reading the Bible is a fine thing, but doing so in private in a meditative way seems to me more valuable than being guided by someone who won't allow you to be alone with your own thoughts. The truth is within you, as your post would indicate, and looking within is the best place to start. Are you doing the 12 steps? They are a great vehicle for looking within.
As for your handle, I thought you lived at 420 Sunflower Court or you were born in Kansas on April 20 or something.
Your naive new friend,
SandraC
