divorce is much more common in the jehovah's witness community than they would like to admit.
probably more so than the population in general.. if you have been divorced do you think that the watchtower society contributed to the divorce, or caused it, or is it just possible you married some jerk or abuser and divorce would have occured no matter what religion you were, or even if you had no religion?.
possibly you got married way too young as the end was coming and there is no marriage in the resurrection if you died.
Good question, great topic. I would never have married my first husband had I not been a JW. I knew there was no basis for any kind of relationship, as we were world's apart. But I thought I had to marry "in the truth" and everything would work itself out, and he was available. The only good that came of that 10-year joke was my lovely daughter. However, that lovely child suffered immeasurably because of our dub lifestyle and the break-up of the legal entanglement between her misguided parents.
My second marriage broke up mostly because of alcoholism. I don't know to this day who the "real" person was in that alcoholic body. But he wanted my child and grandchild out of the house, so I had to go, too. I never will.
But I now appreciate the joys of being single as I never could have otherwise.
So, do you actually want to go in field service? What you do on a public street is none of their business. Do not give them power to which they are not entitled. If they have power over you, it is because you gave it to them. Take it back. Now.
The word of the day is "self empowerment." If you feel the need to be submissive to someone, talk to Jesus.
On second thought, that person in the background might be a man in non-western attire. The rest of the people look male. No females invited to play this game.
Anyway, he or she will still have to pull up that dashiki or whatever it's called.
pr_capone, is that "Tree of Knowledge" game for real? I mean, the tree of knowledge is what plunged all of us into sin and death in the first place! That Stoops fellow has stooped too low now!
I love that scan, Stephanus. Ozzie's right about the appropriateness of the attire. JW's certainly have a twisted notion of appropriate attire. One does need to dress down a bit while running from giant tennis balls amid random outcroppings of rock, IMHO. The lady in the background looks like she's going to have to pull up her dress to scale those boulders -- oh, my!
Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear s**t in the woods? Does a monkey swing by its tail? etc. etc.
Anyway, the WTS has a doctrine of "justified lying," n'est-ce pas? If one is put into a position of having to uphold the image of the GB/WTS/other WT-related entity, lying is sanctioned, even considered laudable.
Maybe ole JR will get lucky and the org will lift its ban on participating in "worldly" politics. The man is a born politician. He could start his own party, the ScrewTheChildren party; after all, the helpless little critters can't vote anyway.
doubtless many of us have been to assemblies, and every may the km would come out with an insert about what you were expected to do and how to act.. reviewing the km's over the years , you can see the negative positve "councel".
how to dress, how to act, howt to tip!.
after reading this, doesn't it just want to make you run to attend the next d.c. ?
Hi, zev. Nice to see you, t-shirt or not. I am not a fashionista and usually don't pay much heed to what people wear unless it's outstanding or outlandish to my eyes.
Anyway, on the topic, I have this to say: The quotations you post are very telling about people who live under the tyrrany of high control groups or control freaks. They do not learn consideration for other people, or even right from wrong. They only learn how to please/appease or, at least, not to displease their masters. Then, when the masters are not around, they go berserk because they have no inner sense of their own or anyone else's worth and dignity. There was so much verbiage in those quotations about supervision of young folks. Well, if those young folks understood something else besides external control and internalized a sense of purpose and self-worth, the problems would diminish considerably.
BTW, thanks for taking all of those pics at the Silentlambs march. I printed mine off the internet and show it with pride. I sat at the table with rocky220, jesika, Joe and Barbara Anderson (fellow Tennesseeans), joy2bfree, jst2laws, Bill Bowen's daughter and my daughter -- excellent company indeed one and all!
murderers , rapists, drug addicts,alcoholics, robbers,convicts and thieves.
yes thats what some of us were, the organization has helped them out of the gutter, think of the lowest form of mankind,the type that has fallen as low as they can fall, then imagine a knock on there door ,there feeling suicidal,about to have a nervouse breakdown they cant cope anymore this is the last day for them on earth ,they have decided to end it all ,again the knock on the door,as the door opens they are met with a smile ,and as the conversation opens up ,the astute witness realizes that they have a broken soul in there hands they start to immediatly manipulate the situation, lean on me i can help you let me direct your life from now on,ok ,is the response the victim comes willingly , there not in there right minds then they are draged along at break neck spreed ,all the way to baptismn, now the fun really starts, they are dropped just like a stone after baptismn ,left to fend or float within the congregation ,they end up in the same condition as they were found in say six months previosly some crash and burn some flounder, and some realize that the truth they were taught only existed in vapour form disolving as there eyes became focused, the realization then creeps in some realize they are caught within the expanding fishing net covering there entire lives and familys now and again those in the trawlers net try to escape but they are pulled back by the currents or prevailing winds,nowing there is no way out most just drift with the currant knowing that they are going to there deaths they sit back and enjoy the ride,most realize that there are sharks of death guarding the escape holes in the nets ,a few brave people summon super human strength and charge against the confines of the nets and break out ,some just give up and die ,some become so spiritualy hungry they just lose weight and drift through the nets thus escaping ,finding there way by accident to this board,where they then begin to feed other escapped fish,some offer a little encouragment some give a bountiffull banquet of side dishes still more offer everything they can,.
my point is the organization is full of missfits,delinquents and the dregs of society.
So, nightwarrior, are you a psychology major? Your title is irresistible. I think my first book is going to be entitled, "Don't Read This!"
You are so right, but only to a limited degree. I knew many elders and others who were not criminals or major league "sinners" before becoming JW's. But I also knew quite a few elders (brought up as JW's) who had broken all the rules in their youth (some went to college, some joined the military, several married "worldly" women) but still rose through the ranks in the congregation and sat in petty judgment over people whose imagined offenses did not nearly equal their own Watchtower-declared offenses. I'm glad for them that they broke the rules; they had a better life because of it, but my problem with them is that they judged others so harshly who did likewise.
So, the next time a JW comes to your door, besides asking him or her or them about protecting pedophiles, why not ask what they do for a living. Then tell them you don't have time to listen to their drivel because you have to work for a living and, besides that, you and others like you are all the protection their children have from abusers and pedophiles in their ranks.
I would advise giving 'em hell, but they have already chosen that state for themselves.
