any economy people here who can explain how this will affect us economy?.
You need to put this into perspective. In 1979 my first mortgage was 8.5%. A few years later interest rate peaked well into the teens. I had a 12.5% mortgage interest rate for a few years.
We still have interest rates that are the lowest in generations, if not the history of modern finance. I have no idea what will happen over the next few years, but we are still seeing historically low-interest rates.
in my case; 27 years.
7 of which were as a ministerial serpent ... sorry, i mean 'servant' ;).
I was born in. I awakened when I was 35 and finally disengaged at age 45. It would be a mistake to say that every year was a waste. But many were.
does the rank and file or the elders view us as disassociated or disfellowshipped or simply "weak" or possibly a "prodigal son" type?.
getting fired vs quitting_________________________my specialties in life are great and many, but none more fabulous than the talent i've possessed for getting fired and/or quitting a job.how many jobs and careers i blazed through would spin your head!
suffice it to say, more than you've time or patience to hear.. there is something in my psychology and verbal arsenal too prone toward candid criticism!
i find myself blurting out what i really think before even i can stop myself.i worked for an art gallery owner once who had everything going for him except good sense.
If a person reaches a "certain" age and never been fired it is probably because they are leading a much too cautious life.
I have quit and/or been fired a few times in my life. In more than one situation there was little distinction between the words of quitting or being fired. Let's just say we mutually agreed to move on.
a local elder had the part this week on the "good news" brochure.
he said: "if the householder has any questions, direct them to jw.org, don't say, just look up jehovah's witnesses on the internet(an older sister said this at the door), if you do they will be directed to a site visited by apostates and weak witnesses!
" "this mistake, would cause the householder to never accept bible truth".. i thought to myself, wow, i'm sure some listening to this part, will get curious now(many in the hall are just being exposed to the internet, and practicing with their new tablets) and do, just what they were told not to do..
It is silly to think that they can prevent the r&f from doing google searches of their own religion. It sounds like the speaker did his own search. Otherwise, how would he know?
in my case; 27 years.
7 of which were as a ministerial serpent ... sorry, i mean 'servant' ;).
I wasted every year I was in the cult.
i was raised in the religion and for the most part believed that my religion was truth.
i recognized some mistakes were occasionally made but felt that nobody is perfect.
then i smartened up and realized how dumb so many of the beliefs are....was there ever a time that you truly believed you had the "truth"?.
I was a true believer. However, I had a sufficient level of cognitive dissonance to continue my education. The skills I learned ultimately helped me gain my freedom.
i often wonder if the current crop of witnesses, especially the youth and younger ones simply don't care about facts?.
i mean for some, even with knowledge of the past scandals, misleading teachings, mistruths, etc etc, they simply don't care.
"it is the truth after all".. they are so intertwined in the operations and activities of the society, that they cant see anything outside of it.
"don't confuse me with the facts." This mantra works well in the world of JWs and Trump disciples.
(i wanted to put this in the child abuse section of the forum!).
we have seen that during the march 2017 broadcast, m stephen lett has openly praised children who get baptised as young as 10!.
so lets summarize why it is wrong to push child baptism (not far off "infant baptism" that jws condemn other churches for).
I watched the March broadcast and was struck as to how powerful it was. I can visualize myself as a youth and seeing this broadcast as extremely motivating. They clearly hit all the buttons. An old fart like myself can see through the hype, but I am not sure that the 18 yo me would see through the crap. For that reason, I found the video very disturbing.
You got to hand it to them - they know how to manipulate.
ah, yes, so mid-way through a conversation about work, a family member just had to say "oh, you know the memorial is tuesday april 11, so i guess you will have to schedule your work so you can make it right?".
i simply said "oh is it?
" and then went back to what we were talking about.. has anyone else had the pressure to attend put on them?.
The way I read your story, I see someone who is trying to relieve their on guilt in case someone asked: "did you invite Stuckin to the memorial?" Or perhaps someone in authority told your family member to "be sure to remind Stuckin about the memorial."
They now can honestly say that they reminded you. End of discussion....
