Posts by Panda

25

Gangs of New York

by Maverick in

i just rented "gangs of new york".

i watched it last night and my daughter watched it this morning, we agree it was the worst thing we have endured in the last two years.

we both thought it was terrible.

Panda

Check an earlier thread about this film from folks who appreciated it's reality.[post:667305]

The Five Points in NewYork were brutal and filthy. The film, rather than exaggerating deemphasized the true violent reality. The riot happened. The military did just what you saw them doing. The gangs were real. Even many of the main characters (not DiCaprio) were real living scum buckets. Even the firemen clubs were real. There's plenty of history written about the 19th century in NewYork.

Plmkzy : I am so in agreement with you. This film and Daniel Day Lewis should have won academy awards. I mean this guy never got out of character.

Many murders went unsolved because no one cared about the poor. Prostitution was something most women did to make enough money to eat. Many women were abandoned with children. Many children were abandoned by parents. This is what the good old days were really all about.

An excellent novel (Written by a historian) is "the Alienist" give it a try.

51

Hi, my introduction.....finally.

by MonkeyPrincess in

i have been reading posts for a while, but everytime i try and post my intro, i dont know what to say, so i suppose i will just write what comes to me.

lets see, i was born and raised in the "truth", i have never known anything else my whole life, so this is weird for me to think differently.

i was df'd about 4 years ago when i met my "worldly" husband, i have tried for the past 2 years to be reinstated, but i guess that i have not tried hard enough, according to the elders (who btw have not been very nice or loving toward me).

Panda

Dear Monkey Princess,

First I adore your name!

I also went to therapy and that helped me quite a lot. While in therapy I met one of the drs. secretaries who was a sister who was friends with other sisters I knew. At first I was just uncomfortable but decided it wasn't a big deal. But then I realized that she might be typing up my therapy notes, and I knew she might feel obligated to tell elders about it. I told my psychiatrist and he thought she would keep confidences because she was so trustworthy etc. So I brought an article in to show him a similar situation where the sister violated the confidentiality because of the purity of the cong., so that was it, I never saw her again. She may have just been moved to another doc's office.

But part of what I'm saying is that for those who've never been "in" the borg (like my doc and your husband and doc) find the medieval secret service to be unbelievable. I have had to explain to my new friends so many things which I had just accepted as a JW, but now I see how unrealistic and unreasonable the WTS has been.

Welcome here Monkey Princess. Starty to enjoy your wonderful new family. Make sure your JW family knows that you love them and even share your new traditions with them. Invite them to the baby's birthday party. They'll find some excuse to come "it's not really the actual b'day" etc. Or even Thanksgiving dinner. Or to watch the superbowl. Otherwise they will have to live life without your goodness and love.

25

Is God a male?

by JH in

jw
friends

god in the bible is called our father.

he is king of kings, lord of lords.

jesus was a male.

Panda

Does Patriarchal religion ring a bell? The Bible god was thought up by nomadic tribes (loosely related) in order to keep women in "their place."

As some societies developed the nomadic lifestyle (such as the Hebrews) which was in no way conducive to the women, men needed to have a god given reason to get the women moving w/ the men. Everything which had been part of community and culture (established by women) became dirty according to the bible god.

Some really interesting changes were:

1) Agriculture became undesirable (Cain grew vegetables);

2) Childbirth became unclean;

3) Menstruation becames unclean (women couldn't touch anything belonging to men for fear of contamination);

4) Female virginity became demanded (previously a womans female relatives helped her to break the hymen in order to not have the pain of a stranger do it on the wedding night) ;

5)Jehovah (ie., Hebrew men) became so obsessed with controlling sexual activity that men had to be circumcized, a tradition which evolved from the male penis slicing as imitation of women's menstrual bleeding... what magic did women have to bleed every month and not die?

There's plenty more but you get the idea.

36

Sad again at the Service Meeting

by Euphemism in

the service meeting on thursday was really saddening, particularly the last part, about preaching with boldness.

it was about overcoming nervousness, shyness, etc in the ministry.. all these people gave their experiences about difficulties they had in the ministry.

a regular pioneer (and elder's wife) admitted that she used to just pretend to ring the door bells; service is still really difficult for her, but she does it just because she feels obligated to.

Panda

Euph, I didn't have a problem with service until I had my doubts. Then I began to get physically ill if I went out. Esp. because I couldn't talk to anyone about my feelings. It was like I was already separated from my friends. It was really a difficult time. I began to talk to one of my professors and that helped. I also took a philosophy class which helped me to understand accepting different views on life. But I knew my friends didn't want to hear any of it. And I couldn't lie to myself or strangers anymore.

39

Are There Things You Didn't Understand About JW's Until AFTER Baptism?

by minimus in

jw
friends

one of the things the society prides itself over is that jw's are not only preachers but also teachers.

jw's are told that they have the "best education in the world".

jw's are taught for a number of months before they are allowed to get baptized.

Panda

Great thread MINI.

What I didn't understand (even as an adult of 22 when I got baptized) was the trauma involved when friends were df'd. I at first went along with the blurb "[that] it's like belonging to a club and following the rules. When you stop following the rules you're out of the club."

Yeah, but when you're not at the club you can still talk to ex-club members. The emotional stress of shunning is like the Stockholm syndrome. Where the tortured comes to follow (and love) the torturer. The WTS is responsible for terrible emotional pain. Not the pain which we encounter through soul searching but purposeful "under the thumb" pain.

I actually thought that I was becoming a free thinking person by getting baptized. I had no idea that questioning beliefs (for me it was the 1914, 1975 stuff) would land me in hot water. I also didn't know that accusing the PO of wrongdoing was a no-no.

16

Texas 101

by arrowstar in

jw
friends

you know how when you moved things get put away?

then, you start to unpack and "discover" things you might not have seen for awhile?

well, that's what happened to me yesterday.

Panda

nouveau Texan --- I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could.

It's horridly hot in the summer. But having lived in Wisconsin and Illinois in horridly freezing winters --- I'll stick out the summers in a/c and enjoy the non-existent winters.

5

Another Canadian Blood Lawsuit

by Kenneson in

jw's are at it again.

today's calgary sun carries the story, "blood battle lawsuit filed.

parents fought blood transfusion.

Panda

I've always wondered what I would've done if I'd had a child who needed a BT. Or if my husband needed one. I remember a young jw whose husband was in an awful motorcycle accident. Even w/ elders around her she ok'd the BT. Her husband died anyway (not due to BT). But I thought if it came down to the decision what would I do? Now of course, no problem with BT, but if I let my husband die I would never be able to forgive myself ... especially over dietary laws!

62

What's The Difference Between UK & US?

by Englishman in

jw
friends

i'm only posting this so as to get a buzz from looking forward to our trip to joy & steve's place in october.. i last went to the usa when i was 12 years old and i'm keen to know what differences to expect.

i know that their service industry is vastly superior to ours, someone told me that restaurant staff are actually helpful over there!.

umm, driving on the opposite side is going to be strange.

Panda

Americans do enjoy a good British accent! Expect to be asked to continually repeat your words to shrieks of laughter and attempts at imitation. "Oh say it again, say it again."

The tea at health food stores or Asian food stores will be more to your palate. Chinese black or green tea is good. In Florida there are probably Vietnamese stores which should also have a stronger tea.

Tea w/ milk is no problem, especially in Florida where many Northerner's(what we in Texas call Yankees) have retired.

Vitamins are way cheaper here. Orange juice is cheaper here.

Smoking is frowned upon. The only place you can be sure it's ok is outdoors.

Clothes are cheaper here (some Aussie friends told me that).

In Florida you may often see some cars which appear to be driverless. The driver is there only, osteoporosis has set in and their heads are at steering wheel height. No they can't see you so just let them go.

There are tons of places to get imported beer. In Texas every hamburger joint has imported beer. And there's always Shiner Bach.

I grew up with one of those circles and learned to drive with that! Only it made me disregard 4-way stops.

Have a great time.

3

For the person who asked about Born Again Christians before.

by neverthere in

i have a friend who is born again and she gave me a pamphlet about it when i mentioned the thread on this site about it.

if you were to ask your friends hot to get to heaven, you would probably receive as many answers as the number of friends you have.

someone would probably suggest that you should keep the golden rule; someone else might say that you need to live up to the ten commandments; others might advise that you should pray, or give to the chursh and the poor, or that you should "just do the best you can.".

Panda

"Born okay the first time."

4

So, is there something about Pandas?

by Nathan Natas in

there is an auction of ebay for a copy of this watchtower booklet: .

the person running the auction says, "this tract is out of print something about not being able to use pictures of panda bears if i remember it correctly.

i have never heard anything like this before.

Panda

Unbelievable Did anyone actually bid on this? It must be recent because I'd never seen it before. Maybe the International Wildlife people who use the panda as a symbol got mad.. but I doubt it. probably just a ploy to sell a worthless piece of s**t.

Hugs, Panda