i just feel the need to tell eveyone on this board what a great friend xenaw has been to me.
she is thoughtful ,kind, generous, funny, and trustworthy.
i know there has been alot of things said in the last few days about her and i don't know the whole story to what all is being said, has been said, about this lastest gossip.
Like I said I don't know all of the whole story about what is going on, and it seems really trivial, except for the slander of your name .
Can you say you know enough of the story to say she has been slandered? If not, how could you venture an opinion that she has been?
I can't. I score it 0 to 0.
And I can't find a good reason to prolong the topic, which is now entering its fourth thread, if my count's right. A forest fire won't be put out if someone continually fans the embers. `Nuff said.
an elder or ministerial servant is seeking a job, that will pay at least 5,000 a month.
using his watchtower credintials, in an effort to get it.
donald jay leske ll, seems to be quite proud of all of his experience as a jw.
From what I read in a past issue of US News&World Report, while in earlier decades job-hopping was seen as instability, today staying at one place for more than a few years is seen as lack of ambition.
What they don't consider though is that until you get vested in a company's retirement policy at a new job, the money you rolled over from, say, a 401(k) just sits there, AFAIK. Time lost to make your assets grow for retirement.
y'all get on yahoo personals and look up kittylady1971.
check out that picture.
now, there's a lady who knows how to convey what's on her mind.
Edited by - Kingpawn on 8 December 2002 3:47:53
i'm 40+ female in n. tx.
i haven't been attending for at least 8 years.
i don't know if i'm df or da or just considered inactive.
Your story wasn't boring at all! Sad, and typical, from what I've seen in the almost six months I've been here.
Some people who went through what you did would have done almost anything to get reinstated despite any doubts they had.
And you sounds very well-adjusted, iow not carrying a lot of baggage from it, which is great. Many don't come out of it that unscarred.
Welcome.
i just finished reading and replying to yizuman's post requesting financial help!
join a forum like this and within days start asking for money?!
does this happen often here?
AGuest seems to've left the thread early.
He missed a great chance to put his beliefs into practice by helping Yizuman out rather than just talk about why others should.
Maybe he still will.
the jehovahs witness church took away all my ability to speak normally to, and to interact normally,with girls.
because of this i have an issue with sex and feel very sorry for myself, believing i have been deprived of a normal, sexually promiscuous, youth.
this has caused me much pain and suffering,and many sleepless and unhappy lonely nights in my life.
Viv isn't being unsympathetic though, she's just gunning for Master Member!
ok i'm probably way behind here but i just got the jan.1st 2003 issue of the wt and was looking at the service report and notice the 2.8% increase wordlwide, as opposed to the 1.7% on the last years report.
many here have posted before that this figure is somehow "fiddled" by the wt and is not accurate due to the new 15 minute rule, how is that?
i looked at an independant source www.adherents.com and note that they say the witnesses are meticulous and known as particularly accurate in their data, and even "conservative" in their estimates of membership compared with other religious groups who tend to inflate their numbers.
you have some who start when they leave the Hall going in service, others when they knock on the first door and others who will sit in the car and wait till it's their turn to take a door and start their time
I wonder if some of these beancounters work for some of the major corporations "in the news" lately?
Scoob, for a group that overlooks the niggling little detail that Gen. 9:4 doesn't refer to human blood, and therefore the doctrine against blood use is based on a misinterpretation; their insistence on making definite prophecies in total disregard for Matt. 24:36; their stressing works for salvation (contradicting Rom. 4:1-5); the UN debacle; pedophilia; the other scandals; and you're gonna take their word for it on this?
take a look at this article.
this is what is going on in the usa while it's citizens are being distracted by rumors of war.
this is a bad, bad, thing.
Deddaisy,
While this case may not make proof the Bush Administration is trying to turn America into a police state, it can be one more brick in the road leading to that end.
We've seen a steady erosion in civil rights post 9/11. Military tribunals, where verdicts need not be unanimous, and some procedural safeguards given in civilian trials are lacking. Detention of "enemy combatants" for long periods before trial (violates the Fifth or Sixth Amendment protections against long delays before trial as I recall); attorney-client privilege was already weaker for those in prisons (might be helping plan an escape), and now with "terrorists" (I'll return to this in a bit) since they might be helping plan another attack....
Ashcroft has announced revival of COINTELPRO, an outfit active from 1957-71. It spied on a number of religious, civil-rights, and antiwar groups. Sometimes via faked internal messages the group's activities were disrupted. It was denounced in 1975 for its civil liberties abuses. Nat Hentoff, in a column titled "Who's that knocking at my door?" noted they won't have to observe Justice Dept. rules about probable cause when spying on such groups.
In the same column, he noted instances of people receiving visits from FBI agents after being ratted out by people for the sin of criticizing the President, or Administrstion policy, for examples. If not now, incidents like this will more and more create the same attitude toward law enforcement that other people have for the KGB, Gestapo, SAVAK (Iranian secret police), the DGI (Cuba's) etc.
The Bush Administration has also, through the Justice Dept., warred against Oregon's assisted-suicide law. WTF? Wasn't that a legitimate issue for the people of Oregon to decide? Since when does a political philosophy so supportive of "state's rights" go to court to block a state initiative? Oh, but silly me, I forgot the 2000 election, when the "pro-state's rights" Supreme Court nullified the will of Florida voters! And conservatives, those advocates of smaller government, voting in favor of measures to censor the Internet like the Communications Decency Act of 1996 et al.
Ironically, another case the Supreme Court will hear this term considers whether RICO (an antiracketeering statute designed for use against the Mafia) can still be used against antiabortion protestors. Many abortion-rights activists are siding with the pro-lifers, correctly recognizing that if it can be done to you it can be done to me.
And what's a "terrorist?" Anyone the government says is one. For instance, after the Bushies are gone these laws will still be on the books. I can see where Operation Rescue will be treated in the same way as al-Queda cells. Their assets frozen, property seized, and maybe tax audits, harassment, and a campaign of slander against them, groups like them--and their financial supporters. Imagine a 2000's version of Dick Tuck, the Democratic "dirty trickster" who was far better at harassing the Republicans before the `72 election then Donald Segretti ever was against the Democrats (Nixon made a reference to him on the Watergate tapes), turned loose on Operation Rescue. Or a character I've heard of known as "Tommy the Trucker," an FBI agent and agent provocateur, wreaking havoc among the New Left in the `60's, now doing it against the Right--because of their politics.
Perhaps it's more accurate to say there's a group of narrow-minded prigs here that want to make us either a police or a theocratic state. For instance, the Religious Liberty Protection Act. One of its provisions would allow landlords to refuse to rent to people who's lifestyle goes against the landlord's religious convictions, effectively vetoing housing civil rights laws.
In the above case, I'd love to see "Christians" booted out on their butts because their landlord is a Jew/Muslim/Hindu/Buddhist/pagan/other/agnostic/atheist and his tenant's beliefs honestly violated his religious principles.
The sword cuts both ways.
this is a true story.
i do not bullshit about stuff like this.. everybody knows i'm agnostic, and most of you know that i lump wicca right in there with all the other religious beliefs as being just one more crock of lies, and have pissed off sunchild and sirona and a few others with my observations about wicca.
well, as i continue on my path of mellowship, i've mellowed toward wicca as well.
SixofNine,
since it's all make believe anyway
Out of curiosity, what about it do you find "make believe?" This was in a post you made on page one of this thread.
i have a younger sister i've recently gotten to know as an adult (she's 10 years my junior).
i know that she was raised as a witness however i'm not real clear on the practices/beliefs.
i do know that she is currently living through a lot of turmoil.
4me,
First, welcome.
I do know that she says she was ousted because she has children out of wedlock,
The sex itself isn't really the issue, as other posters have noted in the past. It's the most visible reason when pregnancy and childbirth occur. the real reason is attitude. The JW's would call it "repentance;" others would define it as "groveling" enough to earn reinstatement.
As for what to say to her...OK, she's trusted some people too much, or made some bad decisions that got her into this spot--I don't know the circumstances. But their shunning her has the same negative effect that screaming at a child for fifteen minutes over a glass of spilled milk does...shame, hurt, a loss of self-confidence, etc. But the deed is done and now's too late to be yelling about it by others. And most of those wanting to do the yelling are doing it to put on "holier-than-thou" airs anyway.
So, she has children outside wedlock. I'd tell her to love them and raise them to be good people. Curious about the world, wanting to learn, willing to help others, being honest, hard-working, diligent. Tolerant, knowing they will never learn it all. For her, don't wallow in shame or let people make her feel like scum. We all make mistakes. This isn't the end of the world for her. With support from others (not from her family unless she has a very rare breed for JW relatives) she can finish school (if needed), hold down a job, raise her family. It'll be tough but it's do-able.
She's feeling alone, rejected, probably scared, bitter, and will need a lot of emotional support. You can be a big help to her in several areas. You might even tell her about this board. Here she'll find any number of people who can commiserate with her, uplift her, and give her the courage she'll need to face the worst they can throw at her. I'm not suggesting trying to convert her from the JW's to something else...the focus now should be on giving her any emotional help she needs.
Actually I'm assuming she was ousted recently. If it's been a few years then she's probably dealt with many of these obstacles already. But some of the baggage may still be being carried around.
And if you want reasons to get her out of the "faith" this site, and the links at the bottom, are chock-full of reasons why.
Hope this helps.
