http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/22/us/pennsylvania-obit-paterno/index.html?hpt=hp_t1.
EDIT: I was confused because I saw the bit mentioned below about 'getitng it wrong', not realizing that this morning, he did in fact pass away.
For me, the shame is that people wrongly blamed him for the Penn State issues, which kind of unjustly tarnished his legacy a bit.
i was thinking about this the other day when doing a bit of tidying up of my wardrobe.
all the kh suits are now pushed to the back of the wardrobe and i am seriously thinking about a visit to the charity shop to get rid of most of them.. for me one of the (few) enjoyable aspects of being a jw was getting dressed up.
my secular work very rarely involves putting on a dress suit & tie so i miss getting dressed up - smart suit , tie , shiny shoes , slapping on the aftershave.
I wore a bolo tie once, it just felt weird, I was so used to the traditional necktie.
But wearing a suit & tie from around age 5 until 19? Yes, I actually do miss it a bit. My crew at work used to have Formal Friday - since they wear casual clothes anyway (for the work we do), they would dress UP on Friday.. slacks, tie, suit coat.. very stylish. Unfortunately, when they started wearing top hats and walking canes, the owners decided it was too much and put a stop to it, sigh.
It would be a little strange having a necktie on again, but I wouldn't mind being all dressed up again. Kind of twisted, I know, lol...
i found this site quite a few months ago, after a curiosity search on wikipedia about jws and what's going on with the organization.
i was unfortunately born into it, 4th-generation; my great-grandfather was a special pioneer spreading the word in the early 1900s.
it was all i knew growing up, even though i struggled between trying to conform to make everyone happy ... and finding my own way in life.
Thanks again for the support. Unlike some who are still struggling with being in or out, I'm very comfortable with my departure from the JWs.. really, from religion as a whole. It's fine for some, just not for me.
In fact, when I first found this site last year, I didn't join because I thought it was going to be all negative. "@#$% those @#$%ing JWs and their @#$@# ^#$@# with a @#$%#$% broomstick!" lol (Thankfully, this site isn't all anger and hate and such) And honestly, I -was- angry for a while in my early 20s, but now I'm cresting over the 40 mark and I'm over it. It happened, there was some good that came from it, I can't change what happened.. so I just accept it and move on with my life.
And if my story happens to inspire or encourage anyone out there who might be 'on the fence'... well, that's all the better. :)
the fact that nimrod's name means: "he stirred up the whole earth to rebel"
and yet ezra's name means: "help"
what caused nimord's mother to name him something that had such a negative meaning and yet he turned out to be just that?
Something that is a very different sort of 'weird' for me. I'm too tired to look it up.. but I know there is a parable Jesus gave about an old servant about to be retired by his owner, realizing that he would be let go, essentially he went to the people who owed money to his owner, and told them they owed less. Really, he was helping his boss's creditors to steal from his owner!
And Jesus applauded him! I never understood what lesson we were to learn from that, and I've come to assume something there was lost in translation, lol
(Unless we've got it all wrong, and there's a missing chapter of 3 John where were are told to follow Ye Olde Ponzi Scheme...)
in the wt's illistrations they portray jw teenagers as happy, together group.
my experinace is that the jw teenagers in the cong were some of the bitchyist backstabbing arse holes i'll ever meet.. it was unheard of for us to engage in group "wholesome activity" as show in the wt's illistrations.
the competition amongst the girls for the handsome, sane and elders sons were cut throat.
I had an experience like the one mentioned, where I was more of the 'nerd' type and the 1-2 teens in my congregation were more hip than I was. They were nice enough to let me tag along, though, but I always felt like a 'fifth wheel' kind of thing. (Note: this was the mid to late 80s)
My mother was actually helpful with this, to a point... since my family went back a couple generations in JWs, we were kind of looked up to by the more spiritually-minded people. So mom would try to hold little get-togethers at our house, to try and help me and some of the other socially-challenged teens (and keep them from worldly alternatives, etc). Once we had a lip-synching 'party' with about a dozen or two kids (and the parents who wanted to attend), good times.
I do remember getting my hopes up once... senior prom was NEVER an option, of course. But that year a bunch of parents wanted to try and have an alternative within the organization so the kids wouldn't be quite as left out by not going. The word spread through several congregations in neighboring cities that a school auditorium was available, and there was going to be a prom-like gathering for the teens.. dress up formally as possible, a musically-inclined friend was going to play some tunes and had 'acceptable' music to be played as well... even as incredibly shy as I was, this was defintely something I was looking forward to this for WEEKS (especially since there was a super-cutie young sister I had met, and had hoped to talk to some more, heh).
....but the weekend before it was going to happen, there was some talks about avoiding 'large gatherings', a few people had crisis of conscience issues, and it was cancelled. sigh
It was a little difficult for me because there were higher expectations. Everyone seemed to think I'd be a regular pioneer and probably Bethel bound when I got out of school. It was kind of fun getting privleges within the congregation... carrying the microphones, giving talks, reading the Watchtower aloud on Sunday... but deep down it always felt like having to settle for what I could get, since I couldn't have what I really wanted, lol
Personally, I was already tempted by worldly influences, a bit of a rebel despite being from a 'good family'... I'd listen to worldy pop music, try to catch TV shows when mom wasn't around, etc. I liked a couple of friends I made who were more open-minded, being able to escape and play video games, listen to whatever was on the radio without changing the station because a 'bad song' came on, lol Always had crushes on girls but was too shy to talk to them, and you weren't supposed to be all that friendly anyway (since it was WAY too young to be thinking about marriage, so any considerations of dating were not acceptable). At best, I could hope for a group outing that included the pretty young lady I was pining for, and maybe getting the courage to talk to her, lol
Funny, I could talk to complete strangers in service, deal with 'conversation stoppers', do informal street work... but talk to the happy brunette who was my age? Yikes! haha
Ah well. In the end, like any other teenager.. I guess I just tried to make the best of it, do what I could, and find the enjoyment that was there... and along the way, had a lot of unusual experiences! :)
(hmm, that was a lot more than I thought I had to say,haha)
if you want to skip to the new light or understanding, its underlined for you pleasure.
i think some will find this interesting.
we had the co tonight.
That's a pretty convenient bit of revisionist history, lol. Not to mention covering up the old bit about the generation who saw 1914 will not pass away without seeing Armageddon, etc.
Wow, that's some blatant idolatry right there... hopefully it will be enough to people like my family to finally realize this is NOT God's truth, just another religion of man.
...but sadly, probably not...
...to change a light bulb?
actually.... ...i have no idea.
what's your best punchline for it?.
Nice! :)
My first automatic response was 144,000 but couldn't find the good explanation for it, heh
'if your body members you control,.
you make known that the truth is your own.'.
this verse in particular from the jw song 'make the truth your own' has provided several instances of hysterical laughter between my wife and i.. just think about it.
I started listening to this European symphonic metal a few years ago, some really dynamic stuff. One night shortly thereafter, I had a dream I was back in a Kingdom Hall, and we were singing Power Of The Dragonflame (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQVEAPjKae4)
Man, if the music were that powerful, I might have stuck around! hahaha
one is a scene of a woman whose head ends up in a cage with rats.
and even though the thought is repulsive, who would even think it might be something to be afraid of?
i think that was the point, if i remember correctly.
Not something that comes to mind, but a similar scene in 1984 (I believe its in the movie as well as the book) where they force a confession from the main character by threatening to put his face in a small cage of hungry rats. -shivers- I don't want to see A rat, much less a bunch, much less near my face wanting to make a happy meal out of it!!
Besides some of the wicked stuff in Saw movies and that kind of thing, I remember a scene in one movie (I believe it was The Collector from a year or two ago) where a man is tortured; the culprit slashes open his chest, then opens a mason jar with some large bugs of some sort, and puts a lighter under the jar. The bugs are trying to escape the heat by borrowing into the man's chest... another -shiver- moment, heh
...to change a light bulb?
actually.... ...i have no idea.
what's your best punchline for it?.
...to change a light bulb? :)
Actually...
...I have no idea. What's your best punchline for it?
