I'm 23 and I became innactive a year ago. Over the past two years I became less and less happy with "the truth" and decided just to leave altogether. Since then I have graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in CIS, and have more opportunities to grow and progress than I could never dream of when I was a Ministerial Servant in the congregation. I don't go here on JW.com that much, not becuase I'm disinterested but becuase I don't have the time.I really need any support from my experience as a JW, but I would still love to talk, and have a pen pal.
Preston
JoinedPosts by Preston
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Any Young doubting JW's?
by swyzzel ini'm 18. i wonder if there are any other people as young as me.
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Your favorite and least liked society publication?
by Celtic indid you have a favourite publication?
what was your least liked publication?
creation book for the shady wt take on science.. unseen spirits, do they help us or do they harm us?
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Preston
The most scholarly of all the books I have read is the James book or the Prince of Peace book. I also get a kick out of the Live Forever book, but only for that hilarious picture of the two gay guys in cowboy hats... I wonder where the WT guys got their sources...LOL
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Have you worn a suit since you left JW
by sleepy inhave you worn a suit since you left the org of jehovahs witnesses?.
i havent.
what am i going to do with all my shirts ties and suits ?
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Preston
Yes, for job interviews....and I've only occasionally worn a dress.
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"Mamma, Mia!"
by Jimmer inif anyone is interested, mamma mia is good fun; lighthearted and full of memories for those in their 40's.. just ask gopher, we went to it last evening.
our ears are still ringing..
"chow!
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Preston
Being the ABBA fan myself... AHEM... I've heard nothing but praise about the new musical "MAMMA MIA!". In fact I heard it's almost impossible to get tickets for it in New York. I saw a right-up of it in the New York Times and there was a picture of a bunch of guys in the audience going nuts over this thing. I'll be sure to to see it when it comes out here...in three years.
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Anyone here from Arizona?
by Preston injus asking, i wouldn't mind having a pen pal or someone to talk to in the area.
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Preston
Hi guys,
I e-mailed you Target this morning, please forgive the late reply, It has been one of those weeks.
Mike, it sounds like we'll be neighbors. Cool, we should get together sometime.
Hi gumby, now, we should really talk. Did you go to any Kingdom Halls in Arizona? Which people did you know? Who was your P.O.,C.O., etc...
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Anyone here from Arizona?
by Preston injus asking, i wouldn't mind having a pen pal or someone to talk to in the area.
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Preston
Hi Target, I live in Scottsdale. I've lived here all my life. Wouldn't mind talking to you further or hearing your story. I haven't really posted in a while on acount of me being so busy. Talk to me sometime...:)
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Anyone here from Arizona?
by Preston injus asking, i wouldn't mind having a pen pal or someone to talk to in the area.
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Preston
Jus asking, I wouldn't mind having a pen pal or someone to talk to in the area.
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Compassionate Atheists
by Preston ini read this letter in the editorials/letters secion of the new york times today (oct. 21, 2001, pg.
i thought you guys would find it interesting.. atheists at ground zero.
to the editor:.
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Preston
Here is the article that was mentioned in Mr. Karpf's letter. Isn't it interesting how some of the professed Christians seem the least compassionate.
Delivering the Gospel to Ground Zero's Streets
By ANDREW JACOBS
The Dow was shaky on Wall Street Tuesday, but the men and women who trade in the Lord's Word were experiencing something of a rally.
By late afternoon, William Bollman had nearly handed out the last of his 2,000 free Bibles, and Brian Biggs, a revved-up street preacher from Tennessee, was drawing an appreciative crowd a few yards from the New York Stock Exchange, although not as large as the one that stopped to watch the teenage choir from New Jersey belt out "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus."
A block north, just downwind from the smoldering World Trade Center, Dorothy Ivey, her singsong voice both mesmerizing and unnerving, was reminding people about the coming apocalypse while a man held aloft a sign that read, "Repent ye and believe in the Gospel."
Religious fire and brimstone are flourishing on the circuit of grief and picture-taking that skirts the edge of ground zero. Inspired by the soul- shaking events of Sept. 11, hundreds of earnest missionaries, evangelical orators and New Age healers from across the country have been flocking to Lower Manhattan, staking out patches of pavement and handing out Gospel tracts, hugs or ominous warnings about the Final Days.
Some say they have come to a wounded — and sinful — city to rescue souls, while others are simply trying to ease the agony of a citizenry still reeling.
Roy Rosedale, 68, a missionary instructor from Lake Arrowhead, Calif., said the climate of fear and anguish had made it easier to talk about Jesus Christ. "When the bombs are flying, there are no atheists in the foxhole," he said.
Since late September, he and dozens of other volunteers have handed out nearly two million glossy pamphlets titled "Fallen, but Not Forgotten." The booklets, which document the calamity with essays and striking color photographs, also present Christianity as an aid for healing and recovery.
Bill Boyd and his wife, Beverly, were quietly distributing a folksy booklet titled "Grief and Stress Management" paid for by their rural congregation in Little Hocking, Ohio. Mr. Boyd, 46, a chaplain for the local sheriff's department, said he and his wife were so moved by events in New York that they hitched a trailer to their motor home and drove 500 miles Sunday night to a church parking lot on Staten Island, where they have been sleeping.
"We didn't come here to be pushy or dogmatic," Mrs. Boyd, 44, said. "We came because we love people, and everyone here has a little void that needs to be filled."
Not every evangelical visitor was so gentle. As Mr. Biggs bellowed about sin and redemption to a lunchtime throng on Broad Street, his traveling companion from Chattanooga, Jerry Layne, expressed disapproval of New York. "The only difference between hell and New York is one of them is surrounded by water," he said.
But he and his friend became even more agitated when they made the acquaintance of Abdurahman Haji, a Somali immigrant from Queens who had decided to spend the day bravely talking up Islam to a largely unreceptive crowd.
Mr. Haji, 33, seemed to take pleasure in buttonholing out-of-town preachers like Mr. Layne, 63, who was wearing a red-white-and-blue necktie, his pants pocket stuffed with a well-worn Bible. "Allah loves you," Mr. Haji said repeatedly, prompting a burst of loveless words from Mr. Layne. "You can believe in Muhammad all you want, but you're still going to hell," he said. Mr. Haji just smiled and moved on.
For those who live or work on the fringes of ground zero, the frenzy of religious activity is just another reminder of how different their world has become. As Phil Salerni, a born- again Christian and saxophonist from Ohio, alternately played "Amazing Grace" and shouted about the glories of God, a group of stock exchange clerks could barely contain their smirks. "There was always a couple of nut jobs around here, but these days there are more than normal," said Joseph Butler, who works for a securities firm.
Still, plenty of people, many of them New Yorkers, have been snapping up literature and engaging preachers in soul-searching conversation. Debbie Walcott, 38, on her lunch break from her job at a brokerage firm, stopped to listen to a impassioned sermon about the Devil's role in the destruction of the trade center. In the last six weeks, said Ms. Walcott, who was downtown when the first tower collapsed, she has become more contemplative and spiritual.
"I think what happened was a wake-up call, but I'm still struggling to figure out what it all means," she said. "It's really difficult to be here every day." With that, she grabbed a pamphlet from the preacher, tucked it into her novel and went back to work.
end of article
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Compassionate Atheists
by Preston ini read this letter in the editorials/letters secion of the new york times today (oct. 21, 2001, pg.
i thought you guys would find it interesting.. atheists at ground zero.
to the editor:.
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Preston
I read this letter in the editorials/letters secion of the New York Times today (Oct. 21, 2001, pg. 14). I thought you guys would find it interesting.
Atheists at Ground Zero
To the editor:
I hope that the old out-of-town proselytizers in Lower Manhattan who approach those upset by terrorism will discover some local secular pleasures and stop preying on New Yorkers ("Delivering the Gospel to Ground Zero's Streets," news article, Oct. 18). Maybe they will learn toleration, and bring it home when they leave.
Also, contrary to the missionary who said "there are no atheists in the foxhole," we're right here. We donate blood, money and services to relief efforts. We mourn the dead and console each other without prayer services. And we don't need any more tracts thank you.
Josh Karpf
Director, NYC Atheists
NY, October 18, 2001end of article
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"Brothers at NY Ground Zero"
by HoChiMin ina circuit overseer, jarome sexton, ma circuit #4 is telling the congregations "the brothers were at ground zero", reading scriptures to firefighters and military personal and they would cry as they heard the words.
"as people ran across the bridge what did they see ' read gods word daily' ".
the dam doors were locked!
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Preston
Thanx Patriot, you're a true patriot! :-)