I was afraid. This is how I celebtated my first Christmas.My daughter had made a large ornament at school, a foam ball pierced with tooth picks and sprayed with fake snow, that we decorated with lights. We placed it on a table and placed our gifts around it. I was afraid to bring a tree into the house to use as a Christmas tree. I also told my family that we should celebrate the holiday without including Jesus; just celebrate it as a worldly holiday. I was afraid to dishonor Jesus. How dumb of me, but it takes a while to discard long held beliefs. After I became a Catholic, I wanted to celebrate Chistmas as a Christian holiday. I even celebrated it by helping at a dinner for the poor. My family and I ate dinner with the poor and not at home. Now I celebrate it as most people do, with gifts, Chistmas dinner and parties with friends. When I can, I attend Chistmas Mass which I find a beautiful thing; I love singing the Chrismas songs at the Mass and during Christmas. I play Christmas music right after Thanksgiving is over, I like to listen to Kenny G play Christmas songs and of couse, Jose Feliciano's "Felic Navidad."
panhandlegirl
JoinedPosts by panhandlegirl
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42
How did you feel when you first celebrated Halloween or Christmas
by trujw inwith the holidays amongsts us how did you feel the first time you celebrated the holidays?
the first time i felt like i was in north korea trying to slip pass the secret police.
how weird a wonderful family holiday and i was acting like i just stole the mona lisa..
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I would love for you to know my Oompa.... (from one of his closest friends)
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panhandlegirl
I am sorry you lost your friend and I am sorry for all the pain Eric endured. Sometimes the pain is too deep to overcome. I mourn that you no longer have oomph and he doesn't have you.
PHG.
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Moment of silence for Oompa
by andys ini can be very emotional about certain things and when i heard about oompa, even though i don't know him i was sometimes in tears about it, i will miss his posts, what i want to do for oompa is to have a moment of silence for him, i know i don't post on here much am more of a lurker but also i want everyone else to have a moment of silence also for our friend and also for all the others who have committed suicide because of the watchtowers policys..
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panhandlegirl
I will light a candle for oompa.
PHG
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SAD news about OOMPA......
by redredrose inour friend, oompa, has passed away.
just recieved the news a couple of hours ago, and have almost no details.
it happened today or yesterday, he took his own life.
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panhandlegirl
What a tragic thing to happen. I had no idea he was in so much pain. I am so sorry to hear about his death. I agree we have to help each other
endure the pain caused by this damned organization. May he rest in peace. Thank you redredrose for informing us about the tragedy.
PHG
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New sad song: 0940 Our Spiritual Mother
by 9.40am inyou might like our new song on you tube titled '0940 our spiritual mother' about the experience her 'children' have had as jehovah's witnesses.
it's a reworded version of mother (pink floyd) set to new and historic watchtower images.. some who've already seen it have been kind enough to describe it as 'incredibly sad', 'powerful' and even 'poignant'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3krimouav0&feature=youtu.be .
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panhandlegirl
Interesting,disturbing, have to give it a second look.
PHG
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Book recomend: Oranges are not the only fruit
by londonlady ini have just finished this book and cannot recomend it enough!
for most of the book i was very suspisous that the author had been secretly stalking me my whole life.. it charts the story of "jess" who is brought up in a cult like religon, its not jw's but it could be, it sounds almost the same.
its a warm hearted yet incredible story of how her strong charater enabled her to break free from the cult and find out who she really was.. theres some truly excellent lines in it, my favorite being from the mad cult devote mother "you don't need an airing cupboard when youv'e got jesus!
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panhandlegirl
Ordering the book. Lots of reading to do this winter in front of the fireplace drinking wine. Have one more plane ride trip to the old county, Texas, before I can relax and read.
PHG.
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What did you do with all your old publications?
by Dark Fader inso we had spent years building our "theocratic library" of bound volumes, books and other materials.
personally, i boxed everything, taped the boxes closed and threw them in a dumpster at a construction site.. i did actually feel bad though.
that was a lot of paper which could have been recycled!.
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panhandlegirl
I gave my bound volumes to my sil. She died soon after and I guess my jw niece has them now. My husband threw the rest of my books in the trash. I was actually upset and regretted having given my bound volumes away. I
kept some books including the Interliner book and bought the Babylon the Great book on Amazon.
PHG.
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Is Jehovah (GOD ) an intelligent being ? Or an incompetent
by smiddy inaccording to the bible he communicated quite freely with humans, via dreams ,angels ,prophets ,etc.etc., in ancient times ,even up to, two thousand years ago , then he fell silent.then whatever, he was supposed to have said, has been manipulated , ( mis ) interpretrated ,twisted ,whatever, by imperfect human beings ,supposedly speaking in his name .during this last 2000 years.we now live in a time of unprecedented information technology , isn`t this the time to speak to the people of all the earth ?
using such technology ?
their has never been a time on earth when their have been so many people living at the one time and the means to communicate with all of them in a 24 hour period .
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panhandlegirl
So where is he ? Why is he not talking to all humanity ? giving all the opportunity for salvation ? Or is he really just a figment of mans imagination .
smiddy, this is one thing that has always bothered me. If he made himself known back then, why not now? If he performed wonders back then, why not now. If he destroyed the Tower of Babel because with one language there
was nothing that man could not accomplish, why did he not stop Russia and America's space program? As you stated, "isn't this the time to speak to the people of all the earth?" When the nations have the capacity to destroy
everyone on earth with nuclear weapons, you would think that HE would make himself known as HE did back at the begining man's existence? His silence makes one wonder if he isn't "just a figment of man's imagination"and all
those things attributed to him are not just myths.
PHG.
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Is There a Such Thing as Progressive Understanding?
by Recovery inis there such a thing as progressive understanding of god's will?
a simple yes or no will suffice, but if you'd like to state why, please by all means do so..
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panhandlegirl
I don't think so. The Bible has been around for about 2000 years. If we don't understand it by now, we never will. Some parts will never really be
understood, they will just be interpreted differently by different people.
PHG.
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Not Sure What I Believe In Anymore
by nuthouse escapee ininside my head is a tangled ball of wool when it comes to what i believe.
i have days where i believe in a creator and other days when i don't.
then there are times when i refer to this as believing in 'something' but what exactly this something is, i have no idea.
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panhandlegirl
nuthouse escapee, I know how you feel. Until this year, I belived everything in the Bible was true, now I'm not so sure. If a person doesn't believe that
God created Adam, where does that leave a belief in Jesus as a Savior? I am reading a good book, "An Anatomy of Thought, The Orgin and Machinery of
the Mind." It explains about evolution and how things came about but I still think there was an intelligent source that began things. Like you, sometimes I
don't know what to believe. I am still a work in progress about what I believe. I quit working on my Masters so that I could devote myself to reading this
winter. I have read some philosophy but still I need to read more. I don't know if I will ever know for sure what is true or what I believe. Sometimes I think
I am afarid not to believe in God. I am still afarid of making him mad and getting zapped. In a way, that sounds silly. I do believe in science, I just have to
figure some things out. I do like reading other views on this board so I can think about what others believe and why they believe it.
PHG