(((Lee)))
I had no idea! I'm so sorry! Sending positive thoughts your way. Tears are bits of sadness leaving our bodies and cleansing us. Thanks for letting us know.
Posts by acsot
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53Swallowed my pride and had a good cry today
by Lady Lee inas some of you know i have been have a few health problems lately.. i went to the doctor today to pick up my application for a handicapped parking permit.
when we talked he said he would sign it for a year.. well he signed it as "permanent disability".
in one way this is good because if they don't figure out the problem and find a solution i won't have to keep applying for it.
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The 9/8 Awake - Well Crafted Deception!
by metatron inthe sept. 8, 03 awake contains an article about a disaster in ecuador.. on page 14 it says, regarding witness volunteer efforts, "by saturday evening,.
approximately 200 volunteers from local congregations had sealed the windows of 91. witness homes.
many non-witnesses also benefited.
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acsot
This reminds me of a local flood here about 15 years ago. In my mother's congregation one of the elder's homes was flooded, his wife was not and still is not a JW. Practically half the congregation showed up at his place to help mop up. The comments I heard from several of the dubs was how this display of "true Christian love" would soften the attitude of the elder's wife and - who knows? - maybe she'd start studying with the dubs.
Well, my guess is that the wife thought:
1. hubby is like a pastor, so of course the congregation would help him out, they're not crazy!
or
2. they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing, if they really are Christian – “love your neighbour” and all that.
I don’t think she realized they had ulterior motives behind their good works.
Come to think of it, they probably counted their time while they were bailing out the water .
Naturally, when she didn't start a Bible study, the criticising and griping were at warp speed - "what ingratitude"; "she only cares for herself"; "poor Elder so-and-so, he puts up with a lot".
Oh yeah, real love all right.
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Comments You Will Not Hear at the 8-17-03 WT Study
by blondie incomments you will not hear at the 8-17-03 wt study
reviewer comments are in black and parentheses ().
wt quotes are in red and quotes ""
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acsot
Blondie, thanks for the review. I sure hope my mother doesn't get the idea into her head about going to the meeting on Sunday - if I have to listen to the dub version of this article I'll need to do vomit duty in the bathroom. I'm still waiting to hear from the elders as to what help they've organized for my mother during the week. I know that if it doesn't involve counting time there won't be a whole lot of volunteers.
I know that many of the rank and file would rather participate in genuine charitable works such as visiting and caring for the elderly than dragging themselves out in field service, but with the WTS' constant injunctions about doing more and equating other types of charity with wasting one's time, the average dub feels guilt-ridden about taking time away from the precious door-to-door work.
I'm getting angry at the thought of it all , better stop here.
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Witnessing: Turning the Tables on Them
by cruzanheart ina couple of weeks ago i started an irritable thread about the girl at work who gave out my home phone number -- from the firm's confidential internal phone list -- to an old friend i hadn't talked to in about 20 years.
i smelled a set-up and made a stink at work about it.
as far as i know, she was "talked to" and the subject was briefly mentioned at a staff meeting that i missed due to being out of town.. well, i thought about it for a few days and decided to give the old friend a call anyway.
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acsot
I actually feel closer to God now because I don't have the actions of his so-called reps getting in the way.
Wow, that's a great answer - can I save it for my future use?
Acsot - of the shamless plagiarism class
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For the love of a good animal
by Maverick ini just came back from nine weeks on the road and one of the things i do miss are my kitties!
my daughter calls, e-mails and writes me all the time when i'm away but the cats have a limited vocal range and are not big on writing!
but after they punish me for being away, any of you who have cats know what i am talking about, they warm up to me and it is nice.
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acsot
Aw shucks I love animals, even lizards and iguanas, but doggies and kitty cats hold a special place in my heart. One of my cats is sleeping on my arm right now so this post will probably takke me ten minutes to type. They (I have two) are the best, once I've fed them of course. Until that happens I am merely the provider of food, after the meal they condescend to purr and rub their little heads on my leg and meow to be picked up. Sometimes they even let me sleep on my bed!
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Just finished reading COC whoa!
by Thunder Rider init took me over a month of reading every night before bed, but last night i finished reading crisis of conscience.
i was amazed by what i read.
the extent of disregard for peoples feelings and lack of human kindness to those who had given a major part of their lives to theocratic service, made me sick.
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acsot
Ravyn:
I was talking about people who know what is going on and choose to stay becoz of power trips and ego.
Do you mean that you believe there are those who are aware of what Franz talks about yet still remain as a "true believer"? I don't mean the G.B., but rank and file ones. I was dumb and clueless for longer than I care to admit, and although I had many doubts and much hurt from the callousness of the elders and others, I figured it was my fault, my problem and that I didn't have enough faith.
If I had known then what I know now ...... !!!!
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Comments You Will Not Hear at the 8-10-03 WT Study
by blondie incomments you will not hear at the 8-10-03 wt study
reviewer comments are in black and parentheses ().
wt quotes are in red or quotes ""
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acsot
Jehovah is the Great Shepherd and elders are supposed to imitate him. Does this sound like the elders in your congregation?
Blondie: you know what my answer is to that!
I have a prodigious memory enhanced by the WT-CD. I have been in many congregations, in many places, and I am the type of person people confide in.
The last 3 years I was doing these reviews for myself, to get past the boredom and the outrage at what would be said.
The problem with having people like you in the congregation, Blondie, was that people like me, during my doubting and insecure and down-on-myself-for-not-having-enough-faith period, would look at a few JWs like you (and though they were very few and far between, there were nonethless a few) and say: "well, Sister Intelligent/Caring/Insightful is a JW, so they must see something I can't see. Such-and-such a doctrine doesn't make sense, but if Sister Insightful has no problem with it, then it must be me that just can't understand." Of course, because of the Gestapo-type atmosphere, we could never have known that people like you were going through your own personal doubts and trauma about the borg . Glad we're out. (BTW, one of these days we have to meet!)
You're becoming inactive may help others break through their denial about the borg and set themselves free also.
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Do Jehovah's Witnesses have love amongst themselves..
by Brummie inthey certainly do, and this is forever being thrown in my face.
however, when jesus said his desciples would have love amongst themselves, surely he didnt mean it would just be amongst themselves?
surely it would expand further than that?
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acsot
Euphemism, you're absolutely right:
They have no official provision for helping the elderly or the needy. (Contrary to the direct example of the first-century congregation! See 1 Tim 5:9) While publishers are encouraged to provide such help on their own, the rule of 'counting time', in practice, discourages it. Just imagine how much help elderly and infirm witnesses would recieve if publishers were told that they could count the time they spent doing such good deeds!
See my thread re my personal experience:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/56654/1.ashx
I don't think they have love even amongst themselves. They have rules and procedures and maybe, if there's a natural catastrophe, they are able to follow these rules and get some form of aid in place. Then of course contributions are forthcoming for such aid and the WTS profits from that also. Besides the free publicity they give about their good deeds. And we know how much they help when there are no JWs in the affected areas .
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Did you ever attend a NonJW Funeral?
by AuntieJane inmy brother died suddenly.
his funeral was in the catholic church.
his 2 jw children and their offspring actually stood in the back of the church, behind a glass wall, and observed the service.
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acsot
Auntie, I'm so sorry for what you experienced. What I always found ironic about JW beliefs and visiting other churches was that in my travels, including a trip to Israel and Egypt organized by prominent JWs and with many circuit overseers, Bethelites and elders on with us, we would always, with never a qualm, visit cathedrals, basilicas, mosques, temples - you name it. We would pay our attendance fee, which went directly to the upkeep of the religious building (something completely normal, you may say, but JWs are not supposed to help Babylon the Great maintain their churches/synagogues/mosques, etc.), change our dress code if necessary in accordance with each religion's teachings on the matter, and yet we were not supposed to do anything which might remotely be considered part of a religious service while attending a non-JW funeral.
Ironic, and hypocritical. Auntie, you are not dealing with logic here, nor even love. JWs (and I was one for most of my 46 years) are told what to do, when to do it, and if they deviate from these commandments of men they are made to feel that they have sinned directly against God.
As Blondie so aptly put it:
What is sad is so many JWs do not attend JW funerals. When I was a teenager, JW funerals were well-attended. Now if someone has to go on a weekday or drive any distance, they skip it. Especially, if the deceased is a non-JW although family members are JWs, few JWs attend, not even the visitation in a neutral funeral home.
I also saw that people gave money in little envelopes. Sometimes only a dollar, sometimes two. It added up. I helped one family and they collected over $1,000 from such widow's mites. People brought food, cleaned the house, took the car out to be checked and washed, mowed the lawn. And all from "unloving worldly" people. It opened my eyes to another facet of Christian love that was lacking at the Kingdom. JWs can't even send a card. One non-JW family received over 300 cards from neighbors, church members, business colleagues, classmates, people from their lives over 30 years ago. I am trying to makeover that part of my JW personality.
Learning what love really is after being in an emotional deep-freeze for most of one's life is certainly a challenge. As you can tell by her posts, Blondie is well on her way to her makeover.
Auntie, thanks for being here. Please accept my apologies for the JWs and their coldness. I was one of them once. Thanks to people like the ones here, I've learned how wrong I was. Maybe they will also.
Ac
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The "loving" elders
by acsot ini havent been responding to many posts lately, ive sort of had my hands full.. i haven't been to the meetings in about 4-1/2 months - my mother has had two strokes and been in the hospital and doing rehab.
(before that i was occasionally going in order to bring her to the hall, my mother is in her 80s and the dubs are her only social outlet.
no one has a clue that ive had my eyes opened about the borg.
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acsot
Blondie, thanks for the kind words. I'm sorry to hear about your husband. I sometimes ask myself: can't they figure out that their attitudes are the problem - they must know down deep that they're not fulfilling Christ's command to love one another, and that the callousness is one of the ways to show that the borg certainly does not have God's (if he exists) approval. Of course, it only makes exiting easier for those like me who have no other family than my mother. My brother and his companion are not JWs thank goodness. They've said to me that they could never figure out why I stayed so long - I don't fit the norm, as they see it, of submissive women serving the "men folk". I'm single, independent and hate being told what to do . I ask myself the same question, and I guess it all stems to being where I thought I could find approval and belonging (besides being brought up in it!!). They now say that I'm like a "whole" person - it's good to hear.
One thing about switching to Spanish is that I can play the "poor me, cold callous English congregations not helping at all", since many of the ones I knew in the Spanish circuit made comments such as those about the other language groups (and vice versa). The English would go on about the poor, unsophisticated Latino immigrants who can't organize anything nor be responsible for things such as the Kingdom Hall renovations, etc. Racism is alive and well in many shapes and form in the borg.
SS: I think I will ask to bring my card over, but I doubt they'll accept, as Blondie mentioned.
Actually, I may even "auxiliary pioneer" while in Spanish . I get quite a kick out of sabotaging their precious accounting system. I show up at month end, pop in a report in the box, wander over to the restroom, forget something in the car, and then oops! Gone! Ten minutes of my time once a month is something I can manage. I may then switch congregations again and disappear for good. My plan is that in about six months' I will have stepped foot in a Kingdom Hall for the last time. Living in a major city and speaking more than one language definitely helps. I feel bad for those in small towns who really can't disappear, or those married to super-dubs. What a nightmare that must be.
Blondie, please update us about your husband. I'll keep y'all posted about anything interesting.