the past week has been hell for me.
my mother started feeling ill and we went to seek medical assistance.
we live in the mountains and the nearest large hospital is about 150 kms away.
They pressure you not to take blood because it's such a sacred symbol of LIFE yet they dont care a rat's ass about LIFE itself.
Thank you for working so hard to keep your mom alive despite people working against you. What an incredibly harrowing experience.
i read on another thread (on another forum) where someone mentioned a truly guilt-inducing, cringe-worthy, "bad association" video that was played at this summers rc's.
here is how that person described it:.
"the video about "bad association" was really weird.
this is an amazing social change, and bring humans closer to reality.. from the independent - a british newpaper.
a survey reports:.
read the full story at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/yougov-poll-homosexuality-half-young-people-10458032.html.
so lately i've felt so frustrated and overwhelmed that i had to tell someone how i felt.
my parents were gone so i decided to talk to my sister.
we've always been close so i thought i could trust her because we have talked about it before.
so my husband believes the wording in john 13:35 is wrong.
instead of saying, "by this all will know that you are my disciples-if you have love among yourselves".
it should say "by this all will know that you are my disciples-if you have love for yourselves".
I didn't catch the sarcasm either and thought it was a strange comment, but yeah, they do act as if it says 'for' yourselves, especially in all their self congratulation and adoration, 'oh, we are sooo special!!'
a couple friends pointed me to some info on the sabbath and i just plain like it, being the workaholic i am it's a lifesaver for me and gives me the motivation to be more balanced about my business and work schedule.
so from there i looked into the adventists and found a hall near my place and went last week.
i honestly enjoyed myself and the meeting time is not disruptive and the people were great and pretty laid back.
SDA is the watchtower's sweet (vegetarian) Aunt Mary who lives to be a hundred because of her healthy lifestyle and encouraged you to get an education.
If you are religious and sabbath appeals to you that much and using the name Jehovah in prayer makes you feel warm and fuzzy, go for it.
i am writing this in the hopes that it may help someone in a debate.
i personally have not had a chance to discuss it with anyone but that is true for most other topics.
i think is a good one to analyze.
True, Star Trek angel, I've yet to see a 'paradise' picture that looks like the Badlands (amazingly beautiful, actually) or the Southwest. They're all New England or Switzerland. Which is fine, but variety is the spice of life.
Real nature, now, is way more beautiful than those treacly 'paradise' illustrations,
hi i've been a jw my whole life and i'm 17 now.
i've never had a mine of my own and recently i started thinking more open minded and i know the being a jw isn't for me.
i feel like i've been in a bubble my whole life.
Welcome A17!! That's awesome you have family to talk to. You are in a better situation than many here!! Always nice to hear of another young one with a free mind.
Yeah just keep telling people you aren't ready to be baptized. They will really start to freak about it as you approach 18, but don't let it get to you. In your mind, in the silence that follows, say 'and I never will get baptized a JW cuz I'm not somebody's robot!'
so i ran into this brother whom ive known for a while and the conversation led into me being invited to come back to the kingdom hall.
we talked for about an hour during which time i explained to him 607 being the wrong date and a lot of other stuff including the child abuse cases in australia.
but what i wanted to relate was the last few minutes of our conversation.
I stick to my earlier comment that there is no bliss in staying in that religion, but I will add, UNLESS you are the type of person that likes to consider yourself 'right' and you have all the answers and everyone is unholier than you and you love to criticize people and society. Those types of people do live in a sort of bliss in that org. They would be a lot happier if they grew out of that but most will never know. As for the rest of them who don't have those types of personalities, I do agree that FEAR is the reason most of them aren't willing to allow themselves to question and research. The religion has too much control over their lives, it usually holds family members as collateral, it says it is the only hope, without it there is nothing, and people are so dependent on this idea of having something, that they can't live with the idea of nothing and are told that there is nowhere else to go.
it takes some sort of impetus that is worth facing the fear. Either loss of a family member because of the religion, or bad treatment by someone or an abnormal amount of standards and belief in freedom, integrity and truth for people to be willing to face that fear and go through the difficult process of leaving.
i went to the convention this past weekend in cleveland with my wife and son.
most of the session was the status quo, but here are some of observations that i believe are worth noting: .
1. i did not see a lot of jw.org advertisements and the website was not mentioned a whole lot during the session.
