thanks to online media of movies and books i've recently been watching the twilight series.
issues of quality aside i enjoyed it enough.
i mostly wanted to see what the fuss was about and have the fun of seeing a movie that was banned from the platform when it came out.
Reading Harry Potter was the first unwitnessy thing I ever did. I read them to my kids and would recommend anyone else do the same. I realized it's not a celebration of evil, it's good vs. evil in a creative way.
Purrpurr I was really, really into the twilight books and didn't consider them naughty. The books are still kind of juvenile but way better than the movies. And I was team Edward and don't see where you are coming from.
i spent couple wonderful days in napa valley and sonoma with visits to san francisco.
what hits me was the number of apathy carts in the city.
they were at powell station, embarcadero, fisherman wharf, etc.
i've been told by a jw friend that when her hall recently had a refurb that big changes were made to the second school.. one, a large sign has been placed on the door telling people not to use it and to sit in the main hall itself.. two,that all the chairs which used to face the large windows looking into the main hall are now side on to the window facing the wall instead.. this is because "so many people were sitting out in there!
people were finding all manner of exhuses to sit-in there and the brothers want us to all be together in the main hall!
" she said.. of course i didn't tell her what i really thought of this but seriously?
my dad was recently made an elder about maybe 6 months ago, and now he is never around he's always at work or doing some kind of jw crap.
now he conducts the watchtower study and is even doing the special talk tommorow.
he's become an even more strict controlling jerk than he was before, and i'm never allowed to go out and do anything non jw related because he doesn't have the time.
My father was a fun loving guy before he was an elder. Then he started walking around like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and he was never home. The best times we had were when we went on vacation and he didn't have to think about it for a few days.
I feel for you. I was a free spirit with an elder father too, and a mother who wanted to appear perfect all the time. It's a lot of unrealistic pressure. Someday you can escape. It's hard knowing how exactly to do it, and when, but it will happen. I think I've told you before, but get a part time job and save all your money. All of it. Use it later for college and living expenses because unless you have a rich sweet worldly grandmother you will need to do it yourself.
Edited to add: i love Pete's advice too, I think expressing this to your father may make your life a little easier for the present and may wake your father up a bit from his elder haze.
my best buddy is gone.
i attended his funeral this morning.. on thursday evening, i went to the body "viewing" and it was "family only.
" i am part of the family (through marriage) so, i was there.. i was welcomed with joy and enthusiasm like a long lost (prodigal) sheep.
Terry that is the best you have ever written.
It is exactly, EXACTLY, like that. That's what it was like being a witness.
I'm glad you were welcomed as part of the family. Those two experiences should have been reversed, so that you could have the authentic one for the last part instead of being left with the lingering taste of plastic.
you are delusional.
meaning that you believe everything that the wt says 100% without questioning it all.
you believe there is no other source of truth or valid view points.
You can be happy as a JW if....
you like to imagine you are better than everyone else, and get your jollies out of that special self-righteousness that comes with being told the whole world is evil except THIS organization that you happen to belong to. Aren't you lucky! I mean, fortunate!
in my book, i wept by the rivers of babylon, i described the process of having a friend, johnny santa cruz, use our friendship as a platform for converting me to a jehovah's witness.. that friendship cost me decades of my life in bondage to a cult.. the friendship was real and johnny and i bonded for life.
but, the religion eventually turned him into a stone silence toward me--his oldest friend.
now he is dead and the imaginary reunion and meeting of the minds is no longer a possibility.. this makes his passing a double tragedy.. his memories were my memories.
i am just venting because my sister has put on facebook that i am no longer "in the truth"!
i have kept a very low profile for years and have silently faded.
many witnesses i have bumped into are very friendly towards me, some from other congregations may not even be aware that i dont go anymore.
What a cheap way to score some sympathy from witnesses. When I left, (and it was a fade) a relative in my family wrote PM's to my Facebook friends, informing them i was no longer a witness and they should unfriend me. That was classy too, but your sister outdid it :P.
saw this article in the google news.
it seems like the comments section is being overrun by jw apologists.
would be nice if some of us leveled the playing field.
