Posts by Xanthippe

29

Has your trust in charity been shaken lately?

by suavojr in

jw
friends

excerpt from the wt article, http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2003401.

jehovahs witnesses today are also quick to help when disaster strikes.

during the summer of 2001, for instance, torrential storms caused major flooding in houston, texas, u.s.a. in all, 723 homes of witnesses were damaged to some extent, many of them quite badly.

Xanthippe

A couple of Christmases ago WWF phoned me with the charities usual Xmas appeal. Could I give more than I'm already giving to the adopt a tiger project? No I said I'm maxed out with my charities. I love that phrase, picked it up from a street collector. He said ok let me tell you what we're doing with the money you're already giving.

He said WWF were creating a tiger reserve on the Russian Chinese border to protect tigers from poachers and of course with safeguards to protect the humans in those areas too. As David Attenborough says the problem with tigers is they sometimes kill people so this reserve is a win win situation. Brilliant! I was very impressed he really wanted to tell me where my money was going and not to pressure me any more. It made my Xmas. I don't want these beautiful amimals chopped up for useless traditional medicine.

16

Coffee Appreciation

by FL_Panthers in

as i'm making my seventh cup for the day, i thought it would be a good idea to have an appreciation thread.

what's the best ground coffee?

beans?.

Xanthippe

Oh well done for starting this thread. I've been trying to find a decent ground coffee for years, even bringing it back from Italy. The Italian supermarket coffee was close but no cigar. Still looking, any ideas please, in the UK?

13

The great British Weather

by FL_Panthers in

anyone else getting a bit tired of being wetted upon?.

i've sort of had enough already, suede shoes in the rain is not not a good idea.. .

on the plus side, it's fun for fish .

Xanthippe

Yes precipitation here too this morning. Didn't we have a gorgeous early spring though? My garden looks beautiful, full of flowers because of the sunshine we had in April. Where oh where has it gone!

23

You know, I recently believed that Jesus was a cool guy....

by Muddy Waters in

after leaving the jdub world, for awhile it still seemed like the bible was still a holy book, something valuable, worthy, etc., and that the jw religion had just corrupted it and used it to their own ends.. i thought that jesus was like a bhudda, a guy going around taking about peace and love and who exposed the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.. .

but he also said some hurtful things, harmful things, things like dividing up your family, things like whoever had more affection for their family than for him was not worthy of him, to not take time to bury your father but go preaching instead... to send out his followers without any food for the day but to rely on the kindness of others and believe that that kindness and charity expressed gods blessing and favour.... bah!.

i now believe jesus was just another man, saying both good things and stupid things.

Xanthippe

Why cant people just do good things and be good people just because it is a good thing to do? - Muddy Waters

Yes why can't they? I am with you there MW.

I now believe jesus was just another man, saying both good things and stupid things. And he didn't even write his own stuff down, but other people wrote stuff about him and made a whole new religion

Yes so do I.

Here's a question for you MW. Why do we feel the need to follow others anyway? Why can't we decide each issue in life for ourselves?

20

First trip to Europe this summer...only 20 years later than I planned :)

by Gypsy Sam in

jw
friends

so, i'm quite excited but also slightly freaked out as i'm able to go this summer instead of next like i had counted on (my daughter graduates next year and i was planning to go then).

this means i'm doing this last minute and i wanted to see if any of you have used https://www.go-today.com or gateone travel or go ahead travel?.

i'm planning on london, paris and rome for two weeks, likely july at this point.

Xanthippe

Paris is beautiful. Use the boats to get around, jump off and jump on again. Get on the metro and go up to Montmartre and watch the artists painting. The Sacre Coeur is up there too, with great views over the city from a high vantage point.

56

Anyone recall asemblies actually being fun?

by tim hooper in

jw
friends

when i was a wee lad, there was a carnival atmosphere at assemblies as this old footage will show:.

.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/witnesses-baptised/query/jehovahs+witnesses.

Xanthippe

Yes I do remember the assemblies being fun as a kid. Fun food like beef burgers that we didn't have at home. Dramas. Seeing your friends. Even traveling on coaches, we never went anywhere else, couldn't afford it. I remember singing on the coach, kingdom songs of course, but quite fun when everyone joined in.

When I was nineteen I went to a convention and there was something wrong. It just didn't feel right, like the heart had gone out of the religion. Looking back that was 1977, so post 1975 and everone who was still in was pretty fed up I suppose. I can remember that feeling so distinctly, standing on the terraces and thinking what is it that's changed. I was changing too I suppose, slowly waking up, pity it took me another eleven years!

9

There is no Santa Claus , no Easter bunny , and NO PARADISE!

by stuckinarut2 in

witnessing yesterday, i had a few little ones in the group chattering away excitedly to me about the things they look "forward to in the paradise":.

"i'm going to have three horses, a big house and lots of pretty flowers etc".

after i left, it hit me "like a ton of bricks"!......this is no different to the way that kids "in the world" believe in a santa claus, easter bunny, tooth fairy etc.... then they wake up when old enough and realise that it was all lies...make believe....stories etc, all told to them by parents and older ones!

Xanthippe

Yes exactly. When my daughter was small a colleague of my husband thought we were terrible for putting the presents under the Christmas tree before the day and letting her realise we bought them. But after being taught all those fairy tales as children we couldn't tell our child that there was a Santa Claus, we told her the truth.

I think people do get upset when they find they've been taught any kind of lies. We need to stop messing with children's heads and tell them about reality. How can it help a kid to be told they are going to be given a big house and three horses? Unless they have rich parents this is just setting them up for a fall and not teaching them that most people on this planet have to work very hard for everthing they own.

2

Simplicity & Love

by objectivetruth in

we all get so worked up over details,knowledge,status,possessions,conflict,gossip,jealosy... simplicity & love are the 2 things that society trys so hard to diminish and reject.. but if more of us would just live our lives focusing on simplicity & love, we would see happiness.. jesus rejected material possesions,fame,wealth - he chose to live a simple life, which allowed him to love fully.. how can we live simple lives, and love more?.

Xanthippe

We can't live simple lives. We have very big brains and complex needs. Also apes are constantly alert to others around them so we tend to be very socially aware which has its down side in envy and one upmanship. What we need to do is work out how to make these complex brains happy. How to use knowledge, art, beauty,music, travel, fulfilling work, family and friends in an effective way to bring ourselves happiness so that we are no longer in pain. Only people in pain want to lash out and hurt others.

49

FAT BURNERS????

by DATA-DOG in

jw
friends

i need a good fat-burner.

i am getting some serious love handles, and a gross poochy belly.

yeah, yeah...i drink almost every night, and this has been going on for almost 2 years, blah, blah..hic!?

Xanthippe

Atkins -type diet has worked for me in the past. High protein, eggs for breakfast, chicken, fish and quorn for lunch/dinner. Fruit and veg but very low carbs, cut out potatoes, pasta and sugar. Half a glass of red wine in the evening if I want a drink.

40

Main reason JWs are JWs

by Batman89 in

what is the(or what was your) main motivation for serving god as a jw(or any christian)?.

a) love for god and genuinely trying to learn more about him and bible truths?.

b) to escape punishment/death at armegddon?.

Xanthippe

To be honest in the beginning it was neither batman89. I fell for the whole, there must be a purpose for this amazing universe and for complex life on earth. Mainly because I knew nothing about evolution or cosmology. To me that argument was logical, but I didn't have all the facts. I did learn to love 'Jehovah' and want to live in the new system. If that was the great plan I wanted to be part of it.