i was in the witnesses in my twenties and one time i was over at a house of a woman who needed some help.
we were cleaning her house, making her some meals and so on.
all this was to make her life easier, while she dealt with some things in here life.
Jim TX
P.S. This sorta reminds me of the Mormons who will get their long-dead relatives 'baptized' (with someone else standing in for them), so that they can be 'bonded' together for eternity (or somesuch). My question to that practice is... What if the dead relative/person doesn't WANT to be baptized as a Mormon?
Jim, the answer is: They are free to reject it. Some do. It's their choice. We only provide the opportunity for them to be able to make the choice.
Susan
i live in the northwest.
in so doing, i camp at least a dozen times a year.
i am out each week, during the spring in summer, fishing and in the fall hunting.
There was a televised documentary recently on this topic, Discovery Channel or National Geographic, about a year ago. They were exploring the many sightings in the Forks, Washington area. Even President Teddy Roosevelt had come to look for the creature, as there had been many sightings. Check Google for "Gigantor" which is what current researchers (legitimate researchers) are calling the creature.
As for me, I know it is real. My husband and I both saw it, just outside of Forks, Washington. Up until then we hadn't had any opinion about it one way or the other.
Susan
rosanne barr is back.
here is the news brief:.
roseanne barr is back with a new tv show after more than a decade away from the spotlight.
Does anyone CARE what Rosanne Barr has to say about anything? She's hardly a spokesperson for decency and American values. Sorry to be blunt.
Susan
this weekend i was having a discussion with my husband about "listening to that inner voice" - you know, the one that says you should take that risk because you could be a real success, but you talk yourself out of it.
or it tells you not to trust that office mate, but you convince yourself you're being silly, only to get back-stabbed later on.
that "inner voice" that somehow can notice those subtle, unconscious messages that we miss in our conscious state.. i told my husband that i was going to work on listening to that voice - and stop talking myself out of things when i just know it is something i should do - mostly with career decisions and relationships in mind.. after this discussion i head to the grocery store to get some goodies for the football game.
What's Affirmations?
Susan
when i started going out door to door, i was sure i'd bring a couple of people with me to the org.
i knew my parents believed in god and the bible, so i was sure i'd be able to convince them with a few simple verses that we had the truth.
but no, they didn't seem convinced enough to want to study.
When JW's came to our door, they were robotic, with small, artificial smiles, looking and sounding like bad actors in a high school play. They always gave me the chills. Reminded me of the reptiles in the zoo.
There was one who used to come knocking and my mother would sometimes invite her in. This JW was seriously overweight and grateful for a place to sit for an hour or two. She was never in any hurry to leave. My mother was lonely so was glad for the company, as long as she could keep the conversation away from religion.
Funny, the JW didn't seem to mind spending an hour or more every week or two NOT discussing religion and NOT knocking on any more doors.
One time the JW brought a companion who insisted on sharing in great detail what was going to happen REALLY SOON to anyone who wasn't JW. I was frightened by the terrifying mental pictures created, to the point of suggesting maybe we should go to their church and hear more so it wouldn't happen to us.
Luckily for me, my mother merely laughed and said, "Oh, they've been saying that since I was a little girl!" My fear evaporated, never to return.
Years later, when my sister became a JW, she was divorced for the second time, with two young children, living on welfare, far from family, without a high school diploma or means of independent support, no real future, and a past that had been anything but happy. The message of a JW-style paradise must have looked awfully good.
Sadly, she still is one, but if they knew the things she now says and writes to me, she'd be booted out.
I have hope.
Susan
well, progress continues.
i no longer directly attack my wife's beliefs... i leave her with questions to ponder and give her research assignments.
if there's one thing the witnesses taught me, it's how to talk to people in a nonthreatening way about their beliefs.
If men only understood the power of a soft, quiet, gentle voice, they'd rule the world. If you want a woman to listen to you, use that power, coupled with tenderness and love.
She'll listen.
Susan
one day this week, my daughter volunteered to feed and serve the homeless.
every wednesday at a certain shelter the homeless are fed with business people in the community.
the ones that can pay $3 a plate and if you cannot pay all that is asked is that you clear off your dirty dishes, etc.. i found this combination a bit odd.
Maybe JWs feel relieved when they are told "true Christians" only need to hand out magazines to the starving, the homeless, the abused and the battered.
It's easier than actually having to do something real, yet enables them to feel superior instead of guilty.
Susan
my jw sister's husband is dying of cancer.
he's never been a jw, though he has pretended interest for years, mostly just to keep her happy and hopeful.
i don't believe he ever intended more than that.
Thank you for those wonderful responses, and the kind words. My concern is for my sister's emotional wellbeing during this difficult time, and with your insights you have helped me to understand better how I can help and support her.
Susan
from the beginning of the jw experiance, i wondered what the plan was going to be after armegeddon.
we are to expect so much destruction, billions of people destroyed (how many birds does it take to eat 6 billion people in a timely manner?
) with the massive deaths and stuff to clean up........peoples bones for one, rebuiling and resurrecting the millions and millions that have died.....teaching them, and working to clean up the planet.
Way back someone gave my mother a copy of the Paradise book. It made Paradise look pretty good. Of course it didn't really appeal to us as we were already Christians and had complete faith in going to heaven after we died, something JWs don't believe in.
Now that JWs are more open about all the birds eating the dead bodies, even of women and innocent children, and all the ruins everywhere, I don't know how they can keep anybody looking forward to that day.
It's hardly the pretty picture they had been portraying. And then factor in all the rules about dead spouses not really being spouses after they are resurrected, and it's a wonder anybody's still buying into the JW version of paradise.
Personally, I don't believe they even have that much of the story correct, but give them the right to believe it if they want to. I just find it sad that the pretty picture they had been spoonfed is getting uglier by the day.
Susan
my jw sister's husband is dying of cancer.
he's never been a jw, though he has pretended interest for years, mostly just to keep her happy and hopeful.
i don't believe he ever intended more than that.
My JW sister's husband is dying of cancer. He's never been a JW, though he has pretended interest for years, mostly just to keep her happy and hopeful. I don't believe he ever intended more than that. He's also a lifelong smoker, and "unable" to give it up. He supposedly has tried. I can't speak for that, though.
When I spoke on the phone to her yesterday, she said her congregation will "probably" give her husband a memorial service when he dies. Is this false hope, or do they do that for non-JW spouses?
Susan
