Thirdson

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Posts by Thirdson

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  35

  Did You Put Off Saving For Retirement?

  by Shakita in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i didn't think that i would ever retire in this system of things.

  i felt that long before retirement age the new system would be here and i would have no money worries.

  as the years rolled by and i didn't have any thing saved for retirement, i became more and more anxious.

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  Thirdson

  Mr. Shakita,

  I put it off and dismissed opportunities to save for the first 17 years of my working life. I doubt I'll get anything from the government I paid social security monies to during that period either since I left and stopped paying income tax etc.

  So I am playing catch-up big time and ramping up my 401K withholding. My employer also matches up to 6% which is very helpful but I still expect to work fulltime until today's nominal retirement age. (I hope my investments will bounce back by then too.) I do not expect to quit working when I am old but I would like to be doing something purely for enjoyment and not have to worry about supporting Mrs. Thirdson and myself while enjoying the things retired people get to do.

  My dad saved nothing during his working life and afterall 4 of his kids wouldn't even be out of school by the time the "New System (tm)" came along. Fortunately, his last employer, after 1975, and where he spent 20 years had a retirement plan that now adds greatly to his state pension. Four of my dad's grandkids are now in the working world and none are looking for divine help for their pension plans.

  Thirdson
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  27

  Should I send wedding pics or no?

  by Billygoat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been thinking about esmerelda's post about her daughter being the flower girl of a jws wedding and not knowing about it.

  then someone else posted about how they didn't know when their daughter got married.

  (can't remember who...) it got me thinking...

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  Thirdson

  Hi Andi,

  I faced a similar question when I got married and my parents declined to come. Originally, I thought of making up an album for them but when we got the proofs and worked out what we wanted and what S's parents would like we struggled to make up a selection that would be appropriate for my no-show parents. Of those attending the wedding my parents would recognize my son, my bride who they met once 15 months before the wedding and my best man who they met briefly 2 years prior. There were some really nice scenes with the cathedral in the background but I hardly thought my JW parents would be happy displaying those pictures.

  What I did in the end was send my parents a link to a website that had several wedding pictures. 3 months after the wedding I visited my parents and showed them some pictures from the reception (held on a boat on a local lake) and some pictures from the honeymoon on Vancouver Island B.C.

  I was quite prepared to pay all the travel expenses for my parents if they used money as an excuse. After their lame excuse for not attending and purposely going on vacation the week I got married I didn't feel I had any obligation to provide an expensive photographic record of my wedding.

  Regards,

  Thirdson
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  32

  You might think that I need help that I have been brain washed.

  by garybuss in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this was in my e-mail this morning.

  ******the reason why you left the truth, the truth and not the "truth" like you people believe, is because you have no humility and no love.

  when people like you commit something wrong and get disfellowship you can't say to yourself "i was wrong, i messed up, me and only me," you can't say that because is much easier to go around blaming others for your own mistakes.

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  Thirdson

  Hi Gary,

  Sounds like an JW Internet newbie who just started researching their own religion and got a bit upset. Said person is certainly brainswashed, but I think has started to think about their own relgion. In many ways I was like this, at least felt like this, when I first typed WTB&TS into a search engine. Within a year I was out for good.

  Thirdson
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  25

  Generation of 1914 BEGONE!

  by UnDisfellowshipped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  another false prophecy by the watchtower society:.

  awake!, november 8th 1986 issue, page 8:.

  awake!, november 8th 1994 issue, page 10:.

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  Thirdson

  We often use "generation" in this way. For example, we might say, ‘The soldiers of Napoleon’s generation knew nothing about airplanes and atom bombs.’ Would we be referring just to soldiers who were born in the very same year as Napoleon was? Would we be referring merely to those French soldiers who died before Napoleon did? Of course not; nor would we by such a use of "generation" be trying to fix a set number of years.

  ...It is similar with our understanding of what Jesus said in his prophecy given on the Mount of Olives.

  The way the Watchtower wants to use the "generation of 1914" is to say that we are still the people of Napolean's generation. At some point "generation" will break, it can't encompass everyone who lived since 1914. The First World War generation includes people around the period that started during the Victorian age (another generation long gone). It does not inlcude the post WW II, baby-boomer generation. My grandfather, who died before I was born, was born around 1890 and served as a soldier before and during WW I. He could be said to be of the 1914 generation. My father was too young to serve in WW II and I am a baby-boomer. I don't count myself as part of the 1914 generation anymore than I am part of Napolean's generation. 100 years after 1914, "this generation" will be a bit passed its sell-by date. Expect more new light by 2014.

  Thirdson
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  101

  Time for a 'bad joke' thread (groan)

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. humour

  .

  how does bob marley like his doughnuts?.

  .. .. "wi jammin"

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  Thirdson

  Did you hear about the man with no arms and no legs who almost swam the English Channel? He got within a mile of the French coast but had to be rescued when he got cramp in his ears.
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  12

  Gentile Times --- Missing!

  by metatron in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the special talk, that usually follows the memorial spoke of "three lines of evidence" pointing to the last days beginning in 1914.. not one of these included the "gentile times" chronology being mentioned.

  (talk on babylon the great's hour of judgement).

  they're phasing it out, i guess.

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  Thirdson

  Hi HS,

  The Governing Body are on heightened alert and feel that recent events prove their theology more than debates around the 607-1914 issue.

  Is this an orange alert? I guess on 9/11 it went to red. Seriously, if they go purely by events as a "proof" they'll be just like the TV evangelists who see every world event as having significance. Gulf War II had a number of television preachers reading texts to show how everything on CNN was predicted in the Bible. A future WTS book will probably do the same.

  Saying good-bye to 607-1914 still doesn't get around the problem of a Messiah who returned 89 years ago. After an absence of less than 1900 years the return time seems a bit long now without any divine action. They could move the whole return of Jesus to a new or even future date but that opens up another can of worms with the FDS authority,

  Thirdson
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  26

  How Many Here Changed Their Personality After Leaving The Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  are you still the same basic person that you were when you were a witness.

  if you were idealstic, then, are you still now?

  if you were a pessimist, are you an optimist, now?

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  Thirdson

  I don't think my personality has changed, and I would argue that it is difficult to change personality. Sure, my beliefs have changed, and I am more open minded and accepting of the differences between people and less dogmatic and judgmental. But I don't think there is much difference in my personality. I am not the person I was ten years ago and while my change of religious belief has been dramatic there have been plenty of other changes in my life (mostly good, and I regard leaving the JW religion a very good thing) no less important.

  Thirdson

  PS I haven't posted much or even read much on this board recently. I have been extremely busy the past few weeks coping with down-sizing changes at work. In addition to managing large projects to handle logistical changes with the closure of international facilities I have assumed the duties of my former boss who was laid off in March. In addition, I am working with my attorney to resolve family law issues related to my ex-wife. I will provide an update on this when a resolution is reached. Despite the stress Mrs Thirdson and I are doing fine, knowing we have each other helps us cope with the uncertainties life throws up.
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  50

  Do You Remember the Day of Your Baptism?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  your baptism date is supposed to be the most important time of your life.

  i was 9 years old when i took the plunge.

  i remember my baptism, mostly because, i was baptized twice.

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  Thirdson

  May 18, 1975. I was 14.

  The location was a public swimming pool somewhere in Wolverhampton. I can't remember much about the day. I do remember that I was ill with the flu (that must have been a sign) but went to the CA and sat through the whole program becuase it was my 'special day.' I didn't go to school for a week afterwards. I felt too crappy for it to be a happy day.

  I went to Dublin that year with my oldest brother to attend the DA. It was sort of a reward for getting dunked.

  Thirdson
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  167

  Was There Ever A Circuit Overseer That You Couldn't Stand?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know this has been discussed before but i think a fresh thread on this will be enjoyable.

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  Thirdson

  Nightwarrior,

  I remember Alan Stokes, didn't like him one bit. He gave me a dressing down for thanking the congregation for their contributions and lectured me on how it was Jesus' money not the congregations'. He surrounded himself with wealthiest elders who he gave parts on assemblies and always stayed with the really rich elder at the big country house. (Said elder moved to the English Riviera and later to Malta I hear.) Stokes claimed he knew all about child care cause he once looked after his teenaged relative.

  I thought he was a pompous ass but that's my impression of most COs and DOs.

  Is Alan Stokes a DO now? I knew him in the mid 80's when served in one of the Worcestershire or Warwickshire circuits.

  Regards

  Thirdson
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  33

  Where do the Gov Body get buried?

  by Prisca in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just curious here.... where do the governing body and other senior bethelite members in brooklyn get buried when they die?

  is there a central cemetery where they all get buried/cremated?

  who pays for the funeral expenses?.

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  Thirdson

  12 feet under!

  Why 12 feet under? Because deep down they are good people!

  Thirdson

  (Sorry, old lawyer joke)