Posts by Thirdson

31

As a YOUNG loyal JW, did you think you would see you're 60th birthday ?

by run dont walk in

jw
friends

with all the talk in the organization about the end being so close, and we have all heard this story over and over again for years, as a young/loyal jw, did you think you would see your 60th birthday.. if we were to walk into the kingdom hall today and poll all the jw's under 30, and ask them "will you see your 60th birthday", what kind of response would you get ???.

armageddon is not coming, the year 2014 will pass, as will 2025, 2075, 2100, and even 3000. .

would love to hear experiences from some of the older ones on this board, who probaly thought the same thing when they were young.

Thirdson

Make 60 in this system, you kidding? Of course not, armageddon was coming before I was 16, (1976) I'd never leave school in this system (finished first lot of college 1980). OK so I left school but I wouldn't get married (did in 1984) or have kids (did 1988) or wouldn't settle in another country (1995) or face the Y2K problem (worked on it 1997-1999).

In the period since I gave up on ~~God's~~ Watchtower promises I have gotten divorced and re-married. My son is a high school sophomore and that means 3 years left until college. In the time since 1975 I have owned 13 cars, owned 3 homes lived in 2 countries worked in 5 more. I have worked for 5 different organizations and have had at least 10 different positions. Life goes on and I have few regrets despite the tunnel vision of a JW life.

I keep meaning to ask my parents (loyal JWs) how they respond to the person in field service, who after hearing the JW "good news" says, "never in my life time!" My parents have racked up 46 years as JWs in their lifetime and my dad is well past 70. Sadly, he will die in this system having never gotten the reward he has lived for.

Thirdson

58

What TV shows were you told not to watch as a JW ???

by run dont walk in

victorian sky has a great thread on music.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/57646/1.ashx.

it got me thinking, about tv shows, anything in particular you were told not to watch, being a little kid in the 70's i do remember hearing shows from the platform that we should not watch.

Thirdson

R rated movies have long been frowned upon by the Watchtower. The thing was though that in the UK the rating system is different. Often US 'R' rated movies only had a 15 rating in the UK while others were in the forbidden 18 category and in the UK you have to be 18 to see the movie (or lie and say you are 18). When I visted the US some of the brothers were surprised by the movies I admitted seeing but they weren't 'R' rated where I came from.

Ratings had little to do with what was banned though as that was always a personal matter that elders dictated to others. Growing up I remember the controversy about "Ryan's Daughter". I watched it years later and it has one farily tame hot scene and is a very good movie. As a teenager I remember being chastised among the group that went to see "James Bond - Live and Let Die." Benny Hill was banned because of the sexy comedy. In later years he was deemed polically incorrect by the TV bosses and it took his death to be recognized as the comic genius he was. The A-team was mentioned at assemblies for its violence...strange thing is though no one ever died in that show...unlike Star Trek which was OK but where a red shirt died weekly and Kirk blasted his way around the galaxy on his peaceful mission.

Lots more when I think of them.

Thirdson

JW life has not been the same since the widespread use of VCRs

58

Prayers in Restaurants....

by caspian in

jw
friends

on bank holiday monday just gone, a dear kind older couple in the cong decided to take me and my good lady out for a slap up meal, to try to cheer us up after the recent upheaval in our life.

somehow i ended up with the bill.. anyway, this was the local italian trattoria were we often go, and are on first names terms with the staff and quite a few of the other regulars.

big mistake!!.

Thirdson

I was eating alone late one night in LaCrosse WI and I noticed a large multi-generational family sitting together. One of the men stood up and gave thanks and I listened for any tell tale phrases that I might recognize. Not JDubs... but they looked kind of cultish as they were dressed kind of smart -- dress shirts without ties and all the women wore dresses.

I never say or said prayers in public places. Like Andi though, we do pray as a family at meal time and take it in turns to say grace. (I tried to get Mrs Thirdson to wear a kleenex on her head but she won't have any of my nonsense.) Its the one time all three of us are together and sit and talk about the day's events. And though its a small thing I feel it is appropriate to express gratefulness for what we have in life. We don't force our grace saying on everybody but when other famliy members are present or friends acustomed to "grace" are with us we will "give thanks."

Thirdson

64

Sleeping with the lights on tonight !

by Angharad in

.....we just watched a scary film - the ring anyone else seen it?.

its about a video tape that you watch and then seven days later you die!

(this wont spoil it if you've not seen it because thats what it says on the box!).

Thirdson

I'm not a great fan of horror films but I did like the Ring. A friend lent me their copy. On the DVD one of the special features is the video that the characters watch. After watching the video my phone rang. I made sure that I............ that's why I am still alive.

Thirdson

45

United States and Canada.

by Englishman in

jw
friends

most europeans have more than a little difficulty in telling a us accent apart from that of a canadian one.

it's a bit like ozzies and kiwi's, until you've met a few, the differences aren't that apparent to the untrained ear.

some folk even think that the us and canada are simply interchangeable terms for what is basically the same place.

Thirdson

jgnat,

I could kiss you!!!!

Thanks, I'm off shopping right now.

Thirdson

31

I'm so glad I won't be in 'the new system'

by Simon in

jw
friends

because i hate gardening !!!.

after many, many weeks or months of hard labour, clearing away 3 or 4 skips worth of rubble from paths, sheds and greenhouses, digging over soil and leveling it we finally layed our turf today!.

i am knackered and don't even have any beer in the house .

Thirdson

It takes three hours to mow my lawn, two and a half if you do it without the bag. I have a 15 year old son, so I spend next 0 time mowing.

Thirdson

PS Son keeps asking when we are going to get a tractor.

32

Help, my son has turned American !

by Simon in

jw
friends

i don't know what's happened ... but whenever he plays on the xbox driving games he now puts on a very good 'american' accent.

it is frighteningly good in fact !

the only thing we can think of is that he's picked it up from his cousin who was over a few weeks ago and they played on it together quite a bit (liam get's on really well with him even though he's about 5 years older).. on reflection i guess it is a bit more canadian than american so i am not as worried about it (

Thirdson

My son turned "American" (actually Minnesotan) some time ago but he has lived most of his life in the US. His accent still has enough "British English" in it to make it different and I suppose that is my influence. According to his relatives, he is totally American so I guess the subtleties that make him different in the USA are missed by the non-Americans who only hear the overwhelming Americanisms.

As for me, I think I still have an English accent but I have changed the pronunciation of numerous words including herb, yogurt, tomato, route, basil, and banana, (funny they are mainly food related) and this has happened without a conscious effort on my part so I suspect there are a lot more changes. I guess I have a rather hybrid accent, having once spoken with an Australian accent and replaced it with a midland English accent. Since I am 1/4 Irish as well I am not bothered whether people mistake me for being from Ireland or from down-under, although I rarely get asked where I am from, unlike when I first moved to the US.

A couple of years ago I visited my company offices in Paris and Southampton, England. The Controller in France struggled to place my accent in any particular US region, not making the logical step that just because I was a Minneapolis employee I might not be native. As for the English, they at least knew I was British but thought I was Welsh!

Thirdson

(Of the no particular accent and no representation class)

32

Help, my son has turned American !

by Simon in

jw
friends

i don't know what's happened ... but whenever he plays on the xbox driving games he now puts on a very good 'american' accent.

it is frighteningly good in fact !

the only thing we can think of is that he's picked it up from his cousin who was over a few weeks ago and they played on it together quite a bit (liam get's on really well with him even though he's about 5 years older).. on reflection i guess it is a bit more canadian than american so i am not as worried about it (

Thirdson

Deleted duplicate and missing text.

40

Just what constitutes a "good seat" at an assembly?

by xjw_b12 in

blondies post on an earlier thread re the gate crashers at the assemblies running to "save" the best seats got me to thinking..

just what constitutes a "good seat" at an assembly?

i've never quite understood that.

Thirdson

The good seats are the corporate boxes out of the rain or the cold or the oppressive heat where attendants wait on you. My parents now get to sit there based on their age (my dad is 73) and their "service" (45 years) having been baptized in the 1950's. In those seats you chat all day, drink and eat and enjoy all the comforts of corporate hospitality. It took my folks a long time to get their places while others with "connections" but a lot less "time in" got to sit in luxury. It's a small perk for ones so wrapped up in this religion.

Thirdson

45

United States and Canada.

by Englishman in

jw
friends

most europeans have more than a little difficulty in telling a us accent apart from that of a canadian one.

it's a bit like ozzies and kiwi's, until you've met a few, the differences aren't that apparent to the untrained ear.

some folk even think that the us and canada are simply interchangeable terms for what is basically the same place.

Thirdson

Talesin,

I guess I could have reversed by expression if that would have please'd you. I have used this expression frequently at work when referring to our Canadian operations. Since we (my employer) now handles all North American operations from the US (yes, we down-sized) but still trade as a domestic Canadian company in Canada, pay taxes to the Canadian government, and charge GST, PST and QST, everything we do is the same logistically except where Canada is diferent. That is we trade in Canadian dollars, print bi-lingual documents and charge Canadian taxes, yet customer service is located in the US and we have no physical inventory in Canada. Our customer in Toronto can place an order and receive goods the next day but doesn't import goods because that has already been done via our near "virtual" company.

In other words it's a joke.

Thirdson