although this story is several years old, i wanted to share it here.. after i was df'd, in 1996, under questionable and selective circumstances, i really tried to get back in the swing of things in order to be reinstated.
i actually travelled from nyc, where i was staying with family for a short time, back to my cong.
in new jersey, often getting a hotel room solely for the purpose of attending the sunday meeting.. my p.o., tho, basically cringed each time i showed up(guilt, i guess).
BoozeRunner,
Thank you for sharing your coming out experience so candidly.
Where is the love, indeed?
In the words of one of my favourite Frank Sinatra standards:-
You'd never know it,
but buddy, I'm a kinda poet,
and I gotta lotta things I wanna say.
So if I'm gloomy,
please listen to me,
until it's all talked away ...
...so make it one for the Watchtower
and one more for the road.
Uncanny
political food in due season from our fearless leader:.
(this is a poem made up entirely of actual quotes from george w. bush.
quotes have been arranged only for aesthetic purposes, by washington post.
Well said, Francoise.
For I did get the feeling The HighPriest might have been unwittingly stretching the truth by crediting all those gems and faux pas to just George DoubleYa.
Uncanny
its been getting pretty lively on this board of late.
at the moment there is a great diversity of opinion as to how anti-social behaviour should be handled.
'course, its easy when someone like yk posts his umpteenth attack on the exs.
Englishman,
I like the fact that the Board has been getting lively of late.
There are some highly developed minds throwing in their two cents worth at the moment. Appease or confront - stand and deliver - isn't that what good debating is all about? There is also a lot of help, guidance and love being shown to those who need it most.
I'm also enjoying the way You Know is getting up to his old tricks again, back to his vitriolic best. How he loves to harrangue all us doomed apostates and ex-JW drones with his judgmental Watchtower doctrine and neat turns of name calling and comndemnatory phrase.
It all reminds me of the good old days of H 20 about a year ago now, but thankfully, without the erstwhile threats of being banned or censored by trigger happy moderators whose personalities were/are still steeped in WT-style control freak mode.
However, the toleration of the 'f' word and other vile profanities by this Forum is something I can do without. At least H20 got that one right by not tolerating dirty words. I was on the board that awful night when dear old Milky lost it completely with his tongue and repeatedly hurled insults and swear words at an opposing female poster. Not a pretty sight, and although Milk was going through a hard time then and was virtually inconsolable, I'm sure he felt terrible about his behaviour the next day. Was it worth it? No.
It's great for all of us to enjoy free speech in anonymity, but why do people have to resort to insulting obscentites when they want to verbally attack somone else or challenge a conflicting point of view? Can't they come up with their own damn words? It's also a shame that vile cursing and other streetwise gutter speak seems to have become acceptable on this Forum; like an everyday thing. To me personally, it shows a lack of respect for the privilege the site's hard working founder, Simon, has presented to all of us for free. I also believe seeing coarse language here also detracts from our collective dignity as posters and lurkers, while possibly doing more harm than good to those people who come here looking for help and guidance.
How quick some of us are to forget that most of the new arrivals here are bruised and battered Witnesses or ex-Witnesses who maybe not yet comfortable with bad language and could be quickly stumbled back into the Truth which is not the Truth by concluding that we are just an unholy, unruly bunch of foul mouthed heathens. Maybe some of us are. But those who want to poison, offend or contaminate others in this fashion must have "a really nasty side to their thought process", as Christian Slater's character remarked in the recent black comedy movie, 'Very Bad Things.' (I highly recommend this movie for those who can tolerate cursing, gross sinning and may need an insight into out of control male behaviour.)
So please, without trying to sound overly preachy - I had 20 years of that trip and it got me nowhere but here - let's show a little more class and dignity to ourselves and the ones who might need us most.
Uncanny
P.S. ENG, I also recently watched a TV documentary concerning the ongoing plight of farmers in your country affected by the fall out of Mad Cow disease. I can only offer my condolences and/or encouragement for those relatives of yours who may also be likewise doing it tough these days. Like one of your nation's favourite sayings goes,
"Pick yourself up,
dust yourself off,
and start all over again."
i have always had trouble breathing.
in track i was great for a quick burst of speed in the 50 yard dash, but couldn't move enough air in and out to keep myself going for the longer runs like the 330. i had sleep apnea really bad, with the classic symptoms where i stopped breathing for a while and then suddenly snorted myself awake gasping for breath.
for most of my life, surgery wasn't an option due to my jw lifestyle and employment choices (cleaning business = no insurance).
Sometimes when I think this site has become irrelevent to my new life,
a post like one pulls me back in.
Thanks for the reality check, COMF, and your humanity.
Keep your nose up and keep countering with your right.
Uncanny.
it's only been 2 days and i'm starting to miss all of you (filthy apostates) already.
a lot can happen in 2 days and it has.......job's going ok, the chick got the flick, jw's keep smsing me on my phone (sending me goodluck letters) it's a pity they'd never find out the real story, and my friend has sent my records to me yesterday so i should get them soon.. from 2 days ago and onwards i'll only be online once or twice a month cos of work and the fact i don't have ready access to a computer anymore.
i was thinking about the situation of if someone was df'd for reading apostate literature.
What opposition, AK? What's the opposition? You don't mean this Forum is in competition with H 20? Surely that's not the purpose of either place. I've always thought our presence here was to learn; enjoy 'fellowship'; encourage and/or be encouraged by others, so I am having real trouble understanding you?
And just because I criticise you for using sexist gutterspeak does not make me a Watchtower sympathiser. No way. I'm not looking for an argument here either. Maybe I don't have a good sense of humour; or I'm just too old fashioned, if not quite stumbled. But I cannot help but feel offended when posters drop in the toilet humour like this fine forum is a boys night chat club or on-line stag party.
Uncanny
it's only been 2 days and i'm starting to miss all of you (filthy apostates) already.
a lot can happen in 2 days and it has.......job's going ok, the chick got the flick, jw's keep smsing me on my phone (sending me goodluck letters) it's a pity they'd never find out the real story, and my friend has sent my records to me yesterday so i should get them soon.. from 2 days ago and onwards i'll only be online once or twice a month cos of work and the fact i don't have ready access to a computer anymore.
i was thinking about the situation of if someone was df'd for reading apostate literature.
ApostleAK,
I will miss your regular posts.
On the other hand, if you continue to resort to low level crudities to make your point or frame an analogy, I would rather do without them.
Your use of the expression "you would all get a hard on" if someone was to win a court case for being disfellowshipped for reading apostate literature was tasteless and inappropriate for a forum like this one. Oh, and Uncle Bruce doesn't need our help to take
care of himself.
Uncanny
Thanks again, Norm.
Since I became a modern "apostate" myself last year I cannot deny these feelings of unspoken and unwritten hatred being directed my way from the Watchtower "brain dead" as you call them. Such evil thoughts are no doubt emenating from the same so called Christians who for years acted as my closest friends and confidants.
Still, I never gave it a thought that I was on their menu.
Uncanny
interspersed amidst the text of the five gospels are short cameo essays about topics related to subject matter at hand.
one that caught my eye is called hard sayings softened:.
hard sayings are frequently softened in the process of transmission to adapt them to the conditions of daily living.. luke 6:30a give to everyone who begs from you.
Nice post, Ginny.
You have thoroughly exposed the hypocritical double standard used by the Watchtower Society when it comes to THEM lending money to others.
By charging interest on loans to their fellow brothers they not only make a mockery of another love-based Jesus Christ teaching, they keep selling out everything they supposedly stand for.
But then, you don't build a billion dollar religious corporation by being benevolent towards the flock and/or lending "without interest, not hoping for anything back."
Uncanny
since brooklyn finally allowed the 1914 generation to die in 1995, the distributing apparatus of the multinational printing organization has been starting to slow down.. service is down, the numbers of pioneers are decreasing, the number of baptized show an alarming drop and people are leaving in their thousands.. after many decades of incessant harping on how jehovah, jesus and the bible had guaranteed that the end would be over before the 1914 generation was dead, the witnesses had the only thing that kept many of them going, ripped out from under their noses.
suddenly jehovah hadnt promised any such thing in the awake!
suddenly jesus had never been talking about the length of a generation, as usual the watchtower had never said any such thing, someone had speculated about the generation.
Somebody's thinking.
Congratulations, Norm, on a superbly constructed piece of writing, truly a great post. I really appreciate the work you put into that one.
This is what it's all about. It's a pity a whole lot of us don't just pass the hat around to secure some immortality for this one; like buying a full page advertisement in THE NEW YORK TIMES. Allright, I'll put my money where my mouth is, even though my dollar's probably only worth half what yours is.
If some of you great minds approve of this idea, we could then start a competition for the best headline. There must be at least a score of great copywriters around here and some don't even know it.
Uncanny
P.S. By the way, a racehorse with my Internet name - Uncanny - ran second in Brisbane today at long odds. So now you know why I'm cashed up for putting in for the ad. Next time I'll back him for a win!
Uncanny
andui
a very good friend of mine whos also a professor of english literature and humanities at a large, well-known university is also a libertarian!
he is quite a remarkable person, who has written extensively on many and varied subjects including a book on the titanic disaster, ayn rand, jehovahs witnesses, and isabel paterson, a contemporary of ayn rand.
he knows more about jws than even most informed apostates, although he has never been a jw.
Farkel,
So many gems there it's hard to pick a favourite.
Maybe 'People do not to realise how important
it is to have a good time until its too late.'
Makes me recall that classic John Lennon line from one of his softer songs. 'Life is what happens to you when you're
busy making other plans.'
As for an ageing ex-JW like me, I am trying to make every moment count.
Uncanny
