i've been lurking for a while,but figured i'd introduce myself.
i was born in, and i'm 30 years old.
it's hard to just read as a guest, and not share with anyone eventually.
Know PRECISELY how you feel!
Hang in there...sometimes there is joy in solitude. Imagine it is as if you are sitting at a cafe in Paris or Venice watching all the foolish tourists looking at their maps or waiting to board a gondola. They are missing out on the joy of just being where they are in life. In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
SOP
ok, i'm inactive..... as for qualification for the rbc, what are the bare minimum requirements.. is it merely to be active, i.e.
go on the ministry one hour a month (or hand in a report saying that?
), or to be in "good standing" does one have to be regular at enduring (all?
It is all about "usefullness." Consider the analogy of a tool in a toolbox. The mechanic throws the tool to the back of his toolbox because it has become outdated. The current model of cars he works on don't require the tool. However, a gentleman drives into his shop with a rare automobile, a car that this man once specialized in. The tool, now discarded at the back of the toolbox, is necessary and required. It has become useful again.
I have found that, in general, your so-called spiritual status is not as important as your "usefullness." Please...no tool jokes.
SOP
just saw this and thought i would pass it along .
its about a young jw who died.
because of jw blood policy.
Tragic....someone will have to pay. You may not believe in hell, but someone will pay eternally for persuading this young girl that she should make a life and death decision based on a policy that did not come into existence until the 50's and has changed and morphed for decades...could she have taken one of the now "conscience" matter components or fractions and her life saved?
Cannot continue expressing myself on this subject....I am ready to put a fist through my monitor!!!
SOP
many friends i've spoken with are becoming discouraged.
because of this it's becoming tempting to privately share my views with friends, but i know this is still too dangerous.
most witnesses in my circle are intelligent free thinkers.
You can only take so much. People are tired. They hear about preachers like this Joel Osteen and others who may not speak much about the Bible, but their congregations are thriving and happy. They preach a message of grace and blessing. People walk out of their services feeling inspired and ready to face the world. True, they may not get you closer to God in the WT sense, but when people feel they are blessed they attribute it to someone!
Most JW's are burnt-out, plain and simple. They are tired of the monotony. The constant, "you have to do more" "you need to look at your circumstances" the constant drivel about how we are "right around the corner." The meetings are a constant rehash of last week, last month, last year. The majority of the elders just go through the motions. Many of them know that they will NEVER be used in CA or DA parts and lose all interest in improving their ability or trying to liven up their parts.
With the constant move toward multi-media, in time, you will not be able to maintain the interest of the young people. Their attention spans are declining toward pen and paper, audible stimulation alone is not sufficient. This, in turn, will bring the morale further down and parents see their kids simply zoning out or using their JW.org equipped iPads used to do homework or watch YouTube videos, even play games.
In the immortal words of my grandfather, "Mark my words"
SOP
Ethics 101....First, you can't compare abortion to the holocaust. The comparison simply doesn't fit. It diminishes the lives of millions of innocents in comparison to the one, and diminishes the one in comparison to the millions. The life of an innocent is invaluable, particularly if there is no one to stand up for the innocent. The deplorable nature of the holocaust in its immensity and scope should never, I repeat...NEVER be compared to anything else! It is an aberration, an abomination that should be indelebly written on the consciousness of all mankind forevermore. There is nothing that will ever compare to it.
"Abortion is wrong!" That hardline position lacks reasonableness, just as the statement, "all murder is wrong." The value of life is inherent. The reason for taking a life must be inherently more valuable than the life taken. Some could argue, "who is to justify what is more valuable?" Well, fortunately, I don't need to answer that. As this discussion has progressed, it is apparent that some values may be shared, but they are still singular in nature, peculiarly our own.
Society dictates the value of life, you are either swayed by society or you choose your own path. Ask yourself a question, when you hear about a child dying in some third world country due to malnutrition or malaria, do you react the same as when you here about a puppy that was killed for sport? Have your principles been affected by society?
Just s thought,
SOP
dear friends,.
a few weeks i am thinking about what's going on with the religion we are focust on, jehovah's witnesses.. what i see is:.
- a rebranding of the religion's organization: just like rutherford rebranded the bible students into jehovah's witnesses,.
Gorbatchov
I agree completely. I must say, however, that many companies that decide to rebrand have experienced tremendous blowback and have paid dearly. Case in point, CocaCola and their desire to "update" the taste of Coke. It was a disaster plain and simple. I believe many of the changes the ORG is making and the many more to come as a result will be too much for a lot of people. We will soon see.
SOP
sheri sheppard spoke about this as a ex jw how it affects a person to be dfd,you feel like you loose your identity, its very difficult, i see my son struggling, i wish this practice can be done away with,so hurtful for everyone..
Hopefully his new friends will soon take the place of his supposed "best" friend.
I thought it was a group of old bakers!
"there was a kid who turned down a college scholarship so he could pioneer.
how stupid!
i would do anything to have a scholarship.
"Out of the mouths of babes!"
a little background, i faded in 2007 and have been out ever since.
i started studying at 18 and have no jw realitives.
i'm returing because my life is heading in the wrong direction.
I encourage you to take whatever path you wish. If you felt comfortable as a JW and you miss it, then by all means return. With regard to the negatvity in your life, simply a point of view, if things were that good in the JW's when you were in, why would you have left?
It may well be that you need to address some deeper issues, we all have them. Those demons that move us in the self-destructive patterns that we learned in our formative years. My suggestion would be...before entering, excuse me, "reentering" a high control group, determine precisely why you feel the need to be controlled.
Just a thought,
SOP
