Start making friends outside of the religion. You want to provide yourself a support network that will get you through any eventuality. The more meaningful relationships that you have outside tiny JWLand weakens the hold that this religious group has on you.
Bonsai
JoinedPosts by Bonsai
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121
Hey ya'll! My first post. Please help. In need of advice/comfort.
by Stepford Wife inhey ya'll!
i have been lurking for years on this site and others but never had the courage to post anything.
actually i was afraid of posting on an apostate site in the event i was wrong.
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whats so bad about believing people go to heaven?
by sowhatnow init occurred to me today, that so often, my mother will make the comment that .
"those false religions teach that everyone is going to heaven when they die, oh sure, .
all you have to do is be a good person, and off you go to heaven.
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Bonsai
For me, earth is heaven. Such a beautiful place that I want to be on it forever.
But yeah, like everyone said, it's a matter of exclusivity. The market for heaven is saturated. How many would join if JW was just another religion teaching that we go to heaven? They had to think outside the box to stimulate interest and growth.
I've always loved the idea of a paradise earth, but without the armageddon stuff. Even as a witness I always fantasized about God educated mankind with kindness and love so that no one would have to die. I surmised that the meek should stay on earth and send all the self righteous hard asses to heaven!
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150
Start A Butterfly Garden!
by Bonsai intime to take a break from debating religion.
take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?
how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?
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Bonsai
FindTheLost. Thanks for the idea. Let's make this thread about attracting birds and hummingbirds, too.
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150
Start A Butterfly Garden!
by Bonsai intime to take a break from debating religion.
take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?
how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?
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Bonsai
Good idea John Free. It always seems like Sunday is a sunny day. I don't miss watching a beautiful Sunday pass away from a small window in a kingdom hall, all while being blasted from all the artificial lights in the main room. -
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Thought control - sexual fantasizing is wrong - May 2016 Watchtower
by Listener in>>the bible reveals that jehovah issaddened when people pursue a wick-ed course and ‘the inclination of theirthoughts is only bad all the time.’ (readgenesis 6:5, 6.
) from this we can per-ceive that sexual fantasizing is wrongbecause it can lead to serious sin that isforbidden in the scriptures and is out ofharmony with jehovah’s way of think-ing.the disciple james wrote: “the wis-dom from above is first of all pure, thenpeaceable, reasonable, ready to obey,full of mercy and good fruits, impar-tial, not hypocritical.” (jas.
3:17) beingaware of this, we should be moved toreject entertainment that fuels impurethoughts and inclinations.
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Bonsai
It's wrong and immoral to fantasize about sexual things! Instead we should fantasize about more mentally healthy topics such as the slaughter of billions, which allows us to live in a perfect world and fertilize our gardens with their dead, bloated bodies while stroking our pet koalas. (shakes head)
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150
Start A Butterfly Garden!
by Bonsai intime to take a break from debating religion.
take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?
how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?
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Bonsai
Good point Cofty. I forgot to mention bees as well. It seems that honey bees are on the decline in many countries as well. Creating a little nature oasis for them can only be good in the long run for us humans as well. -
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Start A Butterfly Garden!
by Bonsai intime to take a break from debating religion.
take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?
how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?
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Bonsai
Time to take a break from debating religion. Take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.
How many of you have a garden? How many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden? If you are like me and itching for spring, take the time now to plan out your flower bed and plant showy flowers that attract butterflies. Throw in a couple host plants and your butterflies will stay in the area and thrive.
The last couple of decades have seen a drastic reduction in the number of butterflies in nature worldwide. Indiscriminant use of pesticides, insecticides and mowing fields and meadows has led to a serious drop in the areas where butterflies can thrive and reproduce for the next generation. They are under serious attack on all fronts. I find this such a shame. These beautiful, colorful creatures don't bite, sting or harm anyone. Most butterfly caterpillars don't even feed on vegetable crops.
Butterflies are very important to the ecosystem. They pollinate our plants so we can get fruits and seeds. They provide enchanting colors that flit through the sky and through our yards. Their larvae are also an important food source for birds and animals.
By sectioning off just a small garden area reserved for butterflies and their host plants/nectar plants you can help rejuvenate the butterfly population in your area.
In my area ( Hardiness Zone 8b) i have found three particular annuals that butterflies adore. They are Zinnias, Tithonia (Tithonia rotundifolia) and Cosmos Sulphureus 'Cosmic Orange'.
Three perennials that butterflies love are Purple Coneflower (Echinacea), Brazilian Verbena (Verbena Bonariensis) and any red or purple variety of Phlox (for those with cool, short summers).
Three shrubs that butterflies love are Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii ), Lantana (Lantana Camara) [especially the yellow and red variety] and Duranta (Duranta erecta)
Note: Some of these plants are invasive in the tropics and sub-tropics. There are non-invasive hybrids available at home centers that are inexpensive and worth the purchase.
I'd like to know if any of you have had any success in your area attracting butterflies to your garden over the years. If so, what flowers did you plant to attract them? In my area I enjoy almost 30 kinds of butterflies (sadly we don't have hummingbirds in this country, though).
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What was your local needs this week?
by dbq407 inours was on making use of phone witnessing and letter writing.
both ineffective and wastes of time.
another local cong.
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Bonsai
I had a local needs meeting with myself on what annuals to plant in my garden when spring rolls around. I also came to the conclusion that I need a haircut and a diet wouldn't hurt either.. I think my local needs was much more productive than the local kingdomhall's. -
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Books I read when I deprogrammed
by OrphanCrow inblondie suggested someone start a thread with a list of books that are valuable to read when exiting the jws.. i will start.. i left the jws way back in the early 70s and didn't actually deprogram until into the 80s.. one of the first books i read was "the orwellian world of jehovah's witnesses" by gary and heather botting.
canadian exjws from calagary.
an excellent book and one that still resonates with young people today.
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Bonsai
I also read Carl Olaf Jonsson's book in PDF as well. I wonder how long it will take for that to be removed as well... -
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Books I read when I deprogrammed
by OrphanCrow inblondie suggested someone start a thread with a list of books that are valuable to read when exiting the jws.. i will start.. i left the jws way back in the early 70s and didn't actually deprogram until into the 80s.. one of the first books i read was "the orwellian world of jehovah's witnesses" by gary and heather botting.
canadian exjws from calagary.
an excellent book and one that still resonates with young people today.
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Bonsai
Books I read when I deprogrammed: Crisis of Conscience.