Posts by Oubliette

32

The Noble Fir

by Oubliette in

the noble fir.

the fir tree stands silently in the corner of our living room: proud, erect, strong.

even unadorned, it is beautiful.

Xanthippe, I'm glad my words reminded you of your own freedom. I think we all need these reminders from time to time. It's not good to take for granted our hard won triumphs!

truthseekeriam, yes it does feel great! We have a wreath too! It's a nice touch.

MissFit, thanks for the compliment! It's nice to enjoy the sweet taste of freedom!

DPL, glad you approve. Recently a friend sent me a nice picture of his little daughter in front of Christmas tree. I believe it was the first time ever they were celebrating as a family. The picture was very similar to the view in our living room, minus the little daughter. Maybe one day my kids and I will celebrate together too!

32

The Noble Fir

by Oubliette in

the noble fir.

the fir tree stands silently in the corner of our living room: proud, erect, strong.

even unadorned, it is beautiful.

Oubliette

The Noble Fir

The fir tree stands silently in the corner of our living room: proud, erect, strong. Even unadorned, it is beautiful.

I particularly love the symmetry of its boughs, so full and thick, and its distinctive conical shape, the crown pointing appropriately towards the heavens. The deep, rich evergreen colors of our abies procera offer a welcome addition to the warm earth tones in the front room of our home. The distinctive smell, like turpentine, brings back long-forgotten memories from my childhood ….

This is the second year we’ve had a tree. Last year we made the daring decision to get one. I say “daring,” but you must of course interpret this in the context of our mindset at the time. As many of you can appreciate, we were in the beginning of my fade from the Jehovah’s Witness routine at the time. It had only been three months since I quit attending meetings.

So you can understand then why my wife and I were more or less in ninja “stealth mode” the December night we surreptitiously drove to the local Christmas tree lot to buy our first tree. As we pulled into the parking area, we both made countless furtive glances around the lot to see if we saw anyone that we knew or that might recognize us. The entire time we were picking out the tree, I had the constant fear that some nosy member of the local congregation or some overzealous elder might spot us, and we all know where that could lead! So by “daring,” I suppose I really mean a timid assertion of our individuality.

It’s funny actually, because when you think about it, it was rather silly for us to be nervous. I mean, really: what were the odds any active Witnesses would be there in a Christmas tree lot? None. Zero. Zilch. In fact, this was probably the safest place we could be at that particular time--safe at least from the scrutiny and judgmental stares of members of my former religion.

Our first tree was a Douglas fir. Even though we were somewhat nervous, we were also very excited and so we took our time picking it out. There was a noticeably guilty pleasure to putting the tree in our SUV and taking it home. As we pulled up to our front door, we carefully scanned the street for any suspicious cars.

Then, like two burglars, we smuggled it into our house under the cloak of darkness. Only instead of breaking in and stealing something, we were bringing something in: something new, something forbidden, something dangerous. We decorated our first tree that night with our shutters closed up tightly to keep out any prying eyes and to hide our secret celebration. My wife carefully chose ornaments of red and gold and white to adorn our tree. Angels and candy canes, snowflakes and bulbs--each one with a story to tell, a message to declare.

This year is different. Very different. Why? It’s hard to say exactly, but over the course of the passing seasons, we grew and changed. As the world came back to life in the spring--tiny shoots of baby plants declaring their place in the world and new blossoms opening up for the first time--we went through a transformation and were ourselves reborn. Throughout the summer we continued to grow and mature, basking in the hot summer sun, laughing and playing in the intense, liberating light of freedom. When autumn came we were finally ready to reap the harvest of our independence. Now, as the days are at their shortest, we clearly realize the importance of living every moment to its fullest, to really live, here and now. At some point, all moments will have come and gone and then it will be too late.

And so I sit here quietly and look with great pleasure at the noble, Noble fir in my living room, a silent witness to the dignity of freedom of thought and expression of belief. All of my senses are delighted by this simple--and no longer guilty--pleasure.

Each evening during the past couple of weeks, when the shadows get long and the daylight begins to fade, I turn on the bright, twinkly lights decorating our tree and simply enjoy its gentle warmth. There something wonderful, something joyful, about the soft glow from the tree that gives testimony to who we are.

One thing we no longer do is close our blinds at night. No, we leave them open, and open wide, so that anyone that passes by--should they care to glance by chance or by design--will be able to see us celebrating our life and our traditions with all the love and joy that we possibly can.

Our noble, Noble fir.

40

Reaching Loved Ones Stuck in a Cult: Reciprocal Letter Writing

by 00DAD in

i've been toying with an idea that i think just might have some legs.

so here i am trotting it out for all of you to consider and comment upon.

for many of us, we are extremely frustrated by the fact that we have no way to communicate with our loved ones still stuck in the organization.

Oubliette

The seeds have been planted. Now it's time to wait and see what, if anything, comes of it.

Thanks again to those who wrote letters on my behalf!

I'll keep y'all posted.

63

LDC Semininar

by Sour Grapes in

jw
friends

ldc semininar @ patterson nov 15-18, 2014 .

entire ldc dept included remote workers/design/legal/real estate/purchasing.

oversight.

Oubliette

Morpheus and Doubting Bro, thanks for the confirmation and clarification.

63

LDC Semininar

by Sour Grapes in

jw
friends

ldc semininar @ patterson nov 15-18, 2014 .

entire ldc dept included remote workers/design/legal/real estate/purchasing.

oversight.

Oubliette

LDC. LDS. Hmmm, not much difference.

63

LDC Semininar

by Sour Grapes in

jw
friends

ldc semininar @ patterson nov 15-18, 2014 .

entire ldc dept included remote workers/design/legal/real estate/purchasing.

oversight.

Oubliette

Sour Grapes, what is the source for this. While parts of it sound legit (and I personally know some of the men named), other parts sound completely crazy?

Also, the number of typos makes me question its legitimacy. If nothing else, the WT Corporation is anal about spelling and grammar.

Please explain how you came into possession of this?

Thanks,

Oubliette

180

Please post new forum feedback or questions here

by Simon in

well, the switchover happened - there were a couple of things i had to fix which meant the posting was disabled for longer than i planned but it's now enabled and some people have already posted.. if you have any questions about the new format or suggestions on how to improve it, please post them here.. if you are having trouble signing in or posting then you'll need to email me instead.. many thanks to everyone for their patience during the changeover !.

Oubliette

Simon: I'll be adding a 'topics posted on' soon, there is already a 'topics started by' facility.

How does that work? I can't access it. Maybe because there's an issue with my thread count statistics.

44

Surprise ! Surprise ! 2015 Arrives and NO Armageddon or World's " End " - Go Figure

by flipper in

jw
friends

i guess 99.9 % of ex-jw's here could have predicted as much .

armageddon didn't happen in 1914. it didn't happen in 1925. it didn't happen in 1975. and it did not happen in 2014. since the wt society first predicted a world's end when their organization started in 1879 - 126 years have passed which according to any dictionary in any human language 126 years comprises of 4 separate generations each totaling 30 years each.

plus 6 years into a 5th generation.

Oubliette

I will go out on a limb and make a prediction that I would unhesitatingly share with any JW:

Armageddon is not going to come anytime soon. In fact, it will never come in your lifetime.

Everyone you now know will die and so will you.

So you're better off living your own life according to your desires and values. Do what is personally fulfilling to you and discard the delusions of a bunch of ignorant old men in Brooklyn, men that lack the honesty and humility to admit that they have no idea when Jesus meant.

26

Site issues: Dec 30 Update

by Simon in

first of all, some apologies - i had planned to spend the last couple of days getting everyone signed in to the new site and sorting account issues out but i wasn't getting over the flu as i thought, i got worse.

i've probably had 4 hours sleep in the last few days.

anything that requires too much thinking isn't going to happen right now.

Oubliette

Simon,

I hope you're feeling better!

Is there a way to find either "Topics Started" or "Topics Posted To"?

I really liked those features of the old forum.

BTW, I've noticed threads no longer have the date posted on them.

That is a nice thing for accuracy of knowing when something was posted.

Thanks,

Oubliette

31

New layout feels very chaotic

by EndofMysteries in

i don't really know how to describe the feeling but i'll give examples, but the new layout to me makes it feel tiring being on for too long.

1. there is the top menu, then a big add between that and the next part, a big ad between the bottom and where you reply, then on the right column you either have 2 ads on top or some type of summary, then ad, then either related posts or other areas.

there are no borders, the adds have the same color and text type but larger font, and it all seems chaotically merged into one thing where you need to constantly sort out what you are viewing.

Oubliette

Simon,

I hope you're feeling better!

Is there a way to find either "Topics Started" or "Topics Posted To"?

I really liked those features of the old forum.

BTW, I've noticed threads no longer have the date posted on them.

That is a nice thing for accuracy of knowing when something was posted.

Thanks,

Oubliette