Do you attend any other meetings during the week, or is this just a one off?
I don't want to go tomorrow, but my husband asks me every 15 minutes or so, just to see if I have changed my mind. I would go just to keep the peace, but I really can't face all those people, all the falseness and hypocrisy again. If I were to go, I would probably get so nervous, I would throw up before, during and after the event!
Why do you feel you need to go? I am not being critical - I think it is good to go if you feel it is right. I am just curious.
now that it's dispensed with its annual ``don't you dare partake" in advance of their spring travesty of a communion, the faithful and discreet slave shifts its focus to another seasonal perennial: the km's recurrent exhortation to ``mind your manners at this summer's district conventions.
by ``connecting the dots" between the leadership's admonition to mind one's manners at the hotel, to tip approriately, to avoid ``double-dipping'' by eating and then loading up on unapproved takeaways for lunch at hotels that prvide complimentary breakfast, to refrain from losing all inhibitions in after-hour socializing and to forego the donning of outlandish skin-tight (or conversely loose fitting ``hip-hop" outfits) forte duration of the assembly, a picture quite different from the idealized notion of jws being a worldwide fraternity of solidly mature, temperate ministers who lives find fulfilment only in the service of god and their fellow man.. what sort of adults need to be lectured in such terms, let alone a group that boasts of its aloofness from satan's world?
what does it suggest about leadership's awareness of how far removed from reality the rank and file is from their literature's stylized imagery?
I remember staying a hotel once, and some of the other JW families were really obnoxious. They would stock up their bags with EVERYTHING they could lay their hands on at breakfast (and I mean EVERYTHING), their children were rowdy and rude, and one sister was so loud with such a horrible laugh, she reminded me of Sybil from Fawlty Towers - only worse. I was so ashamed, as if it was my fault. I felt sick for the two nights we stayed there because I felt the hotel manager tarred all JWs with the same brush. A couple of the other JW families were nice, but the slobs made the entire weekend miserable for all of us.
I am determined not to have to sit through another convention ever again, no matter how many threats are used. I don't respond to blackmail any longer and I just won't put myself through that hell on earth again.
I agree with you regarding picketing the KH etc etc. That's not something I would do either. I don't want to go to the KH again and that includes not going to cause trouble. I have nothing against the JWs themselves - there are some really nice people in my old KH and I am fond of many of them. I guess I just don't like the ones in authority because they are the ones that have caused me so much grief. And I would never harass individual JWs, not even elders that have gone out of their way to make me feel like a piece of garbage. That's just not me.
One thing I will say, as I pointed out to you on another thread, be careful if you are not living a life that the WTS would approve of. They can be really vindictive and can hurt you. Don't think that you are immune to what they can do. If you are having a good time now and don't want to attend meetings, that is your affair and should be no concern of theirs. You come across as a really nice, mild person who isn't easily ruffled or upset. I just hope you are not ever on the receiving end of their 'loving' counsel - they can really hurt - believe me!
since the media in u.s show nothing about the war in iraq, and bush's administration censor everything that is "bad' for the puplic, here are some shocking photos of how bush is setting free the iraqi people.
similar view of how watchtower's god will treat everyone who disagrees with them in armageddon.
I showed him the report from the Guardian a couple of months ago and how the WTS tried to wriggle out of it by saying they needed to be NGOs in order to get a library card etc. He said the paper was probably lying - Jesus said his followers would be objects of hatred, the media dislike JWs, the WTS expects to have lies told about them etc etc.....honestly - he is one hard nut to crack. He is extremely loyal to this organisation. It would have to be something really big (I know the UN thing is big to me - but not to him) to make him take notice. I feel that one day, he may just listen to me - at least I hope so. At the moment, he is not prepared to but still thinks I will start going to meetings again.
I'd love to come to, that's if I can come up with an excuse to go AWOL for a while. It would be great to meet all those that have given me such a lot of support.
One thing - this may sound stupid - but I have seen the pictures of the apostafests in the US etc. They look great fun and everything, but I don't want my picture taken. If I went, could I please hide when a camera approaches? I know it sounds really, really dumb, but my husband would have kittens if he ever found out where I was . I mean, if there are photos, there is always the chance of them getting into the wrong hands, or being uploaded to this board. I am in enough bother at the moment and don't want to rock the boat even more than I have done already. Would everyone think I was odd if I asked not to be in any photos? If this sounds weird I'll bow out now before you all realise how warped I really am
ScoobySnax is having a dig at us on this board - at least I think he is.
From his past posts, he loves living like a 'worldly' person but says the WTS has the truth and we should not critisise it???????? He thinks JWs are following the one true religion, but doesn't want to be a part of it, although he does want to....but not just yet....he is having too much fun..... he is able to think for himself at the moment.....and he is having a life.....he'll be a good JW next year.....he does really want to be a JW and we should NOT critisise them. Work that one out - one confused person!
ChristianObserver, A Paduan & rocketman - thanks for your advice and the info. It is really appreciated. I was beginning to think I had got this scripture completely wrong.
Gumby - thanks for your support. ScoobySnax is puzzling - not sure what to make of him.
One thing about my husband. I don't want to make him out to be the baddie - he is just so 'in' the 'truth', it makes it hard to reason with him. When someone snitched on me a couple of weeks back and told him who I was on this forum, he looked at this board for about 10 seconds. As he looked at it, I could see him tremble, like he was looking at Satan or something. He quickly turned away from it and refused to look any more - I really felt for him and still feel like crying when I think about his reaction - he is so afraid of looking at or reading anything that the WTS terms as apostate. He is so convinced that he has the truth and he thinks I am turning my back on God. My heart aches for him but I don't know what to do. I don't go out of my way to argue with him, as some seem to think. I just give my opinion and let him know how I feel if he brings anything up about going to meetings or anything.
Brad - I have always found the incident with Lot hard to swallow. It just doesn't seem to be the sort of thing a loving father would do. There are so many other accounts I can't quite understand at the moment. And I am trying to be civil but, like you say, sometimes you have to speak your mind.
Blondie - your comments make perfect sense. It is so good to get more background information. It's only by taking scriptures in context that we can really see what they mean. I understand what Jesus meant more clearly now - thank you. It is easy to look at things from our modern point of view, forgetting that the Jews had a totally different upbringing and understanding of things. And it is so easy for the WTS to pluck scriptures out and interpret them to suit themselves and their own agendas.
