What if performing rituals is one of your interests?
I mostly liked Terry's post, I think the impact of our beliefs on our lives, whilst certainly not irrelevant, are often overstated.
i use the word clinging, as i feel that is what i am doing.
as far as my knowledge of science, namely chemistry is concerned, i am satisfied there is evidence of a creator.
i am happy to believe this.
What if performing rituals is one of your interests?
I mostly liked Terry's post, I think the impact of our beliefs on our lives, whilst certainly not irrelevant, are often overstated.
this is the story of how i ended up here on this site.... .
i was stuck in a situation where reaching out took forever, an eternity.
it was ridiculous - no matter what i did, there was always more to do.
I'm guessing your Dad wasn't an elder? JWs are surprisingly nepotistic.
just heard the special talk about why god allows suffering.
ugh... can't believe i used to believe this crap.
what do you all think of the universal sovereignty issue?
Ugh... my sister's been trying to get me to go to the special talk tomorrow, I gave in on the memorial, no way am I sitting through another meeting that's twice as long. She said I was 'annoying' for persistently saying 'no'. Whatever.
The universal sovereignty issue is impossible to reconcile with Romans 8, for starters.
a couple of paradise earth questions: .
1) if you are a married, baptized witness couple (both people being baptized) and armageddon arrives, will the couple still be married on paradise earthtm?
2) if you are married to an unbelieving mate (ubm) and armageddon arrives, will the witness be free to remarry on paradise earth?.
Apog, according to JWs that scripture only applies definitely to people resurrected post Armageddon, JWs who live through Armageddon may be able to marry/remarry.
a couple of paradise earth questions: .
1) if you are a married, baptized witness couple (both people being baptized) and armageddon arrives, will the couple still be married on paradise earthtm?
2) if you are married to an unbelieving mate (ubm) and armageddon arrives, will the witness be free to remarry on paradise earth?.
Insearchoftruth, The answer to both your questions is 'yes' according to JWs, only resurrected people will not be able to marry, children born in paradise will be able to marry.
Nonjwspouse, that is not a current JW teaching.
the new arrangement for co's to handle deletions (and appointments) means you no longer will be able to give your friends on the body an excuse and step down.
you will have to answer to the co and most likely have a long uncomfortable chat about everything with him in order to step down.
so if you have been thinking about stepping down, you need to do it quick before the new arrangement..
Put no more than 3 hours service a month on your report and most COs will have you off within a year. Simples.
we couldn't celebrate birthdays because that was self-idolatry.
young boys couldn't have posters of sports stars because that was idolatry.
young girls couldn't have posters of their favorite rock band, same reason.. however, as "pioneers" we were told to memorize the names of the governing body members and the names of the wts presidents.
I have a theory that any JW that talked about Jesus in the same way and the same frequency with which regular JWs tend to refer to the organisation would be viewed as peculiar or possibly even suspicious.
look...i am not an atheist.
even so, i have never had one prayer answered my entire life.
the only thing that would even come close was learning ttatt.
I like to make distinctions between things I know and things I believe. I.e. I know the world is not flat, I believe that god has answered some of my prayers.
Edit: Vanderhoven, even though I'm not sure why you placed your hand on that lady's head I appreciate you opening yourself up here.
.
how can i cut down without going teetotal?
i love the taste of wine, i'm not fussed with other drinks but just need to rein in it a bit.. going wine-free tonight and tomorrow, as i'm out socially.. i also need to shift a few pounds.. thank you, everyone..
I use alcohol as a crutch to alleviate my social anxiety, I don't keep any around the house to prevent this from becoming an even unhealthier problem...
another poster saw a flash of ...disgust.... from a loved-one, and pondered the implications.
good catch.
disgust is an interesting emotion and it is linked to all sorts of behavior.
My Mum, former Catholic turned JW likes to talk up the demonic influences her family has suffered as a result of their membership in the Church to try to win me back to the JWs. Last time I had dinner with my family my Dad asked for someone to say a prayer, I volunteered and received an expression of disgust in response, assumingly because my prayers are sinful.
Mormons are quite effective at using the emotion of disgust to discourage their members from drinking coffee and alcohol, I have heard.