now that you aren't making 5 meetings per week and going out in field service and doing all that personal study, what occupies your time?
does your life give you a sense of fulfillment?
Minimus..... do you actually still go to the meetings sometimes for FUN?
As for me, I have four kids, a business, and a soon to be ex-wife. Other than the "soon-to-be", life is fantastic.
I read self-help books. You know the funny thing is that the Borg seems to condemn those books more than they do drinking or anything else...... weird!!!! Heaven forbid any of us find out it is REALLY GREAT having an open mind!!!!
Brad
thanks for clicking, you great big patriot you!
i noticed a lot of hubbub around the need for such a gathering, to counter all the fuss kicked up by all the tree-hugging pussies in this area!right on!
well, here's how it works.
Rihannsu,
Hold on pardner!!!!! Don't tell me that you believe 100% what your government is telling you regarding their intentions in the war. Ever heard of a thing called oil that the U.S. is in dire need to have more control of?
I'm certainly glad that most Americans are not as simple-minded as you in that area!!!
Otherwise, they would have all bought one-way plane tickets to Iraq, wiped out everybody who tried to stop them, thereby killing thousands of TRULY innocent people, and ignorantly said "There you go, us big tough Americans solved all YOUR problems again".
Ever herad of the Vietnam war? lol
we all know brothers and sisters, who never miss a meeting.
even if there is a snow storm, or any good reason to miss, they will always be there.
every saturday in the field service, and always saying yes to the elders.. did these people fall on your nerves, because they were so devout?.
They never really got on my nerves until it started affecting me and my family adversely. It would be nice if they could see that taking care of important personal things are actually MORE important than attending bloody meetings. Unfortunately my mother has never understood that. She doesn't realize the harm she is causing, so it is certainly a "get on your nerves" thing rather than a "hate thing.
Brad
since we have been married debbie and i have never traveled very much, for a number of reasons (many borg related).
when younger, i went to mexico and europe, but although shes always wanted to see more of the world, until 1990, with the exception of a funeral in nyc, debbie had never been outside washington, idaho, california and bc.
in 1990 my dad was awarded half of the nobel prize in medicine and we got to spend a week in stockholm.
Wow, that sounds cool. And you managed to get a good plug in there for your dad.
i have read quite a few posts that describe witnesses as haughty, snotty, thinking they were so much better than others because supposedly they had the truth.. i try to remember, and i don't recall seeing that as much as many of them being downright depressed, shy, and appeared to be ashamed.. myself, for one, was never one to announce to anyone that i was a witness.
certainly never held it over others, for i was always embarrassed.
the idea never crossed my mind.. there of course were always the ones that thought that they were better than others, but i always chalked them up to being that way regardless of what religion they belonged to.. what did you notice?
I think the old saying, "there is strength in numbers" stands true here. When I sit back and think about my aquaintances in the JW group, it seems that if you were part of the "in" crowd, you were very self confident and seemed to exhibit a very strong "holier than thou" attitude.
If you were one of the ones who was on the outside looking in, it was depressing. Their "better than others" attitude came through less vigorously. I was one of the "outside people".
And yes it was depressing, because it basically meant that I was being shunned and that was only supposed to be saved for the "worldlings!!! It did make it easier to leave, though, seeing it from that way. I think more people leave that are on the outside of the tight knit groups, though, so I feel that my reward is being able to have a healthy spirituality afterwards.
Brad
my first post diappeared so here's another try:.
this is actually more than one question.
but let me first explain my own experience: .
I was 17 and remember thinking:
Hey dad, remeber how you never let me sit with any of the other young kids at the assemblies?....... WELL LOOK AT ME NOW!!!!!!!... I'm sitting beside Stacey Bonneville..... she's HOT..... and you can't do anything about it.. so what if it's only for a the morning.... anything to get away from your self-righteous, negative personality for awhile....
Wait a second!!!!???? I have to dedicate myself to that God that you guys think is great, who seems to be a real meanie to me!!!
Next thought...... geez, if there had EVER been another person who had EVER walked away right during the talk, I would have had the balls to do it myself.... DAMN...... THIS IS GONNA HURT!!!!!!
No s*it, that was pretty much it!!!!! Man I wish I had more fortitude back then.
Brad
when i was quite young, (about 8 years old) and i was told about the abel being favoured by god, cain getting jealous and killing abel story, i couldn't help but wonder why god was so hard on cain.
i am certainly not condoning cain killing his brother, but since god made both the animals that abel was offering and the veggies that cain was offering, why was cain looked down on?.
also, why did it seem better to god to kill an animal that abel offered, as opposed to thinking, well at least cain is only wasting some food.
Name Withheld....
That was hillarious!!!!!
It is a shame, though, that people/religions take whatever portions of the Bible that they want and make them either symbolic or literal, depending on what suits their own desires.
Do you think Abraham would have actually killed his own son? I know when I went to meetings I never really believed it, because if I did, that would have made me feel real bad about the God that I was serving.
i have been reading the book, "the power of positive thinking" by norman vincent peale.
he is/was a christian minister, but his thoughts on god are somewhat different than what i thought a minister's thoughts would be.
in the second last chapter he expresses an interesting viewpoint.
Thanks for your expression Navigator. Having that belief, being that we are a part of God and He is a part of us certainly does lead to a more UNIFIED world and Universe.
On the other side of the coin, individualism certainly seems to lend itself to more hatred and war.
Do you think if I called up Bush and got Saddam on a three-way call with us, I could convince them that they are from the same entity and would stop fighting? What a strange awareness level we are at as humans, don't you think?
Brad
the majority of people who become jehovah's witnesses, really have no idea what they've gotten themselves into.
did you truly understand those baptismal vows that you made?
Yes, I knew exactly what I was getting myself when I got baptized, but those weren't the questions I heard when I got baptized in 1986.
The questions I heard went like this:
1) Do you realize that your two older sisters and your older brother have all started pioneering, and that at 17 you still have not been baptized yet?
and
2) Do you realize that, even though you are our son, you will never get any respect from your mother and I until you take that first step of baptism?
Oh, wait a second, that was what my slightly messed up father asked........sorry.....lol
Brad, of the "I used to be a JW, but I'm OK now" class
This forum is so much fun woohoo.... Brad
when i was quite young, (about 8 years old) and i was told about the abel being favoured by god, cain getting jealous and killing abel story, i couldn't help but wonder why god was so hard on cain.
i am certainly not condoning cain killing his brother, but since god made both the animals that abel was offering and the veggies that cain was offering, why was cain looked down on?.
also, why did it seem better to god to kill an animal that abel offered, as opposed to thinking, well at least cain is only wasting some food.
When I was quite young, (about 8 years old) and I was told about the Abel being favoured by God, Cain getting jealous and killing Abel story, I couldn't help but wonder why God was so hard on Cain. I am certainly not condoning Cain killing his brother, but since God made both the animals that Abel was offering and the veggies that Cain was offering, why was Cain looked down on?
Also, why did it seem better to God to kill an animal that Abel offered, as opposed to thinking, well at least Cain is only wasting some food.
I know this is not just a Jw thing, about Abel being favoured, but does anybody have any information that could finally allow me to love the animal killing Abel more than the food wasting Cain?
Thanks, Brad
