i just heard the most brilliant plan ever.
we draft an all purpose legal document to send to the wts stating that "i,__________ do not want any jw's ever coming to my door, please put me on the do not call list and send this to the congregation nearest me, if they do, i will construe this as harrasment and act accordingly" .
then we pass these out, do a mass mailing, give them to all of our friends, encourage people to make copies and give them to their friends, call it the sleep in on saturday document.
They can think I'm Satan incarnate for all I care as long as they don't bug me at my house anymore ;-).
This is a great idea Avishai, I would definately do it as well. Although this neighborhood seems eerily quiet of JW's, but better to have the option to opt out of any future visits :-).
jw's love this topic and have a long list of "do's & don'ts" that need to be completed in order to be saved.
as you all know - it is a "works based" belief - if you do enough you might make it.
i have struggled with that concept since i was little, wondering how in the world we could ever do enough to be considered worthy.
Assuming there is a God, and that he is a "God of love" I believe you don't have to do anything to be saved. Just by virtue of being his creation we are saved. As an all-loving father, it wouldn't make sense to condem any part of his creation for the way He made them. I believe that when we die, all is forgiven and we are "clean" before Him. No caring parent could stand to hear the cries of eternal suffering coming from the supposed place called "Hell". I think we are saved by compassion, wether we "accepted" Christ or not; his message was that of salvation, not destruction.
Of course, I'm still not even sure of His existance or the existance of an after life, so it could be some beliefs I hold in my mind as a "comfort" factor I guess.
I don't think any of us will ever know the answer until we die.
maybe jw's are right after all.
my life has been in this room for years.
i had held onto every word i could read in here.
You are definately right Dazed, if something is affecting you this deeply to the point of making you cry; then maybe you should step back for a moment and take a break. It's not good getting worked up about something so trivial as an on-line message board.
Oh, and by far, the actions of a message board do not change/alter the truth about the JW's. If by your research into the practices of moderation, etc of this board you feel uneasy, then maybe you should make a decision to take a break/leave this board just like we all did with the cult we were a part of?
Don't confuse, it's not my purpose to be callouse (sp?) but I certainly am that of the opinion to try and find happiness in one's life, since it's so short. In the end, is it worth it to shed tears or be in anguish over a message board?
That's just my opinion. I hope things get sorted out properly for you and that you feel better, though. :-)
i have never been able to understand the "the brothers from xyz cogregation are sending their love" at the end of a public talk.. it always seemed to occur when the speaker was from a far-away place.
then, we all have to clap when he rhetorically asks "do you want to send our love to them?".
they never seem to do it when it is a near-by congregation .. only one far away.
How funny. I forgot all about that stuff.
ROFL, me too. That's weird how it works out. I can't believe I had forgotten about such a silly practice. At the very least, it served to wake me up after the person on the stage was over only to be washed over with dread thinking that another hour was yet left . In the congregations I attended, I don't think we had any unwritten rules about being unable to send our love to a local congregation. Even if we both happened to go to the same Kingdom Hall . What's funny is this thread reminded me of a completely unrelated event in which I know one of the elder's wife who would show particular displeasure or spite of someone by clapping at the visitor (or whoever was assigned that day) with only two fingers (ie. two pinkies, two index fingers, etc.). It always cracked me up seeing her do it. She was never counciled on it either since she was an elder's wife .
how many here believe that we all have a soulmate somewhere in this world that is especially for us, or do you believe that the person we happen to fall in love with becomes our soul mate?
I definately believe in soul mates, but I don't believe that they necesarilly happen to turn out who you are going to fall "in love" with/marry/whatever.
I have a very close friend I consider my soul mate because of the deep connection between us. We think a lot like one another and we've shared the most intimate connection (emotionally) possible for two friends. However, I definately know that we couldn't "be" together in a relationship more intimate than friendship. On a very instinctual nature we both knew that when we met and it hasn't changed over the years.
When I moved states, I felt like I lost a piece of my life/heart/soul because I couldn't be near her. Even now, I think about her a lot (though sometimes I admit I'm a very bad person when it comes to responding timely to e-mails). The thing about us is that we can be seperate for a lot of time, but when we come together it's like we've never left each other's side.
I love her deeply and would do anything for her. I believe she is my soul mate and that I've been blessed with her friendship. However, I've yet to find another soul mate, and I'm not sure if there is such a thing as more than one of those in a lifetime.
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here is a photo of our tree.
i have added a santa hat tree topper, and a few gingerbread people, but this is basically how it looks..
Absolutely beautiful tree Mulan, I wish my family could share moments like that together (ie decorating a tree, presents, etc that many people might take for granted).
Anyway, I hope you and your family have a great Holiday this Christmas.
i am in no way affiliated with this seller, but i couldn't let it slip by without you seeing it.
it's an auction for a magazine holder, with a reptilian cover, that is brown.
lol.
I guess I don't see the joke =\, maybe it's nostalgic a little, but that's about it ?
Oh, and Carmel, the link he posted doesn't work until you fix it a little, hopefully the one that follows will work fine for you:
Edit: Weirdness, even embedding it doesn't work. Copy & Paste I guess: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2972372560&category=16710
Edit x 2: Hrm, even pasting it and checking off using HTML formatting does it not work. Just remove any "amp;" from the link and it'll work fine.
rise and shine, little ones!!
this is the day i'm going to become a master member (no comments from you obiwan!).
seems i only need twenty-seven (27) more posts and i hit the big time.. well, by golly, today is the day.
You are getting very close arrowstar, don't stop now!
Go, go, go! :-)
Take care hun, hope to talk to you in chat soon :-).
--Faust
this is a just a very brief posting (although i'm not sure if i'm making it in the right forum
my background is like so many of yours i'm sure.
just a brief run through of my life will be made, i don't have anything exceptional to say since my life is pretty plain in comparison to most people
Thanks everyone, for the warm welcome. I am glad to be among people that understand what happens in our inner minds when we are trying to free ourselves from the clutches of this organization. I know I still struggle with it from time to time, but from reading this board, I know many of you also do and that gives me some relief to know that it is "normal".
To further clarify the point of my dad, I think he is quite happy in the state he is in right now. He is a bit of a zealot, but over the years he's become much more mellow. Especially since he heard about a couple of things that were said to me by the local elders were he attends meetings at now (which resulted in a whole different little struggle, but a post for another time ). I think he too is starting find a balance in his life like my mother, but he strives much more to obtain "perfection" in the eyes of the "brothers" and "sisters". However, I don't think I could've had a better dad and role-model, save for him becoming a drone willingly of a man made organization (but we've all been down that road, so it's hard to judge him ). He's been a very peaceful father who never gave into swearing in front of his family or drinking, and has always provided for my mother and I (well, at least until I turned of age and started working and support myself ). I think right now the religion gives him a sense of purpose and belonging we all feel drawn to. Everyone usually eventually has an event in their lives that sets in motions the wheels of doubt and reason. If he ever finds this moment of illumination, I will be there to support him. He knows that at least from me he will not receive any shunning, and I hope that will be of comfort to him when the time comes.
Thanks again for the warm welcome everyone. Take care and much love from me!
this is a just a very brief posting (although i'm not sure if i'm making it in the right forum
my background is like so many of yours i'm sure.
just a brief run through of my life will be made, i don't have anything exceptional to say since my life is pretty plain in comparison to most people
Thanks gopher for the encouraging words and for answering my questions! I have no clue how I didn't pick up on those terms in a year of lurking . You are right about people claiming to have all the answers... if I ever come across an organization or individual like that in my life I think I'll run shrieking like a little girl in the opposite direction . To be honest, all of organized religion gets a, "thanks, but no thanks" from me for a while.
To answer you question Sandy (or more specifically to not answer it ), I've no idea if the Witnesses ever did such things. I remember when I was young (around 1991 or so) that I went to a Kingdom Hall in Mexico and they did not sing Kingdom Melodies. But if I remember correctly, we were told it was because they society did not yet have the song books printed and distributed in Mexico yet. In fact, to the meeting I went, they played the songs, but no one had a song book to sing along to the music; everyone just stood up (kind of like how people stand up when they sing the Star Spangled Banner) until the song was over. I don't recall if they said prayer or not, but I believe they did otherwise I think it would've made some sort of impact on me. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. We mostly attended to the Kingdom Halls here in the United States and it was mostly my parents that went to the service meetings in Mexico whenever we went down on vacation.
I agree with the sentiment calamityjane, I too am very glad to be out . And I hope my mom is able to keep this nice balance without getting in trouble.
