Two JWs who did not have access to these good excuses tapped on my door this morning. First time in 13 years and I blew it--I was in a rush and stared at that awful brochure thinking, can I take time to talk with them? So the young man in the sweater(!) asked if I was a religious person and I said (in a dazed tone) "yes" (and the voice in my head saying "WHAT? Since when?" thanked them and shut the door. Dang. Missed my chance to use all I've learned here.
kgfreeperson
JoinedPosts by kgfreeperson
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37
Good excuses for missing meetings and going out in service.
by frankiespeakin in.
i know a lot of lurkers are probably looking for good excuses and would like a list they could refur to..
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News article: No potentially deciding votes among Jehovah's Witnesses
by Wild_Thing in.
sorry if this has already been posted.
it just infuriates me that voting is a desfellowshipping offense.. http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1099142701308870.xml.
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kgfreeperson
I guess my question is do readers just nod and say "oh, uhuh" and keep going or do they come to a screeching halt and think "what????" Especially that bit about if you vote for someone you're responsible for their policies. If that's true (and I can imagine the argument) it is just as true that by being a Jehovah's Witness you are responsible for any/all harm the Watchtower causes and never mind about new light. Speaking of new light, is it not now the standard defense against evidence of Watchtower mistakes/unethical behavior that they are only "just men?"
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Am I being totally unreasonable here?
by Princess inmy son is in a school for smart kids.
they call it "challenge".
he is in 2nd grade, just turned 8 last month.
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kgfreeperson
I was what is known in the trade as an overinvolved mother, so you can take this with as much salt as you think necessary. You say Rhys is unhappy at school. Rhys needs to be happy at school. Everything you can do to help him figure out what he wants and then to help him to do it will pay off in the long run. If he wants to stay where he is, help him think about what he needs to do to be happy there. If he wants to go somewhere else, help him think about what he expects will be different in the new place and how he might deal with the stuff he won't like. Challenge is a huge issue for some kids and less for others. I can't imagine your area doesn't have lots and lots of "enrichment" possibilities that would make it possible to look at school as the place for social development where home and outside programs are for intellectual development. School is so much about living up to others' expectations (the ubiquitous and oh so important "they") and kids and parents can get sucked into that and really hurt. If nothing else, help Rhys figure out how to keep his teacher's inadequacies from hurting him. (It took me forever to learn, for example, what "don't take it personally" meant and even longer to learn to not take it personally!)
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Did Rutherford believe what he wrote?
by VM44 inwho thinks "judge" rutherford really believed what he wrote?.
i believe it was in the salter letter where it is stated that rutherford said once that he had "bluffed his way through life".
think he also "bluffed" his way when writing and talking about "the theocracy"?
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kgfreeperson
That really confused me when I first read it. Because, after encouraging his nephew to go for the "truth", once the implications of that became clear to him, F. Franz threw R. Franz to the wolves. So it seemed to me that the organization, rather than truth was his main concern.
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WT CD to be released annually
by ezekiel3 in.
announced at service meetings this week: the wt cd (the digital repository of wts publications) will be released every year.. previously the wt cd was released every two years.
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kgfreeperson
I wonder if the previous one will automatically self-destruct once the new one is issued?
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JWs Proselytizing on University Campus!!!
by outnfree inimagine my horror as i walked out of my french class this morning to see someone setting up a table, covered in lovely royal blue felt, with two tiers of watchtower literature attractively displayed.
imagine my chagrin when i realized who the "sister" was who was going to sit outdoors and chat up passersby: my former congregation's po's wife!.
i am not sure what university policy is in general as regards proselytizing on campus (but i intend to find out).
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kgfreeperson
I had a major snit when, several years ago, I discovered a packet (plain brown envelope with a label, information from Jehovah's Witnesses on the outside) in the material given to all incoming students--freshmen and transfers. No other specific information about religious groups was included in the orientation materials, although a list of "campus ministry" representatives was, which included the JW person. What I was told was that as long as there is a currently enrolled student who asks to include the information, then student affairs would allow it (I asked whether they were especially concerned with not appearing to support mainstream religions by refusing a cult--eye contact was suddenly lost). As far as I know, this has not happened again. There is often a JW table at various "involvement" fairs on campus--but my own experience is the JW is lonelier than the Maytag repair man. However, I do think that anticipating this and using it as an opportunity for anti-Witness witnessing is an excellent idea. (I just discovered that a staff member who I have great admiration for, who completed both her undergraduate and graduate degrees while working her and is working on another, is a JW. I'm now, of course, wondering if she had anything to do with those packets--but it probably was a student.)
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Why do many religious people dislike non-religious people?
by Elsewhere ini've noticed that usually when someone who is very religious finds out that i am an atheist, they become very agitated even though i never actually said anything negative about their religion.. are they embarrassed?.
do they think i am condemning them?.
do they see me as a threat?.
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kgfreeperson
I was musing on "American culture" and realized what came first on my list was "individual rights" which can usually be safely translated as "no one can tell me what to do." (I know my rights!)
And then I started thinking about how this can exist with the extreme public religiosity which has become American public life of late. Which has a lot to do with telling people what to do (or not to do.)
And I continue to ponder. -
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My Mother's Being Announced in November As OFF The Pioneer List
by minimus inafter 40 years of serving as a regular pioneer and being on the infirm list, the circuit overseer, the po and another elder told her today in a 30 min.
conversation she was going to be announced as no longer pioneering.
the co mostly talked about me, my wife and daughter.
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kgfreeperson
So they've cast her out for not casting you out?
I can only imagine how wretched she must feel--having it forced upon her that this cannot possibly be Jehovah's organization and facing the possibility that she has wasted much of her life and made unnecessary sacrifices and unwise decisions. I hope you can be there to help her see that she has not, in fact, wasted her life despite having believed in this miserable organization.
Love to you both. -
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What kind of JW response do you think I'll get?
by Bubbamar inin my moms last letter she stated that me, my sister and her should all just "move on" meaning put our hurts and anger behind us and work towards having better relationships.
however, in the same letter she clarified that disfellowshipping is "discipline" and she intends to continue shunning me.
so i wrote back asking her what "moving on" means for her.
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kgfreeperson
Oops, I didn't answer the question, did I. I think maybe you'll get a "but my offenses were only against you, imperfect humans, while your offenses are against Jehovah . . . ."
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What kind of JW response do you think I'll get?
by Bubbamar inin my moms last letter she stated that me, my sister and her should all just "move on" meaning put our hurts and anger behind us and work towards having better relationships.
however, in the same letter she clarified that disfellowshipping is "discipline" and she intends to continue shunning me.
so i wrote back asking her what "moving on" means for her.
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kgfreeperson
I'll be interested in others' suggestions, but I think the letter would be most powerful if you end it with "Is my understanding about that correct?"
I think if you continue, you will give her things to distract herself with and to attack you with. Keeping it specifically to what she means by what she said will at least give her an opportunity to face what she is saying--or at least a logical inference from what she is saying/doing.
Best of luck with this. I admire you for keeping yourself open to a relationship with her!