are right fess up people.
how many of us went in field service and placed literature without even opening the covers ?, let alone reading the articles.. how about following up on a return visit for a magazine you never read ?.
i have to admit, i did it many many times.. maybe we should of went into the used car business.
If anything I would skim through the mags on the way to the Kingdom Hall (if I wasn't driving ). I would usually feature the Awake basing my presentation on whatever was on the cover. I was too embarrassed to admit this when I was a JW (have to keep up appearances), I thought everyone else was always so prepared for field service, but in reality I guess not.
Welcome smurfette!
Hapgood
cat that is.
picture of my cat.
please show me yours.
Avengers, very cute cat, thanks for sharing his picture. Do you only have one? Cats seem to be like chocolate, it seems that you have to have more then one. I have 3 cats, soon to be two. My calico girl has cancer, but still doing ok for now, took her to the vet two weeks ago to be checked, the vet said she has a couple of months left, maybe. I just lost my sweet old guy in April to kidney disease. It hasn't been a good cat year for me.
Hapgood
i find all the different aliases people use on here to be pretty entertaining.. what does your name mean to you?
why did you choose it?.
i assume teenyuck, for example = tina spoke by a young child.
Hapgood is a character from the Broadway play "Anyone Can Whistle." My favorite actor played Hapgood in an AIDS charity remake of the play in 1995. I looked up some information about the play on the Internet and found that the meaning that they gave to the name Hapgood is "questions traditional assumptions and beliefs." I figured that really fit me, that's exactly what I've been doing. I have the CD of this play (the 1995 version) and the music is fantastic. One song in particular I can really relate to is entitled "Everybody Says Don't", like in don't look up Apostate stuff on the Internet.
Hapgood
for those of you who remained christians after leaving the wts... do you attend a church or bible study group?
what kind, and why?.
(i apologize if this subject has been done before... i couldn't find it in the archives.
I consider myself a Christian, I've been reading the Bible without the JW interpretation, keeping an open mind, I'm really enjoy that. I haven't yet gone to a Chruch. But I'm considering going to the Episcopal Church with my Mom, I've heard some good things about that religion. The only problem with going to another Church is I'm not DA or DF, and my husband is still an attive JW, that would cause some problems.
Hapgood
one of many ways to experience a slice of island culture, the lu'au (loo-ow) is a hawaiian tradition: a feast to celebrate accomplishments, honor important people and commemorate great events.
in old hawai'i it was a time to pay homage to ancestral gods with song, dance and offerings of food, a grand celebration that sometimes lasted for days.. .
lu'au description taken from hawaii.com.
I showed this article to my jw husband when I informed him that I was attending my Mom's birthday party.
Hapgood
i was thinking back to the time when i was in my "spiritual paradise" oh about 7 months ago and i can really remember just how unhappy most people really were.
most seemed so loaded down with "privledges" and "responsiblilities" that it just sucked the life out of them.
any spirit they may previously had had faded to mere a shell of their former selves.
I was always just a marginal publisher, never pioneered, I hated field service. I would sometimes get panic attacks out in service, service was very hard for me, I'm a shy person by nature. Before leaving for good I suffered from mild depression that was caused from being a jw, leaving cleared that up. My self confidence at that time was at such a low point that I had trouble doing simple things. I felt like I was never good enough, I figured I would just die at Armageddon (along with my wordly family). So, when I found out the truth about the "truth" it was a relief.
Hapgood
coming at this as a householder rather than an ex-jw, i'd love to hear from any of you about comments from householders that made an impression on you, back when you were active in the door-to-door work.
since the jw's first knocked at my door 13 years ago, i've done my best to give them something to think about every time they knock at my door.
i always introduce myself by name and try to get their names.
On a beautiful sunny warm summer day, at the next house I was assigned to, was a man working in his flower garden. It was a beautiful garden, and you could tell he really enjoyed working in it. So, I started on some spiel about the wonderful promise of living forever on a paradise earth blah blah blah, proud of myself how I used a topic that fit this person. He just listened politely, he let me finish. Then he said "I feel sorry for you." I don't know, but those few words had an impact on me, he could probably sense that my heart wasn't in it, and I didn't know it at the time, but my heart wasn't. So simple really, but those few words made me think.
Hapgood
did you suddenly just stop reporting time?
did you do it gradually???
what reaction did you get from the elders when you missed your first month reporting time?
I was irregular for years, none of the elders said anything to me. I think they asked my husband once in awhile if my daughter or I had any time to turn in, but they never asked me. In Jan. 1998, I became totally inactive, but still continued to attend some meetings until I stopped going altogether in Dec. 2001. All that time, almost 4 years, that I was inactive, but still attending meetings none of the elders said anything to me about my lack to time. I guess I wasn't worth their time or trouble. Ah, now I'm feeling sorry for myself (not).
Hapgood
study july 6, 2003 listen to what the spirit says wt may 15, 2003
jezebel women in the congregation!
5 let no self-appointed prophetess seek to manipulate others in the present-day christian congregation .
Well said termite! As I was reading this article all I could think was "Sisters keep your places!" This is pretty hard hitting and very degrading to the women. We've been called "hunks of hair bag of bones", cows, now Jezebel's. I can't help but wondering if some of the jw women have been talking among themselves about the child abuse issue and are starting to question the way things have been done. Just a thought. I agree with Francois, that something is brewing. When I read this article I felt sick to my stomach, my jw hubby just takes in this poison without thinking about what is being said, very scary. He's probably thinking to himself "that woman Jezebel sure fits my wife". The women now get to have two labels slapped on them, we get to have the distinction of being known as apostates and Jezebels.
And thank you jgnat for doing such a fine review.
Hapgood
....when meeting a former member.. .
a few weeks ago i was outside doing the old yardwork routine: mow my postage stamp size of a yard, trim the bushes, edge it.
it was saturday and the jws were once again working my street.
Great job MegaDude! I like your style, anger doesn't do a darn thing getting the jws to think, and anger is what they expect. I like the statement that you made (I don't know how to do the quote thing so I'll paraphrase it). You said, "That the jws talk about the Watchtower being God's organization, you asked her how many times did God destroy the nation of Israel, and to think about why did God destroy the nation of Israel?" Wow I love that, the jws think they are so invincible, that might get her to think that maybe the jws are not. I think you really planted some seeds.
Hapgood
