Posts by Pete Zahut

62

How do you deal with depression?

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

i'm currently going through a bout of depression and my eating disorder has gotten worse.

ever since my parents actually told me that they are going to kick me out when i turn 18 i've felt kind of hopeless about my life.

my parents won't take me to the doctor because the psychiatrists won't have my "best interests" aka jw crap in mind, because really that's the root of all my problems.. i'm wondering if any of you guys have any advice with dealing with depression?

Pete Zahut

I haven't read any of the other responses so maybe this has already been suggested but at your age, even though you don't attend public school, as a minor citizen whose parents are paying local taxes, you typically have access to the services your local school system provides and or the services of other local agencies. Google " Catholic Services " they are often free of charge and open to anyone.

Start by giving your local high school a call and ask to speak to a counselor. Explain your situation and ask him or her to advise you on how to get help. Tell the counselor the things you've told us here. I'm sure if you got your counselors email address and sent the links to the JW shunning video and the one with everyone in the bunker, they'd realize what you're up against.

Be cautious about all of this so as not to make things worse at home. For the time being even if it takes a bit of searching, you'll have to trust that there is a solution to your problem and the depression you feel will ease up once you are able to take action. Until then don't put too much trust in any of the negative thoughts or hopeless feeling you are having. There are things in life that bother us and need to be addressed but depression is insidious and causes fixable problems to seem totally hopeless. Don't believe it !

8

From the Spirit Realm: Weird Interview: Russell and Rutherford

by TerryWalstrom in

russell: oh my yes!

russell: oh my no!.

russell: certainly.

Pete Zahut

Q. Just one more question before you boys float away or whatever it is you do now. So what's the deal with death, I mean, how could Jerry just continue to let all those people die, I thought he was supposed to be like a loving father ??

Russell: I know what you're getting at here but first lets clear something up. Let me tell ya' Jerry is more like an annoying little brother than a father. We love him to Reeses Pieces but it really gets to be too much sometimes.

Rutherford: I hadn't thought of it that way but you know..that's exactly right.

Russell: Finally you agree with me on something without having to form a committee and take a vote on it...anyway, Jerry means well but he tends to be a bit impulsive...I don't mean to be disrespectful here but let's just say Jerry jumps into things without really thinking them through all the way and boy does he have a temper.

Rutherford: Right again Chuck...remember the Falkland Island debacle...blamed it on Margret Thatcher and Ronny Regan but that whole thing was Jerry's fault...oh and that Kevin Costner movie Waterworld....Jerry allowed that to happen hoping that someone in Hollywood would come up with a rational explanation for the flood of Noah's day.

Russell: And don't forget Judge, he also wanted to see what kind of ending they'd come up with....he's still looking for ideas you know.

Q. Faulkland Islands, Waterworld, what the ?? Let's get back to Death...how could he be so cruel to so many people?

Russell: Well now you've got to try and look at death from his point of view.

Rutherford: Pffft...oh that's right, I'd almost forgotten how you and the J-Man are of the same mindset....go ahead tell us what you and Jerry's point of view is.

Russell: In a nutshell, as we already said, Jerry needed something to do so he started creating...you know, making stuff. One thing led to another and let's just say he got pretty darn good at it. Think about it, he only stuck with it for 7 days and look how far he got. What I hear tell from the "other creatures" around here is that it was right about the time when the Platypus and the Manatee showed up that things began to go off course.

Rutherford: Yep...he should have realized that his A.D.D. had kicked in again.

Q. A.D.D. ??

Russell: Attention Deficit Disorder...Jerry has it big time and around here it's even considered a God like quality. I mean, have you seen the other planets....hellooo....did you think he just forgot to finish them??

(speaking of A.D.D....I think I'll finish this interview some other time.)

37

Nobody at work knows what JWs believe

by Athanasius in

recently susie, one of my co-workers mentioned that her husband's family were all jws.

the family converted after susie's husband left home, so he never joined the jws, nor does he intend to.

anyway another co-worker asked her: "what do the jws believe?".

Pete Zahut

Yep...same thing happened at my Job. Someone was talking about their Mormon relatives being hounded by the church to come back. Someone asked who those other people are that come to your door and not one person in the lunchroom, besides myself, knew who he was talking about.

It struck me how we were taught that everyone in the world was against us but as it turns out, they barely even knew we existed.

19

Being Bad in the Kingdom Hall

by Funchback in

what things did (do) you or someone you know do in the kingdom hall that was a no-no?.

i remember in the 80s when, during the meeting, three friends and i were breakdancing in the foyer.

3 out of 4 us are happily out of that organization.. as i was trudging through my fade and attending meetings, i sometimes dwelled on how much time and money i wasted during my years as a jw.

Pete Zahut

There was this 8 year old pale kid with dark hair sitting in front of me one Sunday. He was bored and kept asking his (crabby) mother if he could go to the bathroom and finally she relented. After an long period of time had passed, the mother began wondering what was taking him so long to return and kept whipping her head around giving annoyed glances toward the back of the Hall.

Finally she got up and stormed to the back to find him. Moments later there was a commotion as she dragged her sniveling son down the aisle and slammed him into his seat.

Seconds later everyone realized chunks of his hair were gone and there were bare patches of white skin all over his head. Apparently he found a pair of scissors in the bathroom drawer and chopped his hair off. It was difficult to know whether to laugh or to feel pity for a kid who was so bored during the meeting that chopping his hair off to the scalp in the bathroom seemed like a good idea and was preferable to returning to his seat.

31

I Just had a CLOSE ENCOUNTER of the Dub kind

by TerryWalstrom in

i just frightened a jehovah’s witness lady half out of her wits!.

i just frightened a sweet jehovah’s witness lady half out of her wits.... .

she took off like a sprinter at the sound of a starter pistol!.

Pete Zahut

Poor thing....instead of a friendly open faced guy at Starbucks tapping away on his laptop, she likely had imagined her first encounter with an apostate would have involved a sweaty unshaven man driving a van with primered paint splotches all over it.

She'll undoubtedly have to reevaluate her ability judge people by their cover.

( I nominate this as the #1 post of the year)

25

List of "pagan" things JW's allow

by problemaddict 2 in

what i'm looking for specifically is things that are "pagan" in the sense they predate christianity (or i guess judiasm to cover the ole mosaic code), that jw's allow or do.

the ones that come to mind are below.. rings - rings seem to originate in egypt.

for wedding ceremonies it became a symbol of "ownership" in rome.. pinatas - looks like possibly it originated in china as a part of the new year and a request for luck, and catholics later turned it into a beating of temptation type thing.. anything else?.

Pete Zahut

What about the use of Platters. John the baptists head was presented on a platter which proves pagans used platters therefore JW's shouldn't.

22

String Theory Co-Founder: Sub-Atomic Particles Are Evidence the Universe Was Created

by Tenacious in

(cnsnews.com) -- dr. michio kaku [1], a theoretical physicist [2] at the city college of new york (cuny) and co-founder of string field theory [3], says theoretical particles known as “primitive semi-radius tachyons” are physical evidence that the universe was created by a higher intelligence.. after analyzing the behavior of these sub-atomic particles - which can move faster than the speed of light and have the ability to “unstick” space and matter – using technology created in 2005, kaku concluded [4] that the universe is a “matrix” governed by laws and principles that could only have been designed by an intelligent being.. “i have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence.

believe me, everything that we call chance today won’t make sense anymore,” kaku said, according [5] to an article published in the geophilosophical association of anthropological and cultural studies.. “to me it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created, shaped by a universal intelligence and not by chance.”.

“the final solution resolution could be that god is a mathematician,” kaku, author of the future of the mind: the scientific quest to understand, enhance, and empower the mind [6], said in a 2013 big think video [7]posted on youtube.. “the mind of god, we believe, is cosmic music, the music of strings resonating through 11-dimensional hyperspace.”.

Pete Zahut

Any new scientific information that comes along to prove the existence of a Creator, doesn't prove that he or it is backing Jehovah's Witnesses and that they are the one true religion.

39

"how awful it must be to be dying as an apostate!"

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

i heard today about a former jw/now apostate who is dying in hospital.

this information was accompanied by the comment of "wouldn't be awful to be lying there in hospital,dying as an apostate!

knowing that you have no hope!?

Pete Zahut

To me it would be better to be at deaths door and to have resolved for oneself that the big picture issues such as what happens after death, are unknown and not for us to know, than to be a JW who is panicked because he knows on some level that the things he's counting on are not provable and are most likely all man made.

9

EXISTENTIAL topic: Why is Paradise or Heaven the solution to anything?

by TerryWalstrom in

gather around the campfire, boys and girls.. i have a little journey for us all to take together.. long, long ago in this universe not so far away .

.we were told a story.______________once in timeless nothingness, there existed a timeless being we now call god.whatever "perfection" is or was--god was.

god was perfect.. but wait--that's not all!and here is where the story begins!.

Pete Zahut

Why is man's idea of Paradise or Heaven a solution to anything?
If God could not / would not be content--why would we expect to become content?

I think the JW answer would be that one can only be content when they are free of sin and the worry of death and the world around them is free of suffering and chaos. They'd say that one can be content yet still be creative and ambitious at the same time.

My question always was in regard to "purpose". They always emphasized the importance of ones life having a "purpose" and that living forever was the only real way that could happen. It seems to me life has the same "purpose" whether it lasts 80 years or goes on and on forever.

The BIG questions that the Bible doesn't address is what was God's purpose in creating life? If he created humans to live forever, why did he do so and what was the purpose in creating animals that lived a limited time so that they'd suffer that effects of growing old and dying in full view of perfect humans who'd undoubtedly be distressed about seeing this ?

I think humans have interpreted our hard wired instinct to survive and not wanting to die, with wanting to live forever.

Instinctually we don't want to die but living forever might be the worst thing ever.

24

Dress and grooming

by stuckinarut2 in

i know this is an old topic, but it came to mind again.... yes it is appropriate for people to dress neatly and respectfully for a dignified religious gathering, but why does it have to be a full suit with collared shirt and tie?.

why does it have to be a full dress or skirt and jacket?.

sure, we would find it distasteful for a person to arrive in swimwear or work overalls or other inappropriate attire, but why does it have to conform to strict standards?.

Pete Zahut

GrreatTeacher 2 hours ago

I wish someone could find and post a picture of the styleguide / picturebook of clothing that is appropriate vs. inappropriate when visiting Bethel, which is a FACTORY!