Posts by StarTrekAngel

24

Dunkin Donut style KH

by GreenhornChristian in

has anyone seen one of the new design kh's and taken pics?

i'm curious to see.

StarTrekAngel

I know they built one here in my area recently. I saw the pictures someone had but I have not been able to find out where it is located. I've been curious to see where exactly it is located.

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?

StarTrekAngel

Friends and more friends. Not just any kind of friends but whatever little number you may have, make a habit of talking to them.

I feel bad about myself because I am away from my good friends but the most unbearable part of coming out of the cult, is not being able to talk to anyone. I think that may be soon about to change in my case

But if you are this young, you likely have or would easily make new friends. Find someone who you can trust and is willing to listen. That is the best therapy.

Off course, we are also available in this forum but it will always be less personal

3

Greeting.. back after a few weeks on vacation

by StarTrekAngel in

been out on vacation for the last 3 weeks.

went back home to south america.

i did not login from there, for once because i needed a break from everything and two, because i did not have time.

StarTrekAngel

I can't openly name the country (easy to pick me out of the crowd around my area) but is one of the largest countries in SA by area. This might be the reason as well, more people to recruit.

30

Do jihadist extremist beliefs deserve respect?

by azor in

jw
friends

what say you..

StarTrekAngel

Only people or ideas who respect others deserve respect. Jihadists ideas, even if not taken into action, show no respect for others, therefore they do not deserve respect.

Just like outlaw was saying, this applies to anything and anyone. Even a person of science can take this to an extreme or disrespect others under the idea that he/she knows better. Even science has been wrong. The positive is that science is always willing to correct its mistakes and we are all under the understating of such. Science does not hide anything and the disclaimers are always being set forth in the open.

1

Vacation time...is reality closing up on my wife?

by StarTrekAngel in

this time apart from all things jw has been a real blessing for us as a couple.

i am pretty sure the wife is going to head out to the meeting.

we did not have a single argument and felt pretty connected the whole time.

StarTrekAngel

This time apart from all things JW has been a real blessing for us as a couple. At least for the time being. We landed back in the US last weekend and today is meeting day. I am pretty sure the wife is going to head out to the meeting. We did not have a single argument and felt pretty connected the whole time. We did not had any issues for about a month before our departure but it has not been uncommon in our household to feel the tension in the air when it was meeting days. I think she felt it as well. Busy with the packing and preparations, she did not attend the last two meetings before our departure.

For the good part of two weeks into our trip, I felt pretty relaxed. We drove out to the northern part of the country to do some site seeing. We had agreed to wing it with our itinerary and to just drive and find a hotel wherever night caught us. We ended up in this amazingly beautiful winery where the old owner's mansion has become a hotel. We caught a really great deal and were able to secure a suite for ourselves. We toured the winery and got to sample wine and on top of that, they also had a wine taster at the hotel. Long story short, we were not drunk but fairly tipsy that night. The place was really fancy and the rooms fancier. We had a balcony with a great view of the vineyards and the surrounding mountains, which changed colors as the sun was setting. After the wine and the dinner, we had some of the best sex of our lives.

What surprised me was that towards the end of the evening, we were laying there and she broke out crying. She told me how much she loved me and how much she was enjoying our time together. I asked her why she was crying and she started telling me how much she was starting to feel old. That our kids were growing up so fast and that she felt time was slipping by. That she felt that just yesterday she was 16. She said she wanted to spent the rest of our days like these, traveling whenever possible and enjoying each other's company. Mind you that we are both in our late 30's/mid 40s so technically we are still young. I don't know about you, but, considering we were a bit drunk, and that we are in our late 30s mid 40s, I don't really think the term "the rest of our days" really applies to other more than a feeling of age rather than a real threat of dying soon. The funny part is that I had already proposed to her something similar to what she mentioned that night, except that I was not drunk when I did. Eventually, later after my mention, she accused me of planning a path to divorce because I could not put up with our differences. (there is a bit of a background to such claim. When my parents decided to split, they had planned a really nice trip for the family and it turned out really well, but almost immediately upon returning, they divorced, so she was accusing me of planning something similar)

What I had proposed to her a while back was something similar. I told her that we really had our basics covered. A comfortable home, secure jobs and the children at an age that they are no longer babies. That we do not need a fancier car or a bigger house (Thanks WT... jk ) and we could spend more time with them and creating memories. Wether is traveling or going to the movies or a local park more often. Something that will last a lifetime.

Non of the JW stuff came up during the trip, except at some point, towards the end of it, we are driving and we passed by a group of what was obviously, a group of sister preaching door to door. I was talking to her about some of the roads that we had traveled the previous days and all of a sudden she excitedly said "Look at the sisters!!". I felt a bit interrupted. I took a few seconds of silence and then proceeded with my conversation as if I had not seen them. I guess she took the hint because she did not say anything more but I am sure she knows that I did not like it. I admit that may be I am wrong to despise the fact that we bump into a group of real people with real feelings. It would have been justified of me if we had passed by a GB member. So I felt a little bad afterwords. I was a bit aggravated for the rest of that day. Other than that it was pure fun.

I am a bit skeptic, I don't want to have false hope but I have a feeling that this wine brought the true personality out of my wife. Chances are, that if confronted, she will probably blame the wine or may be say that she meant something different. But at least, when I thought of the same thing, it meant that meeting and JW stuff (and the arguments it creates) takes away time from family fun and memories. She figured that much later after that initial conversation.

There are a couple of examples in our circuit of women that leave the JW religion when they hit their mid life crisis stage. But they also happen to cheat on their husbands when they do. So while I think it would not be our case (we have a more than healthy sex life and she knows I am very open minded about many things), I am a bit cautious as to where this may lead. There is also the culture factor. Most couples in our circuit are Mexican and the Macho culture is well ingrained in this area, which gives synergy to the JW misogyny. I am not that kind of person since I was raised in a different culture.

And that is it...

3

Greeting.. back after a few weeks on vacation

by StarTrekAngel in

been out on vacation for the last 3 weeks.

went back home to south america.

i did not login from there, for once because i needed a break from everything and two, because i did not have time.

StarTrekAngel

Been out on vacation for the last 3 weeks. Went back home to South America. I did not login from there, for once because I needed a break from everything and two, because I did not have time. Spent quite some time traveling around and visiting family and friends. None of them are JWs for a change.

About a year and half ago, I came back from the same part of the world. I also came in here to report that I was shocked to see how the JW influence had spread down there. Today I am coming back to report that it has increased two folds. I found JWs in some of the most remote towns, near Bolivia. I drove downtown thru some cities where people are making 15 min lines just to get in a bus and the JWs are there taking advantage of the delayed commuters. Preaching carts in every pedestrian street (streets that are closed to car traffic but allow pedestrian traffic only are very common in South America, they are usually lined up with shops). I also saw houses, very small and likely unfit for a real meeting, converted into KHs. (so much for the equalization created by the new fund)

I am telling you folks, must of us have heard that there is real growth happening in Latin America, but one thing is to hear it and another one to witness it (no pun intended). We need real good quality material, like that of JWfacts and JWsurvey, in Spanish. I already submitted several offers to translate. I know there are sites in Spanish out there but, as far as I can see, none of them are of the quality of the above. On top of that, the lack of visitors makes them low in the search engine rankings. If a site that is better ranked had a Spanish version, chances are more people would find it.

15

Baptized niece crowned prom queen. Could her dad loose his MS appt?

by StarTrekAngel in

so my niece (not thru my brother but rather my wife) had been talking about going to her prom.

the family had privately been somewhat doubtful that she would be allowed to go.

the problem was that they kept promising she would be allowed but history has shown us that her parents tend to get her excited about things and then drop the denial on her at the last minute.

StarTrekAngel

So my niece (not thru my brother but rather my wife) had been talking about going to her prom. The family had privately been somewhat doubtful that she would be allowed to go. The problem was that they kept promising she would be allowed but history has shown us that her parents tend to get her excited about things and then drop the denial on her at the last minute. We felt it was unfair to keep promising her this. To our surprise she was finally allowed to go. On top of that, no chaperon. She went with a girl friend of hers and we have no indication that this friend is a JW.

Not only she attended the prom but she was also crowned queen. She does not fit the typical model of prom queen. She is not athletic or outgoing. So I am glad to see some schools in the area are braking stereotypes. Now her mom and dad are going around really proud of their queen girl. Mom is a pioneer and dad is an MS, aiming at also becoming a full time pioneer.

Does he stand a chance of loosing his MS privileges for allowing his girl to go to prom?

In many talks, at least here in our hispanic circuit, we have been warned about the dangers of school dances that go somewhat unsupervised.

18

Mexico ends use of House-to-House Record & Please Follow Up

by wifibandit in

in a letter to all congregations dated april 27, 2016 the central american branch (mexico) has ended the use of s-8-s and s-43-s.

StarTrekAngel

No. Based on the letter, they are asking them to stop "in an effort to not give the impression we are collecting personal data". They are encouraging publishers to take their own unofficial notes, using a regular booklet or something like that. They are also asking CO and elders to discourage people from printing any kind of formatted paper for that purpose. Basically, it needs to look personal and unofficial. IF you happen to think "hmm.. may be I'll make a spreadsheet of my own and print it" NOOO.

Those forms are not coming back in their case.

29

Where did Jehovah go ?

by Deleteandrestart in

for the many years i was mentally " in " the congregation, i equated the organisation as interchangeable with the persona of jehovah, in effect whatever the organisation said or thought, that was what jehovah thought and that was what jehovah said.... it was that simple.

so when i found out the ttatt and the cynical moves of the organisation over the years,including 1975 , the donation arrangements, the united nations, etc i was devastated and thought " where's jehovah in all of this?".

the god who i'd poured my heart out to on many occasions and who i thought was silently listening and hearing my pleas ..... was not there , .

StarTrekAngel

If you don't believe in God, well that is a bit harder to work on.

If you still believe in God, shake off the watchtower teachings. I just met an ex-co worker a few weeks ago. He left the WT after marrying outside the religion. He felt he was mistreated and went on to explore other religions. Eventually he settled for the 7th day adventist. (not much of a change right?) and he told me he has bible studies of his own. Based in our conversation, he is teachings his bible studies to be witnesses outside of the religion itself. He has not been able to re question the same old questions.

The WT would want you to believe that even the earliest characters in the bible had the same faith they have today. That may be they did not understand everything but, for example. Joseph knew adultery was wrong ( I don't believe so anymore)

With that in mind, think about the off spring of Joseph, after Jacob moved to Egypt. When Moises was commanded to go to the Son of Israel, he knew they had forgotten about God. They did not know who this God was or what he could do. That is why Moises asked God for a sign to take along.

God may well be gone. And if this is in parallel with anything that happened before, any faith is better than none, but no faith does not mean death either. God would basically have to come back and prove himself once again.

If you believe only in Jesus, well, I don't believe he referred to preaching (as the WT wants you to think) when he said "those who stand until the end will be saved". He was referring to doing good deeds. People get tired of doing good when the enviromment is as bad as it can get. Doing the right thing, no matter what and for the rest of your life isn't easy. Pretending to care while walking the streets and counting hours is. Jesus could have not possibly refer to the latter.

34

Prince and addictive drugs…a possible loophole?

by Londo111 in

according to the elder's rulebook, there is this addendum in the chapter on the grounds for judicial committee and the section: "misuse of addictive drugs":.

please note: the use of addictive drugs under medical supervision, such as for pain management, would not necessarily require judicial review.

when questions arise, consult with the branch office.. .

StarTrekAngel

They are just making sure that elders do not attach to the dictionary definition of "addiction". If you are on xanax, you are technically using an addictive drug. If you had just smoked your first pot cigarette, you are not an addict yet, but you are on your way there. Xanax could be seen the same way. In fact, my doctor told me once that I could just drink instead of taking Xanax, the effect would be the same but he said Xanax is better because it would not damage your liver in the long run. When I wanted to cut Xanax out, i was told I needed to do it in stages to avoid withdrawal.

if a brother is on Xanax, he should not be tried in a JC. That is what that loophole is. However, some people may take this medication under doctor supervision but many times these celebrities have bought the doctors to push the limits. Basically you are getting high under doctor supervision, in excess of the amounts recommended for your condition or at least without exploring other alternatives. The Watchtower isn't going to taint their hands any further than they already have, by providing doctrine that discourages people from taking medication that would prevent, for example, suicidal tendencies.

In my view, and based on the obvious outcome, it is clear, like many other celebrities, were getting doctors to prescribe them this type of medication to get high, not to get treated. And therefore the loophole should not apply.