To Loyal Witnesses: Please Listen!

by metatron 38 Replies latest jw friends

  • thinkers wife
    thinkers wife

    Metatron,
    Welcome to the board and thankyou for the excellent post! So true. My Dad is still one of the good one's. I wish I could shake him and make him wake up. But alas, until you start having your own thoughts, it would be to no avail.
    TW

  • stephenw20
    stephenw20

    metatron,
    Your post is a wonderful example of personal experience and its wonderful you shared it with us.

    I caution you , tho on suggesting how we are to avoid unhappiness and what our only purpose in life is. I say caution , because I realize you had nothing but pure intent with your post.

    What makes me happy and makes you happy may not be one and the same. In reference to the JWS, it may be real similar. what bothers me is that another man told us how to avoid unhappiness and what our lifes purpose was , and now ..we are finding he was sadly mistaken.

    So while I appreciate the nature of this post, I will , for me, exercise my ~own~ idea of happiness, and keep searching for the complete purpose of life. To say the purpose is to be happy , falls very short of all of what life gives us an opportunity to learn.

    One cant forgive, if they have not been hurt. One cant have integrity if they have no pain or test...... one cant write a blues song very well if they have no frame of reference for the blues.......

    Hipppikon, mentioned .always being told by the WT he was happy........

    we need no one to tell us this... we just *know* we are or are not......and if we have trouble knowing this..... we should examine why..as this may be the source of our purpose .......or may not ,as the case may be......

    this is not meant to be a harsh criticism........I have just have heard enough people say ....here is happinees.... do this......

    .....my feeling is when you find yourself....you will be half way there.......and it is not done with the aid of others ..this part is all alone......

    Please keep posting and sharing your experiences .........

    S

  • joelbear
    joelbear

    I agree with metatron's post with one small change.

    The purpose of life is to enjoy life and to help others enjoy life as much as in your power.

    hugs

    Joel

  • Flowerpetal
    Flowerpetal

    Metraton,
    Enjoyed your post. I am not the type of person who can't spin their wheels. When I find myself looking like I'm about to, I slow down, and so does my body. I seems to be a natural mechanism in me. LOL

    I haven't tried to please anyone in my cong. by jumping thru hoops or trying to see how fast I can dance. Apart from Jehovah, my family's happiness are more important.

  • metatron
    metatron

    I stand corrected. You've said it better. There comes a point
    in life when you realize that helping others is the thing to
    center your existence around. It's like life's default setting-
    you've done it all, seen it all - there's no other purpose to
    be had!

    As for happiness being life's purpose, I was struck with the
    simplicity of the Dalai Lama's plain statement on the matter.
    It's like Descartes' dictum "I think , therefore I am"
    Happiness, as life's purpose (including helping others),
    should be self-evident. After all, who would want to live forever
    if you were miserable?

    A wise clergyman once said "We're preaching eternal life to people
    who don't know what to do with themselves on a Sunday afternoon".

    metatron

  • metatron
    metatron

    Addendum to my earlier post!

    Austin, San Francisco, San Jose, and New York were hovering
    around 2% (yes, two percent) unemployment in January.
    ( US Dept. of Labor cited in Red Herring May 1&15 pg. 49)

    metatron

  • WhyNow2000
    WhyNow2000

    Metatron,

    Good advice!

    A quite a number of the young people that were in my congregation didn’t even bother finishing high school. All three kids of the elder that was studying with me quit high school to “advance their spirituality.” The elder encouraged me strongly not attend college after high school. Thank God my parents were strong believers in education. As “strong” as they were “in the truth”; they never underestimated the value of education.

    More power to you all..

  • AMNESIAN
    AMNESIAN

    BTTT

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    OK , I have cottoned on to the fact that this old thread has been resurrected - but it is so good that it should be brought to the attention of a new generation of newbies and lurkers.

    But I was gonna be different.
    I was gonna be Gary Cooper in "High Noon". I was gonna set
    things right. I was gonna make the meetings interesting.
    I was gonna stand up for the weak. I was gonna correct the
    C.O.

    So were we all - we thought we could change things from the inside , be the "High Noon Sheriff", or like Henry Fonda in "Twelve Just Men " but that only happens in the films - reality means that you just get outvoted and outmaneuvered and find yourself then having to do something that the majority want, but your guts scream at you telling you it is wrong. . You have to stop eventually .

  • mouthy
    mouthy

    Metatron,

    Great post !!!! I was one of the Faithful though only a "woman" of no concern,So when they gave me the left foot of fellowship when my unbelieving spouse died.It was so rough. No sites like this to come to...I thought I was the ONLY apostate... So even though you men experience hard-ship under mindcontrol I think it is also heartbreaking for the "nobody" gals!!!!

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