by OldSoul 604 Replies latest members private
RS .. when I said 'try harder' I meant ask someone else. If you don't get an answer from 'a' ask 'b'.
Yeah, c'mon Reb', you lazy thing. There's like 6 million JW's around the world, how many have you asked? 5? Maybe 10?
After you've spoke to the other 5,999,999, let me know. Then, if nobody else will give you an answer, I might. In a pm. In Russian.
Maybe.
(This thread kills me!)
Dave
**I have been at EVERY MEETING for 10 months, which is more than I can say for the majority of studies. I have studied and studied and studied in that time. I finished the Knowledge book. I started into the Worship book. Until recently I was studying with my conductor THREE times EVERY WEEK for FOUR HOURS each time - that equates to TWELVE HOURS of studying PLUS all of the meetings EVERY WEEK. And all that PLUS raising my TWO CHILDREN. Like I said ... that's far more than most studies give in "trying" - most studies don't go to meetings and only study for ONE D@MN HOUR per week MAYBE.
And you want me to TRY HARDER??? .... and THEN I MIGHT be "worthy" of your help????
RS,
WAIT until you get baptized! (if you survive that long with all this :o)
THEN all you will hear is "DO MORE DO MORE", with an already exhausting schedule! And then if you can't meet the "suggested" (required) 10 hours per month in FS, along with every other study, meeting, assembly, etc......there's always that nagging feeling that you SHOULD BE....doing more! It's standard for being a JW......always being made to feel guilty at every turn because you aren't "pleasing Jehovah" enough!
Annie.....who HATED that "Worship" book!
RS .. when I said 'try harder' I meant ask someone else. If you don't get an answer from 'a' ask 'b'. Never did I imply that you don't try hard enough .. It would be better for you to get an answer face to face with someone. If you convey this attitude with others, it kind of lets me know why you don't get answers.
No AFIN, I am currently only conveying this attitude with you - we all know that playing with fire gets you burned. My attitude is just peachy until someone steps on my toes.
If you meant "ask someone else", you should have said "ask someone else" - pretty straightforward.
That said, I have asked "a", "b", "c", "d", AND "e" ... and still no answers. So you're telling me that 5 people (who did not all give the same answer, I might add) can't give me satisfactory answers ... and I should keep asking other people?? It's getting frustrating and a little ridiculous, if you ask me. I shouldn't have to ask 1,000 people to explain a concept for me - and if I do ask 1,000 people there should be a viable answer to be had somewhere in there if there is a viable answer to be had at all.
At any rate, I didn't say that I "don't get answers" ... I said that no one has been able to answer my questions in a way that makes sense to me. People are more than happy to TRY to answer my questions, that doesn't mean that their answer is helpful.
Yeah, c'mon Reb', you lazy thing. There's like 6 million JW's around the world, how many have you asked? 5? Maybe 10?After you've spoke to the other 5,999,999, let me know. Then, if nobody else will give you an answer, I might. In a pm. In Russian.
Maybe.
(This thread kills me!)
Dave
LOL Dave ... I can always count on you to understand where I'm coming from.
Looks like I have about 5,999,995 left to ask .... this could take awhile.
LOL! Rebellious - I am not laughing at you, but girl...I love your spirit! You are exactly the type of study that every Elderette and Elder fears. You THINK. And it scares the crap out of them because they don't know what to do with a THINKING WOMAN. LOLKeep your chin up and listen to your gut. It's saying exactly what you need to hear, but you have so much "noise" around you, it's hard to pay attention. I've always thought that God speaks to me through my gut. My gut speaks to me when my heart and my head are finally lined up...kinda like the stars. LOL Our good Father gave us that instinct for a reason - you just have to be "still" enough to hear. Psalms 46:10
I would love to meet you sometime BG ... something tells me we'd get along just fine.
**That said, I have asked "a", "b", "c", "d", AND "e" ... and still no answers. So you're telling me that 5 people (who did not all give the same answer, I might add) can't give me satisfactory answers ... and I should keep asking other people??
RS,
I wonder if Afin would answer this the same way if she was instructing a "Catholic-to-be" to keep going from priest to priest to find answers to help and explain their beliefs? This is ALL rather bizarre, to say the least. (and of course SHE "knows" the answers, right?)
Annie
(sigh)
Annie: THEN all you will hear is "DO MORE DO MORE", with an already exhausting schedule! And then if you can't meet the "suggested" (required) 10 hours per month in FS, along with every other study, meeting, assembly, etc......there's always that nagging feeling that you SHOULD BE....doing more! It's standard for being a JW......always being made to feel guilty at every turn because you aren't "pleasing Jehovah" enough!
You might appreciate something I recently said to my conductor:
Before I started studying, I never worried about what people thought of me, I never allowed people to bring me down, I have always been proud of who I am. Studying, being in the Kingdom Hall, led to some changes within me that I didn?t like ? one being that I suddenly was paranoid about what everyone thought about me. That seems to be a popular problem among witnesses ? always worrying what everyone thinks of them ? which I find ironic since you guys always talk about how Jehovah doesn?t compare us to anyone, and we shouldn?t either.
Well I?ve decided that there will be no more of that for me. I was never like that before, I don?t like the feelings it evokes, so I am making a conscious decision to remind myself that I like who I am, I?m proud of who I am, and I have no reason to worry about what others in the hall think of me. I mean honestly ? if I don?t worry about what my family or friends think of me (not that I have to), and I expect them to accept and love me for who I am ? why should I stress myself out with the worry of what the brothers and sisters think of me when they should also accept and love me for who I am?
I am confident that Jehovah loves me for who I am, he has blessed me many times over in my life - also, he doesn?t compare me to others, or expect me to be like everyone else (he did make us all different for a reason) ? and we know that through his word, Jehovah teaches us only that which is beneficial to us ? so there?s my answer. Jehovah loves me, I like myself and work hard to be the person I am ? other people can take me or leave me ? I don?t live to please them, I live to please God.
I can't tell you how much that "nagging feeling" has been bothering me for awhile now. Well, I am DONE with it. I never in my life cared what people thought of me - and I do NOT like the fact that being in the KH for the last 10 months has led me to be so self-conscious and worried about how people look at me. What the hell is up with that anyway??
YES I have 6 tattoos! YES I was "goth" in high school (eons ago, ugh!)! YES it's still a part of me that shines through from time to time! YES I enjoy being a "unique" person! NO I will not dress like a granny! NO I cannot be "prim and proper"! NO I am not ashamed of my tattoos! NO I will not cover them up! NO I WILL NOT GIVE UP MY INDIVIDUALITY to "fit in"!
I am what I am
I am my own special creation
So come take a look
Give me the hook
Or the ovation
It's my world
That I want to have a little pride in
My world
And it's not a place I have to hide in
Life's not worth a damn
Til you can say
I am what I am
I am what I am
I don't want praise, I don't want pity
I bang my own drum
Some think it's noise
I think it's pretty
And so what if I love each sparkle and each bangle
Why not try to see things from a different angle
Your life is a sham
Til you can shout out
I AM WHAT I AM
I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces
It's one life and there's no return and no deposit
One life so it's time to open up your closet
Life's not worth a damn
Til you can shout out
I AM WHAT I AM
Oh I am
I am, I am, I am good
I am, I am, I am strong
I am, I am, I am worthy
I am, I am, I belong
I am
I am, I am, I am useful
I am, I am, I am true
I am, I am somebody
I am as good as you
I AM
-Gloria Gaynor
YES it's still a part of me that shines through from time to time! YES I enjoy being a "unique" person!
Good for you! Be the person you're meant to be and you will have no regrets. (Yes, BG is a very wise person!) I think you're going to be okay.
**Jehovah loves me, I like myself and work hard to be the person I am ? other people can take me or leave me ? I don?t live to please them, I live to please God.
((((RS))))
Thank you for an insightful post! I SO enjoyed it. Every word. AFA the "not pleasing others" goes, I had been like that all of my life. I understand the mindset. Being a JW certainly didn't help the self-image either. I think now, looking back, that I must have replaced it for the "bravado" I was taught (at the KH) that "we" were better than all others in God's eyes, and would eventually be living on that Paradise earth-together.
Actually this did nothing for my still deep-seated feelings of being inadequate-not measuring up-whatever. Talk about a two-sided sword! But I applaud you that you have sensed the change in your attitude about yourself and have recognized this at a much younger age than I was when it hit me! I was out of the WTS, and I was just about 60 years old when I came to this realization! (Better late than never, huh?)
I hope I can convey what I'm really trying to SAY here---but it made me feel good to read that you SAW the changes that were occurring within yourself, and faced it head-on, and can even see it for just what it IS! The mental manipulation of the WTS is a powerful force and has nothing to DO with the worship of God. Lots of folks *never* realize what hit them and why they feel the way they do.
My hat's off TO ya, RS!
hugs,
Annie
Excellent rejoinders to our troll, RS!
AFIN said:
: Jehovah has always had representatives on the earth.
Nonsense. This is nothing but another JW myth, told to enhance the authority of Watchtower leaders. The purpose of the myth is to deceive the ignorant that a group of "representatives" forms a unique organization like that of the JWs, so as to lead the deceived person to view the JW organization as authoritative and as uniquely God's.
When you carefully examine the Bible's description of the so-called faithful men of old, you see no trace of organization. Rather, you see God dealing with individuals. And those individuals are said to be individually faithful to God -- on their own and not "in connection with Jehovah's spirit-directed organization". There is no trace in the Bible of evidence that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham or any of those people were members of some organization. There is no trace of evidence that these men were representatives of God to anyone besides, in the standard manner of ancient patriarchs, their own families.
Abraham is said to have been among the most faithful of men, so if anyone were "God's representative" to mankind, according to the JW claim, then the King-Priest Melchizedek must have been subject to Abraham. But the Bible says quite the opposite. In fact, it says that Abraham deferred to Melchizedek as God's High Priest. So what group of men do the JWs claim was "God's organization" in the days of Abraham and Melchizedek? And what group comprised "God's representatives"? You'll never get a clear answer, because they don't have one.
How about after the Israelites were organized under Moses? Moses was certain God's representative to the Israelites, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Furthermore, people could properly worship Jehovah and gain his approval completely apart from any connection with the Israelites. According to the Watchotwer, the faithful man Job was Moses' contemporary. Was Job subject to Moses' God-given authority? Obviously not. He wasn't a Jew -- he was "an Oriental".
Events in later Jewish history complicate matters further for JW claims about there being a unique group of representiatves. When the Jews were split into two separate kingdoms, who was the authority? The northern or the southern kingdom? Obviously, there were faithful Jews in both kingdoms, and they gave their loyalty to their kings.
As is often the case with JW teaching, either the Bible or other considerations prove it to be complete nonsense, designed as a self-serving authority mechanism for JW leaders who think they speak for God.
AlanF
