what does bttt mean? I've always wondered.
enlighten me, pleeeeeeaaaaase.
Bridgette of the semi-nonweekend crowd.
oh and the article was cute. too close to the real rhetoric.
Bridgette
JoinedPosts by Bridgette
-
14
Exercise--Is It For Christians?
by comment inexcerpted from a future issue of the watchtower:.
in modern times, great emphasis has been laid upon diet and exercise, particularly in western lands.
people are often impressed by the physiques of athletes and movie stars presented in the media.
-
-
Bridgette
-
80
Nov. 8 Awake - Wife Beaters-Sick
by MrMoe ini will let you all hang who ever the heck wrote this crap.
november 8, 2001 awake page 9: some battered women may need to seek assistance from the authorities.
at times, a point of crisis-such as intervention of the police-can cause an abusive man to see the seriousness of the action.. page 12: should the battered wife leave her husband?
-
-
Bridgette
Dear MSIL,
Thank you for attempting to lend some balance to this volatile issue. It's true, it's so emotional for many of us, that it's difficult to be balanced. I tried to read it objectively. I think what you were saying, is MOST religion plays some part in the subjugatioin of women, simply by virtue of what the bible teaches regarding women. And I have to agree. However, MSIL, I have to point out that even most Christian religions are WAY ahead of the WTBTS on women's and children's issues. I have some christian friends, and even those of the more conservative sects (i.e., Church of Christ) have women's study groups. Women can lead the church in singing, they can sit in on decision making commitees, they KNOW they can leave an abusive relationship with the FULL support of the congregation etc. Not that that's enough, but it's light years ahead of Jehovah's Witnesses. You should know that just sitting back, and paying lip service to a woman's "rights" (we all know they view women and children as second class citizens) via their Awake mag, is a FAR CRY from what they espouse by their actions.
Of course it is a woman's choice whether or not to leave an abusive relationship. In fact, until YOU DECIDE, you will not leave successfully. BUT, now here's the glitch--that little catch phrase they repeat ad nauseum regarding a woman's right to choose whether or not to leave---"if you're life is in danger" they continually spout it(and BTW, I do not know if this is new light, or what, but in the old days, it was stay to the death). Now, this is where a woman like myself gets caught in an abusive relationship with her children in tow. While it is your personal decision, when you do NOT have a support network, it is almost impossible to fathom the possibility of leaving. You've watched how women, esp. single moms are treated like burdensome pariahs in the congregations. You don't want your children growing up with that kind of a stigma. And at first, it very seldom starts out as life threatening. It's a slap, a push, a mark, not a bruise. My decision to leave and break up my family was AGONIZING. If I'd had the support of a loving religion who recognized me as a human being and not a potential burden, or second class citizen, I might have been able to leave far sooner, and spared my daughter from abuse. And don't beleive for one minute that the elders are supportive of a woman in this situation. I tried going to them in different congregations, always the same lukewarm response. More like, "*groan* I wish you hadn't told me this. Is your life in mortal danger etc." And for the abuse of my daughter--dismissed--As if it were no more than a harsh spanking. Mentally what this rhetoric does to you is make you question your own sanity, your own convictions. You know that backhanding a child is wrong. You know that having to put on extra makeup to cover a bruise is wrong. But there's no one saying, yes, it's wrong! In fact, you've got pretty much the opposite. And you are in such a weakened state, mentally and emotionally and physically, that you NEED someone to say--it is wrong. You need to leave! We will be there to support you if you do. When I finally left, after like I said, AGONIZING over it, I was through with the man, the cult and the god who'd allowed all of it.
So, if there does happen to be a god, and they have ruined mine and so many others faith in him? and he really is going to destroy us all? Oceans of blood are blood are on their heads. But that's the chance you take when you claim to be god's only spokesperson on earth. the only place and organization where people can go to for god--you'd better be right--ALL THE TIME. NO EXCUSES. At least, that's what they taught me about Christendom.Pax,
Bridgette -
69
Will YOU be the next dead American?
by Nathan Natas ini respectfully request that you take a few moments to read the following article, and i would appreciate hearing your responses.. - - - -.
future widows of america: write your congressman.
by ann coulter.
-
-
Bridgette
Seeker, you expressed: "as if my ideas mattered one iota to the people making the actual decisions"
It DOES! We have only to remember that our vote and voice DOES count! Start writing letters to your congressman, corporations that you disagree with, etc, you'll see. We've just forgotten or gotten lulled into an apathy, wherein we don't remember that we live in a democracy (I know-for all you Libertarians, it's a republic, but...we still have power). We live in a country that at least pays lip service to listening to its populace, and usually they do--really, just too many of us sit back and feel helpless. Like we did in the borg, feeling like we didn't count--when in actuality, religion AND government are totally dependant upon it's populace. Religion a little moreso, because they can't kill people. But go look up experiences in Amnesty International--you'll see even the harshest regimes respond to simple everyday letter writing. Our opinions do count. So, I kind of got off the subject, but...you get my drift.
So, so far, I have
1) Get to know my neighbors--I like that
2) Find out who my gov't is sponsoring and giving aid to--on board with that one already, I encourage all taxpayers to do likewise.
3) Enforce existing laws to the FULLEST extent--yep, sounds good. I intend to write Mr. Nighthorse Campbell Monday to see what is being done.
4) Acquiescing to thorough searches at airport--sigh, how can we not?
So far so good. I'd still like to brainstorm more. I don't want to just sit around and be critical of radical legislation that pops up, I want to be part of the solution.
I think there will be war. There already is. I think innocent people are going to die. They already have. I am sad. About all of them. I think one day we will transcend all of this. But I think for now, it's fight or flight. And there ain't no place to "fly" so it's fight. When the dust settles, we will rebuild. Americans are not a bad lot. If you can get past all the rednecks We helped rebuild Japan. We will help rebuild in the middle east. We will take our ideals over there, which will cause far more damage to their insane fundamentalist, archaic attitudes (esp towards women!) than our bombs will have done. We, as the human race are on the cusp of a giant leap in evolution (social) and there is always tremendous upheaval when that happens: the old dinosaurs--afraid of change and enlightenment and loss of what they perceive as power, and the NEW, fresh, craving free thought and change. Just think of when Neanderthal met up on hunting grounds with Cromagdon. Must have been a sight to behold.Bridgette
"do what ye will, so long as it harm none." -
24
The thoughts of real True Believers
by Norm inthe friday 28 issue of washington post had some very interesting information about documents found in one of the terrorist hijackers luggage.
these documents give us a good insight into the minds of religious fanatics and their thinking.
all of you other true believers, christians and otherwise, can learn a lot of true faith from those documents.
-
-
Bridgette
Kent you proposed: "People can BELIEVE whatever they want - but not DO whatever they want."
I'm with you there 100%! We live in a community--global, not just national, wherein we have a responsibility to our neighbors, whoever they might be. Like, say, oh, DON'T KILL PEOPLE!! Even if it is for the great Allah or Jehovah (aren't they ultimately the same thing?)
Pax,
Bridgette
How about this simple little precept: "do what ye will, so long as it harm none." Wish you could get more Fundies on board with that simple concept. -
69
Will YOU be the next dead American?
by Nathan Natas ini respectfully request that you take a few moments to read the following article, and i would appreciate hearing your responses.. - - - -.
future widows of america: write your congressman.
by ann coulter.
-
-
Bridgette
Seeker,
You always make sound, reasonable arguments. I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I don't want Mccarthyism, or a witch hunt (see my earlier posts). But I keep going back to: then what? What do we do? I'm all for getting to know our neighbors, as LD suggests to promote understanding, peace, love and just knowing what the hell is going on with them. Are they beating their kids/wives/planning to fly 2 planes into the WTC? I like Mark's (crossroads) idea of getting to know who and what the f** our gov't is getting us into bed with! I don't want my tax dollars going to the TALIBAN--but they have. And I'm pissed about that. But these things can be addressed. I want to know what to do for my IMMEDIATE safety. If Timothy McVeigh, and William Pierce and their neo-nazi cohorts had a country to deport them to, I WOULD!!! They are dangerous, they hate their fellow humans who do not think like them, and they want to kill people and overthrow the gov't. Now, they don't have a country to deport them to. Sadly, they are our own. So, we prosecute and execute and watch like hell--even those who support them and their ideals. Ultimately, education is what will help for the long term, but when people want to kill you, you go into fight or flight mode, until you can find a little respite to collect your thoughts for the long term solution.
If we cannot stop terrorism, as you assert--then what? I keep going back to THEN WHAT? And Israel, while it hasn't been able to stop terrorism, has kept itself from being eradicated off the planet. Now, I'm no proponent of Israel on the national scale (only individual). The only reason they have not been obliterated, is they strike back, and strike back HARD. Until you come to them civilly, they do not respond to violence in anything but the harshest, kick ass manner. If they did not, they would die. Simply and utterly. The minute the Jewish diaspora set foot on that piece of crap dirt over there, they were attacked by all the nations surrounding them en masse. They kicked their asses. There has been little time to talk peace, since people are bent only on violence.
Pax,
Bridgette -
24
The thoughts of real True Believers
by Norm inthe friday 28 issue of washington post had some very interesting information about documents found in one of the terrorist hijackers luggage.
these documents give us a good insight into the minds of religious fanatics and their thinking.
all of you other true believers, christians and otherwise, can learn a lot of true faith from those documents.
-
-
Bridgette
Very good, and very telling, Norm.
Bridgette -
69
Will YOU be the next dead American?
by Nathan Natas ini respectfully request that you take a few moments to read the following article, and i would appreciate hearing your responses.. - - - -.
future widows of america: write your congressman.
by ann coulter.
-
-
Bridgette
Crossroads, you asked: "Maybe the man didn't hate americans, did McVeigh hate americans?"
Yes. But now that you mention it--it goes far deeper--these terrorists, white, american, muslim and otherwise hate humans. Call me naive, but I think anytime you want to kill people, you pretty much hate them. I can't separate the two. McVeigh was a big fan of the "Turner Diaries" by William Pierce. It's a sociopathic piece of work about the whites finally having their revolution and killing people--not just blacks but anyone who doesn't agree, walk, talk, look like them (the revolutionists). He's also written a piece called "Hunter", the main character based in part on a true life story of a man now in prison. It shows white revolutionists killing blacks, whites who fraternize with them, adn racially mixed babies. I make no distinction when it comes to hate. When you want to kill people for any other reason than self defense, you hate them.
So, stop giving money to terrorists. I like that idea. Aren't they freezing assets already? I have known that feminist organizations had tried to warn the US govt for years about the Taliban. But because of it's and Osama's interests in oil, well...you guessed it. But giving no money to terrorists seems like a no brainer. What do we do about our immediate safety? I've heard that sentiment that we're safer now than we ever have been, but I don't feel it. I want to feel it, but I don't. Those people were here, just living, "talking and joking with us every morning at the corner newspaper stand" and they wanted to kill us. I have to say, I don't want people who want to kill me living by me. I don't care what color/culture they are. Call me crazy.
Bridgette
p.s. I like the not funding terrorists, but it might take a little more. Suggestions? And how do we monitor our gov't as to who they are sending money to, and what those guys stand for? And I don't even want to hear about Israel right now. Until sept 11, I was a huge sympathizer to the Palestinian people, and would let that reflect in my votes when applicable. And I'm married to a jewish american! We sat and argued one night (just a couple of days before WTC) while we watched Fiddler on the Roof! He saying "it's just a little strip of dirt--they had no place to go" me saying: "but they displaced people!" blah blah blah---I tell you now, I will not address such violent acts with civility. Just like on my personal being, or my child's, I will address violent acts with acts of self defense. You cannot set a precedence of "oh, the next time you want to get our attention about something, just bomb us, or kill a few of us again--okay?, yea, go ahead, feel free. Sorry we weren't listening or responding EXACTLY the way you wanted us to the first time! But this bombing thing really WORKS to get your voice heard, so go ahead." I will continue to propogate an INDIVIDUAL Palestinian's, and others' rights via Amnesty International (who screens those whom it sponsors to ensure that they do NOT propogate violence) but I will probably NOT use my voting power again to assist Palestinians. -
81
OK, This is what I have to say
by peacepipe ini need to put my two cents in about this even though i'm reading it a couple days after the last post.. when i think of the death of those i care about i usually have no problem picturing them going to heaven forever: some people just to me seem like there is nowhere else they could be.
those who i've been close to that have died that i'm questionable about them actually going to heaven i feel like in some way as long as there are those of us here to remember them they are still kept alive somehow.
when i really think about my own death i have a panic attack.
-
-
Bridgette
Rem, Julie, thank you for indulging my little prose! I always wanted to gag on the WT's wild stretches of why biblegod (love that term) was such a bastard in the OT.
I've also read a lot of commentary on so-called biblical archeology. There's a link, if I can remember, that really talks about how El-ohim "evolved" out of the Cannanite head diety, El. Also, there's almost no distinction in the archeological record between the Cannanites and the offspring of Abraham. They appear to be one in the same. Until pig bones start disappearing out of the record. '
Hey, Rem, I love your snippet at the bottom of your signature.
Bridgette"Believing is easier than thinking. Hence so many more believers than thinkers."--Bruce Calvert
-
69
Will YOU be the next dead American?
by Nathan Natas ini respectfully request that you take a few moments to read the following article, and i would appreciate hearing your responses.. - - - -.
future widows of america: write your congressman.
by ann coulter.
-
-
Bridgette
Chilling indeed, tj. Torn is what I am. I am loathe to give the terrorists mine or my fellow Americans (no matter where they're from) freedoms. But as you said, this is so not the America we had two weeks ago. I want peaceable, freedom loving people to come here, live here with us--I feel a kinship with anyone in the world who just wants to be free enough to speak, walk, live, think, write as their conscience guides them, so long as they don't promote violence. But I want there to be a "HERE" to come to. We are in a crisis situation. I work in a hospital. When someone comes in with a highly infectious disease (like airborne TB) we quaranteen. It's not done out of meanness, hatefulness, or spite. It's done for the sake of public safety. People wear respirators and all kinds of garb to protect themselves when they provide care to the quaranteened individual. Are we afraid we're going to hurt their feelings treating him/her basically like a pariah? What if we get the lab results back and they didn't have the highly infectious disease? Should we be penalized for taking every precaution? It never crosses ours or the patients' minds! It's public safety. But it's meted out devoid of old prejudices. I think what people are afraid of (myself included) is that this will degrade into a witch hunt. Nobody wants that. But we want to be safe. So, what do we do? How do you weigh public safety against rights of individuals? One thing that chilled me to the bone the other day was listening to a native New Jersian who lived in the same neighborhood as one of the terrorists. He was absolutely dumbfounded--he said this guy ran the corner newspaper stand. They talked and joked every morning. He NEVER came across as someone capable of hating Americans. He had been here for YEARS.
Let's talk about alternatives to deporting Muslims. I don't know of any. But believe me, I am desperate for them--because I don't like the thought of good innocent, law abiding people having to root up from their home--if this is home in their heart.
Solutions!! What do we DO?!?!?!
Bridgette -
26
My Story
by rmayer32 inbeing new here and reading some of the stories here i thought i would add mine.
not being as dramatic as some of them out there still thought i would share:).
i was born a jw as my mom was raised one from the time she was a toddler.
-
-
Bridgette
Dear Rick,
Welcome aboard! I hear more stories of great marriages (after atrocious ones while in the org) and good careers/jobs than bad. They have you believing that if you ever leave, you'll wind up a crack addicted, wild-eyed, leperous, depraved beast, if you ever leave. And what I find most is folks just getting on with life.
Good luck on your journey. AND your new arrival. I am now in a great marriage myself (after an abusive one with a JW), and we are expecting our baby in February.
Blessings,
Bridgette