i am terrified to be writing this because i am officially being bad.
i am talking with other "sinners".
i do not want to be a witness.
I love to see them but whenever I come home from visiting I just want to kill myself.
Franki, I can't even comment on the rest of your post, because I fear for your safety. Please tell us more about wanting to kill yourself. Resolving your suicidal feelings is your #1 priority and needs to be addressed before you can delve into all the other issues.
i'm not very knowledgable about legal things but would there be any profitablity in a class action lawsuit in the wrongfull deaths caused by the governing body's enforcement of a "no blood transfusion allowed" policy which used the threat of disfellowshipment.
couldn't close family members sue and win?
Only an attorney can answer that question. If your question pertains to US law, you can try posting it at www.freeadvice.com
just was wondering today, why is the official jw website www.watchtower.org?
why not use the magic word "jehovah" in the website name?
why use the name of a single publication when jw's are supposed to be a "people for god's name"?
Quotes:
Just wanted to say, your web site is awesome, and I admire you for what you're doing!
when i was very young the elders told my mother that my unbaptized teen sister could not go to the public park on days that brothers would socialize at due to her lack of morals.
three years ago my brother moved in with my grandmother.
he is baptised but faded from the organization 10+ years ago.
Stepping out of boundaries? Well, yes, in the sense of normal, healthy interpersonal boundaries. But not in the sense of the WTS-defined role of the Elders. The Elders are supposed to boss you around about every little thing you do in your personal life. That's their job, as assigned by the WTS.
They said anyone who goes could lose their privileges in the congregation.
Wow, Brooke, I'm so glad you decided to tell your story....how awful a thing to go through. What's your status now? What about your husband?
LOL, I was just talking to an ex JW a few days ago who got mad at me for saying that JWs aren't allowed to date anyone who isn't a full-blown witness...and here you are saying that people were threatened with loss of privileges for even attending your wedding. Proves my point.
i semi-enjoyed the show, although ive seen better in the past.
i loved alicia keys performance.
i think she is very talented and a true artist.
I LOVED Alicia Keys performance. I think she is very talented and a true artist. She looked so beautiful in her white dress playing the white grand piano. I liked Kanye West's performace and i liked Gwen and Eve as well as Usher. I.... I thought JLo and Marc Anthonys performance was the WORST. It was so corny and nauseating.
Gotta agree with you on all those points!
PS-I did a little cheer when Prince won, because I was sooo looking forward to seeing him come up on stage and say something totally bizarre. Then they announced he couldn't make it in person. Aw, shucks!
i had to say goodbye to my s/o yesterday for the last time.
it has become more and more apparent to me that the reason we were together, at least for me, was that i sought out the same type fo restriction i had on my as i grew up and stayed in "the truth".
i posted about this before, but not like this.
The title of this thread is part of the lyrics to a song, which I'm going to change just for you:
Bye, bye love lover
Bye,bye hello happiness
Hello Goodbye loneliness
I'm sure it doesn't feel that way now, and won't for a while. That's ok; grief is normal.
Eventually, you will feel in your heart that you are better off. You already know that's true, in your mind. You would never have been able to achieve happiness and normalcy in a relationship with her. Now life begins!
quote;.
however,if misdirected,self-examination that prompts to look for our"identity" or to search for answers outside our relationship with jehovah or the christian congregation will prove to be pointless and can be spiritually fatal.
* never would we want to `experience shipwreck concerning our faith`!-1 timothy 1;19.. .
The sheep will never catch ont hat a person's spritiual identity is a huge part of their primary identity anyway and therefore the difference is of no consiquence.'
You couldn't be more right. Right on the money! A great example of how they say one thing and mean another.
OP, was this from the 1/15/05 WT or the 2/15/05?
this might well be an old topic and covered many times in the archives...but i confess i have not read that far yet.
what has sparked this off is that i have had a conversation with my mother who is still a devout jw...until now i have never tackled her properly on doctrinal issues or on issues which i know would or could alter her belief system...she is one of those who i firmly believe need the witnesses as her crutch and to take it away would leave her life with a void she wouldnt be able to fill.
so i politely keep quiet and refuse to engage her when she quotes scripture and verse usually to point out how worldly i am and that i have changed...(typical guilt trip approach).. tonight was different in that i am getting married to my girlfriend in august and as such there are some friends who are disfellowshipped and disassociated going to be there...they are some of my best friends and companions during my young jw days and are great people and have stood by me through good times and the not so good....(more than the self professed christians did in the wts) .
she is one of those who I firmly believe need the witnesses as her crutch and to take it away would leave her life with a void she wouldnt be able to fill
A very apt description....are you sure you aren't talking about my mom?
Sometimes motivations for behavior such as your mom's is a desire to feel morally superior to other, which, due to brainwashing, now can only be filled by adherence to only the most extreme of JW rules and "suggestions". When I say "suggestions", I'm referring to things the WTS says are "conscience matters", but are really guilt trips. Read a WTS publication on any "conscience matter" topic--read the entire article. You will see that they suggest that there are risks to choosing the "looser" path and subtle indications that your conscience might be "weak" if you choose that path.
Thus, the hardcore JWs, such as our moms, always choose the most strict option, unless their personal desires are better met by choosing the weaker option. For example, my mom would not ever consider purchasing a 2-door vehicle, because it's harder for JWs to get in and out of it in the door-to-door, and the elders have talked about how a 2-door car is an indication someone is materialistic or not spiritual. Yet she lives at her vacation home for half of the year and doesn't go to meetings or out in service at all, for no reason other than she doesn't want to. She put me at risk of death more times than I can count because of refusal of blood transfusion. Yet this same woman eats fake crab, which is colored using beef plasma (per the label), just because she absolutely loves her fake crab salads.
my husband says it isn't a real holiday.
he says when he was young it was about trading valentines (cards); not about gifts.
halloween is a major holiday, but not a day off.
when you should be showing your valentine love every day of the year
That's true, but that's what the dubs say about every holiday. No need for Thanksgiving, we should be thankful every day. And so on.
In truth, I think it's great to set aside a special day to honor special things. Valentine's Day, to me at least, is a celebration of love. What's wrong with showing your love every day, and then celebrating it on a special day each year? There's so much pain in the world--celebrating love for each other is a good thing.
Is it overrated? No, I don't think so. I think it's underrated. I think it should be expanded to be more about love, not just romantic love, but love for friends and family, too.
As far as the commercialism goes, if your hubby or anyone else feels that way, they need not exchange gifts. It shouldn't preclude them from celebrating the holiday though.
