i just had the strangest dream.
in the dream i went to bed tonight but when i awoke in the morning it was 1989 and i was still in high school.
i was in my younger body but with all of my current knowledge.
Being back in 1989 with todays knowledge I would definitely buy Microsoft stocks. As a result I would be happily living on Big Island Hawaii today drinking Pina Coladas and enjoying the beaches.
NICE DREAM! To bad it's just that.
Reality: I'm sitting in cold Germany, working 9 to 5 and driving around with my 15 year old car.
tonight i was out having dinner with a friend/colleague i've known for five or six years.
the conversation turned to religion: first religion in politics, then his general distaste for religion, and then his lack of a religious upbringing.
there was a lull for a moment, and then i said "it was pretty much the reverse situation in my household.
I never hesitated to talk about my religious background both with friends and others, because a lot of my decisions have been influenced strongly by my upbringing. It's a part of my personal history and I don't have any reason to hide it. It doesn't embarrass me a bit.
Mostly people are really interested and have heaps of questions, it's interesting when they find out how weird it really all is.
I found that to be true. People tend to ask me tons of questions about the WT. Many very interesting discussions resulted of it. People seem to appreciate the information and react quite shocked about the news, especially when it comes to medical questions (blood etc.). To me it seems there are still a lot of people who think JW are silly but harmless. It's an extra pleasure to me to get them to know better and it works as a warning, too. I hope they spread the news to others. (Speak of negative word-of-mouth advertising!)
does anyone hate their job but feel like they would be throwing away a good thing if they quit?
i'm working at my 3rd state agency in 4 years and have been unhappy at every one of them--usually because i don't have enough work to do and feel like a hamster on a wheel waiting for the paycheck, and i'm so bored!.
i'm scared to quit the state job because i have a large family, and this affords me great medical benefits and retirement benefits.. any advice?
I have no kids, but I have to work to make a living, too. No big sugar daddy paying my bills! Like you I'm not happy with my current job so I decided to go back to (evening-)school to get me a degree so I can push my career. Btw I'm 37.
I'd say don't give up dreaming and realising your dreams. After all you're just 42 so you have at least another 40 years yet to come. Just try to imagine how you want to feel recapitulating your life once you're lying on your deathbed.
well i did it...i actually made it to age 30. today, april 12th 1975 i was born and i am still trying to full comprehed the feeling that comes along with it.
my office threw me a party and i am having another one on fri, more the drunken type of gathering.
it is a good week but a part of me will never fully be able to comprehend the simple feeling of "birthday" lol..anyhow..i'm still alive!
Happy birthday ZANEX!
i remember going to sunday meetings...the public talks went by fast (sometimes).
but the watchtower study to me was so boring and not interesting at all.
it felt longer than the public talk.
I hated it and always felt like the teaching was too slow for my brain!
Yes, I absolutely agree with that! It was spiritual food for fools. Even as a 12 year old I realised that one doesn't need to brain over the answers but he just needs to read. How could one spend an hour to prepare???? You just have to read the question and then quickly get over the paragraph to find the sentence that has to be underlined. That way it takes 10 minutes to prepare and you have another 50 minutes left over for useful (and more interesting) activities. Eventually I decided I could spare the last 10 minutes for useful (and more interesting) activities, too!
i will try to make this quick...... .
i have been with this wonderfull woman in a "relationship" for almost one year now (ive known her for 3 years).
she is jw and obviously i'm not, our relationship has gone almost exactly like many of the ones discribed here, hiding from parents, familly, church, etc.
My point is this: at some point YOU have to take responsibility for your life. God gave your a brain and He expects you to use it. If you truly feel that this is the right person for you, then stand up for yourself and do what is best for YOU. That is NOT going to condemn you to death at Armageddon. Your parents tell you "trust in Jehovah." So do it! Trust that Jehovah will read your heart, understand your motives, and if it's the wrong thing to do, forgive you. He allows us free will, the ability to make our own choices. Some of them are good and some are bad, but unless you take that step and make that choice, you'll never know if it was a good one or a bad one.
cruz, that's a great point!
i will try to make this quick...... .
i have been with this wonderfull woman in a "relationship" for almost one year now (ive known her for 3 years).
she is jw and obviously i'm not, our relationship has gone almost exactly like many of the ones discribed here, hiding from parents, familly, church, etc.
Paja, I feel for you and your girl! I don't envy you at all. This could be the fight of your life.
I think practically speaking she needs to examine her religion and see if it stands up under scrutiny,
I definitely agree with El blanko.
I'd just say that using the bible could be great because I think she can only be hoisted by her own petard. She probably simply won't listen to arguments of apostates. But using the bible could probably help to open the doors because it could make her think. Using the bible won't frighten her and in the end it could lead to a newfound freedom of hers as she might realise that making decisions for herself isn't wrong at all. (At the moment it sounds like she's not giving herself much credit in this.) This discovery then might help her to stand by her man.
I for example would suggest to give 1. Cor. 13:5 a try: "So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
As Jesus points it out here it's good to believe in something and it's good to hope for something but Jesus says it's way better and more important to love. Having faith (and acting according to it) obviously is not as important to Jesus as to live love i.e. to make decisions with a loving heart. That of course makes acting loveless but faithful an absolute "No no" in Jesus' eyes. Jesus is considered a great teacher. She will admit that. That could be a starter.
Using this method (discussing with her on her grounds) of course for you means to read as much as possible i.e. the bible, here and all the great books about the subject, simply anything that could get you "armed".
Paja, good luck and please keep us informed
a friend gave me this today:.
charles swindoll:.
"the longer i live, the more i realize the impact of attitude on life.
Thanx Onacruse!
It's easy to forget this simple truth in daily life. Thanks for reminding.
DHL
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well i don't believe in ufo's and abductions and that sort of thing but i do believe more that there must be extraterrestrial intelligence than i believe in the existance of a god.. i used to visit this site to read about the thoughts of serious scientists on the subject, it's the us-government sponsored project of seti:.
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And I would like to hope there are beings smarter then we are. But on the flip side, if that were true I think we would have more proof of their existence.
Hmmmh, once I've read something about a "zoo theory". It says these folks exist and they are smarter than us. And that because of that they just watch us like we watch the monkeys in the zoo and they don't want get in contact with us because they think we are too stupid.
Not very flattering for mankind indeed.
I personally have never met any of these beings but I do believe a really smart person wouldn't pollute its environment or throw bombs on someone else for presenting a different opinion. Maybe we're really not that smart. Well, at least not smart enough to meet with aliens expectations? Who knows?
did the last days begin after jesus' death and continues today.
because i am starting to believe that.
i dont believe in 1914 or that israel becoming a nation started the last days as believed by many fundamentalist.
I would really like to know why you believe or want to believe in "the last days" at all.
When I look around I can see changes happening all the time. Some things change for the better, some for the worse. Mankind explores in all kind of directions. I can see great things happening, just for example scientific successes in curing diseases are achieved constantly. But I don't see anything that would proof the expectation to live in any kind of "last days".
It seems like whoever makes statements as "We are living in the last days" always includes advice on how to "escape" or "win" or be "on the right side", i.e. we are put under pressure to react in a certain way to "survive". Actually this is a very effective method sales representatives use every day to make people buy certain things. But are the buyings always worth the price?
