dedalus

Joined

• started 29 topics
• posted 929 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by dedalus

• 
  42

  Have you experienced Satan?

  by Blueblades in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  .

  recently i asked:have you experienced god?and many of you responded.the question was not intended to prove that god exists,or,doesn't.rather, what each persons own experience meant for them.. now,i thought that it would be only fair to ask:have you experienced satan?again not to prove that satan exists or dosen't.rather what each persons own experience meant for them.. maybe some have experienced both,god and satan at different times,or can you tell the difference?.

  blueblades

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  Have you experienced Bugs Bunny?

  Dedalus
• 
  73

  I didn't think my JW family could find another way to hurt me but...

  by Ghost of Esmeralda in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  but i was so wrong!

  my daughter just got home.

  you all know i dressed her up, painted her nails, curled her hair, and sent her off to my favorite cousin's wedding.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  Jayson,

  I was told ... "You had better stop messing with things that you do not understand."

  ROTFLMAO! They really said that? Make's them sound like they're endowed with some otherworldly powers -- maybe Satan's? Hilarious.

  I was thinking more or less what Obiwan already wrote -- every now and then a post like Essie's comes along and reminds us all just how utterly insane and outrageous and inconsiderate and bigoted Witnesses can be. And when children get drawn into the mess ... well, yeah, it's then that the venomous parental fangs come out. So far my daughter (at 15 months) is blissfully unaware of all things stamped and sullied by the Organization, and I hope it stays that way forever. But what will I tell her when she asks about her grandfather, who won't eat with her father or mother, or her cousins, one of whom is her exact age, who aren't allowed to play with her?

  If anyone ever wonders why things become so heated and bitter here, maybe for some of us it's because we're holding so much in out in the real world, to protect our kids.

  Dedalus
• 
  14

  Preview of my new novel

  by SYN in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  this is only the first few paragraphs of it, as a sort of a teaser .

  <schnip>.

  nobody realizes who russell truly is until they've spent a night in his company.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  My previous post was supposed to be complimentary, not condescending. I should add, then, that your excerpt is better than anything in Palahnuik's Choke, which I recently read. I honestly don't think there's a lot for you to learn, writing-wise, from him.

  Warm fuzzies,

  Dedalus
• 
  14

  Preview of my new novel

  by SYN in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  this is only the first few paragraphs of it, as a sort of a teaser .

  <schnip>.

  nobody realizes who russell truly is until they've spent a night in his company.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  After reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahnuik, I realized that my previous style of writing was very vague and nebulous (that's the best word I can think of to describe it), so now I'm playing with a slightly more Chuck-like immediate style.

  I was thinking that your style had a Palahnuik ring to it before I read this. Do you want your readers to say, "Hey, this sounds a lot like Palahnuik!" Do you think that would be a good thing?

  Dedalus
• 
  73

  I didn't think my JW family could find another way to hurt me but...

  by Ghost of Esmeralda in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  but i was so wrong!

  my daughter just got home.

  you all know i dressed her up, painted her nails, curled her hair, and sent her off to my favorite cousin's wedding.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  My husband's family cannot fathom this, as his immediate family isn't that religious (raised catholic, faded out) but they have multiple religions going through marriage and all, and they cannot imagine cutting off their relatives just because they believe differently.

  Sounds like they're getting a "good witness," anyway! No Watchtower or Awake can have as profound an effect as the wretched behavior of Witnesses themselves. "By their works you will know them," or however what's-his-name put it.

  Dedalus
• 
  50

  Assembly Food

  by El Kabong in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what are some of the foods you remember being served at district and circuit assemblies.

  i remember every sunday was roast chicken.

  also i remember them serving knockwurst and saurkraut.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  Rayzor, dude, I lived for hoagies at convention time. It was the only time of the year I even spoke the word "hoagie," and even today it conjures up summertime memories in rich, Proustian detail. Who needs madeleines and tea when you have salami-stuffed hoagies and lemon-lime shasta?

  For whatever reasons, fetid condiments weren't a problem for us, though your vivid description convinces me that our far-north brothers didn't fare so well.

  Remember the ice cream lines? Or was this unique in my circuit?

  Dedalus
• 
  50

  Assembly Food

  by El Kabong in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what are some of the foods you remember being served at district and circuit assemblies.

  i remember every sunday was roast chicken.

  also i remember them serving knockwurst and saurkraut.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  One thing I will never disparage about Witnesses is the way they used to serve breakfast and lunch at conventions. That was terrific! A workforce consisting primarily of nimble, nubile sisters, carefully wrapping hoagies and burritoes ... ah, yes, here was some fine refreshment after the tepid, regurgitated spiritual grub on which we'd gagged all morning. There was a genuine feeling of brotherhood (even if the lines were rather long) as clusters of Witnesses spread out over the convention site, plastic badges flashing brilliantly in the sun. How communal, how very nearly ... pastoral.

  Sure, I'm waxing poetic, but I miss the mornings of Sara Lee pastries and the afternoons of salami and Shasta. I miss the satiation of hunger and the languor with which I'd roam the premises during intermission, the skirts of single sisters billowing up around their ankles as they strolled past, chattering a lilting female chatter that I've never quite understood.

  I miss belonging to a community that fed its own with such selflessness.

  Nowadays it's all a rush, choking on some peanut butter and jelly contraption you threw together in the muffled haze of waking up, somehow at the same time dressing your brood of sullen children and hoping against hope there'd be enough gas in the car for the two hour commute ahead of you.

  Thanks for the new light, Jehoover!

  Dedalus
• 
  14

  Your out now - what do you say when they come to the door?

  by shamus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  okay - you have left the org.

  you move to another town - like, lets say that they call on you every 2 months, and they have no idea who you are, like me.

  i am sure that there are some of you out there...... what do you say to them when they come to the door????

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  Your out now - what do you say when they come to the door?

  Man, I wish they would come to my door! Since I've left the organization I've lived in two major cities and one suburb. I've encountered Hare Krishnas dancing and chanting in front of a public library, Mormons in backpacks politely knocking at respectable hours, Jesuits passionately conversing in artsy coffee houses, Jews walking in droves on brisk Saturday evenings, and foul-smelling drunks waving doomsday cardboard signs at passersby. Not a single, solitary Witness. No, wait, I saw a guy reading a Kingdom Ministry on the T in Boston once. But it didn't seem he wanted to be noticed.

  Statistically, if the Witness hype is to be believed, I should have been reached at some point during my two year absence from the community in which I grew up. I sure was home a lot! But, nada. Doesn't bode well for the whole "good news will be preached all over the fucking earth, and then the end will come" shtick.

  Anyway, I don't know what I'd say if the Witnesses would came, and I suppose I won't find out for a long, long while. I'm back in my old community, where the Witnesses know to steer clear of me and my family. But, someday, if they do come, I think I'd just ad lib something from whatever pathetic magazine they were offering. There are so many ridiculous things about Witnesses, I don't think it'd take long to think of some witty remark that would satisfy me.

  Dedalus
• 
  73

  I didn't think my JW family could find another way to hurt me but...

  by Ghost of Esmeralda in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  but i was so wrong!

  my daughter just got home.

  you all know i dressed her up, painted her nails, curled her hair, and sent her off to my favorite cousin's wedding.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  I honestly believe that, at a certain point, Witnesses begin to look for new ways to hurt family members who have left. Years go by, and if disfellowshipping and shunning haven't brought you back to the pack, tail shamefully tucked between your legs, they look for something else, some other kind of deception or emotional brutality, not so much to help you back as to kick you in the face for leaving and being happier than they are. For me, it was my father saying that he didn't want to embrace me, if we should ever happen to meet, which is less likely than being struck twice in the ass by lightening on a Thursday. Where the hell is it written that embracing DA'd or DF'd family members is taboo?

  I'm really sad to read about this recent subterfuge your family has perpetuated against you, Es. They've stolen a precious moment from you -- the participation of your daughter in a family ceremony -- something for which every mother has the right to be present. There's no getting that back. Hopefully some secret, evil renegade will smuggle away some photographs for you.

  And to put this all in a Witness perspective, imagine how a Witness parent would react if his or her daughter was taken by a disfellowshipped person to a "worldly" wedding (this is already so improbable it would never happen), a wedding between two "unbelievers," and then made part of the wedding party without the parent's presense, knowledge, or consent? Oh, there would be some furious Old Testament hell to pay for that!

  Of course, you took the high road, sending your daughter to a Kingdom Hall when you know Witness children will never see the inside of any church, and this is what they did. I'm really, really indignant in your behalf, Es.

  Dedalus
• 
  38

  What is wrong with my family?

  by Nickey in

  1. social
  2. family

  i love my family.

  but i've been stressed and depressed because of them.

  and i just need to gain some understanding.. being raised in a jw family laid alot of pressure and guilt on me.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  dedalus

  From your Grandfather's eyes I can see why he said you are just a child. He has so much more life experience than you so try to give him honor despite his negative tactics to keep you from growing.

  I hope when I have tons of life experience I don't turn use my age to justify being an insensitive, condescending prick.

  Maybe in this case Gramp's motives are worthy, but his behavior isn't.

  Dedalus