Posts by Open mind

28

I Got A Brand New Adjustable Bed, Mattress & Boxspring And I Am Sick To My Stomach!

by minimus in

jw
friends

this is an expensive bed.

i've slept on it twice and have gotten sick!

eyes begin to water, i have difficulty breathing.

Open mind

First one probably had Demunz and you just didn't know it.

om

88

Minimus' Post Gave Me Courage To Finally Post My Questions, New Here

by toweragent in

i have been "lurking" for about four years now.. it was an incredibly weird experience just to look at a site like jwn or freeminds.

he came off very loving.. so, i decided that i would talk to one of my elders about the things i read.

if any of you have time to read this, thank you.

Open mind

Welcome to JWN Toweragent!

Lots of great advice here. The hard part is actually applying it. Biting your tongue when the one you love isn't seeing what you can so clearly.

I'll send you a PM shortly.

Best regards,

om

86

WHAT ARE YOUR MOST VIVID, ODD, or FUNNY Memories of Conventions and Assemblies of Jehovah's Witnesses?

by Balaamsass in

share with us memories of the bizarre, funny, strange, what you hated, what you miss...we all have them.

(question..why the big to do between terms- convention and assembly .

I used to dunk people at the DCs from time to time. Here's a story I shared about 3 years ago on here when a woman who REALLY didn't like the water ran into a little technical difficulty getting baptized.

**********************************

http://jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/181986/1/Did-your-big-toe-get-baptized-Did-they-re-dunk-you

I have consoled myself over the last couple years in the knowledge that I only studied with one person who ever got baptized and that person has long-since quit the JWs. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks:

Holy Crap! I have personally baptized hundreds of JWs over the years!

Oh well, if not me, there were plenty of other attention seekers who would have jumped at the chance. I think I was often picked for the baptism pool mainly because I was married with kids and not particularly hot looking in a wet T-shirt.

I digress. On to the topic.

A few years ago at a DC I was "privileged" to do some serial dunking of newbie cult members. The guy in charge made a BIG DEAL during the pre-game show in the locker room about making sure that the "Baptismal Candidate" (tm) was COMPLETELY submerged. That presumably is one of the reasons we always have pairs of guys working together doing the dunking. One guy is "the watcher" and the other guy is "the dunker" and you switch off every few dunkings. Also, more importantly IMO, the watcher can help lift someone up if the dunking goes awry.

I'll never forget this one woman who reached the top of the stairs, ready for dunking, and MAN did she look unhappy. Her facial expression looked like a cat who had already been through the spin cycle with an extra rinse. She was 1.) extremely obese and probably feeling somewhat self-conscious about that and 2.) deathly afraid of the water. But, she knew there was no way to avoid certain destruction at Armageddon if she didn't come on down the stairs and get it over with.

Now at this particular dunking ceremony, there was enough room for two teams of dunkers. The other team had one guy on it who made Barney Fife (Don Knotts) seem laid back by comparison. How he ever got picked for dunking duty I'll never know. It was his first, and I'm pretty sure his last, time to be used in the baptismal pool. It was my turn to "watch" and my partner, Brother Seriously Buffed, was going to have the pleasure of baptizing the reluctant hydrophobic feline. I'll spare you some of the drama of getting her ready for the baptism, but here's a couple tidbits. Her family was screaming very obnoxiously from the "spectator section" like she had just scored the winning touchdown at the Super Bowl. She was borderline hyperventilating. Bro. Buffed would shoot me the occasional "I'll be glad when it's over" look. After what felt like an eternity of awkwardness and/or terror for all of us, Ms. Hydrophobia was finally ready to take the plunge for her Creator. She sank beneath the surface.....

.....except for her thrashing feet. They must have kicked in and out of the water at least 4 or 5 times.

And Barney Fife is all over it. Mind you, he's not even on our team, but the thrashing caught his eye and he's got a Divine Mandate that must be carried out. "Her foot came out!! Her foot came out!! You've got to do it again!!"

All three of us, Ms. Hydrophobia, Bro. Seriously Buffed and myself, simultaneously turn on Barney Fife with a look that screamed "Are You Freakin' Kidding Me?!?!" Unfortunately, since speaking in a low voice was not in Barney's individual skill set, the screaming family picked up on the invalid nature of the dunking and they joined voice with Barney in demanding a do-over.

Another minute or two of cajoling, encouraging and psyching Ms. Hydrophobia up ensued. Bro. Buffed actually says a short prayer with her. We're finally ready to go again. Now, I don't know if the Holy Spirit had anything to do with this or if it was just good timing, but when Bro. Buffed dropped her below the water for the second try, Barney Fife was preoccupied with his own partner's dunking. All the while, Ms. Hydrophobia had one big toe that apparently just didn't want to join the cult. That toe stayed out of the water the whole time. I saw it and so did a somewhat patriarchal looking gentleman in the family section. I looked at him. He looked at me. And now Bro. Buffed is looking at me like I'm the line judge or something.

My ruling? Close enough. Next!

om

65

Calling all posters! What are YOUR questions for Candace Conti, Rick Simons and Kelly Kraetsch?

by cedars in

i am pleased to announce that candace conti, and her key lawyers rick simons and kelly kraetsch are planning a youtube video to answer any questions that people in our community may have regarding the recent conti v watchtower lawsuit.

i have offered to coordinate the gathering of these questions, and i thought it might be fun to do it in a "competition" style jwn thread, with the best answers being chosen by kelly, rick and candace to be addressed in the video.. as you can imagine, there are some provisos to this.... this is an active lawsuit, so for obvious legal reasons kelly, rick and candace will have the absolute and final decision as to which questions are answered and how much information is divulged when they are answered.we need the answers in the next 7 days, so the "cut off" for this competition is exactly 7 days from the time this thread goes live on jwn.we kindly request that all questions are asked in a respectful manner without any malicious or offensive intent.

any inappropriate questions will obviously be discarded and ignored.

Open mind

What are the Watchtower's chances of winning on appeal?

This would probably best be answered by Rick, but for obvious reasons, he probably shouldn't. Can Rick point to a legal opinion from someone not involved with the case for their prediction? Or is this question best left alone for now?

om

7

Guy Pearce admits to Atheism!!

by Open mind in

pearce does not believe in a god but believes "we're all connected.".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/guy_pearce.

oh, were you thinking of guy pierce?

Open mind

yadda yadda 2: "Who gives a f*ck about some actor's atheism or not?"

This thread was an, apparently not so clever, attempt to lure readers who might think I was referencing Guy Pierce, the JW GB member. If that were actually the case, I'm sure the majority of readers here would "give a f*ck".

om

25

Our holiday light show for Christmas

by troubled mind in

jw
friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkz0tcxzhfm&list=ul.

my husband made a little special holiday cheer in our front yard .

enjoy ,i know our witness neighbors do .

Open mind

Love the leaping lights!

Way to go, Troubled Mind's hubby!

om

7

Guy Pearce admits to Atheism!!

by Open mind in

pearce does not believe in a god but believes "we're all connected.".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/guy_pearce.

oh, were you thinking of guy pierce?

Open mind

Wow, Christ Alone, that's quite a list!

om

7

Guy Pearce admits to Atheism!!

by Open mind in

pearce does not believe in a god but believes "we're all connected.".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/guy_pearce.

oh, were you thinking of guy pierce?

Open mind

Pearce does not believe in a God but believes "we're all connected."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Pearce

Oh, were you thinking of Guy Pierce? Nothing new to report there.

Happy Friday! (Since OTWO's not around to do a Friday fun thread, figured I'd do my bit.)

om

45

Is Your Life In Ruins Because You Were A Jehovah's Witness?

by minimus in

jw
friends

are you moving on?.

i see some have a very hard time in life because of their witness past..

Open mind

Thanks to this site and a few others, my life, and that of my immediate family, has turned out fairly well.

I was beginning to smell a "1914 generation" rat in my early twenties, (mid-1980s). Realized I needed to find a real career. Took a few college courses (no degree) and found an occupation that has provided for me and mine fairly well.

My biggest regret is that I joined my JW family in shunning my gay DFed older brother for 20 years. Can never get those years back. Making up for lost time now.

Big Bro

om

38

Are You Ever Tempted To Talk To JWs When You See Them?

by minimus in

jw
friends

either in your neighborhood, in the ministry, on vacation?

?.

Open mind

Possible comment/question I might use if the right situation presented itself:

"I used to work with a JW and he always used to say that the preaching work you guys do is a 'life-saving' work. Could you explain exactly what that means for a regular guy like me who tries to be a good husband and father, lives by Bible principles and is an all-around good citizen, contributing member of society?"

Don't let them off the hook by saying "God is the judge of who will survive Armageddon." If the vast majority of Armageddon survivors will be JWs, then it's a life-saving work and your God's a jerk. If Jehovah is going to read people's hearts and let in a sizeable percentage of non-JWs, then the "life-saving" aspect (and also the urgency) of the preaching work goes right out the window.

Can't have it both ways.

om