Posts by aligot ripounsous

29

Elders want to visit after memorial !!

by lancelink in

well, i attended the memorial last night, and since i have been inactive for some time two of the elders came up to me afterwards.

they want to get together and discuss how to get me active again.

since i am going thru some withdrawal pains, i spinelessly agreed to talk with them this friday evening.

aligot ripounsous

Lancelink,

Not two experiences are alike but I tell you mine in case it can be of any use to you. I'm fading, though attending when my wife wants to go, so that she doesn't feel embarrassed if questioned about her family. When 2 elders called me a few months ago for a sheperding call, I said that I would be very happy to speak to them. Then in the conversation I raised points which i knew they couldn't object to :

-I don't preach anymore because I just don't know what to tell people. I don't feel for delivering a message whereby Jehovah finds me so precious as to kill 1000 people, including 100 babies and infants under age 4, just to save me, there is no such thing as collective responsability, and I'm a Jehovah's worshipper, not Molech's. Usually the JW you talk to doesn't endorse that view, which is clearly unacceptable to any sensible person, and says that it's not up to us to judge and Jah will see for Himself who He will spare at A. Then you direct the elder to the Live forever BROCHURE where it is plainly stated that only Jah's servants will be saved at A, and tell him that anyone who thinks differently from this official WTS's stand is an apostate in the society's view. In my case the elders said that they would check and of course none of them ever raised this point again, they knew all too well what the official stand is on this subject.

-when asked whether I still believed that the F&DS is God's channel to instruct His people, I said that it depends on what they teach. In Rutherford'case, for example, no serious JW can believe that he had Holy Spirit when he wrote such nonsense as the 1600 furlongs mentioned in Rev 14 :20 being the distance between a (then) bethel in Pennsylvania and NY bethel. That way, elders know perfectly what level of information I have (I told them that I got this information from the Internet and that there is nothing wrong in this), they don't bring me into trouble for such statements because they know they are true, and they just leave me alone and quiet because they don't want to have their own beliefs questioned through further unsettling conversations. So far, I'm left free to talk that way to whoever (not many) wants to hear in the congregation. So far.

32

ok so who exactly is going to the memorial this year....and why?

by Cordelia in

jw
friends

i am, my dad is doing it, i'm going to their hall theyve just moved there (to 'help' out).

i figured its the one meeting i can't miss as i upset them by not going to any others at all, also ive made a point of not going to my hall and i won't let anyone know i'm at my dads.

my dad is actually worried i might 'be apostate' about it, as i once said surely passing on the bread and wine is like saying 'no thanks jesus!

aligot ripounsous

I attended yesterday evening, primarily to accompany my wife because I wouln't want her to be noisily pitied and feel embarrassed if she were going on her own. I must admit, too, that I keep a christian sensitivity and attending the memorial offers an opportunity to make the positive step of leaving aside daily activities, even though for a short while, to stop and reflect upon Jesus' sacrifice, which I wouldn't do if I didn't attend. That being said, I found, as always, that too many prayers were told, so much so that the tellers didn't know what to say in the end, making up for emptiness with more length and verbousity. The talk was given by an elder who, maybe because he was young, felt obligated to display extra solemnity. In addition, he ended up with that story which I can't believe was part of the outlines, about Jennifer- the- she-cat- that- took- her- kittens- one- by- one- out- of- her- burning- shelter- in- the- New- York-area- was- badly-burnt- but- when- they- read- the- story- in- the- papers- thousands- of- people- throughout- the- world- wanted- to- adopt- Jennifer- and- her- kittens. He went on saying that Jesus was so much more self sacrificing than Jennifer the she-cat. I was wondering how Jesus was feeling about His sacrifice being marketed so lousily.

20

Who are those young JW SKINHEADS ?

by aligot ripounsous in

jw
friends

at the latest circuit assembly, i noticed that quite a few young male jws (or at least attending youths), say sixteen upward and mostly mixed race, are skin headed.

apart from that, they are quite well dressed.

that way, elders won't reprove them for their long hair ... looks like an obvious defying message to a rigid organization.

aligot ripounsous

Um, it's a hairstyle...

Sure it's a hairstyle, Layla, I just remember having read several times in the WT literature that young JWs should model their look and dressing on the "spiritually mature christian brothers" . I wonder if any such article has been written which reckoned skinheading as just a regular sporty haircut, I mean with no rebellious connotation.

99

It is official. I am an elder now!

by outofthebox in

jw
friends

it happened last night guys.

i got early to the kh and the boe came to talk to me.

they ask me to read the bible and asked me a couple of questions.

aligot ripounsous

Outofthebox,

I suppose you weighed all the arguments in the scale before making this decision, but wasn't there a more straightforward way to help those who are in doubts ? It seems to me that you are engaging in a very uncomfortable double life, regarding your relations to your family and close friends, and consciencewise.

20

Who are those young JW SKINHEADS ?

by aligot ripounsous in

jw
friends

at the latest circuit assembly, i noticed that quite a few young male jws (or at least attending youths), say sixteen upward and mostly mixed race, are skin headed.

apart from that, they are quite well dressed.

that way, elders won't reprove them for their long hair ... looks like an obvious defying message to a rigid organization.

aligot ripounsous

I'm almost disappointed, Avishai, thought your fame had crossed the pond

20

Who are those young JW SKINHEADS ?

by aligot ripounsous in

jw
friends

at the latest circuit assembly, i noticed that quite a few young male jws (or at least attending youths), say sixteen upward and mostly mixed race, are skin headed.

apart from that, they are quite well dressed.

that way, elders won't reprove them for their long hair ... looks like an obvious defying message to a rigid organization.

aligot ripounsous

At the latest circuit assembly, I noticed that quite a few young male JWs (or at least attending youths), say sixteen upward and mostly mixed race, are skin headed. Apart from that, they are quite well dressed. That way, elders won't reprove them for their long hair ... Looks like an obvious defying message to a rigid organization. Any idea where, or who, they get that fad from ? I'm not sure they all know Avishai...

35

Regular posters from which country!!

by cluless in

jw
friends

sweden 61 posts.

aligot ripounsous

France, I heard that according to a Jewish (eastern Europe) saying, it's the country where God is Happy

98

Torn between being Gay and the Truth.........

by ScoobySnax in

jw
friends

is there anything worse than this?

sometimes it is ok, other times it sucks.

aligot ripounsous

Scooby

You say you feel torn between being gay and the JW "truth" but we can wonder : in the end, are JWs' moral principles, in that precific matter, so different from Bible principles ? Honestly I don't think so. There are many domains where we can contest JWs' views and rightly say that they build up their own set of rules, which are not found in the Bible : birthdays, salute to the flag, etc. But one has to admit that the Bible view on homosexuality is plainly set out and JWs don't depart from it. Whether these principles are of universal value is not what this post is about, I find that they are the best at hand on this subject but each one can have his/her personal opinion in the matter. So, the choice you have to make is between your leaning (is homosexual attraction inborn or acquired, I wouldn't venture to say) and the principles you have been taught, that you still seem to consider as important, and maybe this inward feeling, which meets with common sense, that homosexuality is just not natural. I don't mean to be judgemental, it's up to you to direct your life with, this is my wish for you, as little frustration and/or moral uncomfort as you will be able to bear, either way. May Jehovah help you manage it.

10

WATCHTOWER to adopt new rule

by What-A-Coincidence in

jw
friends

watchtower picks up rule that schools dropped ... "the 2 second hug rule".

like the rule about not being alone with someone of the opposite sex unless in view of others.

new rule to be imposed at all watchtower gatherings.. .

aligot ripounsous

in [France], people greet each other with a kiss on each cheek - this is polite. To refuse is as rude as putting your hands in your pockets in America when somebody goes to shake your hand.

Well, Hamster, many people kiss one another on cheeks in France, but not everybody does and only with friends. We usually do it with someone of the other gender (mediterranean men tend to do it more readily with other men), and it is never as casual as shaking hands. It's quite true that the WTS has "advised" not to do it at the KH, for a reason I can understand, that is, it creates a sort of segregation between those who get a kiss and those who don't and the latter ones may feel they're not part of the club. Now, quite a few still do it with their close friends, I do it and no elder has ever openly disapproved of in front of me in the last ten years. I suppose some frown on it though since the WTS stand on this subject hasn't changed, to my knowledge. Depends in fact on congregations and elders and I don't know what the practice is in other countries.

10

Ex-JW Joy Castro writes her own "Truth Book" to cope, share, help

by Gopher in

jw
friends

i thought this was a compelling and honest account about overcoming a particularly traumatic childhood.

it was written about an associate professor of english studies.

the article was published in the daily nebraskan, the independent student newspaper of the university of nebraska in lincoln.. beneath the article is a section where you can add your comments for joy or for the student journalist who wrote the story.. http://www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/2008/02/19/news/unl-professor.writes.memoir.to.cope.share.help-3217944.shtml.

aligot ripounsous

"What kind of a god gives more of a sh -- about smoking than somebody who whales on little kids?"

That's how Joy's outspoken young friend and schoolmate, to whom Joy was confiding her miserable life with her abuser stepfather, and who helped her to run away from home, at the age of 14, and flee to her father's, summed up the way she was viewing the jw's religion (Joy's father had been DFed on the ground of smoking).

As a by-product of the seemingly pro-life stand she held when she got her unplanned pregnancy while still a junior college student (which stand, I like to imagine, was an imprint of her religious background), she gave up usage of drugs. That U-turn allowed her to achieve brilliantly as a University teacher. I can't help but think that, somehow, Jehovah has blessed her determination to reconstruct her personality and her life, the upper way.