{from watchtower life story- please note the pressure put on him at bethel}.
in 1934 karl klien had a nervous breakdown while serving at bethel.
baptized at 12 he didn't go door to door till he was 18...while serving as a teenage elder!
"In 1974 I was invited to become a member of the Governing Body...I NEEDED ENCOURAGEMENT TO ACCEPT IT."
He goes on to say Fredrick Franz "encouraged" him to accept and he did. Lots of pressure at Bethel to "do the right thing."
An enlightening glimpse giving insight into the life of a human being who was part of a group believed by millions worldwide to be the ONLY source of information from the CREATOR OF ALL THAT EXISTS!
what you reward you tend to get more of.. what you punish tends to atrophy.. the balance between a good act and a bad one consists of the consequences.. society has found many ways to treat bad behavior.
the worst being imprisonment and execution (if not torture) for high crimes.. but, there is a core philosophy among altruists and christians of a certain stripe who advocate forgiveness.. so, we ask the question : does forgiveness make any sense?.
when we do harm we cause an effect.. the effect injures others or their property.. to restore what is harmed a system of justice has developed to deal with administering the pressure toward restoration (when possible).. fines, community service, reparation for damages all constitute that restoration process.. insurance companies act as brokers in the case of "accidental" causes and effects and their remedy.. but, in the realm of religion the principle of forgiveness rears its ugly head!.
The Dali Lama is alleged to have said,
'My greatest fear is that I may lose compassion for those casting my people from their homeland!'
On responding to how he felt about Tibetans being turfed out of Tibet.
The alternatives are war till death for the weakest combatants.
These are two sides of the coin.
Legal justice leans heavily on the carefully written word, as do religions, in resolving disputes which serve ultimately to protect those issuing the written words along with those who support them.
Altruistic justice does not exist except in the minds and hearts of individuals. And Buddhism seeks forgiveness as the ultimate justice!
For example, if we in the west were to take up the gauntlet of fairness and justice, we may consider it only right and proper to hand powers back to indigenous peoples whom have had their homelands taken from them by invaders from other continents over the past few centuries.
That's the sort of thing we'd be getting into - along with writing off all third world debts for selling their people and stifling their economic growth!
Somehow I don't see this happening and so the 'individual' will continue to be the 'media scapegoat' as a distraction from the major issues which justice only pretends to address otherwise it would end up overthrowing itself - if you catch my drift. So the meeting out of justice is illusory and pertaining to present systems of power!
<!-- .style1 { font-size: 18px; font-family: arial; } .style3 { font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; } .style4 { font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; } .style5 {color: #ff0000} .style6 {font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-style: italic; } --> does being a jehovahs witness lead to disorders?the life of being one of jehovahs witnesses was a challenging one at best .
and an agonizing one at worst.
i recall the days of my black depression .
I prophecy that anyone hoodwinked into JW baptism not knowing the full effects of their insistence on closed mindedness, will, on leaving experience negative lifelong psychological traumas.
5go's thread about atheists returning to god (or vomit as gregor puts it so well .
i would like everyone to have at least one long held dream or ambition come true.
or are you lucky enough to have made your dreams into substance already?.
To dream again and this time find her.
if i had to be tied down i would say disfellowshipping.
totally unnecessary and i really think it spans itself into a lot of other wt policies/mindsets.
"disagree with us and you are a dead man"
The way they emotionally, socially and spiritually rape families of their inherent 'group-bonding culture' then metaphorically throw them out onto the streets as if they're trash!
Effectively that's how they hold on to most people via fears in conditioning them!
The only fun they appear to have have is excercising arrogance over those who are shunned. Especially when they're determined to effectively split up a family so that they hang on to ones not shunned - who get all the love showers and councel.
It's sick!!!!!!!!!!!
<!-- .style1 { font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; } .style3 {color: #ff0000} .style4 {font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; color: #ff6600; } --> can you see yourself with someone nearly 20 years your junior?i happen to work with a young woman who is 19 years my junior.
she is 21 and i am 40 years old.
recently, she let me know how .
It depends on both your perspectives as to the relationship each of you may be contemplating.
Personally I'd feel an extreme lack of confidence in that situation and this alone would tend to prevent me seriously considering it.
However if each of you are confident about who you are and about each other, then I see it as ok to see how you both integrate at a personal level. Some couples these days look at relationships in terms of the immediate future and not 15yrs from now, which is something else that would haunt me!
Everything is relative, and if the chemistry is there it may be something that could grow into a beautiful relationship.
Workplaces do produce a number of relationships in our society, but they can equally cause subsequent difficulties and it would be wise to consider any negative effects on your position should a relationship be started and later break down.
Part of your difficulty is that a non - stereotypical mating lies before you - age and the stigma of young women/ older men psychologies, as well as the frowned upon 'mixing work with pleasure' situation. All depends on how you both think you could handle all these complications in a way which makes them uncomplicated.
how do you see your own demise?
a long, slow, painful illness?
a quick crash?
When I was younger I always thought I might drop dead after tending to the needs of thousands of adoring women all after my body!
But now that it's all passed me by I'm lost, delusional and your question goes around my head like a psychological pinball racking up a high score and driving me insane - in fact I think I'm gonna kill myself trying to work out an answer -don't ask me any more life threatening questions!
seriously, think about this, when you look back on your faith, was it really in god, or was it the god from the witness perspective and you really did/do equate the witness organization with god, or was it really in men?.
with so many that have been disillusioned with god since leaving the witnesses, where was your faith really in?.
respectfully,.
I think from being young, religious and social conditioning introduces many youths into self conflict with their own biology and what God is all about without really understanding what a balanced view of it all, in practical terms, is all about.
If you'd been to taught how to be happy about what you think and feel without always looking to authority for a leading role in your life, you'd no doubt be confident on your own take on life and God without forever searching for role models or some other persons view on life to copy and paste into your own!
If you can help kids be confident kids, that's half the battle - they're already learning to be who they are - next help them believe in what they feel in and around the people in their lives!
tell me what jeans mean to you?
your first pair?
your favourite pair?
Quote,
to answer alligator wisdom's request for more info on myself...it will have to come out in trickles.
i am a prolific writer if i allow myself.
for now, i will tell you that until recently i was an elder.
Mind fog is a good way to explain life in general for anyone taking up the burden of JW faith. It sticks to you like a leach and sucks on many a situation you find yourself in. Having left one congregation, it raises questions about the whole organisation no doubt? Since they consider themselves 'at one' , an essence I sought and tried to be part of but never found, even in my own wife, it begs the question whether in reality they are what they're all sitting down studying to be? I'd love to say I saw it but I didn't! Even at Conventions a theme of discipline and mistrust always cut through the atmosphere. It beats up your heart and makes you into a lesser, weaker person than you were before with some sad consequences in many a case. One guy I knew who knew he was dying but had never got baptised spoke of how he felt hurt that such lovely people got spoken down to via the material they constantly studied and was preached - never allowing trust to feature long enough before more discipline was being preached. I knew what he meant and I'd put my soul into something which would take it away from me - along with my family ultimately, much less enrich me as a human being. It sounded so right but leaves me with a complete regret!
I wonder how you continue to explain to yourself your position in a united faith which isn't united in the hearts of it's followers and how you'll find anything you can believe in to the extent of a faith which demands absolute conviction? You're headed for strange territory cowboy and I hope you find a happy meaningful era for the next part of your life that you've been a prisoner from. You may find you've already been institutionalised!
