Thank you for this great thought !
It seems that I have felt and known this for years, but I never "connected the dots" like you did.
lancelink
JoinedPosts by lancelink
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17
No natural affection? Jehovahs Witnesses fulfill this scripture
by jambon1 inanyone who can turn their back on their flesh & blood sons and daughters, mothers and fathers fulfill this prophecy perfectly.. people who do this are utterly unloving & cruel.
it has lead thousands of people to feel issolated, alone & in many cases suicidal.
how can such a thing originate with god?.
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Dealing with reality after leaving the witnesses
by lancelink inthis afternoon i was reading newsweek, and smithsonian magazine online, and there were two video's on the sites that really caused a massive conflict in me.. one video was about the 3rd and 4th generations of children living in viet nam who had grandparents, and great-grandparents who had to deal with agent orange back in the 1960's.
sorry i can't find the video now.
then i was reading the smithsonian magazine and there was a vidoe about illegal wildlife trade in the world:.
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lancelink
This afternoon I was reading newsweek, and Smithsonian magazine online, and there were two video's on the sites that really caused a massive conflict in me.
One video was about the 3rd and 4th generations of children living in Viet Nam who had grandparents, and great-grandparents who had to deal with agent orange back in the 1960's. Sorry I can't find the video now. It was so horrible looking at the young children who never will have any type of a decent life because of the problems they inherited from this stuff.
Then I was reading the Smithsonian Magazine and there was a vidoe about illegal wildlife trade in the world:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Wildlife-Trafficking.html
Watch the video "African Ape smuggling" about halfway down the page
So needless to say, I was slightly disheartened about life after watching these two videos. A part of me wanted to do something such as send in some money, to help the kids and animals, but a little voice kept nagging me while watching that said "don't get involved, god will take care of these problems WITHOUT your help.
After being a witness for 30 years, I remember the mantra of focusing on the new system to end all the problems. Getting involved in any way would be a total waste of time. Don't send in money or get involved because jehovah will soon wipe away all types of problems like these.
Yet now I wonder what I could have done in other avenues of charity work if I had a bit more of a backbone in my earlier years.
No doubt I would have gotten involved in other areas such as local food pantries, big brother, and more animal welfare areas.
But even though I have been out of the jw religion now for around two years, that little voice from the wt organization still raises its ugly head when I think about helping someone/something in a charitable way.
I realize that I need to "break" the mold and move on, yet I am curious,,,,, how long did it take you to finally move on and be able to freely do something out of the feeling found deep within your soul and not have the wt diverting all of your thoughts and energies into what they wanted you to be focusing on ??
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bullfighting
by lancelink ina friend of mine recently returned home from a trip to spain.. one day he went to a resturaunt down the street from an arena where they have bullfights, the "plaza de toros".. in the menu were bull testicles, so feeling somewhat adventurous he tried them, thought they were a little tough and had little flavor, and another.
thing, they were big, almost the size of a pear each !.
he ate two and left.. .
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lancelink
A friend of mine recently returned home from a trip to Spain.
One day he went to a resturaunt down the street from an arena where they have bullfights, the "plaza de toros".
In the menu were bull testicles, so feeling somewhat adventurous he tried them, thought they were a little tough and had little flavor, and another
thing, they were big, almost the size of a pear each !
He ate two and left.
The day before he was leaving, he brought a fellow traveler into the resturaunt, and ordered the same thing.
The waiter came out with a platter on which were the testicles, but they were much smaller this time. Cofused he asked,
"why are these so much smaller, last week the ones I had were twice the size"?
The waiter looked at him and said, " sometimes in the arena the bull wins"
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JW Jokes - Post Your Favorites
by awaken2004 ina man arrives at the gates of heaven.. st peter asks, "religion?".
the man replies, "methodist.".
a third man arrives at the gates.. st. peter: "religion?".
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51
So, after I laughed my butt off,
by John Doe ini asked myself if this was cruel.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9kdr5-teio.
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lancelink
Boy,,, the scene where the cat realizes that the water is coming up from the floor is really funny!
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17
Switching congregations
by EmptyInside indid any of you start going to another hall if there were problems in your last congregation?
it happens a lot now.
when someone has an unresolved problem, they decide to go to a neighboring congregation..
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lancelink
Nope, My wife and I always stayed in one hall, we toughed out all the BS and backbiting that happened when a major problem happened.
But the downside to this was we s- l- o- w-l-y developed a major case of burnout.
After years of doing our best to support our local congregation, a long stretch of new crisises(is that a word) began to snowball together
and we quickly began to doubt why we kept trying to be supportive.
Flameout, and now we are both gone
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23
Amway
by bobld ineverybody has heard of amway but few are joining.everyboby has heard of jehovah's witnesses but few are joining.both use deceptive tactics to recruit new members.. bob.
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lancelink
WOW,
My Dad was really into amway for several years back in the 70's, and then he progressed directly into becoming a JW with no problem.
what a messed up time that was, good grief !
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Missing a big part of life
by lancelink ini celebrated christmas for 17 years before my parents became jw's.. when we became witnesses my dad got rid of decades worth of christmas decorations.. my grandparents came over from austria during ww 2 and ornaments from their parents were hung on our tree.. the tradition went on up to the mid 70's,, we had many old ornaments that were just thrown out when the wt society thinking.
took over.. now that i am in my late 40's and have gone full circle, we will be celebrating the ho;lidays this year.. .
shopping at target last night i fully realized what my family has lost.
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lancelink
I celebrated Christmas for 17 years before my parents became JW's.
When we became witnesses my dad got rid of decades worth of Christmas decorations.
My grandparents came over from Austria during WW 2 and ornaments from their parents were hung on our tree.
The tradition went on up to the mid 70's,, we had many old ornaments that were just thrown out when the wt society thinking
took over.
Now that I am in my late 40's and have gone full circle, We will be celebrating the ho;lidays this year.
Shopping at Target last night I fully realized what my family has lost. Decades worth of memorable decorations were disposed of in
line with jw teachings.
I feel that a huge part of my youth is gone,with no chance of getting any of it back.
Yes, we could start over, but decades worth of those memories would have been nice, what a waste !
Did any one else have an awakening like this ?
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Horrid Perfumes and Nasty Nairspray
by Elsewhere inwhy do people wear these things?.
don't these people know they make everyone else sick?
for those who wear perfume: please do not spray it directly onto yourself.
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lancelink
Those feminine hygeine spray smells take me back to the KH when I was a young person Akkk !
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6
"Lovers of Freedom" Convention
by White Dove indid anyone feel kind of perplexed as you read that title?
did it do a somersalt in your head while you tried to grab hold of the message it was supposed to convey?
when i read that some summers ago, my mind struggled to make sense of freedom while a jw.. i couldn't do it.
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lancelink
I would get the feeling such as when an acute case of the flu hits you like a hammer to the stomach.
Then a massive headache as I tried to grasp the concept,,, never worked.