have you ever come across words that resonate with you?
it doesn't have to be a great gem of wisdom, just something that is meaningful to you.. please share, and if you want to, tell us why it's meaningful to you.. here is something that made me nod when i first read it.... .
"fortunate are those who have learned to see, in the wild things of nature, something to be loved, something to be wondered at, something to be reverenced, for they have found the key to a never-failing source of recreation and refreshment".
When you have compassion for evil, it shows disdain for the innocent. Dr. Laura
The fly in the vinegar was happy until he got out and tasted honey.
It easier to fool people then to convince them that they have been fooled. Mark Twain
A man with experience is not at the mercy of a man with an an opinion.
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of the truth. Albert Einstein
good evening folks!
we have encountered this advice countlessly on wt study articles.
this especially comes out to ease the waiting pain of brothers eagerly waiting for god's new world and the end of the old system of things - with all the sufferings that go along with it.. i also noticed this being floated to try to extend the patience of brothers who are jumping ahead of the organization in terms of thinking - as if they are pre-empting the organization on certain sensitive views and issues.. if a brother has gotten an idea or insight that is far more superior than the present affairs in the society, or regarded as way in advance - he can be branded as a brother "not in order".
I was told to wait on Jehovah when I was concerned that some child might be harmed by one of the child molesters we had in the hall.
The CO even told me that it was not my place to worry about such things ( I am after all only a lowly woman in a man's world) and even if the worst case happened and child was molested Jehovah would wipe that memory out of their minds in the new system.
The answer I got was I just needed to wait on Jehovah to fix the problem, because not telling parents did not make sense to me but if that was the way the Faithful Slave wants it then I should not question it.
By the way Tim Hopper loved your post, how truly sad is that toomstone.
LITS
for many years, since the mid 80s, marilyn zweifel manned the help-line.
several months ago, the help-line stopped due to marilyn's serious health issues.
marilyn was hospitalized a few weeks ago.. she has serious health issues and has suffered from 2 serious falls... she is now in a nursing home.
I am so sorry to hear this. I think we all owe her a hug amount of gratitude for all of her hard work. I myself have never spoken to her but I have heard only good about her and how much she did to help those who were so depressed and in need when they felt so alone after leaning TTATT.
My thoughts are with her and her husband.
LITS
hi, my name is brock talon.
yes, i'm a recovering jw-aholic.. .
my addiction started just around my 6th birthday.
I love that analogy of the religion being a drug. I have thought about that a lot since I woke up to it not being the "truth".
It is so much like getting a high. It starts when you are young and do a demo on the service meeting or even before that when you are three or four years old and you raise your hand to answer a question from the WT. Everyone is so proud of you and you get a high off it and then you chase it the rest of your life only you have to do more and more and more to get the same high and it is never as good as that first high.
When you are in your teens when all of the other kids are out having fun in the summer camping, swimming, just being kids doing and making memory's. You dress up in hot cloths and auxiliary pioneer but then that is not enough so you are pushed to drop out of school to reg pioneer at least where I lived that was encouraged. Soon that is not enough to get the high and as a women there is not much more room to do anything and so you loose the high which pushes you try and try to do more.
I was able as a women to go to Bethel but not many are and even at Bethel you never get the high you seek as you never can do enough even there.
After awhile you are a true addict away's wanting that first high that you can never get again and you wake up one day realizing that you wasted your life chasing a drug that will never give you fulfillment.
Thank you Living a Dream for all you have done, looking forward to reading your book.
LITS
these are just some of the things i was told studying with the witnesses in 1959 .in 1960 we got married in one of the few kh`s that existed in melb.at the time .and we were required to pay/contribute to the bro.who conducted the service.. i was led to beleive in my studys that smoking was a no,no ,so i gave up ,learning later that wasnt the case ,the ministerial servant book study conductor in our group still did smoke.
( the ban on smoking didnt come in till later on ).
while they may not have passed the collection plate around , they did on a regular time frame appeal for donations from the platform for funds to offset the renting of a hall , my first congregation , or the upkeep /maintenance of a kh or for the"world wide work of witnessing" .
When the donation arraignment went into affect, I went up to pick up our mags for field service there was a line of ones coming to pick stuff. At this time my husband and I were both pioneers and living on nothing, we were in a hall where the CO had asked my husband to move before we were married.
So anywho I did not have the money to put in the box until I got paid the next day but my elder husband wanted the mags to use in field service the next day so I thought I would put the money in at the next meeting. The MS who was handing out the mags looked at me and 'said where is your money for these?' I was speechless he pulled them back from my hand and said really loud when I see your money you will get your mags. Everyone in line just stared at me and I wished the floor would open up so I could disappear.
LITS
please don't take this the wrong way, i would love it for women to comment on this thread because i just can't understand something!!.
here's the pattern i see:.
mostly guys in here.. if the guys are married, their wives usually stay a jw, or it takes 3 times as much time to convince a woman to leave than a man.. if the guys have a jw father, the father is open-minded and can be more easily persuaded to leave.
I am a women who left and my husband is still in, he will not reason through on things keeps saying that the core beliefs are true even though he acknowledges there are problems, where else can he go, yad, yad, yad.
I hate the way I was treated as a woman, I hated not having a family life, no time together as a couple, etc.
LITS
okay, after a discussion with the seperated wife who admitted that because she is a jehovahs witness that she expects to be hated by everyone.
she expressed that she was "foreign" and not the same as others since she is not of this world.
okay, reality check - this is actually taught by the watchtower?
I just had a JW tell me that. I had hernia surgery three weeks ago and I ran into an older JW woman. I was walking kind of slowly and I told her about my surgery and how I had this really wonderful doctor and how I was doing really well for the most part expect for this bruise on my leg. Without missing a beat this JW tells me 'well you know the doctor beat you right. Everyone is always trying to get at those of us in the "truth" and he beat you while you were under, that is why you have the bruise.'
I was just blown away, at first I truly thought she had to be joking and I started to laugh but she really meant it and was kind of annoyed that I laughed.
You just cannot make this stuff up.
LITS
for any brother who is a jehovah's witness, the goal is put before them to reach out for the privilege of being an elder.
i can only speak for myself, but being born into the religion, i wanted to be an elder since i was 5. i would have much rather wanted to be a doctor or engineer, but those are the breaks..... i'll skip the part about what it takes to reach out, all the crap you have to put up with as a ministerial servant to get appointed, and go straight to the reality.. i know many elders who sincerely just wanted to be shepherds.
i did want the spotlight.
btt
are there personality disorders that find the watchtower an appealing fit?
i have read it before that people with personality issues are attracted to extreme religions, and that extreme religions can make a "normal" person mentallly ill. .
to start off with, i was reading about obsessive-compulsive disorders and this "profile" seemed like the "normal" jws i know:.
I think Julia said it best "When this ideal is constantly held up, you compare everyone to it and become completely judgmental and a stickler for stupid rules."
I was never good enough, I never had enough faith, I did not rely on Jehovah enough, I did not study enough, the list of what I did wrong was always, always, always, in front of me. I married a man who had been an elder for 12 before we were married and he was asked to move to a hall where the need was great for elders. It was in the country which meant we had to drive and drive and drive around aimlessly just racking on the miles but it also meant I was stuck in a car with anywhere between five to six other people who HATED ME being the only elder's wife in the hall.
I was young than early 20's and did not know how to stand up for myself at all. I could do nothing right in the eyes of these people, what I said at the door was ripped apart as soon as we left the door, my fear of dogs was ridiculed, I had to work 30 hours a week to support this stupid waste of time plus try to get in my 90 hours a month pioneer hours yet I was talked to about my falling asleep while we were driving around between doors. I was exhausted which only leads to OCD even more. I totally had OCD at that time.
The whole thing looking back is just a pressure cooker for mental illness.
LITS
i want to thank you kind folk for caring about me!!!!.
apologies for not checking in sooner, i have been so busy with the new job, and by the time evening comes i am so exhausted to log in from my laptop (that is sooooooooooooo slow).
update: job is going well - i'm back in sales and with the community newspapers known as the fever.
I am so happy for you
LITS
