i am sick of living a lie, yet afraid to change it.
married to a man who refuses to listen, who would rather plug his ears and shout "nooooooo" is taking it's tole.
i am afraid to speak my mind about my doubt, my thoughts, and what i'm learning, as i'm not ready to cross that point of no return.
Dear MoodyBlue,
I would remember the Serenity Prayer, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." The tough part is having the wisdom to know the difference.
answering machine at the mental hospital: .
> "hello, and welcome to the mental health hotline.
> if you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.
Hey Prisca,
You're just getting up and I'm about to go to sleep. If you want to see some good North American humor check out North Dakota ID. Enjoy and send us some of your local humor too!
subject: fw: you might be a north dakotan if... (fwd) (fwd).
> subject: fw: you might be a north dakotan if... (fwd) (fwd).
you might be a north dakotan if.... 1. you know that everyone has a "city.
Well that was quite a story,
I can only comment on some of them as they relate to the fair state of Michigan.
#24 Deer Season: GM knows that the guys will be gone when deer season hits. Lotta guys get lucky that stay home that time of year.
#25 Rifles: Yeh, they are a big thing in Michigan. They will try to use them to lower the crime rate if they get the chance.
#32 Road Repairs: In Flint Michigan they don't even bother with road repairs, they patch it and wait for better times.
#34 Gravel Roads: They have them right outside of town and are proud of it.
#36 Canadians: We don't make fun of them, because they moved into the state. They promise to go home, but they won't.
37. Haircuts: That happens in all the states, so your not alone on that one.
45. K Mart: The first three words I spoke were "Attention KMart Shoppers"
49. Ice Fishing: Another big deal in Michigan. Just about every year they fish some guys out of Saginaw Bay, who went out on the ice and then the ice came loose and they were drifting out into no where land.
60. Jumper Cables: Everbody up north has em. I remember one time I went into this bar and got into a conversation with this bad ass. The bar maid cautioned me, but we got along fine. He went out and his car wouldn't start. I had jumper cables and we were friends ever after.
63. Norwegians: A lot of Norwegians live in the UP, that's the Upper Peninula of Michigan. Got a good friend whose half Norwegian and half Italian. By the way, do you have Pasties where you live, a wonderful Norwegian concoction.
66. Cabins: Most people in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan have a cabin. As soon as the wistle blows at the GM factory on Friday, they are on the road. Going North on a holiday or at the start of deer season is a major traffic jam.
Nice to share the regional news.
Got a joke for you.
There was this young guy from the UP who moved to Flint Michigan. He got a job at a small grocery store. One day, he was in the produce section and a customer asked if he could buy a half a head of lettuce, because being single and all he could never use up a whole head of lettuce, cause it would go bad on him. The new, young employee said he would have to ask the the store owner who was back by the meat counter, so he went back to ask him. He said, There's some jerk up front who wants to buy a half a head of lettuce." Well, the cutomer had followed him back there and was right behind him. The young guy turned and saw him and said, "And this fine gentleman wants to buy the other half." After the customer left the owner complemented the young man for being so quick on his feet. He said to him "you have real promise for this business. I know you're not from Flint, where are from." He said, "I"m from the UP." And the store owner asked him "Why did you leave the UP and move to Flint?" and the young man answered, "They only thing they have in the UP are whores and hockey players." The store owner rather angrily replyed, "my wife is from the UP", and the young man asked "Oh, what team did she play on?"
Pretty quick on his feet for a Upper, as they are called.
went to an interesting site the other day concerning 1914 and the wtbts.
it seems well researched and true.
hope you'll visit it and comment here.. http://home.online.no/~jansh/wteng/chron.html.
Hey Thinker's Wife,
I am not going to read everything your husband put up there. In my case, he's preaching to the congregation, and I've already read the book on the subject. I do hope that scholar reads it and the book on the subject as well. Maybe he will realize that there are better scholars out there than he had imagined.
Now, regarding MDS, I did read all his stuff, mainly to try to figure out what kinds of conslusions were embedded in all that verbage. I asked him a question awhile back and he hasn't been back since. He stated that the 70 year period from 1931 to 2001 was very important. I asked him to tell us exactly what was going to happen this year or in 2002, at the end of this momentous period, and so far he hasn't responded.
i recalled something said a while back by an elder during a service meeting a while back.
i beleive it was a local needs part on getting out in service.
basically what he said was this:.
Hey Joel,
Their persecution today is rather minimal, and they have taken steps to reduce it, like doing alternate service rather than jail time. By contrast, my mother's cousin served three years of a five year sentence during WWII.
Also, they permited the bribing of officials in Mexico to get out of any persecution.
If you go back and read Rutherford's books, you will see why they were hated back then. If you tell me that my religion is a Whore, I might be upset myself. That's what the Judge did, the spiritual leader of the JWS, serving up wonderful spiritual food.
heresy of the month (from a website).
don't you hate it when someone you know comes up with some new thing that you have never heard about?
you sit there in apparent ignorance as they pontificate about the proofs and merits of some idea so far beyond common knowledge that it can only be revealed by people of exceptional enlightenment such as they.
Brother Thinker,
I am so deeply proud, yet duely humbled by your appointmentship of me as "chief scholar and interpreter." I have been searching the scriptures, the New York Times, and my card board boxes full of books as a true scholar should. On my quest for truth I have discovered a comforting new truth. I hope you are ready for this, but I do believe that you do have enough of a spiritual foundation, so let me proceed.
I have some good news and some bad news. Yes, my friends there is a Hell, but don't dispair, you are sent there if you are fat to be in a heat treated room to work up a sweat and lose weight, then after you have done that, you are sent off to a better place.
God is merciful, you know.
whassup guys.
i've spent most of my web time over the last 2 years at another site full of ex-jdubs...i'd say about 50 people post there on occasion...many of that number regularly.. what struck me from the beginning, as i got to know the people posting there was...how many were now atheists...non-believers in god...the bible...pretty much anything they once held sacred as jw's!.
i dare say...90 some % do not consider themselves christian now!.
Joel,
I have stated what I believe earlier and will do so again. However, for openers, why don't you tell us what you believe. I would be glad to share my deepest beliefs with you, but I would rather have you go first. Otherwise, you're a curious bystander sitting on the side lines and not a full participant.
i have been having discussion with my sister (relative), who is an active witness, about writing a letter of disassociation.
the reason being is that i have not attended the meetings in over a year and it's been 4 years since i have went out in the jw ministry.. i going to try to sum this topic up.
my sister think that i should not da myself because i have not done any immoral act in her thinking.
Irving Janis, a social psycholgist, conducted research on a phenomena he called Groupthink. The characteristics of Groupthink are found in highly cohesive groups. One of them is: the illusion of unanimity. Which means that if you have doubts you believe that you are the only one that does. The WT compounds this problem by discouraging all descent. This makes many feel very alone, insecure, guilty, and possibly even mentally imbalanced. A lot of stress there, with seemingly no way out of the delema. Another symptom of Grouthink is an open attack and ridicule of the person expressing reservations. This attack may be subtle or harsh depending on the nature of the expressed concern. This is done automaticaly and effectively in the local congregations. It is desiged to keep people in line and keep a uniformity that is comfortable for the group but sad for the individual.
I think that the ability for people to communicate here and see how many people felt and thought before, during, and after coming out is very theraputic for newbies and seniors alike.
if this topic has been addressed already...sorry...just ignore it.... if not...i would like to hear from those who would defend this policy....or who see the inconsistencies in the views on blood but the wtbts.. .
the following is something i read on at another site.
there is no question that the watchtower's blood policy needlessly kills jw children.
Having been raised a Witness I have a certain revulsion to the idea of a blood transfusion, even though I have been out a long, long time. However, if it was a matter of life and death, I would authorize it for myself or a loved one. However, we all should have beliefs that we are willing to die for. What those are for each one of us is a personal matter.
matt.24:14. this good news will be preached in all the earth and then the end will come.. we have all remembered that verse,studied that verse and preached that verse.. the wts uses that verse to keep the jws going door to door.. of course,the wts also says we (everyone on earth)must become a jw in order to have gods favor.. i was having a discussion with a born again christian and he said the good news that is to be preached is about jesus having come and having been put to death for our transgressions.
so that we can now aproach god on the basis of the sacrifice.
in the name of jesu christ.. the wts says the good news to be preached is about the kingdom that is to come.. what do you think the good news that jesus spoke of is?.
Hey there Happy,
The decline is here now in all the industrialized nations. (See my stats. under the subject of JW Decline.)
