i have never been able to understand the "the brothers from xyz cogregation are sending their love" at the end of a public talk.. it always seemed to occur when the speaker was from a far-away place.
then, we all have to clap when he rhetorically asks "do you want to send our love to them?".
they never seem to do it when it is a near-by congregation .. only one far away.
Gopher paraphrases George Carlin,
But the worst thing is if the 2nd person sends love back, through you, to the first person! Now you're hauling all this love back and forth! What a burden!
LOL, When I was reading this thread earlier today, I was thinking something along these lines. There's a lot of sending and carrying of an abstract idea going on here. How about we just mail that love next time.
every child and bible student was told about how wonderful the "new system" was going to be.
"and what animal do you want to have in the new system?
"......that was a very typical question.
When I was younger, I dreamed about what kind of house I would have and traveling all over the world. I did kind of wonder how I would do that. Would we have some advanced non-polluting form of transportation or would we have to do it in an old-fashioned slow mode?
Later in my teens, I did think about sex. I was somewhat concerned that perhaps when the world population was filled out, God would decide to simply remove the sex desire instead of providing a 100% effective form of contraception (e. g. miraculously making us all sterile). Then I wondered would I actually get tired of one woman after a million years or so. Would he let us switch up every few thousand years or so? Well I didn't really get that far into my wonderings, but I did think about the question of sex after full world population a few times.
a little background on me.
i have never been a jw or had any desire to be one.
i definitely have no desire to join.
I remember going on a tour bus with a bunch of other JW's when I was 15 to see Bethel in Brooklyn, Watchtower farms up in Wallkill, NY and that theater they use as a Circuit Assembly Hall in New Jersey (can't remember the name now). I grew up in a rural area in the south and part of the appeal for me at the time was simply that I had never been to New York. Besides that my grandmother was taking me so I was going far from home on a trip without my parents, what fun! Another part of the appeal was things that others have mentioned. The example of what "paradise" was supposed to be like. Seeing the orderliness and the high degree of self-sufficiency in their operations. I must admit that I enjoyed the tour, although I was seeing it through the eyes of a 15 y/o good little JW. I liked seeing how the factory worked, the printing operations, etc. Part of that may have been some early engineering interest of my own. I'd enjoy doing a factory tour even now as long as it was not the JW factories. (I find the work of manufacturing engineers to be quite interesting.) I look back now, and I can see how it was zombie-like it was there but I was a zombie along with them, smiling and walking along as if that was the greatest place on earth.
But there were a couple of things I did learn from the trip. First, I decided I did not want to take a trip on a tour bus again. I'd rather have my independence to come and go as I please. I took a trip to NYC in November. My wife and I went on Amtrak and took the subway wherever we wanted to go. That NYC trip was much more enjoyable than the one I did on the tour bus. Second I decided for sure that I didn't want to be a Bethelite. As I said, I was a good little JW at the time, so I still had visions of becoming a pioneer and perhaps a missionary, but after seeing how regimented life appeared to be there, I did not want that. If I remember correctly, it seemed that they controlled when you get up (and as result virtually controlled your bedtime), when you eat two of your daily meals and how you keep your room. All of that on top of the fact that they worked 6 days a week and had an extra meeting in the Monday night family Watchtower study. I remember them showing us a basketball court and perhaps a few other recreational facilities and wondering when would anyone have time to use them. Of course, when working a normal full-time job with an inflexible schedule, you have to get up at a certain time also, but a normal person has more control and flexibility on time outside of work hours.
i have never been able to understand the "the brothers from xyz cogregation are sending their love" at the end of a public talk.. it always seemed to occur when the speaker was from a far-away place.
then, we all have to clap when he rhetorically asks "do you want to send our love to them?".
they never seem to do it when it is a near-by congregation .. only one far away.
Never noticed a correlation to the distance from the congregation, but interesting observation. I always found the little procedure a bit odd. We can send our love by clapping to this statement. In the last congregation that I attended, when an elder would be visiting a congregation on Sunday, they would announce it at the preceding Service Meeting and the person announcing it would often ask if we wanted to send our love along with the brother to the next congregation and everyone would clap.
things were different when you were active in the org.
meetings, talks, service, assemblies, elders meetings, congrgational duties, busy with the hope of a reward of living forever and serving god with eternity in view.
all of your efforts and goals related to being a jw, your thinking, your views, your life, your future all revolved aroung the org.. with all that aside, what are you doing now?
The JW definitely gave me a clear purpose, supposedly honoring God, vindicating his name. And then there was the preaching work a "life-saving" work.
Well all that's gone. No such lofty purpose as saving people's lives now. Like others, I'm just trying to enjoy the simple things in the finite life I have. I do feel that I am providing some benefit to society. I have a couple of personal hobbies that I put a little more time into now, but honestly, I have had no problem filling up all the time that I formerly used in JW activities. I do feel less time pressure now.
brrr!
it's cold in toronto tonight/this a.m. - i believe it went as low as -26c (minus 26 celsius) .
it was pretty freakin' cold.
As I write this, the Washington Post website says we're up to a balmy 29 degrees F. But we've been down in the lower teens. I prefer warmer weather, but its kind of cool commuting on my bicycle in this weather. All but the most dedicated and serious bicycle commuters are screened out. No people with strollers or bug-eyed fair weather people standing still in the middle of the trail in popular recreational spots. I usually have to slow down for them, because they do have just as much right to use the trail, but with a clear trail, I can go as fast as I like and the weather makes it a little harder to work up a sweat.
witnesses are taught that they must love their neighbor and jehovah god.
when persons fade away or leave abruptly or get disfellowshipped, you often hear this statement:"well, they obviously never really loved jehovah anyway"........looking back, can you say that at one time you really did love jehovah?
That's an interesting question. At one time, I thought that I loved God, but I haven't really thought about that much since I left the JW. The main reason I left was that I cannot find conclusive proof that there is a God. So that does bring up some questions that are still unanswered in mind especially after reading some of the stuff that other poster's wrote.
First the point about the condition of loving God. As the Bible and JW's teach it, "you better love God or else." As someone stated, sounds more like fear than love. But there were times when I really felt a great since of appreciation for what I thought that God had done, like create the earth, the beautiful things on the earth and the immense potential to enjoy what is here. I also genuinely felt appreciation for what I thought I would enjoy in the future.
Then I think can you really love an entity that might not even exist, something that only exists in your mind or others minds? I know for sure now that I don't love "HIM" now since I'm not sure that "HE" exists. But when a child has an imaginary friend, does he or she really love it? Do children really love Santa Claus? People sometimes develop very strong feelings about characters in stories portrayed in television, books or theater. One person can create an imaginary entity or person and share the idea of that person with others and people will have a feeling about it, so I'm not sure about this question.
this is a quote from kingdom ministry, 6/89.
wholesome association.
5 one cannot walk with god while running in association with those of the wicked and sick society that approves of everything that god abhors.
My parents took it fairly seriously. I don't ever remember a case of two graduations, but we rarely had gatherings that included a mix of worldly relatives and JW. A wedding or an anniversary celebration would often generate a mixed crowd. But we never had a gathering or party to which a worldly acquaintance was invited. And time with worldy relatives was limited and separate from the social gatherings with JW. Most of the time spent with "worldly" relatives in my family happened at planned family reunions.
i recall praying countless of times about very specific things, "worked in harmony with my prayers" and nothing.
anything that remotely seemed like an answer was either coincidence or my own determination to get it done.. so, how about you?
did jehovah answer your prayers or were you like me, did you feel very frustrated and guilty because they were never answered?
I prayed for some specific things but I always added the qualifier if they were in God's will. While some things that I prayed for seemed to be answered if it didn't happen, I could say perhaps it wasn't God's will. So some times I did believe that my prayers were answered. However, nothing miraculous has ever happened to me. Most things that happened to me were either a result of my own actions or merely coincidence. Nothing in my life could be conclusively linked to some supernatural being or mysterious force.
i was kind of laughing today, upon reading a recent poll on another website.
i always find something funny about polls, that have a category for "undecided" or "i am not sure.
" as i wonder, "why even take a poll if you do not have an opinion on the subject?
Well at election time, an undecided vote would be kind of useless, but before the election an undecided would be useful at least to the politicians. Because they know that's someone they still have a chance to persuade. I will vote in the general election in November, but I have yet to decide who I will vote for, although, I'm fairly sure who I will not vote for. I still have some research to do, and the other guys in the race still have a chance to present their case and try to persuade me and other undecided's one way or the other.
