dear fellow posters and friends:.
a friend had been making excellent recovery after hospitalization and rehab.
then, some 6 weeks later, while an infection set in, he had to return to hospital.
"... was wondering if you or yours have ever had what appeared to be a good recovery, only to be followed by an unexpected reversal of progress and consequent decline."
Yes, this happened to one of my uncles, he was doing fine but then got some kind of staph infection.
An acquaintance also had this happen, appeared to be fine, then suddenly not. Had an instrument left inside her body.
having recently read orwells 1984, i was impressed with how he understood that both politicians and people abuse language.
this further confirmed to me how the w.t had deceived me by using words to distort reality.
the book 1984, also contains many other great thoughts of george orwell.. of course there have been many other great thinkers, buddah, darwin, freud, einstein and marx come to mind.
I am new to reading all these new & fascinating thoughts & "philosophies of men", so I may have a weird list. But some people/authors who have definitely opened my mind have been:
- Christopher Hitchens
- George Orwell
- Leo Tolstoy
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Ray Franz :)
- Isaac Asimov
- Oscar Wilde
- D. H. Lawrence
- Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) heh, why can't you explore new thoughts in cartoon format..? One reason I also liked "Peanuts", Charles Schultz. :)
...
apologies if some of these people may not be considered "great thinkers" - to me they seemed to be, as their words opened up many new thoughts and ideas and insights.
I continue the journey and look forward to reading some of the works mentioned above!
i did not write this piece.
i enjoyed the simple and understandable reasoning.
hope some of you enjoy it too.
Awesome posts, thank you. Although getting through it all did leave me rather dizzy, lol.
Splane is just so creepy. It almost seems like he's the motor behind many of these weirdnesses, but who knows. They are all so alien to me now. It is *all* very alien and spooky! Looking at these people and realizing they are the ones in charge of all the dogma and teachings ....
..to think about how the congregations actually function....even down to the individual level.. the biggest bully on the boe (or his wife), controls the show.. ones within the congregation are treated like they're dirt and still they return.
stockholm syndrome?.
i've heard ones say that 'jehovah(tm) will sort it all out.
Years ago, when I was a single sister with kids (among the lowest of the low in congregation rank), I remember going up to an elder's wife after the meeting to talk to her. I was all friendly, smiling, hello - how are you - and she POINTED* at me and said in this rude, commanding tone: "IT'S YOUR TURN TO CLEAN THE HALL TONIGHT!! Check the board, it's your book study's turn!"
There was no hello, no how are you, just this finger pointed at me and a command.
I knew then that I could never be friends with her. It was so disheartening, I never forgot the way that made me feel.
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* ... and when I say she "pointed" her finger at me, I don't mean she just stuck her finger out slightly, it was a full, stick your arm out as far as you can, don't get any closer, invasion of the body snatchers, type of pointing at me. Most disconcerting.
this is the fun one......... .
health, dismemberment, death (natural and unnatural) murder and suicide..
the people at bethel were killing us spiritually.......and sometimes they killed us physically too..
"There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed...." (from whatever scripture)
THANK YOU so much for these stories... it is fascinating to see "behind the veil" into the "most holy of holies" (God's house). uh huh.
Simon, maybe we need a new category for the forum, for Bethel experiences...? These are so eye opening and fascinating, not to mention sad, sad, sad beyond reason.
in this jc the couple accused of apostasy, lay down some inconvenient and incontestable truths about the organization's teachings that leave the elders speechless - as far as them mustering any efforts to refute them.
oh and by the way, do you remember what geoffrey jackson said at the australian royal commission when he was asked about an inactive jw being called to account if the elders stopped by and find him celebrating the holiday?
don't worry if you've forgotten because the couple mentions it to the elders, you know, seeing as it's the very same reason why they're being accused of apostasy, thus proving geoffrey jackson's statements to be false!.
I like how the brother stood up to the elders and firmly told them NOT to do anything that would threaten his family relationships.
I think by that point the elders were wishing they'd never started that judicial committee. I sure hope they just leave him and his wife alone.
another thread got me thinking of this issue.
i don't think you'll ever come across a set of people with such a skewed and twisted outlook on life.. my memory serves me well when i recall a sort of blood lusting excitement over things like the 9/11 atrocities.
in fact i remember jw's describing the event as 'sad but exciting.
You're absolutely right, jambon. All the wars and tragedies are "evidence" that these are the last days.
The first thing JWs ask if there is a disaster or earthquake, flood, etc., is: "Were any JWs hurt or affected?" as if JWs are the only people who matter. All other people are worldly, destined for destruction anyway, and all the better for them if they die now, on "this" side of Armageddon. So JWs are supposed to feel relieved, even happy, at large losses of human life - it means those people will get a chance to live forever, to be resurrected after Armageddon.
I never realized, as a JW, just how skewed and messed up is this mental reasoning or viewpoint -- it makes one have no compassion for humanity or suffering. They erect such a wall between "them and us" - cruel stuff indeed.
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And you are so right about their interrogations, they have to know your "spiritual status", they will probe to see how much you are one of them or not.
i missed the jw, history making, all new mid week meeting!
and i am just so torn up over it, i've had a few drinks to drown my deep sorrow in, missing such a once in a lifetime event!.
oh how can i ever get over, such a lost opportunity like that, just don't know if i'll never get over it!.
