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Oubliette-
What a great idea!
Apparently, I speak, read and write adequately. ...however...
I am one of the masses who has no idea of what 'critical thinking' entails- only encountered the term since being on JWN.
But since experiencing the lively debates on here, I recognize a good debate but have no idea of the elements that form one.
So, please, you legion who thrive on debating...enlighten we lesser educated ones.
Thanks - Gone for Good
There's no friends like old friends.
Your daughter must be a special person too, to be remembered fondly all these years later.
Don't you just love a happy ending?
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Hello and Welcome Apocryphal -
Lots of lovely, wise and helpful friends here for you.
We older ones are delighted to look on as, ever more young folks like you, prepare for
a fulfilling and satisfying life of freedom.
the life of a human being progresses toward maturity and peaks and then gradually atrophies into old age, inability, possibly debilitation and then death.. it is the same for all people unless they meet with an accident or misfortune along that continuum.. i propose that we measure and test the virtue of being a jehovah's witness by focusing on the blind spot of their religion.. .
what is the blind spot?.
the watchtower society is in major denial that the members of that religion will actually grow old and die.. as a consequence of this major blind spot the members are less likely to include provisions for that inevitability.. the active and committed jw spends a preponderance of their vital years serving the needs of the group and not for saving for old age.. once that outstanding performance lessens and fizzles into decrepitude--the society itself makes no provision for their senescence.. .
Village Girl - well stated!
a canadian in china, facing the elders in a starbucks.
great story.. .
the believer - leaving the witness.
Snare & Racket - you a Canuck too?
a canadian in china, facing the elders in a starbucks.
great story.. .
the believer - leaving the witness.
What a gracious awakening this young pioneer had.
This is a feel-good must read from a non-fiction magazine The Believer.
I hope her family feels genuinely proud.
that's how i feel when i see these crazy new wt study articles and the inane reasoning contained therein, and the indoctrination machines of meetings run by all those little hardened human cogs and the unending stream of propaganda we're pitched up against.
.. you could spend all your time working through those wt articles (see cedar's post on the latest 'new light') and refuting the stupidity, and yet most witnesses aren't even concerned with changes to the fds or 144 000 because like all of humanity they're too busy trying to scratch a living as it is.
such airy doctrine changes don't have any effect on their day to day lives and is thus irrelevant.
Julia -
The last paragraph of your opening 'rant', is ample evidence that you are solidly pointed in the right direction for any human.
That you, or anyone, pursuing such a life as you desire , should feel encumbered and not encouraged by that organization is truly a rebuke to their very existence.
I percieve that you are already free, as your path ahead is so clear that you can discribe it - and beautifully, I must say.
You are exactly what the WTS fears most.
this memorial was my 40th (minus a couple of yrs, df'd) and although i have faded as far as possible and still able to keep my family and friends it was the strangest and most reflective of all since learning ttatt.. i tried to focus on the talk to see if it was anything earth shattering but the only thing was the major focus on who should not partake.. i won't focus on the talk as many have already posted that and the fact that it was from a gb/fds outline it was the same everywhere.. i quickly started looking around at all the people wondering how many were like me totally awake like someone who wakes up from anesthesia during major surgery and feels immense pain, but know one in the room knows.. there must be many among us, we can't speak , move or share our pain we must endure.
that is truly hell.. when i looked around at the large crowd i saw many whom i love dearly and have had truly wonderful times with, ones that i would still gladly give my life for not as jdubs but just because of who they are.. .
these are good people who for the most part are just trying to be the best humans possible in an impossible situation.
I hope your loved ones join you.
Remember, many more will be following your lead
That casts a cheery glow.
I heated our house for a whole day with our old WT trash - and I got a really nice leather 'toolbox' out of the deal!
leaving the org was not a doctrinal choice for me as it was for many on this board.
i left mentally because of the boredom and then i physically left by being dfd.
i have been reading here for about a month or so and now i know i made the right decision.
Slavenomore -
Welcome friend. You and I have so very much in common.
It has always seemed too exhausting an enterprise, to commit the sad cult years to writing -
strangely that is what you have just done... and eloquently.
Thank you. GfG
