Posts by waiting

77

Writing private letters to the Society.

by spectromize in

for anyone who's ever written something of a private nature or asked clarification on certain beliefs have you ever had the unfortunate experience of the elders calling you in the back room or a sheperding call ?.

the reason i bring this out is that newer brothers or sisters don't know that everytime you write the society the society sends a copy of your letter to your local cong.

elders.

waiting

Dear Friend,

You have opened a can of worms - and I truly wish I knew how to copy your post with those cute little lines that you and Frenchy use. How do you guys do that? (I am quite well written on the lack of my computer literacy.)

However, I did, in fact, write a 4 or 5 page, single spaced letter to the Society about the actions of the elders when they handled my daughter's disfellowshipping. They were wrong - even the Circuit Overseer said so in his subsequent visit to my house.

I did not receive a response from my beloved Society for my "respectful" outpouring of my heart and my anguish. I did recieve a visit from the Circuit Overseer and Presiding Overseer of my congregation - unsolicitated, but nevertheless, ok.

The CO explained that's how the Society did it sometimes - the Society sends the letter to the CO and the CO and PO come see the writer - and I thought ok so we talked. And he did agree that the elders handling my daughter's disfellowshipping were completely ignorant on how to even talk, let alone handle, an incest survivor - especially when one of the men who abused her was a ministerial servant. And you might ask, how do I know this? Because I called the cong. where I raised my daughter and told them and they said they had just received a letter from him own daughter about years of incest and rape at his hands. My daughter was this older girl's little companion.

Three years ago, my husband and I wrote a 33 page letter, plus 100 pages of legal attachments (deeds, bank closing statements, surveys, appraisals, etc.) to the Society, pleading with them to look into an issue that cost us over $100,000 dealing with the body of elders.

The Society replied that they were sending a copy of our letter to the elders in our congregation, and then they would be in a better position to answer our letter. I am quoting as their letter was only two paragraphs long.

We waited approx. nine months then approached our CO, asking him, respectfully, to meet with us about this issue. He called Serv. Dept. for a copy of our long letter and he said: "I was told not to talk to you about this matter, they said they were handling it." It has now been a year and we're still, respectfully (kinda), waiting for a reply.

So, just because you've been an elder for many years, and things weren't handled this way in your congregation - doesn't mean it's that way in all of congregations. Your argument only holds water in your local well. Our water tastes rather poisoned.

42

Blood Transfusion?

by Friend in

considering the latest questions from readers article on blood transfusion, i was wondering what the feelings are among this forums participants about blood transfusion.

over the years the society has been receiving a growing amount of letters on the subject of blood and blood transfusion.

any interesting biblical perspectives here about whether "abstain from blood" means abstain from blood transfusion?

waiting

7, I know how you feel about posting something personal about yourself. Sometimes you just feel like your 2 cents are worth it.

And your 2 cents are worth it. I'm sorry about your condition and the possible eventuality of it. I also face an eventuality which I don't like to think about - makes for a strange bedfellow, doesn't it? Unless you have a campanion in your mind and body that you didn't ask for and don't want - it's hard to understand how it feels.

One of the hardest issues I had to face during therepy was the issue that I was somewhat crippled by my past life. It was not my fault, just like a desease, but I had to adjust my life around it. My sister is going through cancer treatment and we've talked about this a lot. It's hard remaking your self image, especially when you don't want to.

I will never understand all the arguments for and against the blood issue. It was so much easier to have the elders hand me a card, and "suggest" that I "make sure to sign it in front of them TONIGHT" and I would do that. Not much thinking involved. And I didn't think. Simple, complete.

Please be assured that I, and many others, and in all due respect, your family, have much fellow feeling for you - in spite of the fact that you are pretty.

Friend, you've thought about this blood thing a lot, huh? You and Frenchy will get along just fine.
Thank you for sharing and snuggle well tonight.

18

Beautiful Poetry by Frenchy

by waiting in

jw
friends

please go to the section under literature & reading for a pleasure.. normally, i don't like poetry - yet printed these out because of their beauty and softness.. thank you, frenchy, for sharing your art with us.

waiting

Amen, Brother.

45

My Journey

by Frenchy in

jw
friends

i suppose we all think of ourselves as unique and we are in so many ways.

what i fail to realize, i guess, is that we are far more alike than unique.

every now and then i will reveal some little fear or quirk or dream that i have only to find out that someone else has experienced the same thing!

waiting

Dear Carmel,

I missed your point, what is it? That God is working through other religios groups or just plain people (like us).

Or are you suggesting that demons could be at play? Man, I've been a JW for way too long.

44

"Apostolic succession"?

by Jokemyster in

jw
friends

since the wt organization claims "apostolic succession" who was it that passed the torch of gods spirit to c.t.russel when he founded the.

organization?

what denomination or faith?

waiting

Friend, Just to butt in here for a minute------

The Society, to my limited knowlege, does say that they are the only true organization (religion) just like the first century christians. Why, they, the 144,000, are even anointed like the first century christians, unlike us of the other sheep. And the 144,000 are the only ones on the earth that are anointed like the first century christians.

The Society also says that they teach directly the Bible truths like the first century christians. Like my post above brought out - I, like you, do not believe that the Society believes that they have a continuous thread of popes or leaders throughout the entire 2,000 years since Christ.

The Society has lead us to believe, through the pages of the Watchtower and Awake articles about the faith of small groups thoughout these 2,000 years, that there has been "a" witness for God on the earth most, if not all, of these same 2,000 years.

And since there has always been "a" witness on the earth for God, why, yes, the Society can claim, if they wanted to, that there has always been Jehovah's Witnesses on the earth for God. This has been brought out in quite a few articles over the years on these Dark Ages witnesses. Remember the Gutenburg (forgive my spelling) press articles? "I'll put a bible in every plowman's hands." BTW, that is not an word-for-word translation - but the thought is correct, as I'm sure you'll agree.

The Catholic church teaches that since Peter (Saint), there has been an apostalic succession of popes to present day. This is probably not true - if you're arguing for the true religion.
But they can claim a lot of popes throughout history.

Could it be that there has always been people, even a person, on earth somewhere that has loved God just because they loved God? And they wanted to share that love with others? No need for apostalic succession - just people?

10

a letter to Dr laura

by Jokemyster in

jw
friends

ask dr. laura.

dear dr. laura, thank you for doing so much to educate people.

regarding god's law.

waiting

Frenchy, I just saw Jokester's Dr. Laura post on H20.

Your sarcasm was much more literate - so far.

Tina, this is not a sneer - I guess the Big Guys just haven't had time to post their sarcasm yet, OK? Don't get uptight with me again!!!!

9

Best Comedy for Dysfunctional Persons!

by waiting in

stuart little saves his family in fact, it's on right now - but i've seen it at least half dozen times - it's great.. this movie laughingly goes into really serious sh*t. and it handles it well.

a great movie to appreciate how most families are - to one degree or another.

now to a beer, pizza, and stuart........

waiting

Spectrum, Dumb and Dumber was just plain funny - and really, didn't address a useful subject - other than the scene where the guy licked the ski chair. Now that was an excellent and realistic scene. My mom as a kid actually did something similiar - to an old ice box. Her father, not known for patience - just ripped her (and her poor tongue) from the ice. Poor little girl suffered terribly for about a week afterwards.

Stuart deals with every emotional dysfunction you can think of, almost. Drinking, drugs, fat, incest, brutality, shelfishness, low self esteem....the list just goes on and on, but it does it in a humorous manner which gets you thinking - but thankfully not too hard. It really is a serious movie done humorously.

But it was a close choice - I really like Interview with a Vampire also. My kids read all of Anne Rice's books, but I never did. Liked the movie, though. I'd be hard pressed to get a moral out of it - other than Vampires exist (in Anne's head - and big bank account.)

8

My Bible Study

by Scorpion in

jw
friends

i have two bible studies at present.

one of these is an xmormon.

he has been out of the lds for over a year now.

waiting

Gee, Frenchy,

Isn't that like a whole lot of JW's? Don't know how to go into the Bible in depth - but know a whole lot about our religious materials?

In fact, a lot of religious people?

16

A note to my elder 'friends'

by George in

the laugh is on you my elder 'friends.

' years ago you could prance up to the platform, stand behind the mic, and declare, 'brother parrish has been disfellowshipped' and no one would talk to me.

but those days are over my 'friends,' because there are many who talk to me anyway in spite of what you've said.

waiting

Dear George,

With a civil hand (and keypad), welcome to our area.

Frenchy's right, we don't agree sometimes, but we can disagree without being disagreeable. I personally think he took that quote from me - but I'm really trying hard not to be disagreeable tonight. I really am.

I read your post "Sam" on H20 - please be civil in here - your sarcasm is quite apparent. This is just a place to talk our thoughts.

Thank you very much, George.

15

Introduction

by Carmel in

i just wanted to introduce myself.

i grew up as a witness in the 50's but found that there were to many issues that i could not resolve without going "outside" to investigate.

i have never returned and have no desire to, however, about two years ago i discovered h20 and have been participating there every since.

waiting

For some reason, we never come into this area. I really don't know why....poor Simon and all his work.

Welcome to our forum - I have already posted to you - but I didn't want you to think that we don't answer posts - didn't want you to think that we didn't want you here or anything.

Come back and visit.