Excellent post! I came in on the six month plan. Yep, love 'em and leave 'em. Give you only six months to swallow all the garbage and dump you if you can't quite digest it fast enough. Do they still do this? I had a bible study and I used to take my mother-ex-law. The young woman had obvious troubles with her husband. He was violent, non-supportive(monetarily) and generally disagreeable. She used to ask questions about family life in the JW and I always tried to steer her away. I was having my own trouble and I wanted to scream, lose your man first or you'll be stuck with him for the rest of your miserable JW life. Now I think I should have told her just to run far away. Anyway, my mother-ex-law kept admonishing her to be in subjection, it's the way Jehovah intended. I split up soon after from my husband and moved many miles away and I believe my mother in law took over the study. I wish I knew what happened with her.
yrs2long
JoinedPosts by yrs2long
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44
PUBLISHERS
by Frenchy injehovahs witnesses are under a grand and multi-faceted illusion that has been fabricated and is being maintained by the society.
one such facet of that great illusion is that jws are actually proclaiming gods kingdom and teaching people the truth about god and jesus.
it was only a few years ago (hey, im not the brightest candle on the cake!
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With friends like these.......
by Belmont inwe've been out three years after many many years enmeshed in the org; not df'd or da'd, just fading away for family's sake.
this is a letter we received this morning from a jw friend of 25 years' standing who has continued to invite us to her house for meals, and eat with us during the past three years.. dear****, when i first knew you had ceased coming to the meetings, my heart felt love for you both, made me visit you.
the intention was to win back my dear brother and sister.. over a period of time i have come to realize that you have ceased associating with jehovah's organization and my conscience now feels i cannot continue our association.. i am sorry to lose you as friends.
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yrs2long
I was wondering if something new is happening. I recall a post a couple of weeks ago regarding an elders meeting where the elder said that inactive ones are still under God's law. I don't know if this was a valid post but the very next day my father called me out of the blue but I brushed him off. I wondered what precipitated his call though and I didn't call him back. I wonder if the society is considering flushing out the inactive from among the apostate.
This is definitely one way to make you show which side you are on.
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46
How could we all get along better together???
by Celtic inwithout being slagged off for opinions expressed, without being ridiculed often, without constant smart ass one liners and put downs, how could we given the opportunity get along better together?
not utopia, not this, not that, just a simple question in need of simple upbuilding replies that enable this place more to reflect the care for others it supposedly sets out to achieve.. any comments?.
here we go (rolling his eyes) .... peace.
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yrs2long
Tatiana,
I was reading some of your recent posts just now to see who might have offended you. I couldn't see any mean-spirited posts right out but I am hoping you aren't referring to my comments on the ebonics homework. I am really sorry if anything I said offended you; it really wasn't my intention whatsoever and I tried to make it clear later that I absolutely didn't feel you were prejudiced or starting anything.
If you were referring to something or someone else, my apology still stands. Making a point is not as important as making a friend.
Take care.
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221
The meeting did not go well.
by Danni init would have taken more much more time to tell it all.
he told us the meeting would began as soon as the other brothers arrived.
danni: i will give you two.
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yrs2long
I know myself pretty well and yet even I hesitate to say that there is something I would never do. How can anyone say of the entire BOE that they would never do something as trivial as yell at a non-jw? Especially considering that many witnesses only see non-jws as potential converts and yet here you have two bringing accusations from apostate websites and it is thought that these elders would have held back out of fear of stumbling these non-believers? Ever thought an elder would molest? And if the Governing Body could align itself with the UN after demonizing it for many years, can it really be said that an entire group of folks or even one representative of that deceiving group of men could never do something? This account does not stink to me, and if it does it surely reeks of the stench of credible truths I've had opportunity(?) to observe in my short JW experience. How did the elders allow this incident to progress to this point? Easily answered, IMHO, they probably helped to escalate it there.
I wanted to add that I haven't had the experience yet on this board of finding people with entirely contrived stories but even if this account turned out to be entirely fictional, and this is certainly not a disclaimer, I just cannot summarily dismiss it out of hand simply because it is outside of the realm of anything I've experienced in the organization.
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Ebonics Homework
by Tatiana inapologies to any tyson fans, but this was too funny!.
as part of his parole agreement, mike tyson has to go back to school .
and finish grade 5. this is mike's ebonics homework assignment.
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yrs2long
It's not really enough to say that kids need to learn the standard without analyzing why such learning hasn't already occurred naturally. Surely you don't believe that millions of black kids simply refuse to learn the standard. There appears to be a need for something to bridge the gap from Ebonics to Standard English. Also, there are other things that need to be addressed, namely, racial attitudes and economic conditions that cause languages and dialects like Ebonics and even Spanglish to flourish.
Problems occur when the Ebonics speaking child enters the classroom and meets the Standard English teacher who has no idea of the features of Ebonics. Especially does this happen if said instructor is inclined to think that Ebonics is simply lazy speech. More often than not, she corrects the student's speech very frequently thereby creating a child who either begins to shrink back from participating or becomes hostile to the teacher or process. Or she stamps out his creativity with her insistence on his use of a language style he has hardly grasped as different from his own. In many cases, the child simply checks out from learning. How different it would be if students were shown the difference between the two languages first and then when correcting writing assignments the teacher were to first judge the ideas and style of expression and issue a temporary grade on that criteria alone; then ask the student to rewrite using standard rules of grammar as have been discussed and demonstrated in the classroom. This would be fostering learning in a positive environment and would facilitate greater reception to education and greater learning.
And Hmmmm, you are correct in saying,
As with all language, "improper" use of vocabulary or grammar can eventually become accepted ("aint" finally made it into the dictionary). I'm aware that ebonics has rules of its own, but I find it very difficult to believe that it was created by someone with an english usage textbook in one hand, and a swahili usage textbook in the other, who invented specific rules based on "African sounds and language structure."
True, no one sat down and intentionally created a fused language called Ebonics. It sort of began as an emergency language that took on greater distinction with the production of offspring who increased the vocabulary of said language, and with linguistic isolation.
However, what people did was 'gather' a number of people from different tribes on the West African coast who spoke different languages, threw them together on a ship regardless of whether they were friendly or feuding tribes, sold them to a new country with a host of new languages, denied them access to bilingual programs and formal education and then relegated them to the fields. African slaves formed an emergency language using a mostly english vocabulary layered on top of west african language structure necessary for the most basic communication with slaveowners and each other. In addition, after slavery was abolished, they were left to live on their own in isolated communities recirculating and expanding this language.
Yes, language is fluid but this is more likely to happen when languages come into contact. Observe the differences that exist in the varieties of English where there exist physical and even class barriers.
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My Experience Growing up as a JW
by MissSC ini have never really shared my experience growing up as a jw, but feel it is time to share.
i am 26 years old and was raised as a jw from birth.
i left the jw when i was 14 by actions and 21 by a written letter, because i was baptised at the age of 11. .
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yrs2long
Welcome MissSC,
Many of us here have bruises from life in the Watchtower society. I too, found solace and strength from studying in college. I am currently pursuing my masters too. School is what put the most damaging cracks in my belief system, especially philosophy and the earth sciences.
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Okay Fess Up: What's Your Handle Mean?
by Mindchild inokay fess up: whats your handle mean?.
my handle: mindchild comes from computer scientist and futurist dr. hans moravec: who wrote the book, the future of robot and human intelligence which is a book about when we will be able to construct machines capable of human intelligence and raises the possibility of uploading ourselves (every thought we ever had) into an android body much superior to the human ones we have now.
i entertain the hope that not only will i live long enough to see this happen, i will transfer myself (the complete essence of what is me) into a body of my own choosing and become immortal if i so choose.
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yrs2long
My name reflects how I feel about my life in the borg: it was years too long!
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221
The meeting did not go well.
by Danni init would have taken more much more time to tell it all.
he told us the meeting would began as soon as the other brothers arrived.
danni: i will give you two.
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yrs2long
Danni,
As far as I am concerned, I don't really care if you put up any kind of pretense whatsoever when you confronted the elders. I believe they do the same. The way they assign sisters from the hall to be nice and accomodating to the newcomers. Everyone puts their good foot forward to give a good impression. The fake fellow concern they show you until you run into problems then you are left on your own. Many of the elders are organization men who, for the most part, are more concerned with protecting the interests of the Watchtower society. And in my opinion, everybody else perpetuates the myths that the Watchtower spews, that of the good and god-blessed life of Jehovah's Witnesses while many of them wait for Jehovah to clear up problems in their lives. To tell the truth, I can basically believe anything warped that I hear come out of that organization because of having witnessed obscene things myself. If anything, it's the Watchtower version that I suspect - they have a vested interest to protect.
I loved reading about your experience in the back room; usually the fear and intimidation comes from the elders. Neither the society nor their elders are accustomed to a commanding female presence. I only hope that you have not brought any hardship upon yourself for the watchtower is a vicious multi-million dollar organization which encourages its members to turn their backs and fellow feeling away from any who have turned away. They might try to eat you alive and look upon it as good press on protecting religious freedom.
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221
The meeting did not go well.
by Danni init would have taken more much more time to tell it all.
he told us the meeting would began as soon as the other brothers arrived.
danni: i will give you two.
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yrs2long
Ugh, they are such liars. In the first month of my marriage my witness husband beat and choked me. I went to the elders and they formed a committee. During the committee I mentioned how I was afraid of my spouse and wanted to leave. They told me that I would not prosper spiritually as I would be breaking up the family and 'Jehovah hates a divorcing.' I went to the elders many times because my father said I should go to show a pattern and eventually they would disfellowship my husband. After meeting with committees several times within the first 6 months of marriage, I told the elders that the next time I would call the police for protection. They responded, "that is not how we handle things in Jehovah's organization." They quoted the scripture about brothers going to court with other brothers and said I would bring reproach upon the organization and I was the one who would be disciplined. They said, "Jehovah's organization is a theocracy, not a democracy." They said the holy spirit would leave me and I would fall away. This was scary stuff for a newly baptized person. When my mother was a witness they told her that even if my father asked her to sit in a puddle out in the rain, she must do it so as to be in subjection. That was when she promptly disassociated herself. Do not be fooled, those elders encourage silence as anything else will bring reproach upon the organization. It sickens me to hear these elders say anything to the contrary.
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I got an Invite to a DUB Wedding!!!!!!!
by lydia inwell,,,,, not really - but the letter came addressed to my husband - my name is listed on the inside card.
its for my x-husbands nephew.. i think i might go to the reception (and only the reception - i am not steping foot in a hall if i can help it!!!!
)- just to see the looks on the faces of those there - but more so for my nephew's sake.
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yrs2long
I was in my sister's wedding party in 2000 at a kingdom hall and I had been inactive for 7 years. I sat at the wedding party table next to the bride at the reception.