Elementary school through grade 7, I was a good JW kid. I didn't preach, but I let them know my religion. I also envied the JW kids at the hall who could start a bible study with their classmates. I couldn't get my classmates past "You don't celebrate Christmas? You're weird."
Grade 7 put my faith in Jehovah to the test. I was kicked and beat up daily because of being a JW, wearing clothes that made me, a follower of Jehovah "stand out", and I didn't fight back because Jehovah's people do not participate in violence. All of this would happen in front of the teachers, and they would do nothing. I also knew that if I said anything to anybody, I would get beat up even worse.
I would pray to Jehovah on what became an hourly basis (some days less) for him to give me the strength and endurance to make it through another school day. Jehovah rewarded me by giving me a bad case of PTSD. I would shake uncontrollably throughout the day and especially at my locker, when kids would walk by and randomly kick me. I was a complete wreck.
After that awful year, I got myself a girlfriend. My faith also started to fall by the wayside in the forecoming years. It really started to crumble when I was in grade 10. The Math teacher seemed to know that I was going through a personal crisis, and he allowed me the freewill to decide if I would stay in class for the national anthem or leave and join the other JW kids. I wish I could thank him for the understanding, but he's dead now :(
After grade 10, I switched schools. I told NOBODY that I was a JW and had the freewill to live my double life. The only time I saw JWs from my school was at the convention. None of them were in my congregation, and they seemed to just leave me be since they knew I didn't want to be a JW.
After I turned 18 and left home, I abandoned the whole thing.
Nosferatu
JoinedPosts by Nosferatu
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14
Were you a good witness in school?
by keyser soze ini have to confess that i really wasn't.
it wasn't that i was bad.
i just didn't do all the things that were expected of me.. i remember being envious of those kids they would interview at meetings and assemblies; the ones who could stand up in front of all their classmates and talk about "the truth".
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Nosferatu
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32
Your favorite new song......
by restrangled inrhianna...take a bow.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxgzjuqpac.
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Nosferatu
What I did to get mine to work was highlight some text and make a link to the youtube video (click on the thing that looks like a piece of chain).
Here's a newer song that I've been really into lately:
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16
Do You Have an LP Record Collection?
by compound complex ingreetings, audiophiles:.
i have had my own records - 78s, 45s as well as lps - since the 1950s and was given an entire collection from a private lending library.
i wonder if those never opened are worth $omething .... and you?.
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Nosferatu
I've got an LP collection. Just recently picked up some LPs by The Ventures.
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30
Lady Lee's Birthday 14th
by mouthy inlee i wish you a very happy birthday.
thanks for all you do for others.
i hope you will have many many,more .
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Nosferatu
Oooh, have a happy one!
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32
Your favorite new song......
by restrangled inrhianna...take a bow.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxgzjuqpac.
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Nosferatu
I dunno how to embed youtube videos here, so a link will have to do
...nevermind, it worked :P
...and I thought the thread title was "Your new favorite song", but now I see it's "Your favorite NEW song". Sorry, this thing came out in 1980 or something. Again.. :P
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8
An Actual 1955 Good Housekeeping article.
by digderidoo inthe good wife's guide.
* have dinner ready.
plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, and on time, for his return.
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Nosferatu
...and who could forget the Kitchen Computer?
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85
Not having a paradise earth in the future makes me sad - What about you?
by BonaFide inyes, i am enjoying realizing the truth about the truth.. but there is another side to it.
the world as we know it didn't seem to me to be the way that god intended it to be.
i know i was brainwashed, but it felt good believing that all the bad things would be changed.
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Nosferatu
Paradise Erf sounded really boring to me. Jehovah would destroy all the cool stuff, mainly great music and video games. All we'd have left is Kingdom Melodies and the occasional written review.
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49
$175 Tax on Every Cow ("Fart Tax")
by skeeter1 inthe news stories are reporting that the epa has proposed a tax on cows and other farm animals.
the tax is $175/cow (amounts for other animals are lower).
the reason is methane gas, a greenhouse gs.. the price of beef and dairy is expected to rise dramatically.
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Nosferatu
I think we should tax the government for farting in their big comfy chairs.
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95
I just heard of more organizational changes...........
by awildflower inso a good friend of mine e-maild me today with this information.
aparently brother hurd says as of 2010 all the magazine printing and distribution will be moved to canada.
the only printing the us will do is the books.
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Nosferatu
Currently, much of the litteratrash going from the Wallkill to the congregations is sent on Watchtower Corp trucks to assembly halls and other literatrash depots. Other more remote congregations get theirs via UPS, I think. So, now they'll have to change it up for the trucks coming from Canada.
That's how I figured they'd deal with the transport of finished literature. The more they can eliminate the worldly middle man who makes a nice chunk of cash from delivery, the more money they'll have in their bank accounts and the more volunteers they can have driving trucks. All they have to do is pay gas and maintain the vehicles. BTW, does the WT have their own volunteer mechanics? That wouldn't surprise me.
Walkill could be just a central distribution site for the USA and home to the wonderful FDS and / or lawyers.
I'm wondering how much more the WTS can downsize and cut back before it runs into problems? They cheapened the literature, reduced the literature, eliminated food from conventions, dumped a bunch of Bethelites, and are selling of a bunch of their buildings. Can they actually thrive on donations and estates from dead JWs?
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20
Anyone have a good Meeting for Field Service story?
by BonaFide inoh, yes those wonderful meetings for service.
for some reason, they are so long and disorganized and boring.
seems no one wants to get out there in the territory.. i remember in one hall when i was a teenager, a ministerial servant, about 50 years old, would conduct the midweek meeting for service at the kh at 9 am.
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Nosferatu
Yeah, I've got a good one!
....oh wait, that was coffee with a friend last week. Nevermind. Field service meetings sucked.