A request from a friend

[sunny]

Dear ones, this is a public request to delete my account. As a Bible student of Jehovah's Witnesses, and in order to gain God's approval, I no longer wish to be associated with the subject matter that I have discussed here over the years, such as politics, the occult, conspiracies, etc.

Before I go I want to say I am sorry to anyone that I have triggered, or angered, or upset for any reason. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel accused or ashamed or attacked or less than supported if you felt under pressure. We all suffer under enough stress and anxiety in this vicious system of things without my having added to it, and for that I am deeply sorry.
I'd also like to apologize to any public figures whom I have unfairly maligned. In his loving kindness, Jehovah desires that 'all sorts' learn about him and attain salvation. http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/binav/r1/lp-e/nwt/E/2013

I want to confess that I have lied here and there for various reasons. In the '10 things' thread I started, the NOLA transvestite story was made up out of whole cloth to make myself seem more interesting. I never finished my AD in Legal Studies and never actually worked as a paralegal. The 'clown story' thread I had Jeff delete some time ago was true, and we did call the police to make a report, but we never gathered any community support or called a meeting. Why did I say these things? To make it seem as if I had a life in the community, I suppose, when really we're as isolated from our neighbors as I'm sure many of you are. Isn't it depressing? If only we could trust and love one another. Imagine a world in which community love and support was not only possible but normal--and no such thing as scary clowns menacing children was even thought of. Conditions based on loving kindness is what Jesus taught us to pray for when we pray to Jehovah 'let your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.'

Goodbye, dear ones. May Jehovah's name be blessed forever and ever, amen.

[Wombaticus Rex]

I salute your new path and brave honesty.

I will see what I can do to actually make an account disappear, but I fear we're a bit like Facebook and the Hotel California.

(I recall one remarkably industrious RI poster actually going through and manually deleting every post they made, which is the only way I've seen so far to really flush an account. Even if you struck the zero from the end of your post count, I still wouldn't recommend that Sisyphean task to anyone.)

[elfismiles]

Farewell Sunny

[FourthBase]

I salute nothing. You are choosing an unwise path. Turn back.

[barracuda]

Regrets, I've had a few.

Please don't even attempt to remove people's posting histories from the board. It effectively produces even more unreadably nonsensical threads than we already have. We instituted the 24 hour edit rule just to stop this kind of thing. It's essentially ideological vandalism.

I salute nothing. You are choosing an unwise path. Turn back.

The path from RI moderator to True Blood fangirl to Jehovah's Witness seems pretty straightforward to me. Perhaps even inevitable.

[Iamwhomiam]

Well, sunny, we all have our crosses to bear. I wish you well and forgive your transgression of trust and thank you for your honesty. (I hope you're now being honest!)

More than likely I didn't participate in the threads you mention, but we've exchanged a message or two and will remember you fondly.

Hopefully you will find what you seek.

[JackRiddler]

The path from RI moderator to True Blood fangirl to Jehovah's Witness seems pretty straightforward to me. Perhaps even inevitable.

I've been so mean to JWs on the street, but in New York there are daily opportunities to turn over a new leaf and improve this record. Just walk over to your nearest subway station at the time of day when the traffic is at its most infuriating. So I pledge to start my JWs counter-campaign next time I'm approached. As in, "You know Jesus said love your neighbor and share your stuff, right? So what that means is you should be standing in protests demanding social justice and the toppling of the false idols of the 1%, instead of pestering people about which day is Sabbath when you know everyone going through this turnstile has no Sabbath. Every day is Work or Starve, and they carry their boss around with them in their palms, just like the Bogus Apocalypse Appendix to your Bible said they would. So I want to see you smiling and Ready to Organize at the next meeting of Socialists For A Twenty-Hour Work Week With Guaranteed Social Income On The Swiss Model (SFATHWWWGSIOTSM, but we like to call it The Play Party). Okay?" Only problem is, in New York I'll have to learn how to say this also in Old Lady Spanish.

Damn, sunny, your crew is going to get so amped when we have that WWI Redux just in time for the 100-year anniversary in August. (Opportunists: I just checked and http://www.WWIRedux.com is AVAILABLE.)

But I don't mind the JWs any more. It's the sweaty love-and-hellfire preachers with the amplification (apparently NYPD-approved if you're a church recruiter) who position themselves at the top of the 7 stairs right at the central bottleneck of the veeeeeerrry long Times Square passage from ACE to 123 and NRQ that really make me wanna fight.

By the way, sunny, enjoy your life and let me be the first to just flat-out and say what we're all thinking: Well-played!

.

[IanEye]

If only we could trust and love one another.

*



don't believe the life you have
will be the only one

you have to let your body sleep
to let your soul live on

*

[brainpanhandler]

17 Better is a piece of dry bread where there is peace
Than a house full of feasting along with quarreling.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/b/r1/lp-e/nwt/E/2013/20/17

but if there is to be quarreling there may as well be feasting.

[MacCruiskeen]

Sunny, I had been missing you already. I hope you're not rejecting everything you wrote here. Honest to God, you always struck me as one of the best souls on this board, and not least because you're obviously so sane and so smart. And kind too.

If only we could trust and love one another. Imagine a world in which community love and support was not only possible but normal--and no such thing as scary clowns menacing children was even thought of. Conditions based on loving kindness is what Jesus taught us to pray for when we pray to Jehovah 'let your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.'

Amen.

Good luck on the path you're on. Some of the best people I've known have been Christians.

Stan Goff's new(ish) website.

Stan Goff: Capitalism & Christianity - Part 1 of 9

And so he who would lead a Christlike life is he who is perfectly and absolutely himself. He may be a great poet, or a great man of science; or a young student at a University, or one who watches sheep upon a moor; or a maker of dramas, like Shakespeare, or a thinker about God, like Spinoza; or a child who plays in a garden, or a fisherman who throws his net into the sea. It does not matter what he is, as long as he realises the perfection of the soul that is within him.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archi ... /soul-man/

[justdrew]

well, the JW's cost me the relationship with my bio-mother because of their teaching to shun non-believers, of course, that's a on-again-off-again teaching. Hope you never need a blood transfusion. or miss celebrating holidays.

There are many other ways to find companionship/community and I suspect that is what they are exploiting. Why not try this first: http://www.bahai.org

BUT... your millage may vary. Best wishes, hope it all works out for you, I know it seems to make some people happy sometimes, and if it's the best choice available, go for it.

but yeah, the account can be disabled and closed, but not deleted.

[Searcher08]

Dear Sunny,

You probably already know many ways to feel good without the subject matter discussed here.
It sounds like you have decided to let your intuition be rigorous and your rigor, intuitive in new and useful ways.
Sometime, somewhere, you are going to feel even happier about all this. And a person might, Sunny, have learned something useful from this experience here, that increases your compassion and awareness in productive ways.One could let this learning go to a very deep place inside because a person is able to enjoy making unexpected connections, like when children first learns a word and saviours using it.
Like you, I imagine a world of loving support and community and think often of the billions of stars and planets in the galaxy and the wonder of creation waiting to be explored.I dont know if thoughts might change your life now, those nights when you look up to the beauty of a twinkling starry Southern sky and everything is so peaceful, so right.

Peace, always Sunny
Searcher

[Laodicean]

True, jerky. I would recommend abandoning this ship. Isn't worth it. Not at all.

Oh, Rust. What have you done?

In all sincerity, all the best to you, sunny. But I agree with Fourthbase.

[82_28]

Indeed. Turn back. I had a good friend in HS who's family was devoutly JW. She was a strictly controlled person and it took a few of us kids to get her to break out. I guess I support YOU as in YOU. But I cannot support this decision of one, you not being here and two, JW? Seriously? Yes, I am being insensitive, but also honest. I have nothing but revulsion for any sort of sect of anything.

Also, doesn't being a Jehova's Witness mean that you should stick around and witness it up? You have like a few hundred free doors to knock on right here at RI in which you can witness for Jehova. I consider myself a free gnostic Christian (if I were to give myself a label), so I am not without a spirituality. I am without authority. Yet to announce this as though it is some kind of "sentence" and must "apologize" for what you are doing sorta kinda shows that maybe you might not be doing the right thing.

But best of luck, Sunny. . .

[semper occultus]

...........and think often of the billions of stars and planets in the galaxy and the wonder of creation waiting to be explored...

....sign-on with the Mormons & you'll get your very own planet to keep...