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 Post subject: The cost of negativity
PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:48 am 
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CHARIKLO SAID

Having just come from taking part in a wearisome thread elsewhere I've withdrawn, as once again negative an destructive voices join in in what is a senseless and one sided discussion, one sided because atheists there seem to want only to pick and break down. They seem incapable of actually listening to or reading what anyone else is saying.

The last few days I have felt myself opporessed by all the negativity that seeps in over there, no matter how one tries to avoid the threads that seem likely to contain that sort of atmosphere. Long, long ago I learned that anger is negative and destructive, and ultimately dark, and that the best way to deal with such an environment is to avoid it.

Instead of concentrating on battling against the darkness, we should focus on what is good and light and of God. By focusing on Jesus Christ we allow him to comemtomus. By eing still and quiet we can hear his voice, whether as Shelby does or in a much quieter more wordless way. The one thing that is always perceptible is his love,

He wants to enfold us, to bring us to his heart, where we belong and where he has a place for us. Amidst the noise and turbulence of those so-pervasive threads, we give ourselves no space for that. And what does come in...I am speaking personally...can cause damage as one feels the dark negativity strike home.

There is one poster there who has the ability to do that to me, and it has just happened. I made myself walk away, because for me, I have learned, I must do that. My JW inner scars are still raw and deep and fresh, and this dark, angry, spiteful negativity is like poison.

So, I choose to turn to my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and stay right away from those whose aim is both to hurt and force a quarrel or argument. Not with me. I choose not to.


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:49 am 
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AGUEST SAID

Be well, be at peace... and don't let them get you down, dear Char (the greatest of love and peace to you!). It goes in cycles... and circles... and you just take a break from it all when you need to. Some leave it altogether (I've tried, but just keep having to go back - a glutton for punishment, obviously... but I know there are some dear ones there - the PMs, etc., that receive prove it to me).

So... do what you need to to revive and rejuvenate.

I think WE have to take care and keep in mind, though... and I know you MEANT this (as does everyone here)... that it isn't atheists over there, but only SOME atheists over there. We must make sure to make this distinction; to do less is unfair to our atheist friends... and even loved ones... as well as those there who don't give a hoot whether we even exist or not and so never get involved in the fray. These, all of them... far, far, FAR outweight and outnumber the, what... let's see... 10 or so (certainly less than 15) of the more radical folks who have censoring us as their primary goal. They only SEEM like a lot of folks because they are tenacious, relentless, sometimes aggressive, and sometimes even malicious.

But I have come to know that their rhetoric, propoganda, and even slander is not hidden and does not go unknown to the majority of the board's posters. That more don't speak up against their conduct isn't, IMHO, a "bad" thing - censoring ANYONE is a slipperly slope - people will eventually begin calling for censor of ANYTHING they don't "like."

We don't want that, though. And so, I have just learned to give them back their medicine, but with the "bitterness" (to their "tastebuds") of truth, rather than the bitterness of anger and hatred. And as a result, I have made several very good... CLOSE... friends of former opponents, even atheists... over the years, many of whom step and speak up... against those who don't believe as they don't believe.

Let your light shine, my sister. Don't hide it under a basket. Just remember to keep love in the front. Don't let anger overtake you: be wrathful, yet do not sin. And remember, always, to pray for those who persecute you... and/or our Lord.

Bottom line, dear one: this, too, shall pass. It always does.

Again, peace to you... and to your dear household!

YOUR servant and fellow slave of Christ,

SA


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:49 am 
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LOZ SAID

I hope you're ok and feeling better today Char. It's been a tough few days its true, I find it so physically draining getting myself all worked up, but sometimes stands have to taken.
Last night we popped into a family party for a relative's birthday but that turned out to be a mistake cos something in the buffet I ate made me very ill. I've not been so sick in years! But being unwell helps with perspective so every cloud eh?
Anywho, just wanted to wish you well, don't let it get you down honey. When you break it all down its just a lot of bluster really.

Loz x


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:49 am 
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CHARIKLO SAID

It is indeed a lot of bluster, LOZ, and what makes it debilitating when one is tired or unwell is that jibe hind the jbluster is real ill will. You can feel it.

I looked back at that thread just before I went to bed, and what struck me then particularly were the posts taunting me for being angry! I wasn't in the least angry! And Shelby, you are absolutely right, there are only really a very few such posters, noisy though they are, and the rest do read, as was evident when they attacked me there a couple of weeks ago. I got some lovely supportive posts.

However, the point I made last night, about the darkness and the effect of the negativity is To my mind nonetheless very valid. Truth and light come from one place, darkness and lies from another altogether. If there is one thing that I suppose does make me want to expose what is going on it is the effect on vulnerable, undecided people of their constant insistence on their scientific ability to prove that there is no God. I mind it not for myself but for the effect it has on those souls who...indeed like myself...are wounded by the Watchtower and those who have come to doubt God himself because of the lies promoted by the JW's.

For me, it was primarily all the anger and negativity I saw raging on yet another board that propelled me to find out for myself. It is those souls who don't know, who don't still have a strong underlying faith, which I never lost in essence, who are the most vulnerable to what goes on in threads like the one we experienced yesterday.

And that, I care about.


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:50 am 
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SOFT/GENTLE SAID

at the end of the day what is extremely negative for us now turns out to pay rich dividends against the WTS.
mind u I haven't seen the recent thread on JWN yet - are they very very insulting or just insulting


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:50 am 
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PSACRAMENTO SAID

We must always be careful to NOT to be overwhelmed by the negative.
It is human nature to be more easily negative than positive.
When we express our faith we must be conscious that it is something coming from OUR point of view and unless someone else has some sort of point of reference for it, it won't make any sense.
I like to use the analogy of trying to describe the color red to a blind person.
Unless someone has some point of reference for something intangible, they won't be able to grasp it at all.
I can put up an advanced calculus equation that will make ZERO sense to a person that has never seen anything like that BUT will make perfect sense to someone that has.
Do not get overwhelmed or allow yourself to be overcome with negativity because you can't voice your views in a way that another can understand them.
It is our "failing" not theirs.


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:50 am 
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JUSTMOM SAID

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 3:37 pm Post subject:
Good Morning Char....

I am just glad that you have somewhere else (HERE) that you can come to and feel at home and find comfort for your soul inbetween the negative times my friend. DO NOT GIVE UP!!! You will be blessed!

Love
justmom


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:51 am 
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CHARIKLO SAID

Really good points here, and thanks!

Paul, good and deep advice on which I'll ponder.

Justmom, what a lovely post! I read it with a huge smile! Thanks!


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