I hope none of you kidless people take offense, but I think a lot of you are in lala land. Having kids opens your eyes a bit wider to what is going on in this world. While I respect anyones decision not to have any, don't act like people who do have them are crazy to do so. People who are able to survive in the truth with kids are stronger people in my mind. I see too many single and kidless people getting DFed.
i don't think it's the kidless part that there are more DF-ings...it's the singleness part.
My point is, it makes people stronger to have children. Selfishness goes out the door. That is, if Jehovah is put first.
wait..putting jehovah first comes when you get baptized and has nothing to do with having kids or not having them. and saying that if these people had kids they wouldn't be df'ed would make no sense.
No, I'm just saying from my own experience that having kids fortifies what I already committed to. I have other people who count on me, which makes me stronger. And it keeps reality in check, whereas I don't think a lot of single or even married people w/out kids are necessarily in complete reality. I already discussed this with another parent. Just accept it. Haha...
There's plenty of single, selfless pioneers and elders who don't want kids to be able to do more in Jehovah's service. Some want to have kids and choose not to. You're saying people without kids are weaker than people with, and that's too blanket a statement.
Ok and you are talking about an exceptional few. Sorry, but a lot of people's reasons for not having kids have nothing to do with service to Jehovah.
why do you need a reason at all? it's not like we are required to have children and have to come up with a good reason not to. Please.
you don't have to have a reason at all. I just think people with kids are more in tune with reality.
That's a ridiculous thing to say. People with kids are more in tuned to what life is with kids - everyone's lives and priorities are different. Just because someone's priorities involve their pets and spouses instead of children doesn't make them less important or mean that their life is less "real".
If you ever have kids you will then understand. Since I am in a minority here on this site, I expect to hear people think otherwise.
Ok. As long as you admit you're wrong.
What am I wrong about? I see a lot of young single people and married couples that really don't know what true adversity is. Yeah, they go to work, they get to their meetings, go out in service, take care of a home. That can be hard. Throw a kid in the mix and a lot of them would be like chickens with their heads cut off. Its this generation. All I'm saying is that if you are successful rearing kids in the truth, it makes you a stronger person and more appreciative of the truth than if you had not had kids. That's not to say you wouldn't still appreciate the truth, it is just magnified by raising people who rely on you 100%. And if you don't have children, then you don't know what I mean. And I'm not saying you need to have a kid to survive this system. I'm just saying having kids fortifies your resolve further. I have two people I get to have bible studies with. How encouraging is that?
Dude, come on. Kids are cool and do take a lot of work. But just because the majority of people on this site don't have kids at this point, doesn't mean that they've faced less adversity then you. You have no idea what goes on in other people's lives and what makes their faith strong. You only know what it's like to be in your life, having kids when you did, and nothing else. So you can't act like you have the perspective of NOT having kids and growing spiritually as a single person.
Let's just agree to disagree.
so you're saying that having kids is a good strategy for JW's to make them "stronger in the truth." if a kid is going to make your life harder and miserable why have them?
Basically I'm telling the people who laugh at the notion of having kids, that kids build even more strength in a person than what they already had. I can certainly understand people shying away from having kids. This system sucks. People who are miserable having kids are weird.
Just give it up, man. NO ONE AGREES WITH YOU.
And you are the snottiest person on this site. And I'm also talking to people with NO kids. SpecialK would agree with me.
See fivezero's comment above.
Didn't mean to call you snotty, but it seems like you lash out a bit too much with me. I don't know if you are kidding or not.
And you are the snottiest person on this site. And I'm also talking to people with NO kids. SpecialK would agree with me.
that's not the greatest example of how having kids made someone stronger to bring up right now
:(
Oh, I guess something happened I don't know about. Ok, stupid me.
haha this doesn't make any sense because the kid-less could easily say "well if you didn't have any kids you would understand"
just because you have more crap to deal with doesn't mean you are more in touch with "reality"
I have plenty of crap to deal with, people/things to take care of, bills to pay etc. etc. etc. so how is that not reality? haha please enlighten me
I hate to say this, but she is right. Not in how she says it, but she is right. Follow carefully for the following is a brief line of reasoning:
A single person is responsible for one life.
A married person is responsible for two.
A married person with children would be three or more (obviously).
Since by admission it makes you open your eyes up more as to how bad or tough things are-and this would grow exponentially with each child-the logical conclusion would be not to have any children and perhaps even more drastically, not to get married. This reminds me of something said very long ago about a married man being anxious for the needs of his wife as opposed to a single man's anxieties...
Please don't refer to me as "she"; it's derogatory.
Not to mention the fact that you completely echoed what I said, albeit in a more verbose way.
You get sensitive way too easily. Take a chill pill.
Maybe if I take a chill pill, my eyes won't be open enough to reality.
Ooh...Sarcasm! I like it! Haha...
just a heads up...the term "chill pill" went out at about the same time the slap bracelet craze ended.
Sorry, I'm a child of the 80's.
yeah that is ridiculous
i don't think people who have kids are CRAZY to do so and I respect them for taking on the task but I am just extremely happy that I don't have kids lol
and selfishness is not really it for me.. I take extremely good care of my pets and I'm generally a rather selfless person who puts others' interests ahead of my own
at this point you're just coming off defensive. "having kids opens your eyes a bit?" what kind of talk is that?
i however DO understand what you're saying and i'm not say anyone's CRAZY for having kids. i want kids! i definitely do. and i'm aware it's for what i think are selfish reasons. that's just me. i wanna see what a lil valentine knucklehead will look like, i want to share raising a child with someone, i want to see myself in my kid. those must be amazing feelings. some people say that this world is too rough for new kids, but that's relative.
as for your "stat" on single people getting themselves canned-- tesoro said it right. that's so obvious that it doesn't even need to be said and it's not even what anyone's talking about. also i don't like that it suggests that entering into a marriage and kid situation will make you somehow less vulnerable to problems and you'll have your eyes opened. that's just straight up bad advice, bro.
yeah very well said
i guess some people need that kick in the pants and some people don't
do you mean that you think his circumstances "opened his eyes" because they weren't opened when he entered the situation? i don't get what you mean.
i meant that i'm sure having kids does help some people mature, then again i'm sure there are others who it doesn't help, and only hurts the kids. and others don't need this dose of reality
word
annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd by the way
"While I respect anyones decision not to have any, don't act like people who do have them are crazy to do so."
you obviously do not respect that decision if you are saying people without kids are out of touch with reality
No one here is saying that there is ANYTHING WRONG with having kids, but YOU are saying that there IS something wrong with NOT having any
so basically you don't make any sense
thank you goodnight
yeah, he's misfiring, big time. i think we brought up something he's very mixed up about. and clearly it's something that's had him feeling low since he's so quick to elevate himself. i dunno.
ya, i don't mean to get so heated, and i usually don't, but i'm just sick of hearing that there is something WRONG with me for not wanting kids, i've been dealing with this my whole life so it is a sore spot haha
I think we all missed the point where he said, "In my mind..." This is the way he views it. Some people who are sans children may feel the exact opposite. And we all have it tough, but i bet he has it as tough as anyone. I respect the fact that he is responsible for the life (now and eternally) of other human beings. This is infinitely better than the parents i've seen who say don't have kids and they wish they didn't.
That being said, the statement is not without its faults. ONE person getting DF'd is too many, so the problem clearly does not lie with being married or having children or not. Statistics aside, this will remain a fact until I read a scripture otherwise. I have a couple in my hall that had a kid then split before they got married (neither baptized). I have a man in my hall that left his wife and children and got df'd. I have a man in my hall who was not married and got df'd.