wow that does NOT sound like a lot of fun... pretty glad I'm australian right now

Kind of wish I were Australian too

i didn't get as much summer homework as that (which is seriously a lot...im so so sorry) but my geometry teacher for next year emailed my mom while we were on vacation that i had to do a page of algebra to be sure i'm ready for the class. so basically i had 4 days to do the sheet (in between my last vacation and whatnot), and i thought it would be easy, but we learned literally none of it in algebra last year???? and it's required to be known for the class next year???? im so angry about it that i don't really care if i blow it, i can move down a level anyways.

Ahem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CXjriZQEbY

is that you? you look so calm throughout the whole thing whoa also you seem really good at communicating in videos!



stay positive everyone y'all are awesome <3

ugh .

i have never been able to lose weight in my life.
seriously, never. it's always been gained or remained the same with little daily fluctuations.
to see that I've lost some after just two weeks is actually really great and tbh I'm pretty proud of myself. \o/

Good job!! Just as long as you lose it healthily :)

For the first time ever I can actually picture myself having a future and it's really great /.\ But to be honest, I think it's going to get really bad this school year. Gahh. I wish thinks could stay like this.

Oh, alright. If you don't mind me calling you by your real name instead of your username, then I'll call you by it. :)

Well, it's great that you've got spiritual matters on your mind, Belle! ^_^ Mind if I ask exactly what's steering you away from the denominational churches? (Just curious.)

Ohh, you've got Witness relatives? 0_0 I see. Well, that was very considerate of you, not putting up a Christmas tree. I'm sure your aunt and uncle REALLY appreciated that. <:^D

We don't celebrate holidays for different reasons depending on the holiday. Would you mind if I ask why you don't agree with not celebrating holidays? I understand that many of these holidays mean a lot to people. And it's great that some families bond over them. But, the thing is, most holidays aren't scriptural.

I'm assuming your aunt and uncle have explained this before, but, just in case not... In a nutshell, most holidays have Pagan origins, and those origins conflict with the Bible. Especially Christmas. When you look into its history and where its traditions came from...it's very clear that Christmas has very little to do with Jesus. And, on top of that, a crucial point of Christmas--the date December 25th--was not the day Jesus was born on. I understand and appreciate the fact that you want to show your respect for Jesus, don't get me wrong. It's commendable that you even care about the religious side of Christmas at all--many people just focus on the presents and the pretty lights. (If you want to read some more detailed explanations about Christmas, you can either ask me about it, ask your aunt and uncle, or read these articles here, and here. They're pretty short.)

But, we DO have a day that we make a special effort to remember Jesus and what he's done for mankind--and that's the Memorial of his death. We celebrate it once a year, on the night that he died. Jesus directly told his disciples to "Keep doing this in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19)

And then there's the Trinity. I know it's very important to a lot of Christian religions. Like most things with the Bible, this is a very deep subject. But, I'll try to be brief; I don't want to ramble and annoy/bore you or anything. <:^D Again, like all of our beliefs, we base them solely on what the Bible says. The word "trinity" is nowhere in the Bible. At John 14:28, Jesus said, "'The Father is greater than I am.'" Jesus never claimed to be God or be equal to God. In fact, he prayed to God frequently, sometimes even for strength. Why would he pray to himself? Plus, scriptures in the Old Testament AND New Testament back up the idea of God and Jesus being two separate beings. Psalms 83:18 says, "May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth." God cannot be alone in being the Most High if he's part of a Trinity. And John 17:3 distinguishes Jesus and Jehovah God as being separate by saying, "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ." It's important for us to learn about both Jehovah God AND his son, Jesus Christ.

There are a lot of scriptures that disprove the Trinity, but, for the sake of keeping things brief, I won't list all of them. <:^J But, if you want to read more, again, you can read a short article or two. Here, and also here, and/or here.

And, of course, you don't have to JUST look at JW.org for these answers. The Encyclopedia Britannica is accepted to be extremely reliable by pretty much all Christian religions, and our articles quote it often to help show the facts on matters--especially historical matters.

But, anyway. The point of what I believe, and what all Jehovah's Witnesses believe is very simple. While people can choose to believe whatever they want, there's a BIG difference between truth and falsehoods. To quote an old friend of mine, "The Bible is not a bag of trail mix. You can't just pick out the bits you like and throw out the bits you don't like." That is, you can, but you run the risk of upsetting God. God gave us the Bible for a reason. He wants us to look at it as a whole and accept it as a whole truth. Why would he mix in false things with the truth in his Word? 2 Samuel 7:28 says, "O Sovereign Lord Jehovah, you are the true God, and your words are truth." And, Psalm 119:160 says, "The very essence of your word is truth." All we're trying to do is gain an accurate understanding of what the Scriptures say, so we can make Jehovah God happy and follow his commandments and do his will as best as we can.

I TOTALLY respect you and your beliefs, Belle. <:^D And I'm glad that you're so interested in the Bible! I just want you to know that Jehovah's Witnesses aren't just making up our beliefs. And our faith is NOT blind faith. God does not want us to blindly follow him--he wants us to fully understand what it is he's telling us.

(Also, sorry if I rambled...I tend to do that, sometimes. I'll admit that. It's just that the Bible is very deep. It's not so simple that you can give a one-sentence answer, but, not so deep that no one can understand it.)



On that same unrelated note: That IS rude! O_O It's not his fault he has speech problems!!! Besides, insulting him will only just made him feel bad. D: It won't take away his stuttering. I'm sorry people are so rude to him. He doesn't deserve to be picked on like that.

Heyy, that's great, CT! :D I'm really really glad for you. However much you weigh, though, I hope it's a healthy weight and that you can find contentment in it.

I'm glad you're looking forward to the future. ^_^ Just try not to focus on the what-ifs, okay? This next year might not be as bad as you think. Stressing out about it won't help you much. I know it's hard to resist, but, you can. Just focus on how good everything is now and look back on it if things get tough. Remember that if things were good at one point, they will eventually be good again.

Thanks for responding! It's just hard to not stress out X3 My parent's are very strict about grades and all of my friends except for 2 are leaving the high school so I don't know who I'm going to hang out with. I'm horrible at making friends XP But thanks again! I'll keep all of that in mind c:

can't sleep oh well

i don't freak out much about summer holiday homework. i lost my chinese workbook and i still haven't found it or bought a new one, and i'm still trying to think of an excuse.
2) we do homework on the stuff we learnt last year. for my school, we have to do homework for chinese, english and math plus one other subject you choose from the homework list.
congratulations!
hey, it's going to turn out okay. last year, a lot of my friends left to study in england/wherever and i was sure this year would turn out to be crap, but it was actually, in some ways, better. even more people are leaving this year and we have a lot more subjects this year but i'm trying to hang on to that and you should try and do so too

Yaaaaaaaay congrats for yooouuu!!! ;D
This is from working out, right? Keep it up!

Ugh homework just stresses me out so much and over the school year I have a routine whereo can focus on my homework for a few hours every night and I'll get it all done and still have time to watch Netflix and play The Sims or go on Twitter or whatever to relax but over the summer I don't have that routine and I have to force myself to do my homework and most of the time I don't so then I start freaking out that I won't finish it in time

Wow, thanks for putting so much effort into writing this for me! On the part about the Trinity, there are scriptures that mention the Holy Spirit (John 4:24, for example), and a verse where Jesus says that He and the Father are one. (John 10:30). Christians believe in one God in three Persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). You can look up other verses and in-depth looks into these verses that prove the Holy Trinity. Verses that mention the Holy Spirit are here: http://www.openbible.info/topics/holy_spirit. I didn't read all of them, just the first few, but they can be very helpful. I don't mean to be hypocritical by telling you to read all of them, since I didn't; rather, read as many as you need.

Also, if you haven't already, please look up the unforgivable sin! There are different opinions and interpretations as to what this sin is so look at different links. As it's unforgivable, it's extremely important to avoid this sin. Some websites will say that a true Christian cannot commit this sin and if you're worried you've committed it, you probably haven't. Just be on the safe side. (Also, if you'd like to turn to Christianity, that's a very important and good decision! I don't know if JWs accept Jesus as their Savior or not, but if you haven't, please do so!). (If you'd rather stick to being a JW though, I won't judge you. I'm not trying to insult your faith.).

Also, a great resource for questions related to Christianity is got questions.org. I use this website frequently.

I've been thinking more about the whole holiday issue, and I'd have to get some advice from other Christian resources on whether or not Christmas is okay. I've been aware of the Pagan origins for a while. Are you talking about Good Friday? Because that and Easter are VERY important holidays for Christians.

Different denominations have different characteristics, and it's somewhat confusing. Also, I'll read that one church has this opinion that I agree with but another opinion I disagree with, whereas a different church will disagree with opinion A and agree with opinion B. That and the fact that there may be sinful practices within some of the churches (I'm not too sure about this though) is what makes me want to join a no denominations church. Also that I'm afraid if I go to a denominational church, the preacher, priest, or other person who leads worship ceremonies will teach the Word off God incorrectly or "filter" it a certain way.

(Not putting up the tree wasn't my decision, by the way, but thank you!)

Christians are very much trying to do the same thing with gaining accurate understanding of the Bible, making God happy, following what He says, and doing what He wants us to do. It seems like for the most part Christians and JWs just interpret the Bible differently?

Also, I understand you're not just making up your faith, just like I understand Mormons, Muslims, Jews, and other religions aren't making up their faith. I mean, I think there's a cult based on a comic book or something, so I would think that could be classified as made up... cults are confusing. And that's not to say I believe in other religions like Hinduism, for example, but I get that somewhere along the line people started to believe in that. Do you get what I mean?

Once again, thank you for putting in the effort to write all that for me.

(The thing with my brother being told he "talks stupid" doesn't really happen much, but it was rude.)

Are you alright?

Yes that is me. And I was really tired so acting calm wasn't really an issue

Okay, I'm entering your conversation simply because the whole holiday thing is something I've been wondering about for a while. My family has always celebrated the holidays because it's just what my parents grew up with and it's just what lots of people do. We never thought anything might be wrong. But now, we've been wondering and thinking a lot about it and don't know exactly what to think.
I have a friend who has very strong opinions. Her family doesn't celebrate Christmas and Easter, at least, not in the usual way. They celebrate Passover. I got into a conversation with her about it with her one day. Our choir teacher mentioned something about coming to her church on Easter because they had a special program going on or something. My friend had a bit of a disgusted look on her face and commented that she wouldn't go. I asked her if she was going to go to her church. I believe she said that she wasn't even going to go to her church. I found that really strange, because I didn't think her family would skip Easter, which is an important holiday for Christians, you know, celebrating Jesus's resurrection. Well, she explained, in not the most tactful way, that it was a pagan holiday. I told her that my family wasn't worshipping some pagan goddess. She kinda just looked at me like, "well, you're obviously very confused." It bugged me because she was practically accusing me of worshipping a pagan goddess.
Well, I went home and my mom and I began researching the matter more. We found articles about all the ways Easter is connected with pagan worship. It disturbed me, and I'm still thinking about it. I mean, I pointed out to my mom that a lot of days could have pagan meanings, but that didn't mean we shouldn't celebrate stuff on them. However, it's not a very strong argument. I just don't know what to think. These are things we've always done, always celebrated. It's hard to start thinking and doing differently now. I would ask my friend more about it, but um, I think she'd be hard to talk to about it.
I'm sorry for cutting into your conversation, but this is something that has bugged me for a while and I thought you might be able to tell me more or something.

when u try to make someone feel better about their height and i give myself as an example cause i short and they feel sad about being short and i make it worse.......... sobbbb

Okay. I think I'm better now, after a break from KP and a day on the quiet place project thing.
A completed art project also cheered me up.
I feel more positive towards life.
I need to email everything I felt towards the only two people I trust.
They might help me.
But yesterday night wasn't the best.
One of the worst times of my life.
My parents yelled at me for trying to write in my journal (which I was using to vent) and just started bringing up everything else they felt like they needed to point out about me and comparing me to my "better" friends.
I suddenly felt like I couldn't love them.
I felt really bad for taking everything out on my family and being in such a bad mood these days.
But they kept trying to control my life.
"You can't be friends with S anymore. She's too quiet and shy. Not a good example."
"You need to be friends with A. She's outgoing." But she isn't.

hey i know that we're not particularly close but you can always email me through my contact tab, yeah? (:

i know that feel bro. im glad you're feeling more positive though!!

(Just going to slip in my input, if you don't mind. I don't mean to undermine anyone else's beliefs, this is purely just my thoughts.)

There are certainly many pagan origins to many holidays. However, I don't think it's wrong to celebrate holidays. I celebrate Christmas because i am worshipping Christ and his birth. I celebrate Easter because I am worshipping Christ and the Atonement. Just because they may have disturbing pagan backgrounds doesn't mean that that is what the holiday is about. I'm not very good with words, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that all that matters is the spirit of the holiday, and the reason you celebrate it. As in most things, it's the thought that counts. Cliche, yes. But I believe that Christmas is good for lack of a better word because it is a day to remember and worship the Savior. And it certainly helps me to grow closer to Christ as I remember him.

I wish I could explain it a bit better but hopefully I somewhat portrayed my opinion on the subject.

That's alright! Here is a good page about the celebration of Christmas: http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-Christmas.html .

It'll get better. Do you think you could bring this up to them and explain? I'm glad to hear you're feeling better!

Aw :| I think the height insecurity goes away with time. Being short, medium, or tall each have their own advantages though!



Just keep swimming everyone! <3 .

Oh, thank you so much! That's what my mom and I were thinking, that even though the day may have a bad background, we aren't celebrating what it used to be, we're worshipping God and Jesus. But the conversation with my friend really got me thinking. I don't believe she would agree that it doesn't matter since we aren't celebrating in the pagan ways, and I don't think I could reason or even talk to her reasonably about it. With her, what I've gotten from her, is that her way is right and everyone else's isn't. Another thing that bothers me is that the ways we celebrate those holidays, such as the tree, even a ham at Easter (according to some article), and supposedly sunrise services, have to do with pagan celebrations. Such as the sunrise services, there's some verses, in Ezekiel maybe, about the people worshipping the sun and that it was an abomination. The article we read pretty much accused people of worshipping the sun when they go to sunrise services. I told my mom that we aren't doing that, we're doing the sunrise service because that was when it was discovered that Jesus rose from the grave. We also discussed how some people find problems in everything if they really try and maybe that was what it was with the sunrise service thingy.

Oh, you explained it really well! Thank you! You believe how we do, but the conversation with my friend has had me a bit bothered for a few months.

I'll have to read that! Thanks!

i hope it does wwwwww like being shorter than i thought i was (159...160cm) is really sad because i am a guy u know. wish i was tall. o well

? meh
 

pluzzle, no. O_____O Look, I know you don't really know me and I don't really know you but a LOT of people on here care about you, okay? I know it seems impossible, but, your problems won't last forever!! You CAN ride this out. Things CAN and WILL improve if you can just find enough strength to hold on a little longer. Please, please don't do anything drastic. Don't hurt yourself. You're loved. We ALL love you on here. You have ACTUAL WORTH. I don't know your problems, and I admit I can't do anything directly to make it better for you. But I wish with all of my heart that I could. You don't deserve to feel this terrible. You deserve to be happy. You CAN be happy again. Please, PLEASE, don't say goodbye. Please don't give up. You've lasted this long!!! You DO have the strength to go on just a little longer, I know you do. You're a lot smarter and braver than you give yourself credit for. Please, we love you. We'd miss you. PLEASE. Don't.

Hey, at least you tried to help. That counts for something! You were just trying to be supportive. Besides, height really doesn't matter all that much. Being tall is good for some things but terrible for others, and vice versa for being short.

clay please don't there are so many people who care and it would be so so awful if you left you're such a lovely and amazing person call a hotline go to the quiet place project please hold on <3

thanks so much guys, really. i dont know whats gonna happen but thank you <3
yeah it's just sad bc people patronize you and pick you up and tease you and its like *lays down* sob

Is there anyone you can talk to about this? Vent with? Get some comfort/advice from, maybe? Preferably in person. But a hotline would be great, too.

(*bear hugs*) Hey, those people are stupid and rude. ._. You DON'T deserve to be treated that way. Your height has nothing to do with your worth. Try not to let them get to you, okay? Don't dwell on what they say. They don't deserve your precious thoughts and time.

CLAY. HEY. YO. you are a seriously hecka cool person and you're helpful and quirky in your own individual way and it's awesome. so when people aren't so awesome remember what we've all said about you. dont ever think that what rude people say about you is true because you are an individual human being with individual thoughts and experiences and a rad personality.

clay please please please dont go. you matter to me A LOT and it would be so devastating if u left. we love you and you are important and amazing. you stay up with me and talk to me abt a lotta shit and youre always there for me. you are SO loved and connected to everything, remember? we need you.

thank you so much... th...ank
wwwwww thank you eli u r important and amazing too bro.... !

(sorry to burden y'all with me shit>> u dnt have 2 read this)

i just didn't have a great time at my friends birthday thing which is dumb bc it her bday but i just felt so disconnected from everyone and myself the whole time u know??? i just felt rly. bleh. and then we swam and that brought on a level of dysphoria and *falls over* bleh,

and then we were in the spa and i took my rash shirt off because it was coming off anyway and a friend took it and apparently they were passing it around and i didn't know about it and i was trying to act B-) but inside I was like B-(((( because everyone was laughing at me and i'm trying not to cry because im a petty moron,,, so basically yesterday was a very bad day. i had a sleepover with her afterwards in which we watched all three HSM's and did the dances which was fun and that made me feel better but yea.

idk does anyone else ever just feel rly disconnected from the world around u and ur like *lays down* Is Everything A Lie

Hey, dude, you shall be fine.
Trusteth in my lack of wisdom and my made up words.
Pretty much everything is a lie, except the truth. Which sounds meaningful until you really think about it.

omg I am such a shitty writer

but seriously you guys

if I do pull my shit together and publish this stupidass book

then you guys have to buy it and read it and love it ok

and then give it to all ur friends to buy it and read it and love it

fcuk idk i was with sam and austin and i still ended up feeling bad and i cried in front of them and fucked up the night kinda
and then like i had to leave and the only reason i didn't scratch the fuck out of myself was bc i made sam promise she wouldn't scratch if i didn't
but fuck i start sobbing on the drive home and nearly hyperventilating i almost had to pull over jfc
what if ican' get better

i hope you publish it u can do this!!!
please don't scratch, do it for us, do it for sam, please? you can get better

(hypocritical)

i started crying in rave, maths, homeroom and science today! yay me

i dont know i sat down with my friends before school and i felt more alone than ever they were all laughing and i was just there.

kkkill me