Just wanted to reply to some of you; had some questions and thoughts in regard to your posts:
avishai: Thanks for that link to Terry's article. very well written and I had to give a loud AMEN afterwards!
Low-Key: You mention the WT teaching on how in the Paradise lions would be eating "straw" which now that I think of it sounds ridiculous but of course there is that scripture in Isiah about it. So what should we take from that scripture that says:
7 And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. 8 And the sucking child -Isaiah 11:7
luna 2: This place makes me laugh, exposes me to interesting, diverse people and ideas and gives me a forum to vent and work through things that bother me as I recover from dubiness. This appears to be all the therapy I need at the moment.
Such a true statement! I think being able to be on this site has been my own personal shrink.
freedomlover: like my profile says : "JW by birth and genetic lottery. Ex-JW by choice."
I like that! I will have to use that one. And I think it was either AuldSoul or AlmostAtheist that siad: "A religion that has all the ansewrs doesn't allow the questions." Simply genius!
Frannie: and this forum is our "AA" meeting place, the support group we may not have access to in our daily lives.
Well said!
deeskis: it's like Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross identified in her book"on death and dying", she identified 5 stages of grief.
- D enial
- A nger
- B argaining
- D epression
- A cceptance
But what if nothing ever does? What if you live your life not worrying about gaining any connection with God and then one day you just wake up and realize such emptiness. farvenughen: My advice--get busy living. Enroll in some college courses, take up a hobby, get out and meet people, travel, whatever--just do something. Before long you will be too engrossed in your new life to give much thought to fretting over the past. And this is so true! I try to stay busy but sometimes I get so engulfed about what the future outcome will be. Will I end up being D'F? Will I get caught doing something dumb? Will I lost my parents financial support? It all gets to be too much sometimes. I mean you hear the horror stories and you wonder "my god, will that same thing happen to me as it happend to people on here?" peacefulpete: We just had an intersting long conversation with a WI synod Luthern who was "disfellowshipped" by her church after her father reported her for having sex and failure to attend church. She was raised young earth creationist and extreme moral conservative. After 6 years in college she is just now finally letting the facts sink in and opening her eyes to the diversity of human experience. Yes the JWs are backward and narrow and cultish, but they are hardly alone. Maybe awareness of that fact kept us from lingering in selfpity or insisting that everyone around us listen to our stories. They may well have their own to tell. So the practice of shunning is practiced in a lot of religions? Anyone have any good books and or/ articles on this? atypical: would have to say that anger and bitterness are only two of the many emotions I have been dealing with. My wife, my parents, my siblings, and some of my in-laws are all very active witnesses. I have only recently stopped attending meetings and going in service. I am not df'd, so everyone thinks there's hope and is constantly trying to think of new ways to get me to a meeting or to read a new magazine that comes out (I keep telling them that I am willing to bet I read much more of the society's publications than they do). Hi friend! I know your story but reading it always make me get emotinal. And yet so many of others on here have that same story to tell. I don't know what that feels like to be treated like a "goat" if you will. That too keeps me awake at night.