and any other newbies I may have missed. Tell usou stories if you can.
Welcome to indepedent_tre & iceguy
by jamiebowers 8 Replies latest jw friends
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jamiebowers
Tell usou stories if you can.
I meant tell us your stories if you can.
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Casper
Independent and iceguy....
We all look forward to getting to know you both...
Cas
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hubert
Welcome, Newbies. (One for each of you).
Hubert
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iceguy
Thank you for the kind greetings...I have forgotten what its like to get a greeting being that i'm df'd.
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independent_tre
Thanks again for the welcome. I posted a little bit about me in the other thread, so I'll just cut 'n' paste a little of that here:
REPOST: forgive my laziness:
30-something active sister ( or fading, I don't know yet ). Recently, an elder in my cong. told me he felt I was on the fringe, where the wolves are and I need to straighten up and get back into the flock. Baptized about 6 years ago. Raised in a divided household, but now both parents very active, father is an elder. LOTS of family in the truth, 3rd generation. Very happily married, and my hubby is not a witness (strange, huh ). My biggest issue is that I never, evered questioned the teachings of JW's until recently. And I've never, ever spoken openly about my doubts for fear of reprisal. I never questioned the 'truth', until it was too late, and I'm not at the point where I'm willing to lose mother, father, brothers and sisters, aunts, cousins and even coworkers due to my doubts. So I lurk.
NOT A REPOST:
My story is long and if I were to attempt to type it all at once, most would be "ZZZZZZZZZZZ..." by the end. So I'll just share one personal experience that has bothered me. When I was an unbaptized publisher, I was so stressed out by all the pressure that my study conductor put on me, that I wound up in the nuthouse. No, seriously, I had a nervous breakdown and at 3 am one morning, I found myself in the ER and landed in an outpatient mental health day program on 2 different types of anti-depressants. That had never happened to me before and I should have known that something was wrong, but whenever I couldn't do something or take the next "spiritual" step, that sister made me feel that I wasn't just letting her down, but I was letting Jehovah down by not putting him first in my life and letting other things get in the way, you know like my husband, kids, and my job. I was a terrible person for doing that !! No she never said that outright, but that's how she made me feel and she brought people ( CO's wife, elders, other sisters) to our study so they could help confirm that my priorities in life were screwed up.
So I continued on at a 7 day per week, break-neck pace for months, because I thought I was pleasing Jehovah, but in reality I was trying to please other people. Not only could I never miss a meeting, but I had to prepare for each one ( WT study, Theo/SM, our bible study- Knowledge book, family study, book study, am I leaving anything out? ) just so I could comment and prove that I was making progress. Oh yeah, my children had to be prepared and give comments also. And FS was not optional. I told her that I was too tired one day to go out in service- that was a big mistake. So rather than deal with her guilt trips, I never said no. Every single day was filled with some activity to prove that I was progressing spiritually even though I felt like I was on a runaway train and I wanted to get off. I just didn't know how, and I did not have the support or knowledge of forums like these, which would have probably helped me deal better with such high pressure tactics. So I held all of my frustration and sadness in until it erupted. Didn't matter. 2 weeks later I got baptized and everything seemed to be getting better... at least that's what I'd hoped.....
I no longer have contact with the sister I studied with. Her family and about half the people in our congregation that I had gotten to know in those first few years are gone. Either through changing congregations, DF's, moving, or becoming inactive. Like I've said, I have lots of family that are JW's but I had moved many years ago and I only see them occasionally. Right now, all of the changes and scandals that have happened just in our congregation have left me a bit disillusioned.
So enough about me, I like being here and like to read all of the personal experiences and realize that I'm not the only one who has negative expereriences, and some folks have it way worse, such as being shunned ( a practice I VEHEMENTLY disagree with, even b4 I was baptized.) I look forward to being a part of this online board and hope that one day I may also be a source of encouragement to someone here.
Thanks again~
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quietlyleaving
I missed your story independent-tre - thanks for sharing
Hi iceguy
welcome to JWD
ql
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ninja
welcome peeps........da ninja
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free2think
Welcome to JWD