"Families that don't look dysfunctional just hide it better."
Jeff I think there is much truth in this. Although IMHO, here on this site, some of the scolders don't actually hide it as well as they might think.
Getting on with it...
by Gregor 22 Replies latest members politics
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beksbks
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parakeet
aligot ripounsous: "That allowed me to always consider myself as a free, if individualistic, JW. Got married with a JW girl, I don't regret it because it provides a common stock of values and, all in all, although she's less vocal than me, my wife is close to my independent approach to the organization. So far, so good, I'm getting on with it, all the more so that being a JW has always remained a personal affair since I didn't force my children to become JWs and, as an actual fact they are not."
I'm fascinated about how you and your wife are able to take an "independent approach" regarding JWs. I've never heard of such a thing, except for famous JWs, whom the WTS allows to do whatever they want. Are you baptized JWs? Do you accept their blood doctrine? the end times? Armageddon? the "need" to spend as much time as possible saving unbelievers from an apocalypse due to arrive "any day now"? If you did not raise your children to be JWs, do you believe they will be destroyed at Armageddon without hope of resurrection? If they're still minors, would you allow them to die rather than allow a lifesaving blood transfusion? Do you attend KH meetings? Go out in field service?
Sorry if I sound nosy, but I've never heard of any baptized JW who was permitted to view his/her faith as a "personal affair."
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Twitch
Yea,...
I dunno; I've known some pretty messed up rich kids too (they had the best, uh, everything,...)
But yes, some just seem to get all the breaks. Hate that. But hey, what 'cha gonna do?
As for getting on with it,..
I guess for some, moving on is not looking back at all
For others, it's maintaining a lifeline, of sorts
Pros and cons to both
But one path is more admirable
:)
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Gregor
Well said, Twitch. No judgement here. I have a cousin who got out about the same time as me. He was an elder too. I've told him about this site and some of the things discussed here but he is just not interested in anything to do with that part of his past.
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snowbird
I, for one, am glad that others didn't just "get on with it."
I think I knew deep down that something about the WT just wasn't right, but being isolated and at times overwhelmed with family responsibilities, I had no time for deep research.
Now, any and all information needed about WT's cover-ups and deceptions is just a mouse click away.
I am thankful to all who never let up in exposing the sham.
Sylvia
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Dismembered
Maybe I am partly motivated by revenge but so be it.
Touche Gregor SO BE IT!
Whatever motivates anyone of us to expose watchtower for the gigantic fraud that it is. So be it. I hope to see the day, (and I won't) when it goes the way of Circuit City.
Dismembered
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undercover
Every so often someone posts here and scolds us for not getting on with our life and forgetting about the JW experience. My response is that I have got past it. It is water under the bridge but I feel a desire (responsibilty?) to help others avoid it or get free of it. Maybe I am partly motivated by revenge but so be it.
I'm pretty much over it as well...but I have family that is still in and while I know what I know, the fact that they still live their life by WT standards affects me to some degree. I like to stay on top of what's happening with the bOrg and their "new light" so I can be a step ahead of them.
I like to try to give back just a little as well. So many helped me when I came here, I think it's good to help those who come behind us looking for support (though it's been slim lately since new registrations are locked).
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Bubblie
I didn't come on here posting. I lurked for a year. Sometimes, my ex would read me posts or print them out for me. He spent way more time on the internet then me. Now that I have my own identity (lost a lot of it in the divorce) I am able to write on here about the things that used to bug me at the meetings. That fact that women are less important to the congregation than a man or former or possible elder always used to make me feel unimportant. Like when I left they didn't even call me except to see if I had any time to report. But when the ex left (being an elder) they wanted a meeting with him! They wanted to find out what was the matter. I was just tossed aside as she's following him out. Let her go! I am a child of divorce so I never wanted to have one. I did not have a silver spoon life. I am trying hard to create a new person here. Cover my wounds from all that has happened since I the wt. I too wish it would go under and wish it would happen in my lifetime.
Kit
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aligot ripounsous
Parakeet,
Answering your questions amounts to summarize the conversations I had with elders everytime they paid me a sheperding call.
Yes, my wife and I are baptized. My wife was almost born in and got baptism aged 14, together with her sisters, because it was the thing to do in the family and she sincerely wanted to do what is right in her life. As for me, I've tried to stuck to my commitment along the lines of the questions I answered at baptism, which took place before 1985, at a time when you just repented from you sins and acknowledged the value of Jesus' sacrifice, or something approaching. No pledge of allegiance to an organization back then. If the WTS has added small print clauses in the contract in 1985, I don't feel obligated to comply.
We just attend WE meetings, like the catholics attend mass. No preaching, I told elders that I don't know what to tell people anymore, since we have abandoned what used to be the core of our message, the 1914 generation not passing away, etc. If I went preaching, I would feel like being the trumpet in I Cor. 14 which sounds an indistinct call, like so many JWs who don't know what to believe now. Generally speaking, I don't feel able to conduct a standard JW Bible study because there are so many things I'm not convinced of : literal understanding of Genesis, WTS being "guided" by HS, mass slaughter at A, etc.That's why I gave up being a MS 15 years ago, my public talks were too laden with misgivings and stifled with self censorship. I now feel free to evaluate the sensibleness of the WTS teaching, there's no theological sacred cow. I've tried to teach this cartesian approach to my children, no wonder they've not wanted to join in the club. As for them being destroyed at A, they are at no more risk than me, Jehovah reads hearts.
Concerning blood, My wife and I are not embarrassed with the doctrine. Experience has shown, IMO, that abstaining has been a protection. Leaving aside the fact that blood is a juicy business, I'm pretty sure that those who've died because of transfusion outnumber many times those who've died for lack of transfusion. Jehovah seems to have given men a good law. Now don't ask me what my decision will be if I have to make a choice at my unconscious child's bedside, I will see to that in due time if, God forbid, case arises.
To finish with, 2 elders let me understand, 2 weeks ago that, either I comment at the WT according to the text of the article, or I keep silent. No miracles in WTS world...
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cognizant dissident
Concerning blood, My wife and I are not embarrassed with the doctrine. Experience has shown, IMO, that abstaining has been a protection. Leaving aside the fact that blood is a juicy business, I'm pretty sure that those who've died because of transfusion outnumber many times those who've died for lack of transfusion. Jehovah seems to have given men a good law. Now don't ask me what my decision will be if I have to make a choice at my unconscious child's bedside, I will see to that in due time if, God forbid, case arises.
Hi Aligot
I realize this was an old thread and I was reading it in reference to your new thread but when I came across this post about blood, I felt compelled to respond. The belief you express about blood transfusions being more dangerous than refusing blood transfusions is exactly what the WTBTS has tried so hard to get get JW's to believe through their campagin of misinformation in their literature. Unfortunately, the statistics do not back up this belief and lives have been lost because of it.
Recently, I wrote an academic research essay for a university class on this very subject. I had access to medical databases for my research through the university. Here is an excerpt from my essay showing the real chance of infection from blood transfusions and the real risk to hemoraghing patients in refusing them:
The following is a table reprinted from an article entitled, “Hazards of Neonatal Blood Transfusions” (Fontaine and Galel 5).
Table 2. Estimated Risk of Transmitting Human ImmunodeficiencyVirus and Hepatitis (Per Unit Transfused)
Human ImmunodeficiencyVirus
1/1,779,000
Hepatitis C Virus
1/1,613,000
HepatitisB Virus
1/171,000
One study reviewed the charts of Jehovah’s Witnesses women who gave birth at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the U.S.A. Their risk of death from hemorrhage was 44 times that of women who accepted blood transfusions as a treatment for post-partum hemorrhage (Gyamfi and Berkowitz 3).
In contrast, the literature of Jehovah’s Witnesses clearly exaggerates the risks of blood transfusions, using fear-invoking, language, while providing no statistics to give weight to their suppositions. The Watchtower magazine regularly prints testimonies from patients with life threatening illnesses who had nearly miraculous recoveries after refusing medically recommended blood transfusions. Those stories represent the tiny minority of Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused necessary treatment and lived to tell the tale. You will rarely hear about hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses who died after refusing the same treatment, unless the stories have made national headlines, and then the Watchtower will tell their life story, holding them up as examples of true Christians who remained faithful until death, in effect, glorifying them as martyrs in the eyes of all other Jehovah’s Witnesses.