WATCHTOWER 15/10/09 RE. D/F'D FRIENDS (page 4)

tijkmo

and what about those who are wrongly df-ed..they more than anyone need friends. if they aren't allowed jw friends family then they will make 'worldly' ones.

you would think jehovah would know this

Joshnaz

I'm sure the WTS realizes that anyone outside the organization might shed a little common sense on JW's. Starting them to think on their own, of course thinking on your own is a no-no in CULTS.

I think this article encourages vigilanti-ism. And marking and "insider shunning" at the congregation level. I might have a problem with Sister Usedtobeapioneer and decide since she chose to go back to work and stop pioneering she is no longer spiritually strong and "left Jehovah" while another JW may see her as wonderful because she is spending more time in study with her family, or is now able to give money to hall because she is working...

I mean my point being where is the line in the sand???

oompa

tag.....and barf...puke...OMG!....oompa

total role reversal!!!!...they leave us!

BadBettie

I already posted the quote with some discussion in the member forums, but I have to say it again as it applied to this discussion.

That is, the "Father's wise words" from the drama at the District Convention!

" If you leave Jehovah's organization you become easy prey for satan... No one can truly love you unless they know and love Jehovah too. Please come home son and come back to Jehovah too you know you will be welcome, please come."

We are incapable of love, apparently, unless we have love for Jehovah. At least that what it is starting to sound like. If you hear a copy of the drama, the way it is said too makes my skin crawl.

I've had a better, more productive life (as an "ex witness") with people that choose to be with me as opposed to obligation to people you're supposed to be watching out for anyway, which in itself creates mistrust ("youre my friend I have this problem and I went against go-" "I'm telling the elders!").

My "witness friends" treated me worse than any bully or random jerk ever has. When they found out I had missed several meetings before I had actually left (never said anyting never df'ed)left (I was legitimatley sick) they had started to mutter things about me and basically twisted factual events (such as me being in public with a worldly associate to pick up a part for a car) into dating and having sex with. If my father was not an elder I would have been toast. My father trusts me and is aware of the two faced attitudes some have. It was pretty much "Nice, guys! thanks for coming out and being my friend for the short time it was convenient".

I had liberal parents and a pool and every gaming system. I was only popular in the summer or when it suited people to play the newest game or go for a swim the same people would try to humiliate me at school to students and teachers alike, so I hung out with worldly kids only outside of home, they helped me to feel normal happy and accepted, not like someone who is there so my stuff could be used for the activity, with my input and feelings being ignored.

That and at the Last DC I went to the person I lived with for a bit to help them get better after life threatening surgery ignored me even though I waved at them and started to head over there. What an ungrateful person. I hope that now that they are healthy enough to work and make money to actually survive on their own (over 30 years of age) that they appreciate it in SOME capacity. I even cleaned the baseboards to their ceiling killing a chronic silverfish problem in their home all while they lay in bed literally bleeding to death (they didn't die which made me happy as they are rather bright in some ways, otherwise truly conditioned). That isn't to say I don't feel sorry for that person still.

I experienced lessons through being friends with only WTS members. Sadly, none of those lessons were about being a good friend.

verystupid77

Lets say it together: C U L T.

Amen

purplesofa

C an't

U nderstand

L ogical

T hinking

allelsefails

The point has been well made. Leaving the organization = leaving Jehovah - ie. the organization = Jehovah. They contradict themselves at every turn. I hate that I ever shunned someone because an org told me to.

boyzone

That article is disgusting. I didn't leave my friends, they left me. I was still the same person the sisters had always known but I'd come to realise the Organization was wrong. I still said hello to the sisters when I saw them as I always did, but it was them that turned their back on me, not the other way round.

I hadn't changed, my faith was still strong and my love for God undiminished. But their friendship is totally conditional on whether you love the Organization, nothing to do with your love for God or not.

Life's been getting better lately but after reading that article i feel upset again. I really loved those people! They were my closest friends for 21 years. We shared holidays, family experiences, good times and bad together, all supporting each other. I really thought they knew me well and would understand that I am the same person!! I haven't changed.

And now this piece of crap from the Watchtower.

Nothing, NOTHING will make me go back to this Org, they are the epitome of evil, an iron fist in a velvet glove and I HATE the GB for what they've done to me - and everyone still taken in by their bull.

nelly136

i dont miss my fairweather HirePurchase jw friends, the ones i've made since have their own minds and dont depend on the latest edition from a publishing company to decide whether to like me or not, they dont watch to check i dress correctly and attend meetings or put in time sheets, i don't have to watch my p's and q's in case i inadvertantly say the 'wrong thing' that may or may not go against a publishing companys party line.

i could change religion, gender preferance or just be my normal horrible little self and they'll still love me for who i am, i'm glad i spent time as a jw or else i wouldn't know just how lucky i am now, cos its one heck of a yardstick.

A Definition of Friendship

Friendship is the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring all right out just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful friendly hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and, with a breath of comfort, blow the rest away.

Dinah Maria Craik 1826-1887
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WATCHTOWER 15/10/09 RE. D/F'D FRIENDS