LOIS- Nice to have you here on the board. You are among friends who understand. Take care
Are we losing members quicker than the WT ??
by wobble 79 Replies latest jw friends
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oldlightnewshite
At least one thing must be true. I'll bet nobody has gone back to the Troof, after having a damn good look around here. I think I stay just because I feel guilty about my family that are still in. I come every once in a while to see if there's any major scandals going down that could help me reason with them. If I had no family in, I would just be outta here.
I think probably a lot of people just eventually feel so gullible and stupid about what they formerly believed, that they clear off, and try to deny that it ever happened to them.
At least they move on.
Thanks to all the posters, by the way. You helped me.
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Tatiana
I don't post anywhere near as much as what I used to. But it's not because someone has pissed me off or I find the board boring. It's just that sometimes you get busy in life, or sometimes you just need a break. I know other 'old timers' who rarely, if ever, post on here anymore, and it's just because they've moved on.......Unclebruce, Gumby, Delilah, KW13, Luna, Littletoe, Bumblebee, Dr. Jekyll, Buttlight, Funky Derek, Old Flame.....How many on here know who these posters even are? There's a ton of new ones that weren't on here 5 or 6 years ago.....that's just the nature of things.
I do, Mary. And zena and windchaser and jim tex, etc. But I'm friends with them on facebook so we keep in touch. There's an EX-JW page there too.
But LOISLANE'S post reminded me why I stayed so long here. It's how I felt when I found this place. I don't post often but I read sometimes. I was here last week and the political threads gave me a headache so I promised myself I'd stay away from that forum.
Anyway...welcome LOIS and keep reading...the more you read, the more you know. The more you know, the more courage you gain. That courage allows you to overcome the brainwashing. Believe me...as one 'born-in'...I know.
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slimboyfat
It's a bit ironic that wobble himself seems to have stopped posting after making this thread. I hope he's okay and just got busy elsewhere.
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Terry
I go back 8 years.
I've made 13,297 posts.
I have 53 pages listing Topics I've started.
Far, far better, smarter and greater Ex-JW's have come and gone in those years.
There are reasons people leave that can be addressed.
When the really, really intelligent and exceptional mind arrives here---their "wounds" from years with the Watchtower are of a different kind.
Their intelligence has been insulted, suppressed and ignored. Smart people are used and stifled. That insult increases as awareness dawns. Why?
The fine balance for the Society is using talented people without allowing individuality to rear its ugly head. Let's face facts. Feeding a smart person's ego by making them an Elder and sapping their energies by keeping them multi-taxing to exhaustion is effective.
The downside is, smart people ask smart questions. Smart questions require smart and factual answers. Otherwise, the edges start fraying.
When smart people leave the WTS they search the Internet and find a place to vent and share.
Now, they may arrive HERE...
When those smart people leave the Kingdom Hall and find US HERE, all that suppressed intelligence explodes. Years of frustration shoot out laser-like Topics with really superior ideas and reasonings. But---and it is a big "but"---the meatheads, apologists and dumb-dumbs come out to play.
Talking to and "reasoning" with Trolls is a new experience for newly mined Apostates. It isn't like door to door work at all.
Alan F, for example, was like Sampson slaying Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. His brilliant analyses were/are treasures--but--his arguments with
trolls are like nuclear holacausts, too :)
Hillary_step, Narcissos, Pole, Farkel (yes, THAT Farkel) and a host of others suffer fools not at all. Narcissos was among the more polite and patient.
So, what am I saying? The first group: Smart, usually can't stand day to day confrontations with stupidity. They leave. Persons such as Farkel are a great resource. But, certain nasty trolls have soured them like a dish of month old cream. Dumb-dumbs have turned them into curmudgeons.
The second group are those heavily invested in--what I call: Superstitious Universe thinking. They are emotionally tied to having Somebody or Something in charge of the universe and making friends with whomever or whatever that is. They come here to sort out their religious notions and move on because
whatever crackpot notion replaces JW belief will only be more of the same. They find an outside group and join up. Bye-bye.
The third group are "wacky idea freaks". Many are sweet and wonderful; many are just nuts. These little darlings will cut and paste long and DENSE paragraphs of "ideas". Think of the Unabomber and you'll know what style of writing I'm referencing here:)
These "ideas" are so vast and multifold that engaging them will sap the marrow from your bones trying to keep track. They just need a listening ear to perk them up and get them going. They need an AUDIENCE--even if it is an angry one :)
The last group are just comrades sharing lives and experiences who want somebody who "knows what it was like" to be in that religion---to associate with.
That's the bulk of who remains here.
There are some darn fine human beings here who will cry when you cry, bleed when you bleed and walk the extra miles to get you back on track.
So, what I'm saying is that JWnet is a "filtering" process. It is a hospital. It is a fraternity/sorority. It is a platform. It is a psychiatric ward. It is a brother/sisterhood.
When I first came here my head exploded with a lot of wild, wacky, weird and wonderful brain shrapnel! I've calmed down alot.
I've gotten disgusted.
I grew drained and tired.
I left.
I came back.
A lot of those old timers probably peek in now and then and see the "same old--same old" and chuckle and go back to their real lives.
Such is life.
This too shall pass....
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leavingwt
slimboyfat: Wobble is doing well.
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slimboyfat
That's good to know. Maybe he got fed up with inexplicable deletions like I have suffered recently. Perhaps it's time for me to start looking for another forum too.
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wobble
I am honoured to see a thread of mine revived.
In many ways I have moved on, but still cannot break the habit of keeping an eye on here, those great posters who have moved on completely, and no longer perhaps even read here, helped me no end, but those who are still here still do, so do not stop if you can possibly stay and keep this place as special as it has always been.
As I have posted a number of times, this place, and you great people, have been literally a life saver for me.
Slimboyfat, you simply CANNOT go, we are not exactly overun with Scottish curmudgeons ! we need you ! (you have a P.M)
I am truly glad for those who have left the WT/JW experience so far behind that they have truly moved on, may they enjoy their freedom to choose the best things in life.
Thank you all, past and present posters, I love you all.
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NomadSoul
I come here when I'm really bored at work. I wish I could contribute to the site by involving myself into WT topics but so much of it has left my brain that I wouldn't even know where to start.
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ziddina
Well... Not that this is a GOOD idea, but...
You could always do what I do...
Make shallow, silly posts with lots of smileys in them...
[At least it serves to bump threads!!]
