HELLO? HELLO? "ALL" SIGN IN??????? (page 4)

thinkers wife

Welcome to all the newbies. And thank you for sharing a piece of your life with us.
Waiting, Hats off to you again for being persistant about this hello thread!!!
TW

waiting

Hey Zazu!

Larc's a "Jedi" poster? Wow, wait till he becomes a Emperor and then, finally, an Empress (3,000)!

waiting - for the day!

Oh, btw, WELCOME Y'ALL!!!!!

waiting

WhyNow2000

I am 33 Male from S.Cal. My whole family are baptized witnesses in good standing, including me.

WhyNow..WhyNot

stephenw20

Welcome WHy now?

look around and jump in!

Please share all your insights with us.
S

myMichelle

Greetings to the Emperor,

So as it was said, so let it be written, so let it be done.

Our one common link is being one of Jehovah's Witnesses - and walking away for good reasons. No exceptions.

I was never a JW, I walked away from the "bible" study I participated in with my husband, can that count? :)

Let's see...my quick summary:

Met a super-terrific guy, first love and all of those romantic things. Dated, got engaged, found out what religion he was raised in. Went to my first memorial, in Spanish, which went beyond the classes I had in school. Thought it was weird, esp. when my sweetie said that since we were engaged we could sit next to each other, but since I couldn't understand much beyond "con much gusto", it didn't leave too much of an impression on me.

Married in a civil ceremony, and since he had joined the military a year prior, off from our hometown we went. Except for memorial attendance, to which I would very grudgingly go to, religion was not an issue in our family. (His mom would phone to let us know when it was, so we couldn't forget.)

Fast forward a few years, moved back to our hometown, have two young kids, and religion became a major issue. Tried taking kids to both places of worship, I started attending the KH more, because I was lonely on "his" Sundays and the next thing I know he has arranged a "bible" study for the both of us. Participated in that for about 9 mos or so (it's getting fuzzy, probably self-induced amnesia), going so very painfully slow through the book, before I clicked on Freeminds (Thanks Randy!) out of the blue one day and I started reading there. I refused to attend the KH or the study any longer, while he dived further into the organization.

He was baptized at the end of 1999, telling me a day and a half before the event--I had just made my first post on the old H2O the day before. Lotsa turmoil for a while there, but I think things are smoothing out, well between us anyways. Matters between him and his JW family (mom, sis, and her family) are yet to be determined, as he is becoming increasingly inactive and trying to fade away.

That's it, oh except for my age, which I notice people are terribly fond of indicating in this thread, it's 32.

Hello to all the newbies here too, I'm a junior member, which I presume is a lot like being a butter-bar lieutenant who thinks they are all of that--which is annoying to those who truly are. Don't despair, 20 posts and you're a jr. member too.

That's all for now, time for me to meddle in some other thread.

Michelle

waiting

hey meddle Michelle,

oh except for my age, which I notice people are terribly fond of indicating in this thread, it's 32.

We can do that because we don't have to see each other. No fear of the other person saying "Oh my gawd-----you look so much older!"

Notice very few (well, none) give their weight.

Thanks for the information - I've seen your posts on h20. Glad to have y'all here with us.

The More the Merrier!

waiting

RedhorseWoman

All right! All right!! I'll tell my story.....just get Waiting to stop pestering me. Having those nightmares of her hanging from the light fixture intoning "Have you posted in the Hello? Hello? thread yet?" is ruining my slumber.

I'm slightly older than Waiting, but WAY younger than Zazu and Larc and was raised as a JW from the age of 7. I was baptised at 13, mainly because it was the thing to do, and I was getting a lot of flak about not having dedicated my life to Jehovah at that ripe old age. There were things I questioned even then (in fact, I secretly sent for a Catholic study course, and never reported it to the elders), but I kept telling myself that I simply had a bad attitude and needed more faith.

The lack of love in the congregation bothered me, and I noticed the same attitudes and cliquiness in every congregation I visited except for one in Maine. I kept on going, however, blaming myself for being spiritually weak and looking at imperfections of men. I pioneered for three years until my health fell apart, and then felt the sting of disapproval when I had to step down.

After I married a brother who was very very new in the "truth", the issues began coming to a head. He became ill shortly after we were married, and the loving brothers never bothered to visit, send cards, or telephone. The only time we heard from them was when my husband began smoking again. Then the elders were at our apartment almost immediately thundering threats of disfellowshipping.

After this point, we both became almost totally inactive, but I had hopes that I might be able to reactivate myself one day. When we moved to a new house, my husband and I began the reactivation plan in earnest, and we almost made it. However, my husband had a lot of questions to which he REALLY wanted answers. Most of the answers consisted of "you'll just have to accept that on faith" or "you'll just have to wait on Jehovah". In any event, the questions made the elders nervous, and they began looking for a way to get rid of the questioner. They found it in the issue of smoking. My husband was disfellowshipped shortly after we had begun our study with the elders. There were many issues that were brought up during this period of time, and many lies were told to us by the elders. It became so blatant that I could no longer stuff my doubts about the organization, and I just stopped going.

I've been inactive for about 16 years now, and found several ex-JW discussion boards about 3 years ago. I've since learned about all the discrepancies in doctrine, and I've found that my experiences were not all that unusual.

I no longer feel the need to belong to an organized religion, although I still believe in God. I'm just not sure of what I believe God to be at this point in time, however. I'm looking into many areas of belief (some of which would have been heartily condemned by the JWs), and I'm enjoying the search.

I have quite a few animals, including the now well-known Red Horse (whose name is Hablador) and have inadvertently gotten involved with rescuing several feral cats (which I've found to be quite fulfilling). I've been reading all the books that were not allowed (such as horror fiction), and I've taken the opportunity to begin playing flute and guitar (but not well), and doing all of the things that I never had time for previously.......basically, I'm enjoying life.

Carmel

Hey Red,

Is it true what waiting told me about you impersonating Lady Godiva on your roan?

Oh the visuals that are conjured up in the minds!!!

carmel

RedhorseWoman

Is it true what waiting told me about you impersonating Lady Godiva on your roan?

Ah, how sweet is mystery and intrigue. (hehehe) I'll never tell.

waiting

hey sweetpea,

The Red Goddess told me that she wears chaps - and that's that. The woman knows no boundries of good taste. Damn cold up where she is - guess the long hair helps, eh?

Oh, Red forgot to mention that she, and I, are waaaaaaaaay younger than you. Just thought I'd throw that in to keep you lively, old man.

waiting

HELLO? HELLO? "ALL" SIGN IN???????

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