Introduction (page 2)

mouthy

Lovely to have you aboard .Hope_ful !!!Good job you lurked for awhile -to see we are a great family...... your lucky( oops ) Fortunate to have family that still talk to you... I love hearing there are SOME elders who have hearts.
I love the JWs -becaue I was there one time -with my blinders on.... I am hopeing many,many more lurk here. ((((hug) Grace..( Remember now I am Undeserved kindness to the JWS)

Huxley

WELCOME!

Nice to hear your story. This board is a really nice place to be.

I lurked for a few weeks as well, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that not everyone who has a beef with the witnesses is a bitter, hate-filled monster. (As a lot of us were raised to believe!)

This board has such a diverse group of people with a multitude of different ideas, attitudes, and opinions.

I think you will really enjoy being here.

Huxley

Hope_ful

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Gadget: yes, it was weird sitting through meetings knowing "the plan." You must understand we made our decision after a lot of conversations and weighing of pros and cons. We finally decided that we simply didn't agree with all the KH rules & regulations...some of the doctrine...and we certainly did not miss having to go to 5 meetings per week and going out from door to door. My side of the family was on the way out the door and fortunately very open-minded. They chose not to shun/disown us. My in-laws were and still are very involved in the organization. The decision we made was for our children. Was it right for us to sit through meetings under false pretenses and "tickle the ears" of the elders? I honestly don't know. Sometimes I think I was/am as hypocritcal as some at the KH. But then I can't help but think of the committee meeting of when I was disfellowshipped. An elder from a neighboring congregation was called in because of my dad's position in the cong. He didn't even know my name. The statement he made is one I will never forget. He told me, "I just want you to know we really care about you and are very concerned about your relationship with Jehovah...er, um... <speaking to one of the other elders: What is her name?>" I was very honest in that judicial meeting - I begged for help. I knew things were on a downhill slide for me. So I ended up with someone who cared so much about me he didn't even know my name and then another elder, midway through the meeting, laughed at me and said "We really got you now, don't we?" At this point I stopped caring. Sometimes I feel guilty about, well, let's face it, lying to the other set of elders in the reinstatment meeting, but other times I think "hey. I just played by their own rules."

Again, our decision was for our children. It is becoming difficult now because they hear one thing from us and another from their grandmother who tells them things like "if you don't go to the kingdom hall you will die." "If you celebrate birthdays you won't live forever." "Jehovah doesn't like people to have babies before they are married." (very very sore point as our oldest "did the math" and figured out he was born before we were married).

BTW, the meetings weren't so bad...we had a 2-yr old and a 3-yr old.....we spent a lot of time in the bathrooms and walking around the parking lot !

Brummie

Welcome aboard! Thanks for sharing, glad you dived in, hope other lurkers will too.

Most of us lurked before we came in.

Brummie

outnfree

Welcome to the Board, Hope_ful!

You'll likely want to limit contact more and more with Granny Fanatic as the children get older ... maybe moving once again from the area so that it won't be so obvious that you're escaping her? The kids WILL worry that you're all going to die... I never realized how fearful my kids were until I left and they felt free to share.

And welcome to you, too, Gadget!

Have you shared your story someplace and I'm not remembering it?

outnfree

bikerchic

To the two newbies Hope_ful and Gadget!

Katie

RAYZORBLADE

Welcome Hope_ful, glad to read your story.

Thanks for sharing, it's always nice to read a 'newbie' story on here.

Very refreshing.

I hope you'll continue to post and add your comments.
Best wishes to you and your husband and 3 boys.

Satanus

I don't think that it's wrong to use deception in protecting/shielding your children. There are all kinds of facts about the world that young kids cannot handle, and should be protected from. The fear tactics of your granny is one of those.

SS

Shakita

Welcome Hopeful!

Glad you joined the board after lurking. It took me a while lurking before I posted too.

I hope that things work out with the kid's grandmother. Maybe you guys can come to a decision to not talk about religious things while you are together (especially with the kids), and that way everyone will be happy. This is almost impossible for most JW's, but it has worked (for the most part) in my family, and every one is happy (for now). Good Luck!

Mrs. Shakita

SPAZnik

Welcome

SPAZ

Introduction

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