Welcome to this fine board. Your story is remarkable!
DY
first new topic for me.. i have observed this site for about 4 years.
haven't been to a meeting since oct 2005. definitely feel jws are a high control group that mirrors many of the definitions of a cult.. i was raised as a witness since age 5, left at age 38, now 43. happily married to a wonderful woman for 24 years, except for 1 year of separation when i was failing miserable in a search for my true self - hard to do when you were completely sucked into this religion.
yes, i was a true believer pretty much up into my late 30s.
Welcome to this fine board. Your story is remarkable!
DY
before i became a witness i was a shallow egotistcal happy go lucky married man.
i owned 2 houses which were rented out.i lived rent free in london working for a rich arab-.
due to being a witness i quit a job and a lifestyle i will never have again.. i now live in sweden with the same wife and have a kid- i can think critically.my good friends are those i met on the ministry (but never converted)-i have good friends from my congregation in england.
I value my family and lifelong friendships tremendously, more so than the freedom that comes with not being a JW; think of it as a sacrifice for what's really important to me.
I, as do many others, take most of their stuff with a grain of salt; dismiss a lot of their crazy dogmatic ways and keep moving along. As we all get older, it's becoming easier, because the guilt trips from the platform aren't working as well as before. Just another religion and nothing else.
DY
i wanted to share a milestone that i am extremely excited about - my field circus report for november!.
hours - zero.
for the first time in my life, after over 30+ years of going out in "service" - all goose eggs, baby!
I can only dream of the day when I'll have the weekends to myself, and that when holidays come I won't feel a bit guilty for not having gone out preaching in that free time. Dreams... dreams....
Congratulations on having the courage and endurance to walk away from it all.
DY
after a very long hiatus in which i organized my feelings, thoughts and actions, please take time to welcome me back to this fine forum.. i'm trapped inside the organization, with no end in sight whatsoever.
however, i've learned to keep a pretty good balance of the inner and outter world; not perfect in, not perfect out, just keeping a good balance for my sanity's sake.. feels good to be back posting again.. dy.
Hi there y'all!!!
Loved your responses. Great sense of humor here.
What has helped me cope the most with is that I've found like-minded individuals and hang mostly with them. We have a great time together, and at the same time know that because deep generational ties to this religious organization and the fact that most of our loved ones are in it we really can't do much but hang around ourselves.
Don't you all worry, though, we the "trapped ones" inside can do alright under the situation.
Thanks so much!
DY
after a very long hiatus in which i organized my feelings, thoughts and actions, please take time to welcome me back to this fine forum.. i'm trapped inside the organization, with no end in sight whatsoever.
however, i've learned to keep a pretty good balance of the inner and outter world; not perfect in, not perfect out, just keeping a good balance for my sanity's sake.. feels good to be back posting again.. dy.
After a very long hiatus in which I organized my feelings, thoughts and actions, please take time to welcome me back to this fine forum.
I'm trapped inside the Organization, with no end in sight whatsoever. However, I've learned to keep a pretty good balance of the inner and outter world; not perfect in, not perfect out, just keeping a good balance for my sanity's sake.
Feels good to be back posting again.
DY
the talk that brother morris is giving at the one day.
assemblies is really getting the witnesses all worked.
i heard his talk last last month and he really.
The "End is here" yet again!
I went through it in the1975 saga, then again in 1986 when 'year of peace' was declared by the UN, again in the late 90s going into Y2K; now even the world is kind of mistified by the year 2012, so I imagine the Org will jump in the doomsday craze too.
Been through so many 'last days' talks and attitudes that I just turn a deaf ear to it; many do the same too, very tired of the Society crying wolf.
DY
he came to visit on saturday.
i hadn't seen or heard from him for a couple of months, usually we keep in touch by phone at the very least.
he told me that he had been going back to meetings and written 2 reinstatement letters.
Sorry to hear.
Quite a large group of us are plain trapped in there; would love to leave, but our family and friends are in. Also, for so many such as myself, having grown up indoctrinated, it's very difficult to see ourselves any other place.
Hey, perhaps you won't lose your family member; maybe with being out of the Organization for some time, he may have learned a way to keep it all balanced, by that I mean is to keep contact with the outside while still managing to stay inside the religion. It's what I do, really, to stay sane.
Go easy on the negative stuff you show, though, or he'll think it's Satan trying to attack him, then he'll avoid you like the plague. Just enjoy his company when you can and show him it's not all bad and evil outside of the Org.
hi all, this post comes from the e-watchman site, when i get the mags, i will post further.. http://e-jehovahs-witnesses.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=433.
the following is taken from the watchtower of january 15, 2006, page 23 under the heading 'resist the foremost apostate': .
'because of listening to the devil and not rejecting his lies, the first human pair apostatized.
I love it when you all quote from recent publications. It gives me something to really make a comment about.
Regarding this and other articles on the Internet and apostacy, the WBTS is only arousing curiosity in the minds of the its members.
Long live the World Wide Web!!!
DY
and that christmas trees were pagan sticks.
she really did it this time.
he does not understand what a pagan stick is but he sure understands about santa not being real.
Keep children away from JWs during holiday time. It's the best to be safe.
DY
i once talked to a jw about disfellowshipping and was curious to how can this be showing a christly love when you all out turn your back on them.
he gave me an answer about rightousness and unrightrousness having no fellowship (which is biblical) but it didnt make sense to me.
didnt seem applicable in many ways.
Disfellowshipping is a mind/emotions control tactic. No love involved in it whatsoever.
DY