Oh, and forget any aspirations of going to Bethel of you're a pat lowly sister, unless you marry a man with a highly-sought skill for recruitment.
.... and then if a baby comes, zapp! you're both out.
Phae
Phaedra
JoinedPosts by Phaedra
-
24
Bethel experiences sound like a prison sentence.Why even go?
by goingthruthemotions inwhen i read about bethel experiences my mind go to the show locked up raw!.
why would someone subject themselves to this without commeting a crime.. the wife and i went to see bethel in broklyn a few years ago and it was unlike anything i expected.
very cold.. went the bosert hotel and was talking to a brother there and asked how long he had been there, he said 25 years...i asked how old he was.
-
-
-
24
Bethel experiences sound like a prison sentence.Why even go?
by goingthruthemotions inwhen i read about bethel experiences my mind go to the show locked up raw!.
why would someone subject themselves to this without commeting a crime.. the wife and i went to see bethel in broklyn a few years ago and it was unlike anything i expected.
very cold.. went the bosert hotel and was talking to a brother there and asked how long he had been there, he said 25 years...i asked how old he was.
-
-
Phaedra
It's amazing how JWs frame "Going to Bethel" as some grand privilege ... when in reality it's not much different than someone selling their possessions and joining a cult while living at the compound giving away their time, energy, and youth in return for poverty, highly-structured activities, and living in a closed-group environment.
The number of Bethelites who've burned out and left and their harrowing accounts while there pretty much affirm this. Others who hang in there for years (I know of a particular couple who have been there since the late-80s) hoping for the end to come are in for a rude awakening when they will eventually be downsized out with the best years of their lives gone and nothing to show for it.
If all JWs had to leave their lives and live in a closed community like Bethel, there'd be no denying they are a cult. Problem is, they need the working class funds to feed the machine... which is why congregations are convenient means of support.
Phae
-
27
Volunteering.
by Jeannette insince i left the watchtower a couple of years ago, i started volunteering 3 hours a week at a wecare center.
it's like goodwill.
well, i've been there approximately 9 months, and yesterday i received a lovely thank you card from them.
-
-
Phaedra
Volunteering for a worthy cause, especially when you are authentically invested and can see the fruits of your labor, is a soul-satisfying activity.
In stark contrast to the endless hours of door-knocking volunteering we did as JWs that left us ambivalent, stressed, and depleted.
Good for you, Jeanette!
Phae
-
75
JWs getting "Footloose" at the Kingdom Hall
by AndDontCallMeShirley ini hope no one here get's injured when they see this and their jaw hits the floor:.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=689701664435095&set=vb.100001858044479&type=2&theater.
-
-
Phaedra
just wow
-
43
Could it be that Jehovah is punishing me for leaving his religion?
by Julia Orwell ini know it's a completely absurd thing to say, but something happened to me today that triggered the old cult reaction.
my mind instantly lapsed back into that of a jw and for a split second i thought that because i wasn't doing jehovah things that jehovah's blessing had been removed from me and this is why my life seems to be running into so many dead-ends.
as a jw i attributed anything good happening to me to being the result of my being a good jw and dutifully doing everything the borg teaches.
-
-
Phaedra
Well, today I lost that cool job I got back in May and wrote about it.
Julia,
Aww, that job sounded like a lot of fun, too. Did you say it was at an amusement park?
One of my dream jobs is to be a dress-up character at Disney World. I'd love to be the source of many smiles.
You said:
and can't work on a theme park ride because I made a mistake
Did something happen while you were operating a ride? A safety thing? Or something more mundane?
Phae
-
48
Surreal experience last night.
by objectivetruth inrecently a jw friend that my wife & i knew 3 years ago added me on facebook, after i accepted the request she invited me to a dinner that her and her husband are holding next month.. i imagined that she was unaware of our apostasy, so i declined the invitation on the basis of not wanting to ruin her dinner after the rest of her guests fled at our presence.. i'm never sure how old friends will react when i tell them that i'm no longer a jw.. usually their response is "..... permanent-silence......".
her response went something like this, " we are all out!
everyone that is coming is out we all look forward to seeing you guys so much" it turns out that there will be 6 people at the dinner all friends of ours from a congregation that we attended a few years back.. they have all left the organization recently.. pretty crazy experience..
-
-
Phaedra
" We are all out! Everyone that is coming is out we all look forward to seeing you guys so much"
How cool is that?!
Phae
-
32
NLP, Subliminal Messages and the WT Writing Department
by 00DAD ina few years ago i became interested in the subject of neuro-linguistic programming (nlp).
while the core concepts of nlp have been largely discredited as new-age pseudo-science, there is no doubt that there is at least some validity to the idea.
words and images remain the key way we communicate.
-
-
Phaedra
Definitely loaded language, which is even more effective on highly sensitive people who have the knack for sensing what's being said between the lines.
Interesting discussion!
Phae
-
151
If you don't believe in God where do you get the strength to cope?
by Miss.Fit ini know there are some here that are going through some tough times.
some of you do not believe in god.
some are not sure.. i was told recently by a friend to pray to god for help and he would comfort me.. my first impulse is to pray.
-
-
Phaedra
I'm enjoying this conversation. Thanks for starting this thread, MissFit, as I have a lot of wonderings around this, too.
Jgnat and LisaRose, do you address your prayers/meditations to anyone in specific? I'm curious how an atheist would handle that.
I'm also wondering if my being raised JW with a codependant relationship with the organization makes me more desiring to seeking an external kind of connection with 'source' than within myself.
It's connection I really seem to be wanting when I pray, eventhough nothing is there.
Is there perhaps another word for 'connection' that might explain the desire?
Always open to new perspectives.
Phae
P.S. Anyone know if there is a way to spellcheck my short posts from the tools selection before I hit submit?
-
41
Would like all of your imput on this. Please
by Still Totally ADD inboth reopened mind and i are now in our early 60's and it seems our conversations lately have been on putting everything up for sale and buying a rv and travel until we can't anymore.
it has been a dream of ours for along time to see all the site's in the u.s. and canada.
we feel we could make money as we go by selling and teaching using herbs and gardening.
-
-
Phaedra
I love this dream!
Did you know there are a bunch of discussion forums devoted to this lifestyle? You might want to check them out (if you haven't already). You can learn a lot of great stuff from people already 'living the dream'.
I'd love to sell all my stuff and get up and go travel like that... for at least a year to see how I'd like it.
Yes, you only live once. That puts a lot into perspective.
Send postcards!
Phae
-
16
My Satantic Smurf Scratch n' Sniff Stickers Story (True!)
by Phaedra inback in the early 80s when i was around 9 or 10, my slightly-older best jw friend relished telling me all the latest scare stories she heard about the satanic smurfs popping off of wallpaper, cutting babies with sharp objects, and running through kingdom hall corridors swearing.
wide-eyed with no critical thinking skills at.
i listened and believed every single word.
-
-
Phaedra
I'm enjoying the responses here! Especially from those of you who were parents at the time.
And blech on my misspelling of Satanic in the title. Where's that speelcheck when you need it?! LOL
Phae