Posts by Onager

12

Thank you so much - I am really touched

by doubtfull1799 in

just wanted to thank everyone so much for all your responses to my first post.

i am overwhelmed by all the replies and supportive comments that came through overnight while i was asleep here in aussie land!.

i will absolutely endeavour to reply to each one individually but it will take some time as there are a lot to go through.

Onager

"There are a few special and close friends though that are exceptions to that rule that I hope will be loyal to our friendship, but that of course remains to be seen. "

Hi Doubtful, welcome aboard if I haven't said that already, I'm half asleep due to a baby who didn't want to sleep himself last night!

Just wanted to give my personal experience on the comment you made above. I had some really close friends when I was a JW, but only one has kept contact since I left (not disfellowshipped, just left). One other sends single responses to texts I send, but doesn't engage. Even the one true friend goes silent after getting an indoctrination session on the perils of bad association and I just have to wait it out until he calls again.

In fact, from looking on this forum at the assembly literature reviews I can predict when this will occur.

16

I Have A Question About A Dog

by minimus in

jw
friends

i would like to have your opinion on something if you don't mind.

my girlfriends dog, a scottish terrier, is a wonderful lovable dog about fiveyears old.

my girlfriend owns a hair salon and takes her dog with her and the dog greets clients very lovingly.

Onager

The humans could be innocent but look like the postman that regularly comes to the dogs house. Or there could be a bad association with something the human smells of.

Simple solution. Make the humans get out.

9

Scientific reason why it's hard to get someone to change their beliefs.

by LisaRose in

jw
friends

many of us have had the experience of trying to share our knowledge of the dark side of the watchtower with those we love, only to have it end badly with the person getting deeply upset and refusing to believe any of it.

a new study might shed some light on the problem.

this brain study looked at what happens when someone's belief system is challenged.

Onager

Tor,

That article is arguing that questioning a persons beliefs activates the areas of the brain involved with self identity. It's nothing to do with pride, but rather that peoples beliefs are linked to peoples sense of self.

So it's not an aspect of personality, like pride, that makes people resistant to change, but a fundamental way that human brains work.

78

Did you know that J.F. Rutherford was part of the Knights of Pythias? There's PROOF for this!

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

wow.

wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.

Onager

Jeffro, you would do well to remember 1Cor 13:1 - "If I post three times in a row in a thread, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal."

You've posted FIVE times. You're too invested in proving your point in an argument that you say doesn't matter.

For what it's worth I agree with your position, while there is evidence, there is no proof. I, however, am happy to wait for the further investigations of ILoveTTATT2 to see what other interesting information they can dig up.

19

Conditional Love

by Saethydd in

i've noticed several posts recently claiming that jw friends and family members give out conditional love.

well, i'm not so sure that is entirely accurate, in fact, i would say they tend to be very steadfast in their love.

the issue is this, they have been taught a poor form of love.

Onager

What you are describing that thing they have, and that god has, is not love! It's practically the opposite of love... it's evol.

"Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;"

That's Shakespeare that is!

52

My families shunning has gone to a whole new level

by pale.emperor in

8 months df'd.

loving a life of freedom.

however, my family are all shunning me.

Onager

P.E. Do you know any of the Non-JW's that your mother has told that you are dead? Might be worth dropping in on them and saying hi. If nothing else, it will highlight just how truly fucked up your mothers behaviour is.

Cutting off contact in NO way makes you as bad as the witnesses! You are being subjected to abusive behaviour and are completely within your rights to take that whole toxic ball of string and throw it away.

42

New here..help greatly appreciated

by Confusedandangry in

hi everyone i don't even know where to begin.

i recently saw leah remini's series on scientology thanks to my husband (semi-active jw) and i felt like my eyes were being opened for the 1st time in my adult life.

i felt shaken almost sick to my stomach with each episode i watched.

Onager

Hi!

As others have said, you need to be cautious now. Planning a course of action now could reap benefits that last you the rest of your life.

The teachings of the JW organisation are like a verruca growing into your foot. If you don't carefully excise it, using the right treatments and just a tiny bit remains, then it can come back again time after time.

If you act instinctively and start thrashing about you will scare and alienate your friends and family who are still JW's... like someone with a verruca running into a swimming pool changing room and screaming "I have a verruca!"

If, after thinking about it, you still want to lash out then go for it! But please consider the fading option first.

Good luck!

18

Is it just me ? 2 threads debating page after page with one individual ?

by smiddy in

jw
friends

is it just me who doesnt see the point of this ?

from time to time we see some individual who takes up page after page arguing his or her point of view and it usually ends up with only 2 or 3 individuals who keep the talkfest going with a particular individual and nobodys getting anything out of it .. why bother ?

why get sucked in to such a pointless dialogue ?

Onager

I think they serve a purpose as Outlaw said, but the thing I don't want to see is threads topping the latest and hottest lists with titles like "Jehovah God Exists" or the like. It's sneaky proselytising and I worry that it could kick off cognitive dissonance in someone trying to escape.

I don't have a solution mind you, unless Simon fancies policing every thread and changing the titles of Pro JW threads and I wouldn't wish that task on a broke dick dog.

38

I spoke to 2 Jobos on a cart but I refused to discuss religion

by punkofnice in

i was in a good mood yesterday (makes a bloody change, i hear you say).

i was meeting an old buddy for a meal.

he was never a jobo.

Onager

fukitol 18 hours ago

Its Johos not Jobos.

freddo 16 hours ago

In the UK "Jobos" is used.

Oh GREAT! Another Schism!

47

I am a Living Time Machine

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

which world is this?_________________when the doctor pulled my screaming body out of mom all those 7 decades ago, i landed in a post-wwii world.it was--compared to today's world--an alien planet.. the world i live in today has nothing in common with the world in which i grew up.. there were no cell phones back then--there were black telephones with a dial-tone and an operator who placed your call.

everywhere you found telephone booths!

a call was a nickle.where did all those telephone booths go?i dunno.where did my whole world go?i dunno.. tv sets were huge boxes with tubes and small screens.

Onager

I was reading "Bridget Jones' Diary" recently (don't ask why!) and the entire drama of the section I read was made up of her missing a phone call from a bloke. She hung around her flat waiting for the call. She popped to the loo and the phone rang and she missed the call etc etc.

Today her phone would be in her pocket, not her flat and she wouldn't ever miss a call she didn't want to!

So much of history is made up of dramatic events that rely on communication not getting through on time or getting garbled. Think of the Charge of the Light Brigade. That whole sorry mess could have been avoided by a simple text: "Cardigan, don't charge straight at the guns. Lolz!"