Luckily, I never had any "success" in my ministry. When I was in my early teens I studied with a couple people (now, I realize how completely absurd it is to think of it in those terms....a 14 yr old studying with a 30 yr old woman) but they always seemed to move away after a couple months, or they'd stop answering the door. I now suspect that they just had a friend over to answer the door at our normal time to call to tell us that they'd moved. Luckily, it seems, everyone I met was smart enough to see the cult for what it is.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
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16
How many did you, personally, entrap in the Borg ?
by Phizzy inin my nearly 60 years in the religion, although i "studied" with a good number, i cannot think of any who could lay the blame at my door for being in the religion today.. one lad possibly might, i studied with him briefly as he was trying to get off drugs, he then moved away, and then married a "sister" a few years later, and is still in, but i doubt he would blame me, i hope not.. of the others i studied with none are still in, the last i heard of one of them, a weirdo kid, now weirdo man, was when he was arrested for "flashing" in a local spot frquented by doggers etc.
i guess i was a useless "tutor".
as it happens, that is one of the things i am proud to be a failure at, getting people to join a cult.. i always tried to not do proper r.v's, and never suggested a "study" to anyone, but some, like weirdo, were shoved my way by elders who didn't want the work themselves.. how many are you guilty of getting in to the cult ?.
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Help me help my DF'd friend
by OneEyedJoe inso i got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been df'd.
since i'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot.
i intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that i will not shun him, but i'm not sure where to go beyond that.
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OneEyedJoe
Paris - while I've not dealt with it before, I've read enough first and second hand accounts here of the pain caused by shunning, and the guilt and fear of Armageddon that can accompany it. None of that is deserved, and I want to make sure he doesn't have to cope alone, if at all.
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Help me help my DF'd friend
by OneEyedJoe inso i got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been df'd.
since i'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot.
i intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that i will not shun him, but i'm not sure where to go beyond that.
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OneEyedJoe
As I said in the OP, he's married and has a 1yr old. I don't think there's any risk of him running off the rails...he's in his 30s and quite stable. Though I guess part of being a JW is appearing stable even of you're not.
I just told him I won't shun him, and I'm here of he needs to talk or just wants to get a beer. I guess I'll ask why he got the boot...I was hesitant to ask since I'm not usually one to pry, but I guess its the only way to feel things out.
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Help me help my DF'd friend
by OneEyedJoe inso i got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been df'd.
since i'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot.
i intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that i will not shun him, but i'm not sure where to go beyond that.
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OneEyedJoe
So I guess to clarify a bit, I want to help him, but I've read many here who recommended caution when trying to share TTATT with JWs if you don't want to get yourself DF'd. My relationship with my wife is only relevant in that it explains why I'd like to avoid being DF'd for apostasy.
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Help me help my DF'd friend
by OneEyedJoe inso i got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been df'd.
since i'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot.
i intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that i will not shun him, but i'm not sure where to go beyond that.
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OneEyedJoe
He lives nearish. I'm not sure if he reached out to me specifically, the text had the feel of a generic notification that he might've mass texted to all his friends.
As for my wife, she's not super zealous, but most criticism of the WTS is met with resistance. I suspect she has some small doubts, bit I don't know what they are yet. I'm still feeling her out. As for what we talk about, we're basically a normal couple, there's just this huge waste of time in our life. I don't know if she'd turn me in, but she probably wouldn't like it if she knew I wasn't shunning him, but I can deal with that.
Yes, I'm more or less in good standing
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Help me help my DF'd friend
by OneEyedJoe inso i got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been df'd.
since i'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot.
i intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that i will not shun him, but i'm not sure where to go beyond that.
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OneEyedJoe
First post fixed bump.
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Help me help my DF'd friend
by OneEyedJoe inso i got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been df'd.
since i'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot.
i intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that i will not shun him, but i'm not sure where to go beyond that.
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OneEyedJoe
So I got a text from a friend of mine today telling me that he'd been DF'd. Since I'm still nominally a witness, this puts me in a tricky spot. I intend to tell him in no uncertain terms that I will not shun him, but I'm not sure where to go beyond that.
I've known him for about 12 years but we've only had spotty contact for the las 6-7, but I still consider him one of my best friends....life just keeps us busy. He's married with a 1 yr old, and I can't imagine he cheated or anything like that, so I'm wondering if he might be awake, or waking up. I do know that he did get caught up in some BS with a past employer that nearly got him DF'd inspite of his complete innocence, and that's the type of situation that seems like it could eventually lead to an awakening, hopefully that's the case.
That said, I've not really even managed to begin a fade, and my wife is still very much in, so if he were to report me to his elder father, the wheels of "justice" would no doubt begin turning really quickly. Us awake JWs really need a secret passphrase or something.
I'm thinking of just telling him that I won't shun him, and that I'm always around to lend an ear if he needs to talk. And that anything he says will be kept confidential, and nothing he can say will make me drop him. I know just that is probably enough to get me DF'd, but I can handle getting the boot for simply supporting a friend. appostacy, on the other hand would imperil my footing with the wife. Is there anything else I can say that might comfort him and help absolve him of any guilt he might have? Id also appreciate help in the phrasing, as I'm no poet. I'm sure those of you who've gone through this before (on either side) will be able to help immensely.
Thanks in advance, everyone.
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Give me a reason not to go back
by chukky 594 inbeen out now for 10 yrs but life is a mess.
starting to think its because i have no spiritual compass.
why shouldn't i consider going back?.
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OneEyedJoe
I reccommend you get professional counseling from a therapist that's familiar with cults. On Steve Hassan's website (www.freedomofmind.com) there are resources for you to find help.
You're in a difficult situation, but there are better ways to handle it than by returning to a dangerous mind control cult.
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WT makes comic books now!
by wifibandit infull set http://imgur.com/a/jvcla .
i put that album together so you don't have to give www.jw.borg any more traffic .
sample:.
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OneEyedJoe
Is this real life?
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Is The Governing Body Afraid To Slam Muslims???
by minimus inthey boldly spoke against the catholics.
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i'd love to see them rail against the muslims..
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OneEyedJoe
What would they possibly gain from criticizing muslims? The whole point of their emphasis on the evils of christendom is to prevent JWs from having an answer to the question "[Where] else would we go away to?" It's conceivable that a JW might leave to go to a different christian church (and based on what I've read here, that doesn't seem too uncommon) but I can't imagine that a JW, fed up with the WTS, would suddenly decide to convert to Islam.
They do have something to lose. If they encourage people to look at other non-christian religions they could find that they're really just looking at a mirror of christianity, which then leads to the realization that it's all BS. When comparing christian denominations, the similarities are easily excusable, since they're all using the same source material. However, finding certain similarities in a non-christian religion could lead someone to the realization that indeed all religion is from the same source (the human mind).
Obviously, potential retribution is another big down-side. While they'd love to play the persecution card, the WT theology has pretty much exclusively predicted persecution at the hands of governments (who may or may not be in bed with religions) but not at the hands of individual folks from another religious background.
Once you think of it as an american cult that's aimed more at retention and monitization than conversion, it makes total sense that they never give a second thought to Islam, Buddism, Hinduism, Shintoism, etc except to list some vauge criticism that (if examined further) doesn't actually invalidate the religion in any way: 'Did you know that Hindus believe in over a hundred thousand gods? How could you possibly keep all that straight!'