Posts by OneEyedJoe

57

Please Welcome me

by Sofia Lose in

jw
friends

have lurked here for many, many years.

female, latina, middle-aged, born-in, 3rd generation jw, northeast usa.

my fate is to continue to play the game 'till death do us part because the very strong and tangled web of friends, family, business, etc.

OneEyedJoe

Welcome!

I'm finding it to be very difficult indeed to continue going through the motions while knowing it's all BS. Feel free to pm me if you need a listening ear.

18

What's the mechanism?

by Half banana in

i am perpetually challenged by the fact that most jws are completely duped by the propaganda pumped out relentlessly by the borg.

even intelligent ones; they unwittingly grovel to the gb decisions and follow the party line.

they do this for a number of reasons..

OneEyedJoe

Humans are social apes, and social pressure is quite powerful if applied correctly.

Cult indoctrination is usually a matter of finding someone who's in a sufficient level of mental/emotional turmoil for one reason or another. Typically it seems that these take the form of recent loss, fish out of water (immigrants, new college students or those recently leaving home, etc), or boredom/lack of friends. Once you find someone who's susceptible, you get two (so they're out numbered) people to offer them all the answers, and show them a prepackaged group of new family/friends. Once they start making sacrifices to get approval of the group, it's all over.

Since the chances are low that someone out door-knocking is going to catch someone in a sufficiently weakened state to be susceptible to cult indoctrination, most times this only happens when someone is exposed to a cultist on a regular basis (some friend or family member). Once life happens and they reach a susceptible state they can fall victim to the cult if they've not 'inoculated' themselves by doing research on the cult before.

26

What did you become after leaving Jehovah's Witnesses?

by Garrett in

jw
friends

hey guys,.

so, since my leaving i have been doing so much research on so many topics that it's been extremely enlightening.

not only have i learned a lot about the organization and what motivates it, but i have also learned a lot about the bible, god and most importantly, myself.. currently, i'm not quite sure where i stand, but i'm having some real issues with the bible and god.

OneEyedJoe

I went through a rather odd arc in my beliefs. For the last 10 years or so, I've essentially been an atheist that had the aposta-phobia that kept me from disproving JWdom completely in my mind. Basically I was hedging and couldn't be bothered to prove it to myself because there was too much else going on in my life that I couldn't handle the realization that I was trapped in a cult too. Once I woke up, I was immediately a full-blown atheist.

3

JW's use UN to condemn South Korea for imprisonment of Conscientious Objectors

by cappytan in

although the organization condemns the un as a satanic organization that will turn on jws and try to destroy them, they're not above using the evil satanic image of the wild beast for personal gain.. link to article on jw.borg here: http://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/south-korea/human-rights-violations-conscientious-objectors/.

pasting text below in case you don't want to click through:.

south korea guilty of arbitrary detention of conscientious objectors.

OneEyedJoe

Meanwhile, if you're a conscientious objector to the blood doctrine, not only do they exile you but they hold your family and loved ones hostage.

There's so many layers to their hypocrisy!

4

Isn't shaving beards a pagan practice?

by EndofMysteries in

it's funny that in ancient times the jews had beard and had to grow their hair and the egyptians were the ones who shaved.

.

so shouldn't shaving be considered just like birthdays and holidays to the jws?

OneEyedJoe

You'd think.

One elder I knew years ago once grew a beard and went on a rant about shaving being pagan and how greeks did it so that they could look more feminine, and there was a lot of homosexuality that was related to that. I don't know how accurate that is, but it was entertaining to watch the other two elders try to calm him down and reinforce the cult's rules while having absolutely no scriptural ground to stand on.

37

Advice needed on Crisis of Conscience

by cappytan in

so, some of you may have seen my thread from yesterday about my wife waking up.. we had further discussion yesterday evening after i sent her the pbs video on the abuse scandals plaguing the watchtower.

she was so furious and pissed off at wt hq.

apparently a close relative of her's was abused by an elder and the only reason he was reproved and removed as an elder was because he confessed.

OneEyedJoe

Steve2 - you make a good point. I have to constantly remind myself that time is on my side. Even knowing that on a rational level, it's very difficult to get it to sink in. Being stuck in the cult, you just want out NOW. Getting out feels urgent because every cult meeting, every bitten tongue when the in-laws use the term "the truth" for the hundredth time and every cold glare from your normally loving spouse all feels like an imminent threat to your sanity.

I guess the key is finding an outlet and playing the long game. It's tough to do, but oh so rewarding to see people beat this cult at their own game.

22

The Watchtower organization's crime against humanity

by TerryWalstrom in

who are the real heroes of society?.

are they not the people who are doctors and nurses and teachers and firemen and policemen and counselors and humanitarians?.

because of the watchtower organization, we are missing generations of those kinds of heroes who will not exist (but could have) because jehovah's witnesses destroyed them by convincing millions of it's members those professions are meaningless and unimportant for them to pursue.

OneEyedJoe

Well to be fair, at least in my area, fireman is a pretty popular gig among JWs that don't want to be janitors. You're right on the mark with the others, though. I'd also add to the list scientists and engineers.

37

Advice needed on Crisis of Conscience

by cappytan in

so, some of you may have seen my thread from yesterday about my wife waking up.. we had further discussion yesterday evening after i sent her the pbs video on the abuse scandals plaguing the watchtower.

she was so furious and pissed off at wt hq.

apparently a close relative of her's was abused by an elder and the only reason he was reproved and removed as an elder was because he confessed.

OneEyedJoe

I would send it to her via email and tell her you'll let her decide if/when she's ready to read it. That way it'll be sitting there itching at her curiosity and she'll eventually have to read it.

Take that with a grain of salt, though....I've certainly made no where near the progress with my wife that you've made in such a short time.

Good luck!

39

Introducing myself! Come say hi!

by Sparlocks_Apprentice in

hello all you wonderful people on the "evil" interwebs.

i'm joining this site once again because i forgot my old username and such.

i like the new layout!.

OneEyedJoe

Ever seen Mulan? The song "reflection" I think fits well with lots of witnesses hiding their true selves... especially born-ins. The pressure to be perfect and "fit in" with the rest of God's "sheep".

I don't think I ever saw that one. At the time, as I recall, the elders in my congregation were busily demonizing that particular movie for one thing or another haha. I think I've seen other people on here reference the same thing, though. It's amazing how many songs and books take on a whole new meaning to you once you wake up from the lies of the cult.

There's a girl I work with that I think you'd get along with. She makes a yearly trip out to some anime convention and always makes her own costume.

39

Introducing myself! Come say hi!

by Sparlocks_Apprentice in

hello all you wonderful people on the "evil" interwebs.

i'm joining this site once again because i forgot my old username and such.

i like the new layout!.

OneEyedJoe

And I get to go to Anime Conventions now... if you know what that is.

Haha, while I'm not really into all that much, I'm certainly enough of a nerd to know what that is. It's ridiculous all the trivial rules in this cult that seem designed only to rob you of all of life's little pleasures and all of your individuality.

It's always great to see another person who's able to escape and life a genuine and guilt-free life out of this cult. Living well is the best revenge!