Posts by Gretchen956

28

JW's Raised In - Did you get bullied during you Grade School Years?

by BBOARD in

due to the way i was raised a jw i constantly felt guilt for trying to act like the other guys and it made me stand out even worse.

to this day, due to this, i nowdays become somewhat physically ill whenever i hear a brother give a talk where he says (many here have heard it in different forms) "if jehovah was looking at you youths in the congregation during school could he tell the difference between you and a worldy person.

" myself and most of the other jw guys during middle school and high school did not have the confidence or the "rough and ready to fight" type of body language so we tended to get picked on.

Gretchen956

Wow, great post. Oh yea, I got bullied. Called names, rocks thrown at me and my brothers and sisters, all the way through grade school, then it tapered off some in Jr. Hi and by Hi School things were back to "normal." But by then the damage was done. My dad didn't go to meetings while I was growing up, so we weren't considered good association. My parents were very fanatical, so we weren't allowed to be around anyone but witness kids. Add to that the constant belittling and fear mongering. Its no wonder I'm a damm hermit.

I say congratulations to all of us for escaping and finding our own varying degrees of happiness and wholeness.

Sherry

7

Loosing my religion

by TJ Curioso in

jw
friends

did someone think in this song, when you start to question your own faith?

loosing my religion - rem

life is bigger it's bigger than you and you are not me the lengths that i will go to the distance in your eyes oh no i've said too much i set it up

Gretchen956

At the risk of sounding like Terry, that would be Losing my Religion. Loosing would be like, "I'm loosing my dog to roam the neighborhood." That isn't even good grammar, but its the only way I could think of to express your word.

Going back to my first cup of coffee for the day now, carry on.

Sherry

26

Just informed the sisters at my door.

by wozadummy in

well it's a beauutiful day and it got better in the last hour .. two sisters and a daughter came to our door witnessing and after what i told them i think they are very thankful.. they first spoke to my wife and she told them why she is da'd over the societys stand on them protecting pedophiles ,but she had to go shopping and left me with it.. we had a meaningful discussion and i was able to enlighten them on the facts of the society and the recent cases settled in court in america ,and of course they did'nt know about it .

it came out that they both had observed the society hiding things and especially the pedophiles in the congos.. well then i explained that at least one is in their congregation and one sister said she knew of the same one because an elder had told her to watch out for him because he was seen touching and loitering around one of her children .

well i said that's pretty terrible that a pedophile has to touch your child before an elder will warn you of the pedophile 's history.. then the other sister who is a newly baptised witness asked the other sister why she had'nt warned her too.

Gretchen956

Wow, congratulations. Harder to ignore when you have first-hand knowledge.

Sherry

18

Wash clothe or just your hand and soap?

by pratt1 in

jw
friends

do you a wash clothe when you bathe or shower, or just your hand and soap?.

i use just my hand - no clothe..

Gretchen956

Yup a poofy and Oil of Olay bodywash. Best for my very dry skin.

Sherry

31

Introducing a friend of mine, "Little Man"

by wanderlustguy in

jw
friends

be nice.. he's a good dude, trying to find his way like the rest of us.. wlg aka donnie.

Gretchen956

Welcome LM! Can't wait to hear your story.

Sherry

9

Career JW's and WTBTS Wellfare(sp)?

by oneairhead in

jw
friends

just a thought.....what if a career jw were to do everything that the borg told him to the letter?

for example, pioneer then get a job as a janitor at night.

lets say that they do this until retirement with no retirement benefits because they didn't work full time .

Gretchen956

ppffffftttttt this happens all the time. They end up on the street before "mother" will take care of them. Since when has the WTS ever taken care of anyone? Never saw that in any congregation I was in. Some people that got old and in bad health were dropped like hot potatoes after spending their entire lives doing the bidding and following the direction of the WTS. No one visited them in their home or the home, and no one took up a collection, and no one did anything. Pathetic is what it is.

Sherry

31

Self-Esteem Shot To Pieces - No Friends

by wheelintheskykeepsonturning in

school sucked for me as a witness.. i always wanted to be popular, have friends, have a girlfriend, go to parties, play after school sport, stay the night at friends places, do all the other stuff which was fun and made you socially acceptable - which made you feel normal - but was disallowed because i was a witness child.. i thought everything everyone did at school was a direct test of satan on me.

that's what i was told.. so i tried to go through school living a "double life".

i desperatley wanted to be obidient to my witness mother who i loved so much and have her approval... so while i tried hard to pretend i wasn't a witness at school - for fear of being ostracized by my peers - i also was obviously "different" to my friends...and because of this i took a lot of shit for it and eventually became unpopular to the point where i dropped out of high school because i thought no one liked me.. for example: i would never "go out" with girls who wanted to go out with me... because i was afraid they would ring my home and my mum would be "disappointed in me" and angry and upset at me.

Gretchen956

Welcome to the forum. I too was raised a witness from childhood and suffered the associated social retardation as a result. Its still very difficult to make friends. But, one way I have found to make new friends is through hobbies or interests.

What do you enjoy doing? Skiiing? Join a singles ski group, or any ski group for that matter. There are lots of groups within local communities to get involved with others with similar interests, especially in sports, but also other things. Having fun together loosens you up enough, then listen to people and hear them, and respond based on what they are saying.

There are also lots of things on meetup.org (I think it's .org), like exJWs, political groups, and other interests. You might want to check that out as well.

Good luck, life can be an adventure if you let it, it just depends on how you look at it!

Sherry

211

Christmas Card exchange?

by bem in

jw
friends

has someone started a christmas card exchange list yet for this year?

we did this in the past and it was such fun to get all the great cards.. .

Gretchen956

Hey crazy blonde lady, LTNS! From the list, PM BEM and you'll be added.

Sherry

53

I got that dreaded call....

by loosie in

my ex sister in law called me this morning to tell me that bother had shot himself.. he was raised a witness but stopped going at 18. he was my favorite brother always level headed and smart.. except lately.

apparently he has been robbing banks in ca this summer.

he led the police on a freeway chase and decided to shot himself instead of go to jail.. now i am wondering how well i know anyone at all anymore.. .

Gretchen956

Loosie I am so sad to hear of your loss, my condolences to you and your family. The loss of your brother is tragedy enough but its almost impossible to figure out what made a person tick and why they chose one path over another after they are gone. Sometimes we never will know. I think your brother is in peace now, whatever happened before.

Blessings,

Sherry

211

Christmas Card exchange?

by bem in

jw
friends

has someone started a christmas card exchange list yet for this year?

we did this in the past and it was such fun to get all the great cards.. .

Gretchen956

yippee!

bump