my observation has been the opposite of agb's in this regard.
i have known of precisely 0 who have turned to gangs/drugs/prostitution after abandonning the lies known as jehovah's witnesses.
most seem to lead lives of quiet hope outside the mainstream religious community once they leave - but far from dangerous lives [even from the jw perspective].. just thought counter-point might be fairplay here.. do xjw's live like jw's?
I went way downhill...I went to college, got married, and bought a house. My brother became a doctor, and my sister is getting her master's in nursing. Massive fail across the board.
But you should hear what the Belvidere congregation hypothesizes really happened to us, specifically us three kids: murder, babies as a result of rape, prison time, devil worship, and white slavery. I kid you not.
i saw my first while out on errands today!.
bought a 68 camaro in 1977. paid 700$ taxes, title, registration, inspection & new tires!.
i wish i still had mine.
a used white 1992 Ford Taurus. it promptly blew up on the highway the day after the 30-day warranty expired.
I remember that picture! And I remember my mom telling me this like it was a little known scientific fact! I think it would be funny to put together a JW trivia booklet from all the crap-hypotheses and JW-urban legend bs that was treated as absolute certainty (not even getting into the tenets of the religion). What would be a good title?
i followed my instincts that the changes my 14 year old son is going through ran deeper than teenaged angst and i made an appointment for him to see a counselor through the county so he could talk to someone.
it took two months to get it.
we went yesterday, he and i. i spoke for a little about our life now, including the separation, the house, the jws, the shunning, my husbands alcoholism and his treatment of the kids, my husbands familial bipolar and depression and adhd...and then she spoke to my son separately.
I have a 14 year old son and we've been going through similar problems. I'll keep you all in my thoughts.
there were some witnesses that loved taking notes for every meeting.
whatever you would say, the note takers were busy as a bee writing down every word.
especially if you went out of town to give a talk, certain ones (only sisters) would take their note taking very very seriously.. another thing that used to get to me was when you'd see the same people every assembly on the platform giving a talk or being in a part.
IHaveaDream:
I remember those experiences about bad things happening, and the implied thought was that they must have secretly done something wrong and so Jehovah's protection left them. Never gave it much thought until it happened to me. I was left alive after my attack, but I wished I was dead after I was unofficially marked as bad association in the eyes of everyone in the cong. They even watched me carefully to see if I got pregnant from it, as that would have been proof in their eyes that I wasn't really raped. people even came up to my mother and expressed their sympathy to her, but would give me the cold shoulder, like I was some harlot. Effing bastards.
What I hated the most: the total lack of love and compassion. The hypocrisy. The exacting standards that seemed to be put in place to make you fail. The denying of higher education. The perfect willingness to throw people to the wolves without a second thought.
my votes for worst kingdom melody lyrics: song 125- "jehovah is on my side" (try singing these lyrics without laughing like beavis and butthead): "i know that in this crucial hour my faith will yet be tested/ around me swarms the devil's crowd like bees that were molested/ but i can ever beat them off beneath divine protection/ on those who love to bear his name god sets his deep affection.
" or how about song 201- "rejoicing with god's nation" (grab your thesaurus for this one): "in a land so good and spacious/ free from strife and things vexatious/ look!
a happy crowd vivacious/ in god's service that is efficacious.
"if your body members you control..."
vomit, hahahaha! that lyric always made me roll my eyes...
here are some questions evolution never bring up or will evade questioning.
these are serious questions that kill all the silly beliefs about how the earth or universe got here..and here is why.
think about this for a second we would not be here if nothing for all existence did not exist.
when you said, "what are nothing", i just quit.
AHAHAHAHAHA!! I hadn't caught that!
well, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
i'll never forget the assembly in madison, wi.
where some poor sap had to tell everyone that he had become addicted to porno on the net, but through much prayerful contemplation and after confessing to the elders he was able to come to "grips" with it.. good luck to that guy with ever getting a fine sister to marry him.. poor guy.
i really felt sorry for him.
I'll never forget the assembly in Madison, Wi. where some poor sap had to tell everyone that he had become addicted to porno on the net, but through much prayerful contemplation and after confessing to the elders he was able to come to "grips" with it.
Good luck to that guy with ever getting a fine sister to marry him.
Poor guy. I really felt sorry for him. I figure they forced him to relate his "experience" in front of thousands of people to show he truly was repentant. I can't beieve anyone would actually volunteer to share that with all those people. How utterly humiliating that must've been for that hapless guy.
That is AWFUL! I bet it was a "do this or be disfellowshipped" tactic at his JC meeting. That poor guy.
hey there,.
how have jws reacted to a fellow member who decides to grow a beard?
i'm speaking of the brothers (unshaven).. thanks,.
I never understood the facial hair thing. Other than growing facial hair would make people mistake you for a hippie. That was back in what, the 60's, when clean shaven was the professional style? So what about when society norms change and facial hair no longer means you're this close to starting a commune?
And who decided the molest-ache was the only allowed facial hair for modern-day JWs? I never saw Jesus with a molest-ache!! Those were god-inspired artist renderings of Jesus in the magazines, right? What was it, the 1990's before they decided he should look a little "ethnic" since he was from the Middle East? I saw a lot of beards, but never a molest-ache!
I think it would be great if enough guys grew beards and goatees to start a mass reproving/disfellowshipping. Even better, have some sisters stop shaving legs and see if the elders pipe up.
