They're leaving you alone seems to me to be an anomaly. I'm sure it varies between congregations, but even recent watchtowers, etc. seem to encourage action to be taken.
dothemath
JoinedPosts by dothemath
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7
My Freedom as an "Apostate"
by TheLiberator injust curious.
how many of you are "apostates", but not disfellowshipped?
i know this happens if you keep this stuff secret.
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47
here i am
by notalone ini was a 4th gen born in.my adult children were the 5th.
my mother was one of the newly'anointed' we have all left.
i have been lurking since october.i was really too terrified someone would find out who i was and what would happen.well we are out now so here is a part of my story.
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dothemath
Can't imagine what you've been through. It seems so "unchristian" for the congregation to treat you that way.
Congratulations on your whole family leaving, and yet still holding onto your faith.
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Part One of what could be a long introduction
by LifesNotOver inhello - let me try to explain.
a couple of months ago or so i joined this forum, then shortly after checked out jwrecovery which seemed a better fit personally and joined them.
started to feel comfortable there and they closed, and i pouted for a while.
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dothemath
Welcome to the site! You're among lots of friends.(many of us can't tell our family what we really think about the religion)
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12
Another ex-jwr member
by rusholme inthought i'd introduce myself, give a little of a background story.
i've been a short 3 month member of jwr, so now i'll try to visit you guys instead.. i'm in my mid twenties today, live in sweden.
grew up in a family with an active jehovahmom and inactive dad.
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dothemath
Hello and welcome! It's great to hear news from other countries (if you're fine with sharing).
Congratulations on recognizing the "truth".
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21
Intro
by Exjwme inyou can all call me jess, i guess you can say i'm a "refugee" from jwr.
i'm going to try and keep this short for now, i'm in my early 20s, i was born in but never baptized, i've been mentally out for 7 years and fully out for about 5ish.
despite never having been baptized my fading took quite a bit of time and work.
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dothemath
Hello and welcome! I enjoyed reading posts at JWR occasionally but mostly drop in here.
Always great to hear others experiences!
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My Pseudo-Education Hasn't Hurt Me None, I Can Still Read the Writing on King Belshazzar's Wall~Part III
by TMS inbefore i go to extreme south texas, let me acknowledge an early influence that gave me self-worth, self-assurance, self-esteem and the feeling that i was as good as any damn person on this planet.. larry ranch, my congregation servant in renton, washington(home of boeing aircraft), was on my dad's judicial committee.
my dad had sexually molested my sister, sandy, repeatedly.
my dad got probation from the judicial committee.
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dothemath
Always interesting to read people's backgrounds, yours is an extreme example.
Hard to understand how your sister could stay in after all that!
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Religion: Overselling and Under Delivering
by Simon inif you've worked in any kind of business where one group of people sells things that another group has to deliver as a service, you inevitably run into problems.
this is especially true in it services where poor sales people over-sell things.
that is, they can't sell 6 months of work but they can sell 3 months of work or throw in some other promises ... so they do ... and some techy person then gets landed with an impossible task and is viewed as under delivering while the sales-person gets a bonus for their great sales job unless their management is savvy enough (they never are).
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dothemath
The goal posts keep on moving.......I've lost count now how many times.
i think they would prefer the next generation to forget all the failures, and to not "over-lap" at all.
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Would Prince Rogers Nelson Have Been A More Effective Spokesperson for JWs Than Stephen Lett?
by TMS inhearing about governing body member stephen lett, i had to check him out on you tube.
in short, were i still a jw, i would be embarrassed to be represented by this mouth-agape, cornpone, dufus.
he would be the kind of public speaker the local congregation might appreciate, but who you would not send out to another congregation.. in contrast, the last few weeks i took the opportunity to play every video on you tube where the late prince rogers nelson explained his beliefs as a jw.
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dothemath
This seems to be the one anomaly from witnesses and other cults.
Usually there is a very charismatic leader (Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc), but with us it seems very much the opposite.
I guess if they ever come up with someone like that, then we should be worried even more.
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9
One of the Most Obscene Phrases in Any Language; the Judicial Committee
by TMS ina tribunal of religious, if not spiritual, men, whose decision can alter lives, disrupt, no, destroy, families, ruin young lives, create angst, pain, depression, hopelessness, sorrow, despair can be the job for three typically unqualified men known in jw land as the judicial committee.. my first judicial experience as a kid of 18 serving on the jc involved disfellowshipping an elderly sister for apostacy when she would not promise to quit frequenting a neighborhood christian science reading room for personal study.
my second big case involved a baptized 12 year old who allegedly stole a hot wheel from k-mart.
he admitted to nothing, answering every question with "i dunno" and was put on probation, the 60's equivalent of reproof.. in subsequent years, i "served" on committees judging accused adulterers, fornicators, thieves, gamblers, non-providers, taking up boxing, slanderers and yes, apostates, sitting also on so-called appeal committees as well.
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dothemath
Most of the committees I was on (not nearly as many as you) the decision seemed to be made even before all the details were heard.
One person that was trying hard to be reinstated was told no, mainly because the main elder didn't like him. (It turned out he did him a favour, he's glad to be long gone)
There's no balance, some get away with almost anything and others get the book thrown at them.
The worst situation I heard of was an elder(quite prominent, used a lot at conventions) who was on judicial committees while he was in fact having an affair with a pioneer sister.
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Help - I'm going to be conducting the watchtower study
by Saltheart Foamfollower init looks like i'm going to have to take the watchtower study for a while so i thought i'd seek help.. i wont be outing myself or stating anything too controversial, but so far i have come up with the following tactics : 1) ask questions which will get people thinking even if it is about something insignificant - developing a questioning mind is the key to discovering ttat as far as i am concerned.
2) highlight any extreme points so that some might realise they are extreme.
3) highlight any good points - helping others in need for example - just because it is the right thing to do.. if anyone has any general comments which could help, please post them here.
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dothemath
Maybe when you come across new beliefs (they sometimes show up in the study) you could bring up what we used to believe.
Sometimes those doctrines were followed for many decades, like the "generation".
Good luck, I'm sure the audience will appreciate someone who isn't just a mindless drone, but is actually showing intelligence.