Posts by seeitallclearlynow

23

Any thoughts or suggestions........

by sarahj in

jw
friends

hi, just wanted to introduce myself, i am 28 and from london and i am looking for some opinions.

i have family that are jw's and in my late teens i began bible studies.

i came close to baptism but was too scared about what i thought i would be giving up if i took that path.

seeitallclearlynow

Welcome Sarah!!

I think I speak for most here when I say, feel free to express all those complications that you think might make you seem neurotic or self-obsessed! We're here to listen and support you.

The organization/religion that you're considering going back to is something all of us here are very familiar with, and we mean well when we warn you to research it before you take even one step - because the dangers are not all that obvious at first!

Make sure you understand right from the start, that once you join them, if you ever decide to leave, you will be shunned and vilified for life by friends and Witness family alike.

Remember, "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."

Seeit

10

its that time agian

by LukeN in

.

yes yes its exam time and the end of semester 1 and the begginging of semester 2.. sigh.

all i know is that i failed math and the exams are worth 30% of your final mark.

seeitallclearlynow

Luke,

Are exams over yet? How did you do?

Did you get the classes/teachers you wanted?

Could you tell us about your school?

Josh's Mom

36

my hair

by LukeN in

lately ive been getting alot of negative comments from brothers,sisters and others about the length of my hair.

i mean sure its long but theres nothing wrong about it.

is there anything in the sciptures about hair length in men.. god its ridiculous when others try to put you down.. well you can judge for yourself.. .

seeitallclearlynow

Luke, you're adorable and SO very welcome and refreshing here!!!!

11

How the WTS brings a child's confidence & self-esteem down

by Nosferatu in

this is a bit of a spinoff of avishai's post "anyone been beat up for being a dub?

" i suffered this as a jw and i completely blame the wts for it.

the following quotes are from the pink great teacher book:.

seeitallclearlynow

Nosferatu,

I really feel for you, and for the other "good" Witness (and other) kids in school. My daughter suffered from the mean girls in school, some verbally and otherwise abusing her daily, even terrorizing her over the phone. I had to call the police on a classmate of hers named Missy in her junior high days for this. (That did stop Missy.)

I'd always felt bad for boys in junior high especially, because the treatment some of them endured was unbearable to my way of thinking. I've often wondered how boys and young men get through life! But somehow they do, so it seems that a lot of school authorities don't think enough of it, to the harm of the kids.

What a good kid you were to take the counsel so to heart! I never had the humility to do that in school, and I didn't encourage my kids to either. So while I passionately defended my daughter when these things were happening, I probably also made it a bit worse, by encouraging her to fight back verbally, which only cut those kids to the heart, and made them more angry at my daughter. But she also had many friends.

My son never had any trouble, because he was the aggressor and the champion of other students' rights, physically challenging the abusive ones, violently defending the underdogs. Not exactly "Witness" or Christian behavior, but it was just his nature. We would both get teary when he would recount how he had kicked and beaten this one or that one in defense of another child, because he and I regretted how far he would go in his treatment of bullies.

You have a wonderful defense in your humor and intelligence, and I hope these and other qualities and resources help you to recover fully.

Hang in there!

Love,

Seeit

15

W. E. Vine, the Apostate the Watch Tower uses a LOT

by garybuss in

w. e. vine.

page 59. .

no matter affecting the welfare of the saints was overlooked.

seeitallclearlynow

Thanks, Gary, that's some very useful information you've compiled. I'm saving it in my "Favorites," hoping family members will take a look at it. This kind of exposure has to make people think.

Seeit

22

Did the Watchtower leave you in a No-Man's Land?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

after becoming a witness, slowly we became programmed to believe that 99% of the world was not approved by god and that they were evil, and in the darkness, and would all die at armageddon.. most of us left the watchtower, or are on the verge of doing so, so at a certain point it's normal to be in a so called no man's land, where you don't believe what the watchtower taught and at the same time you still believe that the entire world is not approved by god.

i was just wondering how long you stead in this mode of beleiving that the watchtower teachings were wrong, but at the same time, you still remembered and believed that the world was also doomed?

seeitallclearlynow

Gary B -

I just read your response, above. I don't know why you have the ability to absolutely crack me up. I just love the way you word things.

"I didn't wear a tie to the sales meeting." OMG why is that so funny???

Thanks.

22

Did the Watchtower leave you in a No-Man's Land?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

after becoming a witness, slowly we became programmed to believe that 99% of the world was not approved by god and that they were evil, and in the darkness, and would all die at armageddon.. most of us left the watchtower, or are on the verge of doing so, so at a certain point it's normal to be in a so called no man's land, where you don't believe what the watchtower taught and at the same time you still believe that the entire world is not approved by god.

i was just wondering how long you stead in this mode of beleiving that the watchtower teachings were wrong, but at the same time, you still remembered and believed that the world was also doomed?

seeitallclearlynow

I only felt like I was in a No-Man's Land until I became convinced that Jehovah's Witnesses did not have the Truth. That took a couple of months of researching I guess. Once the foundation under the Org crumbled, I was able to drop all of the BS teachings and take the world as I found it.

And that includes the churches. For awhile I felt like a kid in a candy store, with so many lovely places to choose from. I realized that they can't be all wicked like I was taught, if the ones who taught me that are actually the corrupt liars themselves. So I had a clean slate religiously, except that I still only want to be Christian. But I don't detest or fear the other religions now, as before, in the cult. And I now fully respect the peace and kindness that I see manifest in many of the members of other religions. You can't argue with good fruitage.

28

45 year old picture found

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

when i was young (pre jw and in 1960) my mother had a portrait taken of the 4 kids.

shortly after it was sent to my father's mother (whom we had never met) and the portrait was never seen again.. since then we had a group picture taken when i was 18 (the week before i got married in 1970).

that was the last time we were together.

seeitallclearlynow

Hi Lady Lee,

I'm glad you shared your pictures. But they're absolutely heartbreaking to me.

I know exactly what you're talking about...and I'm so glad you hang in there.

All my love to you,

Seeit

24

Do you know?

by Schizm in

jw
friends

a certain jw doesn't believe in the 1914 doctrine any longer.

this, of course, naturally gives rise to certain serious problems.

for example, how can this person now continue to participate in field service activities and make use of the publications produced by the wts?

seeitallclearlynow

Exactly Schizm! Exactly! When I ultimately understood why I couldn't step foot in a Kingdom Hall anymore, why it was so unacceptably uncomfortable for me anymore, I summed it up just as you did to my family, but w/o specific reference to 1914 - when I still wanted to believe, but simply couldn't: I can't go to meetings because meetings are entirely about going in field service, and acceptance by the group at the Hall is based entirely on going in field service, and I couldn't go in field service, because I didn't have anything I could conscientiously teach the householders, couldn't honestly invite them to join me (!), and wasn't sure of anything I'd been teaching for so many years so confidently, so all I could do if I did go in service would be maybe read scriptures to them and say, "Well, take it for what it's worth."

My family thought that was very amusing. But they don't see that it's not funny at all.

7

I feel so good :)) Just chit-chat really ...

by Vivamus in

jw
friends

oh my ... after having worked all day, slept till midnight, and then i have been fully awake and engorged in study-books.

i need distraction, lol.

cuz i find i am dead-beat-tired, yet not sleepy, but sick of looking at my books.

seeitallclearlynow

Hi Vivamus!

Glad to hear you had a great day! Good to hear. What fun those revelations are, huh?

Best to you,

seeit