Posts by Nocturne

10

Welcome Janell21

by Nina in

jw
friends

.

here is a thread to help you get started.. nina

Nocturne

Welcome to JWD Janell21...hope you like it here

8

Didn't go to assembly last weekend

by M@el5trom in

jw
friends

this marks the first time my wife and i didn't go to the district convention by choice (one other time we missed all three days due to illness).

my wife was sick this weekend, but we would not have gone anyways.

we probably would have gone camping this weekend if she wasn't sick and it wasn't raining all weekend.

Nocturne

The releases were posted a while ago -- perhaps you can find them by looking back (I am not sure how to send a link).
I had a friend who went for "the sake of her kids" (whatever that means). She said they really came down hard on the internet -- especially the internet dating scene where JWs meet other JWs.

Now for god sakes, they have problems with everything. So, this poor single brother or sister can't find anyone else around where (s)he lives, they can't date "worldy" people, and now they can't use a jw website so that they could meet other jws. Good thing I just came out of the organization cause there would have gone all the fun with jwmatch.com

38

The Watchtower guilt machine is indeed a powerful tool

by Nocturne in

jw
friends

i haven't posted as much here as i've wanted these past few weeks, but i've spent most of my time lurking here, or in chat.

for the last few 2 months roughly, every meeting i attended became extremely painful to endure, such that i would come up with excuses to miss as many as possible.

but there are 2 events that really gave me a swift kick to wake me up and realize that things had to change.

Nocturne

I have just recently been in a couple of situations where I had to be firm about my stand in leaving the Org. I was tactful, but still felt guilty somehow....it's weird....I'm working on changing the tape in my head, the one that's been recorded in there for so long , but is not the tune I want to play anymore.

cyber-sista, I couldn't have put it in better words myself...that is the exact feeling I had, and I'll still be working on changing that tune in my head. Good luck to you as well in your attempt to fade.

38

The Watchtower guilt machine is indeed a powerful tool

by Nocturne in

jw
friends

i haven't posted as much here as i've wanted these past few weeks, but i've spent most of my time lurking here, or in chat.

for the last few 2 months roughly, every meeting i attended became extremely painful to endure, such that i would come up with excuses to miss as many as possible.

but there are 2 events that really gave me a swift kick to wake me up and realize that things had to change.

Nocturne

95stormfront,

Isn't funny how the tactics used are exactly the same? I mean that was one of the things that I noticed when I first got to JWD, and started reading some of the personal experiences. I thought that some of the observations that I had made were just anomolies, when in fact the exact same thing happens around the world.

When my mom was doing her lecture/rant/guilt trip on me, it was like I was listening to watchtowers on tape .

sphere,

whenever my mom tries to guilt me or something like that, I've become quite skilled at tuning it out now...it's great. But one thing is for sure, the guilt trips strengthens my resolve, and my belief that I did in fact make the correct decision

38

The Watchtower guilt machine is indeed a powerful tool

by Nocturne in

jw
friends

i haven't posted as much here as i've wanted these past few weeks, but i've spent most of my time lurking here, or in chat.

for the last few 2 months roughly, every meeting i attended became extremely painful to endure, such that i would come up with excuses to miss as many as possible.

but there are 2 events that really gave me a swift kick to wake me up and realize that things had to change.

Nocturne

Thanks for all the great advice given here. It has been like a roller coaster ride, at first I felt this huge relief since this heavy load had been taken off my shoulders. Then a little guilt because of the events that unfolded, and today it was sadness for the friendships lost. But definitely you guys are right, if I get my mind preocuppied with something like a hobby, I won't have time to dwell on the negative feelings.

Mom is right, but you don't want to hear that, that's why your come here to vent your frustrations and take away your own responsability.

Dude, maybe you should listen to what "Mother" tells you to do by avoiding websites such as this one like the society tells you to do. Then again your presence here clearly shows that you think you know better then "Mother", and I'm pretty sure your elders wouldn't be too happy with you spending your time here...then again, you probably didn't want to hear that. Why don't you just run back to your elders and confess that you were here despite many warnings by "Mother" not to do so, and maybe, if you're lucky they will grant you forgiveness...how's that for taking responsibility for your actions!

38

The Watchtower guilt machine is indeed a powerful tool

by Nocturne in

jw
friends

i haven't posted as much here as i've wanted these past few weeks, but i've spent most of my time lurking here, or in chat.

for the last few 2 months roughly, every meeting i attended became extremely painful to endure, such that i would come up with excuses to miss as many as possible.

but there are 2 events that really gave me a swift kick to wake me up and realize that things had to change.

Nocturne

I haven't posted as much here as I've wanted these past few weeks, but I've spent most of my time lurking here, or in chat. For the last few 2 months roughly, every meeting I attended became extremely painful to endure, such that I would come up with excuses to miss as many as possible. But there are 2 events that really gave me a swift kick to wake me up and realize that things had to change.

First, I attended a witness get-together and had the absolute worst time of my life there, and it made me look back on my life and realize that I couldn't keep on living like this. The second thing was at the TMS/Service meeting a few weeks ago. For the first part of the school, they had a talk about how to breathe properly to take full advantage of your vocal chords and creating a good sound when speaking, which in my mind was beyond ridiculous. Then for the service school, they had a demonstration on the new book for children (I think it's called "Learn from the Great Teacher" or something like that). I knew this before, but at that moment it truly hit me that this was indeed a book publishing corporation. There was no mention of the Bible or anything...just trying to sell the book to people.

So that's where I decided that enough was enough, and I told my mom I no longer was going to be a JW. It was easily the most difficult thing I've ever had to do, but it was also the most amount of pain I had ever inflicted on someone. And truly I realized at that moment how guilt controls everything in the borg. Of course, every parent who has a child that leaves the organization will start questioning their own parenting skills, they start feeling like they didn't do enough, that somehow they failed god. You start hearing things like "I should have encouraged you more to go to Bethel" and other things like that.

Then, guilt is inflicted on the individual who decides to leave. I was told my decision was going to dissapoint my friends, and the rest of the congregation, and also god. I was also told by my mom "how could you do this to me?". I was made to feel that by leaving, I was the one abandonning my friends and family behind, like all of this was my fault. The JWs always have to find something else to blame, it's either I wasn't studying enough, or Satan has poisoned my mind, or I've just become discouraged. The wts has cleverly shifted all the attention away from them, and the problems they cause to those who decide to leave by pointing out faults in individuals who decide to leave. Anyone who even says the problem is with the organization get quickly told that they need to readjust their thinking.

Eventhough it has been a few days since I officially stated my position, I still feel guilty about it. Don't get me wrong...I know in my heart that it was the right thing to do, and I never will go back, I can't help this bad feeling I have. Today, most of my thoughts hovered around my friends that I will probably never see again, and how empty of a feeling I have inside of me because of that.

That was just my rant for the day....I would also like to take this chance to thank everyone on this forum, for all the support, and the great advice that goes around. I've said this so many times before, but this place is truly great, and I'm glad I was able to find it.

Nocturne

18

thirsty? drink lifes water free!!!!

by zev in

jw
friends

yep...... .

this citys water is a fine product.. .

drink up!

Nocturne

There's an old saying (from The Simpsons) that goes:

"If it's brown, drink it down...If it's black, send it back"

12

Im back!

by Lostreality in

jw
friends

many of you (or at least some of you) remember me as blaid.

i have been on a bit of hiatus, and will post more after i get back from work!.

good to be back!

Nocturne

Hey, welcome back Lostreality. Congratulations on your new found freedom, and on taking control of your life. I agree with what Jgnat said, I hope young ones take a look at your story for inspiration as to what they can do to take control of their lives and be free from the clutches of the jws.

39

Where is the MONEY REALLY GOING? -- Special Assembly Days, etc

by EyeDrEvil in

i have always wondered why it cost so much to "rent" the space used for local special assembly days and circuit assemblies.... in our case, the society built a large assembly hall, on donated farm land (= free), in the middle of some corn fields 20 miles outside of columbus, ohio... the property has a couple of apartments where some of the travelling overseers live, who help with the upkeep of the building.

cleaning the building was taken care of because of our "privilege" to go out the day before the assembly to get it in good shape (free housekeeping and maintenance work).. so, the society owns the building.

it was built on free land.

Nocturne

Plus, has anyone ever talked about the voting? I mean...like who is going to say "NAY" in front of everybody

Actually, in my hall there was actually someone who voted "NAY" in the public vote for one of the congregational matters. Let's just say I was quite shocked at the time, although strangely enough, that person doesn't attend anymore...I wonder why?

19

Hola guys n gals

by mojobeans in

hi there subscribers.. i just wanted to post a quick hello after being given the url to this site by my brother (real that is, not one of those pseudos we are all familiar with).

nice to see a site with some kind of solidarity going on.

it's kinda strange because i didn't even know this site existed so it's interesting reading through the posts and taking a trip down memory lane.

Nocturne

Welcome mojobeans. Glad you could find your way here. I'm looking forward to reading some of your posts.