Welcome to the forum, Moxie. Being disfellowshipped as a teenager is both a blessing and a curse, as you are aware. The way the WTS tears apart families is a heinous crime that they will pay for if there is any justice in this universe. I myself was DF'ed at 16, after being turned over to the "authorities" by my own elder father. It was absolute family upheaval that still darkens our relationship 15 years later. If you are looking for people who can come close to understanding your unique experience, you've come to the right place. Some days you may want to just express anger and disgust, while on others you may want to move forward and heal. It's all good here. Again, welcome!
new light
JoinedPosts by new light
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Intro: disfellowshipped as a teen in 1999
by Moxie ingreetings and warm wishes to everyone out there...
this is my first post here on the site, though i have spent many countless hours as a guest reading and reading your posts and conversations.
they have been a great encouragement to me, who as a young woman was disfellowshipped from the society about nine years ago.
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'High' on Mount Sinai?
by Rabbit inhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080304/od_nm/moses_dc_1 back to story - helphigh on mount sinai?
tue mar 4, 11:06 am et .
the biblical israelites may have been high on a hallucinogenic plant when moses brought the ten commandments down from mount sinai, according to a new study by an israeli psychology professor.. writing in the british journal time and mind, benny shanon of jerusalem's hebrew university said two plants in the sinai desert contain the same psychoactive molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared.. the thunder, lightning and blaring of a trumpet which the book of exodus says emanated from mount sinai could just have been the imaginings of a people in an "altered state of awareness," shanon hypothesized.. "in advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is accompanied by profound religious and spiritual feelings," shanon wrote.. "on such occasions, one often feels that in seeing the light, one is encountering the ground of all being ... many identify this power as god.".
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new light
So many of the fantastic events in the bible could be easily explained as psychedelic vision. With the right substances, many of which are all-natural, created by God if you so believe, any one of us may experience states of consciousness far greater than those of the bible's visionaries. "Jesus is just alright with me..."
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Hook Lines or Phrases Jehovah's Witnesses Use to Control You
by flipper into control a person, or control a group of people , any cult , including jehovah's witnesses , have to gain your trust that they are the authority on what you need to know.
even people have been known to use these " catch phrases " to gain trust , or " hook lines " as you'd call them to gain control over groups of people or individually in their own lives.
see if you are familiar with these phrases which empower the sender of the phrase , but demands rapt allegiance from listeners to be the " gospel truth " without challenge , which can take the listeners power away.
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new light
"spiritually weak/strong" (purely a function of physical attendance and participation that says nothing of one's spritual condition)
"inactive"
"irregular"
"making progress" ...(toward what goal, exactly?)
"One Bible scholar notes..." (Beware the anonymous quotes. For all we know, it's the quiet Patterson cow milker who happens to have a King James version in his room)
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Do you ever miss it? Ever?
by AK - Jeff infor me - rarely would be the correct word.
i don't miss the indoctrination.
i don't miss the wasted time in service.
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new light
For one thing, most of the members my age are successful businessmen, with a history . I have very little history to share unless I bring up the cult - and once that has been said, what else is there to talk about without seeming the obsessed nutcase to them?
I really relate to this Jeff. A college educated, professional, normal, family-oriented woman actually married me, for which I am eternally grateful. With that came her friends and family, almost all of whom are are schooled and, well, normal. What does an ex-witness who has dabbled in the counter-culture have in common with a Notre Dame schooled financier? Or an engineer? It's a struggle much of the time to even say anything, due to the fear of sounding stupid. So I pretty much play the supporting actors role, except with those few of my wife's friends that share common ground with me. I have yet to make any friends on my own since leaving four years ago. Maybe a group where everyone is learning something from square one would be better, more of an equal footing to distract us from our personal histories.
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Any "Nova" fans?
by Dagney inhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/microraptor/.
tonight's show on a four winged dinosaur.. fascinating.
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new light
Does anyone else like "American Experience"? It's a mini-series that takes American history a little at a time, and goes into some interesting details that most TV docs don't get into. Who needs cable?
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Hemp Oil Cure For Cancer
by frankiespeakin ini just happened to find this interesting 7 part utube video on the hemp oil cure.
i decided to post it here for any interested.. http://www.youtube.com/chrychek.
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new light
Hey Frankie, it's been a while. Hope everything is well. You said you bought some MJ at a collective. Does that mean you have a prescription? If so, please tell me how that is going, as I've been thinking about getting one myself. Wifey and I are on our way to Maine, a state that has medical cannabis. We just spent a year in the Puget Sound, WA area, which was, let's just say, ethnobotanically interesting. Please PM me so I can tell you, as it's something I generally keep quiet.
Jack Herer is the man when it comes to hemp...a real courageous dedicated hero.
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Any "Nova" fans?
by Dagney inhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/microraptor/.
tonight's show on a four winged dinosaur.. fascinating.
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new light
Another Nova fan here.
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Do you ever miss it? Ever?
by AK - Jeff infor me - rarely would be the correct word.
i don't miss the indoctrination.
i don't miss the wasted time in service.
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new light
It was exciting to be part of something big, especially considering how much most of us believed in what we were doing. The "ready-made friends" were nice to have in a superficial, go to a big party kind of way. Let's face it. It was a large group and we had a huge defining characteristic in common. Yes, we were lied to, the friends were conditional, there were certain topics that could not be discussed, but while we believed the dream it was sweet. I never, ever miss it, though. Not for a second.
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Are there any of Jerry's kids here?
by Rapunzel indoes anyone have a song that they especially like?
as everyone knows, the dead were not a studio band, so i am particularly interested in people's favorite concert renditions of a particular song either in their memories or on bootleg tapes [for example, "ripple" or "st.steven" or "dark star" or "sugar magnolia", recorded in head trip colluseum, san francisco in '74] .
i'm also interested in people's concert experiences.
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new light
I love the Dead. Jerry's guitar playing was sublime. His solo stuff like JGB is great also, but more for Jerry's playing than for song composition, as the stuff he wrote with Robert Hunter for G.D. was the most interesting IMO. My personal favorite G.D. songs would be Terrapin Station, Eyes of the World, Stella Blue, Dark Star...the list could get long as there are just so many incredible tunes. Ive always enjoyed reading about their early history..the Acid Tests, the heroic amounts of psychedelics, the free form jams. The things they were involved in were the beginning of a huge change in the way people think and, therefore, reality as we know it.
Wish I would have seen them while Jerry was alive.
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I wish you all could read what I wrote to my family.... computer illerate.
by dawg ini would give my left nut if one of you could tell me how to post my e-mail that i gave to my family tonight... i'll e-mail it to you and i guarentee you its entertaining.... please tell me how to post it., or better yet, give me your e-mail, and i'll let you post it...
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new light
Inspirational, Dawg. You've called your relatives out to the point that cowering back under the GB will cause some discomfort and shame, and rightfully so. You've also managed to restore this ex-JW's pride in his decision to leave. Thank you. I hope this shakes some sense into your family.