Yes, the whole family is all pretty screwed up, especially parents, but they thought they wanted and needed this cult. Their ignorance and weakness made them join it, just like my weakness and need to please others made me join it. My feeling is they would have been miserable people with or without it, maybe somewhat less miserable over some issues, but they hang on to it because it gives them something they need, at great cost to their mental health. It's a sad thing to watch happen, but there's nothing I can do for them. I can only protect myself from any further damage.
itsallgoodnow
JoinedPosts by itsallgoodnow
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17
Lifetime raised JW's did you find your parents sick with obsession?
by restrangled inwhat has come back to me and what i have realized through this website is that my mother was probably mentally very sick with this religion for most of her life.. it was a sickening obsession to obey, tattle, feel extreme guilt, turn in family members, and never, ever measure up no matter what she did.
endless months of pioneering, meeting attendance and studying for meetings were not enough .....ever....she is now 73 years old and still trying to pioneer in the exhausting heat of florida.
in her full time pioneering days she came down with breast cancer.
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I FEEL SO FRUSTRATED.
by vitty inmy daughter phoned me today after her dc, she said it was good.
she also went on to tell me how she was unhappy with an elder on their case about improving their fs, she said he hinted about her pioneering something she said she doesnt want to do.
she and her new hubby hate fs.
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itsallgoodnow
It seems they all know the script and even when they don't stick to it, they expect everyone else to stick to it, not say anything that wouldn't be said in an assembly demonstration.
Maybe you could ask what it is she doesn't like about field service and go from there. Maybe talk to her about some of your "bad" experiences, like make something up about meeting someone who told you why JWs are a cult, and go into specifics? I'm gonna try that one sometime, see how it goes.
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"My Apostate Brother"
by scout575 in"i was put up against a wall the last years of my life, always depressed, hopeless and miserable.
even though i was married and had a family i was alone, no one to confide in, no one to turn to, always in fear that my doubt would be discovered and i would become an outcast ( more so ).
i was lucky enough to have my apostate brother refer me to this site.
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itsallgoodnow
ex-christian net was a real eye-opener for me. I used to think I was an odd ball freak for having been raised in a cult like JWs, but it appears many Christian churches are more cultish than we know.
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What keeps you from killing yourself?
by AlmostAtheist inevery once in a while, the whole "futility of life" thing washes over me and something inside of me mentions the suicide option.
not that it's ever seriously considered, but one of the low-level accounting-types in my head quietly sends around a "worst-case scenario" memo that everyone reads, then dismisses.. after all, things always perk up.
"but," reminds the pessimistic little guy that should've been fired years ago, "they always go back down, too.
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itsallgoodnow
The bad and the good is all part of life. Life's not pointless just because you seem to juggle more difficulties than other people do. It makes the good times so much better.
Not every day is going to be exciting, I have to lower my expectations a little bit and then I don't feel so disappointed by the blah days.
Living in the moment helps, too. Not concentrating on lost time, lost opportunities, or worrying about the future, but just being here now, and getting the most out of it - being present.
I rarely think about suicide anymore. I did think about it quite often while I still believed in the JW religion. So there. Leaving the faith doesn't make you miserable. In your face JWs!
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DC, all but gave directions to the JWD site
by ocsrf in.
i found the dc very interesting this year do to my reading of this site.
i took note that the danger of the internet was menitioned no less than three times, once with a demonstration showing a brother who found a site by a innocent search of the web on a jw subject to the very last talk, concluding remarks and final "resolution" that consisted of 10 items with number 10 staying away from dangerous sites and chat rooms.. makes you wonder what the real story is behind that much attention being given to this problem iof theirs.. oc
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itsallgoodnow
". And if necessary, those who admit to finding out about negative things about the WTS by use of the Internet could be DFd for purposely viewing "spiritual pornography".
They do that anyway. They like to "ridicule" the internet, treat it like only stupid people would actually use it to learn anything. I haven't heard them refer to it as the Information Highway lately. It's always in a negative way.
They are just trying to make it more scary for the ones that are ignorant enough to obey them in the first place. So they don't leave, too.
I think people just do what they do, and the society has less of an affect on what people will or won't do than ever before.
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DC, all but gave directions to the JWD site
by ocsrf in.
i found the dc very interesting this year do to my reading of this site.
i took note that the danger of the internet was menitioned no less than three times, once with a demonstration showing a brother who found a site by a innocent search of the web on a jw subject to the very last talk, concluding remarks and final "resolution" that consisted of 10 items with number 10 staying away from dangerous sites and chat rooms.. makes you wonder what the real story is behind that much attention being given to this problem iof theirs.. oc
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itsallgoodnow
One of the real problems I saw with the organization (in the magazines or in the talks) was that it needs to 'put-up or shut-up', it NEVER comes out and says, "This is what apostates are saying, and THIS is why it's false...." The reason why they don't, is because they CAN'T! They're trying to defend a position that's undefendable, and it's the bases for making the DA rule. Hell, they don't even try to defend it with the scriptures. Just, "DON'T READ APOSTATE LITERATURE OR TALK TO THEM".
It's like some little guy who always comes down to the local basketball court talking about how he can beat anybody one-on-one, but he NEVER DOES! he just keeps saying he can, and eventially, nobody pays attention to him anymore.
If you got game Brooklyn, BRING IT! (Let's TALK about it!) Otherwise shut-up and stay on the porch. GYMBB
ABSOLUTELY. That gets me every time I hear them start up about it. They are so weak it's not funny. All they can do is bully ignorant people and shut down any chance of open debate.
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id JWs RIP you OFF in the MARRIAGE Dept.?
by Ms. Whip inthis photo (taken from a jw group on aol) is quite typical of jw marriage matches.
don't get me wrong, i'm sure they are great people as far as jws go.
but, it made me think.
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itsallgoodnow
Posting the pic is a bad idea if you don't have their permission, which I would doubt you do, if you are setting it up this way. I just don't think it's cool to post unpublished pics of non-celebrities up for the sole purpose of laughing at them like school children.
Ok, I'll pull the rod out of my ass now. Not to pick on these people, but to say I'm so glad I didn't find a man in the JWs. The only guys I liked just fooled around with everybody and the guys I didn't like were way too serious about getting married. I didn't know them at all and they are already talking marriage?
I look back and I'm so glad because I wouldn't have wanted the headache of being in a marriage where I was out and he was in, and I would have been killed if I had to bring little JW children into this world. I couldn't do that to them.
So now I don't have to. Yay!
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The last tug of trained fear.
by Steve Lowry ini was wondering if anyone here could remember their last tug of fear in their stomach after they left the watchtower society, concerning armageddon coming where you may have had a moments regret or fear of not being a jw, and so you wouldnt be "saved".
you know, the stupid conditioning we as jw children received growing up as jw kids.
i realize this may seem like kind of a weird question, but i remember my moment, and going through that experience it was very a freeing feeling once i came through it on the other end.. i was visiting a church in about the 1984 time frame.
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itsallgoodnow
I wasn't really worried about Armageddon. I mean it was in the back of my mind, and I expected it might come in my lifetime, cutting my life short, but I didn't expect it in the near future anymore. I figured I wouldn't live to see my life expectancy but I didn't see it in the next 20 years, so I wasn't as much afraid of that as I was of demons and the devil. I was relieved to find out armageddon was all crap, sure, but I was way more relieved about not having to worry about evil spirits. I don't know why.
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WT desparate: Aug 15 WT- In Our Next Issue: When A Loved One Leaves Jehovah
by truthseeker inno, i don't have this article yet, it will appear in the sep 1, 2006 wt.
it may even be a wt study article.. in the august 15 watchtower, the box "in our next issue" has three forthcoming articles, and one of them is "when a loved one leaves jehovah".
of interest, it's not when a loved one leaves the society, it's jehovah.. will keep you posted.
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itsallgoodnow
Who cares really. I got my A tag back in the late 80's, when it was really something. Once I stopped giving any importance to their stupidity in "shunning" me, they pretty much left me alone.
I think that the answer to that forthcoming article should be...Who Gives a Ratts Bullet Sack.
Hooz da man! Stealth453 is DA MAN! the A tag in the 80's, when it was REALLY SOMETHING. Isn't that special. Hee. How cute.
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The quantum of cruelty - were they that way without the JW?
by james_woods inthis idea came about after reading several very disturbing but sincere personal "issue" threads over the last few days...but i am going to blame blondie for galvanizing the idea!
she wrote - (in the topic "would a devout jw go to a df funeral?
i think there are some very cruel people who love to use the wts policies to deliberately hurt family members, perhaps to make themselves seem more holy in god's sight or more likely in the sight of other jws.. my conjecture is this: perhaps there is something going on with the jw culture which actually attracts really mean people to this religion.
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itsallgoodnow
Nice thread. I'm thinking it's probably different for everyone.
It probably makes nicer people act in ways they normal wouldn't, and provides a self-righteous "reason" for a controlling, hateful person to act the way they do.
It's amazing how treacherous people get with their loved ones over this stupid religion. I just hope that someday my family will see it for what it truly is. But if or when they do, I'm not sure I will ever find myself in their good graces. I don't think anything I could ever do would put me in that position. If I didn't look just like these people, I would be certain I was switched at birth from a normal family.