Posts by itsallgoodnow

12

Reflectionslooking through the mirror of time

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

reflectionslooking through the mirror of time looking back in retrospect to the person that i once was, there.

were a number of things regarding my past witness life that.

were disagreeable to me.

itsallgoodnow

I'm like you, wanderer. not so bitter. The bitterness didn't hit me right away. I was so happy to find out the teachings were all false. that's why I picked the "itsallgoodnow" name. Then I got fairly angry. But I don't like being angry and I have finally come around to acceptance.

I hated it that my problems were the sort that most people can't identify with. But I'm glad most people don't have any idea what it's like, actually. I am way stronger than I ever imagined I could be, just having to go through this, more or less alone, except for the good people online here. I'm proud of the way I have handled it so far and I haven't let it keep me down. I have learned so much, about myself and about life in general. I just hope I can keep learning and growing.

121

Mom Died -- and I found out from an old friend!

by BrendaCloutier in

ok, i'm writing this thru tears as i just found out in the last 5 minutes.

my dad died in august, and they had been together just 1 or 2 weeks over 70 years married!

i didn't expect her to last without him, and visa versa.. i just tried to call my sister, and no answer there.

itsallgoodnow

I could never do something like that to family. It's inhuman. They are taking the shunning way too far.

they couldn't find the highroad if they tried.

I'm so sorry Brenda. Here's a cyber hug for you.... (((( brenda ))))

15

Well that was weird!

by mama1119 in

jw
friends

i heard a knock at the door just now and i open it up and its a lady, all by herself with a folder.

she tells me she is doing volunteer work along with thousands of other people around the world to help mankind.

she says volunteers have been sent out into all parts of the worls, including the jungle, eygpt and the middle east...yes, the jungle.

itsallgoodnow

strange bird. they just lie for fun, huh. she sounds like she's lost a few marbles.

11

The final solution to everything

by Norm in

the wtbts has figured out the perfect solution to all of mankinds problems.. they mainly use the awake!

magazine to tell us about the wonderful future that awaits us.. that magazine will have articles with headlines like:.

homelessness - will it ever end?.

itsallgoodnow

"The Watchtower... will it ever end?"

51

Do you truly WANT the Watchtower to collapse? If so why?

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

there are the abuses of course, the diabloical 'two witness' rule applied to allegations of molestation, the reckless 'blood ban' in all it's tortuous complexities (which by watchtowers own admission has resulted in many fatalaties) and the cruel punishment of shunning which has caused so much suffering and pain to many of us here.. is it for these reasons that you want to see the watchtower fall or is it simply that you want to see them humiliated and broken for what they've done to you?

most of us aren't bitter or selfish enough to want personal revenge against the watchtower but i'd be lying if i said i didn't sometimes think like that.. the reason for my original question is that i sometimes feel a bit hypocritical.

i try to accord respect to jw's and individuals of all faiths, (yes, even when i go off on one of my atheistic diatriabes) but whereas i allow myself to be hostile to the watchtower i shrink from being so forthright against other 'christian' faiths whose corrosive nature may not be so easily apparent but is there nonetheless.. i guess my question is; why do we want the watchtower to fall but do not wish all religion to fall?.

itsallgoodnow

I don't care really. But if it did collapse, it sure would be easier to show my family how wrong they are. But if it did, most of them would just join a spinoff religion someone within starts up, so I guess it wouldn't really solve that dilemma. I don't know. I'm just going to have to get used to the idea my family will never see it for what it truly is and I will never be able to reach them. You can't worry about it too much, I suppose.

23

Don't know what to belief anymore?

by GBSJG in

i'm in my twenties and am raised as a jw by my parents.

i've been reading this board for over a year.

have read several books: crisis of consience, apocalypse delayed, who wrote the bible, the bible unearthed.

itsallgoodnow

No need to rush into anything, just give yourself all the time you need. Keep reading about things and searching and don't hurry too much with it. You'll get comfortable with the feeling of not knowing for sure anything after awhile. It's that idea of certainty that we get used to and we feel lost without it at first.

61

JW Reform, It will NEVER happen...

by AuldSoul in

i have read several posts by posters who fervently hope jws will become a mainstream religion, or will become "the truth," or will stop teaching this doctrine, or tweak that one, and "oh, if they would only [fill in the blank].".

such dreaming will, in the end, come to naught.

there are practical reasons why.. (1) the rank and file have no authority over the governing body.. (2) the rank and file do not hold sway over any of the corporate interests.. (3) the vast majority of memorial partakers are not credible in the eyes of the governing body, nor do they have any authority over anything.. (4) the organization shows a willingness to publicly claim beliefs to which jehovah's witnesses do not actually subscribe in order to improve public image (see lisa's interview with j.r. brown), while retaining the same hard-line beliefs in reality.. (5) the governing body is unwilling to relinquish control over the organization, to share authority with underlings (e.g.

itsallgoodnow

this is a good thread and I'll need to go back and read each post carefully later, but I'll jump in with my 2 cents first.

the JW religion requires a high level of commitment from it's members (sacrificing time, personal choices, freedoms, money and opportunities in life)

This has only worked on such a large scale because of the promise/threat of armageddon, with a specific date in mind.

Now all they will do is say armageddon is coming SOON. I see a decrease in the amount of personal sacrifices being made by many people. People are getting a college education. Good for them. People are taking jobs that don't quite fit with the meeting program (ie elders and ministerial servants with professional careers requiring 50% travel, missing half their meetings). Good for them. People doing what they want to do socially, and nobody says anything about it. Good for them. People missing meetings way more than they used to and not losing their reputation, because they don't miss meetings as much as I do. Good for them.

Without a date, it doesn't work. SOON isn't going to work. This religion, to stay the way it is, requires people to sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, and to take it really seriously. I don't see it as much anymore. They are losing that level of commitment they had. You would never guess it from their comments at the meetings, but people just aren't taking it as seriously as they did 10 or 20 years ago even.

It's a slow moving trend, but it's a trend the WTS is going to need to deal with if they want to stay as they are.

I don't know if they will or won't reform. I would guess not, but maybe the rank and file will someday actually force it.

13

From my "disfellowshipped" diary

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

nonamegiven's thread on the walk of shame (walking thru the hall while df'd) reminded me of my own experience while disfellowshipped and still a believer.

i kept a diary from that time, serving as a safe place to vent off the anger and frustration of being df'd.. here is a little chunk of one entry.

to set it up, "greg" was the chairman of the committee that df'd me.

itsallgoodnow

My diary entries over the years were usually only written when something serious had happened, but it's interesting to see where I was during that time and the frustration and pain. It's an amazing way to chronicle personal growth. When you read it, you always realize just how much you didn't know then and how different it would have been had you known what you know now.

thanks for sharing it with us, AA.

13

My brother called

by AnonyMouse in

jw
friends

my brother calls my mom all the time.

he did some vicious things to her in the past.

one of her 'war stories' was that she went to the convention black and blue because he had beaten her up (a son to his mother).

itsallgoodnow

Maybe you will get your mom started to think a little about it. Different groups define "cult" in different ways, but the one that got me thinking is this one... (copied straight out of wikipedia, I'm sure there is better info out there on this definition)

Definition by secular cult opposition

Secular cult opponents define a "cult" as a religious or non-religious group that tends to manipulate, exploit, and control its members. Here two definitions by Michael Langone and Louis Jolyon West, scholars who are widely recognized among the secular cult opposition:

Cults are groups that often exploit members psychologically and/or financially, typically by making members comply with leadership's demands through certain types of psychological manipulation, popularly called mind control, and through the inculcation of deep-seated anxious dependency on the group and its leaders.

"A cult is a group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgement, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of [consequences of] leaving it, etc) designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community."

The common anti-cult definition summarised,

Manipulative and authoritarian mind control over members
Communal and totalistic in their organisation
Aggressive in proselytizing
Systematic program of indoctrination
New membership of cults by middle class

27

Hello/Goodbye (I Don't Know Why I Say Hello/I Say Goodbye) - What Gives?

by BizzyBee in

jw
friends

several posters (whom i will not name because it doesn't matter) have basically said good-bye lately.

we all responded as usual, with genuine sentiments - how much we will miss them, etc.

but, quite frankly there is something almost disparaging or critical implied toward the rest of us who choose to remain on the board by those who "move on.

itsallgoodnow

I generally assume people are drama queens or are trying to make a statement because they are angry about something going on. But I can understand if a person just feels like they are getting too much of this message board and want to break the addiction. Telling everyone goodbye might make them feel like they must stop posting completely, but because some come back and then don't post as much, I figure the goodbye and the long break was all it took to break them of an internet addiction that was not healthy.

I took a long break for around 6 months one time... didn't stop in for a few months at all. Then started stopping in and only lurking, but not regularly. That served to break my addiction. I no longer feel the urge to look at JWD at the office, because I shouldn't do that anyway, and that's a nice thing.