http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4o38bxnwc8.
apologies if this has been posted already..
It's cool to get the word out about the survey and JWs, only the people who watch HBO probably don't give a rat's ass about the witnesses anyhow.
How true. When I was a JW I was under the illusion that the world was watching JWs with the greatest of interest. Now that I've been out for awhile I realize how little people really know or care about JWs. Many get them mixed up with mormans because they both do the door to door thing. JWs are not the big headliners they think they are.
on a scale from 1 to 10, to what degree did they screw up your life ?
let it be the watchtower or the jw's... 10 is the maximum.
i'd say 7.
YES and NO It did some emotional damage, which I am still dealing with, but it taught me some big lessons about being human. And, I appreciate things so much more than I did before I became a JW. Things like relaxing in front of the tube on a Thursday night watching my favorite show "LOST." or my Sunday mornings sitting out in the garden and having a nice breakfast with my hubby. I appreciate knowing people who don't judge me on how I dress, or what I read or what movies I like to watch--if fact it's not even an issue. I also appreciate my husband, who put up with the JW insanity for all those years and still excepts me for who I am. Before I became a JW i wasn't going to have kids, but I decided when I was in there it would be ok to have one (for sort of convoluted reasons) But nonetheless I had my beautiful daughter who was well worth the 20 years of life I spent in the Org. I think I was screwed up before I became a witness and that is why I joined up, so it has all been a process. So the WT woke me up to many truths in life, many of which were the opposite of WT teachings.
hey it's been awhile since i've left--almost 5 years now!
i haven't visited this site for quite a while now.
i was never dfd, but i have little contact with anything to do with jws.
I guess that in my mind somewhere I still believed the fallicy that the JWs are "all united in the same line of thought" and so they do things the same everywhere. That is what we were taught anyway. Well, it just ain't so. That illusion lasted some 20 years for me and it's taken me a good 5 years to distance myself from it. It still creeps into my life every so often when I hear stories like what happened to this young man and his parents or the many other sad, cruel or just plain ignorant things that happen in the lives of those still trapped controlling religion.
hey it's been awhile since i've left--almost 5 years now!
i haven't visited this site for quite a while now.
i was never dfd, but i have little contact with anything to do with jws.
What was the reaction of the son?
He feels very upset that his parents are being put under such pressure because of him. They are a very loving family. He is a loving and supportive son. Likewise, his parents adore him and are proud of his accomplishments. Most "normal" people would view them as the ideal family. But the butt wipe elders in that congo want to kill those warm fuzzy feelings and turn them all into cold robotic drones.
the stress in the day to day scenario for a jehovah witnesses trying to live their life through the wtbts is the same that cause them to work harder until they either work even harder, fade away, or suffer a mental breakdown.
fear of reproof or divine punishment from jehovah, not love for jesus, grips their day to day activities as they feel they must fulfill their duties of preaching and attending meeting.
many who came into the organization in the 90s; came in due to the friendliness of the people and not the reality of the cult.
Your experience sounds all to familiar. The last congo I was in was full of depresssed antidepressant taking, chronically ill JWs. There were several who claimed to have chronic fatigue and environmental sensitivities. Many thought our KH had a mold problem because there were several who didn't feel well when they were at the KH. Several there claimed to have environmental sensitivities. One young sister actually broke out in hives whenever she came into the KH. Looking back I believe they were all stressed out and just didn't want to be there. I think on a deeper level the majority know that something is wrong with the Org., but they are living in such fear of the Org that they feel helpless and paralyzed and so confused that they don't know which way is up. So glad to out of there.
hey it's been awhile since i've left--almost 5 years now!
i haven't visited this site for quite a while now.
i was never dfd, but i have little contact with anything to do with jws.
Hey it's been awhile since I've left--almost 5 years now! I haven't visited this site for quite a while now.
I was never Dfd, but I have little contact with anything to do with JWs. My daughter who also left the JWs when I did is still in contact with a few friends who have also left the Org. One of her friends still lives with his elderly JW parents. He's a nice kid who went to college and has a good job and helps his parents out financially. He travels a lot on business and recently while he was away some of the elders in the congregations came to his parents home and demanded to search his room to find some grounds to DF him. (he is not a bad kid, but not living up to JW standards.) HIs parents are quite elderly and the stress of it sent his father to the hospital. Seems like they want to get this kid out of the org and separate him from his family by DFing him since they don't like the idea of his parents not rejecting him (their only son.)
Anyway, I haven't been around for awhile and wondered what the latest stand is on those who are "inactive." Like I said I have such little contact with JWs anymore. They haven't come to my door in a very long while and the elders haven't been here for a very long time--3 years now? What happened to contacting those who are inactive? Are there some new rules on this? Are these trying to DF those who have left, by digging up dirt on them? I am already treated by many as if I am Dfd, which is mostly OK with me, but the Org has sadley divided some members of my family too.
Just wondering if anyone has the latest scoop on this.
having been out of the org for a while now i have come to realise that when you think about certain viewpoints/activities of jw`s, it can really make you annoyed/upset/angry/laugh etc etc.
one thing that is pissing me off right now and has done for a while, is their attitude towards 'the worlds selfish pursuits'.
how often did you hear that those who seek an education to get a good job are 'seeking glory for themselves' and are doing the wrong thing.
On the one hand they would say in the WT that you should each carry you own load and some have different circumstances as far as how many meetings they could attend or hours in the ministry but then with the next breath, they ask things like, Could your lack of attendance or lack of zeal for the ministry be that you do NOT APPRECIATE WHAT JEHOVAH PROVIDES FOR US THRU HIS ORGANIZATION? or you DO NOT APPRECIATE THE COMMAND TO TEACH OTHERS THE TRUTH BY FOLLOWING THE COMMAND OF JESUS TO PREACH TO OTHERS? Hello, talk about double tongued!
Yes, Lovelylil the WT truly speaks with fork-ed tongue. The old double think double speak mentality finally sent me kicking and screaming out of there.
Yes, I also believe that the WT fight against education is to keep their followers in a state of ignorance. Also the separation from the world (not associating) and villainizing those on the "outside" keeps the JWs from getting close to anyone outside of the WT who may make them think. One of the last meetings I attended (in fact I think it was the last) the elder stood up there and said in regard to worldly people "We may know people in the world who are moral who don't drink or smoke and we may reason to ourselves that these are good and decent people, but I tell you brothers that we should not be association with these people--we should not be playing basketball with these people--we should not even be SPEAKING to these people, because if we speak to them we may become like them!"
So, what was he saying here? That there are some good moral worldly people, but we don't want to speak to them because we may become like them? And, that we may reason that these are good people because of their good behavior? I think the basketball thing was thrown in there because there were some boys in the congo playing a bit of after school basketball with some who were not witnesses. OH mY what a sin!
But there are some educated people in the WT org. The ones I knew who had half a brain were mostly miserable and a lot of those were on antidepressants. You had to swallow a pretty heavy dose of denial and boredom to continue on as an intelligent member of the WT org. Then,there were those with heavy emotional needs which outweighed their intellegence, those with insecurties and fears such as losing family.
Wecome Lil and good topic jambon
cybs
strange no one came this year.
no elders, pioneers or anyone to invite me to the memorial.
i didn't go to the last 2 being that i haven't been to the meetings now for a few years.
I just recall all the literature stating how the elders call on inactive ones and even Dfd ones every 6 months to see how they are doing and lovingly encourage them to return to the flock. But it's not true. They don't even follow the instructions or even live up to their own faith.
I think there must be some major paranoia going on in the org nowaday, because it seems like the JWs are keeping distance from anyone who shows any doubts. Like the above story about the young woman being Dfd for asking questions.
I am glad to have successfully faded, but to be quite honest it still stings a bit to know how little these people really do care about me personally. After all those years of being told how much I was loved by the brotherhood. No, I no longer want their friendships, but it still leaves me stragely twisted up inside. Guess I feel like I've been ripped off. But life goes on and at least I've got mine back now.
cybs
strange no one came this year.
no elders, pioneers or anyone to invite me to the memorial.
i didn't go to the last 2 being that i haven't been to the meetings now for a few years.
Strange no one came this year. No elders, pioneers or anyone to invite me to the memorial. I didn't go to the last 2 being that I haven't been to the meetings now for a few years. I was a JW for 20+ years. I am not DFd,nor am I a gross sinner type, but they have totally cut off any communication with me. My JW sister and family won't communicate with me, neither do any of the close friends I had in the Org. But, I was surprised that the elders or anyone at least didn't made an attempt to invite me to the memorial (I only live a mile from the KH) Not that I would have gone. I think it shows their level of caring (not) for the flock. I thought they were supposed to contact the "inactive" ones and support those who are weak--blah, blah, blah.
My daughter was at work the other day and approached by another young woman she knew when she was involved with the JWs. The young woman approached her tentatively and asked her if she was still a JW and my daugher told her "no" The girl said that she had been DFd not too long ago for asking questions. She said she had a lot of questions and did some research on her own and wrote out her questions was Dfd on the spot. She said she was rather shocked. She is married and has a young child and a husband who does not participate in JW activities any longer. She said it sucked losing her family though and it was sad for her little boy too. I remember her parents--they seemed like a nice loving close-knit family, but not any more. Hard to believe that this seemingly nice family could do this to their beautiful daughter and family.
The unloving attitude of this Organization continues to haunt me. I am so glad to be away from it and be connecting with real people and not the zombie robots that reside in the WT world. Yes, I know, I know, some of them are well meaning nice people, but how can you really describe people who continue to support this religious doctrine of human destruction?
cybs
single review: prince - "black sweat"
(comment box join in).
blogcritics.org, oh - 4 hours ago.
My husband was just watching the black-sweat video on the internet and called me over...wow, that is some pretty hot and raunchy stuff. I notice the girl in the video is also wearing an egyptian symbol necklace. Maybe prince is portraying in his video the tempatations of the world and how to resist them--right.
I can't imagine what the average JW is thinking about this. A JW friend of mine wrote me when I was on my way out and was trying to encourage me by telling me how wonderful it was that Prince had become one of our "brothers". I remember going to a JW party where there was some very innocent dancing taking place and at one point the lights were dimmed (just a bit) and the elders turned them back on to bright because they didn't want things to take place like they did in the darkness of the world. Oh yes, and it was wrong for my daughter to go to high school football games and chameroned dances (or to take place in extra curricular after school activities--sports,etc.
It will be interesting to see how the WT plays this thing out. Maybe Prince is playing the JW thing for the curious publicity it is getting him?
cybs
