CeriseRose

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Posts by CeriseRose

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  1

  Out of sorts....but not.

  by CeriseRose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  nevermind.

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  CeriseRose

  Nevermind.
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  25

  What's An "Apostate" To Do Now???

  by minimus in

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  2. friends

  now that we're out of the "cult", what's an "apostate" to do??

  ?

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  CeriseRose

  Well, just today at work I was asked if I'd help coordinate the Christmas hamper donation of food and clothing and presents for needy families. My initial feeling of "I can't, it's Christmas" quickly gave way to "gee, what a great way to spend my first Christmas 'out'...giving to those who don't have what I do."

  I figured if God exists and wants to call me an apostate for that, then so be it.
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  31

  I've actually gone and done it! I am no longer a Virgin.

  by qwerty in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i got my first tattoo.

  yep i am no longer a tattoo virgin, and i only passed out 3 times too!.

  no, just joking it didn't hurt has much as i thought, in fact i could get addicted.. .

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  CeriseRose

  I have 3, my fiancé has 5. (I need to catch up!)

  I got all of mine while still "in" JWs. A flying faerie on my right shoulderblade and a rose above my navel (to cover some scarring from a bad navel ring piercing). I was almost asleep for the faerie, and the rose was no trouble.

  Last December I got a tribal on my lower back. It's beautiful and curly and in bright green and turquoise. I won't lie...this one hurt. More nerves and I was having reflex pain all over my back. I forgot to breathe through the pain too, so I actually ended up crying.

  It hasn't deterred me. I want another one, just have to find a non-really-fat place on my body (HA!) that will let me get one that won't look silly when I lose weight. There's also the fact that I want it to speak of my life's philosophy and I haven't quite worked that out yet.

  They are very very addictive.
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  19

  Words JWs--and ex-JWs--use :)

  by bebu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (preface: i have never been a jw.

  i notice words and phrases that strike me really odd, used by jws, and even by members on this board.

  one that comes readily to mind is the use of the words one or ones when referring to people.

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  CeriseRose

  By calling people "ones," they are labelled and classified (YUCK!), and also de-personified and de-humanized. So it makes total sense that JWs would adopt that wording. How many JWs and ex-JWs come here and talk about how they couldn't stand to know that their fellow humans were being judged to oblivion? I think it's human nature to try to cope with what you think is a negative by changing perception. For example, saying:

  "These 'ones' will be destroyed by Jehovah at Armageddon."

  is a lot easier on the human psyche than:

  "These flesh and blood human beings who you talk to and interact with, who are just like you and love their lives, are going to be viciously obliterated by a demanding psychopath we call God because they don't acknowledge his presence."

  I agree with you, the jargon is awful. And everyone once in awhile I notice it creeping into my business writing. *blech*
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  4

  Doug Bennett passed...

  by CeriseRose in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i heard this on the way to work and just felt sad.

  i guess it's a fact of life as we get older that more and more of our personal experiences are the ones on the obituary list...just kind of depressing.

  doug and the slugs were the first concert i ever went to, february 14, 1984. they were incredible.

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  CeriseRose

  I heard this on the way to work and just felt sad. I guess it's a fact of life as we get older that more and more of our personal experiences are the ones on the obituary list...just kind of depressing.

  Doug and the Slugs were the first concert I ever went to, February 14, 1984. They were incredible.

  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041017.wbennett17/BNStory/Entertainment/

  Calgary ? Doug Bennett, the lead singer of the prolific Canadian indie band, Doug and the Slugs, died over the weekend at the age of 53.

  He was admitted to hospital in Calgary on Oct. 9, suffering acute symptoms from what his former band member, Simon Kendall, called a long-standing illness in a statement released Sunday.

  He lost consciousness soon after his arrival and died on Saturday.

  Bennett was born in Toronto and moved to Vancouver in 1973. He formed Doug and the Slugs four years later.

  The band released four gold albums and performed from New York to the far north as one of the premier Canadian touring acts in the 1980s.

  A prolific songwriter, Bennett wrote a number of hits for the band including; Too Bad, Day By Day, Making It Work, Tomcat Prowl, among others.
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  2

  Literature

  by CeriseRose in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  okay, i'm a bad person.

  i promised seeitallclearlynow when i started here way back in march that i would start a thread on literature that i liked to read and see if we can have some good conversation come out of it.

  a little bit about me.

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  CeriseRose

  Okay, I'm a bad person. I promised Seeitallclearlynow when I started here WAY back in March that I would start a thread on literature that I liked to read and see if we can have some good conversation come out of it.
  
  A little bit about me. I'm working on my Bachelor of English, and have been reading since I was 4. I have been a creative writer since I was 7 (I used to re-write sitcom endings!), have been writing poetry for 20+ years (some of which may soon be published!), and have recently changed careers to become a technical writer. So for me the written word in all its forms is a passion. ;) (In other words, I'm a reading geek! hehe)
  
  Now, none of this makes me any better than anyone else, and quite frankly, I don't usually discuss what I read (I've never been in a literary group) so this is kind of a new experience for me. So I'll just throw out some things I've read and really enjoyed and we'll go from there. :) (As an aside, I lost years of reading while I was a JW, which really stifled my creativity. I'm SO glad I'm out and can go back to reading really interesting and well-written things instead of...well...you know. *grin*)
  
  Oh, and I'm not a snob about literature to film...I love watching the classics as much as reading them. So even if you're not much of a reader, feel free to join in if you've 'seen' these.
  
  
  Jane Austen - Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice (and if you haven't seen the A&E miniseries of this, you really should!)
  
  Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre (my fave adaptation was the BBC miniseries from 1985)
  
  E.M. Forster - A Room with a View
  
  Louisa May Alcott - Little Women, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom
  
  Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet
  
  Alice Munro - Who Do You Think You Are? (This is a Canadian author and this title was marketed under a different name in the U.S.)
  
  Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness (the movie Apocalypse Now was based on this)
  
  Shakespeare - Pretty much everything, but right now Othello (my current 'study' for English Lit.)
  
  
  
  
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  5

  Development of consciousness

  by Markfromcali in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have only one simple point in this post, but it comes out of several threads that i've read recently - including the evolution of humanity, existential/spiritual pathologies, and marital infidelity threads.

  the observation i am making is that consciousness does appear to move toward wholeness and union.

  in one sense it appears there are lots of divisiveness in the world, but on the other hand it is all already connected by cause and effect, mutual interdependence and interaction.

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  CeriseRose

  Okay my comments are seeming (even to me) to be coming from left field (or Mars!) but Narkissos' comments on the "time for" scriptures made me think of it.
  
  My English Lit class pointed out a few things about language and natural human patterns, albeit with regard to speech and rhythm, but I think a point could be made that relates, even tenuously, to this. Simply put, humans gravitate to natural rhythms of duality. Yin/yang, hot/cold, black/white etc. It's how we're "designed" to think (not sure if I still believe in a creator, so let's just use that term loosely, shall we?!) and respond. In language the most common and pleasing rhythm to the ear is the iamb, a meter of 2 syllables, one unstressed followed by one stressed. It's what most nursery rhymes are based on.
  
  So when you're trying to be connected and integrated into the world, these patterns of duality are everywhere. It think as we grow and mature we are able to recognize these as the "natural order" of things. Whether they remain part of our paradigm becomes the development of the conscious self - when we actually choose to accept or negate those rhythms.
  
  So for example (and boy if this is taken wrong, the board will crash down on me!) take male/female duality. This is the "natural" way. However we know for a fact that there are male/male partnerships and female/female ones. NOTE: I'm NOT saying they're unnatural nor am I saying that people make a conscious choice to BE homosexual (hopes that disclaimer was read, and maybe twice before fur starts flying!). I'm saying that when people make a decision to accept or negate that into their paradigm that's when the consciousness is being developed/activated. (I have 3 female friends in a polyamory relationship and I've accepted them as "family" in my paradigm. I'm not sure how that works in duality, but interestingly enough although there's 3 of them, they bond in relationships of two's. I find that fascinating!)
  
  Okay hope that was clear, non-inflamatory, non-judgmental, and not too off-topic! :)
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  22

  Were you still a "believer" when you left?

  by pennycandy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know many of you here left for reasons other than doctrinal.

  lack of love, treated badly, the burden of life as a jw, etc.

  at the time you left (or were kicked out), did you still think it was god's organization, or were you already convinced it wasn't?.

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  CeriseRose

  I was. I had gone through all that I'd be giving up: the new system, seeing my parents resurrected, finally being at peace and possibly being married and having kids. I decided that the hell I was going through here and now as a JW wasn't worth trying to live for the future.
  
  It killed me to tell my sister I was leaving, and my future was completely bleak. For about two weeks. Then by chance on another, completely unrelated to religion, message board, someone posted that she was leaving her religion and facing shunning by her entire family. She didn't say which.
  
  Someone on the board posted a link to a JW support site that talked about the emotional side of shunning etc. I went there, feeling all sorts of guilty about frequenting sites on the internet (I hadn't before!). My eyes were opened!
  
  For about 3 weeks I devoured everything I could get my hands on. Crisis of Conscience, In Search of Christian Freedom, Diane Wilson's book, websites, message boards. I was as p*ssed off about the lies I'd been told by the WTS as I'd been 13 years ago when I learned the "Truth" and thought I'd been lied to about evolution!
  
  I am still being shunned by my sister, and thankfully came to be an "unbeliever" pretty quick. It would have been a really nasty road to continue down for very long.
  
  The worst part of it all is not knowing where my parents are, and the realization that there *is* no new system to greet them in is like losing them all over again. Still reconciling that.
  
  *hugs*
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  33

  Whats so wrong with us

  by brother devoted in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have read the topic "no trespassing..." and can't keep frm asking "are you afraid of dialogue?".

  i thought we were in america where we have freedom of speech, i have the freedom to approach my nieghbor oin conversation and he has the right to either continue the discussion or say "not interested" .

  this whole thing about wanting to erect signs seem to cut off the freedom of speech that america says it prides itelf on...what happened?

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  CeriseRose

  You said:
  
  "I have read the topic "No trespassing..." and can't keep frm asking "Are you afraid of dialogue?""
  
  
  Why is your assumption that the person involved, who is requesting to be left alone in the privacy of their own home, is AFRAID?
  
  The implication is that they're either a) afraid to have their eyes opened to the real truth(TM)*, b) afraid that they won't be able to stand up to the well-thought-out arguments of the JWs standing at their door *rolls eyes* or c) afraid and so socially inept that they are unable to communicate with their fellow man, and so must put a sign out to discourage every zombie with a purpose and two legs from lurking on their doorstep at any hour of the day or night (and I left zombie open to mean anyone, not just JWs...I'm an equal opportunity name-caller. ;) )
  
  Aside from the excellent comments about what dialogue really is versus the "presentation" of the average JW, I wanted to reiterate what one poster said about "not interested." Have a look in your Reasoning from the Scriptures book. The area I'm talking about is at the front, right after the conversation topics/ideas. What are those again?
  
  Oh yes, How to Respond to Potential Conversation Stoppers. Pages of notes on how to defer and deflect anything the householder(TM) says so you can gain more than 30 seconds of time on their doorstep. Remember what you've been taught; we were all taught similiarly: "Those who say they're not interested don't even know what they're not interested in! It's our duty(TM) and privilege(TM) to deliver this message of good news." And then comes the reading of the blood-guilt scripture that reinforces the guilt of not doing so.
  
  Afraid or fed up with the tactics of the hard sell? You be the judge. Or rather, no, you shouldn't. Let God be the judge.
  
  
  *(TM) shamelessly stolen from Scully, although I can't get mine to look cute like hers. :)
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  34

  JWs, ex-JWs and Non-JWs

  by CeriseRose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm going to preface these comments with a disclaimer: in no way am i meaning these observations to be inflamatory, exclusionary, or to devalue anyone.

  i believe everyone has a right to their opinion, and observations, and to share themwithin the terms of the board.

  i also believe that there is learning to be found from a variety of sources.

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  CeriseRose

  Actually, I was mostly worried that Jgnat was offended, which was not my intent at all. I wasn't sure after her first post on the thread. I wanted to make sure that it was clearly understood that I wasn't pointing fingers.
  
  Otherwise, it's been an interesting discussion and I think that it just might be the we/they mindset. It's probably also exacerbated by the indoctrination (inculcation?) resulting in the JW brainwash. It's a lot of crap to muddle through.