Make the postcards available to people like myself who are currently shunned (whether DA'd or DF'ed) so that they can send them to their believing JW relatives to plant seeds of doubt before the shunning talk to be given at the conventions.
dubstepped
JoinedPosts by dubstepped
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I need your feedback re: anti-shunning campaign
by dubstepped inalright, so i posted earlier this week about my desire to put together some sort of campaign to target the friends and family that shun us before the regional convention part on shunning.
my goal is to produce a postcard that can be mailed out to those that shun us to contrast shunning and love before it is cemented in their minds this summer.
i want to make them think twice.
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I need your feedback re: anti-shunning campaign
by dubstepped inalright, so i posted earlier this week about my desire to put together some sort of campaign to target the friends and family that shun us before the regional convention part on shunning.
my goal is to produce a postcard that can be mailed out to those that shun us to contrast shunning and love before it is cemented in their minds this summer.
i want to make them think twice.
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dubstepped
Thanks, but I'm not interested in putting any apostate sites or stickers on my campaign. It will only serve to shut most JW's down. I'm trying to keep it to reason alone. They can find those sites easy if they care to look. I want to keep it strictly about love vs. shunning. -
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I need your feedback re: anti-shunning campaign
by dubstepped inalright, so i posted earlier this week about my desire to put together some sort of campaign to target the friends and family that shun us before the regional convention part on shunning.
my goal is to produce a postcard that can be mailed out to those that shun us to contrast shunning and love before it is cemented in their minds this summer.
i want to make them think twice.
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dubstepped
Alright, so I posted earlier this week about my desire to put together some sort of campaign to target the friends and family that shun us before the Regional Convention part on shunning. My goal is to produce a postcard that can be mailed out to those that shun us to contrast shunning and love before it is cemented in their minds this summer. I want to make them think twice. Shunning is one hole in the armor because everyone has basic humanity within even if it is covered with JW doctrine.
I also want to make them see what shunning does, and that they are the ones responsible for it, as it is an act carried out by them. JW's like to talk about the devastating effects that it has on them but they never even look at what they're doing to others. I know that realizing what I was doing to my brother by shunning him was a huge part of my journey in waking up.
There is sooooooo much that I want to say on the subject of shunning, but I can't say it all. Our friends and family won't read some long diatribe. I sat down and wrote so many different things and nothing flowed until the poem that came out below. It just came to me without trying, something that often helps me see that I must be letting some feelings out, something I wanted to do with this.
So, let me know what you think of what I've written. I'm hoping that it, if written on a postcard with something to catch their eye, will be read by the recipient. Poems aren't everyone's thing, but can be hard to put down if you get a glimpse and they apply to you in some way. I've tried to hit both the Bible's view of love and contrast it with shunning.
Is this something you'd send to your parents, siblings, friends, etc. that shun you if put on a postcard. I like postcards because you can't not read them. They will catch your eye without any effort from you when you pull them from your mailbox. Let me know what you think. I have to admit to feeling a little vulnerable putting a poem out there like this, but it is what it is and flowed from the heart and I hope it might be of use. I hope my formatting sticks here:
God is love
Love is kind
Why would you choose to
Leave your loved ones behindIf you greet your brothers only
What extraordinary thing have you done
Forgive up to seventy seven times
Never did Jesus shunAs kids we weren't given choices
There was pressure to decide
Shunning due to child baptism
Leads many to suicideMy relationship with God
Is mine, not of your own
So what right do you have
To choose to disownShunning is emotional blackmail
The opposite of love
It is control exercised by man
Painful for all, not reflective of God aboveWe are the shunned
The loved ones you shame
You are the ones that shun
We will not accept the blame. -
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This Week's New Yorker Magazine
by DNCall inthe april 4th issue contains a very well-written and insightful article about the jws: "god's work" by kevin canty.
it's fiction, but on the money as far as the experience of an adolescent reconciling the beliefs with his natural biological urges.
boy, could i relate!
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dubstepped
Wow, very well written. It really captures a lot of JW youth. -
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Update on fade. Elders finally are interested on my "welfare"
by StarTrekAngel inso since the last time i posted regarding my fade, you all learned that i was having some health issues.
that came along just right to quit going to meeting without raising much suspicion.
somehow everyone at the hall seemed ready to tell my wife they missed me but attended the memorial and no one bothered to take the initiative to back those words with actions.. i guess that having seen me at the memorial they at least felt bad because last night i got a call from one of the elders telling me they want to come today and visit with me.
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dubstepped
That seems like a good suggestion. ^^^^
Once they finally reached out to us we sent in disassociation letters, lol. We couldn't stand to play their game. But there's some really good suggestions here.
Regarding the warning, I honestly wouldn't worry. I've heard it said many times, even from the platform, because people feel like they're in trouble. With you being away for a bit, they probably wanted to emphasize that it was just a friendly call. It probably is, but let's face it, even a friendly call is with the goal of control and pushing you to go back.
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A Chance To Plant A Seed That We All Have
by dubstepped ini'd like to brainstorm something with the rest of you.
this summer at the regional conventions we all know by now that a talk on shunning is going to be given.
we all know what that talk will likely point to.
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dubstepped
I like it! ^^^^^^^ -
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Some thoughts on guilt.
by New day inhad an interesting conversation with my wife recently.
she struggles with physical, emotional and psychological problems which have often caused her to miss meetings.
she mentioned how she is equally tortured by guilt if she misses meetings and ministry, and severe stress if she does them.
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dubstepped
Guilt is "I did a bad thing". Shame is " I'm a bad person ". I think that what your wife is really feeling is shame. The Borg work it into their talks and publications, always questioning your true motives. There's a feeling of never being " enough" that gets to the core of who you are. It is manipulative on the part of the organization and a way of controlling good people because they'll do anything not to be bad people. It is twisted reasoning by monsters. -
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out for a long time
by Sledracer inmy husband and i have been out for a long time, maybe fifteen years, i must say we are in a bit of a nowhere land spiritually, we find it impossible to attend any other church.
we really resent so much of how they messed up our and our children's lives.
we can't get back all those 25 years we were in.
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dubstepped
15 years out and look at the pull of the indoctrination. You know some of the vile things they do and are actually thinking like a dog returning to its vomit. Victims of abuse always think it will be different this time. It never is.
There is a world full of beautiful people. It sounds like maybe you need to get out and find more of them. The fact that you're thinking like you are shows how dangerous the JWs are.
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A Chance To Plant A Seed That We All Have
by dubstepped ini'd like to brainstorm something with the rest of you.
this summer at the regional conventions we all know by now that a talk on shunning is going to be given.
we all know what that talk will likely point to.
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dubstepped
Hey Jerryh, thanks so much for the kind words. I hope that you learn some things here that help you to understand your JW relatives. It is definitely not easy to understand from the outside. It is terribly difficult to wake people up, or as someone that is in the organization to give credence to your doubts and wake yourself up. I had doubts since I was a kid, but I always pushed them down because I had so much to lose and because I believed they had the truth. Over the years the true lack of love and the loneliness contrasted with the love that I received outside of the organization started me down a path to emotional healing It was there that I found courage to start leaving.
If I get something put together I'll definitely post it up. I hope that it will inspire others to do the same or similar. This talk that is going to be given over the summer, in all areas, is going to hammer home the shunning practice. I want to take this chance and hopefully magnify the cognitive dissonance that will be caused when that talk is heard.
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A Chance To Plant A Seed That We All Have
by dubstepped ini'd like to brainstorm something with the rest of you.
this summer at the regional conventions we all know by now that a talk on shunning is going to be given.
we all know what that talk will likely point to.
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dubstepped
Good one ^^^^^^^
Keep 'em coming. I love that one.