The scary pictures I seem to have mercifully blocked. But listen, does anyone remember the scary persecution stories? Because how I remember it is that every morning with breakfast we'd read some story in the textbook about JWs persecuted in other lands, or Texas. And it was just dreadful, women in Malawi being raped in front of their husbands, men being forced to run miles with nails in their feet, etc. I used to go to school just sick to my stomach. Does anyone else remember that? I'm sure I didn't make it up. Did I?
myauntfanny
JoinedPosts by myauntfanny
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21
Scary Pictures in the Live Forever book
by Surfacing in.
i remember as a kid being freaked out by two pictures.
one was of the demons floating away leaving their screaming wives and babies during the flood, and the other was the collage with the gas mask guy and the kid holding his hands over his ears and the dead guy with the chopsticks..... oh yes, did i mention that i wasn't allowed to watch the care bears movie as a kid because of the "frightening and demonic" scenes?
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being sarcastic is a good way to get to know a person
by dh ini think humour is a good way to establish what wavelength a person is on, what do you think?
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myauntfanny
I like sarcasm, and it breaks the ice at the very beginning. If you get each other's sarcasm it establishes similar levels of coolness (or uncoolness) straight off. But if a person keeps it up relentlessly for years in a close relationship, then it's a defense. A just a tidge boring too, I can tell you. (Yes, sorry, having a wander down memory lane here.)
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aloha folks! i be new here
by dagg injust kickin off a thread to announce my arrival.
i was raised as a jw and no longer am active (and havent been for several years) and that is my choice.
no one forced me out, abused me, brainwashed me, or any of that stuff.
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myauntfanny
Aloha Dagg
Glad you're here.I've been here one day, and I'm having lots of fun already.
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Last Meal...
by FMZ inwell.. i don't want to blow my own trumpet... but... .
damn i rock.
i just got done making (and eating) a roast chicken, stuffed with amazing paxo.
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myauntfanny
My last meal would be the one my mother used to make that I loved so much. Steak, potatoes, brown gravy, corn on the cob, and a limp salad made with plain old oil, vinegar, season salt. Somehow it was all just perfect. I'm going to have that tomorrow. I'm going to call my mother.
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Another newbie
by myauntfanny ini just wanted to introduce myself before launching myself at the various threads.
i left when i was 14 and that was 30 years ago, i thought i was well over it but when i read some of the postings on here they really got to me.
there are definitely long term effects.
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myauntfanny
Hi Gumby
I've only been out 10 and I thought my brain was turning somewhat normal! I still have another 20 to go....and I'll still feel the effects!
Gosh, now I feel bad, I've only been on here a day and I'm already depressing people. Well, take heart, there is a good possibility that my brain was abnormal to start with. Can't blame the Borg for everything, right?
Strawberryfieldsforever
It's a euphemism for "my ass", as in "New Light, my ass". Instead you say, "New Light, my aunt fanny". It's a sort of old-fashioned expression of skepticism that I like to use when I'm feeling too polite to come right out and mention my actual ass. It doesn't work at all as a euphemism with Brits, since to them fanny is even worse than ass. Can't please everybody, though.
Actually, I sort of regret the name now. It sounds kind of frivolous (must remember, now I'm allowed to be frivolous). I never can think of a good alias when the box pops up.
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The Governing Body
by cameo in.
do you think the top men (the governing body) of the wts really believe they are proclaiming the truth??
or do you think some of them know the wts is a bunch of bunk.....and just don't care??.
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myauntfanny
I think it would be very hard for them to leave even if they didn't believe it. It's hard enough for a lot of people who are young and single. If you've done it for many years, and have no outside friends, and your wife would leave you, and you haven't functioned in the outside world for a long time, maybe ever, and you have no formal education, and you're of an age that it's hard to get work, it must be hard to leave, just like any corporation (only worse). I imagine more than a few stay far beyond the sell-by date out of sheer inertia, without believing a word of it anymore. And the lawyers, they know too much about the inner workings. I can't believe they buy any of it.
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I'm I the only one here that..................
by reganashe injust hate religion all together.
i don't want to have anything to with it, it makes my skin crawl.
i don't want my daughter to be exposed to relgion in any form.
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myauntfanny
I was not only religion-phobic but completely atheist for 20 years after I escaped. Now I am a little more spiritual, but religion is till pretty much anathema to me, especially anything even remotely Christian. My whole family is still fundamentalist Christian of one type or another, so recently I finally bought my first bible in 30 years, thinking, I'm going to stop being so traumatised and intolerant and judgemental and try to come at this like a mature adult. They must be talking about something important, if everybody's shouting "thank you jesus" at the screening of the Passion, right? But I just couldn't get down with it. The first thing I see is Matthew saying that Jesus said he would separate father from son and brother from brother, etc. Now who does that sound like?
Taoism is nice. It has a little tiny holy book that basically advises to stay out of harm's way and leave people alone.
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Another newbie
by myauntfanny ini just wanted to introduce myself before launching myself at the various threads.
i left when i was 14 and that was 30 years ago, i thought i was well over it but when i read some of the postings on here they really got to me.
there are definitely long term effects.
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myauntfanny
Thanks all. I've been reading all these welcome threads on here and I wanted one of my own!
I don't know if I'm over it or not. I live a pretty normal life (I think) but you know, I saw a couple JWs yesterday and I still got that kind of electrified fear feeling. I still get a little nauseated when I see a KH. Well, it's not overwhelming, I don't need meds or anything. I guess that means I'm over it. The real reason I wanted to get on here is because while I was lurking I realised, you can have the most normal looking life in the world, and that's great, having non-JW friends and all; but nobody except another JW can really understand what it means to have been raised or have spent a significant chunk of your life in the Borg. I wish something like this board had been around 30 years ago.
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How many were raised as a JW during their teenage years?
by codeblue in.
and how many of you feel because of that, you never really got to be a "teenager"?
codeblue
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myauntfanny
I was raised as a JW, my mother joined up when I was two. By the time I was 14 I absolutely could not bear everything I was missing out on. I was especially pissed off that I had to wear skirts below my knees when all the other girls were wearing minis. My big concern (this was 1972) was that Armageddon would come before I could escape from home and wear miniskirts. The really sad-ass thing was that Armageddon didn't come (yay!) but by the time I escaped from home miniskirts were out and midis were in. This may seem like a very superficial thing to grieve over but...I still regret it. Going out in service sucked. Those loooong boooorrrrring meetings, especially in summer. So much as look at a boy (and I really didn't want to look at anything else) and you were a slut. No holding hands, because we all know where that leads!. No football games, no soc-hops (yes, my school had soc-hops still and it looked like it would be fun), no rollerskating parties, no afterschool clubs or sports, no trying out for pompom girl.
But I'm over it. I'm not bitter. Really.
Actually I spent years trying to make up for it but it wasn't easy for me. I kept being so furious about the moments I'd missed out on that I couldn't enjoy the moment I was in. Also, I think, for many years a little voice in my head kept saying "fun is evil, god hates fun, and if you get in trouble it will be all your fault for Falling Away etc". The kind of wierd, distorted conscience that you get from a JW upbringing doesn't necessarily just disappear when you want it to.
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Another newbie
by myauntfanny ini just wanted to introduce myself before launching myself at the various threads.
i left when i was 14 and that was 30 years ago, i thought i was well over it but when i read some of the postings on here they really got to me.
there are definitely long term effects.
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myauntfanny
Hi everyone
I just wanted to introduce myself before launching myself at the various threads. I left when I was 14 and that was 30 years ago, I thought I was well over it but when I read some of the postings on here they really got to me. There are definitely long term effects. Anyway, I'll be seeing you all around.
Cheers