Hi DanTheMan, Oh yes, Ken Ball, local kick-the-church-doors-down-and-let-'em-have-it JW legend, he's read it all and is as zealous as they come. He's mad as a hatter, IMO. IS THIS THE SAME KEN BALL WHO LIVED IN THE AKRON/CLEVELAND AREA IN THE 80s (when i lived there)???? PLEASE TELL ME IT'S TRUE AND I'LL TELL A LITTLE STORY ABOUT KEN BALL
erica v
JoinedPosts by erica v
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Just As A Matter Of Curiosity..........
by hillary_step injust as a matter of curiosity i was wondering if any of you know of anybody who has read raymond franz' 'crisis of conscience' and who actually remained a jw?
i have sent and lent this book to a number of people within the wts, even a co, all of whom left eventually.
one person remained due to domestic issues, but resigned from all his duties and remains as such.
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erica v
since i always had my friends picked for me from the kh or surrounding kh's, i learned to get along with people. truth is, i didn't like any of them. first time i was free to pick a friend for myself was when i was 9. she was a neighbor girl, becky zortich - i'll always remember her as my first friend. she moved soon after, though. anyway, back to topic - i find i was never taught one of the most key tools for being a friend - boundaries. both in knowing my own and in respecting others. i also find myself very judgmental of others (gee, wonder where i got that!). it's all stuff i'm working on, though.
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There are two reasons why I'd go back to the JWs...
by logansrun ini was thinking about this the other day in response to the question, "am i coming back?
" put forward by jw who called me (a former friend).
i said that i would not answer that question since it would put her in an uncomfortable position.
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erica v
wow! i'm actually posting on this site. won't i be struck down!?!?! ok, back to why i'm posting... i've had to do a lot of recovery from being raised as a jw. from sex abuse by my brother (who is now wonderfully an elder and gets stinking drunk often and has beaten his wife more than once!) to physical abuse from my elder-father (who is dead now). i was disfellowshipped, twice. during my second stint out, i sought major counseling and realized that all the reasons for why i was disfellowshipped were directly due to the child abuse i suffered at the hands of witnesses. thus, i felt i was taking charge of my life by acting in whatever way i needed to be reinstated. the moment i was reinstated, i never went back. it was my way of saying "i decide who i want to talk to and who i don't, not you." since then, i've also come to the realization that my family is not worth living a double life for. i would have to live a double life for them to be able to accept me (they're ALL reg. pioneers), and i would not be true to myself by doing that. i am what i am, and if they can't accept that and choose to judge me, that's their loss. i am a wonderful, very talented woman. but all they see when they look at me is a condemned person who needs 'saving'. my niece, who i've seen 4 times in her life, ran away from home to live with and 'take care of' a boy from the kh who fell from the truth. my mom had the audacity to call me to tell me it's my fault. i kept my cool (thank god for recovery!) and asked why she thought that. seems when i introduced my new husband to the family and she saw how happy we were, she thought she could have the same thing. thus, it's my fault. i told my mom i wasn't going to take that on. deep down, though, i still remember how jw's think. it's not my righteous sister's fault, the one who raised her, but rather my fault because i am an unbeliever. and why does it have to be anyone's fault? why can't it be that my niece decided to think for herself instead of being a blind follower? i still have a lot of grieving and coming to terms with just how insidious my upbringing was, but i am a lot happier today than i ever was when i was trying to fit into all the rules or what i could/couldn't do/say/think/look like/believe, etc. i happen to live right down the street from a kh, and there is a lot of hurt and anger that i feel when i look at the super righteous people in their "bif" and "muffy" uniforms. knowing how exalted they put themselves (because i did the same thing when i was a reg. pioneer) above the poor unfortunate souls who are not witnesses really makes me sick. eventually, my conscience couldn't take the preaching work, which supports judging others because they're doing their own thing and are not interested in following what jw's put out as the 'only way'. i felt like a pied piper and it didn't feel good. sorry for the looooong post. seems i have a lot to get out. thanks for listening.