greetings folks,.
i'm in a bit of a fritz so bear with my free style.... sometimes i feel that, for the last two years since leaving the organization, i've been in a period of prolonged adolescence, filled with the confusion, second-guessing, mistakes and insights that go along with it.
i'm now 28 years old and feel like i'm in my early twenties sometimes.
Bradley,
I can relate to all of what you said too. I'm 37, married with 2 kids, and even though I've only been out of the cult for just over 3 years I still am learning so much about myself. The frustration comes now a little because I have so little time to explore my interests. On the one hand I want to just be complacent, but then again I love life and living it to the fullest. oh well. one day at a time I guess...
- BW.
here is a letter i'm sending off....let me know if you have any suggestions, i want it to be to the point and also positive:.
dear mom,.
i now realize that i can never be the son or person you want me to be.
Very firm but loving letter DIM! I wish I could say I have as many good memories as you. It's nice that you acknowledge that to her too.
Ultimately, if you just keep on doing what you are doing (building a TRULY successful family), they will be forced to recognize all of your achievements. People only respect people who stand up for themselves...this letter shows you can do that very competently. I congratulate you on this big step.
Glad you are enjoying life with baby too!!!
well, this was my first ever glimpse of the dnc.
too bad i was still a loyal dub in 2000 because my hometown of philadelphia hosted the event.
i must say that if the district conventions had live musical guests, or energetic speeches, or if guests were allowed to bring in colorful signs in support of their state and nominee (or, favorite speaker and congregation), or if the brothers giving talks used a teleprompter instead of paper, or if they just made the convention both and educational and fun event, i might just think about going.
Hey Big Bri-Bri -
I thought the same thing as I watched some clips from the DNC. JW conventions were/are ass numbingly boring and repetitive.
i am a newbie to the site.
i was born an raised a jw.
shortly after marriage, my husband and i decided we no longer wanted to be part of the organization.
Excellent Gary! That is the approach I have eventually settled on too. I think many of us have over time graduated from the sadness of being rejected to the "screw 'em" philosophy. It works for me. I have a beautiful little 3 year old son that they will never get to play with - it's ALL their loss. Sure, I still get a little down sometimes, only because I am very sociable and I wish there were more people to share these things with. That's another thing I have found since leaving the JW's .. real friends don't come easy or fast out here in the real world. I try to be patient. I will never settle for conditional love and phony friendship again!
for me it was the slow, purposeful fade....and you?
?
After only about 3 weeks of seeking out and reading "apostate" literature, I was publicly reproved at a Thursday night meeting for showing someone the UN's website where the WT was listed as an NGO.
.. that was my last meeting, I gave them the finger as I drove out the parking lot. Most of my family are JW's. We have not spoken in over 2 years. Totally their loss..in my opinion. I pity them now.
A hair caught in your teeth or back of your throat. how it got there is my business.
famous people who were also atheists:.
simon bolivar, revolutionary of venezuela.
abraham lincoln, president.
Famous People who were also Atheists:
Simon Bolivar, revolutionary of Venezuela
Abraham Lincoln, president
Thomas Edison, inventor
George Bernard Shaw, playwright
Katherine Hepburn, actress
Charlie Chaplin, actor and filmmaker
Mark Twain, writer
Marie Curie, scientist
Woody Allen, actor and filmmaker
Walt Disney, founder of Disney Inc.
Ernest Hemmingway, writer
Charles Schultz, cartoonist
Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
..and some more
George Orwell
Benjamin Franklin
Gene Kelly
Carl Sagan
Barry White
Dave Matthews
think of all the time and energy you wasted sitting in meetings, going door to door and refraining from making friends and having enjoyable association with non dubs.
think about how much of your finite life is lost to you because you were a witness.
think about how foolish you looked, hanging on to the false teachings and empty hopes for the future.
Flower -
I agree 100% with your assesment of the "choices" a child has. Really they have no choices in anything. I look at my own 3 year old son, he can't decide anything. Right now we are his whole world, he will believe and do anything we tell him. I was forced to go along with something that deep down clashed with my inner sensibilities. Now I'm free (albeit sans mother, father, and 2 sisters) - but at 36 I am so happy to finally stop pretending to be someone I'm not.
Larry & Special K -
So true what you say. The circumstances which led my mother to start that friggin' bible study with the JW's are to blame. She was saddled with 4 kids and a deadbeat husband, and came out of a very Catholic, guilt ridden childhood. She was easy prey for the very persistent, manipulative, over bearing, intrusive anointed Pioneer sister that recruited her. end of story. yes, of course she should have looked into it more, but she got sucked in fast. there was no internet in 1976 either. I am optimistic that the with the access to information that people now have these snake oil salesman type will be less and less effective. We're seeing that already with the number of peole that come on to sites like this while doing research because someone "witnessed" to them.
i was asked the other day when telling my story about leaving the witnesses when relating finally having the courage to type "jehovah witness" into the search bar on internet explorer and clicking around.
i was never into doctrine at all when i was a witness, i barely listened at all anyhow it was the comical sites that got me.
while freeminds was a great tool i was more influenced by the bethel cartoons on the site.
I did a lot of reading at freeminds.org and then I called the man who runs that site, Randy Watters - he was a tremendous support to me in the beginning - THANKS RANDY!!!! and thanks to those here who helped me too.
thanks to many fine posters i think we can make an intelligent choice.
cast your vote and debate if you like.
Someone said a "well conceived myth". I agree . It was conceived to controI the many and enrich the few.
It's like if I took my 3 year old son and told him there is a monster in the closet. He WILL believe me. As long as I explain it to him in a totally serious manner and with a straight face. Once I get him to accept that "fact" I can use it to manipulate him any way I want. For example: pick up your toys or I will let the monster out, or - eat those vegatables or the monster wont be pleased with you!! If he, along with every other child in the community was raised to believe in the monster, it all seems perfectly normal. What if you also taught these kids that anyone who questions the existence of the monster or tries to open their closet is evil and will be killed by the community for trying. Now you've added a heavy dose of fear to the mix and it's even easier to get people to obey you.
With this illustration in mind remember that historically only priests and clerics were able to read and write. This left 99% of the population throughout the ages as vulnerable as a 3 year old, ripe for easy manipulation. As time moves forward and we have progressed - that 99% is steadily dwindling. Add to that access to the internet, and people are not so easily duped.
