mamochan13

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Posts by mamochan13

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  74

  Living Through the Brief Liberalization of Jehovah's Witnesses, Never Recovering

  by TMS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with the book crisis of conscience detailing the turbulence at bethel during the early to mid 70's, the transformation from autocratic rule to governance by committee or a body of men, many of us can speak to how that felt among the rank and file of the local congregations during those years.

  we learned new concepts based in large part to research done for the aid to bible understanding volume, then we were asked or coerced into unlearning those principles, going back to the old ways.

  some of us never readjusted, finding ourselves very different from our more hardline compadres.. the inertia for the changes that eventually were initiated in the congregations came from the discovery that the greek words episkopos and presbyteros were used biblically to refer to all qualified men in a congregation, not just one.

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  mamochan13

  Interesting and thoughtful summary, TMS. I remember the rules around DFing being relaxed in the '70s, but I hadn't really noticed a general sense of freedom during that time. I had moved to Central America to pioneer in 1975, so my attention was focused elsewhere. So I appreciate your perspective now looking back.

  I recall when the elder arrangement came in. It was quite traumatic at our hall for the elderly cong. overseer who had been "top dog". He was a kind, loving man who was actually pushed to the side once others were appointed as elders. I do recall how excited I was to have the Aid to Bible Understanding, as I loved research and was fascinated by all the historical detail. I remember that the '69 summer conventions (we went to Vancouver) did seem to usher in a bit of a new era. Although I don't recall a talk about not counting time, your comments in that regard do twig some vague memories.

  Ultimate Axiom - my brother and I had a Honda 50. What a hoot! Can't imagine going on any kind of a long trip on it. To me it always felt like riding a bicycle in the middle of traffic.
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  42

  DNCall Unmasked - Part 5 of 5

  by DNCall in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  startfragment.

  during the appeal period of one week we sent the following letter to approximately 22 of our oldest and closest friends.

  im including it here because it conveys how we feel at present, looking back over the half-century of our lives.. dear ____,.

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  mamochan13

  Thanks for bumping. Great story, Frank and Barbara. As another poster pointed out - WT does suck the life out of anything artistic and creative. It always made me so sad to read the stories about musicians and artists who were forced to give up their careers because of the cult, so I feel particularly gratified when people who are talented artists manage to escape.
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  17

  Larry Hagman Dead at 81

  by ohiocowboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  mamochan13

  End of an era. Larry was a great actor. I, too, loved both him and Barbara in Jeannie.
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  100

  My mother passed away this morning...

  by Tatiana in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for any old-school ex-jws here that remember my many posts about my abusive jw mother and my sister committing suicide because of it...she passed away this morning because she began to bleed out and refused a transfusion.

  she had been in the hospital for a month.

  it appears she suffered a stroke and wasn't found by the brothers & sisters for three days (they missed her at the meetings).

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  mamochan13

  so sorry, Tatiana. I hope you can find peace through all of this.
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  85

  Old time JW's did some very devout JW's refuse to eat pizza with pepperroni because they believed "blood" was in the pepperroni?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have never heard this before until i read a life story of an ex-jws and how some jws in the past refused to eat pepperoni pizza because they thought blood was in pepperoni.

  i do know some elderly jw sisters would complain about eating steak if it bled while cooking.

  has anybody else heard of this pizza nonsense?.

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  mamochan13

  I had forgotten about the "blood is in soft ice cream" idiocy. My mom and dad loved the stuff, so I guess that's why my mom never bought into that one. Or maybe my dad finally spoke up about how ridiculous JWs were.We'd go for regular runs to DAiry Queen, filling my mom's huge cadillac with all the neighbourhood kids.

  And the lipstick one, too - we had that here as well.

  I have to say that learning to read labels is something I consider a good thing. I like to know what's in the food I purchase. I think the push to label foods actually forced manufacturers to be more diligent about the kind of stuff they put into food. At least now you can buy some weiners that are not just disgusting by-product filler but contain real meat. I still don't like them, though (agree with Shamus). It's hard when you grow up with such a strong antipathy to certain foods.
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  10

  It's been a while, just popping in

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there's probably a lot of people here who don't remember me.

  the short of it is i was dragged into the cult at the age of five, left at age 18 and have never looked back.. .

  there really isn't much for jw issues affecting my life, although i had to give my mother shit for trying to indoctrate my child.

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  mamochan13

  I remember you as well. Always enjoyed your observations. Nice to hear that things are going well and that you are coping with the nasty things life can toss at us post-JW. Don't give up on your efforts for more time with your son, especially if your wife is still a JW. My daughter recently went through a court battle and I know the courts in Canada are very favourable towards ensuring that children have equal access to both parents. Good luck!
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  20

  Cover article about Jehovah's Witnesses (portuguese magazine)

  by TJ Curioso in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  the magazine sabado (saturday) launched yesterday (11/22/2012) an issue where the unknown world of jehovah's witnesses .

  is revealed, and not for the bestreasons.

  from the false prophecies, doctrinal inconsistencies, pedophilia and absurd prohibitions .

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  mamochan13

  Wow. That's a small group with some power and presence. Well done.

  LOL I love the website - opens with the Portuguese version of TTATT - I guess it would be "AVSAV"
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  66

  WT Elders school: Look how cute that kindly old elder is! Too bad the Talmud says we have to stone our victim anyway

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  more haphazard thougths on the recently concluded elder school..... a big chunk of time was spent on a video which traced a judicial case, all the way from the confession to the elders through the decision to disfellowship the guy.. here is a very brief synopsis of the video:.

  tearful late-teen or early-20's publisher confesses to 2 elders that he committed fornication with a "worldly girl" who is now preganant and wants to marry him.

  the elders give him some "homework" to do prior to his judcial committee - read psalm 51 and an old wt article.

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  mamochan13

  feathermiss - you make an excellent observation. The elders told me the same thing. My situation was a bit different. I was a middle-aged woman who had struggled financially and emotionally for years to raise four daughters on my own. I had met a guy willing to take on me and my family, a good person who cared about my children and would ease my financial struggles. Yeah, like there are plenty of those guys out there for the picking in JW land. He was respectful of my faith and even wiling to allow his daughter to be raised as a JW. The elders told me to get rid of him.

  None of them had a clue what it was like to be a single parent. That they would tell you to have nothing to do with the father of your child, or suggest to the young man that he abdicate his responsibilities is so incredibly lacking in love and compassion and understanding it boggles the mind. "You screwed up and now you are starting a family at a very young age so we're going to punish you by taking away all your family, social and community supports"
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  40

  I Used To Hate Gays!

  by DubR in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i remember i use to have a lot of hate in my heart when i was a jw.

  i remember i used to hate gay people a lot!

  when news reports came in about gays getting jumped in parks at night or killed.i would always smile inside.

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  mamochan13

  Heh, Billy. I tried to argue that gays have an important role in adopting and raising all those kids brought into the world by useless straights who can procreate but choose not to parent. He has learned over the years that he can't argue the gay topic with me and win, so he has retreated into that particular one. Unfortunately he's one of those Middle Eastern guys (same as the Bible writers), so the attitudes are deeply entrenched.

  As JW I believed it was possible to cure gays. AFter all, the Bible says "that's what some of you were". One of my aunts left her husband for another woman. Some years ago she was killed in a horrible highway accident. I recently discovered that at the funeral my holier-than-thou elder brother told my cousin that my aunt deserved to die because she was homosexual. It sickened me when I heard that. But I guess on some level I must have accepted those attitudes when I was a JW.
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  157

  Share your photo, only if you don't have any problem with it.

  by wolfman85 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i like to share my picture with you and that you share yours with me.

  but only if that does not represent any problem to you.

  here is mine.

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  mamochan13

  wolfman - I agree about the bonds of the WT. Posting photos can be uncomfortable for other reasons, though. Maybe it's psychological, but I know it took me a very long time before I was willing to share a picture of myself online! I have no fear of the WT, I'm just really hesitant with everything I put out on the Internet.

  It's interesting, though, to finally match faces to people on here. Some I feel like I've already known for a very long time, yet I'm surprised at what they look like, as others have already noted. We get used to seeing the avatar and I think we almost visualize that instead.