Posts by mamochan13

61

Why exactly do you come to this board?

by R.Crusoe in

i wondered if anyone, after starting to post here after so long being worried about doing, now just does it because they acn and hasn't stopped to ask why the still feel the need or even pleasure.. so why do you come here?.

do you know?.

it's not easy to completely explain what it is substiruting for imo!.

mamochan13

at first I came here to heal amongst others who were able to understand how and why I became damaged.

now I come here mostly to find out what's going on in the JW world so that I can be on the alert. My family will never stop in their efforts to force my children back, so I need to always have ammunition at ready.

I also come here because I've become interested in many of the people here and want to know how they are doing.

sometimes I think I'm just drawn here subconsciously - the last few days I think I must be having a bit of a crisis with the memorial approaching. That was when the big attack on me and my family came, so I think I'm just needing emotional reinforcement

72

Jehovah's Witnesses are NOT stupid!

by nicolaou in

after several years 'out' i can't be the only one who still gets a bit pissed off to hear 'oh so clever' apostates slagging off jw's for being dumb, stupid and worse.

grow up!

the beliefs of jehovah's witnesses are certainly stupid but then i'd say the same for all christian belief just as many of you might condemn my atheistic, evolutionary postion as being nonsense.

mamochan13

Just to add to some of the other excellent comments on this topic, Websters online defines stupid as:

1. slow of mind, obtuse; given to unintelligent decisions or acts; acting in an unintelligent or careless manner; lacking intelligence or reason.

2. dulled in feeling or sensation

3. marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting, i.e. senseless

4. lacking interest or point.

Synonyms: "stupid implies a slow-witted or dazed state of mind that may be either congenital or temporary.

I was born into the unreasoned thinking of the cult, and I don't consider myself stupid or lacking in intelligence. There are such a myriad of reasons why people remain JWs - I don't think stupid really covers them. For example, a woman might remain in an abusive relationship, not because she is stupid, but for financial reasons, fear of being alone, loss of lifestyle/friends/family, etc.

It might seem stupid to remain in a state of "dulled feeling" and "unreasoned thinking". But what if leaving that state means you will lose everything near and dear to you?

60

Would you ever consider Going Back?

by Honesty in

jw
friends

after discovering what you have about the watchtower society would you ever consider going back to the jw's?

mamochan13

that JW line "a dog returning to his vomit" comes to mind...

115

My story: "Pop!" goes the Little Circuit Breaker

by TJ - iAmCleared2Land in

jw
friends

i guess it's about time i write my story.

i've put this off for a long time... primarily becuase, while i thought my story was bad, i've read so many worse and heart-rending stories here.

i think, though, there is some therapeutic value in 'letting it all out' with others who know what 'it' was like.

mamochan13

thank you for sharing your story, TJ. I've counselled many survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and one of our "true-isms" is that sexual abuse rarely occurs in a vacuum - there is almost always other abuse and other children involved. For many, telling the story is an important first step towards healing. I'm glad to hear you are having some success with professional counselling.

Another common factor is that there is often a pervasive religious component involved. High control cults really do seem to provide fertile ground for this kind of abuse, and some individuals who are extremely active in the cult/religion create their own version of reality in which they can justify all kinds of horrible behaviour. the JW disfellowshipping attitude does affect how parents interact with their children - the notion that it's acceptable to punish a child by removing them from the family. It makes me sick now to realize that I used to subscribe to that twisted thinking.

I find it interesting that both of the "parents" (I use that term loosely) involved here are now claiming to be part of the anointed. I've often wondered whether people who suddenly become anointed are actually experiencing some form of mental illness. Certainly the patterns of behaviour these people inflicted on you and your siblings does not provide evidence of mental wellness.

In spite of what they have tried to make you believe, TJ, you did nothing to merit the abuse they inflicted. My thoughts are with you on your journey toward healing. You've already demonstrated incredible strength.

62

Are You Ever Afraid To Post Your Views On This Board?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you ever get nervous making a post, knowing that perhaps you''re going to get "picked on" in one way or another??

?

mamochan13

I don't know if I'd call it fear. I'm cautious anywhere on the Internet - things you post online can come back to haunt you later.

I do find that I hesitate at times to comment on a topic, partly because of what seawolf said. I don't come here often enough to stay on top of a discussion, and when I have said something that I considered worthy of further commentary, it's rarely followed up on - the higher-profile posters get all the attention ! :-) That doesn't bother me, it's just the nature of any community.

Some topics move so quickly and sometimes deteriorate into a slogging match, so I start to feel that my comments would be irrelevant.

I have been jumped on for certain views, but that doesn't make me afraid to state them.

283

News from Mother ship

by jefferywhat in

1. bethel in ny suspect high level apostate, cant identify it but know its there.

2. major organizational changes about to start rolling out, one is changes to the "service committee" and titles, po to be done away with, thats all i know for now.

was told that if you are the sort of person that cant handle changes, you wont stay in the org for long.

mamochan13

The JW R&F love rumours & speculation. Maybe the notion that there is a high-level apostate & a shake-up coming is the first step - then the GB will imply that it was the fault of this apostate that child abuse cases were handled "wrongly", and that Jah is cleaning house. I remember the rumours surrounding Franz after he left, it was similar.

Keep the R&F waiting on even more change, convince them that the change is coming and that if they keep waiting all their doubts will be resolved. It's a good way to keep them hanging on.

83

Yesterday my father informed me that he will shun me...

by nvrgnbk in

jw
friends

but only if a judicial committee tells him to.. if they say i'm inactive and let me be, he can still talk to me.. it's meaningless, because i would never meet with a jc, but he let me know where he stands.. he's dead to me.. i'm not hurting.. lost tons of respect for the man.. i told him he was brainwashed and left him without saying goodbye.. to no longer live for his approval was liberating, but this is even better.. i told him that i couldn't do that to my son.. his response?.

unconditional love is a lie.. you only get unconditional love from a dog.. sick, brainwashed, emotionally bankrupt man.. p.s.- not looking for cyber hugs.

just sharing the experience for others going through similar things and for lurkers to see what this cult does to people.. regards,.

mamochan13

Shared experience is what makes this board so valuable.

I know the pain of having family shun you. Mine did a blanket shun for some months when I was DFd, then came to me and told me they had read some watchtowers and realized that perhaps they didn't need to behave exactly the way they had been - I remember thinking at the time, "gee, you needed to read a watchtower before you could act with common sense and decency?" After a year of me enduring deliberate cruelty and game-playing at the hands of the elders, my mom and aunt finally said, "enough" and began to give me a little support. But the damage was already done.

funny enough, though, some years later they decided that they had sinned greiviously by not obeying the elders to the letter (even when they could clearly see that the elders were wrong), and rationalized that somehow they were losing god's spirit as a result. They concluded that a bunch of bad things that were happening were the consequence of not blindly obeying.

how do you respond to such convoluted reasoning? Your dad is likely in fear of those kinds of emotional repercussions.

Time does help, though. I do have a relationship now, on my terms, with some members of my family, so I hope the same will happen for you, Nate.

45

Do You "Trust" The Police?

by minimus in

jw
friends

if the police say such and such a thing, do you tend to automatically believe it?

mamochan13

I don't automatically believe the police any more than i would automatically believe anyone else. I've learned to always question things.

Now, if your question refers to trusting that police are more beleiveable, then the answer is no. I think police often use lies as a technique to catch criminals - and anyone who begins to justify the use of a lie loses all credibility in my view and can no longer be trusted (JWs justify lies in the same way - i.e. it's okay to lie to the world to protect the religion).

29

Do you think Minimus will ever run out of questions?

by sweetstuff in

jw
friends

don't get me wrong, i like alot of his questions, just seems he never runs out of them.....

mamochan13

No. Minimus is the master question-asker

114

Greetings from a recovering mormon

by FormerMormon in

jw
friends

greetings from the other side of the street,.

i just loved having you guys proselytizing on the other side of the street when we were tracting.

i am a recovering mormon with a believing spouse / family.

mamochan13

Welcome.

Years ago I read the book of Mormon. At the time I remember thinking "who would believe this kind of nonsense?" Of course I was still blinded by JW dogma.

I am curious about mormon beliefs - one thing I've noticed among my mormon acquaintances that is not true of Jws (or others for that matter) is that they seem to have really strong families. I always wondered how they managed to keep their families so close and admired them for it.

Southpark did a very funny show targetting Mormons. I can't recall the details offhand, but it did get to the heart of some of the more "out there" beliefs, as Southpark will do.

I have a cousin who was raised Salvation Army. As an adult she's left the faith and seems to share many of the issues we do. So I guess there is a commonality to the "escape from the cult" experience, even though there are many differences.