Posts by sammielee24

4

Colorado cong ...

by sammielee24 in

jw
friends

...i have been df'd for over a year now and will never again be part of this cult...that being said, i was born and raised only in the 'truth' with no contact with 'wordly' people.

all of my family remain zealous members including my children who refuse any communication with me whatsoever...i have been learning how to live within the world over the past year instead of separate from it and things are going well in that regard.

i have just heard that one of my kids will be married in a couple of weeks to a member of the congregation in greely...i was not invited of course and only heard of it through the grapevine...needless to say i am extremely saddened by the seething hatred that i've been shown and total lack of respect and consideration.

sammielee24

I had heard back in the spring that my son was 'involved' with a 'nice, JW' girl and we all know that translates into a few months of dating and then marriage which is exactly what is happening. When I tried to congraluate him, I was told in no uncertain terms that I was nothing to him, had no right to any part of his life and that I would be wise to never put myself in a situation where he would be forced to have any contact with him. He also informed me that I am less than the dirt that lay on the road. I was not sent an invitation. A JW relative very (callously) told me that he is getting married in a few weeks and too bad I am disfellowshipped or I could be there - but everyone knows I'm not invited anyway.

It constantly amazes me that people think because someone is df'd they have absolutely no feelings....I just gotta say..'ain't love grand?'..

23

Hi New Here!

by weinermcgee in

jw
friends

hi folks whats up?.

i grew up as a strict jw until my early 20's when an event happened that made me start thinking for myself, thank goodness.

what i mean by strict was i think most of you will undertsand that i really believed in what i was doing, baptised at the age of 13, seriously considered bethal, pioneered and was offered to be a ministerial servent.

sammielee24

..nice to meet you.........I understand perfectly. I was a JW for 51 years...raised in it, lived it, breathed it and truly thought every day that I would die in it. I was baptized at 14, pioneered, was an elder and I have to agree with you in that being raised as a witness has a whole host of problems in and of itself for a lot of people. Growing up a witness means not ever seeing a person on the street as having value..unless you are a JW you are nothing. Having no real compassion for anyone or anything outside the society. Shunning non witness family.....the list goes on and on and on. I kick myself for a life wasted because I followed a group of dillusional men who believe they are God while at the same time being forced to reckon with the fact that I'm now in a race to keep my head above water in all ways. I consider myself fortunate that I have come so far so quickly but I too drove myself crazy for a time just wanting someone to share experiences with...

4

Colorado cong ...

by sammielee24 in

jw
friends

...i have been df'd for over a year now and will never again be part of this cult...that being said, i was born and raised only in the 'truth' with no contact with 'wordly' people.

all of my family remain zealous members including my children who refuse any communication with me whatsoever...i have been learning how to live within the world over the past year instead of separate from it and things are going well in that regard.

i have just heard that one of my kids will be married in a couple of weeks to a member of the congregation in greely...i was not invited of course and only heard of it through the grapevine...needless to say i am extremely saddened by the seething hatred that i've been shown and total lack of respect and consideration.

sammielee24

...I have been df'd for over a year now and will never again be part of this cult...that being said, I was born and raised only in the 'truth' with no contact with 'wordly' people. All of my family remain zealous members including my children who refuse any communication with me whatsoever...I have been learning how to live within the world over the past year instead of separate from it and things are going well in that regard. I have just heard that one of my kids will be married in a couple of weeks to a member of the congregation in Greely...I was not invited of course and only heard of it through the grapevine...needless to say I am extremely saddened by the seething hatred that I've been shown and total lack of respect and consideration. (..of course my df'ing is my own fault and as my children and other family pointed out to me, I deserve nothing from anyone least of all respect ..sigh...) I thought that I was a good father while serving as a JW...instilling all those same virtues in my kids that I fanatically followed but I realize now that I was an idiot. The father beaming with pride when his little daughter 'witnessed' to other little kids, the puffed up dad listening to his sons first discourse...how blind I was, how utterly duped..how betrayed. Giving up my life for something that never was true. I recognize that I am now reaping what I have sown. I still love my kids and I do miss them. I try to reconcile this to the fact that I will never be part of their lives again, never see them married, never hear their voices or see my grandchildren and in doing this, I still have to admit that I would rather be 'out' than living inside an organization that is only filled full of lies and deceit, fraud, prejudice and destruction. What a price to pay.

I just finished reading some long ago posts from people who had attended the Greely, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder congregations. This of course stirred up memories of those times and people who I knew then leaving me curious as to who remains and who has left...Huggins, Heyne,Vancil, Gertsch's, Bosanka.....

38

I Can't Believe JW Relative Called

by Jeannine in

my husband and i have been basically ignored for about 15 years by most of his jw family.

his mom calls once every few months, but only to ask for money (yes, she is a mooch).

both of his brothers are elders.

sammielee24

All I can say is give him a chance. The fight that a JW has inside himself sometimes can be so horrendous that I don't think you can even begin to comprehend how much it eats them up. My husband's brother was not df'd either but he was baptized and disassociated himself and my husband being a fanatical JW would have very little to do with him - being a whole family of Elders doesn't help much either. In the end, he sent apologies to his brother and his wife for his behaviour toward them and had a great visit with him a few months after that. It takes a lot of communication and time to heal those rifts but it can be done. When a JW moves toward a 'wordly' person it could be because he is faltering and recognizing with shame how he has acted. It is good to talk about it. For those that were raised in the society, they understand the rigidity of that life and are less condemning than those that aren't. I hope you support their relationship as much as you can and as much as your husband needs you to.

25

Should Katrina Victims Share Blame ??

by Jeannine in

jw
friends

it has been a few days since i raged and cried for the victims.

it has been a few days since i cursed our government and became forever disgusted with their actions.

it has been a few days since i made my red cross and animal rescue donations.

sammielee24

Let's also remember that it wasn't the actual hurricane that caused all of this - if the levee's had been built according to the standards recommended by engineers and consultants years ago when they knew there was an extremely high probability that this disaster would happen, then we wouldn't be talking about thousands of dead now. It was the levee's breaking down that caused the flooding. Now today you have the state blaming the feds and the feds blaming the state and then tossing in the local government for good measure. At last note there are 500 missing police officers...walked away...and why?

There are some who will take this as an opportunity to rebuild their lives and maybe in a different place. Those people will bring a positive light with them and I truly wish them well!

25

Should Katrina Victims Share Blame ??

by Jeannine in

jw
friends

it has been a few days since i raged and cried for the victims.

it has been a few days since i cursed our government and became forever disgusted with their actions.

it has been a few days since i made my red cross and animal rescue donations.

sammielee24

According to a number of interviews with survivors, some of the people who remained in their homes did so because past experiences with having to seek shelter in the dome was a nightmare and they were too afraid to repeat it this time. Their choice was home or dome.

One young mother told of how she and her husband and kids were in a van and trying to get out of the city but the traffic was so snarled that many had to turn around and return and seek shelter back at home.

Others - well, there are so many reasons for staying behind....one thing I asked myself though and that is - if it was me and my elderly/sick/disabled/young neighbour/relative/friend could not leave, would I shut the door on them and walk away to save myself? Don't think I could have done that. If it was a simple matter of material possessions one didn't want to leave behind then that's a different scenario.

16

Celine Dion, on the devastation

by Mulan in

jw
friends

she was a guest by remote from las vegas, on larry king last night.

she was so emotional, and crying that she could hardly speak.

but, she said some powerful things.

sammielee24

I also thought the mayor of New Orleans was on target. It wasn't just what he had to say but the way it was spoken. I applaud him for telling it like it was in his moments of frustration - blunt but honest.

16

Celine Dion, on the devastation

by Mulan in

jw
friends

she was a guest by remote from las vegas, on larry king last night.

she was so emotional, and crying that she could hardly speak.

but, she said some powerful things.

sammielee24

I happen to call it survival too but there are a heck of a lot of people spouting off on the radio talks shows and elsewhere who feel obliged to condemn anyone for 'removing' unpaid for items from stores - they insist that this is looting and stealing and not a matter of survival. I've seen the people leaving with a mountain of clothing under their arm from the stores - I could care less because how do any of us know that they aren't trying to get clothing to put on the backs of not only themselves but their kids, parents, siblings, neighbours.

16

Celine Dion, on the devastation

by Mulan in

jw
friends

she was a guest by remote from las vegas, on larry king last night.

she was so emotional, and crying that she could hardly speak.

but, she said some powerful things.

sammielee24

I think that Celine's response to the looting of material goods (not guns, rape etc) comes from the experience of having been poor and mix that in with a compassionate, common sense person and you have transcript. I happen to agree with her...the looting of electronics and 'stuff' that is of no real value in this situation is of little consequence and can be dealt with later...help for all of those people get out and then deal with all the other issues. If the Guard had of been sent the first or second night you wouldn't have had all the looting and there would have been some control even if there were still people waiting for food and water..it didn't happen so if I have to make a choice between getting upset over a guy/gal stealing a plasma TV or someone dying from lack of water/food and shelter - I'm not going to like what the thief is doing but my first concern is going to be saving the life.

Given the same circumstances I'm sure many of us would do what we had to in order to survive and if that meant taking food and water, a blanket or some shoes from a store then we'd do it. I guess in the long run if we felt so righteous that stealing for survival was something we just couldn't bring ourselves to do and we died for that belief, then too we shouldn't be judged for what other peoplemight see as stupidity.

I'm just glad that finally help is there....I imagine some heads will roll when it's all over.

14

Worldly Relatives

by sammielee24 in

jw
friends

while you were a jw how badly did you feel obliged to treat your non jw relatives?

did you not visit with them?

did you keep your kids away from them?

sammielee24

While you were a JW how badly did you feel obliged to treat your non JW relatives? Did you not visit with them? Did you keep your kids away from them? Did you refuse to attend weddings and funerals? and now that you're out...how did you go about making ammends? Have you visited with them or explained why?