Posts by AshtonCA

51

I think I just need to tell the story to someone who will get it?

by aimless in

hi everyone, im new.

i've been feeling a burden on myself for the years that i have been out and i just don't know how to ease it.

i can't talk about the organization or the people in it to anyone... if i try i immediately feel sick and want to close up and just disappear.

AshtonCA

Hi Aimless,

My situation was very similar to yours, except I did not date any witness boys. I got mixed up with a worldly guy from work and I was disfellowshipped because I refused to give him up. My parents kicked me out of the house. Today I am married to the guy I got DF'd over, we have been married for 15 years and have two children. For two years, I was shunned by my entire family, they did not come to or wedding. I had no family on my side. My hubby's family disbursed around the room to make up for the lack of bodies on my side. I am VERY happy that I made the choice not to give him up. It has been a definite roller coaster, but we have a wonderful relationship now.

It has taken me a long time to be okay with my JW past, but now I am happy that I had the experience I did, even though it was not a good one. I know that sounds odd, but it's true. I've grown so much and I don't despise my past at all. I hope you can get to this point one day as well.

I'd be happy to talk with you if you'd like, sometimes it does help to just be able to bounce stuff off of each other. Feel free to send a message if you'd like.

Ashton

33

Do you believe that the majority of JW's will be saved?

by JH in

if there is a god, do you think that the majority of jw's will be saved at armageddon?.

i'm not asking if they have the only true religion, i'm asking if you think they would be saved along with others who do god's will sufficiently to satisfy him.....

AshtonCA

I don't believe JW's are saved. The reason is because they are not born again, they are not Holy Spirit filled. Only those who have heavenly hope are, the rest do not feel a need to be born again. They actually speak against this belief and mock it because they feel they are safe and will be living forever on earth in paradise, but the bible says that one must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. If you ask a JW today if they need to be saved, they will say, "Saved from what?" I get that one a lot.

Ashton

58

Partaking of the emblems at home - need thoughts/experiences please

by wildfell in

jw
friends

my husband and i will be partaking at home this year.

could you please share your experiences or insights on how you partook at home?

i have the wine and bread sorted.

AshtonCA

"AshtonCA, you mentioned that passover is April 19 this year. I had previously googled this and discovered the same thing.
Wonder why the jw's are not having their memorial on nisan 14 this year? Or was that another thing they scammed us about all
these years? Nothing they do would surprise me anymore."

Wildfell,

Yes, this urked me big time when I found out that most of my life they didn't get Nisan 14 right, and the reason is they use the Gregorian Calendar, and the Jews use the Jewish calendar. Seems like if you are going to celebrate a Jewish holiday (Jesus was a Jew after all lol), that you'd use the calendar that would give you the actual date of Nisan 14. But, now we know, and now that's what our family does.

Ashton

P.S. I still can't figure out how to quote in the little box like most of yall do. I can't seem to find the button that makes the box to type in the quote.

58

Partaking of the emblems at home - need thoughts/experiences please

by wildfell in

jw
friends

my husband and i will be partaking at home this year.

could you please share your experiences or insights on how you partook at home?

i have the wine and bread sorted.

AshtonCA

I wanted to share a bit of how my family does this.

firstly, we do not follow the org on when they say Nisan 14 is because they use the Gregorian calendar. Nisan 14 is actually in April this year, not March, they are off by nearly a month.

So, this April 19th at Sundown my family will pass the bread and wine, but before we do it, we read the scriptures that talk about the Last Supper. Everyone in our house who is born again partakes, which includes myself, my hubby and our 14 year old son.

We also don't only do this once a year. Our church has communion every 5th Sunday. And we have it at Christmas as well. The bible says as often as we do this, so we know they did it more than once a year. I have a feeling they did it at practically every meal, broke bread and drank wine together. It's part of the meal ritual, or communing together. Mealtime was very ritualistic in their day.

Ashton

10

What charities do you give to...

by zeroday in

jw
friends

i donate several times a year to the nashville rescue mission...

AshtonCA

hubby and I give of our time regularly to the Bay Area Rescue Mission. We serve food to the homeless and we help out in the kitchen preparing food regularly. We don't have much money, but we can give of our time.

Ashton

20

I'm soo depressed!

by mind my own in

jw
friends

hey guys, just thought i would post.. i try not to let it get to me, but i'm soo sad right now b/c i can't believe my own family won't talk to me b/c i am not a witness!!

i was always there for them, was the daughter, friend, sister etc.

they needed me to be and now - nothing.

AshtonCA

MMO,

I have been and am where you are currently. It's very hard to be the one no one will speak to anymore. The hardest part for me is not talking about God with my parents. They have completely cut me off, and they themselves are not even JW anymore. they left back in 1992 after 45 years in the org, but unfortunately, they still hold to many of the same beliefs; namely, the ones telling them that all churches are Babylon the great and I am in big trouble because I have chosen to attend a baptist church. I am now shunned by my parents and was told by one of my brothers that they have practically written me out of their will, or might as well have. Very sad, so I know where you are coming from.

For me, I get through it by knowing God is with me, I have a new found relationship with the true God of the bible, and this helps me very much to not be so lonely in the thought of not being in contact with my parents. My brothers keep me informed as to how they are doing, and I am glad they are willing to speak to me.

When I begin to feel the pain and the need of that familial love, I remember that my God is my true father, and I cling to that thought and know he is with me and I am not alone.

If you ever need to talk, I would be glad to speak with you in chat or email or whatever. I am a stay at home mom with lots of time on my hands to chat :) Feel free to leave me your email or your yahoo or whatever and we can chat. just leave me a message on here how to contact you, if you'd like.

Don't be sad, keep your chin up and know God loves you sooo very much, just turn to him okay?

Ashton

94

did anyone on here ever have a paedophile in thier congregation?

by looloo in

if so, did it bother you that he had been reprooved and forgiven rather than reported to the police?

AshtonCA

Not only did I have a pedophile in my KH, he was in my family. He was my grandfather who was molesting, not only me, but his own daughter who was 6 mos older than I was at the time. My mom noticed things happening with us, she told my dad and my dad (an elder) refused to turn in his ministerial servant father because my mom didn't have a second witness to back up what she said she saw, not only with me but with my Aunt as well... It continued on for years, and we were taken over there many times, we even lived with them for a time. It lasted from 3 to 8 and then he tried it again when I was 15, but I would not go in his bedroom when I heard him call me in there, I ran the other way. Nothing was ever said about that event. I have a feeling he was drinking at the time and probably would have tried something, but I didn't want to chance it.

I finally came out about it at 18, and he was confronted by the elders and he denied anything ever happening, so the matter was dropped, and he died never confessing that anything ever happened. He had even tried stuff with my mom who was 8 mos pregnant at the time, and she told my dad about that, and again he refused to talk about it without a witness to the matter. Can you say DENIAL?

My dad has since apologized, and I have since forgiven them all, including my mother who should have insisted that we not go back over there, but we did over and over again.

It's amazing how the org is able to control people to the extent that they continue to take their children back into harm's way just to save face.

Ashton

14

how to pray

by megaflower in

jw
friends

i no longer know how to pray.

who do i pray to?

i no longer worship the god of jw's, jehovah.

AshtonCA

Hi Mega, For me, a feeling of having a true father/child relationship is what I have experienced since leaving the WT, and one day I decided to no longer say dear Jehovah, but actually say Father instead. Then I realized oh, I guess that's fine because how many kids do you know who call their father by his first name, anyway? I just believe the relationship between us and God is that of a familial one, and I am now much more comfortable saying father rather than Jehovah. I pray to both the Father and the Son, so depending on whom I'm praying to, I will direct it as Father or Lord. Ashton

18

Interesting thing happened today with my father the PO.....

by oneairhead in

my father and i had lunch at a local restaurant.

before we eat we always pray.

before we were about to leave a man comes up to our table.

AshtonCA

I remember being embarrassed when my mom would mention the name Jehovah in public. She was a very loud person when she talked and I used to cringe when she'd say something about the watchtower or whatever in public. We never prayed in public as my mom said that it was wrong to do it as a show. We hardly ever prayed as a family at home either, and she was anointed and my dad was an elder. Go figure lol I guess I had parents who didn't act like all the other parents who forced their kids to act a certain way.

Now I am excited to share my faith in public. I actually have a Christian fish on my car and a Cross hanging on my mirror. We do pray in public and we are working on being a praying family. I guess the difference for me now is that I LOVE being a Christian because I love Jesus and finally understand who he truly is and what he truly means to me in my Christian life. I'm no longer embarrassed and actually kinda wanna shout it from the rooftops if I could get away with not being thought of as a nut :)

Ashton

49

Other Than For "Apostasy", Should You Have Been Df'd By Now?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i wonder how many persons there are that had they got caught, would've been disfellowshipped for what they were doing.

by jw standards, should you have been disfellowshipped by now??

?

AshtonCA

Frequent Fader Miles said: "Yep, married a "worldly" man and had sex with him before marriage." ME TOO! But I had to ask them to DF me. They told me that I could keep dating him as long as I stopped having relations with him and they would not DF me. I told them I had no intentions of stopping my relationship with him, and that they probably should go ahead and DF me. I used this poor guy to get out of the org and out of my family. He knew it going into the relationship because I told him I needed help getting out. We didn't plan on getting together, but it did happen. I'm now married to him and have been for 15 years. We are both Born Again Christians and very happy and in love.