We should encourage 'Lurkers' to post here
AFIN you are NOT a lurker- YOU are a 'Senior Member'
I am here because I am an ex JW looking for converstion with people who have had similar experiences.
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
i would like to say that any of you that read this board are more than welcomed to be a part of this group.
i know some of you are afraid.
some of you are unsure.
We should encourage 'Lurkers' to post here
AFIN you are NOT a lurker- YOU are a 'Senior Member'
I am here because I am an ex JW looking for converstion with people who have had similar experiences.
WHY ARE YOU HERE?
oldsoul asked me to start a thread to let you know he will be offline for a short time.
he did not know if it would be a few days or a week or so.
he very much regrets this sudden absence considering he has made many friends in a short time and may have left a discussion or two in suspension.
AFIN has probably declared a National Holiday!!!!
Hope to see you back soon Old Soul, and hope all is well with you.
my wife and i have been disassociated for about 2 months now.
every day in our small town we are being shunned by former friends.
one in particular annoyed me today.
Jez, I know EXACTLY how you feel.
There are times I've wanted to 'storm' a KH and shout at the top of my voice!
One thought though is that They want the little JWs who can't think for themselves to shun us. I don't mean to be nasty as I was one of those JWs once!
They want them to shun us, and lead them to believe it's because we are 'bad'.
The REAL reason is that They know we left for a reason. They do not want their 'sheep' to hear these reasons. THEY ARE AFRAID OF US!!!
And rightly so.
Maybe if we all found a way to put our voices together we could be heard?
over the weekend my cousin came to visit from mi, and her husband (elder) started to do his shepperding thing with me (have not attended meetings for over 1 year), and made a compeling argument about how the holy spirit is given by god only if you attend meeting and go to field service...etc, etc.
and the whole "faith and works" issue.
it was a different angle that i have never heard before, about me being a "instrument or tool" of god...blah, blah, blah... anyhow, it got me thinking about going back...especially when things are not going to well for me right now... (he said its because i left jehovah).. how can i convince myself that this is not true?
Ah yes, the old 'you have stopped the flow of the holy spirit' crap. It's such an old card to play- I'm suprised you haven't heard it before.
I will say 'to everyone each their own'. If it makes you happy and you aren't hurting anyone else- do it. If the JW stuff does it for you- then go for it.
BUT my honest opinion means that I would have to say quite strongly
BE STRONG! DON'T GO BACK! GO FORWARDS! FREE YOUR MIND & SPIRIT!
break free
my wife and i have been disassociated for about 2 months now.
every day in our small town we are being shunned by former friends.
one in particular annoyed me today.
Chuckyy- be angry- you should be! It sucks.
Just remember we all used to be like that (your anger will turn to shame!!!)
You won't get to grips with it.
You have to retrain your brain.
"I am a good person. I am a good person. I am a good person"
Be happy that you now have the freedom to speak to who you want, and feel sorry for them that they can only do 'as per instructions'.
You will learn to deal with it by moving on and making new friends, but you won't ever stop being angry when someone snubs you
Hold your head up high & be proud!
hi there i'm new here, my name is fiona i am not yet a jw and have not started to study yet.
i am very interested in doing so but since i am still new to all this i thought i should attend some meetings first.
i am going to my first one today at the kelvin hall in glasgow, i am quite nervous as i do not know what to expect but also excited at the same time since it could be the beginning of a huge change in my life.
I did come here looking for support and guidance and while I have been given that, it all seems to have been negative
Sorry bug, but this site is obviously where a lot of ex JWs who've had some REALLY bad experiences come to try and comfort each other I suppose, so would you rather all the advice you'd had been lies? I don't want to offend you at all, but if you want to know the truth about JWs then stay and read on. If you want JW encouragement I would say (at a guess) that you are probably in the wrong place. You can do as much research as you like, but I (at the risk of AFIN taking a nark) will be honest and advise you to stay well away from the brainwashing controlling cult that is the JW organisation. Unless you never want to have a single free thought of your own of course!
i don't know if this is wt policy, but our hall had a policy of assigning bookstudy groups to clean the hall.
the few times my family actually showed up (along with anyone else) that the hall was always in a disgusting state, especially the bathroom.
the woman's washroom had the most revolting smell you could ever imagine.
However I was in one congregation where the hall was an old church building complete with graveyard. By law the graves could not be removed.
Peppermint- I'm AMAZED by this, I mean really AMAZED. I can hardly believe that the JW's adopted a church which had effectively been used for worshipping 'Satan'. WOW. I can even remember being told that we couldn't attend events being held at a Church Hall, say a jumble sale or something like that- and I now I see this. A-M-A-Z-E-D.
hi there, i know its up to me in the end, but just wondering, what would most of you do?
my da'ing could be tonight, should i take the opportunity (before they can no longer speak to me ) to tell a few jw's that i am being da'd for telling the truth, or not to bother.
does it matter anyway.
Ooooo. Let me know what happens here. I'm gripped!
I will say though 'GO FOR IT'. Speak now or forever hold your peace!!! I didn't have my say- I just left and let Them do what They wanted about it. I do have almost 'psycho' thoughts now & again of storming the KH and yelling at everyone what a pile of crap it all is, so I would advise that you say what you want now to stop you turning into a crazy loon like me.
You will surely feel better for it.
No doubt everyone will think you ARE a loon though for having a mind of your own AND using it!!!
Good luck!
Sarah
.
after leaving, what (excluding the obvious bit of slap and tickle) is your favourite forbidden pleasure.
for me black pudding, full of bloody goodness
Doing what I want, when I want. Listening to what I want. Watching what I want. Thinking what I want. Saying what I want. Sleeping in on Sunday morning. NOT having to veer every converstion with my friends to the bible.
Knowing that 'fanny fiddling' is NOT the Devil having sex with me. Me & my non JW hubby enjoying every position we can possibly think of without feeling guilty because they are 'sins of the flesh'.
Life is gooooood. Thsnks for making me think about that!!!
i am always looking for "nice" things to say to my witness family.
things that would at least make them try to think outside of their box.
here are my some of my favorites.. right now my top favorite is "tell me truly, honestly, the god of this universe, almighty in power, lord and master of all, all knowing, eternal, god of gods, (yes, hammer that point), has picked the jehovah's witnesses, out of all people, and out of all religions, worldwide, to represent him and his wishes, even though, the jehovah's witnesses have been wrong in the past, now, right now, if any person on this earth, any person on this earth, does not pay attention to the jehovah's witnesses, he or she will forever be destroyed at armeggedon?
cab1000:- do you agree with those stories about ants & the ambulance?
They worry me. We are supposed to be Gods children- not ants. I would not save an ant from flooding, but I sure as hell would save my kids, infact I wouldn't even see my kids getting wet in the rain without trying to protect them. And I certainly wouldn't wana watch one of them bleed to death to prove I was right about a subject!!! Where's the love here?
As for things to discuss with JW friends- I should be so lucky! (or not!) non of my JW friends speak to me, and my folks rarely do. If I were to speak against their beleifs that would, in their eyes make me an apostate, so they would have to stop the conversation anyway!
The odd time I have had the oppurtunity to say what I have wanted has been liberating. One thing in particular was when my JW mum said it made her sick to her stomach that I celebrated Christmas. 'Why' I asked. 'Because it's pagan' she replied. I then asked her if the JWs have weddings in the KH with white dresses, veils and wedding rings. Of course they do, which she admitted. I pointed out to her that all of those things are pagan, yet the JWs practise that in their place of worship, so how the hell can they judge me for doing something in my own home?!!! Her answer was that the JWs aren't perfect- no mom, neither am I. News Flash!!!