i am jehovah's witness, despite some of the questionable teachings, crimes, and other outlandish behaviors of specific people affiliated with the religion.
i know that my relationship with jehovah is not influenced by any outside factors.
i do not condone any crime.
Oh boy - cyber bullying has resulted in the loss of many lives?!?! The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society through the Jehovah's Witnesses, at the supposed command of Jehovah has caused the loss of many lives through their teachings and beliefs (disfellowshipping & blood issues anyone?)
Please don't come to an ex- JW site posting about how great he is and then act like a victim when no one agrees. I don't need your validation of my beliefs, and you do not need mine.
prologue... .
a brief precursor about myself.
i've been lurking around for almost 2 years.
I had a hard time really feeling anything. Not happy not sad, nothing. The therapist I went to said that sometimes kids brought up in cults have just shut down their emotions because it was all too much for our little minds to deal with.
You're not alone, it looks like quite a few of us have the same experience. It took me a few years to make progress in this area, I have been out 17 years, and I am happy, have passion, and am at peace with life. Don't let your upbringing be what defines your life now.
Good luck and welcome.
a bethelite was telling me that there are 83,000 theocratic facilities world wide.
he compared that to 35,000 mcdonalds and 21,000 starbucks roughly to show the size of the theocratic organization.
i am not sure where the 83,000 comes from what would he be counting?
hearing set in delaware suit against jehovah's witnesses elders' failure to report sex abuse.
the judge is set to hear arguments in a civil lawsuit by the attorney general's claiming that elders of a jehovah's witnesses congregation failed to report an unlawful sexual relationship between a woman and a 14-year-old boy, both of whom were congregation members.. state law requires any person, agency, organization or entity who knows or in good faith suspects that a child is being abused or neglected to call a 24-hour hotline.
the law specifically states that the reporting requirements apply to health care workers and organizations, school employees, social workers, psychologists and law enforcement officials.. but a lawyer for the sussex county congregation is arguing that the elders are protected from the reporting requirements by clergy privilege, similar to the confidentiality of a church confessional.. .
this is something i think about a lot, possibly because i'm just getting older.
it seems that not only should i finally one day decide what i want to do with my life, but i should also be planning for retirement.. hands up everyone who feels their future has been royally screwed by the wts experience?.
if you were a good jw and followed the wts advice you could well be finding yourself facing middle or even old age without much or anything put aside in retirement savings.
When my husband and I were first starting out we sat down at the beginning of every month and wrote down how much our pay checks were and subtracted all the bills we had for the month. That showed how much was left over, we decided how much was for savings, how much for eating out, etc. it really helped us to save some every month and watch our spending.
We still do it albeit more loosely now. Also whenever we got raises we put them in our 401k's instead of getting used to spending them. Now we both are maxing out our retirement accounts. I got a late start in college due to bring a JW, but I was able to pay for a Bachelors degree by working and some scholarships. And I became the coupon queen back in those days :-)
as most of you know i have been shunned by my family for 2 years because of a photo posted on facebook of me kissing another girl at a party.
the matter was not dealt with fairly but it is over now and i am 100% certain that jdub org is a cult.
but i miss my family so much.
You can't change how other people act or what they say. You can only control how you react to their actions. You can never change yourself enough to make someone else happy. Get some help working through your emotions/feelings before you make any decisions.
In JW world whatever you do, it's never enough.
the difficulty of finding a marriage mate is well known for sisters.
but i would say it's hard for brothers also.
i was talking to a jw last night.
i was sitting at the recent circuit assembly that i attended, (the things i do for sis blues) and the baptism talk was under way .
i admit that my mind was more on my imminent packed lunch and flask of coffee but i distinctly heard the speaker make the statement that heads this thread and cite a wt reference.. you what !
i was shocked....... how can they possibly make such an arrogant statement ?
thought she was gonna take a pic of me on the sneak.
im df'd...been df'd for over 19 years already.
so she probably would have gotten away with it without anyone knowing.....except that her flash was on.
warning!
long post ahead!.
i didn't know what to expect but i was really excited to be invited to accompany my daughter and her closest friends to a large (300+) party held at a famous hot spot.
How much fun was that? It sounds like you had a blast. Most people outside the JW world realize no one is perfect and we all have baggage, JW or otherwise. To admit that doesn't make you a victim or weak.
i love my life sans JW, take every opportunity to have fun and be open to new things. It just keeps getting better :-)
