Posts by LongHairGal

19

Lingering doubts and internal debates

by Huxley1979 in

jw
friends

hello, i am in the beginning stages of a slow fade.

over the years i have become more and more dissatisfied with the beliefs, teachings, and organizational practices of the organization.

i no longer have faith in it.

LongHairGal

HUXLEY1979:

I am a twenty-year ‘Fader’.

When 9/11 happened, many inactive Witnesses went running back to the meetings. Not me though. I was in the early stages of ‘fading’ and just starting to feel somewhat normal like I felt before I made the mistake of getting involved with the JW religion. No way was I going back to that mental abuse.

Here we are now twenty years later in a world filled with different crises. I don’t feel compelled in the slightest to be around the Witnesses. You’re going to have to do a lot of research and learning about this religion so that you are not gripped with fear.

25

Tips for a Slow Fade

by Huxley1979 in

jw
friends

i'm a born and raised witness.

i was an elder for almost 20 years.

almost the same in fulltime service.

LongHairGal

HUXLEY1979:

Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of good advice and you can pick and choose what works for you.

Every ‘Fader’s’ circumstances are different. The difficulties for each person depend on how entangled in the Witness religion they are AND if they have family in the religion.

Somebody such as myself who had no family there, no business entanglements and who was a working woman on the fringes of the congregation - had an easier Fade than somebody with family there, etc.

The end result after so many years is that I am ‘shunned’ (no loss to me). This is the same result other Faders will get. The difference is that I had No confrontation or drama - which is how I wanted it.

One thing I will say: it is important for you to carefully make some contacts/friends outside the religion beforehand, through job or whatever.

17

Thunderous Applause Around The Stadium

by Number 6 in

growing up in the 70's and 80's in the jw religion who remembers the massive stadium gigs the watchtower used to hold?.

we used to denounce false religion in the starkest of terms.

we were right and by god we were letting anyone who listened know it.

LongHairGal

SEA BREEZE:

I agree with everybody’s comments but you are correct that the WT is utter ‘mind rape’. Very apt description.

I wasn’t born-in so I guess certain teachings weren’t so deeply rooted as others. I was able to shed the ‘paradise earth’ hope from my mind with not much trouble. Maybe I never entirely swallowed the whole thing. But getting rid of this carrot & stick belief was necessary when I started my ‘Fade’... I felt it was a cruel trick on my brain.

My general experience in the JW religion still did a number on my head that had lingering effects for years. Being treated like a typhoid Mary as a working single woman was appalling and what the hell did I need with that? I was probably held out as ‘you don’t want to be like her’!

But, I’m SO grateful that I stuck to my guns because I would not be Retired today if I had really listened to these Users.

39

J. W's Are Afraid of Old Literature

by IWant2Leave in

i'm reading babylon the great has fallen, god's kingdom rules, published 1963. this was studied years ago when i was about 10-12 years old.

i wanted to just read some of the beliefs from decades ago.

my wife wants to know why i'm reading this book.

LongHairGal

1234 & TRUTHBKNOWN:

Yes.

And how can anybody possibly believe the JW religion is ‘truth’ when somebody can be criticized or disfellowshipped for reading this religion’s old literature?

40

Gorby's question about current US situation

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

from the peacefull netherlands i have a question about the current situation in the us.. is a civil war possible?.

g..

LongHairGal

SIMON:

I have to agree with you that IS what they are trying to do in this chaos and rioting: attempting to spread blame to people who are Not involved and to diminish responsibility to those who should bear SOLE accountability for what is happening.

All the destruction of property, businesses (even black owned) is totally senseless and the same pattern of what happens time and again in the country! I’m sure many businesses destroyed might not open again in those areas!!

In my region, Target and Walmart stores are closed and boarded up because they fear the possibility of looting and destruction, etc. This is particularly bad because these essential stores are the few stores open in this pandemic.

33

2020 Convention streamed

by Rattigan350 in

2020 convention of jehovah’s witnesses.

we warmly invite you to watch this year’s three-day convention presented by jehovah’s witnesses.

as a result of the novel coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic, this year’s convention program is being presented online at jw.org.

LongHairGal

RATTIGAN350:

..All while sitting in your own home dressed up...you will still be exhausted like you were sitting in a stadium but you just haven’t traveled anywhere.

PHIZZY:

I think they are itching to sell off more kingdom hall$... So, some people may want this set-up to continue.

PETE ZAHUT:

Seeing friends and meeting people was the ONLY good thing about the ASSemblies. Oh, and the occasional release of a publication back in the day. Can’t believe we used to get all excited over this.

Those days are over.

40

Resurrection, Reconstruction? What is it? It never made sense to me. Your opinion.

by Wasanelder Once in

i never had much faith in whatever resurrection was.

what appealed to me about jw doctrines was the rejection of the "it's a mystery" defense of the indefensible.

when i would ask how going into non existence could be reversed when all the atomic parts of who we are had been scattered for thousands of years, the answer was "jehovah can do anything".

LongHairGal

WASANELDERONCE:

I never quite accepted the JW religion’s paradise earth and resurrection teaching.

I didn’t really think much about it. But, when I ‘faded’ from the religion I made sure I purged this from my mind and made peace with the idea of death.

In order for the resurrection to be literally true, the creator would have to store BILLIONS of people’s thoughts and memories. (They also couldn’t possibly be conscious because then they would remember this - unless their consciousness is put into a hibernation state.). Then at some later date, a body of some sort that apparently would resemble the person..would have these memories put into it. Sounds so science fiction but who am I to say that some creator could not do this..But, WOULD they?

There is also the scripture “the dead are conscious of nothing at all, etc..” According to this scripture it all dissipates. Then how is it in Jehovah’s memory? To me this scripture contradicts any idea of resurrection because it HAS to be that person so it would have to be preserved somehow.

There are some people who want to cling to this resurrection teaching and who am I to stop them?

44

Do You Think We Will Ever Get Back To “Normal”?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i hope that within the next several months we will get back to some type of normalcy.

will restaurants ever get filled again?

will you ever be able to sit at a bar or go to a concert or broadway show?.

LongHairGal

MINIMUS:

Maybe in time? But, it might be a new normal with masks under some circumstances!

WIZARD:

It also worries me about supply disruptions. This is not out of the question and this pandemic has certainly taught ME that I should have as much stocked up as possible! I was always in agreement with this - and this pandemic just proved that I was right.

The days are over for daydreaming people thinking they can have an almost empty fridge, etc. and imagine they can just hop in their car to the nearest supermarket and ASSume the shelves will be stocked!

36

Watchtower August 2020 Are they introducing new light?

by Listener in

the latest watchtower is now out and they make this statement -.

7 during the thousand year rule of christ, all of jehovah’s earthly children will have to make changes to please him.

so all of them will have true fellow feeling as they help the resurrected ones to combat sinful tendencies and to live by jehovah’s standards.

LongHairGal

BIAHI:

I’m sorry that as a little kid you felt this! A child shouldn’t be burdened with feelings of unworthiness...As a Catholic I certainly wasn’t. There was the confessional and something known as ‘grace’.

In the Witness religion you are climbing a greased pole hoping to be ‘righteous’. 🙄But, they always rub it in that you are not.

They can’t have people believing they are ‘saved’ or have ‘grace’...If JWs had this they wouldn’t knock themselves out attending meetings or getting hours of public ministry in! The religion wouldn’t like that.

30

I had a somewhat paranormal experience 2 days ago, but I think science is just light years behind on this.....

by Bad_Wolf in

for the record i'm agnostic, never seen any direct evidence of spirits, afterlife, etc.

i've been visiting my mother during this corona ordeal.

a year ago i had a dream i was much older and talking to somebody about how my mom died this year but it was avoidable.

LongHairGal

PHOENIXRISING:

I do believe in the paranormal and had a frightening experience when I was in gradeschool.

But, I can understand other people’s skepticism if they never did.