hi, just a question about something that i have been wondering about for a while.
did anyone else have the feeling that they had to discover who they were when they moved away from the wts?
for the majority of my life i had been identified as one of jw, that was how i saw myself and it impacted on everything and everyone else in my life.
Hello again, and thank you for the words of encouragement. It is a long road, isn't it? But a worthwhile one, I should say. I had to go out today and whilst waiting in a queue I saw a poster which if I remember correctly, had quoted on it
"No matter how much is behind you, or how much is in front of you, it is a small matter compared to what is within".
Actually, I just saw the post "Nice Bit of Skirt on WOL", and realised that we have come a long way since our dub days.
Take Care
Cautious
like many of you i dedicated many years of my life searching for the "true" faith or religion.. after researching and considering religion i came to the conclusion that there is not such.
i decided to worship god in my own temple.
i hope you find yours.. the force be with you all !!!
I wish you all the best sailing Edwkey . Out there on the water, what else do you need?
I also gave up on organised religion - I hate committing to any organisation these days, although I did join the Alumni. Like RHW I have come to be wary of anything that could regiment my life like it was in the Borg.
Thanks for sharing this with us
Cautious
i recently ordered another copy of "in search of christian freedom" as i got rid of my first one (long story) and since it had been a couple of years since i read it, i decided to get another one.. since i live in a fairly small town, i decided to give a fake name, in case someone worked at the book store that might be a jw.
it was saturday morning (a time when all good little jw's should be in field service) so i felt it safe to go pick up my book.
i walk into the store and headed for the counter but was stopped in my tracks by an elder and his family.
Its no wonder you are so paranoid OrangeBlossom, its hard to hide in a small place. When I was in the borg we were living in places small enough to feel the eyes of the critical on you at all times. I remember once, when I was on the edge of leaving the borg, I caught a bus and a few stops later a "sister" jumped on. I was so paranoid about her knowing even the general area of where I was living that I got off the bus before my stop and walked in the opposite direction of my home until the bus was out of site.
I live in a bigger place now - anonymity is a wonderful thing.
Cautious
hi, just a question about something that i have been wondering about for a while.
did anyone else have the feeling that they had to discover who they were when they moved away from the wts?
for the majority of my life i had been identified as one of jw, that was how i saw myself and it impacted on everything and everyone else in my life.
Hi, just a question about something that I have been wondering about for a while. Did anyone else have the feeling that they had to discover who they were when they moved away from the WTS?
For the majority of my life I had been identified as one of JW, that was how I saw myself and it impacted on everything and everyone else in my life. I feel that being female and in subjection I had to suppress who I was in order to "comply" with what was required of a good christian sister. After a lot of pain and many sleepless nights, I came to the conclusion that somewhere inside I was still there, I just had to find out who that was. Still working on that one.
When I left I found it hard even to make decisions, this had all been done for me before. I came home to me how set out for me my life had been before when I was visiting a friend one day. When I was asked if I wanted to go for a coffee or go to a movie, I realised that I didn't even know how to know what I wanted, I was so used to thinking about what would be the "christian" thing to do.
Does this sound really wierd?
Cautious, who doesn't have a clue what "normal" is.
as a ministerial servant in the 1990's, i was sometimes bemused by the differences in the way the message and teachings of jehovah's witnesses were presented in public and private settings.. let me illustrate.. during this period, talks from the public platform seemed to focus a lot on social issues, the environment, health and so on.
our position was stated as "nicely" as possible: "look at all these terrible problems in the world, which are unsolvable because human governments and businesses will never change the system!
how good it is to know that jehovah god will soon fix the problems through his kingdom government!".
I agree with Amazing, the WTS do use a populist approach to draw in more followers. They have a wonderful ability to slide to any point of the political/social spectrum which will gain them more converts at that particular point in time.
If times are troublesome, and war breaks out, they use this to show that the last days are nearing their end. If times get better, peaceful, and good economics, then they tout peace and security as a signal that the last days are nearing their end. The WTS are opportunists al la grande!This was one that always puzzled me during my time in the org. I guess it is just another display of being able to span the spectrum and get the same answer wherever you are.
Just like with politicians, so much of it is just semantics, as far as I can see.
Cautious
a mexican wave.. cheerleaders.. a streaker.. ice cream / hot dog vendors.. people standing up with their fist raised high saying "yes!".
extra time.. presentation of awards.. autographs.. booing.. the audience waving their lighters as night falls.. there must be more!.
englishman.. ..... fanaticism masquerading beneath a cloak of reasoned logic.
Sorry to send the posts back a few paces, but did anyone ever sneak a sit down during those looonnnngg prayers given by brother who only had one change so decide to grandstand?
hi folks,.
the latest awake has the theme:"volunteers-can they make a difference?.
they have a quote from the un(below is a photo-copy)as if to support the un's view of volunteering.. of course they are just trying to protray the jws as good samaritans to the world, when in effect they are trying to get more volunteers to sell mags and recruit more into the cult.. .
Thanks Undecided
Just wondering, if the UN can be used as a positive example does this mean that the big bad monster is no longer quite so bad ?
Thanks Stephanus
the rest has "Here be Draggones" stamped all over it.- maybe THATS why I left, I always did like the stories about dragons.
Cautious
i just need to let everyone know that i need to change my screen name.
if you read my topic on "help!
my son wants to tell elders about me", then you know that i had an email from a board friend inadvertantly get into my family mail box, and was discovered by my jw son while visiting.
Before you get your official name change I would like to say that your present one really struck a cord with me, as did your situation. When I was in your situation, wanting to drift away and still maintain family relationships, there was a song being played on the radio a lot which had the words "loosing my relgion" in it that used to go round in my head. It came back when I saw your name.
I hope you can drift away. I wasn't able to due to a family member going to the elders to try and help me [8>]. But in the end it worked out, because they eventually saw the truth about "the truth" for themselves .
Hang in there LMR/Truman
Cautious
i just need to let everyone know that i need to change my screen name.
if you read my topic on "help!
my son wants to tell elders about me", then you know that i had an email from a board friend inadvertantly get into my family mail box, and was discovered by my jw son while visiting.
Hello LMR/Truman - I was so glad to see a post from you . I had seen your distressing "help" post and I felt for you. I couln't offer any other advise other than what had already been posted. Glad to see that you will still be hanging around!
Take care of yourself
Cautious
i'm just trying out the new password.
i rarely post to chat rooms.
i couldn't log on.
From one newbie to another - welcome Voltaire.
Cautious
