Posts by misguided

i now have a 23 month old son, that's very active, i can not begin to imagine what torture it would be for both of us to attend meetings or go out in field service.

i would be expected to keep him still the whole time without toys, snacks, books or any sort of distraction at all, except maybe the my book of bible stories.

misguided

I doubt many even had time to eat before the meeting

Not just the lack of time to eat...a lack of appetite, too. Too worried about the stress of what would happen with the kids at the meeting.

My JW husband left me and moved in with a woman from his work just days before our 5th baby was born. I found myself getting 5 babies (the oldest wasn't even 6 when the 5th was born) to the KH and FS as the sole purpose in my life. It was like once the meeting was over, I was making plans for the next - their clothes, their hair, the meals for before and after, how to get there, etc. Once (or more times) I was sent home from the FS group because NO ONE wanted to work with me!

I was so lonely, I found meetings and FS the only place I'd have any sort of social life - not being allowed to associate with "worldy" people, and the JW's having no time for a single mom with 5 small kids I think I must have been "marked" as bad association - because I was NEVER invited anywhere.

I had a 6th child when my other youngest child was 4. He was/is challenged mentally, and it was harder for me to "control" him at the meetings. With him being harder to handle, the other's took advantage of it and they, too, became harder to handle. The mother's room had a door to the hall itself, so there was really no place to go when your children cried or became unruly where no one would be bothered by the noise except outside (I live in CANADA...It gets COLD!!). I finally just quit going. I was tormented for a while by my lack of attendance, but my children (oldest is now 17 - I've been "out" for about 5 years) now frequently THANK me for having quit taking them to meetings. I'm glad I did, too.

As for me...when I was 2 my parents asked me why I go to meetings...I think they were expecting a "because I love Jehovah", but instead got the answer "to get a spanking." My parents actually found that humourous.

Rose

32

Rambaldi - please help me. My faith is shipwrecked.

by donkey in

jw
friends

rambaldi, .

my faith has been destroyed by these apostates.

as a jw we are fed by the faithful and discreet slave at the appointed time.

misguided

rambaldi

There are numerous sites. Too numerous to post here

Well how 'bout posting just a few?

Maybe ones that are clear, understandable, least complicated?

35

"College, oh no!" PT 1-New guy here

by theundecided2004 in

jw
friends

hello everyone, i have been keeping up with posts on this board for about four years now, been a member for about one year but have never had the courage to make my first post.

so now i'm going to make that first step to get rid of that fear i had of betraying myself, and vent my experiences and frustrations with this faith.

i think this board will be a good way for me to make acquaintances of people with similar feelings that i have regarding the jehovah's witnesses, as well as a good outlet for my frustrations as a jw, and get some advice as to maybe getting a reasonable exit strategy in the near future.

misguided

Welcome theundecided2004. Glad you could finally get up the courage to post. I think most of us understand the apprehension, though, after what we've been programmed to think-feel-hate about these types of places.

Having been sexually abused by a JW friend of the family, I could relate to your comment:

I couldn't say anything to my parents, what would they think of the trouble I caused? I thought, "my father will blame me, whip me!" "I'll ruin the parents' relationship!" I'll smear the older brother's name!" My disposition changed, I grew angry, confused, betrayed by G-D.

While attempting to tell my parents during a dinnertime when I was 16, I couldn't quite find the words to say, and inadvertently said something negative about the elders. My elder father picked up the steak-knife he was using and pointed it at me and said that I was NEVER TO TALK LIKE THAT ABOUT THE BROTHERS AGAIN! I got the message.

I was left feeling hated by God, like I must be a "goat" because he obviously did not care much about me. I've felt worthless, like no matter how much effort I put into trying to be a good jw, it was never good enough. I felt like all my "good works" were in vain because I was never going to make it to paradise anyway, because god just couldn't love me because god knew I had a bad heart. I just wanted to cause problems for the organization. Certainly my trying to talk about it was not because it may have been a legitimate cry for help. I knew I didn't want to cause a problem, I just wanted to be acknowleged, heard, comforted, helped. After years of being "shut up" I even began to think that I imagined the abuse.

It took over 20 years to start to seriously trust my own memories and feelings. What a liberation it was to finally speak openly and truthfully about what happened, feel believed, and NOT judged like it was somehow YOUR fault the abuse happened. I hope you get the same relief from finally speaking.

((((HUGS))))

Rose

54

Homosexuality What the Bible Really Says...

by EvilForce in

to all my very patient friends out there thank for your support here.

over many threads i have argued and posted on what various indivdual versus in the bible say.

to put it all together i decided to create it's own topic thread so it could be referred back to in the future.

misguided

Thank you, EF. I often thought about 2 Samuel 1:26, and what that really meant. I recall asking about Lot's giving his Virgin daughters to the men, and the answer I was given was that the homosexual act was viewed so badly by Jehovah, that Lot would rather have his virgin daughters given to the men. I never could quite grasp the logic in that. Your explanation makes much more sense to me.

Thank you.

Rose

If god is against homosexuality, why are my kids' 2 male guinea pigs frequently looking like they're trying to do it? It's obviously a "natural" thing.

22

Changes in the DANIEL'S PROPHECY book

by observador in

i have been told that a number of changes has been made to the daniel's prophecy book between the first edition (or printing) and the latest edition of it.

the funny thing is that these changes are inconsistent among the media (paper book and editions of the wt lib cd).. so, if you get the daniel's prophecy book you have in your home and compare it to wt lib cd 2004, you will only be able to confirm some of these changes.

case 1: p. 101, line 1:.

misguided

Observador

The Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy book I have is the first printing:

Page 101, Line 1 reads: "in over a thousand years"

Page 151, Picture caption reads: "Bas-relief at Pasargadae, depicting Cyrus"

Page 179, Box, Line 7 reads: "the small horn that came forth from one of the four horns?"

Page 195, Par. 27, Lines 6,7 reads: "That sacrifice annointed, or set apart,"

Page 247, Par. 27, Line 2, reads: "that Britain"

Page 275, Par. 10, Lines 4-6 reads: "However, the Aramaic equivalent of the word here translated "until" appears in the Aramaic text of Daniel 7:25 and there means "during" or "for." Hence,..."

Page 275, Par. 10, Lines 10, 11 reads: "at "the time appointed" by"

Page 310, Par. 9, Lines 10, 11 reads: "(Daniel 9:20-21)"

I don't have any later editions with which to compare these to, though.

Rose

25

Kwintestal in the news (video online)

by Jourles in

.

kwin can be seen here.. the file size is 407kb.

actual footage time is around a minute.

misguided

Wow, Kwin, thank you for your courage in bringing your story to the news!

If only all of us had the ability to bring ourselves to go public as you have. I think you are a pioneer....clearing the roadway for other abuse survivors to follow your lead.

Rose

17

What should I do?

by misguided in

when my youngest son came home from his weekend with his father, i realized it would soon be july, and my ex has a 10-day access period specified for july, and i thought i'd better write it on the calendar.

while doing this, my son tells me he's going to go somewhere with his dad, but he's not allowed to tell me.

i said to him, "hey, bud, you've got to tell me.

misguided

My son is 7, but due to complications during pregnancy, he's only at about a 5 year old level, mentally. There is a "no contact order" in place, as my ex was convicted of threatening us (I think I posted a portion of the sentencing report somewhere here before) so, yes, communication is a problem.

I know if I went to the district assembly myself, with the court order in hand and found them there, the police would apprehend the child right there. It's a serious thing to breach a court order with respect to access. So serious, they don't give such orders very often, only in cases where they think there is a threat to the child.

I just don't know if it's in my child's best interest to make a big deal out of it.

Rose

17

What should I do?

by misguided in

when my youngest son came home from his weekend with his father, i realized it would soon be july, and my ex has a 10-day access period specified for july, and i thought i'd better write it on the calendar.

while doing this, my son tells me he's going to go somewhere with his dad, but he's not allowed to tell me.

i said to him, "hey, bud, you've got to tell me.

misguided

When my youngest son came home from his weekend with his father, I realized it would soon be July, and my ex has a 10-day access period specified for July, and I thought I'd better write it on the calendar.

While doing this, my son tells me he's going to go somewhere with his dad, but he's not allowed to tell me. I said to him, "Hey, bud, you've got to tell me." He says, "okay, we're going to Kamloops." I sort of guessed that since that's where the district assembly is. I didn't make any sort of deal out of what he told me, because I want him to not fear telling me things.

The thing is, the court order states that my ex is not supposed to take my son more than 100 km radius from my home. Kamloops is 150 km from our home. Do you think it's a case of theocratic warfare? What should I do? I don't want to upset my son, either.

Rose