Posts by JWdaughter

26

Seeds of Doubt.

by donny in

seeds of doubt.

what was it about the jw religion that first gave you serious doubts as to its truthiness?.

for me it occurred in late 1984 when we were studying the brochure the divine name that will endure forever which had been released at the summer convention that year.

JWdaughter

One thing that made it easier was the full collection of "Studies in the Scriptures" that my mom then had possession of.

The next thing was an elder who freely explained to us what happened in 1975 (and the years before for him, personally). He did not criticize, but he did not whitewash. He just spoke his truth.

Soon after, the youth meetings (where he told us that) ended and then soon, he was no longer elder and last I knew he moved out of the area he had lived all my life (he had been an elder as long as I was alive til then.)

None of those were "it", but they were all straws on the camel's back. I lost that conviction of my childhood upbringing of "knowing"it is the "truth". I then questioned EVERYTHING.

19

Will the jw's get all excited about Russia in the Ukraine?

by hoser in

jw
friends

usually when world events like this take place the dubs start into how the end must be so close they can almost taste it.

maybe there will be some speculation about the king of the north and south again.

.

JWdaughter

"bug out bag" "to go bag"? Like emergency preparedness kits for cult members who are too poor to make fallout shelters?

19

Appointed men & the 10 hour rule

by PlatinumFix in

dear all,.

could someone explain where it is written that mservants should be doing the congregation average/10 hours minimum?.

platinumfix.

JWdaughter

REmind me again why anyone would WANT to be a MS?

1

Make You Feel Good Story from Old Readers Digest "Did God Ride the Brooklyn Subway that Afternoon?"

by RottenRiley in

jw
friends

we need a good story either from the past or present to fight off the nasties of life and this cult!.

"marcel sternberger was a creature of habit.

he used to take the 9:09 long island railroad to woodside every morning.

JWdaughter

Thats a nice story. The guys in it are real too, so it might even be true:) They aren't just a "Middle aged immigrant, living in NYC. . . " (which is a generic enough expression to be anyone or NO BODY AT ALL as in most WT stories.

41

JW parents are CRAZY

by Demokan in

hello again, for those who don't know me i'm a 15 year old boy.

and recently my mom is displaying symptoms of demensia, she left the stove on today and she yells at us for watching commercials on t.v that are "demonic" because today there was a commercial on television for the new 300 movie and she started yelling at my sister to turn it off, and then i was listening to coldplay as a playlist while doing my school work and she started yelling at me to turn the demonic music off.

she says "demonic" this "demonic" that.

JWdaughter

Hi, take some deep breaths. My mom went through the change when I was about your age. . . I think moms, teenagers and menopause are a brutal combination-add conflicts about a crazy religion and you are definitely challenged.

Remember: This too shall pass. You can deal with social services and evaluate for yourself ifyou are better off with them or your family. Abuse is not a preference, but I dont know what your options are. You need to get some help with managing yourself and your emotions because clearly,the cult adherents don't think they have any problem at all. You will be of age soon-not sure where you are, but 18 is pretty universal escape age. Find a couple of trustworthy adults from school or the ocmmunity and let them help you find resources and give you a safe place to vent before you explode in anger. There is a lot of angry energy flowing in your house and you need to not let it infect your whole being.

I was 15 when I left. I am not without experience in all this. I live in Houston if you want, PM me.

31

What is / was the first thing(s) you looked forward to doing once you were out for good?

by SecretHeart11 in

jw
friends

one of the things that keeps me going is thinking about the things my family and i will be able to do once we are all out, together, and free at last.

(and we will be out together, i'm staying positive!).

i soooo look forward to christmas.

JWdaughter

I still don't "celebrate" Christmas as a religious holiday, but I DO enjoy it now. I enjoy cranberry bliss bars at Starbucks, enjoy the carols, enjoy the seasonal stuff. If given gifts, I am grateful(no speech given about why I don't accept it on the "day" or at all. If invited to cookie exchanges or other gatherings I will go-and I am not a wet blanket on the whole enterprise. I will eat christmas candy BEFORE it goes on discount when the day is over. I will say Merry christmas and thank others who offer it to me, and when Starbucks takes down the Christmas decorations and I am told "Its probably the last red cup for the season" I'm sad.

So, I enjoy Christmas without putting up the tree and all-but I sure do enjoy everyone elses trees and lights and I'm nice to carolers (no WT handed out). I actually DO give gifts whenever I want to. It almost sounds JW-y, but my heart has changed so much towards other people that it isn't even recognizable as any part of my WT experience. What changed is my heart. I took all the self righteousness OUT of my not celebrating and in fact, I guess I am celebrating good feelings, good attitudes, good food and happy hearts. Which is probably that christmas spirit that I hear about:)

24

Thirty Years a Watch Tower Slave

by Londo111 in

i just finished reading this and enjoyed it.

however, if i was newly awakening or on the verge of awakening, i dont think this book would have helped me a great deal.

brother schnell has some good thoughts, however, he is short on detail and description, and even shorter on proof and documentation.. it is interesting reading about the transition of the bible students from a small group of independent noncomformists into an organization characterized by total conformity.

JWdaughter

That was one of the earliest ones that I read. I remember sneaking peeks at it in the public library after I left the org. I couldn't check it out, living with my mom at the time.

Back then, there wasn't much to read. I'm actually glad that I pretty much got disenchanted with the org. on my own. I left around the time that Franz did and read his book years later.

It was a great and ironic title, though!

To those who wondered at the time why it took him so long. . . life humbles us as we see ourselves caught up in things we don't want to be-but yet have o idea how to extricate ourselves from it (gracefully, anyhow!). We build out own traps.

15

Ran into an old JW friend at a club and....

by nolongerconfused in

jw
friends

it's been 1 year since my fade and exit from wts land... i wsa at a club last night and ran into an old female jw friend... has been at least 2 years since i last saw her...said hi to her from far away, but she ignored me awkwardly...then she comes up to me, and tells me she's been df'd... i was like no worries, i left the borg and i'm so much happier now.

i told her i won't judge her...she smiled and told me she's gonna try the life outside jw land.

a couple of drinks later, we started dancing...one thing led to another, and i took her to my apartment and had the most amazing sex.. .

JWdaughter

Just to clarify, in an earlier post today or yesterday I mentioned that I would like to meet other ex JWs for lunch. . . . when I said my treat, it really is just for lunch. Ok? No dessert.

46

Life for me as a jw (not really) teenager

by DuvanMuvan in

hey i joined this thread recently and thought this was a good way to introduce myself.

i am 15, still going to school and i live in the uk.

a good chunk of my mum's side of the family are jws.

JWdaughter

Your mom can share the room with someone in the congregation that needs a roomie. Don't go to that waste of your youth conference, please!!! Your mom can also go alone and it won't kill her. She's an adult. Maybe some time alone is something that would be spiritually beneficial to her, anyway!

46

Life for me as a jw (not really) teenager

by DuvanMuvan in

hey i joined this thread recently and thought this was a good way to introduce myself.

i am 15, still going to school and i live in the uk.

a good chunk of my mum's side of the family are jws.

JWdaughter

Where's your dad in this? Appeal to him and tell him the truth. You can't do it anymore, not even to make mom happy. He needs to put a stop to your going to the meetings. I wish I had just stopped going, rather than thinking I was going to reason with anyone about it. Stop now. It won't work and it will just make you the enemy.

Been there, done that. I was stupid. Not for leaving but the way I left. Don't burn your bridges. You are not baptised or even a UBP. Just tell your mom that at this time, there is no way that you consider yourself a JW. You don't want to leave with burned bridges or ruin her reputation by being DA'd or anything. You just dont want to go to meetings anymore. If you ever want to do so again or have a change of heart, she will be the first to know, but now-you want to maintain cordial relationships with your whole family and old congregation, even if you don't believe all that they do. Unless she makes a big drama about it, no one else will. And your dad can step in anytime they start trying to grill you or shepherd you (really, that is what a shepherd does for dinner, right? Grill?)