Posts by jwfacts

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.

jwfacts

Welcome, it was a pleasure to read your story.

We debated for a a couple of hours with no change in opinion. Since then I haven't had an actual discussion with him but he always gives me the old smile, ...

I've been waiting since then but he's always been giving talks away or busy.

That is very revealing. JWs will spend hours going door to door trying to find a new recruit, but are too busy to devote time to help one of their own. Maybe they realise that you know too much about both sides of the story, and so will affect their faith more than they can help yours.

1

Interview with a faded attendee: Jamie Clark

by jamclark in

tell us a little about yourself and your family.. i was raised as a baptist in oregon.

after my encounter with jws (in 1994) i have been with my mother to charismatic churches but also studied with the mormons (a few months) and a bit of exposure with the seventh day adventists.

i'm currently in the u.k. and working through immigration to stay and work here.. were you a born in or a convert?.

jwfacts

Thanks, it is interesting that the trigger for you was regarding the pronunciation of God's name. There are so many different triggers to get a person to first start thinking that things may not be right.

33

"Worldly" Friends vs "True" Friends

by DuvanMuvan in

jw
friends

hey guys i am new to the whole forum thing (long time reader, first time postererer) and i wanted to get some other opinions on something that has bothered me ever since i first became a jehovah's witness.. i was always taught at the kingdom hall that friends inside the orginisation were the only ones i could count on and that the ones out of it (mainly at school) were just being controlled by satan to trick me into leaving the religion.. however, i always found it to be the opposite.

my "worldly"friends were all accepting of my religion (back when i was ok with being a jw) and are the only ones i have really opened up to about wanting to leave.

the only things i have in common with the other teenagers in my hall (3 boys, 3 girls) are that we've all been raised in the truth and... well that's it.. i was just wondering if anyone else found the same thing when they were a teenaged jw or if anyone still in my age finds the same thing..

jwfacts

Interesting comment. My worldly friends never discussed religion with me, nor tried to get me to leave. I did not associate with them much, but when I did, they never tried to force me to get drunk, have sex or smoke. On the other hand, I did most of those sorts of things with my JW friends.

When I had a recent school reunion, my school friends were all very interested that I had finally left that crazy religion.

12

Should Government Dictate To Religious Organizations What They Must Do If It Violates The Beliefs Of The Religion?

by minimus in

jw
friends

if the catholic church doesn't want to support abortions in any way, i don't think she should be penalized by the government.. your thoughts?

?.

jwfacts

IMO, Religion should be free to make illegal, things that the government say are legal, but is should not be allowed to make legal what the government says is illegal.

For example, with abortion or gay marriage, the government may allow it, but a religion has to right to prevent it amongst its members. However, with something illegal, such as murder, freedom of religion should not be used to allow it. This is how the system generally operates.

The grey area, which affects JWs, is when it is hard to determine exactly what the legal situation is. Should the Watchtower be allowed to prevent a blood transfusion, and does that constitute manslaughter? Should the Watchtower be able to enforce shunning, and does that break the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 12 which states:

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation.”

50

How many in the cong visited you when you started fading

by joe134cd in

i'm just curious speaking from a person who has stopped going to meetings.

i have heard reports from inactive ones (or from ones who the elders suspect of going to the dark side) of having so many visits from elders (cong members) that it got to the point of harassment.

surprisingly i have to say from personal experience and from numerous others that i have spoken to that the exact opposite has been the case.

jwfacts

We used to be the social hub of our congregation. As the only young ones with a house, we even had weddings in our back yard. When we started missing meetings, we were instantly dropped, with hardly a single social visitor or elder visit. The first thing that got the elders to start harrassing me was there were told I went to the engagement party of a disfellowshipped person.

25

Disassociation

by evilone in

jw
friends

hi all, i haven't posted here in quite some time.. just as an update, about two years ago, my wife and i moved to a big city about 500 miles away from the town in which we grew up.

we made this move in part to expedite the fading process, which was successful.

when we moved, as i described in an earlier post, we formally transferred from our home cong (where our families are) to a local cong in our new city, and then transferred twice more so as to get lost in the shuffle.

jwfacts

If you disassociate, they are likely to try to find your original congregation and make the announcement there too. It sounds like you have a lot more to lose than to gain from disassociating.

15

Tainted Love: Your JW wedding

by Julia Orwell in

mine was actually great because my non-jw parents decided to pay for the reception, limo, cake, dress, honeymoon, and more.

i can thank my non-jw parents for what a totally fun day it was.. but, half or more of the guests were jws, jws who don't speak to me anymore.

some have even slandered and abused me.

jwfacts

Interesting post. I will have to go back and look at my wedding photos from 16 years ago. I'm pretty sure they were all JW's, and most of them are still in and not talking to me.

23

Is there a pedophile epidemic ?

by Snoozy in

after reading another thread on pedophiles i was wondering if there is a pedophile epidemic or is it just that we now have more access to the information?

it seems like everywhere you read there are more and more cases being reported.

are we becoming a nation with no morals at all?

jwfacts

Quite the opposite. Child Abuse has been common throughout history, and it is only over the last few decades that this is understood to be damaging and unacceptable. That is why it is now being reported and seems to be out of control.

17

Did JWN Discredit "JehovahIsJudgeUk" website?

by RottenRiley in

they use poor reasoning, they wiggle around the question and ignore the fact the watchtower was affiliated with the united nations.

this website fails to ignore the facts that we were not allowed to join the ymca even though we did not follow the charter rules, the watchtower agreed to follow the un charter and did so from 1992 to 2001 when the scandal was exposed.. .

have any of you seen works to debunk their slanted arguments and dishonest play of words?.

jwfacts

Jehovahs judgment Expose

30

It's official too: I will be DF'd... probably next Wednesday

by ILoveTTATT in

jw
friends

i will write my story soon... .

jwfacts

It is a sad time, because of losing family and friends, so expect to feel down, and don't be afraid to ask for support if you need it. But as everyone has said, you have made a huge step forward for the rest of your life, and you will be proud of what you have achieved in years to come.