Posts by out of the box

9

Pastor's Meeting

by NoMoreMeetings in

last week i had the opportunity to address 75 pastors about my experience.

as a third generation jw.

i had been an elder until walking away 3 years ago.

Thank you for posting here! I was encouraged by your post! I am so sorry for your loss. I have a friend who lost her nephew from that dreaded killer. It has been 10 years for her. I had a son who was diagnosed with similar symptoms and we had to go through all the tests, we were lucky (if that is the right word) that it turned out to be nothing serious. My friend who's nephew died and I were changed forever when Chris died. We held on to our boys with a vengence to keep them living! I feel for you and your loss!

How wonderful that you are meeting with others so they can learn what the JW brainwashing is all about! What wonderful work you are in! I am moved by that! WOW, that is soooooo wonderful!

Any SUGGESTIONS? Like what is the best way to HELP those in mental anguish here? I know all cases are different and no blanket statement can cover all. I think the general idea here is to LISTEN and be compassionate.

out of the box

20

Exit from the JWs

by KAYTEE in

my exit from the jws, was roughly as follows-

our final letter to the congregation was in the form of a resignation.

we made at least 15 to 20 copies and sent the majority of them to so-called friends, 2 days later we sent the original to the body of elders.

out of the box

Kaytee,

It took courage! CONGRATULATIONS for FINDING your brains!!! That is surely a sign of intelligence and a true awakening!

out of the box

44

Not DA'd, Not DF'd - but pretty much Disowned...

by Ingenuous in

i just came from what will probably be the last conversation i'll ever have with my father.

earlier in the day, i'd talked to my mom and she asked what i was up to - translated "what are you doing with yourself since you aren't going to meetings or out in service?

" i told her i'd been discussing the bible with an informal group of people and reading older wts literature.

out of the box

Ingenuous,

You have ONE GREAT thing going for you, well actually TWO! You KNOW WHY you will be DAd! Most of us were DAd or shunned and didn't know why! Some because they were sick and couldn't come to the meetings, or had to pay bills take care of family, etc. At least you KNOW WHY this is happening to you! And the 2nd is YOU JUST SURPASSED YOUR PARENTS WITH YOUR WISDOM! They hate that! When I passed mine, they hated it and fought like hell, and it had nothing to do with the JWs. So, this is the right of passage anyway for any independent thinker! What did they say about how Jesus was accepted in his own home town? 'Savior of whattttt?' Anyone who thinks differently than his/her parents in ANY household will have to butt heads eventually! YOU are BLESSED with having your own place! That is awesome!

AND IT IS FOR EXAMINING YOUR LIFE! How WONDERFUL! You are saving your soul and finding your way in life! Hooray for you! I read your post and thought it was wonderful. I read in every word how strong of an individual you are and how much love you have for LIFE! Just put down the sword, get some rest, eat some food, and do nothing. Let it all calm down. Avoid the phone if you have to. I shut off my ringer, and check messages during the day, that way I can rest when I NEED IT, not just when there is a 'lull' in the noise.

out of the box

30

Update to my meeting with an elder

by Goldminer in

.

first of all,sorry for being so late with my update.my wife got up at 8 am this morning so i didn't have the opportunity to be alone for a while.. as for the meeting last night,the elder was very civil,actually commended me for writing my questions down.he never made threaths,asked me if i read apostate material or if i still considered myself a jw.. we started with the 607 question.he will not believe any research beyond the wt's but said he'd do more research on it(all wt) so i guess that will go no where.he believes that ctr got it right by using the bible so i told him if it was figured out 130 years ago,it should be very simple to explain today.the only time he looked stunned was when i showed him from the wt that they once believed that jesus' presence began in 1874.he said he had never read that and tried to walk around it even when i asked him if jehovah wanted his people to believe something that wasn't true.. we beat around a few other questions with nothing concrete coming out of it.he did take my list home with him and said he'd look at them more carefully to get some scriptural answers.i also got the feeling that my wife got a spiritual boost from his visit which was very disheartening to me.anyways,i'm going to work on this 607 thing and see how things go.my wife asked me if i felt like we got somewhere and i said no.beibg told that something is the truth just because the wt says so just doesn't convince me anymore.. i'm attaching my questions,hopefully they show up here.thanks everybody,i feel really down,like i'm wasting my time.i've been wanting to run from this religion for years and here i am still fighting to prove my points.. goldminer.

p.s.-question files won't load-sorry.

out of the box

Goldminer,

I hope you don't stay 'down' too long. I don't think that battling the elders is the way to go. They are brainwashed, and that is a dead end. I think that living YOUR LIFE THE WAY YOU WANT TO will be a GREATER WITNESS than trying to 'fight'. RELAX, you can't change the borg, so give up the battle, you'll sleep better.

Encourage your wife to be the BEST SHE CAN BE at HER life and encourage HER to think for herself. It is subtle, but more potent. So, all the reinforcement you give her will be about LIFE... NOT the borg. Like, I think you are a kind person, or you have a good attitude about this or that, you give so generously, you always tell the truth, I admire that. This way you won't lose the "HER" inside. BE REAL and encourage her to be REAL with you, tell her it's for your marriage!

out of the box

25

A letter to a friend - Final one that I sent -

by AK - Jeff in

some time back i posted a first draft, and then a new draft of a letter to a friend that is still in the borg.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/94229/1.ashx .

i found the truth is not true, and that the organization is not what it seemed.

out of the box

AK-Jeff,

I read that letter and I felt that it is really well expressed. The ONLY question I have... IS... Is the Bible you are using a JW published Bible?

Loved the letter!

out of the box

21

They Came at me at work.......

by delilah in

there is a "sister" and her daughter, that come to visit different ones at my place of business.

they usually come about 3 times a month, to read a scripture or a paragraph from a magazine, to a couple of people.

they then say hello to me, and leave after making their wt and awake placements.

out of the box

As I read this, it occured to me... Why not say the word "NO"? It is ashame that we ALL think of the stuff we want to say AFTER someone else catches us off guard!

I practice in front of the mirror and with my husband sometimes what I want to say. Like for example, a co-worker kept 'dropping bombs' on me during the day. They were all similar and always while I was so busy! Stupid stuff to get me mad. So, I told my husband and we practiced a 'quick' response that would shoot back. It works! A great one my husband taught me if something 'strange is said' to get you mad, just laugh! I would NEVER have thought of that! So, the next time this 'snake' came at me to get me going, I laughed and said 'You are so silly'. That got him so pissed, he had to go off and waste his few minutes trying to figure me out and I was back to work and not riled!

A practiced answer for JWs could be "Some other time" with a smile. Or, "Let's make an appointment". Apparantly there is some SICK motive for talking to ANYONE at WORK! That shows all other coworkers what is going on in your PRIVATE life! So, if you take the literature, there is a POSITIVE conclusion you will start being persecuted for being a JW right away! That is WAY TOO MUCH PRESSURE for ANYONE who may really be interested to stay with it, don't you think?

out of the box

30

Demonic exorcism by a JW elder

by out of the box in

we moved into an apartment on the 2nd floor.

we were jws at the time, and the family on the first floor under us was studying.. the girl downstairs started hearing noises during the night and finally hearing steps up to the side of her bed.

she was so scared she hadn't slept in a while and was so tired.

out of the box

Sirona,

That is what makes times like the one I had so strange. It is because when you are IN IT, it feels SO REAL! I mean things outside of your body that you did not touch, or see anyone else touch move! The room gets real cold for everyone. I did not say I was cold, and did not even look at the others (for fear of them turning their heads and vomiting green vomit!). So, when we discussed our experiences afterwards, what others were saying what was I had gone through! I also heard gasps and when I did peak at the others, they were white-faced and wide eyed and very still.

rebel8: I suppose that being in a group where something like that happens can make you respond like the group. But, what excites the group to that level? I mean we were in the basement looking for the books, and we found the books and touched them, nothing happened like that. We were not 'held' in suspense of the horror of it all. Ahhh.... I SEE, it was ONLY AFTER THE PRAYERS and the elder started his EXORSISM that the STUFF started happening. But, there was the part about hearing footsteps, and I DID HEAR those! I DID HEAR the beads rattling in the middle of the night enough to wake me out of a sound sleep. (All around 3 AM I might add).

I don't need to work it out as to what exactly happened. I just know it FELT real AT THE TIME. And if that little alarm ever goes off again, like the hairs on the back of my neck going up, I will avoid that experience whatever it is. Just because!

out of the box

30

How I am dealing with "The Bible says you have to go to all the meetings!!"

by Check_Your_Premises in

here is the basic approach i am going to use.

my wife is a newly dunked dub, and my kids have been hearing the propaganda for about 3 years now.

i figured out it was a cult about 6 months ago.

out of the box

I like what Gill wrote;

So you could ask your kids with your wife present, 'What do you think might happen to you if you didn't go to the meetings and out in service any more?'

by the way, ask your wife too, you are the head of the household, they HAVE to listen to you!

out of the box

28

My wife is thinking of quitting the "truth"!

by Goldminer in

.

last night my wife said she was thinking about quitting the truth.she says she finds it too hard with me having doubts and not wanting to be a jw anymore.she has also been burned by her few jw friends,and the rest are either disfellowshipped or getting divorced.it's really hard to build lasting relationships with such people in the religion.. another positive factor is that she has made 2 good "worldly" friends over the past year.i think she's starting to see that people on the outside can be nice,have morals and accept others as they are.. i hope in time she starts feeling good about this decision and that i can slowly show her the many errors of the wts.so far she agrees with many of the things i've told her but still believes it's the truth.it's a hard battle but i never tought i'd hear her say those words.. btw,she finally called a local elder to see if he can help me with my many questions.he's coming over tonight so it should be quite interesting.i think he'll be a little surprised at some of the direct questions i have;i'm also hoping that after a while he decides there's not much hope for me and just labels me an apostate and starts talking about df'ing me.that would show my wife their attitude towards answering questions that have no scriptural answers.. anyways,i'll do my best to keep you all up-dated.it can be hard to post as my wife diesn't know i come here on a regular basis.. goldminer

out of the box

Goldminor,

Looking forward to reading your update! Just tell the truth, that may cause some back peddling by that elder, oh well.

out of the box

30

Demonic exorcism by a JW elder

by out of the box in

we moved into an apartment on the 2nd floor.

we were jws at the time, and the family on the first floor under us was studying.. the girl downstairs started hearing noises during the night and finally hearing steps up to the side of her bed.

she was so scared she hadn't slept in a while and was so tired.

out of the box

I was skeptical when I read your post. I dunno what it was it first: the ambiguity, the discovery of some books about Satan under some floorboards, the steps coming up the stairs. But the main thing that left me scratching my head is (and please forgive me) erm...what the problem was.

Preston; Your post is interesting. I was a sheltered kid when I went into the JW. I had not been around much if you know what I mean. The problem was... there was something not right about hearing footsteps coming to our bed. There was something not right about rattling beads in the china closet. There was something not right about a cold feeling in the room and feeling like you are being watched from like... 4 inches away with cold eyes. I did not mention that in my story I know. It is stated mater-of-factly now because it is in the past and I have not had an experience like that since.

I do live a what some may call 'a boring life' now. And it SUITS me just fine! I had a lot of 'drama' in my life and I thought the JWs were going to help me to be grounded and stable, like the feeling I had at grandma's farm when I was a kid. That came later in my life when I made piece with the 'demons' inside me (bad memories) and made peace with myself and learned to be still.

I did not get offended by your comment, I think your viewpoint is interesting and it helps me to see a different perspective on my experiences. I welcome it. Thank you out of the box