Good for you WAC. And I agree that a lot of JWs are on anti-depression meds, I'd say prob higher than the 25%. But you know, tell ppl they should be the happiest ppl in the world - give them a life with no choices and big surprise, it sucks - then blame them for not being happy...
Posts by Cady
-
20Young witness disfellowshipped for having a mental illness
by What-A-Coincidence inthis is was very hard swallow.
i know of a family who has suffered tremendously when their son (15) came down with a mental illness - he cuts himself, has intended suicide 5 times.
he hard a hard time dealing with so many issues that he at one point told the elders i don't want to have anything to do with the jehovah's.
-
-
-
21
Doubting our own intuition - reality vs. reality
by Cady inwhen someone asks about the jws, i usually find myself talking about disfellowshipping, the blood issue, the child-molestation problem.
but looking back i think, although those are the easily explained and perhaps somewhat sensational bad things about being a jw, they're not the only things that have left their marks.
in fact, only the disfellowshipping issue has personally affected me (although i'm not officially df'd, but of course you don't have to be to lose your friends/family).
-
-
Cady
When someone asks about the JWs, I usually find myself talking about disfellowshipping, the blood issue, the child-molestation problem. But looking back I think, although those are the easily explained and perhaps somewhat sensational bad things about being a JW, they're not the only things that have left their marks. In fact, only the disfellowshipping issue has personally affected me (although I'm not officially df'd, but of course you don't have to be to lose your friends/family).
What gets me even more is that I don't trust myself. We were constantly told "this is reality" when our senses and our intuition clearly said "no it's not." But of course we listed to what we were told, and learned not to listen to ourselves. For instance, being a woman. We were constantly told we were treated equally, despite being a compliment and our husbands/fathers being our heads. And now it's at times hard for me to even tell someone that as a woman I was treated as less-than, even though empirically it's quite obvious that was the case.
And other things about the JWs that's not the sensationalized stuff but are very real - child abuse that isn't sexual. Children in the organization still have nowhere to go, no one to turn to. They've been taught not to trust outsiders, and to keep appearances up in the hall they can't tell anyone there either. You don't want anyone to know your dad did "x" b/c he might lose his position as an elder and then you'd get in trouble. There's no safety for kids.
Then there's trying to figure life out outside of the JWs, trying to figure out the world of dating/college/etc - all the things you're not taught about, and so kind of trip and fall and stumble your way through.
And then I just get so incredibly pi**ed and that anger doesn't seem to do any good, just makes me edgy and irritable. And it's not a common thing anymore - I've been out for four years and I'm hardly on the board anymore, but I find when things get rough I come back here for some warm words and commiseration.
-
587
Show us your picture
by Honesty in.
that is, if you are able to without the prospect of facing a three-man kangaroo court appointed by jerhover to keep the congregation clean from apostate influences.. i'll go first: .
-
-
Cady
It's a really blurry photo, but I like it anyway. Actually, the blurry thing might work in my favor, maybe that's *why* I like it!
-
23
Slender, righteous virgin sought for marriage...
by Cady inhttp://seattle.craigslist.org/m4w/154705055.html
what can i even say?
-
-
Cady
Maybe we should create a perfect mate for him - hey I bet some of us have photos in service clothes, that would be a good start...
-
23
Slender, righteous virgin sought for marriage...
by Cady inhttp://seattle.craigslist.org/m4w/154705055.html
what can i even say?
-
-
Cady
http://seattle.craigslist.org/m4w/154705055.html What can I even say?
-
9
I'm going to an HRI conference in ENGLAND!! :-)
by Cady inmy prof wrote me and invited me to attend this conference: http://ro-man2006.feis.herts.ac.uk/.
i'm in absolute heaven!!
i don't imagine i'll have much free time, but if anyone's close by maybe we could grab a drink?
-
-
Cady
JV - Yeah, but you know the price of admission is working every weekend, and every night, oh and then during the week...oh yeah, you do that anyway. ;-)
I'm doing great Brenda, how are you??
hugs,
c
-
9
I'm going to an HRI conference in ENGLAND!! :-)
by Cady inmy prof wrote me and invited me to attend this conference: http://ro-man2006.feis.herts.ac.uk/.
i'm in absolute heaven!!
i don't imagine i'll have much free time, but if anyone's close by maybe we could grab a drink?
-
-
Cady
Well the conferences is only three days, and then travel time tacked on to either end. It would probably be only an evening that I'd be free. :-(My research is largely based off research done in a lab at the University of Hertfordshire and so my prof is also seeing if he can arrange a tour of that lab for me. I'm actually considering applying for grad school there...I suppose I might end up there for a bit longer than three days eventually! I have lots of concerns about that though. The exchange rate is horriffic, and if I have a sufficiently tough time paying my bills in Seattle I'm not thinking it's going to be easier as a student in the UK. Even a plane ticket over there to get to grad school would be tough. And then there's the fact that I just don't know how anything functions. Of course, it could also be the most incredible adventure!
-
9
I'm going to an HRI conference in ENGLAND!! :-)
by Cady inmy prof wrote me and invited me to attend this conference: http://ro-man2006.feis.herts.ac.uk/.
i'm in absolute heaven!!
i don't imagine i'll have much free time, but if anyone's close by maybe we could grab a drink?
-
-
Cady
My prof wrote me and invited me to attend this conference: http://ro-man2006.feis.herts.ac.uk/
I'm in absolute heaven!! I don't imagine I'll have much free time, but if anyone's close by maybe we could grab a drink?
-
27
JWs and the Judaic influence
by greendawn inthe jws feel like a judaic religion thinly disguised as christianity, they are the organisation of jehovah and not the church of christ, everything is jehovah centred while christ the head of the church is relegated to the margins, virtually all jws refuse to participate in the christian new covenent, their mindset is very works and not grace oriented, they really too heavily on the old testament and as if all that is not bad enough they claim to be the only true christian religion and viciously denigrate christian religions as apostate christendom and babylon.
i can see there a strong jewish influence and not surprisingly since russelll and rutherford, at least early in his presidency, were closely allied with the jews and supported by them.
any comments?
-
-
Cady
Christianity in it's purest form is not a religion. Jesus never came to establish a RELIGION. He came to establish a frame of mind, state of heart. People made religions and started calling them "Christian".
Hmm...religion, way of life, frame of mind...I suppose my point was that I thought we were trying to leave behind the "I've got the answers and they're the right ones" thing. I like this viewpoint a lot: "Lessing's greatness does not merely consist in a theoretical insight that there cannot be one single truth within the human world but in his gladness that it does not exist and that, therefore, the unending discourse among men will never cease solong as there are men at all. A single absolute truth...would have spelled the end of humanity." (p. 27) from "On Humanity in Dark Times, Thoughts about Lessing" - Hannah Arendt But then again, that's now me thinking I'm the one who's got it right that there's not an absolute right. ;-) Cheers, Cady
-
27
JWs and the Judaic influence
by greendawn inthe jws feel like a judaic religion thinly disguised as christianity, they are the organisation of jehovah and not the church of christ, everything is jehovah centred while christ the head of the church is relegated to the margins, virtually all jws refuse to participate in the christian new covenent, their mindset is very works and not grace oriented, they really too heavily on the old testament and as if all that is not bad enough they claim to be the only true christian religion and viciously denigrate christian religions as apostate christendom and babylon.
i can see there a strong jewish influence and not surprisingly since russelll and rutherford, at least early in his presidency, were closely allied with the jews and supported by them.
any comments?
-
-
Cady
The WT claims to be a Christian religion, but ask yourself, how much emphasis is really put on Jesus in their publications and all of their meetings? ;Not much huh? How about the emphasis they put on works? The FDS? Old testament modern day ;applications? Quite a bit right? In fact, this is ;the core of their ideology. ;This is what the WTS is all about folks. It's bastardized Christianity with Masonry at it's core.
This thread really bothers me, and after reading this it finally hit me why. We complain about the JWs saying how they're the only right religion etc., and yet I think this thread has a definite air to it that says *Christianity* is the "right" way of life. I'm not sure that's said in so many words anywhere, but it's the tone I'm getting. I'm figuring most of the ppl on this site (the ones I know at least) are ex-JWs. We spent however many years putting down other religions as JWs; why do we need to keep doing that?
c.