when i found out "ttat" i felt like muhammad ali when joe frazer knocked him down in their first fight in the 15th round.
the ref came over grab my gloves and looked me in the eyes and asked me "are you ok, can you continue" and then gave me the standing 8 count.
no it didn't knock me out but it staggered me.
No Retreat No Surrender and Aunt Fancy,
You are both so lucky to have exited together! It's funny. I wonder how many JW couples live together as active JWs for years, both thinking the same thing and questioning the organization, but neither saying anything to each other. I bet it happens a lot!
Nice to meet both of you!
we are up for a new kind of persecution in the future.
a new form that was unheard of for us.
in australia, disfellowshipped and dissasociated are planning on suing jw for emotional and mental hardship for being cast out completely.
The Witnesses LOVE being persecuted! If they are not being persecuted, they will create their own persecution. It feeds into their paranoia and reinforces their belief that they are the chosen one.
so one of my in-laws, a born in dub, started asking me questions about the issues i am having with the religion.
so i told her, rather carefully, how i discovered all the child pedophile cases, went over some of the case details, explained it is occurring all over the world, so isn't just some random misunderstanding, but is widespread hiding of child sex u all abuse.
she was horrified.
Since you are not baptized, I don't think anything will happen either. Is your in-law baptized? I can see them warning her about her association with you. Like someone already, spreading doubt is one of the biggest no-nos. The good thing that will may happen is the elders will probably not be able to answer her questions, and hopefully that will be a huge red flag for her and help her wake up.
my thread was inspired by gentledawn's insightful comment about the effect the events in wales had on her jw husband.... hope any lurkers out there can filter out the signal (storys and experiences like this) to noise (the current trolls running amok on the forums) ratios.
this the problem with those who focus on outrageous fantasies about the watchtower.
it distracts from the real issues that need to be highlighted.. what happened in wales was for real.
Cofty, thank you for saying what all of us are thinking. At one time in the past, there was a huge problem on this board with people creating multiple accounts, only to cause disruption and havoc. I hope that doesn't happen again.
On a related note, the "clever" Questions from Readers about cats has been around the internet for some time. Since 2003 or earlier. This website credits authorship to someone named Dave Buskirk. http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/jws/jw-humor
The version at JWFiles also credits someone named Dave. http://www.jwfiles.com/wt_ex_jw_corner/cats.htm
A thread on this message board from 2003 doesn't name the author, but gives the website where the fictional story originally appeared. Unfortunately, the website no longer exists, and I can't even find a copy on the wayback machine.
It is hard enough to get past our hang ups from being in the borg without trolls showing up and spouting garbage like I have seen, and trying to impress us with their stature using things written so long ago, whether by them or someone else.
i lurked for 2 years on this site before i joined in july 2013. what a roller coaster ride it has been.. first of all, i was a very active jw for those unfamilar with my story having been a longtime elder(21 years), regular pioneer (14 years), convention & assembly speaker, etc.
i am still an active witness because i am older now, with close to 40 years in the borg with some longtime friends.
boy how i have changed!
The thing is ... Once you see the real truth about the organization, it is hard to see them as anything else but a corrupt, false religion.
Like they sat, you can't unring a bell.
And even though you are still going to meetings, think of how much freedom you now than before. They may still have your time right now, but they don't have your mind.
i have often laughed at public outpourings of emotion.
just google mike schmidt"s retirement speech in which he loses it and blithers on about his career.
completely douche chilling.. but to be honest, i had a moment recently when i literally balled my eyes out.
Okayyy... that's not how I remembered it.....
You're right! Now stop giving me that look! The drama was about Korah and ended with Korah being swallowed up by the Earth, along with a lot of other people. All for disobeying God's "organization".
i have often laughed at public outpourings of emotion.
just google mike schmidt"s retirement speech in which he loses it and blithers on about his career.
completely douche chilling.. but to be honest, i had a moment recently when i literally balled my eyes out.
Blondie ... I love that! You have no idea how many times I have wanted to tell an elder to sit down and shut up!
in playing around on facebook one day i discovered the page of the son of the ministerial servant who comes to my house.
i glanced through his posts and there were many instances of people wishing him a happy birthday and two instances of people wishing him a merry christmas eve.
i thought that last one was particularly strange (why eve?).
I am guessing they are worldly work buddies who do not know he is a JW. If you enter your birthday into Facebook, it sends email reminders when your birthday is getting close. Some of my mom's work friends did the same on her Facebook page. She didn't respond to any of them, which probably appears rather rude.
i have often laughed at public outpourings of emotion.
just google mike schmidt"s retirement speech in which he loses it and blithers on about his career.
completely douche chilling.. but to be honest, i had a moment recently when i literally balled my eyes out.
I had three that I remember.
1. I have not had good experiences with Elders. My dad was one, to begin with, and the rest of the elders in the congregation we grew up in were no better. Fast forward to when I was around 20 or 21. I am sitting in the Kingdom Hall and they announce from the stage that my brother in law had been appointed an elder. I balled like a baby. Everyone there thought they were tears of joy, except my family knew better. I loved my brother in law and I knew it would ruin him. I begged him to not let it harden his heart, or let the power go to his head. He is still a good guy from what I can tell, but since I am not in the borg anymore, I have no idea how he is as an elder.
2. The last district convention I ever attended. The bible drama was about how when Moses went into the mountains, they built a god out of gold and Aaron disobeyed Moses, so the Earth opened up and swallowed Aaron. And just Aaron, we need to listen and obey what God's organization has to say or we will end up like Aaron. I left and cried. I knew I could never go back to any meeting or anything again, and I didn't.
3. When I told my mother I will not be a witness anymore. She told that Jehovah would destroy me and she stopped talking to me. I cried. Really hard. I was in my early 20s, which to me now, seems like a baby. I actually cried for months. I thought the shunning would be forever, but it only 6 months. Since I was never disfellowshipped, I guess she realized she could have something to do with me if she wanted. And she really did! She was hurting herself by trying to give me the silent treatment.
has anyone seen the film called god loves uganda?
i just watched it on netflix, and i highly recommend it!
it's a recent documentary that premiered at the sundance film festival last year.. it shows how the american evangelical right wing christian groups has changed the face of uganda by sending missionaries there, setting up churches, and indoctrinating ugandans with their brand of christianity.
Let me know what you think after you watch it, dazed. There are many parts that remind me of the JWs.
