Posts by forsharry

31

Any one else deal with this?

by Momofmany in

i was talking with my older two boys.

they were really glad we stopped going to the kh and being practicing jw.

they went on and told me about things they thought.

forsharry

Thanks Sheepish!

We've gotta get you a totally gnarly pic, too.

Part of me is relieved to see all of these posts. It justifies all that I went through. We are not alone. :) And we're not crazy either.

...well...maybe.

21

What's the upcoming special assembly all about?

by M.J. in

just wondering.

i'm going to attend and was wondering what to read up on ahead of time.

forsharry

Wait til they get aload of my service bag!!! Think "sassy"!

ROFL! CYP

Just got a really strange visual image and proceed to spew hot tea all over my keyboard and work. Oh man did I need that. Go for the pink boa instead of the black...nothing says 'sassy' like the outer covering of a winged animal.

42

Boing Boing: Awesomely weird Jehovah's Witness art

by DannyHaszard in

new high ranking on web index well done page goodie graphics and cute commentary,they did quotes lawsuit 2 weeks ago.

click the link in link sub page when you get in.

boing boing: awesomely weird jehovah's witness art

forsharry

The explanation of friskie did it for me. This "new light" will help explain why cats will be destroyed at armageddon along with all the worldy people.

http://dbhome.dk/carlo/cat.htm

23

Just sayin Howdy

by forsharry in

i saw that other people had done this and i figured it would be a good way to introduce myself.

i've been reading many of the threads and let me tell you that it's comforting to read that others feel the same way i have felt about being in the organization.

i'm not sure how much i can contribute as far as delectible tidbits of information, but i have replied to a couple of threads to, if nothing else, interject some 'humor' into things.

forsharry

Sass-my-frass (giggles) I love that handle btw!

I have contact with my parents. We are all scattered to the four winds now, but somehow I feel closer to them now because I can truly talk to them with just about anything without fear of retribution. :)

My mother's out, but still feels that the JW religion is the one true religion. She refuses to entertain the thought of even entering another church. We don't talk religion much because of such a gulf in ideologies...but she will agree that bringing myself and my younger brother up in the "truth" was the worst thing she could have done as a parent. So part of me thinks that she is just too afraid to outwardly say anything against the organization but deep within her heart she's already left the dogma of the organization behind and has kept the biblical knowledge.

My dad? Who knows. :) I think he joined because my mother was so gung ho about the witnesses...sorta just to go along with the flow. We don't talk much 'shop.'

Both are remarried to ::GASP:: Worldly people! Both seem very content with their lives. Both are good people and love my brother and I very much and are proud no matter what we do as long as we're happy. Where was this when I was a kid, eh? ::chuckles::

31

Any one else deal with this?

by Momofmany in

i was talking with my older two boys.

they were really glad we stopped going to the kh and being practicing jw.

they went on and told me about things they thought.

forsharry

I remember praying till tears streamed down my face for some of the worldly kids I wanted desperately to be friends with cause they were ::GASP:: actually nice people, to convert to being a jw so I wouldn't be so lonely...and then once I realized that to continue doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result was insanity I tried killing myself because I just didn't want to have to deal with A) being so lonely through life because the kids that were jws that i was ALLOWED to be friends with I wouldn't have poked with a flaming ten foot pole they were so evil and B) I reasoned that since death covered our sins that maybe Jehovah would overlook the fact that I committed suicide so that I could live in paradise on Earth. Now also bear in mind...this started popping into my head when I was in my early teens...we're talking 7th grade of school! What is wrong with this?! I tried to commit suicide for the first time when I was 13 years old. WTF?!

::reads above:: wow. that was messed up. and I'm sure some of you out there do understand what I'm saying with that. I haven't typed any of this for the poor me thing. This was what I thought, where my logic had gone while under jw control. Sincerely desperate thinking of a person who was terribly emotionally deprived.

23

Just sayin Howdy

by forsharry in

i saw that other people had done this and i figured it would be a good way to introduce myself.

i've been reading many of the threads and let me tell you that it's comforting to read that others feel the same way i have felt about being in the organization.

i'm not sure how much i can contribute as far as delectible tidbits of information, but i have replied to a couple of threads to, if nothing else, interject some 'humor' into things.

forsharry

Thanks bunches! Appreciate muchos the warm welcomes!

23

Just sayin Howdy

by forsharry in

i saw that other people had done this and i figured it would be a good way to introduce myself.

i've been reading many of the threads and let me tell you that it's comforting to read that others feel the same way i have felt about being in the organization.

i'm not sure how much i can contribute as far as delectible tidbits of information, but i have replied to a couple of threads to, if nothing else, interject some 'humor' into things.

forsharry

I saw that other people had done this and I figured it would be a good way to introduce myself. I've been reading many of the threads and let me tell you that it's comforting to read that others feel the same way I have felt about being in the organization. I'm not sure how much I can contribute as far as delectible tidbits of information, but I have replied to a couple of threads to, if nothing else, interject some 'humor' into things.

So, here we go...I'm currently in therapy for severe depression. I'm sure many of you know this tale. Raised as a witness, daughter of a Ministerial Servant and Regular Pioneer, baptised at 11, auxilliary pioneering by 13, doing everything 'right.' It was a life of silent misery...you know how clannish and exclusive jw's can be...somehow I never could fit in...I was very much the social outsider. But I plodded along...why? Cause I was an obedient child, honoring my parents by following their lead, when deep down inside I wished that I could be killed so that my 'personal' suffering would end and hopefully I would be ressurected into paradise...and if not...then I would be dead, and at least not having to worry about burning in hell was a comfort, eh?

It was a big hub-bub...my father ended up being disfellowshipped for not quitting his job because the new CO didn't want him working for a shipyard that took on Navy contracts. I'm pretty much giving bare bones here, because i'm sure you've heard this all before just packaged a little bit differently. Others, in the same congregation that worked at the same job weren't disfellowshipped though. Interesting, no? My mother questioned and pleaded and they treated her abismally, so badly that she disassociated herself because she couldn't be civil to those who dfed such an 'evil' man. So here I was...17. Still going to the meetings...trying to beat down the bitterness that welled inside of me when I saw what they had done to my family, but I still went to the meetings, still auxed. Why? I'm guessing cause I was terrified. What would I have done outside of the organization?! I had no friends, I was terrified of men, especially worldly men cause all they wanted from women was sex. (ha-ha) Spiritually? I might have been 'strong' in the organization's eyes. I went to the meetings, went through the motions, appeared stead-fast even though i was surrounded by wickedness (my parents.) Mentally? I was falling apart. My parents eventually divorced (I think religion was the one final thread that held them together so long...after that they truly drifted apart.)

I thought that the congregation would help me through my rough time cause isn't that what our brotherhood should do? Raise each other up? Ha-ha. I was told that this was testing from Jehovah and I just had to endure and eventually I would be made stronger for this. Well, something in me snapped. I started to question this logic...and with that started to question everything else from soup to nutz. I talked with one man who was a ministerial servant, and had stumbled in the past with doubt and we had been associates through school...I thought he would be a good person to sound off too and maybe he could help me find strength again. Well I told him my doubts and questions and he listened intently, answered what he could and all in all made me feel like things were going to get better. I felt as I believe a penatent feels when they confess their sins...a weight had been lifted...only to be slammed down on me so fast I didn't even see where it came from. Oh nice ministerial servant told the elders...and I was tried and convicted, told I was dabbling in apostacy and was on thin ice for being disfellowshipped myself. I had lost what little spiritual strength I had left to endure in that verdict.

I left. I had been judged by god unworthy aparently. I don't want this to be a sob story. It is what it is. It has taken a lot of strength both inner and through help of outside people to rebuild my pillar of beliefs. It has taken me through mental illness, aneorexia and bulimia up to the point of self-termination for me to realize that my self-worth should be determined by myself and not what others perceive of me. And I'm trying to come back to a point of faith and belief, this time decided by myself and not others, and I have surrounded myself with people that love me for me, not because I'm part of an ultra-secret fan club or I know the password, but because they honestly like me and treat me as they would like me to treat them. I have found 'brotherly' love from those whom the jw's condemed as the evil W word.

Wow, this is long! So sorry about my long-windedness. Anyway, I think this is a good part of the healing process, to discuss and to listen and to enjoy differences. We praise "God" with the bounty of the Earth, with the variety and color and splendor, but we condemn each other because out of that variety differences in belief and faith have arisen. Ironic I think?

18

Does Jehovah exist without Jesus?

by Michelle5480 in

after years of being a jw, im now on the outside and i question everything.

one thing i cant deny though is that jehovah is god.

my doubt now is, was jesus just tagged on as a reason to create christianity.

forsharry

"I refuse to prove that I exist" says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith, I am nothing."

"Religion is a magical device for turning unanswerable questions into unquestionable answers"

"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it." - Andre Gide.

"These are my opinions. If they were the Biblical truth, your bushes would be burning."

119

Since you left Jehovahs................................

by defd in

organization and the faith.

what hope do yall entertain for the future....the everlasting future?

do you still believe, want to be on a paradise earth or what?

forsharry

I'm sure this probably won't be responded too seeing that the last response was made a week ago...but after reading this entire thread, I'm going with the assumption that defd or whatever it's spelled is still an active witness? If my question is correct...why is he/she/it here? This is a non-witness site filled with apostacy and hatred towards the Truth. Now, it's been a couple of years since I was active in the organization, but I was always told that reading or going on the internet and seeing anything that wasn't 'santizied for dubs' protection' was an absolute no no!

anywho...I store up faith that I will live my life as it is meant to be lived. That I will hug my husband and tell him that I love him, show my mother and my father the respect and devotion to which they've earned, and by treating others with dignity and respect, through listening to their opinons and beliefs, even, EVEN IF, I disagree with them, at least understand where they are coming from and accept their choices and thoughts as long as they harm none.

And I will DIE! knowing that I have lived and honest and good life, treating others as I would wish to be treated, showing through works and not words that I am a person that was worthy of friendship and love.

12

IT'S HERE!

by Nellie in

i finally got my copy of coc.

i guess i'll be busy for a while - i didn't realize it was quite so big!

i can't wait to get started - i guess this means i'll be away for a while .

forsharry

I bought that book a couple of months ago...I figured, well it'll be one of those pick em up put em down kind of books...

what a surprise. I just couldn't believe all that I had read...and it was almost as if I slipped right back into reading the witness literature...and I don't mean that negatively. The writing was just so smooth, so calm...and then when I got to the part where Franz said that he did a lot of writing for the organization...that was it! :)

For me it was comforting...here was a man who according to the "How to bring up JW chiddrens" was a poster person to strive to be. This was a man whom countless numbers of us read his works through the organization...and this man harbored the same doubts and had some of the same problems all of us had been faced with and he held true to his conscience, to his inner faith, and still in writing this book projected no bitterness or animosity towards the organization...simply stated the facts ma'am. I was impressed!

I dunno, maybe what I'm saying is weird, but it took me three years to scrape up the courage to read that book...and in doing so it really released a lot of the deep down guilt that I still carried with me about leaving the organization. It cemented that I did the right thing...it truly helped to set me free.