dear newest best friends,.
we spend a lot of time here - learning and helping one another out - a worldwide "brother- and sisterhood.
" quite different from what we left behind.
Not with another human being because they have their own views, opinions, feelings etc, and you are bound occasionally to rub each other up the wrong way. In saying that you wouldn't be without your friends would you? The world would be a sad place.
My relationship with my dog is pure pleasure, I tell him all my problems, he nods and looks wise, wags his tail, chases his ball and I instantly feel better. I think the best part is he never gives me his opinion, just pure love and devotion.
Poppy
hi all, i know this must have already been discussed, but i'm just wondering if there is anyone here who has just kept going to meetings and the rest of it, just so that they don't lose their family?
thanks in anticipation of a response
Yes Cass, there are. There are even some here who have been disfellowshipped and attended meetings for a whole year afterwards to get resinstated, knowing the whole time that it's a load of crap.
Most of them find in time that the 'love' from your family sticks in your throat when it is only based on you doing what they want. You have no freedom, and they would cut you off if you strayed from the expected path. This love is NOT unconditional.
Stick with it by all means, but try and establish a net of real friends outside the org, you may need them, and they WILL be there for you.
Poppy
check this out (hope you have a strong stomach .
from the ex:.
also, how are the kids handleing the holiday thing....for real....and do you really feel that is what you believe in, it just worries me......i havent said anything cuz its your choice, it is just that i wish you would come back.....move to omaha, and get into a diff congre, they would embrace you, they really would, .........heck, they embraced me after all the crap i did and fell and got back up.......i do see the good in you........ .
I'm actually sad for you. You've never known, and unless you're more of a thinking person that I'm aware of, you never will know, the warmth of unconditional friendships, the support of family with no strings attached and the freedom to be true to yourself.
WOW, this paragraph hit home, and the comparisons to 'The Village' which I thought were just striking.
Since leaving the cult I have never been more aware of the true love of true friends, and the false love of those I once thought were my 'forever' friends.
You dont sound like you need any reassurance, but respect!
Poppy
which i think you guys call a fader...so far i'm pretty much got away with it.
my close family are in the truth love them to bits and i seriously dont want to alienate them- my story is a positive one, they have accepted that i dont go to meetings anymore and although they arent pleased they accept my viewpoint.
i am not a bitter ex-witness, i enjoyed my time meeting people while i was a witness although a lot shunned me after and a few years before i went 'public'
Well done on your sucessful fade!
As to the resurrection hope.. no I dont have any faith now. But it has been hitting me just lately that a lot of witnesses hang on to what they have because they have no idea what to do otherwise! It can be a scary world going from having everything sorted for you, right down to what to wear, your career choice, marraige partner, recreation etc, and why worry about anything when the end is so close!
Each to their own, there are people on this forum who still have very strong faith, and I kind of envy that, but I cant reconcile God with what I see in the world.
Poppy
or show up half-sloshed???
or even a really bad hang-over??
lol..... at the pique of my "rebellious" phase when i was about 16-18, i often smuggled in a small mickey of drambuie or baileys then snuck off into the library for .
towards the end of my incarceration we used to have the book study at our house, and I used to drink vodka and lemonade, everyone thought it was water, and I'd get through that way!! It was the only way to survive,
Poppy
i'm not sure if anyone's posted this yet, but here are the figures for the 2006 service report.
i highlighted the countries that have either a "0" or negative growth in yellow and i highlighted key countries where the you would expect more growth......i tried looking for england's stats, but i couldn't see it.
i looked under "england" and "united kingdom" but i can't see it.
Thanks so much for posting this! I have been scanning the forums, but the search feature is rubbish and I must have missed it a few days ago.
Really good news that the projected increase speculated a few months ago was above 2%... this is much more realistic.
I notice that the number of baptisms decreased by 14,000. This is lowest since 1988
Are you talking about a particular country? Because last years baptisms were 247,631. this year 248,327 which I add up to 696 increase, granted not a big one!! But still not a decrease.
Love these threads, just reassures me that given time this religion will stop altogether.
Poppy
hey everyone!.
wow, i am amazed.
about 3 months ago, i finally became nauseated about going to the meetings and i went from attending each one, to attending zero.
I am in a similar situation, I had one call from an elder, I fobbed him off very quickly (he totally caught me out, late at night and it was freezing as I kept him standing on the doorstep) and I had a letter from a 'sister' which was very emotional, saying she loved me etc..
Apart from that... nothing. Recently I have cause to believe they have decided to just leave me alone. I dont view it as a lack of love, I just think they are all worn out with all the stuff they have to do and fed up of trying to encourage people back who clearly dont want to come!
Well done, enjoy and I think you may find they wont come knocking!
Poppy
i know it's already been discussed a bit on the board but i just wanted some advice.
i've been fading for a little while and my problem is this how does one fade successfully without getting caught out or hasselled non stop.
the funny thing is i do actually have all the medical prolems that were mentioned in a previous thread (chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, migraines and that's just for starters) but i've had these for years and have still kept on going to the meetings regularly, i even pioneered, which i now realize was absolute madness.
From one who knows.. it's a long slow process, and you never really know you've been sucessful. For example, although I've been out and clean for over a year now I daren't put up Christmas lights because that's an obvious 'up yours' to the Jws.
I think relocation is the perfect solution, but we cant all do that. It's just slowly and softly, drift away. Never confront, never say you dont believe or have doubts. You should find in a year or so it's mostly over.
Also it's something to bear in mind that JWs that you consider your friends aren't genuine. It's a tough lesson I've had to learn, but they would walk past you in the street if you were DFd.. A very important aid to fade is to make sure you have a network of friends who are not JWs. You will find in times of need they are the ones you can truly rely on. It's scary, I know!! But so worth it.
Thinking about you
Poppy
i have just seen the video with the jw spiritual leader giving evidence in a court case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2o4lbgx81u there he says,.
"we dont use the word, shunning".
Watchtower 2000, I thought a very interesting twist on scriptures.. bible in italic.. notice Solomon says Shun IT (ie the wicked path) the GB transport that somehow to say "the wicked ones Solomon wants us to Shun".. hang on, Solomon did not say to shun people, but to shun their path. I never noticed things like this when I was a borg. Now they are glaring.
Solomon warns: "Intothepathofthewickedonesdonotenter,anddonotwalkstraightonintothewayofthebadones.Shunit,donotpassalongbyit;turnasidefromit,andpassalong. —Proverbs 4:14-17.
The wicked ones, whose ways Solomon wants us to shun, sustain themselves on their vile deeds.
Interestingly the actual word 'shun' is not widely used in the UK, although the practice is. I find many of my former congregation members now look away from me even though no official announcement has been made. I feel sorry for them.
Poppy
does anyone know if this has happened in any 1st world countries?
Isn't it funny that you are not allowed to copy the WT library CD rom for example, in case it should "fall into the wrong hands"!!!!! (oh dear maybe not tell them where we can download it then)
So rather than us make copies for each other, saving all their hard work and REALLY expensive CDs they want rank and file to shell out 100 times what they are worth to support the worldwide Shirk...
I remember when I found out about the 'simplification' and I genuinely thought how lovely and christian!! Until I found out here after it was all a tax fiddle..
So glad I'm out.
Poppy
