Posts by PoppyR

31

Were YOU A Mindless Witness?

by minimus in

jw
friends

were you on automatic pilot?

did you consider yourself a "stepford" family member?

did you do everything you were told to do, automatically??

No! Looking back the seeds were always there. I started by having my nose pierced, then I would wear trousers to the meetings. I think the brothers just rolled their eyes and thought I was a rebel, but I hated doing things just because a MAN (read person, I'm not a man hater!) had said it was right or wrong.

I was counselled about my nose piercing and told I could not pioneer. I took it out. But within a couple of months I had it done again. I vividly remember one of my last meetings the brother giving so much personal opinion it was all I could do not to stand up and shout about it.

Mindless in the sense I believed it, but not spineless!!

Poppy

16

Where have you found JW literature?

by Funchback in

so, yesterday i'm at bally's (a fitness center) and i'm about to get on the treadmill.

i decided to check out their magazine rack.

let's see...'bicycling', 'sports illustrated', 'a2z', and about 10 watchtower and awakes.

PoppyR

Dont know about you guys, but I find the literature gives me the creeps now! My brother left a new awake for my son this week, and I literally picked it up between thumb and forefinger as if it had disease all over it and put it straight in the bin!! I just think it's poison, and any chance I got to remove it from public places I would, although I think most people looking at it would just think how nutty JWs really are.

Poppy

53

TIME FOR ANOTHER LAUGH!

by Dansk in

don't step on the ducks !!

three women die together in an accident and go to heaven.

when they get there, st. peter says, "we only have one rule here in heaven: don't step on the ducks!

PoppyR

A woman looks out onto the street and sees a really long funeral procession.

At the front a gorgeous widow holding a dog on a lead. Behind her two coffins, behind them a long line of women snaking away as far as the eye could see.

Unable to resist, the first woman goes up to the widow and says "I'm so sorry for your loss, what happened here?"

The widow explains.. the first coffin is my husband, the dog attacked him and killed him, the second coffin is my mother in law, she stepped in to help and the dog killed her too.

A profound moment of silence passed between the two women. The first woman then said to the widow:

"Can I borrow the dog?"

The widow replied "Get in line"

xxx

37

Dubs out with kn37

by fullofdoubtnow in

jw
friends

i just took the dog a walk, and saw 4 dubs at the top of our street, trying to place kn37.

this is, of course, the first official day of thecampaign, so i expext to see a few more of them than usual over the next few days, but it's not often i see them at this time of day (3:10pm when i spotted them).

they all know me, and when they saw me walking towards them with the dog, who does admittedly look a bit fearsome, being a pit bull/staffordshire bull terrier cross, they looked a little nervous, as if they thought i was going to set him on to them.

PoppyR

My mum gave me one, and didn't like the fact that I grinned and said it looked almost exactly like one we had about 15 years ago entitled 'Armageddon' with lightning and dark colours all over it. She is one of those who thinks it's really different and it's the start of the end... sighs.

Haven't seen any out with it today, but then they are unlikely to call on me as I've only been out about a year.

All these fabulous campaigns, has anyone actually become a JW because of them?

Oh yes.. I'm forgetting the street cleaner who picked the tract up from the gutter!!!! Silly me

Poppy

22

How long did your exit process take?

by StillGroggy in

this has probably been posted before, but i'm new here.

for those who daed or dfed, how long did your exit take and why?.

i'm trying to figure out how long it'll take me to get out.. thanks.

PoppyR

Just noticed that I have been on this forum almost a year (in 11 days time!) And that day was the first time I had real doubts that the troof was not really the truth! I had already started missing meetings, 30 October was my last one, after that I never put in another report, I had one elders visit, which I feel was obligatory, I fobbed them off saying I had doubts and needed to work through things.

It took me about 3 or 4 months to really believe that I had been wrong for 36 years. another couple to not shiver when people mentioned Armageddon. Nowadays I just roll my eyes and cannot believe I believed it.

I think I'm almost there, I'm in a bit of a delicate situation with a divorce from my JW husband, but if I can get through the next few months I think my fade will have been sucessful, of course I have learned from the forum that at any point I could be DFed, but I feel the elders need to be feeling vindictive, or I need to be causing problems for this to happen now.

Of course if you want to DA.. it can be done in a week! I sometimes envy that freedom, but love and want my family too much to do it at present.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Poppy xx

23

Veil Wearing Moslems v Cross Wearing Christians

by Clam in

things are getting nuttier here in the so called "united" kingdom.

we now have a female moslem classroom assistant who has been suspended from her place of work because she insists on wearing a veil in class.

bizarrely she works in a church of england school and at the interview wore no veil while being interveiwed by a man.

PoppyR

My mum is using this veil wearing stuff as proof armageddon is nigh!!! She said to me this morning that it was in the news every day. I just raised my eyebrows and reminded her there was a similar hoo haa about 6 months ago when muslim girls were suspended from school.

As to not being able to understand a veiled woman, it's total garbage, I worked with a muslim girl who wore the full veil, and I understood her conversation perfectly, as did everyone else. I do feel everyone should be able to express themselves in the way they want. why should we have the right to dictate? I personally highly respected her. She was a gorgeous young girl who covered herself up totally because of her beliefs. It's not my choice, but I admire the dedication.

Surely it's better to show children that we can accept people from all different beliefs and cultures?

Poppy

19

Awkward moment Tuesday night

by Jourles in

jw
friends

on tuesday night, i took an elbow to the nose while playing volleyball.

a guy i play with is an er doctor and recommended i go to the er just to make sure everything was ok. turned out i had a "nasal fracture with contusion.

" anyways, while talking with the admissions lady, one of the questions she asked me was, "any religion or church you want me to put you down as affiliated with?

PoppyR

Does feel weird doesn't it, I had to swear a legal oath, and the court person asked me if I wanted to swear on the bible or take a 'non religious' oath, I opted for non religious. It did feel strange, but after all I've learned, I didn't feel it right to swear on the bible! (not knocking those of you that do)

Poppy x

23

Responses to Our Letters

by LennyinBluemont in

jw
friends

hi lenny!.

response to bill (26 august 2006).

thanks lenny.

PoppyR

Like others, I didnt' at first have time to read all the letters, but blessed with a bout of insomnia (uk time 4.10am!) I've just finished reading, and just feel sad. This sentence struck such a chord with me.

I don’t want to feel lost. That is not what I want in my life

I personally feel this is why many people say, when they misquote the 'to whom shall we go' what they mean is, what the hell am I going to do, or believe, or hope in? And it's something we've all had to come to accept in our own ways, whether it be an alternative religion or even atheism (I'm somewhere between the two)

I remember my frustration when I first found out about 607 and the UN and trying to explain them to my ex, and he just could not or would not see, because I think he had no idea what to do if it was true.

It can be a scary journey away from that belief system, suddenly we have to consider getting old, dying and all the things we blindly believed we wouldn't have to do. But I'd rather be scared any day than a sheep blindly following it's shepherd on the longest walk ever with no destination!

Thank you Lenny.

Poppy xxx

28

Watchtower.org article on tattoos

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

hey all,.

i'm practically brain-dead this afternoon, unable to handle anything of any intellectual level to speak of.

so i thought i'd drop by watchtower.org and see what drivel they were passing off these days.. one of the lead articles is "should i get a tattoo?".

PoppyR

I had my first tattoo on my 30th birthday, and my then husband had one too, we were both active JWs and nobody saw the tattoo for years. I now have 4 (and dont think I'm part of a criminal sub culture!)

Recently I went to my mums, who is still active with a vest top on, and as one of my tattoos is on my shoulder she saw it and gasped. I just rolled my eyes and told her I'd had it for 7 years and it totally floored her.

I know of a lot of younger dubs who have them, they just keep them hidden. Whatever your view is on them (and I respect everyones) I happen to think they're fascinating and also very sexy!

Poppy

59

Statistical effect of disassociating the inactive

by AuldSoul in

jw
friends

it has been tossed around several times on the forum, and invariably someone pipes up that the wts will never do it because of the adverse effects on the numbers.

there is a glaring flaw in that reasoning.. the inactive are never counted as publishers.

the numbers that are reported are of active, reporting publishers.. if they disassociate every single person who is inactive and refuses to reactivate themselves, the numbers will not be negatively affected at all.

PoppyR

I highly doubt this will happen. It's an interesting theory, but I do feel it's scare mongering, which is something we have hopefully moved away from. It's a logistical nightmare, in my territory alone they would have to chase up at least as many people as are attending the meetings. And it would be a complete turn around on their previous standpoint of encouraging inactive ones.

The recent article on 'when a loved one leaves Jehovah' that we all enjoyed so much Talks about these ones maybe coming back.So it's certainly not appearing in any literature.

And I agree that if announcements had to be made, how discouraging for JWs to realise how many had actually left!! It would certainly cause many more problems for them that it would solve.

If I was DAd after a relatively sucessful fade, I'd never go back and there would be no reason for me to keep quiet then either!

Poppy