I figured that if my husband said no I would override and say yes. I would take the DF to save one of my kids. They always take you back eventually as long as you say youre sorry. I figured it would be worth it.
elliej
JoinedPosts by elliej
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37
Would YOU Have Allowed Your Child To Die Instead Of Giving Blood?
by minimus inbe honest.
i believe there was a time we all would've done it or at least say we would've done it.
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23
Ever meet someone in the field service who knew their bible better than you
by JH in.
once a brother told me that he knocked at a door, and it was a catholic priest who lived there, and that brother thought that he knew his bible better than that priest, so he showed him a couple of verses to prove that the jw's had the truth, but that brother didn't expect the priest to know his bible that well, and the brother didn't win his biblical debate.... wouldn't it be fun if more people knew their bible really well, and could use the bible to make the jw's go away... .
gee, i hated that when i knocked at a door, and the person would go get their bible, and i saw that they had a decent knowledge of it... usually i left quite fast.
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elliej
No. But then again, until I came out I didn't know that JWs didn't teach that Christ was everyone's mediator. I knew the Bible, I just didn't know I was never actually one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Oh my gosh! I thought I was the only one! If my fade is ever rudely interupted I'm going to let them know that they don't have any authority over me because I was never actually one of Jehovah's Witnesses because I didn't understand this teaching. Thanks Auld, for verbalizing that so perfectly.
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Who do they hate more--faders or DFd people?
by rebel8 ini personally am hated quite a bit.
i've concluded it was because i rejected them personally.
i quit associating with them because i realized they were hateful individuals with serious mean streaks and other personality problems.
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elliej
Faders. They don't like to see anyone get away. Look at the example taken from the JW websight where the sister bragged about hunting down her study who was hiding from her for, like, four months or something. Can anyone say "stalker"? Its the same with the visits that faders get. They either want you to come back, no matter how they have to bully or coerce you into doing it, or they want you to admit that you don't believe in the Society so they can DF you because then they can write you off as an apostate. They force you to take a stand so you either crumble and come back or they demolish your reputation. There is no getting away clean if they can help it.
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As an Ex-JW what have you learned?
by KW13 in.
i have had to mature quickly after leaving the witnesses i was almost 'lost' and spent sometime being stupid.. i have learnt that forcing religion on to people is wrong, if they don't see something themselves then its not true or honest.
they need to decide everything themselves.. parents are also in a position where they need to be careful, they take their child to a religion that affects the child in so many ways, it ruined my childhood and its now a rod for my mums back..
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elliej
I've learned that it's okay to be me. I don't have to pretend anymore, I don't have to try live up to the organizations expectations. I can enjoy life without feeling guilty or facing annihilation. I can still pick up the career that I dropped to serve the org and make a real difference in people's lives. I can celebrate. I'm free and it's good.
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48
When did you realize that you were part of a cult?
by JH in.
as a jw, i never thought that i was in a cult.
i thought that other religions were a cult, but not us.. what made you realize that the jw's is a cult?
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elliej
This is the dumbest thing in the world but...
I had little red flags going up in my head for a lonnng time, but I thought that I was just weak and had to immerse myself more and they would go away. While doing a research paper for a class online I saw the UN stuff by accident, but I didn't research it because I was a stupid, stupid girl and didn't want to destroy my faith (!)
Last summer I was surfing for some JW friendly info on Russell and I happened upon a wiki site on JW's. It said that previous to 1991 (or 92) the literature was sold and the gb decided to begin the donation arrangement to avoid taxes. Here's what got me....the article said that they never explained this to the rank and file, they just let them believe that it was out of goodness that they did it. What a piddly thing to get me thinking, but there was this pioneer sister in my congregation and years ago I told her that someone at a door asked me about selling the books and I thought they were always free. She became so full of righteous indignation and exclaimed "We are not peddlers of God's word!"
I couldn't get that out of my mind, and that is when I finally gave myself permission to do some REAL studying into the history of the WTS.
That is when I opened my eyes and realized that I was caught in a cult and had to get my family out.
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48
How does Shunning feel?
by DaveNwisconsin injust curious as i had never really been a true jehovah witness.
i would think that you make friends and suddenly you don't exist.
i would think a board like this is a true godsend.
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elliej
We are faders, but the one witness relative that we told is "unofficially" shunning us. Does it feel like crap? Not really, it's more aggravating because he is such a friggen hypocrit and he can't see how obnoxious he is. I'm sure he thinks he's doing the loving thing, punishing us into realizing how wrong we are, but it does just the opposite. The mere fact that he doesn't care to listen to our concerns and just makes judgement shows us the conditional love. Yeah, that's what it's all about to them, they only love you on the condition that you serve the Organization in mindless unity. I don't need or want that kind of love, so they can shun us til the cows come home and all it will do is assure us we made the right choice. (Sorry, I'm ranting again)
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16
Nightmares?
by elliej ini don't know if anyone else has this problem or if i'm just crazy.
i have been attempting to fade.
my family recently moved to a new area and we have never attended the kh here.
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elliej
I'm not sure if you have children. If you do, it is even better that you make a resolve not to return to the cult. The mind control, the threats of the Big A, them telling you what you can and can't read ---even their old literature! It's just not healthy for children. Keep informing your husband with bits and pieces of information and hopefully he will come realize that it's not something he should return to or get involved with again.
I do have children and I would NEVER consider returning to this cult. As a matter of fact, my kids are doing great in getting rid of the old thinking. I never totally immersed them though, I can't tell you when the last time I took them out in service was, at least five years and they are still very young. We just celebrated our first Christmas, and they loved it. My little one believes in Santa (I never told her any different because I didn't want her to tell the other little kids in her pre-school class) and I dissolved in tears listening to her sing "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". This kid was born to celebrate, and now she can.
As for my husband, I have a great marriage and love him dearly. I think that is why I fear that someone will try to come between us, but I don't really think it could happen. I just want to put off any confrontations until he is as positively sure as I am and able to support any arguments against us. It is even intimidating for me to think about having to argue with an elder or even one of his witness relatives. They can be very combative. When we told one of them, his closest relative in "the Truth", he became angry and defensive, raised his voice and got really disgusted (he is, by the way, one of the biggest hypocrits in the whole entire world, but that is another story!). We were astonished that he took it that way, so personally, like it was some sort of an attack on him. We simply stated that we no longer agreed with the organization. Hopefully he'll just let it go ( he has enough problems of his own) and we won't hear from anyone else.
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16
Nightmares?
by elliej ini don't know if anyone else has this problem or if i'm just crazy.
i have been attempting to fade.
my family recently moved to a new area and we have never attended the kh here.
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elliej
I don't think you have much to worry about if you just moved to Bahrain. I don't think there are many kingdom halls there so the elders shouldn't bother you.
HaHa, I'm living here with my former "Brother" Michael-just kidding. Just deep under cover, a little paranoid you know.
Thanks for all the replies, it's nice to know I'm not all alone. My husband doesn't like to talk much about it, he's in a different place than I am. I haven' t told him about the nightmares because I don't want him to think that its some kind of a sign. When I first told him what I had learned he said he prayed for God to have witnesses come to the door if it was the truth and wouldn't you know it, there they were two days later. We had already lived in our new house for over two months, so I figured they were past due. I think he's at a point where he can see that it's bogus, but he doesn't know where else to turn. I try to leave him alone about it, I guess we all have to go at our own rate, but I do drop little bits of info on him every other day or so. He takes it well and is disgusted, but he doesn't want to get involved with apostates. Our only family ties to the KH are on his side, and I'm afraid that they will mount an attack to get him back, they all see me as the bad guy, but that is a whole different story.
Anyway, thanks for the support, it means so much.
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16
Nightmares?
by elliej ini don't know if anyone else has this problem or if i'm just crazy.
i have been attempting to fade.
my family recently moved to a new area and we have never attended the kh here.
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elliej
I don't know if anyone else has this problem or if I'm just crazy. I have been attempting to fade. My family recently moved to a new area and we have never attended the KH here. I finally got up the nerve to tell my husband the things I have been researching and he sees "the truth about The Truth". We have told our immediate family back home that we are out (they are all non-witnesses) and told one close relative who is a witness. So far, no repercussions.
Anyway, I spend my mornings doing research (this sight has been an amazing support for me) and making sure that I'm on the right track. The problem is that every night I have dreams about arguing with witnesses and being attacked as an apostate. I dream that elders from our old congregation show up at my door to yell at me and try to separate my husband and I.
Will I ever be free of this cult? Does anyone else have anxiety like this? By the way, it isn't guilt I'm feeling. I have never felt more free and happy. When I realized what this organization really was I felt like a weight had been lifted from my heart. I think it is because I do so much research and its on my mind. I fear that they won't let us go. Nuts, right?
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All messed up, please help !!!!!!!!!!
by Genesis inok this morning i wrote about panic crisis so i think i have one now.
i was on the forum and in my mailbox there was a message that said me :.
i could not help but feel for you very much.
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elliej
Woohoo, my first post! I've been lurking here for awhile, but this one finally moved me enough to say something, so here I go...
Just remember haw Jesus feels about his 'congregation' as in Rev.chapters 2 and 3, no matter how awful they were, did the bible say Jesus didn't love them? No, and much like the organization today, if there have been changes and wrongs done, does Jesus want to destroy his group of sincere followers, even if they or their overseers get things wrong? hardly.
Okay, if this is the case, then what in the world is the Society's problem with Christianity? Notice, "no matter how awful they were". The very same application could be used for Christendom as a whole. Very weak. I'm very unimpressed. Don't pay any attention to this person. Please, pray for guidance and pray for the poor pitiful soul who wrote this to you that they are able to open their eyes to the hipocrisy of the organization they are so eager to defend.