Yes, I find it very hard to admit that I was such a fool. And I never volunteer the information, the fewer people who know about it the better.
elliej
JoinedPosts by elliej
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50
Are you embarrassed?
by desib77 indoes anyone else find themselves embarrassed about their jw past?
i find that when people that know what i used to be ask me about it i am completely embarrassed by how foolish their beliefs sound especially things like the blood issue.
i can't stand when someone will say "why did you believe such and such....?
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elliej
It was my experience that the brothers and sisters over exaggerated any illnesses or problems that they had because it gave them lots of attention and it excused them from their responsibilities in the congregation (field service, ministry school parts, meeting attendance).
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11
The "Cult" word
by kojo inas someone who almost got sucked into the jw's, but never joined,i was wondering how did those of you here that were or are jw's respond to people who labeled you as a cult?
did you view them as ignorant or did it make you feel more justified in what you followed because it was "persecution"?
did you even listen to the arguments of people who viewed you as a cult member as to why they thought of you as such?
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elliej
An elder explained to us once that cults are secretive about their beliefs so Jehovah's Witnesses couldn't possibly be one because they go around telling everyone who will listen exactly what they believe.
But that isn't exactly true, now, is it?
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5
A fine witness
by elliej ini just felt like sharing my experience from the weekend, thanks in advance for letting me vent.. we travelled to our home state for the holiday, the first visit my husband has made home since christmas.
his family (non-jw) held a "get together" on sunday so everyone could see him and visit.
his brother, a witness, refused to attend even though he has not seen us in 5 months.
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elliej
When I read accounts like yours elliej, it makes me realize that these people did not become like this, they always were like this. It is just that he is making you the target. If you think back, you will probably remember other occasions where he was hypocritical like this. He sees it as a personal affront; how others will treat him if they discover your "secret." He is not concerned really about "God" and "God's" feelings. I wonder how he explains it to the non-JW family. I'm glad they did not let him spoil the party by making you stay away so he would come.
Yes, blondie, I can think of many instances where he played the hypocrite: he has always been able to justify anything and everything. He attends all the holiday celebrations he likes but then avoids others because he "doesn't celebrate holidays". And when we told him he did take it very personally, but he didn't try to hide it. He promptly shaved off his goatee, which had grown in very nicely during the weeks and months that he had been skipping meetings, and told on us. He has spread the word far and wide. We were considered more spiritual than he was, so I think he feels very superior right now.
As far as how he will explain it to the family, he won't. He doesn't know that his daughter told us where they were going and I'm sure that he will never admit it. He figures that it is okay as long as nobody finds out, and if they do he will justify it by lying. I say good, let him dig himself into a hole he cannot remove himself from. Then when the members of his congregation wise up to him he will find out first hand about JW love.
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5
A fine witness
by elliej ini just felt like sharing my experience from the weekend, thanks in advance for letting me vent.. we travelled to our home state for the holiday, the first visit my husband has made home since christmas.
his family (non-jw) held a "get together" on sunday so everyone could see him and visit.
his brother, a witness, refused to attend even though he has not seen us in 5 months.
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elliej
I just felt like sharing my experience from the weekend, thanks in advance for letting me vent.
We travelled to our home state for the holiday, the first visit my husband has made home since Christmas. His family (non-JW) held a "get together" on Sunday so everyone could see him and visit. His brother, a witness, refused to attend even though he has not seen us in 5 months. He is shunning us because we told him we were leaving the organization. What did he do instead? He attended a worldy aquaintance's MEMORIAL DAY PARTY.
The sad part is that this joker doesn't even begin to comprehend the scope of his hypocrisy. He actually believes that he is "doing Jehovah's will"!! He thinks that he is justified. And when someone finally gets the nerve to point it out to him, he will chalk it up to persecution and only become more convinced that he is right.
What a fine witness to his non JW family members, don't you think? I mean, I don't even have to spread my apostate information because he is doing such a good job of turning everyone off about his religion. The good news is that my husband says that any remaining doubts he may have had are completely gone, he has no question that we did the right thing.
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Strange paradox - the ' weakest' J Dubs were in a way the most hardcore.
by Gregor ini knew many of them.
some in my own family.
they were the ones considered spiritually weak because they:
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elliej
I believe they act this way because it finally gives them an opportunity to feel self-righteous and spiritually superior to someone instead of their typical feelings of inferiority.
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What Exactly Is Your Relationship With Your Family Since Leaving The JWs?
by minimus ini'm closer to my mom than ever before.
but all the other witness family stays away.
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elliej
strained, very strained. But even though they have withdrawn their favor, they do still ask me to do lots of favors for them. I'm glad of that!
Where in the heck do they get off trying to get favors from someone who isn't even good enough to talk to? This could be my husbands family! They shun us, but when they want something they contact us through another relative. "Can you do this for so and so?" Yeah, I'll get right on that. What a fine witness for Jehovah's organization
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Reading WT & Awake for X years = College Education
by under_believer inhas anybody ever heard any witnesses utter that old saying "reading the magazines for 10 years [or whatever] is equivalent to getting a college education?
" a couple of things are amusing about this.
one is its utter and complete falsehood--what a crock!
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elliej
Yes, I heard this from the man (a relative) that my husband studied with. I was attending a 4 year university at the time and I questioned everything he said (interestingly, I still got sucked in) and he would explain to me that I might think that I am highly educated, but he is too because reading every Awake! and Watchtower for 4 years is the equivalent of a college education. Yes, only four years. And his education was superior because it came from the Slave and was not the philosophies of men. It seemed to me at the time that he had a chip on his shoulder about not having gone to college and was looking to make himself feel better about it.
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What Exactly Is Your Relationship With Your Family Since Leaving The JWs?
by minimus ini'm closer to my mom than ever before.
but all the other witness family stays away.
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elliej
Well, the JW family members all shun us, but they are all total jackass hypocrites, so I would say that is a positive thing, no? In my opinion, my relationship with them has never been more rewarding.
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Need some good reasoning points
by mavie ini need to try and get my wife to examine her beliefs.
i hope to do this by getting her to think on her own.
i've already tryed doctrinal issues with no success.
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elliej
For me, a big thing was how they misquote "experts" in order to support their theology. When I saw the misquotes I was a lot more eager to check other things out. It really helped my husband see the dishonesty in the org as well.