Posts by rowan

40

Would you have married a non JW

by JH in

jw
friends

when you were a good active jw, would you have considered marrying a non jw or was this completely out of the question..

rowan

hell yes! there were only arrogant cheese and cracker men to choose from.

26

Happy are those who are shunned!

by Gill in

happy are the shunned, since they will have peace and quiet!!!

truer words were never spoken.. for all of you who understandably miss your family, just think of the troubles those of us have to endure when some of our jw family refuse to shun us and make it their lifes work to 'encourage' your return to the cult with threats of imminent death by their ever loving god!.

my mother!

rowan

sorry to hear that. I can totally relate with your frustration. Trying to talk with my parents is like talking to wall, also.

I tell ya what I do: I avoid. It's realy bad for my health so, I refuse to talk about it. yes, from now on, if they bring up the topic of religion, they are going to be the ones shunned. I love them dearly, but at this point, my health comes first.

good luck, and take care of yourself and YOUR family.

rowan

81

What Subject Did You HATE Hearing About At The Meetings?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was bored to death when i had to listen to prophecy bullsh*t. especially the isaiah books!

rowan

"do you have the pioneer spirit?" vomitrouciuos.

59

"You'll never even get to finish school in this System of Things....."

by WingCommander in

this statement was often echeod to me during my formative years.

i remember my very first day of elementary school (stateside) at the age of 4. my parents were flustered because they couldn't believe they actually had to start their only child into public school to begin with; after all, the end was right around the corner!

this was 1984, the year the first apple mac was introduced, 80's music was loud and in your face, the delorean was cool, and miami vice was just in production.

rowan

Hellrider,

I am not a hypocondriac, but I suffer from everything else you pointed out. My husband gets worried because I am thinking about death all the time. well, when I was a little girl I used to fantasize that Armaggedon would come when I was at the school building and how Jehovah would protect me from the wreck. and then I got into my teenage years and started worrying because I didn't measure up. that Jehovah was going to kill me in a horrible way was a constant presence in my mind. yeah, no wonder I tend to always think the worst about things.

59

"You'll never even get to finish school in this System of Things....."

by WingCommander in

this statement was often echeod to me during my formative years.

i remember my very first day of elementary school (stateside) at the age of 4. my parents were flustered because they couldn't believe they actually had to start their only child into public school to begin with; after all, the end was right around the corner!

this was 1984, the year the first apple mac was introduced, 80's music was loud and in your face, the delorean was cool, and miami vice was just in production.

rowan

was told that when I entered primary, secondary and university.

here I am, thankful that my parents had the good sense to allow and support my education. It's funny, when I first started going to university in pursue of a degree that took many years to obtain and that would seemengly be useless in the new order, I was looked down and mocked because of my choice. "why are you spending your time studing this? you will not even finish... in the new order we will not need your skills" blah blah.

gee, I look back, and think, at least I am not struggling right now with my basic groceries budget, like some of them are. and what irkes me to no end is not their poor choice, but their arrogance and efforts to impose that to everybody.

Rowan

18

Doctors Should Not Be Forced To Artificially Inseminate Lesbians

by Sam Beli in

ann arbor, mi the thomas more law center, a national public interest law firm based .

in ann arbor, michigan, has submitted a friend of the court brief supporting the right of .

physicians to refuse to perform medical procedures that violate their sincerely held religious .

rowan

As a physician myself, I reserve the right not to administer treatments that, to say the least, make me uncomfortable.

for example, even though I am not totally against abortion (I believe it should be legal, so unescrupulous individuals don't get rich thanks to the black market and girls get killed due to substandard treatment) I would never perform one myself. It is not because of religious beliefs, it is simply something I am not comfortable with on a human basis. I will make sure though that the patient in question meets with another physician who can administer the treatment she needs.

Sometimes Drs. do not feel comfortable treating a certain patient; countertransference happens daily. In these cases, I remind myself of my rule number 1 in medicine: "the patient comes first" : it is in the best interest of the patient that that Dr. does not see him/her, but another physician.

In this case, the woman got the treatment she needed. If there had been NO OTHER professional available to perform the treatment, that would have been a breach of ethics to MHO, but treatment was readily available from another source.

Respectfully,

Rowan

73

Most annoying Kingdom song

by Billzfan23 in

jw
friends

mine would have to be "dark days are here!

men live in fear!....

" followed by the annoying change to a happy beat before the chorus "but the bible gives us a reason for cheer.." .

rowan

the one that says something among the lines of "watch how we walk, watch how we talk". ggggrrrrrrrr. idiotic.

60

Does The Memorial Mean ANYTHING To You???

by minimus in

jw
friends

just wondering.

rowan

guiltrips from my parents UFTA

12

Definition of Forgiveness

by Gerard in

jw
friends

as many of you, i am angry at the watchtower for their deceptions and damage it has caused to my wife's family and i harbor negative feelings that actually work against my healthy state of mind.

i can't forget but i want to forgive.

but what is the kind of forgiveness that will make me a better person?.

rowan

I like the example that says that not forgiving is like renting out space of your mind for free. I don't want to keep hurting because they do not deserve mental space from me. But I like undermining them. It is healthy for me and for the people I inform.

The WT is evil. It is our duty to educate unaware members of the society of its dangers. I cannot fight the WT with the weapons they have, money and mass propaganda production. If I tried to, it would be very frustrating. What I have is access to the people I know, may be 200 people? I can assure you they know my story, and repeat it to the four winds.

I don't want to hate the WT, not good for my health, but I will certainly cheer when I see it crumble.

18

As A Former Witness, Do You Still Carry Your Watchtower Cross?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

as a former witness, do you still carry your watchtower cross?haunted by old memories, flashbacks and miserable personal experiences .

several individuals on this discussion board still carry the watchtower cross .

on their backs.. the time to move forward and the time to move on true, the watchtower experiences were earth-shattering events in most of our lives.

rowan

I have been out of the WT or 6 years now. I got a degree, got married to a wonderful "wordly" man, have a great job, and freedom to do with my time whatever I want to. if 10 years ago somebody had told me that my life would be this "great" now, I wouln't have believed them.

All this said, last week I got diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to my experiences with the WT. As much as I kick and scream in denial of the fact, I am damaged. I choose to live my life fully, not to be defined by my pain, but I hurt inside. Is this my cross to carry? I don't know. As I said, I choose not be defined by my traumatic past, I want to get over the WT issues. I hope it will happen some day.

Now, if doing everything that is in my power to erode the WT defines me: Yes!!! I am proudly a former JW!