Posts by rowan

99

ANYTHING EXCITING EVER HAPPEN AT YOUR KINGDOM HALL?

by anewme in

jw
friends

did anything exciting or alarming ever happen at your hall?

i remember only funny incidents, like one brother getting up there with his zipper down.

(i knew alot of brothers after that felt no shame to actually check down there before going up on the podium!

rowan

Justitia, most likely that lady will get tired of acting that way. We had two cases like that when I was a teenager. Sadly, these are likely to be disturbed people who are crying out for help, and as they (obviously, what else can you expect from the WT untrained moral police?) get ignored in the kingdumb hell they eventually desist. what a sad situation overall.

Atpeaceatlast, I feel for your loss. You should be proud of yourself that you followed your common sense and natural love and did not rat out on this poor soul.

Respectfully,

Rowan

99

ANYTHING EXCITING EVER HAPPEN AT YOUR KINGDOM HALL?

by anewme in

jw
friends

did anything exciting or alarming ever happen at your hall?

i remember only funny incidents, like one brother getting up there with his zipper down.

(i knew alot of brothers after that felt no shame to actually check down there before going up on the podium!

rowan

oh, and another one. This happened in a different hall, and I was already DF'ed. This cute young new bethelite kid fainted during his number 4 talk. I was at the back row obviously. and at first, it looked like he was leaning to grab something, but he went all the way to the floor and banged his head really loudly. it all happened so quickly, that your brain doesn't get for the first seconds what happened.

so the next time the guy goes to the platform, people were ready. he fainted again, but this time they cought him before his head hit the wood. Poor sweet kid, he was so humiliated.

ok... gonna ramble here, don't need to read the rest. I just feel compelled to talk a bit more about the kiddo. his dad (young fellow in his forties) died of pancreatitis some months later. he went home for the funeral, and when he came back, he was a tough cookie. he fainted no more and banged and banged against DF'ed sinners. I was in the book study that he directed and gosh... was he hard on me and what hurts more, my elderly parents. I suppose his way of coping was trying to be this excellent bethelite. he tried hard to be up to the standards.

but I will always remember the sweet kid who came from the country, how vulnerable and young he looked.

99

ANYTHING EXCITING EVER HAPPEN AT YOUR KINGDOM HALL?

by anewme in

jw
friends

did anything exciting or alarming ever happen at your hall?

i remember only funny incidents, like one brother getting up there with his zipper down.

(i knew alot of brothers after that felt no shame to actually check down there before going up on the podium!

rowan

I must have been 9 or 10 yo when this happened.

we were sitting on the front row, of the main body of chairs. apart from that, the platform had rows on the left and right of it. during the final prayer a new girl in the front row of the chairs on the right of platform had... I don't know what she had. Now I think it might have been some kind of seizure, or she was acting out, or had some kind of psychiatric condition I don't understand. but even today, I seriously wonder if it was not a true demonic attack, or whatever. she did look possesed. her eyes were bulging out in an impossible way, her voice changed and started yelling nonsense. It was scary. I couldn't sleep well for nights.

the prayer went on as she was scorted out of the hall.

62

Words Jehovers Witnesses Pronounce wrong...

by vomit in

jw
friends

jehover being the most obvious.

why was there a group in every hall that pronounced some words like a bad english accent.

also why is it pretty universal, i.e.

rowan

I have lots of stories like this, but in my native language.

even though it has nothing to do with the witnesses, I have to share this. I cannot say the word "focus", my accent doesn't allow it.

like 2 years ago I gave a 1 hour conference in front of the entire gastroenterology unit of the institution where I work. after the conference, somebody took me apart and noted that I had kept on saying the word "focus", but the way I say it, to an american ear, it sounds "f**k us". everybody clapped after I was done though...

29

How different are you from 10 years ago?

by JH in

jw
friends

today, i don't fear the elders as much, and i think that they fear me more.. how about you, how has 10 years made you better or stronger?.

rowan

10 years ago I was a trapped, confused young adult who had to be home before 8 pm or hell would break over.

I was afraid of armaggedon, not ever measuring up for the high standars required by the insecure, egocentric god I was oblied to believe in.

I was frustrated and terribly lonely.

I was reasonably cultured, but did not know how to formulate thoughts of my own, becasue I did not know how to think.

10 years ago "I knew" I woud never have to die.

Now I am free. I have what I always dared to desire: a domestic partnership with a wonderful husband. I learned to think. I learned to enjoy life. I am still trying to get rid of the guilt. Now I have hope, after I came to terms with my own mortality. BTW, coming to terms with the fact that I am going to die, took like 2 years of kicking and screaming and endless crying. It was a real mournful process. thankfully it is over now.

being aware of reality and living according to it is good most of the time. it is good to have gotten the skills to deal with daily life and the frustrations that life naturally brings.

Now, most of the time, it is good to be alive.

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