Posts by cognizant dissident

19

Telling a Friend I Don't Want to Go to Meetings Anymore

by Good Girl or Bad Girl? in

jw
friends

i have a very close friend, who has been a mentor to me for years, who has never judged me in spite of things i've been through.

she is nearly 35 years older than me but we have a kindred spirit.

she is a very devout jw and i believe she always will be.

cognizant dissident

Good Girl

You're getting lots of good advice here so I won't repeat it unnecessarily. I just want to add, that at times when we feel at our weakest and most vulnerable, those are the times we can get in touch with our core strength, our unquenchable spirit that cannot be broken. That's the strength you've showed when you sought out counselling for yourself, against the advice of the elders and also when you reached out for connection on this forum. If you ever start to doubt yourself and what you are discovering about the witnesses, remember this: any religion or it's individual members that makes you feel so bad about yourself that you try and take your own life is NOT helping you! They have absolutely nothing to offer you but more of the same, guilt and shame. Never forget that!

Hope you feel better soon. Oh, and I absolutely love your avatar! Wish I saw it first!

Cog

12

My small but hopefully mighty note to the newspaper

by merfi in

it's not terribly impressive, but given the small size of this town and the small number of pubs at the kh, this might be relatively huge.. i just emailed this to the newspaper editor today:i gave blood tuesday, april 4th for the first time.

somewhere, someone's life might be saved by my donation.

i work at **** hospital*** and have seen blood used to bring color to someone's granny's cheeks, to help a new mom recover from a difficult childbirth and to give a young man with cancer a higher count so that he can receive chemotherapy and continue his fight.

cognizant dissident

You go girl!

ditto

9

What are real friendships about?

by NiecyMe in

jw
friends

after years of not involving myself as a jw...i felt the need to go to church.

i couldn't believe the political and just blatten idolism.

so, i left after awhile.

cognizant dissident

Welcome to the forum NiecyMe:

I'm feeling very lonely for friends right now too. I've been a JW my whole life and had many good friends, but of course, all JW's. Now that I no longer believe, I find I have absolutely nothing in common and nothing to talk about with my friends any longer. Since, I work at home, in my own business, I don't meet a lot of people at work either. So I'm feeling lonely for friends right now too. I hope, that as I make a life for myself outside of the org, I will be able to make some new friends who I have more in common with. I'm trying to develop some new hobbies and interests that I never had time for when I had to go to all the meetings. I've already started to meet some great new people. If I get too lonely, I post on this board. It helps me feel less alone and everyone on this forum instantly knows where you're coming from, because most of them have been there too.

Glad you found some new "Art" friends. Those are the best kind. Feel free to come back when your feeling lonely. There's always someone to talk too.

Cog.

19

Another Martyr on the Watchtower alter........

by Gill in

every so often, i think, perhaps i'm starting to let go of any interest in the wtbts and what it's poor deluded followers continue to do, or to suffer because of their misguided interpretation of the bible and, well....life in general.

however, my mum called me the other evening to tell me about a former jw 'friend'.

she is 48 and has just been diagnosed with a blood cancer.

cognizant dissident

Kid-A I agree with you , that in comparisson, innocent children that are allowed to die for lack of blood are the real victims BUT, we're talking about a pair of 'Born-Ins' here, with ALL their family trapped in JW land. They WERE those innocent children, themselves. Their position is different from an adult who choses to become a Witness. Brainwashing, at this level may very well, in fact I believe it is in their case, impossible to change.

I have to respectfully disagree with this statement Gill: I'm one of those "born into it" Witnesses and my father is on the Hospital Liason Committee. There were many things which bothered me about Witness teachings, but the pivotal reason I left was the blood issue. When I studied blood in biology for nursing school, I realized how I had not been taught the truth about blood by the society. Further research into discrepancies I found, led me to AJWRB. It took years for me to "wake up" but at age 40 I finally did and I was as brainwashed as they come. My younger sister who is technically a JW, although inactive, saw through it at an even younger age. She is 30 now and her 6yr old daughter is currently in Children's Hospital with a blood platelet count of 13 (Normal is 200+). Tomorrow, physicians may want to transfuse her. She absolutely, without reservation, will sign for her to have a blood transfusion.

So don't give up hope on us "born in-ers" . You never know what little bit of information planted at the right time will cause someone to re-think the insanity of Watchtower doctrines on blood.

Cog

ps I'll post later and let you all know what happens with my niece.

12

Rural Service

by buffalosrfree in

jw
friends

rural service was always the most fun for me and my family.

we loved it.

i almost always drove out there and i mean out there from 14 to 25 miles from the hall we drove and then spent at least 1/2 of the day or all day out there in the "door to door" service.

cognizant dissident

lol James Free

I used to be in a congregation that was full of pioneers but had very little territory. So we get car groups together to go to the downtown area of the closest big city where there were so many highrises, the local publishers could never get their territory worked. Nothing wrong with that right. Of course not. But we always had to make one call in our own territory before we left and then after we got back. That way we could count the extra hour and a half drive to the city and the hour and a half drive back home. Presto, 3 exta hours for all of us everytime we did it. It sure was easy to get those pioneer hours in. And just in case you think only the slackers did this, all the elder's wives were in on it too. Oh and lets not forget the hours and hours handwriting letters to put into not at home mailboxes the night before our time was do when we needed four more hours to make our quota! I was the only pioneer who had trouble making her time before I wised up!

Cog

26

So what was your worst Watchtower Moment

by TresHappy in

jw
friends

we could all say every bit of our experience in the wt was the worst.

i hated field service - i used to call it the agony hour.

i'd like to know how many people hated field service as much as i did!

cognizant dissident

My worst moment as a JW was when I was 21 and at a judicial committee meeting trying to get reinstated. There I was, this very young woman with no self esteem, sitting facing 3 older men whom I didn't even know, telling them how sorry I was for having been "immoral" when I was 18. I had been coming to meetings for a year already, sitting by myself, totally shunned. I hadn't seen or talked to my family in 3 years and I was so lonely and depressed. I wrote a very repentant letter saying how wrong I had been. But that wasn't good enough for them, they weren't convinced I was repentant. Much to my shame and embarrassment, I started to cry and asked them in this little girl voice, "If Jehovah, knows I'm sorry, how come you don't know I'm sorry?" They told me to wait longer, to prove myself. I went home and cried my eyes out and considered suicide. I can't believe how young and naive I was then and how easily I gave away my power and self -esteem to let men I didn't even know judge me!

Cog

23

Embarrassing...........

by beachbugg in

ok, i was giving one of those rehearsed skits during the ministry school meeting one time and i got the giggles..........seriously bad situation.

the lady sitting across from me forgot "her line" and it struck me funny.

the more i tried to get past it, the funnier it became.

cognizant dissident

OK , here's one for ya.

I was at the circuit assembly with my two year old son who was in the middle of potty training. I told him to make sure and tell me when he had to go. So during a very quiet talk, he announces very loudly and happily, "Mommy, I have to POO!" Everyone around us starts giggling.

"OK", I whisper, "I'll take you to the bathroom". As we are walking down the aisle he starts announcing to every person we pass sitting in an aisle seat, in his loudest, proudest voice, "I'm going to POO!"

I can hear everyone we pass cracking up, laughing, so I walk faster and faster, trying to get out the door before I bust a gut. Just when we get to the auditorium doors, he practically yells at the deaf old man at the contribution box. "I HAVE TO POO!" I literally fell through the doors, bent over double, and laughed my guts out for 5 minutes. There were a whole bunch of people in the foyer who hadn't heard my son, and they were just staring at me like, who is this crazy woman bent over and laughing her guts out? Which just made me laugh harder!

Oh yeah, I just remembered another. When my son was a baby about 8 months, everytime he finished a bottle, he would pull it out of his mouth, look at in disgust because it was empty, and chuck it as hard as he could! One day, at the meeting we weren't paying attention when he finished his bottle, he took it out of his mouth and chucked it and beamed an older brother sitting two rows up (who hated kids) right in the back of the head. Priceless!

Cog

17

We celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary this week.

by nicolaou in

like most of you we never did the birthday or christmas thing and so over the years anniversary celebrations were grabbed as a real chance to wrap presents, get festive and party.

this habit has carried on and there's a small mountain of shiny gifts all waiting to be torn open on april 5th.

okay, the kids are bit older now (18, 16 & 12) but we all still make a fuss of this one day.. we'll be going out for a slap up meal tomorrow night, just the 5 of us at our favourite curry house.

cognizant dissident

That was so sweet Nicolau!

I would give anything to have my husband write me a note like that. The only paper he ever hands me is a service report slip to fill out.

Anyway, it's great to see a couple come through this process of leaving JW's and come out the other side together and in love. It gives me hope!

Happy Anniversary

Cog

26

A JW wants to know where we go when we leave the society

by Madame Quixote in

jw
friends

i told him about few things we do.

maybe some of you could add to this at: .

http://www.jamaat.net/jforum/viewtopic.php?p=4682#4682 .

cognizant dissident

Well on Saturdays, I go to the pancake house with my son. Guess what? All the people who aren't at home when the witnesses call on Saturdays are at the pancake house too! If witnesses really wanted their preaching to be effective, they would go pass out mags at the pancake house.

Ummmmmm..pancakes!

14

I don't care!

by Frannie Banannie in

i don't care.

the lady who wrote this letter is pam foster of pamela foster and associates in atlanta.

she's been in business since 1980 doing interior design and home planning.. .

cognizant dissident

War is insanity! Nobody wins. Everybody loses. End of story.