my great-grandmother was a jw, my grandmother is a jw, my mother and two of my aunts are jws.
in 1983 mom, then 18 years old married my father, a wordly man and was baptized later the same year at a district convention.
i was born in 1984.. my bedtime stories consisted of the bible stories and you can live forever books.
Jehovah's witness children have it rough. Real rough.
I'm sorry. But I well-know the horror visions in the heads of JW children. (And some adults, too.)
This was a nice read. Looking forward to your next installment.
-AudeSapere (meaning: Dare to Know; Dare to Have Wisdom/Understanding; Dare to Think for Yourself.)
another thread got me thinking of this issue.
i don't think you'll ever come across a set of people with such a skewed and twisted outlook on life.. my memory serves me well when i recall a sort of blood lusting excitement over things like the 9/11 atrocities.
in fact i remember jw's describing the event as 'sad but exciting.
Oh! Another thought...
My hardcore JW sister tries to 'out-happy' me. It's pretty funny when you *know* what's going on.
She the only living JW in my family now.
I try to encourage her to take advantage of the education reimbursement that her company offers. She somewhat agrees. But when I push a little harder, she side steps the discussion. She smiles and tells me that her primary education is the Theocratic Ministry School and she has no need for further secular education.
I encourage her to apply for career opportunities within her company - sales in particular. She gives credit for her skills to the org and cheerfully tells me that companies probably developed their sales strategies directly from the Watchtower Society, the BEST sales team in the world. But she does not want to even apply for a sales job because even though it would double her income, it might take away from meeting attendance.
I advise her to max-out her 401k contribution. But she cannot. Because her rent keeps going up and she has not much savings. When she has money, she spends it on travel.
Me? I travel when I can. Take classes that interest me. Own my home (bought my first at age 27) and my monthly payments have gone DOWN due to refinancing and are now locked-in at 3.2% interest. My monthly finances are now very manageable and much less than my sister who keeps her 'eyes on the [mythical, non-existant] prize'.
She keeps trying to show me how happy she is and hopes that I will 'Return to Jehovah'.
I keep doing what I'm doing and let her see how happy my life is [away from all things 'Jehovah'].
I think it's funny that we try to out-happy each other - without coming right out and telling each other what we are doing.
Such is the life of fleshly sisters when one is still a very active JW.
another thread got me thinking of this issue.
i don't think you'll ever come across a set of people with such a skewed and twisted outlook on life.. my memory serves me well when i recall a sort of blood lusting excitement over things like the 9/11 atrocities.
in fact i remember jw's describing the event as 'sad but exciting.
I meant to write about this, too. (but the op did it MUCH better than I would have~!!)
About two months ago, I was at a local restaurant for lunch. I was alone and had brought a few trade journals to read while I ate. Minding my own business, I did not notice the people at the table next to me. Shortly before I finished, the woman leaned toward to me and said 'Excuse me... Is your name [Aude]?'. I responded 'yes'. The sun was in my eyes and I could not see her face very well.
She said "[Aude Sapere], right?"
"Yes! That's right. Do I know you?"
"I'm D*** H*******", was her reply.
"Oh! Hi~!! I'm sorry, I did not recognize you"
"No problem. It's been a very long time~!! How are you??" she asked.
"I'm doing good. Really good!"
"You are? Really???" she asked almost incredulously.
So I told her a few things that I've been doing lately. She come over and gave me a hug as I was leaving and I wished her 'all the best' as I happily paid my bill and left the restaurant.
...
It just baffles the JWs when exJWs are happy and can tell about a few fun things that they have been doing since leaving the org.
My old friends and acquaintences have aged, as we all have, but their hearts seem heavy and their conversations are so negative. Unless it's about all the 'exciting things' [*yawn*] that are happening within the [re-branded] organization.
I sort of feel sorry for them. But it's a life and attitude that they choose to embrace.
ok so most of you guys know already that i am going through the reinstatement process for my parents but i do have a partially sinister plan which i will not mention here since someone told me that there are b-lites that read boards like this.
last night and it was the funniest experience i have ever seen.
besides that the brother doing the sound and video screwed up the whole thing when showing the videos and it took 3 brothers to fix it after 10 minutes, the whole thing was a joke.
Island Man wrote: Several times during the presentation the publisher's shadow was not only different to the publisher's profile but was also out of sync.
I thought so, too, at first. Then I realized that was not a shadow at all. It was a 2nd sillouette... It was the 'other' witness at the door.
At least that's how it was with the video with the 'women'.
I could only tolerate the one video. Did not watch the others.
in about 1980 i came to know of and meet one time with lawrence onoda, ph.d., a jehovah's witness psychologist [also i think elder] in southern california.
i was shocked to know there was such a thing in view of the wts traditional stance against jws consulting such a person!
he had been one of jws for six years at that time, i recall.
Oh! maryo~!! I just realized that you are brand new here.
Welcome!! It's nice that you found here and even nicer that you jumped right in and started a discussion.
ok so most of you guys know already that i am going through the reinstatement process for my parents but i do have a partially sinister plan which i will not mention here since someone told me that there are b-lites that read boards like this.
last night and it was the funniest experience i have ever seen.
besides that the brother doing the sound and video screwed up the whole thing when showing the videos and it took 3 brothers to fix it after 10 minutes, the whole thing was a joke.
OOPS! I see that Marvin already made the same comment that I did. Sorry for the redundancy!
ok so most of you guys know already that i am going through the reinstatement process for my parents but i do have a partially sinister plan which i will not mention here since someone told me that there are b-lites that read boards like this.
last night and it was the funniest experience i have ever seen.
besides that the brother doing the sound and video screwed up the whole thing when showing the videos and it took 3 brothers to fix it after 10 minutes, the whole thing was a joke.
macys wrote: Because doing the syncro for the voices in 100 languages is easy. Second filming real life on a set is costly. Third even cartoons are costly to make.
A fourth reason could be: In the event that one of the 'actors' leaves the org and/or becomes an apostate, they don't have to re-edit the entire video with a new/substitute actor.
in about 1980 i came to know of and meet one time with lawrence onoda, ph.d., a jehovah's witness psychologist [also i think elder] in southern california.
i was shocked to know there was such a thing in view of the wts traditional stance against jws consulting such a person!
he had been one of jws for six years at that time, i recall.
Maryo asked: Did your friend go on to become an alcohol/drug counselor? How does she feel about the "truth" now?
Fair question, but I'm not comfortable answering this in public and prefer to wait before responding at all. I hope you understand.
.
There I met with a counselor, Mrs. Brown. ... I found that reassuring. ... I felt somewhat better already.
I can sense your relief in these sentences and am saddened to hear that this glimmer of hope was crushed by a 'shephard' who should have been much more sensitive and sympathetic to your very real needs.
As cult-free adults, we now see that these elders were poorly trained and had no business getting between a person and their (mental) health care provider. That was a bad, bad move - whether he was sincere and kind, or not.
Looking forward to hearing more of your experience. Thank you for sharing as much as you already did.
-Aude Sapere (meaning: Dare to Know; Dare to Have Wisdom/Understanding; Dare to Think for Yourself)
hello people.. i'm tired and a bit sick at the moment but i can't let anyone think that this is going to go away.... i am able to tell you a few things in order to prevent any confusion in the minds of those who are thinking that nothing will come of this arc;that nothing will effect the wtbts in america and other places.. i have been there and given my testimony.
helen milroy and her assistants were there along with another group of people who are there to lend assistance if you crack up at any time during or after the hearing.
i did not crack up but can see how this happens.. security is tight and anonymity is sacred to them as they want to protect all who come forward.
You did a tough, but loving and decent thing here.
You deserve much respect and peace.
I sent you a pm.
-Aude.
in about 1980 i came to know of and meet one time with lawrence onoda, ph.d., a jehovah's witness psychologist [also i think elder] in southern california.
i was shocked to know there was such a thing in view of the wts traditional stance against jws consulting such a person!
he had been one of jws for six years at that time, i recall.
He was an elder in my hall in Thousand Oaks (WLV / Conejo Hills Congregation) and my bookstudy conductor for quite a while.
Last I heard, his wife moved out of state. Don't know if he went with her or remained in their Thousand Oaks home.
He played a big role in my leaving the org as his apparent contradictory methods got me to see major flaws in JW proceedure.
A friend of mine knew a young girl that was a victim of child sex abuse and wanted to help this young woman get the help she needed. So, looking for advise, my friend reported to Larry what the young teenager had told her. Larry was LIVID. He yelled at my friend because, in his paid professional capacity, he was a mandated reporter. However, if she had brought the matter to any other elder, they could deal with it on just a congregational level (or at least within the org). That's all I remember about what my friend told me about this conversation so I cannot elaborate any further.
Same friend told me of another conversation with him... This friend was going to school to be an alcohol/drug counselor. She kindly went to him to discuss how to reconcile the direction to spurn advanced education AND psychotherapy versus the WTS direction to seek first the kingdom as 'more service' is the cure for all personal and emotional woes. If the 'cure' for depression is 'more service', then what is the benefit of (expensive) therapy? If therapy *does* help heal people, then why is the WTS so forceful in it's vilification of professional psychotherapy? And why does he remain in the field? She said he was agitated and openly avoided her after those conversations.
LIke I said, it was one of the very first WTF moments for me. One that forced me to see cracks in the WTS fascade.
I feel compelled to add, however, that he was always acted kind to me. Kind and thoughtful in helping me through some very difficult points in my life. (Was he misguided, deluded by a publishing company, or complicit with them and fleecing a beaten flock?? I many never know.)
Those 'difficult things' completely disappeared shortly after I got up and walked out of the Kingdom Hall one Sunday, long, long ago.
