AudeSapere

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Posts by AudeSapere

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  11

  Jehovah's Witnesses - Emotional Blackmail - Fear Obligation Guilt

  by JT-LadyC in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after leaving the jehovah’s witness religion, we had the opportunity to read emotional blackmail by susan forward, ph.d. we could relate to the stories she discusses in the book and could make a direct correlation to our lives as jehovah’s witnesses.

  while the experiences are somewhat different from what we encountered in our personal lives, we could readily comprehend how individuals use emotional blackmail to make others develop fear, obligation and guilt in order to manipulate them into furthering their own agenda.this podcast explains in great detail how jehovah’s witnesses live in the fog.

  no one can dispute these comments as every current and former witness is most familiar with the culture of the organization!this podcast references the experience of a sister that lived in an iron lung and her experience was used as a tool to measure the faith of jehovah’s witnesses with otherwise good health that did not live up to the daily demands of the watchtower.

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  AudeSapere

  This is a GREAT video! Well-worth the listen.
  
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  24

  Please, tell me.

  by andrewlya in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi, i am a christian and i would like to know jehovas witness's belief in god and whether you believe jesus is god.

  please, any statements back up with biblical verses,thank you and god bless, in jesus's name.. i am new on here, so please be patient with me :).

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  AudeSapere

  Current, active Jehovah's witnesses are not permitted to discuss any concerns they may have with their religion or with their religious leaders.

  When this discussion board started, it was ONLY for active Jehovah's witnesses. But a funny thing happened when those active Jehovah's witnesses started talking - anonomously - about their questions and concerns... The *real* truth started to come out.

  Now, this board is the largest and longest running discussion forum for all things related to JW's. And while there are some active witnesses, the majority, by FAR, are inactive, EX-Jehovah's Witnesses.
  

  Welcome.

  -AudeSapere (meaning: Dare to Know; Dare to Have Wisdom/Understanding; Dare to Think for Yourself)
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  40

  Closer/death/Funerals

  by Leela1 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hello all i am fairly new to this site even though i have been da since i was 16 years old i am now 35 years old.

  i have had very little contact with my family since i left maybe a handful of times over the years.

  i thought i put the past behind me and moved on i have 4 amazing kids of my own really supportive partner and great friends who have become my family.

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  AudeSapere

  Heartbreaking. You are in the absolute right place to find others who *get* what you have been through.

  I'm so sorry. You were so very, very young when your family turned their back on you. It is criminal neglect, in my opinion.

  Welcome to JWN. I'm really happy that you found us and look forward to hearing more of your story.

  Aude.
  
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  19

  My meeting yesterday

  by stephanie61092 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so i just wanted to jot down some thoughts and feelings about my meeting yesterday.... first, the wt, paragraph 16. i couldn't help but laugh to myself at the blatant hypocrisy.

  god’s word admonishes us “to live with soundness of mind ... amid this present system of things.” (titus 2:12) having “soundness of mind,” or being sober-minded, should certainly come into play when the explanation of a diagnostic method or therapy seems strange or mysterious.

  can the practitioner or the one promoting it explain satisfactorily how it works?

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  AudeSapere

  Thank you for this OP. I like it. A lot~!
  
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  25

  The JW Spin - why governments and opposers should let jws handle abusers themselves

  by Robo Bobo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i came across this blog - it is one of the evilest things i've ever read.. http://dismythed.blogspot.com/2016/02/flip-side-news-opposers-want-ex.html.

  you might not want to click on it because a) you'll give it more traffic and b) it will make you mad.

  in summary it states that since only 11-17% of molesters are repeat offenders, witnesses guilty of abuse should be dealt with inside the congregation as long as they confess.

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  AudeSapere

  I can understand not wanting to cause distress to the abuser's family.

  However, in my experience, an abuser, is an abuser, is an abuser. Two specific cases that I can think of, sex abuse was rendered on a non-family member, but the same abuser was physically (beating) the family members. Different kind of abuse, but abuse nonetheless.

  Attempting to shield the family from distress is not necessarily doing them any favors. It might actually help fix other abuses that are occurring within their home.

  You really just never know. Might be better to bring the offender to justice...?

  -Aude.
  
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  12

  My crazy experience, from pioneer to jail bird

  by Nodoubter in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  first let me introduce my self, i am a 33yo male show spent much of his youth in the jw cult, i was not raised into the truth however thought i found it at the age of 11 when a well caring brother knocked my door, i had no father figure so this brother was everything to me, like a father, i quickly began attending meetings even when my mom used to oppose, i was taken like an example kid because i was an "orphan" in the spiritual sense, i got baptized when i was 12, and spent the rest of my teenage years being this good kid everyone thought i was, i hated that attention and pressure however it felt good to be doing good things, when i was about to finish high school i started to get into punk and ska music, i used to listen to it in secret, one time an elder found out and went to my house when i wasnt there, he went into my room and took all my cds, this was my first time i felt like i was being invaded of my privacy, i was made to feel guilty for liking this music and lost all my priviledges..theres a lot more i can say but i will stick to the main points, i became a reg pioneer, i became an ms, the whole thing, living in new york allowed me to visit bethel many times and had many many friends there, at the head quarters and walkill, in my cong we had bethelite elders etc, so yeah i was "in the club" , i always had a doubt in the back of my mind if what i was doing was the right thing, i used to rent the basement out of en elders house, he is what made me turn, he was the mos unloving person i ever met, for instance he would turn off the heat during snow storms, sometimes due to my pioneering i had no food and he knew this, well no food from him etc.

  yet all this time i thought i was doing the right thing, eventually i feel in love and started dating this beautiful pioneer girl, daughter of pioneer parents as well, i never felt fully excepted because of my spiritual orphan status and no family in the truth, eventually got to a point where i could not communicate with her and her parents used to pick up the calls, they told me i could not continue to pursue a relationship with her, i was devastated!

  long story short i wanted to see her etc, they put a restraining order and labeled me a stalker, made a mistake of sending her an e-mail and well, that got me arrested!!

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  AudeSapere

  The JW elders claim 'clergy' when it suits them. However, in most bonafide religions that I know of, the 'clergy' visit and give consolation and encouragement and refuge to the 'wayward' members.

  JWs have a horrible reputation for kicking and abusing their members just when they need an understanding confidant the most.

  I'm sorry you had to learn that the hard way.

  Welcome to JWN~! I look forward to hearing more of your story as it unfolds.

  -AudeSapere. (meaning: Dare to Know; Dare to Have Wisdom/Understanding; Dare to Think for Yourself.)
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  144

  Got in a bad wreck.....uuugh

  by brandnew in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just happy to be alive....can barely move ☺.. a girl who just got her license , and a new suv....thought it might be cool to pass the person in front of her....at a curve......on a two way road!!!!!😠😠😠.

  very mad puppy.

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  AudeSapere

  My last crash on my bike, the right handlebar hit me hard in the side and completely knocked the wind out of me.

  My side hurt bad but I thought probably bruised ribs. Even if broken, there is not much they can do. So I opted for no hospital, no ambulance.
  

  I rode home - about 80 miles - with an escort. Just wanted to get to bed but decided to get checked out, 'Just in case...'

  So I drove myself to the hospital. Waited a bit and kept feeling worse and worse. After about 90 minutes, they did a CAT scan and found that I had lacerated my liver. Internal Bleeding. I spent 5 days in ICU. Fortunately, I was pretty compliant after they explained my options. Thus, I avoided surgery and healed well.

  I hope you get yourself checked out and also heal well. Very well.

  Oh! and since she was clearly in the wrong, I suggest you talk to an attorney. But you have probably already thought to do that.
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  162

  Do you still believe in God?

  by FormerlySandL in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i never thought i would admit it, but i don't.

  i might superstitiously have some kind of doubt but digging a bit deeper in my heart i really don't believe in god.

  as a human i could never just sit and watch people be tortured, live years of abuse, suffer from illness and disabilities and all the other awful things people have to endure day after day without doing something about it.

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  AudeSapere

  As someone who wasted soo much of my life fully immersed in what later showed itself to be a high-control publishing company (now turned real estate company) masquerading as a religion, I decided that I did not need to debate or explore the God versus NoGod question at this stage in my life.

  What is, is. What will be, will be. None of it will change my morals or my person very much at all. I am hard-working, self-reliant, help others when and where I can and am generally very optimistic in my outlook.

  *IF* there is a god, he should have made the 'right' way more clearer so as to not allow so much dissention.

  *IF* there is a god, and life is a gift from our creator, I have squandered far too much of that gift while serving the publishing-company-turned-real-estate-company for it's own high-controlled gain.

  *IF* there is NO god... and *IF* this life is all there is... I better get living.

  Life is much more precious when there is no Future Paradise on the horizon.
  

  I just find I have no interest in the God/NoGod debate anymore. It's been about 15 years that I've felt this way.

  And I'm very, very comfortable with that view. It suits me very well.

  At least for now. If I change that view, I may choose to do so. But for now see no need and have almost zero interest.
  

  .

  To the OP (Formerly S&L): With so much on your plate right, I hope you, too, realize that the God/NoGod debate is not something that you have to resolve right now. You first (2nd, 3rd and 4th) priorities really need the bulk of your time and mental attention for a while.

  All the best with your pending growth spurt. Keep with it. You will be AMAZED at what you can accomplish.

  -AudeSapere (meaning: Dare to Know; Dare to Have Wisdom/Understanding; Dare to Think for Yourself.)
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  10

  Hello after a long while from the user who used to go by "comatose"

  by comatose_no_more in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's great to see all the familiar posters as i've been reading for the last few hours.

  still offering great advice and help.

  awesome job.

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  AudeSapere

  Hi CNM! It's always so nice to hear updates from old posters and friends. Glad to know that your life is calmer and child is thriving.

  I remember our conversation from a few years ago. Your thoughts and logic with my own family issue were spot on. I remember and use your comments fairly often. Thank you!
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  79

  What's a word that describes the way Witnesses behave as a group?

  by paul from cleveland in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i can't recall the word that describes a group that keeps to itself like the witnesses do.

  i thought it was "insular" but i don't think that's the one i'm looking for after reading the definition.

  i remember an elder using the word "clannish" and that has the proper definition but it reminds me of a group of elves.

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  AudeSapere

  Captively insular?