Posts by Woofer

56

Inquisition scheduled for tonight

by greater_freedom in

i need some input on how to proceed with a scheduled meeting with elders i haven't seen in 18mo.

i have not attended a meeting in over 2yrs.

they sent a letter requesting my presents at 8:00 pm tonight.

Woofer

Good luck with tonight.

This too shall pass!

It amazes me how they are never there when you need them, but they sure show up when they think they can catch you at doing something wrong.

30

where do I start..here goes!!

by blsrose in

hello, my name is bonnie, i will start by how i came "into the truth".

my husband and i lived in dallas, tex in '72, of course we were not married at the time of our being contacted by a work friend of his, though they still befriended us and our families became close.

soon, we were married and quickly thereafter, we were invited to the kingdom hall.

Woofer

Hi Bonnie . .welcome.

I was horrified to read your story . . the spouse . . the ex-friend . .and the "railroading" at the KH.

Like everyone else said . .there really is a lack of love. When I was in, there were cliques and such and if you were not part of the "special group" you were practically invisible.

Growing up my family was not in the "in crowd" mostly because of my dads explosive temper, our lack of money, and his drinking problem and I remember groups of young teens getting together and each others houses for movie nights and my sister and I never being invited. Was that loving on their parents side in invite all the teens from the hall except me and my sister??? I don't think so. It hurt, and 20 years later I still recall the feeling.

Looking forward to more of your postings.

13

How many of you joined to placate family members ?

by bocephus in

jw
friends

i was just wondering how many of you might have joined the organization to placate family members .

i can say as a teen i was baptized for the sole purpose of quieting my father .

how about you did you do it for the fear of losing family members

Woofer

I got baptized at 16 to shut my parents up. My cousin at I were supposed to get baptized together (she was my best friend at the time and we were only a year apart) but she chickened out so I got baptized by myself at a circuit assembly. She ended up getting baptized that summer at the District Convention.

It was probably this way at your congregation, but the feeling was that if you were 16, 17 or 18 years old and you were not baptized yet, that was a signal that there was something "wrong" with you.

I remember once I was late arriving home to go over the questions with an elder and I was wearing a U2 t-shirt and he saw me in it because he was already there. I thought I was gonna get a scolding from him, but I didn't.

45

Ever have a part on a convention or assembly?

by Frog in

jw
friends

i played a role in a convention drama when i was 14. it was a really poxy modern day drama.

something about catching my bigger brother puffing on a cigarette lol.

i had to practice the part for months in a dogey american accents.

Woofer

I was in a drama at the District Convention. This was about 12 years ago . .I had a non speaking role, but I had to dress up like the women did in Jesus day. I remember a congregation that was close to mine had all these costumes in their attic and we went there and pick some out that fit. It was kinda fun actually.

16

Memorial

by Soapydish in

this is the first year in my life that i won't be going to that thing with the bread and the wine.

you know what i'm talking about.

even though i gradually stopped going to meets since i was 21

Woofer

This will be my 4th in a row that I have missed . . I shouldn't use the word "miss" because I don't "miss" going at all! LOL

I've been out about 10 years and I went to about every other one the first few years I was disfellowshipped.

My family lives at least an hour away from me so I don't get pressure from them to go and there is no way of them to check up on me to see if I went.

35

Whoo hoo . . .I finally signed up

by Woofer in

after a few months of lurking i decided to register.. was raised a dub all my life .

.got married at 19 (biggg mistake) because as you know "dating is only for marriage" (obviously not for trying to get to know someone better) and was married 11 months after i met my ex-husband.

i felt a lot of pressure from both families to get married.

Woofer

Lisavegas420 - I live in Canal Fulton which is right outside Akron/Canton . . .or about 45 minutes from Cleveland.

14

What do you do now with all that extra time?

by beautifulisfree in

jw
friends

i was just wondering what everyone does with their extra time??

the meetings took up so much time in our lives.

for me its soo fun to sleep late on sat (no service!

Woofer

Let's see . . I go to the YMCA three nights a week (Tuesday and Thursday is two of my three nights). . . do what I want to do now on the weekends. Read books that I was told before that I shouldn't read since there was so much spiritual literature to read . . get excited over my daughters birthdays, Christmas for her, dressing her up for Halloween . . the list goes on . .

I vowed that life for her will be normal.

32

Bethel Police pulled me over for a violation

by What-A-Coincidence in

jw
friends

wearing faded jeans only as a bethelite is a cause for concern for the governing body.

i had jeans that were not totally faded as the "world" would consider them.

so one freaken' weekend as i passed by a wt building, a tightwod bethel elder (now just an elder) asked me how i was doing (bla bla bla).

Woofer

My favorite is not being allowed to wear ankle bracelets.

I remember being at an assembly and the speaker said that ankle bracelets are telling people to "look me up . . . .and look me down".

Urrrrrrrggggghh!

I now own about 4!!! Oh and I even got a tattoo!

35

Whoo hoo . . .I finally signed up

by Woofer in

after a few months of lurking i decided to register.. was raised a dub all my life .

.got married at 19 (biggg mistake) because as you know "dating is only for marriage" (obviously not for trying to get to know someone better) and was married 11 months after i met my ex-husband.

i felt a lot of pressure from both families to get married.

Woofer

Thanks so much for the warm welcome.

My one sister who still speaks to me (ahem . .as long as no one knows) said she would love to come to my wedding. I am SOO excited to see her. I think she understands a little better then the rest of my family because she left "the un-truth" at 16 and married a worldy guy and pretty much lived her life as a person of the world until about 10 years ago when they both decided to study and get baptized. He ended up cheating on her and they got divorced. She is now married to a really nice guy who was not raised a dub, but came into the cult after his divorce . .so he understands what it's like to be on the "outside" and he doesn't mind speaking or seeing me.

Looking forward to posting some more!

35

Whoo hoo . . .I finally signed up

by Woofer in

after a few months of lurking i decided to register.. was raised a dub all my life .

.got married at 19 (biggg mistake) because as you know "dating is only for marriage" (obviously not for trying to get to know someone better) and was married 11 months after i met my ex-husband.

i felt a lot of pressure from both families to get married.

Woofer

After a few months of lurking I decided to register.

Was raised a dub all my life . . .got married at 19 (BIGGG Mistake) because as you know "dating is only for marriage" (obviously not for trying to get to know someone better) and was married 11 months after I met my ex-husband. I felt a lot of pressure from both families to get married. After about 3 weeks of marriage I knew I made a huge mistake but what do I do? How do I get out of this shitty marriage? I did what I had to do . .I left.

I've been disfellowshipped for about 10 years now. None of my family speaks to me (except one sister, but as long as I don't tell anyone we talk). I have a daughter that my parents have never seen. It hurts me that they would choose religion over me. I was also molested by my MS brother-in-law. The "good news" is that my parents with speak to him and eat a meal with him because he was "sorry" (sorry he got told on) but they won't speak to me.

It's all good though . .I am currently engaged to a WONDERFUL man who loves me for who I am. For the first time in my life I am not afraid of getting zapped by a lightening bolt for doing something "bad" (sex before marriage, celebrating birthdays, Christmas).

I LOVE LIFE NOW!!!