Welcome to the forum.
You had the strength to get therapy and then to write a letter to the WTS. I feel sure you can get the strength to continue to deal with your other issues and gradually get the upper hand.
Best wishes to you!
Welcome to the forum.
You had the strength to get therapy and then to write a letter to the WTS. I feel sure you can get the strength to continue to deal with your other issues and gradually get the upper hand.
Best wishes to you!
i am new to this site, just finding my way around.. i've been studying with jw's for about 15 months.
i'm an unbaptised publisher, and until recently never missed a meeting, have been out "on the service" quite a lot.
i've been having difficulties with one of the jw's studying with me and something happened which was just unacceptable.
Welcome to the forum.
My husband and I were JWs for over thirty years. He was an elder. We are not disfellowshipped, but no longer go to the Kingdom Hall.
I wish I had known so many things about the Witnesses years ago. Did you know that at one time they said that taking vaccinations was like taking pus into the body? At one time they did not allow organ transplants, and many died as a result. Their founder, Charles Russell, got the date of 1914 from the pyramid at Giza. One of his early books has the Egyptian symbol for Ra, the sun god, on the front.
Since you have a university education, you know how to study and apply yourself to research. Please take the time to do research on Jehovah's Witnesses.
Ask questions now. You are in a unique position, as you are studying and not baptised. After a person is baptised they MUST NOT question any doctrine, no matter how many times it changes. (even changing back and forth, as some of the JW doctrines have) To do so invites disfellowshipping for apostacy and total shunning.
Please be patient and stick with us. Learn all you can so that you can make an informed decision. Everything is at stake.
hello, i am new to this site and it is comforting to know that i am not the only one that has problem with wts.
i'm 36 and single parent with 8 year old son.
i work full time from 8am to 5pm in order to support both of us.
Welcome umadevi and imasheilatoo,
When I was a new JW I used to see mothers with several kids who would pioneer, sometimes dragging them around with her all day. I used to wonder when the kids had time to play, or just sit at home in jammies and enjoy a day with mom.
Then I had a child, and had to endure all the ones who used to "encourage" me to pioneer. I would go out with my child, get the looks when she started crying from hunger, then sit in a hot car in Florida nursing her. I used to feel guilty for not pioneering. How glad I am now that I didn't. She is grown and I would have missed time with her.
umadevi, you in addition to all the duties at home as a mom must work. If all you did with your child was go to meetings and out in service, when would you both have time to kick back and take a walk or just talk?
Of course, if you quit your job or took a part time one and couldn't pay your bills, the same elders would tell you that you should've counted the cost before you quit!
had some interesting chats with my daughter today about whether she believes everything she hears at the meetings and reads in the watchtower.. turns out she does.. until i pressed on a few subjects... turns out she does not think worldly people are bad, that the wt is wrong for blanket statements about how evil they all are, that she does not think it is right that they have failed predicting the end for over a hundred years and disagrees when they keep pushing the end,.
and i find this all rather alarming!.
because although some lights are firing (and i mean that in a nice way!).
Glad she sees some points, but please don't push. She may feel like she's between a rock and a hard place since her mom is a JW and you are, well, "dangerous."
Resist the urge to down the WT society for awhile. Just keep telling her how proud of her you are, and praise her efforts at school, etc. Be there if she needs to talk, but making her admit this and that about the WTS could backfire, making her feel guilty, and she might feel afraid to be with you again.
Just be careful.
mothers day can bring up many issues for some of us.
for some their mothers have passed away and the opportunity to say i love you in person is forever lost.
for others our mothers are lost to the borg.
factfinder, you have a pm.
that book: "the secret of family happiness" is missing the part that teaches you to live happy with your family.
"but if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.
but those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and i want to spare you this.".
Great to read that you and your wife are happy. Enjoy your time together!
i'm new here, and although i have been a lurker for several months now, its nice to finally dive in and join you all.
i hope that i find some friends as thats what i'm really looking for, i've seen enough proof that theres real love outside of this religious prison that i've biult for myself over the years, but i would like to feel it firsthand.
it's been a little hard to post anything since it's not easy being around in websites like these when you're still in and theres other jw's around sticking their noses everywhere, but now that i've found the time, i would like to share a bit about my story.... this is an email i sent paul grundy, (creator of jwfacts.com) and it basically sums up the story of my life... so i thought it would be good if you all had a read as well.
Oneday, Welcome. I missed your first post somehow.
You have gotten excellent advice from many.
Just remember to be patient, and work your plan. You sound like an intelligent young man and I do hope you will find a way to get an education. Perhaps you could discuss with your parents going to a community college to get a basic training without raising flags. That way you could get a start. May daughter is out, 23, and soon to graduate with a degree in Biology. I am so happy. She is petite and would never have made it cleaning or waitressing, which is what many young JW women do. Plus, she is smart. Why should she waste her mind when she may accomplish so much in research, which is what she wants to do.
Keep us updated with your progress.
in ancient times the easiest way to measure things was to use the most convenient measuring tools available that anybody could afford to own: your own body parts!.
yes, you could use your own foot to measure "feet".. .
you could use the width of your thumb to measure an inch (call it by whatever name you like.).
Good lord, it all seems so ludicrous now.......
cried myself to sleep.
last night was the second time.
i have been out for 20 (give or take) years.
So sorry. I feel for you. I sure hope that you can get together with your mom without discussing the JWs. Don't let her get you to go down that road. Just tell her she means so much to you and then avoid saying anything negative about the JWs. I know that won't be easy.....
thanks to all who helped me escape my imminemt baptism after 6 years of study.
it was a close call.. ive clearly been labelled spirituallly weak, as nobody has called here to say hi or anything and its been 2 monthes now....their divine justice for me i guess.
i did see my study teacher a while back when she dropped off my memorial invite, and that was after a chat, nothing to do with the wbts...seemed like it was an afterthought on her part.. they all know about my problems with agoraphobia and panic.
I do know how you feel. My husband and I were "in" the JWs for over thirty years. When we left (we are not df'd or da'd) we were considered "dangerous" because we did not agree with the elders who df'd our teen daughter. No, we definitely did not, as they accused her of things she didn't do, and called her a liar when she wouldn't say she did. They berated and humiliated her.
It was devastating to know that all the "friends" we'd had our entire adult lives would no longer speak to us, and if any of them did call, we would let the answering machine take it as there was no point in talking...they'd have just tried to get us to suck it up and come crawling back.
I know the feeling of the JWs taking the precious time with your parent. For those thirty + years we distanced ourselves from family. My parents are both dead now. How I'd love to tell them we are no longer JWs and celebrate Christmas and birthdays with them.
I second the thought that if you contact family and old friends they will be glad to hear from you.
Wish you the best.