on my introduction post a few people expressed interest in how the worldwide church of god (wwcg) imploded.
i think maybe in hopes something similar will happen with the jws.
i think the jws will also eventually experience a meltdown but probably not in the same way since the power structure was a bit different.
Welcome.
I worked with a woman who had been in the Church. She didn't want to talk about it much..even though she knew I'd been a JW. The pain runs deep. She alluded to things, though, and it seems that most of her family-close and extended-had been involved, and that the Church had caused her much pain. She e-mailed me last year telling me that she'd joined some Church group and asking me to visit it with her (Noooooo, I couldn't do that).
so, i'm new here and i've decided to finally tell my mom the truth about jws.. and sorry for the long post.
i'm at my wits end.. here's some background:.
i grew p in a congregation in california, i'm not a born in, though i was raised in it from 5 - about 20. arond 20 i pretty mch faded out, bt the emotional ups and downs were jst all too much.
Welcome.
I can tell you as a woman and mother, all the "facts" about the WTS in the world may not change her view. As you may know, women are more emotional than men. You are only appealing on an intellectual level, not on an emotional one.
First of all, let things rest for awhile. It is amazing after all the "enlightenment" that you've given your mom that she agrees to still speak with you. After all, Apostacy is a very serious thing, and you are awash in it according to the FDS. By all JW entrenched dogma, she should run to the elders and fear to speak to you again.
When you do talk to her next, how about starting with family things? Stay on a safe path for awhile and let things calm down. Then, instead of doctrinal stuff, try to steer the conversation to children who have died from no blood, and now they O.K. accepting fractions. Proceed to df'd children-those very young that haven't been spoken to by their parents in years. Or, how about the ones that were molested and could not warn others in the congregation for fear of being disfellowshipped.
Maybe pick one of these things and tread slowly, but please don't innundate mom....patience....patience.....is called for.
i just thought you should know that mrs cedars has finally taken the plunge and joined the forum.
she was able to log on for the first time yesterday.. though we both "awakened" at different stages, mrs cedars was very supportive and non-judgmental when i first began exploring my beliefs from a critical standpoint.
she is currently in the process of reading crisis of conscience and aquainting herself with some of the facts of witness history that were hitherto unknown.
Welcome to the forum!
I also love your picture. It reminds me of old movies. I was watching on last night from the 1930s-The Four Feathers-about British soldiers in Egypt. I believe it was remade about ten years ago here in the U.S. But I digress...glad to have you here with us.
we have seen hundreds of examples of where the watchtower uses the word "evidently" to make their doctrinal point.
(page 9, para 6).
(page 19 para 5).
Clearly the WTS do not have a large vocabulary. This is not happifying.
Ha! That is clearly hilarious!
When the big A "clearly" hasn't come, I wonder what the next buzzword will be?
Of course,
sincerely,
obviously
probably,
maybe,
plainly
happified is a real watchtower word(tm), by the way!.
if you want to give the wts credit for anything, then at least give them credit for their remarkably simple solution to every ill suffered by mankind.. it is a "one size fits all" solution and might be part of the appeal the wts has attracting people who have a hard time with reason and common sense.. they won't specifically tell you what that solution is, though.
if they did, they would even get less converts than they get now, and currently they ain't gettin' many.
Problem: Incontinence
Solution: Worldwide Genocide
Happified to know this, it's starting to be a problem
(But I don't want anyone to die so that it will go away)
ive been lurking for quite sometime and now feel the need to come and noob it up.
it's taken a lot to bring me to read anything critical of the wts.
i used to glance at these apostate sites and shutter in fear because of the obvious demonic venom that can be found :) i am still an active witness and have been in this struggle to stay both in and be removed mentally from this organization.
Welome to the forum.
Don't know who originally wrote this but it serves us well:
"Better to have questions I can't answer than answers I can't question."
long time lurker, first time poster.
:) i'm not sure if a post this long is allowed as a first post (or if this is even in the right section), but here it goes!.
so while in high school, i became friends with a jw.
Welcome, that girl.
You may be right about the reason you haven't heard from the friend. However, just to be sure, I'd try calling, and say something like, "I wanted to call you because I have been so worried! Since I haven't heard from you I have been afraid maybe you are ill. We've been friends for so long, I can't imagine why you haven't returned my messages. Are you all right?"
Then listen for squirming sounds as she tries to "explain."
Witnesses are able to drop people quickly. I should know. Once I quit going to the Kingdom Hall, people I'd known for thirty years don't talk to me!
my wife just went to what she called a special assembly (or something like that), what are the assemblies or conventions and what is the intended audience and the length of each?.
Most of the time, the stuff they serve is "half-baked."
i haven't been one to start a lot of threads and i've actually been gone from this board for about a year only to return after the conti case blew open.
i stopped coming here because i had moved on with my life and really started to put being a jw behind me and stopped concerning myself with it.. my anger and hate of the wtbts had come to a simmer, i don't think it will or would have completely cooled, but then on one fateful morning i awake to an email from my mother.
i haven't talked to my mother in about 6 months as our last conversation was her spouting off how great of a time she was having serving where the need was greater and it was all about her and her husband and jehovah this and jehovah that.
Do you remember the serenity prayer? It's time to let go of some things if you want to bury the anger and hate and have a better life.
The point is this...every minute that you take out of your life to try to "make them pay" when you can't see any results is just that-time out of your life.
I am sixty. They took over thirty years of my life, and if I "go there" and start thinking about all the time I spent in the borg, I get depressed, angry, and just really sick. I don't want them to take any more of my life, so I do not allow myself to think about them much anymore. It thoughts creep in, I take a deep breath, and conciously go down a different path.
Here is my advice-when mom calls, and starts talking about all her happy service-interrupt-say, "Really?" then tell her your news. If she starts talking about abuse-tell her in no uncertain terms that you are through pursuing it with the elders. Keep repeating this as often as necessary in as few words as possible. Don't go further into the discussion. Don't bother downing the WTS if you know how she'll react-YOU are the one who will have the ill effects of the conversation.
You need peace. Hate can eat you up inside.
I can't say that I have found full peace (will that ever happen for any of us?), so know that I am not "cured" by any means. I was not abused but my child was treated horrifically by elders who then proceeded to treat my husband unbelievably cruel.
I cope by keeping my mind totally occupied. I am almost through getting a college degree while I work full time. It keeps me super busy. On the other hand, I try to get outside and enjoy nature, to destress. Nothing like a vacation to the mountains to uplift.
Take your girlfriend by the hand. Go to a beautiful outdoor place with a picnic lunch, if possible. Take that deep breath. Don't let them take any more of YOUR LIFE. You deserve to live...you deserve to be happy....YOU CAN DO IT!
a few of you may remember that my wife had a kidney transplant early last year.
since then the kidney has been incredible, giving her a new lease on life.
it's really been good to see the light in her eyes that i had missed for quite a long time.. the counterpoint to this good news is the problems we have had with our son coltin.
So sorry to hear all that your family is going through. So glad you all have each other, and that your wife is better.
