Posts by DesertRat

38

What religion are you... if any?

by Effervescent in

jw
friends

interesting little flashy thingie, toolie on usa today (see how professional i sound?).

http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/gnoreligion/flash.htm.

interesting results in new york.... where the world wide headquarters of jws resides... .

DesertRat

One nice thing about my own 'freedom' is that I can investigate or explore different religions & spiritual paths without feeling pressured or obligated to identify myself with any one of them in particular. Perhaps that will change in the future, but for now it is a relief just to be able to read, ponder, & especially THINK ON MY OWN without being fenced in..

While I very definitely have my spiritual 'preferences' (i.e., the Toltec concepts of the 'spiritual warrior,' as written about by Castaneda & others, are especially empowering for me), I try always to keep in mind something I once gleaned from Buddhism, "Open to everything, but attached to nothing.." Which partly means that on Sundays when I am not hiking, I could end up anywhere from an Orthodox Church, a synagogue, a Buddhist temple, or being moved to tears at a Native American powwow. I can also read books on Huna (ancient Hawaiian spirituality) or African religions & gain insights I didn't think possible..

One of the very few conclusions I have arrived at for myself is that however we got here (whether by creation or the Big Bang, or whatever you choose to believe), people of every color & culture in history have had something to say, a story to tell, or something to contribute towards solving the eternal puzzle of who we are & where we are going (kind of like a world quilt). I think that as a brainwashed JW, another one of the burning issues or questions I always had (but kept well under wraps!!) was what the contribution of other world cultures was during the time the Bible was written. Now I have the privilege to embark upon that quest for myself..

My best wishes for the religious and/or spiritual growth of everyone here, & thank you all for helping me along on my own journey..

Peace,

DesertRat

41

How Will You Die at Armageddon?

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

.

before i found this website, i accepted the fact that i was going to be destroyed at armageddon.

but now that i know it's a big lie, i don't worry about that.. but just for fun, if you could choose your armageddonly death, how would you like to go?

DesertRat

Going on that last long hike into the mountains at sunset. Tequila in my backpack..

DR

52

What has this board given to you?

by Crumpet in

jw
friends

having cooled down a bit in the garden i got to thinking about what this board has given me and wondered what anyone else feels they have gained from it.. for me its been invaluable and even life changing:.

1) freedom from the brainwashing - when i came here i had already read ray franz's books and still believed it jws had the truth - hat i was basically worthless and that i would die at armageddon.

the reasoned conversations and help of the posters from all over the world has enabled me to have freedom of thought - something i didnt even know i didnt have until i spent time here.. 2) friends who empathise and know from an experience what i have been through in a way outsiders can never possiby understand.. 3) entertainment - unbelievable laughs and moments of humour that have cheered me up so many times.. 4) association - via the aposta bbqs and telephone chats i can now have so i don't feel so isolated and to some extent alleviates the awful pain of separation from my loved family.. 5) information - from this board and posters here i have found out things that were my right to know but would never have learnt otherwise - my sisters marriage, my aunts tragic death.. 6) reunions - i have now met at least one person who knows me from my childhood and has grown into a man of such kindness and patience that i would have missed out on completely had he not been here and been kind enough to hold my hand - even when i've been an irritating totured little idiot!.

DesertRat

All of the above, & one thing more... HOPE..

11

Aspergers syndrom

by avengers in

.

does anyone here have any knowledge about how to get along with someone who has been diagnosed with the asperger syndrom?.

andy

DesertRat

Here are a couple more sites which might be of help or interest to you:

www.aspergers.com

www.aspiesforfreedom.com

I was diagnosed last November after a lifetime of social & emotional blunders, & just not being understood by the majority of people (least of all myself). As with my growing awareness of the JW farce that I bought into for too long, the diagnosis was one of those defining moments that finally described so much of what went wrong in my life..

As a child I alternately delighted & irritated my teachers because I was supposedly so bright & 'gifted' but could not consistently apply myself to my schoolwork (the word 'lazy' was drilled into my head over & over by my parents & teachers alike). I often did independent 'reports' on obscure languages such as Basque or Azerbaijani but could not remember to do my math homework. At the age of nine I could recite the capital of every world country but was unable to keep my shoelaces tied. I don't think I can count the number of times I went home from school or a KH meeting & cried because nobody, not even me, could understand what made me so 'different' (it wasn't just the crazy religion that did that..)

More recently an online test showed my IQ as 140 (???). Thanks to resources such as a local Asperger's support group, I am finally starting to understand the invisible barriers that have always made the ordinary demands & social conventions of life so much more difficult for me, but I know that it will not be an easy road ahead. People on this site have been incredibly supportive & understanding of me.

Sad emo--the list you posted will be very helpful to my friends who have been searching for ways to understand & help me.

Thanks & my heartfelt best wishes to anyone else who is dealing with this, or knows someone who is..

DesertRat

41

The End is coming Pretty Soon, Folks

by Flowerpetal in

jw
friends

i have been inactive from jws since 2003. i don't post here very much -- do more reading than posting.

but i just had to tell y'all that i got a one-page tract this evening which is an invitation to attend the deliverance at hand convention.. yes...the end is coming pretty soon because never before in jw history has an invitation or tract been distributed to a city not designated a convention city.. the end is also coming pretty soon because i was told at the convention there will be a lot of talks about noah and what he faced.. in addition, the end is very near because later on this year there will be several announcements coming from the society.

wow!

DesertRat

Abarth Carrera, I believe??? My father loved those..

Thanks,

DR

41

The End is coming Pretty Soon, Folks

by Flowerpetal in

jw
friends

i have been inactive from jws since 2003. i don't post here very much -- do more reading than posting.

but i just had to tell y'all that i got a one-page tract this evening which is an invitation to attend the deliverance at hand convention.. yes...the end is coming pretty soon because never before in jw history has an invitation or tract been distributed to a city not designated a convention city.. the end is also coming pretty soon because i was told at the convention there will be a lot of talks about noah and what he faced.. in addition, the end is very near because later on this year there will be several announcements coming from the society.

wow!

DesertRat

If I had a penny for every time I heard the end was 'near,' I could have bought a Porsche years ago..

DR

78

Favorite Band as a teenager........

by whyamihere in

jw
friends

as a teenager, what was your favorite band?

this band can be a local, main stream etc..... my favorite local band was little blue crunchy things, they were from milwaukee, wi.

(even hung out with them)!

DesertRat

U2--especially the albums "Unforgettable Fire" & "Joshua Tree" (great for driving in the desert..)

61

Were YOU Depressed When You Were A Witness?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i've seen soooo many witnesses taking meds or alcohol because of unhappiness and depression.

i know of one woman who regularly gos to her shrink and is the most depressed person that i know of.

personally, i believe it's because a jw can never do enough to satisfy god or the elders....what do you think?

DesertRat

To say that I was a depressed Dub, especially towards the end, would be one of the biggest understatements of my life..

As with many others on this site, no doubt, I sincerely believe that I tried my hardest to do all that I thought was right, all that was expected of me, & more (was any of it EVER enough??? Nooo!!!!!!!). I knocked on the doors, gave the talks, sat through convention after convention warning me of Armageddon's 'nearness,' endured ridicule at school & elsewhere because I was different & thought Jehovah would be proud, & pretty much sacrificed myself & any notions of self-worth for the sake of the 'Kingdom'--all the while wondering why I still felt hollow & unfulfilled (or why two of my friends, one a pioneer & the other ex-Patterson, committed suicide..). There was the loneliness & alienation of being 'different' for other reasons & not being able to explain it to anyone, the anguish in my head that the 'brothers' & 'sisters' could not, or would not, understand (at least not without canned advice such as 'pray more' & 'go out in service more'). And there were the times I sat up all night reading the Bible & spilling my guts to Jehovah--for nothing. If any of that isn't depressing, I don't know what is..

It was not until I somehow got through my attempts on my life, & my 2004 rollover accident (during which moment I asked God to let me die), that I started to realize that maybe, just maybe, the real problem was not ME (as had been drilled into my head all those years), & that I might have a real reason to be here that I was just looking for in all the wrong places. I don't claim to have found all the answers for myself, but I am working on it..

Depression of another sort occasionally takes hold as I realize that adjusting to life on the 'outside' is not as easy or as effortless as I had hoped (perhaps because it is difficult to let go of something we have held onto for so long, even when we know it was all a lie). Fortunately, this time I know the REASON & that it will fade away in time as long as I continue to work on myself--reading, exploring, journaling, spending time in the mountains, & coming to this site as often as possible.

(((((((Anyone else who has battled similar depression before, or is dealing with it now)))))))

Your Friend,

DR

22

Is it cancer? STOP! Don't talk about it.

by Tigerman in

jw
friends

i visited my jw son and daughter - who were raised in the faith - in may.

my son is 37 years old, intelligent and is a hard worker and a good provider for his family.

we were having breakfast when my daughter-in-law mentioned the ' lump' on my sons back.

DesertRat

My JW aunt (one of the world's worst hypochondriacs & health nuts..) developed eosinophilia as a result of the contaminated L-Tryptophan, which she took in far greater than the recommended amounts. She also took so much golden seal herb (her self-proclaimed 'cure all') that it caused an intestinal obstruction, landing her in the hospital for emergency surgery in 1986.

When my father was dying of cancer, a well-meaning but obviously misguided JW recommended Pau D'Arco, a South American herb reputed to cure cancer & a host of other illnesses. Without telling his oncologist (who very likely would have had a fit..), my mother gave him the tea. It put him into such a stupor that he slept for three days straight & scared the hell out of both of us..

Natural medicine definitely has its place, but a certain balance is needed. If someone has a ruptured appendix or has lost alot of blood as a result of a serious accident, vitamins or a poultice of strange-smelling herbs aren't going to do much good at all..

DR

63

What songs got you through good or tough times?

by jojochan in

i've been in an upbeat mood lately.

i don't know if it's all the exercise that i'm doing or what but i've not been moody all 3 weeks.one thing that i've noticed, is that i've listened to certain songs that made me forget about "her" and move on with bigger and better things.

when i was depressed i listened to some songs from tool, some from the cure, barbra manning, the old babyface songs,some from sade, sweetback, and maxwell and everything but the girl.

DesertRat

I am not normally a fan of covers or remakes, but that is one of the few exceptions..

My father was a huge Johnny Cash fan..

DR