this site has gone through many metamorphosis over the years.
i believe it is a kinder, less edgy place tan it was a few years ago.
i wonder how many people were helped versus turned off by this place.
No.
However, while I was already out for a year or two by this time, "Trevorgate" proved to be a bit of a test...It was a a cautionary wake up call I believe for many of us here at the time.
Overall my experience here has been very positive, on several levels.
d4g
i've been looking on this site for some time but never posted.
i'll give a little about myself, but not too much.
i'm a ex-bethelite ( brooklyn )and currently serving as an elder (10 years) (thinking about stepping down) on the service committee.
I agree with the OP.
This really comes down to a cost/benefits analysis. There is certain cost associated with staying in. While I agree that in more conservative, less educated, and poorer areas, "true" believers are more common, most in more liberal areas "believe" as long as the cost is not too great. That was me for several of the last years I was in, and probably true of many of us here.
The cost generally becomes too great when a personal situation arises, (whatever it may be), that allows one to realize that staying in is more expensive, (usually in terms of personal freedoms), than leaving.This is more common amongst the more liberal areas, since these generally have greater opportunities presented to JWs outside of the organization.
In most congregations I was associated with in the northeastern US, many JWs have college educations, careers, families with children, homes, etc. This is not the case everywhere. I also went to college in the Midwest, and saw a very different lifestyle amongst the JWs there, and that was 20+ years ago. The liberal folks, (and I was one of them), tend to remain JW, (in many ways a hedging of a bet), as long as it makes sense to. I think the GB know this, and hence, a big push against higher ed recently. People don't leave because they go to university, they tend to leave later in life as the opportunities presented allow a person to see they can have a good life post-JW. As soon as something happens, (a divorce, some injustice in the congregation, etc.), a person with such a life can easily come to the conclusion that putting more time and effort in the JW life is throwing good time and effort after bad. This is a much more difficult conclusion to come to when one's options are limited.
d4g
as someone brought up as a jw and been an elder and been disfellowshipped (twice!!!
) i find it difficult to understand why ex jws have to attack the religion, yes religion, not cult or sect.
i am no longer disfellowshipped just do not want to practice anymore.
Let me be perfectly clear about something. Folks do not come on here to attack JWs. The discussion that takes place here, is a combination of therapy, cautionary warning to others, and education and assistance to those who have left or trying to leave, and dealing with the baggage. I left 9 years ago, and still have a need for all or some of these things at one time or another.
As far as "attacking" the WTBTS goes, well that is fair game. Karma is a bitch.
d4g
i've been looking on this site for some time but never posted.
i'll give a little about myself, but not too much.
i'm a ex-bethelite ( brooklyn )and currently serving as an elder (10 years) (thinking about stepping down) on the service committee.
Good thread. No time to read all of it now, (at work), but will and add my observations later.
d4g
i don't post on here for often, but i read posts almost daily and i love our little community of ex-jw's.
a little bit of a background i was raised in as jw but was never baptized but was a publisher and believe it wholehearedly.
my father was very strict when it came to the religion and although i really quit going in my early 20s (which broke his heart) it held a power over me until i was close the to 30. at 30 i decided to enroll in community college while working full time and got my aa last year.
When I wrote my personal statement to go back to school for my masters, I did include some references, (no direct quotes), concerning my upbringing. Since it was honest and purely my take on the matter, I wrote the statement in about 2 hours, complete with proofreading and editing, (I needed to edit very little).
PM me if you want to see what I wrote as a guide.
d4g
it appears that a new 16-page brochure, with the title "return to jehovah" is to be released at the regional convention (dc) this year.
it would be written specifically for those faded or da/df.chapters are:a letter from the governing body1.
the lost one i will search for2.
It's also for the beneifit of the media. Non-JW's are often astounded when they hear of the harshness of disfellowshipping, I'm betting that the WT will respond by saying that they do all they can to help the DF'd ones to return and quote this booklet.
I would agree that this has much to do with it also. They organization is taking heat in the media these days for both their child abuse issues, (primarily), and secondly for their shunning policies. Even through it is nothing more than a re-hash of a 2008 article, the fact they feel the need to address it again, fits the context of an organization that is trying to save their image.
d4g
it appears that a new 16-page brochure, with the title "return to jehovah" is to be released at the regional convention (dc) this year.
it would be written specifically for those faded or da/df.chapters are:a letter from the governing body1.
the lost one i will search for2.
it appears that a new 16-page brochure, with the title "return to jehovah" is to be released at the regional convention (dc) this year.
it would be written specifically for those faded or da/df.chapters are:a letter from the governing body1.
the lost one i will search for2.
Londo111 - Growth is at a standstill in many places. Most baptisms are children of JWs...and only a third of those remain who were raised JW. There are many former JWs...it would make sense to try to get some growth that they are not seeing from door to door.
I suppose...but this really smacks of desperation, if that were the reason.
d4g
it appears that a new 16-page brochure, with the title "return to jehovah" is to be released at the regional convention (dc) this year.
it would be written specifically for those faded or da/df.chapters are:a letter from the governing body1.
the lost one i will search for2.
Why would they even bother with this?
d4g
even as an atheist i consider myself spiritual, always have, metaphysics and spiritual discussions about enlightenment and so on i find interesting, even if belief in a yhwh is not in me.
i want to propose this simple definition of the word "spiritual" among jehovah's witnesses.. spiritual = indoctrination or indoctrinated.
i have been told how i'm "just not a spiritual man".
Even as a JW I never ascribed to the JW definition of "spiritual".
d4g
