opps I meant "caligirl" not "Calibar"....
Truth2Me
JoinedPosts by Truth2Me
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15
Where is help for old ones/Battered wives etc.
by lulu inthere have been many articles from the wt regarding their position on looking after our aged ones and the abused wives and children.
where are the houses of refuge for these ones plus retirement homes?
most other religions have them.i.e.
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15
Where is help for old ones/Battered wives etc.
by lulu inthere have been many articles from the wt regarding their position on looking after our aged ones and the abused wives and children.
where are the houses of refuge for these ones plus retirement homes?
most other religions have them.i.e.
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Truth2Me
Before I was a Witness, I was a born-again Christian. It's a long story but at one point I was staying with the pastor's family of the church I went to. My home life was a nightmare and after years of abuse I was so depressed that I was suicidal. The pastor made a similar call for anyone who could help from the podium as Calibar mentioned above. After six weeks with no response (we were hoping someone could take me in, I was a good kid that just needed a loving home) he sent me back to live with my mom in her ghetto apartement- a living hell. No wonder I never went back to that church...a few weeks later I was introduced to JW when they showed up one Satuday morning...I accepted a Bible study right at that first meeting. I responded well to all the attention, and I finally got the love I needed.
My point is that organized religion lets lots of folks down who need help, JW not exclusively. Because of the treatment I got from that main-stream non-denominational Christian Church (and there's much more than what I just mentioned here) I thought that the love I was shown by the JWs was a sign from God that they must be the "true Christians" they claim to be.
But, in retro-spect I can see that it's individuals' love and kindness in people, whether they be professing a faith or not, that heals and cares and helps those in need. What is frustrating is when any organization claims to be the end all be all of love etc and to boot, they claim to have God's stamp of approval on their behavior.
I believe that Creator/God/source of energy, whatever you choose to call it/him/her works in everyone that seeks to show love and kindness and a self-sacrificing spirit to help others.
Truth
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15
Where is help for old ones/Battered wives etc.
by lulu inthere have been many articles from the wt regarding their position on looking after our aged ones and the abused wives and children.
where are the houses of refuge for these ones plus retirement homes?
most other religions have them.i.e.
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Truth2Me
I have personally experienced kind and loving care in the way of gifts of money and of housing when I was going through what I call my "homeless adventure" when I was coming into and then later a part of, the JWs.
So, I don't think it's fair to say most JW congregation are entirely heartless to needy ones, because I know that that's not true from my own personal experience, BUT, I also know that there were ones that needed help and weren't getting it and I can see where certain assumptions were made about different ones in the congregation and those wrong assumptions promoted and permitted needy ones to fall through the cracks in an Org that claims to take such good care of it's own. The problem is that though they SAY that they take care of their own and they TELL the R&F to do so....the reality is the atmosphere in the average KH does not promote charity and kindness as it should.
I think it boils down to spiritual maturity. Those that seek to imitate Jesus are genuienly loving and kind, those that seek to imitate a manmade organization don't mature spiritually, they don't imitate Christ, and their works are out of obligation and not out of geniune love for others.
The folks that extended help to me did so because they were loving, genious, caring people, who happened to be Witnesses. I don't think they helped me because they felt obligated to, I think it was because they genuinely cared.
An interesting point that I remember:
The sister who studied with me (pioneer, elders wife, and one of the most loving people I have ever met in my life) told me that only widows age 65 and older were eligiable for "congregation assistance." At that time, I was really struggling to survive, and she just mentioned that, though I did not ask about it. That implies that widows age sixty-five and over in good standing good collective monatary assistance from the congregation if need be. So, at least at that time (1997) there was a program in place to help some folks, though it was not available for everyone.
Truth
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17
Anyone in Mo/MA that is free!
by SheilaM in.
i attended cabool, missouri 1983-1987. methuen-ma 1987-1992. gladstone, missouri 1992-1995
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Truth2Me
I go to a support group that meets about every other Saturday. I met two others folks they're and after the meeting I was all excited to meet other ex-JWs so I mentioned this board and how lurking here had helped me so much and it turns out both of them are already on this board!
Though the support group is for anyone from any high-control group and aside from the three of us, the other people are not ex-JWs. (There's about ten people who come or so.) I've found the meetings very useful, although lately they've been very painful to me.(I've been depressed.) We cover how groups manipulate us and how to re-build our lives to feel whole again....as one person so aptly stated "if you don't deal with the pain, then it will deal with you." We also cover how to deal with Post Dramatic Stress Disorder and how the brain deals with what we've all been through, it's very usefull stuff.
The next meeting is Saturday, January 4th at 9am in Lakeville, MA (south of Brockton) if you'd like more info, I can e-mail it to you.
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17
Anyone in Mo/MA that is free!
by SheilaM in.
i attended cabool, missouri 1983-1987. methuen-ma 1987-1992. gladstone, missouri 1992-1995
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Truth2Me
Hi SheilaM,
I was Df'd from a cong in MA, though I spent most of my time "in the Truth" in New Hampshire. I was only in for few years though, so I probably don't know any of the folks you do.
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17
Twilight Zone dealing with Disfellowshiping
by whyhideit inyears ago i was watching a modern twilight zone, which was titled something like "the invisible man.
" i have seen it mentioned on twilight zone fan sites, but i have never been able to find a copy of it on vhs or dvd.
if anyone knows an online source, i would like to find it.
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Truth2Me
Wow....
Scary the parallels to the WTS.....reading that took me back to my own experience. When I was Df'd I was living with a widowed sister. I had a lease, so legally she could not force me to leave, but I would have if she asked me too. She told me that she didn't feel that I was a "threat" to her spiritually, so she let me stay. It was like in the show described above....like I was invisable in my own house. It sucked. She didn't even give me any advance notice when she had Witness guests.....so I'd come home after work and have to leave or hide in my room. When my lease was up I moved out, but it was very ackward. At least working third shift allowed me to have the house to myself while she was at work during the day.
To add to the ackwardness....one night I left for work and noticed a note on my car. I figured it was a nasty-gram from her son, mad that I was moving, because his mom needed my rent money. (Her son lived in an apartment in the garage adjacent to the main house. I had just told my housemate that I was moving out to my own appartment, knowing she would not renew my lease because I was D'fd.) To my surprise, her son was asking me out on a date. He grew up as a Witness, but I don't think he was ever baptised, and I didn't know if he knew I was D'fd or not.
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8
New Designs for Bethel Submitted Last week
by Gizmo in.
below are the blue prints for the new bethel headquarters in new york .
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Truth2Me
ROFLMAO!!!!!!
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35
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: anyone?
by gilwarrior inmy compultion is locks.
whenever i leave my house i have to turn the doorknob two, three, four and even five times to make sure it is locked.
i have done it so much that my door knob is getting loose.
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Truth2Me
jgnat that is so true.....and funny!!!! LOL
others sometimes do get a kick outta my little OCD quorks. Though, I have started a trend...now several other woman here at work use a paper towel to open the doors when exiting the ladies room.
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35
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: anyone?
by gilwarrior inmy compultion is locks.
whenever i leave my house i have to turn the doorknob two, three, four and even five times to make sure it is locked.
i have done it so much that my door knob is getting loose.
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Truth2Me
I've be aware that I've got OCD for years.....I rememer counting being an issue when I was little, and I'm also a hoarder too.....I save everything and have a really hard time throwing stuff out sometimes....but years ago I saw a special on the Discovery Channel about OCD and they suggested trying to reason with yourself "this is irrational, it's OKAY to throw this out" etc....and it did help me to try and change my self-talk and thought patterns and in turn that helped me to modify my behavior.
I have rituals that I have to do, or I feel like something terrible will happen....like at soon as I leave the house, I'm gripped with fear that I left the stove on (I have a wicked old oven/stove and it heats my apartment)....so I have to go back to check it, sometimes several times.....but mostly I have rituals about hand washing. When I was in highschool, I had "wash the school off my hands" as I would say, as soon as I got home. Now that they have Purell (instant hand sanitizer) I can't function without it.....I carry a small bottle of Purell everywhere I go. I use it constantly, everytime I touch anything like a doornob or anything that anyone else has touched.
Now....some of that started as just a health conscious thing....I saw a special on 20/20 years ago about how the common cold is spread when people touch their noses or eyes when they haven't washed their hands....so I NEVER touch my eyes or nose in public, I have to wash my hands or use Purell first. BUT I justify myself by pointing out that I hardly ever get sick. Case in point: everyone at my work is sick, but not me.....whenever I touch common areas, I use my Purell, and if someone else touches my computer keyboard or pen, I use disinfecting wipes before I will use them again.
In the ladies room, this is my routine. Open the door, head right for the sink. I first push the lever on the paper towel dispenser to release a towel, then I turn on the facet, use the soap from the soap dispencer, wash my hands, then I use the paper towell to turn off the facet (I used my dirty hand to turn it on, so I don't want to touch that!) then I use the paper towel to push the towel dispencer lever again to get another paper towel sheet to dry my hands completely. Then I can use the toilet. Then I repeat the aforementioned sink ritual, and I use a paper towel to open the doors until I get back to my desk, where I am in a "clean zone" and I can discard the paper towel.
In the winter, such as now, I have a pair of gloves that I use to touch things like door and such, to keep my hands clean. When I don't have gloves, before I had Purell, I would use the sleeve of my jacket to cover my hand, and open doors that way.
I know I have a problem, but I can live with it...it's not "out of control", so I'm okay with it. BUT not everyone else is.....I had one boyfriend who left me because he was freaked out by my rituals, his loss.
Thanks goodness for Purell!
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14
Ever think of going back undercover?
by jws inwas watching a new tv show called "do over" where a grown man goes back in time and is a high school student again, with all of his adult knowledge.
the premise has often come to my mind.
what would i have done if i knew then what i know now?
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Truth2Me
I just remember something....
Apparently some people HAVE gone back undercover, found at the door by an unsuspecting Witness, and that must be why when you get baptised they ask "Has anyone been batised before?"
When I was changing in the ladies room right before I was baptised a JW a woman came into the bathroom and asked if anyone had been baptised before and I said "Yeah, this is my third time (I was sprinked Catholic and dunked as a Born-Again Christian before meeting JWs)" She asked, panicky "as a Witness?", and I said no of course.
I wonder what the significance is legally if you go back undercover.