My husband and I just put up our Christmas lights and outside greenery and I got a start on the inside decorations, tomorrow we will get the tree. I love to decorate for the holidays and really appreciate having the freedom to do so, especially since I missed it for so many years.
LisaRose
JoinedPosts by LisaRose
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14
Merry Christmas to all of you on JWN and to those of you that have escaped mind control!
by RayPublisher inmerry christmas people!
here's my take on xmas.
enjoy this lovely close to 2014 my friends:.
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14
Finally Gave My First Anti-Witness After 11 Years
by new light inhello one and all.. the local jws had a booth set up at my university today and something just came over me.
i went to a computer, found a list of failed prophecies, printed and stapled it, and walked over to the middle aged woman and the 10-ish years old girl.
the woman said "if you are interested in anything, take it for free.
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LisaRose
Well done! It's hard to do what you did, either you don't feel comfortable saying anything negative, or you do say something against the Watchtower, but in an angry and confrontational way, which causes people to get their back up and ignore what you say. To be able to state your truth while being nice is an achievement.
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what would happen If?
by sowhatnow ini submitted a letter to the local k hall, explaining that i no longer believe my baptism as a jw is valid, based on my current bible knowlege.
and i wish to be no longer considered a baptised [in this organization], jw, but simply a christain who studies the bible.. and then would continue to attend meetings?.
they couldnt prevent me, its open to the public.. .
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LisaRose
This religion is like the hotel California, you can check in but you can never check out.
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Funeral for an atheist
by Stealth in99% of all funerals that i have attended have been the wt version, where they preach about the resurrection into paradise and say little about the person who passed other than they were loyal to jah.
the other 1% catholic for grandparents.. now that i consider myself an atheist, i got to wondering what do atheists plan for when they die?.
if you are a non-believer what are your plans for when you die?
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LisaRose
After they take whatever organs may be of some use, I want to be cremated and my ashes spread in San Francisco bay. I told my husband a cheap pine box is good enough for the cremation, I won't know the difference, and it will only be used for a short time anyway.
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Your favourite dog breed ...?
by LoveUniHateExams inin an earlier thread, i mentioned that i wasn't a particularly doggy person but that my parents got a husky last year that i've come to regard as a kind of brother.. huskies superficially resemble wolves and for me it's been fun to compare and contrast husky and wolf behaviour.
huskies howl but rarely bark, and seem to have a strong prey drive and a strong pack instinct - a nod to their wild cousins.
this is why i love huskies, i think.. do you have a favourite dog breed and why?.
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LisaRose
I love them all, I couldn't choose one. I had a husky mix dog, she was the best dog ever. She was sweet and gentle, but I believe she would have defended me to the death. She loved my grandson, and when he was a baby she would guard him, if he started crying she would whine at us until we did something. As a toddler he got up on the table, so she came to get us in the other room and let us know there was a problem. We moved to another state so she didn't see him for a few years. She was an old, very sedate dog by then, but she ran around the house like a puppy she was so happy to see him. She was big, about 95 pounds, but lived until she was fourteen.
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My dog just died.
by panhandlegirl ini just buried my beloved poddle, little brother.
he died suddenly.
i know to most people that is not an important event.
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LisaRose
I am so sorry for your loss. While I don't equate the life of a pet to that of a human, I have had several "fur children" through the years, they become such a part of your life that losing them is very hard. I had a big husky mix girl that lived to age fourteen and a dainty tuxedo cat that died at seventeen, that's a lot of years shared, I felt the loss deeply, I held them both as they were euthanized.
My current cat is a dilute tortie named Lizzie. She makes me laugh out loud at least once a day, I don't know what I would do without her. This week I was missing a tube of cortisone cream, so I looked under the bed and found it, as well as two boxes of Kleenex that had also gone missing. I knew Lizzie did it because one of the boxes was shoved up in the box springs. Why Kleenex, and how she managed to get it up there I have no idea. She has been known to find things, but usually she brings her treasures to share/show off, obviously she was keeping these to herself, the little thief. I guess that also explains the missing box of cat nip.
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Be effective or people will die
by Odrade inmy husband and i have been out of the org for quite some time, but still find that old ideas and values come up and bite us on the ass.. lately, i've been plagued by an increase in the frequency and severity of my nightmares (which have always been an issue,) so i've begun to dream journal.
in just a few days, this realization cropped up.
i can't save people.. i've been blogging again recently.
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LisaRose
Glad to hear you are doing better. I do think there is value in talking about how leaving a cult/high control religion can affect you, even years later. Some people can walk away and have no problems, but everyone is different, and its not your fault if you still struggle with feelings of guilt or still have fears or issues. Talking about it can help, so can writing or journaling about it.
I thought I had escaped with no problems but after moving from an area with few witnesses to one where they cover the territories every month, I was surprised that I became nervous when talking to them. It just show how deep rooted these fears can be, you know it's not logical, but logic these fears are n a deep level where logic doesn't matter.
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Why is it wrong for Christians to celebrate Christmas?
by james_woods inthis was inspired by terry's thread.... it is something that raises many questions about the jw belief system.. .
for one thing - the bible certainly explains all the details of the christ birth.
it certainly does not tell people to avoid celebrating it with feasts, customs, etc.
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LisaRose
The Watchtower logic for using the name Jehovah is that even though they know it's not the proper pronunciation of YHWH, is that it's the name that is widely accepted and it's better to use the wrong name than no name at all. So.... since we don't know when Jesus was born, why do we not use December 25th, since its widely accepted, and it's better to celebrate the birth of Christ on the wrong day than not to celebrate it at all?
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Of Pain, Growth, Change, and Moving Forward
by SnarlingRaven in"did you not in your discontentment make supplication to the great void, and to the darkness, to bring forth the mighty storm that lays waste to all that stales and stagnates?
did you not climb the treacherous mountain to witness the melting of snow?
do not peals of blinding light illuminate your face?
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LisaRose
Well I quite like it.
Change is hard. It's like jumping into a cold lake on a hot summer day, it's a shock, it feels very uncomfortable at first, and you wish you hadn't, but pretty soon it gets easier and then it's wonderful.
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Be effective or people will die
by Odrade inmy husband and i have been out of the org for quite some time, but still find that old ideas and values come up and bite us on the ass.. lately, i've been plagued by an increase in the frequency and severity of my nightmares (which have always been an issue,) so i've begun to dream journal.
in just a few days, this realization cropped up.
i can't save people.. i've been blogging again recently.
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LisaRose
I think being in a cult affects every one in a different way, some people are just more likely to be damaged by the experience. My daughter obsessed about being put in a concentration camp as a child, thanks to the experiences in the yearbook. While it's not good for anyone, some people are just more vulnerable.
I just got through reading a novel about a Mormon family with four children and what happens when the youngest daughter dies. It's very good, the culture of the Mormons is so similar to the JWs, it felt very familiar. The writer was a Mormon until age thirty, so it's was very true to how a belief system like that affects people.
You could see how the same teachings affect the different children in different ways based on age and personality. The oldest boy never bought into the faith, he struggles with having to pretend he believes he will see his sister again. The youngest boy had trouble accepting the death because he has been taught people can be resurrected and doesn't really understand that it can't happen right now. The older daughter worries excessively about making a mistake and not being worthy of the celestial kingdom and see her sister. The mother, who doesn't have a strong belief, goes into a deep depression and the father, a bishop, struggles with being there for his family while still doing his church work, and everyone feels guilty for what happened. The book is called a song for Issy Bradly by Carys Brady.