Posts by LisaRose

59

Why don't you do anything?

by WireRider in

i'm not jw, so i see this all standing up and very clear from an outsider perspective (i am still seeking my path).

i joined the blog a few weeks ago.

i dated a divorced jw (jw from birth) for a couple of years recently.

It's a good idea in theory. One problem is that not every EX JW is active on these boards. This is the board that has the most action, but even though there are thousands of members, not that many are active at any given time. So I'm not sure we could get enough people to make an impact. Possibly Simon, who owns JWN, could generate an email to them, if he felt that was appropriate, and I doubt if he would. He takes privacy issues seriously, and many who come here need their anonymity.

The problem with many ex JWs is that a lot of them don't know the truth about the truth. They left for various reasons but still think it's the only true religion, they are still under cult mind control and are afraid of us so called apostates. I didn't look for JWN until eight years after I left, I still sort of believed the myth of the scary, bitter apostates.

Still, it's an idea worth exploring. I think there is a thread right now working on something like that. This may be a pivotal time for the Watchtower. They are obviously in some kind of financial trouble and are coming up with ridiculous explanations for their generation teaching. There must be a lot of people in the organization who are having doubts, it would be great to take advantage of that.

Another problem is there needs to be someone to spearhead that. There are some EX JW activists out there, and there was an an activist EX JW organization, whose name we must not mention, that tried to do something like that, but they made some major missteps and burned a lot of bridges in the ex JW community, some of the members were banned from here. So you would need a new group or individual to do this, I don't know of anyone who is in a position to take it on, or has the necessary expertise.

25

where shall we go

by Sabin in

yesterday i read something that hurt my heart.

at a talk given by a brother lyman swingle ( i apologize if i am stepping out of line by using this) he said "that if you leave the jw ( i find it difficult to refer to it as the truth now days) you may as well go jump off a bridge".

this i think is disgraceful talk to say to any body let alone an audience in which children are present.

LisaRose

Ah, the classic "where shall we go?" Not only is it a misapplication of scripture it's a cult mind control technique. I remember many JWs saying that exact thing, I used to think it myself. Have doubts? We're you badly treated by the elders? Do you miss your family that have left? You could leave, but:

Cult Technique : Deception

The world is bad/scary dangerous and is getting worse every day. There is no hope for mankind.

Cult Tecnique: Fear and intimidation

You will turn into an evil apostate with no faith and no hope and you will die at Armageddon.

Cult Technique: exclusivism

You could join another church, but other religions are false and disgusting. Only we have the truth, there is no place to go but here.

Cult Tecnique: Relationship Control

If you leave you will loose all your family and all your friends.

45

No the WT Borg is not closing! That's Wild Dreaming!

by DwainBowman in

no the wt borg is not closing!

that's wild dreaming!

they have been changing directions for a while now, and for whatever reasons, what is happening now is a part of that change!

LisaRose

I don't think they will ever close completely, but I think they are in trouble, their actions smack of desperation. If their money troubles and child abuse issues become widely known to the rank and file I think you will see more people leaving. I think you will see their numbers shrinking in the next few years.

73

This weeks service meeting! More craziness.....

by stuckinarut2 in

so this weeks service meeting is so full of "crazy".

a whole 15 min part devoted to trying to indoctrinate everyone on how to "explain our beliefs on 1914".

then another 15 min part called "a tool to help us explain our beliefs about 1914".

LisaRose

They would be smart to drop the whole 1914 date and generation thing. If they just stopped talking about it most people would eventually forget it was ever a main part of their theology. They did that with 1975, and people quickly forgot they ever expected Armageddon to happen that year. I talked to a JW who was only told that some people believed that, she had no idea it was a main tenet of JW beliefs at that time. Their ridiculous explanations just bring attention to the fact that their previous predictions didn't come true.

27

Tired of the truth... Tired of doubting

by Deltawave in

i'm reaching out here, i've known ttatt for about 3-4 years now.

sadly when i first grasped it i had a total mental breakdown as i was a hard core firm to the core pioneer and 110% believer of my faith.!

now nearly 2years on after my breakdown i still have to attend to please my jw wife.

LisaRose

I know that leaving might seem like an impossible dream, and to leave would be very difficult, but I think you need to bite the bullet and start living your life. You are in am impossible limbo. However difficult leaving is, you will get through it and your life will go on.

If you are struggling with this I think you really should get some counseling. Life can be great, so why settle for what you have? The last few years as a JW I was only staying in for my mother. She had suffered when some of my siblings left, I didn't want to do that to her. When I finally got my courage up to tell her, I found out she didn't consider me a JW anyway since I wasn't regular in service. Some of what you fear may not even happen, or not be as bad as you think, but you won't know until you try.

I also highly recommend meditation to help you clarify your thoughts and deal with anxiety and depression. Here is a post I just did on how to do it.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/281631/meditation-linked-increased-age-health-smarts#491550003

There will be no Armageddon, this life is all you have, make the most of it. It's not selfish to live your life with integrity, according to your principles, and according to your beliefs. It's your life after all.

39

Had you thought of feeling sorry for the G.B?

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

i only bring this to the board, because a friend of mine once said he felt sorry for the footballers who made so much money.

that comment stayed with me, and over the years,the more i thought about that comment the more i agreed with him.. i admit the g.b destroy people's life's and are the sublimation of all that's good in people's life.

there only excuse is a fantazy asylum they claim to believe in.

LisaRose

My husband's family has a saying, it's pretty much the family motto, it's this: if you are looking for sympathy, you can find it in the dictionary, it's between shit and syphilis.

These demi gods may be sincere in their beliefs, who knows, but they didn't get where they are without sweeping a lot of dirt under the rug and hurting a lot of people. They could not possibly be ignorant of the broken families, the suicides, the lives ruined, all because of their harsh shunning policies and their need for absolute control. Somewhere along the way they lost their humanity. I will save my sympathy for the people who's lives they ruined.

119

Latest rumor - all WT construction "suspended", except for Warwick

by sir82 in

jw
friends

heard 4th-hand, but from a full-on believer, so not likely to be an "apostate lie":.

apparently, at bethel's morning worship this morning, it was announced that all worldwide wts construction is "suspended" for an indefinite time, except for the new world headquarters at warwick.. also, the "relocation" of remote translating teams is also suspended.. finally, there will be a "worldwide" reduction in bethel personnel.. all this came to me in a non-english language, and,as noted, 4th-hand.

so it is possible something may have been lost in translation and/or in the multiple steps between bethel morning worship & me.. but if true, it would be quite stunning.

LisaRose

It reminds me of a post I read a while back by someone who volunteered some free lance work in the graphics field. There were fancy new presses that had been sitting there unused for years, no one knew how to use them. The department was completely nonfunctional because people were promoted based on time in position and butt smoothing, each department was run like a fiefdom, there were petty grievances and lack of cooperation among all the departments.

If the whole organization is that dysfunctional, it's not surprising that they have miscalculated and are having cost overruns on a project of that size. They probably thought they could sell the Brooklyn property then cheaply build a fancy, impressive new facility and have enough left over to tide them over until Armageddon. But a dysfunctional organization does not make good decisions, so one bad decision after another causes cost overruns. Using volunteer labor on a Kingdom Hall is one thing, trying to do so on a project of this size and scope was probably not wise.

Things spiral out of control and now they are in trouble. It reminds me of the housing market here in the San Francisco bay area of California. I live in a far flung, small suburban town, not one the super expensive areas. But before the recession housing hit a giant bubble throughout the area. People saw their houses appreciate quickly and some couldn't resist the lure of easy money. One house I looked at in 2009 was a short sale (the seller owes more than the home is worth). The owners bought at $550k, then took out a second loan for $200K after the house went up to $750K in the bubble. The economy tanked, they lost their job, and lost the house, which they sold for $380k. Who knows what happened to the money they took out. If they hadn't spent their equity they might have been able to ride it out, the house is now back to what they paid for it and then some.

Bad decision on top of bad decisions. If they had stayed in Brooklyn they might have been able to fix things, but they are in a pickle now.

12

Meditation linked to increased age, health, and smarts?

by EndofMysteries in

i recently read how advanced meditation increases the brains waves, higher frequency alpha waves which is linked to higher state of consciousness and intelligence.

now i saw this article, http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/10/health/can-meditation-really-slow-aging/index.html?hpt=hp_c3 that it also increases life and health, etc.

i haven't really read or researched meditation but i was wondering if anybody has got into it, into a 'non religious' aspect of it.

LisaRose

I meditate regularly and it has been life changing for me. While meditation is used as part of a religious practice, it is not religious of itself, there are all different ways to meditate. Meditation is about controlling your breathing to induce a relaxed state in the mind. It has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and improve mood. It's free, not difficult and has no negative effects, so there really is no downside. I believe meditation should be taught in school, we would have a lot less stress, depression and conflict if every person meditated.

I have ADHD, which I only discovered a few years ago. I now know it's why I struggled in school despite an above average IQ, why I had trouble paying attention at meetings, why I was disorganised. Meditation has helped me a great deal to slow down my busy brain, improve my focus and be more organized. I also reduced my blood pressure from a borderline high 140 to a healthy 118, with no medication. After several years of dabbling with it off and on, I finally got serious recently and I am seeing a huge payoff in increased memory, focus and productivity.

It's certainly worth giving it a try. It does take practice to become good at it, but it is not difficult. There are a lot of ways to meditate, so if one doesn't work, try another one that works for you. I find it helps to have music, but it has to be the right kind. I have Pandora, so I created a station called "Meditation by the sea" that has very calming music with added nature sounds (as an added plus the cat loves it and it seems to calm her down too). It also functions as a timer by using the the sleep timer function under settings. If you don't use Pandora, use a regular timer, five or ten minutes is good to start out with. You need to find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Find a comfortable position, close your eyes and think about your body, make sure you are not tensing your muscles. Think about each part of your body and notice if the muscles are relaxed or not. You can tense them, then release the tension to be sure.

Then slowly breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. As you breath, think about your breath, the noise the air makes as you breathe in and out, how the air feels in your lungs, the pressure change as you exhale, the sound it makes. Try to focus only on that. Other thoughts will intrude, but just dismiss them and go back to focusing only on your breath. The first five minutes will seem like thirty, that is normal. Keep bringing your attention back to your breath. In our hurry up culture our brains are used to constant stimulation so your brain will rebel at being forced to stop the constant stream of conscious thought. This is normal, keep at it and keep bringing your mind back to your breath. Every day add a few minutes. You will find that it gets easier with time, and you will then start seeing the benefit.

You can also try a guided meditation, you can easily find them on line. You just listen as someone talks you through a meditation.

I also like a meditation where instead of focusing on the breath you focus on a pleasant scene that is relaxing to you. I like to visualize being at the beach. You simply visualize the sights, sounds and smells of being at the beach. Think about how the sand feels between your toes, how the air smells, the crash of the waves,etc.

That's it, easy peazy.

24

i'm changing, but for the worse

by embarrassed in

that is the truth-- that's really how i think now.

so why should i tell the truth?

just look at the person i've become.

LisaRose

Why would you want to be with someone who called you a liar, even when you told the truth? Maybe you are lying because you know he wouldn't like the truth, in which case you are taking the easy way out. If he is a jerk about things, and it sounds like he is, then who can blame you? If you are lying for no particular reason, then you have a problem and need therapy to figure out why you are a compulsive liar. If you lie because your boyfriend is a jerk, then the solution is simple, dump the boyfriend.

41

When you read this Richard Glossip will probably be dead.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

how do i feel about this?.

too much doubt.. shame on you people who are responsible for putting richard to death.. richard is scheduled to be put to death in oklahoma at 3pm on september 16th by lethal injection.

i have followed this case and feel like so many people very bad about this.

LisaRose

I used to be for the death penalty, but I have come to believe it does more harm than good because:

Innocent people are sometimes wrongfully convicted.

The death penalty is often not carried out, leaving the convicted and the families of their victims in extended limbo.

They don't seem to know how to put people to death without making them suffer.

It costs more to put someone to death than to keep them incarcerated.

I would be fine with keeping the death penalty if it were reserved for very, very unusual cases where the evidence was overwhelming, where the crime was extremely callous and violent and where the method used to execute was without pain or suffering and if all cases were fast tracked through the system, taking no longer than two years. This would be for people like Ted Bundy and the Aurora theater shooter.

I believe the death penalty is a holdover from a time when society was more primitive and lifetime incarceration was difficult and cruel to the incarcerated. In this time it serves no real purpose, it doesn't reduce or prevent crime and it seldom brings closure to the family of the victims. It also should not be decided state by state, what we have now is a patchwork of laws that vary considerably from state to state. Death penalty cases, if we must have them, should be decided on a federal level.