Posts by LisaRose

21

This Thing That Was My Mother

by TimeBandit in

jw
friends

this thing that was my mother.

this thing that was my mother, so withered and blackened now,.

was once so kind and loving, but things have changed somehow.. remember when you'd hold me, and soothe my childhood fears?.

LisaRose

Your poem made me tear up. My daughter was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, so I know what you are dealing with, my heart goes out to you.

37

Nobody at work knows what JWs believe

by Athanasius in

recently susie, one of my co-workers mentioned that her husband's family were all jws.

the family converted after susie's husband left home, so he never joined the jws, nor does he intend to.

anyway another co-worker asked her: "what do the jws believe?".

Considering that they consider the preaching work and proclaiming God's kingdom to be their most important work, they are remarkably ineffectual at it. It's one thing that they can't get anybody to convert, but it's a complete fail that they can't communicate what they consider the most urgent aspect of their message.

48

Jehovah protects his people. Did he ever protect you?

by TimeBandit in

jw
friends

hello forum.

i started this topic because i had been thinking recently about a story that i had heard many times in different congregations over the years.

kind of a jw urban legend if you will.

LisaRose

People believe silly JW urban legends about angelic protection, even though the Watchtower doesn't officially teach that Jehovah protects his people, and even though every other religion has the same exact stories, but when something bad happens to a JW, even one in service or attending a convention, they don't let it affect them. You really can't have it both ways.

It's all just random chance, God has nothing to do with it, but you couldn't say that to a JW.

11

Using the depression card: Only when critical to family?

by JWdaughter in

i just was reading a thread and it occurred to me that "using" depression as a way to deflect from wt obligations is a mistake.

it feeds their sense of superiority-because when you do finally leave or get kicked out, they will say how leaving jehovah ruins lives.

they won't do anything with you anymore in any case, but why feed their delusions?.

LisaRose

The reality is that people who choose to slow down meeting attendance and service when fading will come under a great deal of pressure from well meaning family and friends, and some people are just not in a position to be open about their feelings. When you only choices are to be completely honest and lose your family or to tell a minor fib, I am not going to condemn anyone for choosing the lesser of two evils.

This is a short term tactic, but it can be very helpful during the transition from full believer to inactive JW. It can give the person time to become more sure of their feelings, to get their family used to the idea that they don't want to attend meetings and to get the elders off their backs. Yes, it would be great if everyone could be completely open and honest about their reasons for leaving, but that isn't the reality for most people.

25

13 year anniversary

by gerry in

today marks 13 years since my wife and i have stepped inside a kingdom hall.

after 29 years full on being a jw and a number of years serving as an elder then as the presiding overseer we pulled the plug.

yes 13 years ago coming home from the first day of a circuit assembly i said to my wife “that’s it i am not going back”.

LisaRose

Congratulations on your 13 years of freedom.

Lisa🌹

25

List of "pagan" things JW's allow

by problemaddict 2 in

what i'm looking for specifically is things that are "pagan" in the sense they predate christianity (or i guess judiasm to cover the ole mosaic code), that jw's allow or do.

the ones that come to mind are below.. rings - rings seem to originate in egypt.

for wedding ceremonies it became a symbol of "ownership" in rome.. pinatas - looks like possibly it originated in china as a part of the new year and a request for luck, and catholics later turned it into a beating of temptation type thing.. anything else?.

LisaRose

Thinks with pagan symbolism:

Wedding rings

Honeymoons

Flying kites

Wearing neckties

perfume

Calendars, the months are named Roman God

From JW facts:

For example, when discussing piñatas, Watchtower advises to contemplate how they are currently regarded:

“A main concern is, not what the practice meant hundreds of years ago, but how it is viewed today in your area. Understandably, opinions may vary from one place to another. Hence, it is wise to avoid turning such matters into big issues.” Awake! 2003 Sep 22 pp.23-24

It's hilarious that they say in one case it doesn't matter what the history is, what counts is how they are viewed today, but in other cases you can't do something because it once had a pagan meaning.

20

UPDATE: My existential crisis comes to a close

by Freeandclear in

jw
friends

in case you read my other thread regarding my existential crisis and how it was making my life miserable and left me feeling hopeless, purposeless and joyless i though i'd share what's recently happened to me and my way of thinking and have i've for the time being resolved my existential crisis.

i write every day in a journal.

i've been doing this for years.

LisaRose

Good for you, I think you have arrived at a very healthy place in your spiritual journey.

89

Need advice

by Drwho in

i'm a middle aged man.

i dated a jw lady for 3 months ., we never had sex, just made out , half naked , well everything except underwear .

she has been a jw for 40 years ., was married to a jw but he committed adultery 13 years ago so they divorced .

LisaRose

I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody came here with the exact same story. I wish I could give you hope but it never really turns out well, the JW is usually guilted into going back to the meetings and breaking off the relationship, and the person is heartbroken. She is torn between her desire for a relationship and her belief that she can only survive the coming world annihilation by being a good JW.

This is a cult, they have so seriously brainwashed your friend that she is at present incapable of thinking for herself. She is attracted to you, but at the end of the day her feelings of fear, obligation and guilt will probably win over her attraction for you. If you seriously want to invest time and energy into a lost cause, read Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steve Hassan. What doesn't work: attacking the religion or criticising it in any way. She has been conditioned to see that as an attack by Satan and it will just stir up her fears and cause her to run.

What can work is to work to establish trust, remind them of their interests and goals outside the religion and exposing them to critical thinking skills.

Good Luck

8

When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything - G KChesterton

by slimboyfat in

i have been reading rodney stark's new book triumph of faith, where he makes his argument afresh that religion is alive and well.

in fact he says it's doing better than ever, and we are in the middle of a revival of faith.

above is a particular quote he likes to use when refusing secularisation.

LisaRose

So because some people in Iceland believe in Trolls, and Iceland is a secular country, it means that Atheists have all just traded in one set of superstitions for another? That's patently ridiculous. Not being religious does not necessarily mean you are an atheist, it simply means you are not religious. Now if you had a statistic that said the X percentage of Atheists believe in Trolls, you might make a case, but you don't have that.