35-year-old female in california here.
never a jw, but have had bible studies and attended several meetings and even a convention once.
i've always been agnostic with leanings toward the belief in some deity or other, although the more i learned from the jw's, the more i've learned to doubt, not just their teachings, but the fundamental teachings of all religions.
There is a certain type of person who likes to think they have some special knowledge that other people don't have, which us why they are drawn to conspiracy theories, like the illuminati. . That same type of person, if they are a JW, likes to claim to be of the anointed, as that makes them feel special also.
There is no illuminati, there is no anointed.
a newbie here, joined about half an hour ago.
i started the fade about 10 years ago and have been totally inactive for about 3 years.
the reason being was that i became totally disillusioned.
hey everyone!.
first of all, i'm not a jw, in fact i'm an atheist, or if you really want to be technical about it i'm probably something like an agnostic atheist or something.. but, my girlfriend is a jw, she seems very rational about it though, it seems to me that she believes in a lot of it but not exactly all, for instance she does understands and believes in the scientific age of the earth and evolution.. when we started dating almost a year ago she made it clear she as religious person.
i never saw that as a problem, it's not like i'm trying to convert her or she's trying to convert me.
What do you think about the situation?
It happens all the time. There are far fewer men than women in the organization, which is a problem because they do not approve of marriage outside the organization, and do not allow sex outside of marriage, which creates this situation of dating on the down low.
Do you know of cases where people got kicked out of their home because of disassociation?
Yes, it happens all the time.
What would you do in my situation or in hers?
She should research the history of the religion and find out how much of it is based on lies and half truths, that would free her to date whoever she wants. I dont expect that will happen because this is a cult and they use manipulation and mind control to convince people they are the only true religion and if they leave they will die at Armageddon, which is happening any day now. Its almost impossible to counteract this. For example, she believes anyone who leaves the organization and speaks out against it (like me) is a "mentally diseased apostate". She will believe anything I or anyone here says is from Satan.
I would advise you to forget her and find someone without all the baggage.
this week they finish up a chapter in the "imitate their faith" book about peter.
they cover the account of jesus walking on water.
in the story peter also walks on the water out to jesus.
had an enlightening discussion with my 20 something, baptised, awake son.
he said he feels abandoned by the religion, and yet trapped at the same time.
i had never thought about it that way before, but can totally understand where he is coming from.
Isolation is a tactic of all cults. First they isolate you from anyone not in the cult, which they do by demonizing all other religions and anyone not a JW. Then they manipulate you to stay in the religion by using the threat of shunning, which is very powerful because it involves everyone you know. Social isolation is very detrimental to a person, which is why shunning is so effective.
wow, this is awesome.
this really shows the jw passiveness towards child sex abusers.
there needs to be more of this exposing this!.
The link didn't verify if he was currently on the sex offender registry, it would be nice to verify that he is indeed in the registry. If so, this is something that needs to be publicized.
I am on a neighborhood app called NextDoor. It allows people In a geographical area to share information on areas of concern in a neighborhood, like crime issues. If we had someone who lives in that area of Colorado Springs they could join and put out an alert so that people there know who is going door to door in their neighborhood. In fact we could do that for any known Jehovah's Witness child predators. Of course the ideal is to get it out in the media, but this could be another way to get the word out, not only to protect people but to publicize the problem of Jehovah's Witnesses and child abuse.
hi everyone to cut a long story short, ive been away from the meetings for over 10 years.
i recently reconnected with the congregation and started a study.
cant get my head around all the changes and jw broadcasting.
Its not necessary to connect with an organization to connect with god, and if he does have an organization, it sure isn't this one. Listen to the voice that is telling you that something is wrong with an organization that changes doctrines and practices this radically. Why did they all of a sudden start putting the governing body out there, where they were hardly mentioned before? Why have they begun selling off kingdom halls and other properties and getting rid of bethel workers? Something just does not add up.
Do yourself a favor and research the history of this religion. I think you will be shocked, as I was, that they have not been honest about their history and practices. Their failed date predictions, questionable chronology, and child abuse cover ups are easy to investigate on the internet. You have children, so I am sure you don't want them to be in an organization that too often has failed to investigate claims of child sex abuse, failed to inform the authorities or worse, allowed abusers back to the congregation with no warning to parents, even sometimes allowing them to serve as elders or ministerial servants.
i really felt for you sisters i mean i really did.
when you showed up at the sunday meeting and found out the subject of the talk was going to be -and i can't quite remember the exact wording- but something to the effect of marriage and headship, or honoring and obeying your husband, or something like that how many of you wanted to jump right back in your car and head home.
i mean 45 straight minutes of beating down you poor ladies and telling you that you are not worthy of making one decision, taking the lead in anything, don't question the man be obedient and keep quiet.
At first I bought into the whole "women should be submissive " thing, but as I got older it started to just feel wrong. In the working world I was as respected as any man and paid as well, then I would go to the kingdom hall and be treated as less than because I was female, it just didn't make any sense.
i met an old friend last evening, a great guy, an xjw for longer than me.. during a conversation about our experiences since fading (neither of us are da'd or anything) we got to talking about the young jw's.. his wife is still in, and he has two lovely daughters who he is trying to teach the art of critical thinking so that they can make the right choice in the future.. what worries him though is that he is convinced almost all young jw's do not give a "proverbial" if it is the truth or not, they simply wish to remain in it because of the social aspects, loads of friends and activities that they feel safe partaking in etc etc.. so how do you convince these young people that they would have a better life if they left ?.
they see it as losing all their friends, and being alone and trying to build new relationships, which is mostly true.. how do we convince them to make the leap ?.
should they ?.
What the young people need to know is that yes, the religion provides a social structure that has its benefits, but that this group of people can turn on them at any time, for any reason that three elders agree upon, sometimes for just one mistake and even sometimes when they haven't done anything wrong at all. Any other group of human beings can provide the same social structure without the threat of losing everyone you know in the blink of an eye.
hey, this thread is nothing new so i don't wanna get too personal but i'm happy to announce that i am apart of the 33% club!!
i sent in my da letter this past wednesday (again actually, i sent it in the week before but i got hit with the old 'return to sender') and i sent the letter up to the hq instead.
i did courteously mark it as re: disassociation for whatever lackey got it, but i did request in the letter not be contacted.