Posts by LisaRose

137

Mouthy has Passed Away

by Simon in

jw
friends

update on mouthy (grace gough)this is graces granddaughter.

i wanted to send an update that today my beautiful grandmother passed away - surrounded by friends and family.

- may 22 1927 - sept 2nd 2016. mouthys_granddaughter.

LisaRose

She was an amazing lady, so sad to hear of her death.

Lisa 🌹

10

Today is my first "Shunniversary"

by dubstepped in

jw
friends

i just wanted to thank this community for being there during my most difficult period of life.

even if it wasn't a direct interaction, i was reading, and i've taken away a lot over the past year plus.

on september 2 of last year the local congregation announced that my wife and i were no longer jehovah's witnesses because we chose to disassociate.

LisaRose

'm new here and a witness from 60s and 70's. I don't want to become a witness again, but miss having a community of worshippers. I can't buy the trinity, heaven and other Typically Christian beliefs. Where do I go to worship in truth?
There are churches that allow you to believe what you want. The United Church of Christ (UCC) is one. They have no doctrine. I am sure there are others, this is one I know of.

27

after exiting the org, i mean cult, how have each of you felt personally about the lies you had been taught, the hurt from feeling betrayed by these people, actual hopes of once believed false teachings, rose colored lenses of seemingly just and right doctrines that turned out to be a bunch of horse $#!+, the shunning of family and friends?

right now i am going through the motions, i've just moved to a new home, which means hopefully no more elders searching for me at my previous address.. i can't help but feel sad though right now because of the fact that although i am not df'd ( maybe the elders will do it in absentia assuming i've been avoiding them and the 2 jc's they've invited me to as well as the last handwritten letter at my door before i moved ) my mom treats me as though i am dead to her, she says " i am living the life of a disfellowshipped person, and until i come back to jehovah this is how things will be because this was my choice to leave jehovah " ok i get it, but i don't- everyone has free will, so yes this was my choice but it is also her choice to shun me, especially after the "shun unrepentant wrongdoers" talk at the rc, funny how they come out with these talks to reel members back in.. she claims that she has an obligation to jehovah of which she promised to him after she was baptized not at 11, 13, or 17 ( young ages ) but fricken 26 years old.

i absolutely hate this organization and everything that it is, it's taken away my family and most importantly my own mother.. i always thought that a mothers love was to be unconditional, but hers for me is only conditional.

LisaRose

At first I was just relieved to be free of the whole thing, the fear, obligation and guilt. Then, I was sad at how much of my life had been wasted. Then, when I found it how much of everything I believed had been based on lies, I was angry. Eventually I realized anger was a useless emotion and would hold me back from living a great life, and I am not going to let the Watchtower hurt me twice, so I got over it. My life has turned out pretty well, the Watchtower is very much in my rear view mirror at this point.

44

What are the chances of having a one on one with GB member

by Chook in

jesus drifted amongst the lowly folk .

LisaRose

I would imagine a sizeable donation, say in the seven figure range, would probably do the trick.

22

Jehovah's Witnesses: the Brotherhood of Delusion

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

i am a curious person.

i am challenged by the unknown.

i can be driven, out of sheer frustration, to penetrate a closed veil of conspiracy.

LisaRose

Good post. I believe it's true that people want their illusions. I have an interest in modern urban legends, the stories people tell that happened to "a friend of a friend". I sometimes get them in email from, and I am often astounded that people forward these things with out checking to be sure they are true. Often the story has a payoff for them, it either validates a belief or reinforces a moral they hold dear.

For example, there is a MUL that "In God we Trust" was taken off of the dollar coin, they even had a picture of the coin missing the term. The idea was that this was a plot by atheists to take away any mention of God by the government. People were urged to refuse to accept these coins and to contact their congressman. The only problem is that the term was not removed, but simply put on the edge of the coin temporarily, by the time of the email The term had already gone back to the front of the coin.

Instead of being happy that there really wasn't a plot to remove religious terms from coins, the sender was quite peeved that I had pointed this out. They wanted to believe in a plot by atheists, as it validated their world view, they probably assumed I was the one making things up. It's very hard to counteract this kind of thinking, people believe what they want to believe, God forbid you confuse them with facts.

51

Can’t cope with being disfellowshipped…..Need some advice

by xxBettyBoopxx in

this site is great, i have been lurking for a while now.

but i can’t get reinstated and have used some of the advice already given.. i was df’d many months ago and go to all the meetings and do all the preparation for the meetings, but the jc committee keep refusing me.

tomorrow at the clam meeting i am puting yet another letter in and will be called for another dreadful jc meeting.. 1. what can i say to the elders to show that i am truly repentant?.

LisaRose

The pain you are feeling is intended to break you. It doesn't matter to them that you are now expressing remorse, they want you to suffer enough that you will never risk rebelling again, a year is usually considered the minimum amount of time. It has nothing to do with the bible and everything to do with power and control. The word "disfellowship" is not even in the bible, nor is there any mention of specific time periods of shunning after a person expresses remorse and changes their conduct. Did the father of the prodigal son tell him he had to suffer for a period of time after he returned? No, he was welcomed back with open arms.

If you are willing to continue on with this humiliation to regain contact with your family, that's entirely up to you of course, but I would urge you to use the time before you are reinstated to research this religion you belong to and find out what they are all about. I am sorry to say I was in for twenty eight years but was still not aware of many things about it, because they hid their history of false date predictions, doctrine flip flops and pedophilia issues. Do yourself a favor and become educated so that you at least know what you are going back to.

You should also learn about cults and the specific techniques they use to manipulate people. Some things common to cults:

They control your time, as in numerous meetings and other time requirements
They control your relationships, as in being told not to associate with non members, especially former members
They claim to be the sole authority or have special knowledge
They use fear, obligation and guilt to control people.
They control information, people are warned not to trust anything not written by them.

Sound familiar?

By the way, I was disfellowshipped at one time myself, so I know first hand how painful it is. It was so painful I immediately went back, something I deeply regret now, as I wasted another fifteen years in the religion. I have been out now for sixteen years and have never been happier.

Lisa 🌹

43

Is this the last chance for inactive and df'd ones?

by innerpeace in

hi all, just wondering if there's anything going around about the elders receiving instruction from the society to give inactive ones and disfellowshipped ones one last chance to come back?

i ask because i have a still in family member that i received a message from, and urging me to go back.

the elders are apparently saying there is no time left.

LisaRose

If there is such a directive, it would be like those late night infomercials, act now while supplies last! Anything to create a false sense of urgency is useful for manipulating people I guess.

59

Can you prove that our entire universe and existence is not a computer simulation?

by EndofMysteries in

if you were a computer programmer and you were to create a simulated automated world, that would constantly evolve and self run after initial designs.

first you would have to code the rules, laws, and core elements of this world.

while this is being coded, the program is not run yet, so none of it exists.

LisaRose

Of course no one can prove we are not in a computer simulation, just like no can prove that unicorns don't exist.

The question is, if we are part of a computer simulation so real that no one involved can tell the difference between that and actual reality, what difference does it make whether we are or are not?

49

"back in the day people didn't know not to abuse kids"- a jw explanation for their abuse scandal

by purrpurr in

a few weeks back i showed the guardian article about the borg refusing to cooperate with the charity commission into child abuse to a fellow jw.

their response was quite amazing.

they told me that in the 50s-80s people didn't know about child abuse, didn't know it was wrong and no one really believed children when they claimed they had been abused - even worldly people.. they said that alot of the time children lie about being abused or therapists plant false memories in their heads and that apostates lie about being abused to undermine our faith.. about the borg not cooperating with the commission they said that it was probably because they wanted to protect the identities of jw's who had been abused.

LisaRose

While it's true that we didn't know as much about child sex abuse in the past, it was always known that it was wrong. The Watchtower claims to be directed by God, why didn't he direct them to be better than other religions at the time when it came to protecting innocent children? Is it not a "spiritual paradise"?

And it is absolutely not true that children often lie about being abused. While it has happened on occasion, it is not the norm and anytime a child claims to be abused it should be taken very seriously.

About the Borg not cooperating with the commission they said that it was probably because they wanted to protect the identities of jw's who had been abused.

This is ridiculous. The commission would protect the identity of any child that has been abused, their names would not be released. It is the identity of the child predators and their own reputation they are seeking to protect.

They claimed that all that child abuse stuff happened in the past and doesn't happen now. The society has never told elders not to go to the police and that elders who haven't have decided that on their own.

So something magical happened around 1995 or so that suddenly caused child sexual abuse to stop?

The society may never have explicitly told elders not to go to the police, but they created a culture where the idea of "not bringing reproach on Jehovah's name" was paramount, the judgement of elders was absolute and where all transgressions were considered a spiritual matter only. To this day they still ask that they be contacted before the elders talk to the authorities, what does that tell you?

that we should trust in Jehovah's organisation and if we do then we won't pay attention to these discouraging reports

Typical JW behavior, but how sad. This is how all corrupt organization flourish, people are unwilling to accept or act on information that would be inconvenient to themselves or require them to admit they made a mistake in choosing a religion. They are complicit in the continuing abuse.

11

Benefits to Faith over Reason

by cobweb in

i wrote this earlier for my own benefit in order to get some thoughts straight in my head.

it is just my own personal pondering on what i think might be the motivating force behind having a faith.

it is not intended to attack, provoke or patronize anyone who has a belief and i hope it is not taken in that way.

LisaRose

You are absolutely correct in that people who do not have faith do not have happiness or overall good feelings inside of them

Nonsense, dont make assumptions about people. I am very happy in my life and feel great joy on a daily basis.

Its also a fallacy that without belief in a creator one tends to embrace rampant matierialism.