this was brought up in another thread, but i thought it should have its own thread.
feel free to add your own observations and experience.
the jws are so duplicit, and they rename things to somehow justify their own irrationalities.
Using special terms for things is a kind a exclusivism, it binds a group together and sets them apart from non members. They also like to change the special terms for things, I have been out so long I doubt I could even speak the language anymore.
They used to call return visits back calls.
Conventions used to be called assemblies
the longer you are out the more you see how a cult steals all your time, resources and energy.
we wasted so much because we were witnesses!
👎.
What The Girl Next Door said.
You can't change the past, best to make the most of the time you have remaining. Watch those sunsets folks.
non jw here married to a jw.
i was told by two witnesses that if a woman jw were to marry a non jw that she would have no say whatsoever in what their children would believe or go to church if he was of a different religious belief and he enforced it.
from what i've read in different threads this is actually not the case.
Technically I believe that is the case, in actual practice that's not how it works. Most JW women are determined to raise their children as JWs, so they will generally override the wishes of their non believing husbands. It's not like he is going to go to the elders and complain, I doubt the elders would do anything if he did.
two witnesses came to my door the other day and i politely told them that i was not interested.
they told me that it was ok and that what they were handing out was not anything religious.
i told them sorry and that i was still not interested.
We are not religious
Of course we are not a cult!
We aren't trying to convert you
We are just bible students
We have good news to share!
we are not lying, it's called theocratic warfare
we all know the rate of suicide is high among jw's.
my question is this- was there some subliminal messages that encourage this.
i was a born in and my entire life i would have these thoughts that could come out of nowhere,"kill yourself.
I am sorry you feel that way NJ501. I was once in that situation, stuck in the religion, I saw no way out. There is life after leaving the JWs. You can make new friends, I have. I highly recommend meditation for depression, check out the guided meditations by The Honest Guys on YouTube.
Whether or not the JWs have a higher rate of suicide, it's a fact that many Jehovah's Witnesses do not find it to be a healthy or happy experience and suffer from depression, and many have taken their lives. It was my experience that as a whole the religion is not kind to those going through mental health issues. My own child attempted suicide twice, I had to think about whether or not I could or should disclose this to the elders. In what other religion could you be shunned for attempting suicide?
I have investigated other religions and found them to be much more welcoming and supportive
well let me start with my age is 13 and i have been thinking about this jw thing and i need help i just dont know if i want to be one any more.. the help i need is some one to send me some links to places i can research i just dont know if i want to study with a jw any more..
You may have to keep things to yourself for now, it depends on your aunt and how hardcore she is. Just keep asking the questions you are asking, get all the knowledge you can. The religion can sometimes suck you in, they have a way of playing on emotions and playing the guilt card. Knowledge is power, learn about cult mind control and gain logical thinking skills, that will help you see through the nonsense.
Keep in mind that when I was your age the Awake magazine said that I had to face the fact that I would never have time for a career in this system of things. I am now 62, the system did not end in 1975 like everyone expected. They still say the same things to young people, don't believe them, go to college.
tonight i had an argument with both my parents.
my parents are aware of my feelings towards the organization, and it saddens them because i am their first born son.
they had high expectations of me, my father dreamt of him and i serving together as elders.
I don't always agree with the choices my adult children make, but I love and respect them anyway and I wouldn't want them to live their lives in a way they found unacceptable simply to please me. It's sad that your parents can't love and appreciate you for who you are and respect your choices in life, but their mind has been warped by being in a cult, so it is what it is.
Live your life, you are not being selfish.
i'm sure i am not the only one to have heard this come out of the mouths of my loved ones.
it's a very painful thing to hear, especially when it comes from the people like your own parents/family.
even after i've been told that, they would say "we'll just continue life without you.
If someone said I was going to die at Armageddon, I would ask them why they believe an organization that has a 100% failure rate on predictions.
The reality is that I will die of old age (or disease, accident, etc.) just like everyone else since the beginning of time, just like my Jehovah's Witness parent did, even though they believed their whole life that they would live through Armageddon.
Belief does not make things so.
has anyone else had a moment, while still within the organization (and before learning ttatt) that caused them to stop and go, "this is kind of messed up.".
for instance, back i believe in the early 2000's, i was attending a dc with my family.
it was announced at the beginning of the convention that there was going to be a special announcement at the end, so for everyone to please try to remain until the very end of the meeting.
For me it was at a convention, Cow Palace, late 90's. They were trying to guilt people into doing more in the ministry. They said "are you regular in service? If not, why not? If you are regular in service, could you auxiliary pioneer? If not, why not? If you auxiliary pioneer, could you regular pioneer? If not, why not? If you are a regular pioneer, could you be a special pioneer? If not, why not?
All I could think was, what do they do to make special pioneers feel guilty? I had a BOGO ( Brilliant Glimpse Of the Obvious) that no matter how much you did, you would never, ever feel you had done enough, they didn't want that.
fyi (regarding those posters/readers who are interested): 2017 san diego comic con started last thursday, 7/20/17 and is ending today, sunday, 7/23/17.
here are the footage/highlights of it (i'm planning one of these days to attend it ):.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvu6dd59iya&t=93s.
My daughter went last year, she had a blast, scored tickets to the Star Trek movie premier, it was out doors with a full orchestra and fireworks. She was disapointed to not get get tickets this year.
