Posts by LisaRose

63

Sister may have had a slight heart attack, do I text her?

by Xanthippe in

jw
friends

so my cousin phoned and told me my jw sister was taken to hospital with chest pains and it may have been a slight heart attack or possibly she's starting with angina.

now as some of you know my sisters and brother have had little to do with me for 29 years.

we've met at funerals, or arranged them, but i just thought today what if she did die?

LisaRose

I am glad your sister responded to your text. I hate to see any family torn apart by this hateful cult, anything we can do to combat that is good.

I think there are a few reasons a health trauma hits JWs harder than others. For one, it reminds them that they may very well die in this system, something they didn't think would happen. It also sidelines them, at least for a while, from theocratic activities. They may then find themselves being judged by others for slacking off, or at the least realize that they are quickly forgotten by the congregation. This is a religion that shoots their wounded, which can be a painful realization.

41

Anyone watching Star Trek Discovery?

by Coded Logic in

so i've been watching the show and really enjoying it.

great to see a trek tv series finally get a reasonable budget.

beautiful costumes, sets, cinematography, action pieces, etc.. really my only complaints are how cg all the ships look and there's a fair bit of stiff dialog from time to time.. what do you guys think of the show?.

LisaRose

I haven't watched it yet, but may give CBS all access a try. We have been doing more streaming of late, hardly watch network TV much anymore. I've been a Trekkie from the get go, I remember watching the debut episode of the original and being immediately hooked.

Did anyone see the season four, first episode of Black Mirror (Callister) ? It had a very funny plot where a game developer created his private game version of a star trek like universe, where he gets to be the captain and relive all his favorite episodes. Unlike most Black Mirror stories it had a happy ending, along with some very Star Trek like plot lines and cheesy special effects like the original.

20

Couldn't the GB have foreseen "spiritual endangerment" taking hold with Internet approval?

by compound complex in

jw
friends

having listened to the two gb helpers (and cedar's interspersed commentary), i was somewhat taken aback at the comments on the widespread availability of smartphones and such at bethel.

of course, in the congregations, too.

br.

LisaRose

I think this was a battle they were never going to win. They could no more have stopped the tide of easy internet access via cell phones and tablets than they could have stopped people from having television sets fifty years ago. The technology is just too seductive and easy to obtain and so many people need it for their jobs or businesses. They knew this and developed their web site content in an attempt to control and direct what people were doing with those phones and tablets, but they were never going to be completely successful at that.

18

How do you deal with "toppers"? [one upmanship]

by compound complex in

jw
friends

when in conversion, you sometimes get carried away and the talk becomes all about you.. then, you remember you're in a conversation, say you're sorry, and allow the other person to talk.

she goes on about what's happening in her life, you listen and ask some questions.

she tells you more and then shifts the dialogue back to you.

LisaRose

Makes me think of this Month Python sketch, the four Yorkshiremen, where they try to top each other with how bad they had it as children.

MP: Aye. In them days, we'd a' been glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.

GC: A cup ' COLD tea.

EI: Without milk or sugar.

TJ: OR tea!

MP: In a filthy, cracked cup.

EI: We never used to have a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.

GC: The best WE could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=monty+python+we+were+so+poor&view=detail&mid=DD060CA70BE85FC47749DD060CA70BE85FC47749&FORM=VIRE

28

What was your trigger to waking up ?

by CovertsadJW in

good afternoon , .

i wanted to ask everyone here , what was your trigger to waking up ?

i have been waking up for a long time , but in looking back it’s hard for me to look at one event and say “ ah ha “ , i think mine is like a slow leak - like a crack in a damn - and then hold on , because after that it’s just a flood of information.

LisaRose

It was many things:

Reading that the Watchtower had joined the UN, with the excuse in the Kingdom ministry that they needed to use the library. It's not a big deal now, but when I joined back in the late sixties, the U.N. was considered an evil thing. Considering how the religion instructed JWs in Arica to die rather than buy a political card, it seemed weird and hypocritical.

The realization that you could never, ever do enough to not feel guilty and that this was deliberate. You were expected to to preach as much as possible, but the preaching work was ineffective and futile and just a big waste of time.

The complete lack of warmth of caring in the congregation, and feeling marginalized because my husband was disfellowshipped.

The straw that broke the camels back was looking back over my life and realizing that the advice I had been given, to stay in a bad marriage, was really, really terrible advice and had done nothing except make me miserable and give my children a bad example of what marriage could be.

315

Pillowgate - John Cedars

by CitizenofEarth in

is this true?

is this really true?!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qirjv48c55m.

LisaRose

Thanks, I haven't laughed that hard in a while, it's just too precious.

25

What else is there to the so called "Truth"

by jdash in

first of all, i want to say thanks to all of you guys who gave me advice on my first post.

it really helped and i will try to use all of it.

now, i been doing research on what is false about the jdubs.

LisaRose

They have incorrectly predicted the end date numerous times, most recently 1975.

They claim they predicted the last days would start in 1914, which is not correct. They originally predicted the last days would end (not start) in 1914, which the believed would result in the end of the world. It was only after nothing happened in 1914 that they started claiming it was now the start of the last days. And the whole 1914 date was based on an incorrect date for the fall of jerusalem anyway.

They are still stuck on this 1914 date, even though it makes their original claim that the generation alive in 1914 would not pass away before the end to be patently ridiculous. They have tried to cover this by saying that "this generation" can now be overlapping generations, which is even more ridiculous. By that reasoning the last days could last hundreds of years by just adding more overlapping generations.

48

Larry Nasser..... WOW....

by DATA-DOG in

do you think the gb are watching the live report??

will they learn from all this?

are they scared shitless as the reality of social media delivers one bitch-slap of truth after another?

LisaRose

I don't see any impact to the Watchtower from this. It might be different if they go after the people in USA gymnasts that must have known of this, you don't get that many victims without someone raising it as an issue at some point. Even then I don't see the GB seeing any connection to their own actions, they seem far to oblivious.

28

What do I do ?

by jdash in

hey guys, this is my first time posting on here but lets get started.. so i'm a 17 year old boy who currently attends meetings at a congregation in indianapolis.

i live with my grandparents, on my father's side, because my mother died in 2010. i been attending meetings since i was 10. my mother got into the religion but then got disfellowshiped.

my dad is on and off, he currently just got reinstated.

LisaRose

I vote for hanging in there until you are 18. Nothing good can come of disassociating in your particular circumstances. Start making friends outside the organization if possible so when you do make a break you have something. Start planning for how you will pay for college, see a school counselor who can advise you what financial aid may be possible. Usually local community colleges for the first two years are the cheapest way to go, but even that will be a stretch if you are kicked out and have to live in your own. My grandson faced some of these issues, he wanted an expensive private college which no one was willing to pay for. He chose to join the Air Force, four years in he is getting out soon and has money for college, some credits, some useful job skills and much needed maturity and can now go to his choice of school.

Be grateful for your grand parents, even if they are in a cult, they at least care about you and put a roof over your head and gave you some stability when you needed it. If you handle it right they might eventually accept your decision to leave, who knows?

Being free mentally from this horrid religion is a great start, you can do anything you want in life. Good luck!

17

What's out there?

by Jrjw in

someone asked me what does the world have to offer if left the truth?

'coz i'm still in the process of leaving i just said i don't feel i fit in the truth or the world.

she's known me for 12 years and she's the 3rd person recently to say i've changed.

LisaRose

It's a question designed to undermine your decision to leave by insinuating the world is just a big bad place, full of bad people, a common theme in the religion.

What's out there is what you choose to find out there. Of course if you have been living in a closed community like the Watchtower it can seem kind of scary, but the reality is you will figure it out and be just fine. Of course any change is hard and at first you may be uncomfortable, but just push through and it will get easier.

If you miss being part of a religious community, there are nice ones out there. If you want more intellectual stimulation then education might be for you. The thing is it's your choice, and choice is a beautiful thing.