I would come and I'd toast your marriage with the finest champagne.
Maybe we can organize a virtual bouquet and garter toss on this forum? Post your pictures and as you're posing for them, think of all of us who'd have come if we lived nearby.
Be happy in spite of everyone else, it's the best revenge.
By the time your first anniversary rolls around you'll more than likely have many new friends to share your anniversary with.
Congratulations and yes, hold out for Fiji.
this is my first time at this so bare with me.
i will be turning 21 tomorrow so i decided to celebrate like this.
my family threw me a surprise birthday a week ago and we even had a pinata .
I really have no idea where you should go from here, I'm still trying to figure it out for myself. All I can say is be glad you made it here for now and have others who can help you through this. I'm glad to meet you unchained and I'm sure you'll find many allies here!
this looks like a friendly forum and i will do my very first posting here because i finally feel i can trust someone to help me.
i published an article on the local newspaper against the jw and part of my sour experiences while i was a jw; they only let me use 300 words and deleted the most important ones ofcourse.
my problem is that iam now getting very negative responses to my article and i need you all to help me write something positive for us ex-jw's for a change.
I just did something similar in my weekly newspaper column about the internet. I injected the opinion that some religions won't allow their members to visit websites other than their own and that they regard the internet as worldly and evil. So far no one has noticed so I'm off the hook for now, though I still want to break free, that wasn't the way to do it.
Even if you get a different response than you expected, it is getting noticed and that's important in case someone else out there feels like you do. They'll be helped by seeing that they aren't alone.
I'll try to put together something for you soon.
Anne
Edited by - doubtingsister on 23 March 2001 15:33:44
the april issue of 'kingdom ministry' contains advice on what to do when you get new neighbours.. witnesses are told to identify themselves as jehovah's witnesses.
suggestions on how to go about this are given.. 1. call on them in field service.. 2.
"when you...see them working in their yard.
Hi Prisca,
Whew is right! That's what made me finally say "ENOUGH".
I listened at a service meeting about how we need to be at all meetings, study for the meetings, personal bible study, study with the kids, service, assemblies, etc. and keep house clean, go to work and be always striving to do more. I realized then and there that this load is not light and the yoke is not kindly and that I'll never, ever live up to all they want from us. That's when I came home from the meeting and started looking for ex-jw sites since I had avoided them in the past.
Thanks to Jehovah I found this one.
i'm getting ready for the book study.
the only reason i'm even going is because i've got several friends i don't want to break ties with yet.
they are counting on me to help them stay strong in the "truth".
Thanks Zev, Six, Esmeralda,
My husband was fortunate enough not to be raised a witness (he was a Catholic, but barely attended). So, it's probably a dream come true for him that I'm snapping out of it. He's already telling me that we'll have to take the kids on their first egg hunt this year. I'm not sure if I can enjoy such a thing without pangs of guilt or looking over my shoulder constantly. But, I'm not going to make a big deal out of it, just going to let the kids have a little fun till I get myself together.
Another aspect I don't look forward to is having to tell people I made a mistake, like my mother-in-law. I hate thinking of how smug my attitude must have been when defending my faith. I hope I can convince them that it wasn't my intention to hurt them or deprive them, just stupid conditioning and I hope they'll forgive me.
I've always thought I was "special" and that other people just didn't appreciate the life God gave them. That they would rather enjoy their lives now instead of "storing up treasures" for later.
I wonder how many years all this conditioning will take to wear off me? Is anyone here going to a therapist to deal with these issues? Would they even understand?
It's so embarrassing to try and explain sometimes. As I pose a question to my husband I stop myself because I realize how ridiculous the whole thing is sometimes.
I guess we're all in this together.
Es: I keep hoping that if I leave certain other friends will be encouraged to eventually leave. I can't help, but think many are having doubts and are afraid to make that step also. I guess I'll find out soon enough. Thanks for the encouraging words.
I appreciate all of your comments, you are real Christians in every sense of the word.
i'm getting ready for the book study.
the only reason i'm even going is because i've got several friends i don't want to break ties with yet.
they are counting on me to help them stay strong in the "truth".
I'm getting ready for the book study. The only reason I'm even going is because I've got several friends I don't want to break ties with yet. They are counting on me to help them stay strong in the "truth". Oh boy, if they only knew what I do now and how this is eating me up.
It won't be long till I either go crazy or make a scene and become known as an evil apostate, a weak one that let the "internet" get to me. This is making me physically and emotionally ill. I'm so glad I can come here and read about all of you and how you're working through this. I don't think I could turn to anybody else, no one would understand. My husband feels for me, but he has no idea how ingrained this is in me.
Thanks for letting me vent. I imagine I'll be bothering all of you more often in the next few weeks.
Anne
i have a question.. the wts likes to boast about the "photo drama" produced from 1912 and shown in 1914 onwards.
there is an article again on this subject in the jan 15, 2001 watchtower (yes, i know i am milking that one watchtower i have for all it's worth!)..
a couple of comments and then my question.
I've seen some of the accompanying books for the Photo Drama on Ebay, you might try your luck there.
take courage all of you "1960's generation":.
awake!
" if you are a young person, you also.
I was talking to my dad (da'd) about some of the things I'm learning about the WT. He is disgusted and glad he stopped going, just wishes we could convince my mom. She is so severly depressed that I'm afraid to burst the only bubble of hope she has, but I hope to when the time is better.
He said he was sorry that he and mom didn't save money to send me and my sister to college. He figured the end would come before we ever got to be teenagers.
My parents, even though they stopped going to the hall during my preteen and teen years (alcohol problem, root cause) always held onto the belief that we would see Armageddon well before 2000.
just wondering if there is anything in r. franz' books that jw's might disagree with, assuming you feel free enough to read them.
let's talk.. tr.
edited by - tr on 8 march 2001 2:2:42
[Ray Frantz was the only GB to apologize over the 1975 joke.]
That says a lot about his character, thanks for sharing that. I thought Ray would be more angry sounding than he was and I really find that a lot of what I'm reading is making more sense than anything I've ever heard in the past about the organization.
Edited by - doubtingsister on 10 March 2001 8:51:0
ive not been to a meeting in five years probably.
yet my husband still goes and i always envision him going in and the hardy handshakes he gives, greeting and being greeted, sitting there with all those suits with the secrets hidden inside, and all those pretty dresses hiding the pain.
if i wasnt disassociated, i wonder if i would be bolder, speak up, be honest with the "friends" instead of toeing the company line.
[Has anyone noticed, especially in the last ten years, an outbreak of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromialgia among sisters in the cong? ]
Yes!
Is it happening to other women, not just JW's? I would imagine with the stresses of working/raising children/etc, but it has been extremely prevalent in our congregation.
It seems everyone is always complaining of not feeling well, being tired, run down, sickly, low energy.
What part of the world are you in? I'm in North America.
