Open mind

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Posts by Open mind

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  81

  What Actually Made You Leave The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many of us needed time to get away from this religion.

  i took the course of fading and it's worked pretty well for me.

  after i saw sooooo many silly rules being enforced, i needed to get out!.

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  Open mind

  Giving a Service Meeting talk reinforcing the shunning of long-time DFed family members.

  I included how painful it had been for me to not speak to my DFed brother for over 20 years, but that it was in the best interests of everyone to uphold the "arrangement". I received many compliments afterward including one from a middle-aged mom whose 20-something daughter had just been DFed.

  As I observed the JW-drone Elder-monster in the mirror at home that evening, I could no longer live with supporting such a ruthless policy.

  Called up my DFed brother not too long after that and begged his forgiveness. Best decision I've ever made.

  om
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  55

  Email exchange between myself (MS) and Elder...getting myself in hot water?

  by Lied2NoMore in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs
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  Open mind

  Written communication with elders is always riskier than verbal one-on-one with no onlookers.

  om
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  47

  For My Christian, Jewish and Atheist Friends, "Why I am No Longer a Christian."

  by Robdar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is a rather long yet fascinating documentary from a former ku student about his transformation from a true christian believer to an atheist.

  if you have the time to watch it, i would love to hear your comments.

  http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/why-i-am-no-longer-a-christian/.

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  Open mind

  Marking for later. Thanks Robdar.

  om
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  19

  I'd like to talk to some ex-JW couples

  by Mad Sweeney in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i know a few of the guys here started to fade and managed to bring their wives and family along on the exit.

  i will be sending some of you a pm or fb message some time soon.. are there any ex-dub ladies here who managed to influence your husband to re-examine and eventually quit the borg?.

  it is very difficult to get to the genuine personality of an indoctrinated jw but if anyone can do it, a loving spouse can.

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  Open mind

  Here's what worked in our case.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/183916/1/For-Active-JW-Men-Ideas-on-Awakening-Your-JW-Spouse-Long-post

  Definitely not for everyone though.

  om
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  28

  What Is Your "Gift"?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we all are gifted with something.. i would say that i am gifted with a great sense of humor and i'm told i'm very discerning and perceptive.. now, if you asked me to hammer a nail, i'd think about getting a screwdriver...... .

  what's your gift???.

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  Open mind

  Internet Explorer 9 resulted in the previous *ghost post*.

  Let's see if Firefox 5.0 does any better.

  om

  (Yay! It worked! Sorry for the sidetrack Min.)

  OK. My "gift" is vibrating my eyeballs. I had to choose my parents carefully in order to master it.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWWKOCheA00

  Woo hoo!

  om
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  28

  What Is Your "Gift"?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we all are gifted with something.. i would say that i am gifted with a great sense of humor and i'm told i'm very discerning and perceptive.. now, if you asked me to hammer a nail, i'd think about getting a screwdriver...... .

  what's your gift???.

  .

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  Open mind
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  61

  How Many on JWNet are still JWs?

  by RayPublisher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been wondering about this for some time.

  if there are 60,000+ registered users on here, what percentage are actual non-dfed or non-daed witnesses?

  if it was 1/3, that would be over 20,000 active/inactive witnesses that post and read these pages- and that's huge.

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  Open mind

  Technically still in. Attend a meeting about every 6 weeks. Wife and kids even less. I'm the "spiritual" one I guess. Keeps my elderly JW parents who live in another state somewhat happy to think we'll all be in the Paradise Zoo together. Will likely continue this charade as long as they are alive.

  Also, it keeps up enough appearances to be able to do a little bit of seed planting here and there with other JW relatives.

  om
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  12

  GREAT BOOK ! May free your JW loved ones.

  by wobble in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have just finished reading a great book entitled "believing bullshit" by stephen law, published by prometheus books of n.y. www.prometheusbooks.com.

  in it the author outlines how we come to believe total claptrap most often because of the dubious methods used by the promoters of these ideas.. he does not set out to debunk the ideas themselves as the main purpose of the book, though in passing he has to do so with some .like alien abductions, christian science and homeopathy etc.

  his main purpose is to expose the methods used to get people to believe,,and how even if the idea being put forward may be good, or a truth, to use such methods is not justified, and leads one open to being sucked in to an intellectual black hole if you are duped by them.. if this book is read by an active, believing jw they will not smell any rats, but by the end of it, if they are honest with themselves they will see the methods used by the wt as totally dishonest and reminiscent of snake-oil salesmen.. it may just free their minds enough.. i cannot praise it too highly, it is a valuable read for anybody, and shows why even college educated, intelligent people can be fooled by bs..

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  Open mind

  Thanks for the recommendation wobble.

  I've got a pretty liberal JW relative who probably wouldn't be put off by the title.

  Here's another read that I tried getting some fairly hard-line JW relatives to read, but I don't think they ever did:

  

  http://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/0151010986

  Ms. Tavirs discusses cognitive dissonance at great length without targeting religious beliefs directly. A great way to present to JWs is:

  "Hey, here's a book that's got a lot of good ideas for improving communication in a marriage."

  It really does. No "shocking" words in the title. No direct attacks on religion. Just a primer in critical thinking skills.

  (Credit goes to OTWO for originally bringing this book to my attention.)

  om
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  24

  My Husband gave an elder the "finger" yesterday

  by Found Sheep in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  dave the elder is actually a nice guy, he fixed the walls of our house, took six months!!!!.

  anyway my ,never been a jw husband, was driving home and saw him and all the pain that i have gone through went through his head and he though what right did this guy have?

  he spent six months comming to our house as he pleased and then to turn around and shunn my wife!!!!.

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  Open mind

  As a 3rd gen JW, we were trained to get all googly eyed when we'd pass by a Kingdom Hall on cross-country trips.

  Thanks to this thread, we'll now have a different way to take note of these landmarks.

  om
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  14

  Who thinks that I am intolerant as a born again Atheist?

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  who thinks that i [and other born again atheists] am intolerant?.

  godrulz 32 pages of thread - and he doesn't even make sense in what he said.

  what the hell?

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  Open mind

  Atheist tigers are the worst.

  om