Posts by Open mind

upon reflection over the past 5 years of being out, i've had a lot of time to consider my time as a witness as well as come to terms with my parents shunning us.. that was the biggest shock for me.

contrary to most experiences i've read, my childhood, while focused on witness matters was still pretty happy.

our family always seemed to fall on "family first, religion second".

The only time my Mom ever saw my Dad cry was when they heard my gay brother was being DFed. It was excruciating for my parents, but they shunned my brother out of (twisted) love for God and (twisted) love for my brother.

It was also my personal shunning of my brother that finally broke through my Cognitive Dissonance and started me down the path to awakening.

To be fair, I get your point. Shunning is non-action. But, for most, it is not without great pain.

om

61

For Active JW Men: Ideas on Awakening Your JW Spouse (Long post)

by Open mind in

jw
friends

disclaimer: your mileage may vary.

if you are a married, "active, in good standing" (tm), jw male who has recently discovered that the .

watchtower is not what it claims to be, this thread is for you.

Open mind

bttt as a counterpoint to Terry's thread. FCC "equal time" rules spring to mind.

om

37

Are you TRAPPED by your believing mate into a hellish life of "pretend"?

by Terry in

jw
friends

the scene is familiar.. a jehovah's witness family with one member who has awakened from the lie.. the split comes down to an interesting wrong terminology:.

unbelieving mate vs believing mate.. .

the context of the entire family is as a jehovah's witness family.. damage has already been done.

Open mind

Two years of tip-toeing, seed planting, and keeping my elder hat saved my marriage and got us all out relatively unscathed.

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

It's not for everyone, but it's a path that can be tried FIRST, and then when the awakened partner can't take it anymore....

TAKE NO PRISONERS!!!!

My $.02.

om

22

A happy life for a gay ex-JW

by Steve_C in

i'm not sure if this is the correct place to put this, but here goes.. i've posted a few times before about different subjects.

in some of those posts ive mentioned that im gay, and in others ive referred to my wife and kids.

i thought id share a bit more information to any who were curious about this.

Open mind

Wow! Your family really dodged quite a few painful WT land mines over the years.

Thanks for sharing the happy finale with us.

om

43

Newbie

by SophieG in

jw
friends

Open mind

Sophie, it sounds like you have a problem accepting direction from Divinely constituted authority figures.

You'll fit right in around here!

WELCOME TO JWN!

om