OnTheWayOut

Joined

• started 589 topics
• posted 21,823 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by OnTheWayOut

• 
  19

  Not one single head was lost on the wife birthday!!!!

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a surprised birthday party for the wife yesterday.

  we had no idea about the planned party.. the kids (wife daughter and husband) really surprised the wife and i. sunday morning a. truck pulled up and started unloading tents, tables and chairs.

  the son-in-law fired up the grill,.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  I celebrate family birthdays and family celebrates mine and my JW wife knows about it.

  I have said that if anyone is killed in the celebrations, we will probably stop doing them.
• 
  4

  Honor Your Story

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a recent thread mentioned members who wrote their own story as a book.

  you don't have to have an entire book to write your story.

  as a matter of fact, you don't have to share your story if you are not up to it.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Tornintwo, I hope you like it. I also have many non-JW family that supports me. They have virtually all read my story also. Journalling is one thing that helps. I hope people the various things they might need.

  Listless Witness, I met a guy at Flipper's Tahoe Fest that said he read my book "FIRST" and that led to other books. I met another guy who shared a similar story and said he was profoundly affected by my book and the next year he said he was reading it to his JW wife because she would only listen to things without doctrine in them. Now I add you to the list of those that say they were moved by my book. (I tried really hard to put "Listless" on a list.) As with the others, I am almost speechless. You have honored my story and I thank you. I put it out there in the hopes that it would help someone, and I am not disappointed. On your "thank you," you are sincerely welcome.

  sparrowdown, I had my Watchtower blinders on at one time. I believed most of those stories were accurate. But as an elder, I was occasionally at some practices for assembly parts. (I was involved with one assembly part and I was also a character in one drama.) I saw how "experiences" were slightly morphed to sound better. After I faded, I learned how many of the stories told by the Bethel speaker or C.O.or D.O. were directly stolen from Christendom stories and altered to fit the JW's. These things make it even more important for each person to honor their true story of being altered by Watchtower and escaping somehow.
• 
  29

  Mrs. Eden sends her regards to you all .... =)

  by EdenOne in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  mrs. eden is laying here by my side reading the forum latest posts with me and asked me to send you all her warmest regards.

  more to follow soon.... .

  eden

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Hello, Mrs. Eden.

  That reminds me of someone named "Eden" that I liked very much-

  
  

  That "Mr. Eden" was a very lucky man.
• 
  18

  Books by Former Witnesses

  by GiftsinMen in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am interested in reading books published by former jws which detail personal experiences of their time with the organisation.

  i know of coc, exiting the jw cult, mamas club, 30yrs a wt slave, and told ones were written by otwo, punk and terry.

  i'd like to spend some time making my way through them so titles, authors and links would be really useful.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Mine is at http://www.amazon.com/Fade-From-Truth-Unlearning-Witnesses/dp/147523001X

  It is a personal life story about how I was affected by the Jehovah's Witnesses, how I became one, how I was freed. It has no scriptures and no doctrine in it.
• 
  4

  Honor Your Story

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a recent thread mentioned members who wrote their own story as a book.

  you don't have to have an entire book to write your story.

  as a matter of fact, you don't have to share your story if you are not up to it.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  A recent thread mentioned members who wrote their own story as a book. You don't have to have an entire book to write your story. As a matter of fact, you don't have to share your story if you are not up to it.

  Reading Exiting the JW Cult: A Healing Handbook for Current and Former JW's ( http://www.amazon.com/EXiting-JW-Cult-Handbook-Witnesses/dp/1508477132 ) took me to this thought: If you went through a terrible tragic event, some employers and others hire counselors to do a debriefing session also known as grief counseling. In order to get grief counseling/debriefing therapy from leaving the JW's, one would have to pay for private counseling or find otherwise available counseling through a college or a program of sorts.

  But the author, Bonnie Zieman, offered another suggestion for those that cannot go to such counseling sessions. She suggests you do a personal debriefing. This can be done through writing a journal. I won't go through all the details of how to do that, as you really should start by learning how to do that. You can read Bonnie's book for great suggestions and/or start with the internet.

  But I did want to focus on honoring your story. Even if it is private and never shared, give your personal debriefing the time and focus it deserves. It was highly suggested that this be done early in the day, like when you first get up, so that you don't go to bed with anxiety and dreams about your cult experience. It was suggested that if your writings are full of resentment and anger, perhaps you need to write those separately and also write your personal story.

  It is never too late to start. I thought that I was quite content sharing my story on this forum and commenting here. That was good, but while in counseling, I knew I needed to go further. I edited some personal information out of my story and turned it into a book- FADE FROM THE TRUTH which can be found on Amazon or also linked on watchtowerdocuments.org as Alan Miller's story. Some might think I am here to promote my story. Perhaps, but that second link gives it to you for free and the Amazon account sells the ebook for $0.99. So it isn't about the money. It's about honoring my story. I feel profoundly about what I wrote and hope that it helps others.

  When I actually typed that story, the things that were heavy on my mind transferred from my head to my fingers to a screen and I felt a huge releasing of the burden. Deep-seated problems became words on a page. So I mention my own story to honor it and to verify that this type of self debriefing from Watchtower really does help. Keep in mind that I also attended professional counseling as my troubles were quite heavy upon me. So I did this as a secondary method of personal debriefing. You will have to decide how much help you need with your story, but honor it- give it the attention it deserves.

  Some do find that sharing on JWN is enough. Some are able to share, as I have done. That is great. If it helps, start your story here or tell it all here. Keep in mind as people comment, some advice on serious matters is from non-professionals and carefully look at it and weigh it. Don't just say "Okay, I will do that."
• 
  96

  Ray Franz was an Idiot

  by vinman in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  ray franz who gave us insight into the gb due to a crisis of conscience was an absolute moron, with absolutely no critical thinking skills whatsoever like all of us have.

  i mean, to have a conscience based on some magic man in the sky.. how stupid can you be?

  in search of christian freedom?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Steve2
  Ray Franz was above all else a respectful and empathic man. He did not attempt to convert people to his point of view but was cautious in his statements because he knew that most of his listeners had been through the mill with organized religion.
  
  I guess I don't see this on this forum. I see name calling, calling God names, and much arrogance and disrespect.

  You know, we don't all claim to be Ray Franz or Ray-Franz-like. Not that he elevated himself personally, but Ray probably felt a need to deliver the highest quality book. He wasn't here in the trenches with us as many others are also not here in the trenches. He sought to make a difference in the way he could. We are not writing a book here, and we are free agents. We are free to debate. I don't speak for everyone, so I won't generalize. But as for me, I don't see that disrespecting an imaginary god is disrespecting people who believe in it.
• 
  63

  EXACTLY Why JW's Are NOT Christian

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a lot of people, ex-jws, believers and unbelievers alike, think that jw's are just a somewhat kooky brand of christianity.

  is it possible to "try and follow jesus" and not be christian?

  what exactly makes someone a christian?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  The Bible can be made to say anything from Perry's beliefs to Watchtower's doctrines to the nutso teachings of self-appointed messiahs and televangelists either after your money or your sex (or both). To be a Christian means to follow what one believes were the teachings of Jesus. But most are based on 4 bogus books not written by the men whose names are on them, not inspired, and surviving above other books because the Romans attempted to destroy the other books that had slightly different stories.

  Perry, your beliefs come from men, not from Jesus or God. Men make doctrines.

  Oh, I admire people who try to live up to the standards of Buddha or Jesus that they think lead to peace, but not so much the men who try to insist that their standards come from the divine.
• 
  96

  Ray Franz was an Idiot

  by vinman in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  ray franz who gave us insight into the gb due to a crisis of conscience was an absolute moron, with absolutely no critical thinking skills whatsoever like all of us have.

  i mean, to have a conscience based on some magic man in the sky.. how stupid can you be?

  in search of christian freedom?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  I challenge believers on this forum when it is appropriate. But I don't generally challenge them outside of this forum unless they challenge my non-belief. Certainly, I recognize when I want to call someone an "idiot" or "absolute moron" for their beliefs "based on some magic man in the sky" that I am really saying that about my former self.

  I was an idiot, an absolute moron- for believing in the JW "magic man in the sky."

  But really, I have come to learn that while I was giving (in my opinion) totally stellar public talks that "proved" so much that it was all the truth, that I was really falling for every kind of faulty logic there is. And it isn't all about whether a person has a high IQ or not. In my case, it was a need to believe. In other cases, it is the same or perhaps a high intelligence but with a limited imagination (I can't imagine how everything came to be by accident.) ,,,,or it's just a high way of thinking that decides we really cannot know everything, even what we think we know. I mean, I have read the philosophy that says we might all just be parts of a computer simulation, or even that we might all be projected from a 2-dimensional recording (or live) and only THINK we are in a three-dimensional world. You could also be just a brain in a vat of liquid, being stimulated to think your world is real, and none of it really is real. YADDA YADDA YADDA.

  My point is that we can't just label believers as idiots. We should challenge them, but there are so many different thoughts that go beyond intelligence alone.

  Now, on Ray- yes he remained a believer. Yes, he would have stayed a JW if they didn't kick him out. It just doesn't matter. He did more for the cause than most any of us combined with the exception of a handful of people.
• 
  38

  Hello

  by Munster Abu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  new here but looking forward to joining in some of the discussions with you all.. a small bit about me: i'm shane.

  was raised as a jw in the uk by my mum (single parent family) from about 2 years of age.

  got baptised at 15 for all the wrong reasons.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Hey Shane, it's good to have an exit strategy. Hope to hear more from you. Welcome aboard.
• 
  16

  The social institution of the Kingdom Hall.

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is a warm sunny day, blue skies and i am excited by the prospect this sunday holds.

  will i dismantle a motorbike?

  paint a picture?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  The day is a fortune cookie without Watchtower obligations. You can choose to open it and read it and be enthralled by it, or you can choose to eat or not eat the cookie itself, or you can choose to do something else and ignore the whole thing. (Maybe some poet would like to shorten that.)

  In the days of JWism, there was so much to do, especially on weekends. Now, there's so much to choose to do or not to do. It is awesome.

  I will enjoy something of the great outdoors today. My schedule was changed last-minute by a co-worker's mother's passing and a visitation scheduled for today, but that's okay- the rest of the day is mine and not Watchtower's.