Posts by exwitless

38

Tell Simon why we want JWD to stay... our apprecaition...

by burningbridges in

ok, i'll start, maybe if we can all tell simon our reason why this site means so much to us he will reconsider and leave it here.

this site has given me the courage to speak out.

i used to be ashamed of my history with the witnesses.

exwitless

Well I haven't posted for a few months, although I do "lurk" now and then. Nothing personal, I just think that as time goes on, I have become less interested in talking about JW stuff. It's going on 2 years now that Little Drummer Boy and I have been DA'd.

For months leading up to our DAing, this forum was a tremendous source of information, encouragement, laughter, and support for me. I started out lurking on a few ex-dub forums, but I always came back to JWD. In my opinion, it is the best ex-dub forum out there.

LDB and I were feeling very trapped in the months before our DAing and shortly after. The forum provided a relatively safe place for us to talk, joke, ask questions, etc. while the dubs were breathing down our necks. The comic relief was invaluable as well. Especially the Watchtower cover parodies. I'll miss those.

I was surprised to learn the forum was being shut down, but I certainly understand why from Simon's perspective.

I won't miss the jerks, liars, and a-holes that this forum has had. It's because of people like them that the forum has become so much more argumentative, hostile, and unwelcoming. All in all, it was nice to have been part of this forum. Thanks to Simon for putting up with all the crap going on for so long. Thanks to the nice, encouraging, intelligent, and funny people I've cyber-met on this forum.

LDB and I are definitely feeling more and more like ex-ex-JWs. We prefer to keep looking forward instead of allowing our past history of being dubs to serve as a ball-and-chain on our lives. Good luck to you all!

13

Just wanted to say hi, also have a question

by exwitless in

jw
friends

hey, everyone.

you probably didn't miss me, but i've been away from the board for a few months.

i guess you could say i'm an "irregular poster", and i'm "weak", and should do more "personal study".

exwitless

Excuse us, maam, but in the time that you've been away, JWD has become a PRO-Witness forum. You're going to have to supply the song numbers to this week's Service Meeting to post here. We will send you your packet of Kool-Aid and the printed instructions at our convenience.

Oh, I guess I have missed a lot. Ok: 52, 118, 212...No wait, those are this week's lottery numbers. Well anyway, I'm still waiting for my Kool-Aid packet.

13

Just wanted to say hi, also have a question

by exwitless in

jw
friends

hey, everyone.

you probably didn't miss me, but i've been away from the board for a few months.

i guess you could say i'm an "irregular poster", and i'm "weak", and should do more "personal study".

exwitless

Hey thanks for the welome back, Snakes (I almost typed Snacks!), PEC,IP, and the rest of you. Yep, IP, LDB is Little Drummer Boy, my husband. He's doing really well with his job. He's been busy with his relatively new hobby: playing Airsoft. In case y'all don't know what airsoft is, it's high-powered real-looking guns that shoot out plastic BBs (it still hurts a lot to get hit by one even though they're plastic). His team dresses in camo and run around in the woods shooting each other. They have fun and it's good exercise.

Thanks for the update on the book study. I'm almost sad I'm not still there to see the death of it (I said almost).

13

Just wanted to say hi, also have a question

by exwitless in

jw
friends

hey, everyone.

you probably didn't miss me, but i've been away from the board for a few months.

i guess you could say i'm an "irregular poster", and i'm "weak", and should do more "personal study".

exwitless

Hey, everyone. You probably didn't miss me, but I've been away from the board for a few months. I guess you could say I'm an "irregular poster", and I'm "weak", and should do more "personal study".

Anyway, I wanted to say hi and ask about a little rumor LDB read something about: Are they really doing away with the book study and CO visits? I had thought for years before I DAd that they needed to dispense with the book "study" (a.k.a. Read on your own, have someone read it again out loud, then have about 5 people read it again in random order by answering the mind-numbing repetitive questions). And those CO visits (a.k.a come to the meeting 30 minutes early, kiss the CO's butt, brown nose, speak piously about how "encouraging" his visit is, compliment his lovely wife, then endure 45 minutes of being emotionally whipped, guilted, made to feel inferior, etc...) have long outworn their welcome.

OK, enough of my ranting. Tell me more about the latest dub sagas.

15

Just checking in and saying hello to all!

by restrangled in

jw
friends

hi all old friends!

and hello to so many new members.. hope you are doing well.. r..

exwitless

Hi restrangled!

2

Anyone Familiar With Melanoma Treatment? I Have Questions.

by Justitia Themis in

my daughter has had two excisions.

in both, the cells were severely dysplastic (spelling?).

they are so deformed, they are unable to say she has malignant melanoma.

exwitless

I'll try to help you with your question if I can. (My disclaimer: I'm a dermatology nurse. However, your doctor's advice supercedes anything I or anyone else says here.)

Dysplastic moles are basically moles that show an abnormal cell arrangement microscopically. They are generally classified as mild, moderate, or severe. They are not considered pre-melanoma or a skin cancer. However, anyone with dysplastic moles is at higher risk of developing melanoma in general, anywhere on his/her body, compared to someone without dysplastic moles.

Because your daughter's moles were severely dysplastic, the doctor may prefer to treat as though they were melanoma as a precaution. Generally, the treatment for dysplastic moles and very early superficial melanoma is to make sure the entire lesion was completely excised with a standard margin of normal skin. When that's done, the patient must continue to follow up for routine skin exams to monitor for any changes in other moles, and they must also watch on their own between visits. They must also make changes to avoid unprotected sun exposure. That means DAILY sunscreen, reapply often when outdoors, and ABSOLUTELY NO TANNING BEDS!!!!!

There usually is not a need to see an oncologist for dysplastic moles. However, the doctor should be giving your daughter all of this education and specific instructions for her follow up care. If your daughter is not clear about her condition or what she should be doing, she needs to go back to the doctor and ask these questions. Knowlege is power.

28

Kids and imaginary friends....are they really imaginary?

by ButtLight in

jw
friends

i never had one growing up, at least not to my knowledge.

none of my kids did either.

did any of your kids?

exwitless

I had an imaginary friend from about age 3 to 6. Her name was Bendy. I honestly don't remember really believing she was real. I just liked pretending she was there. I'd make my brother and sister leave room on the couch for her to sit next to me. Sometimes I'd shape my favorite blanket into a 'person shape' on the couch and pretend she was under there taking a nap; and NO ONE was allowed to bother her.

I'll never live Bendy down. My dad still, on occasion, asks me "How's Bendy?" Ugh.

64

Hook Lines or Phrases Jehovah's Witnesses Use to Control You

by flipper in

jw
friends

to control a person, or control a group of people , any cult , including jehovah's witnesses , have to gain your trust that they are the authority on what you need to know.

even people have been known to use these " catch phrases " to gain trust , or " hook lines " as you'd call them to gain control over groups of people or individually in their own lives.

see if you are familiar with these phrases which empower the sender of the phrase , but demands rapt allegiance from listeners to be the " gospel truth " without challenge , which can take the listeners power away.

exwitless

"Jehovah knows all and sees all", or "Jehovah can read our hearts". This is an attempt to instill the 'big brother is watching you' fear.

13

Preface to meeting comments, what were your LEAST faves?

by Pioneer Spit...oh, i mean Spirit in

jw
friends

i used to think "just spit it out already!!!

" those pre-comment comments like.

.. "well, brother.

exwitless

"The paragraph brings out..."

This was one of my least faves. However, one can hardly blame anyone for saying that, because all the WT study consists of is reading garbage and puking it back up several times per paragraph.

"To summarize what some of the others have said..." That's a comment someone gives when 5 other people have already beat the dead horse, but he/she insists on saying it too.

"And just to expound on that last comment..." (sounds intellectual; fancy word)

"It's important for JW's to remember that..."

Oh, I just remembered my favorite:

"Well, last night when I was reading and studying this, well, uh, you see, uh, the phone rang, and it was my unbelieving mother, and she asked me if I would run an errand for her, and so I says..."......ramble....ramble....ramble....blah.....nonsense....three minutes later he finally gets to the point of his answer. Usually this happened when the answer was something very simple like "God's love".

36

Do you still pray?

by Layla33 in

jw
friends

i was wondering about this the other day before i went to sleep, out of habit and my spiritual beliefs now, i spoke to the spiritual realm above and asked for guidance and protection.. i remember my journey of leaving the jw "borg" (a new term i have picked up here - i like it!

) and at first i refused to pray at all, and then i wasn't sure i wanted to or not, and then i developed my own sense of the higher power above and spirituality and every night before i sleep, i feel blessed to have another day of life, to do it all again.

even on days when i am not having such a good day, i take time to ask the higher realm for strength and direction.

exwitless

I was sure this was god's answer to my prayer,
Yeah, I thought the same thing. But you know, I've learned that we can't chalk stuff up to God and then blame him when we are mistaken.

I don't know; I always was told that we should 'chalk stuff up to God', or "leave your burdens with God" or (excuse me while I gag) "Let go and let God" . That's what I sincerely did when I prayed for guidance in finding the religion that would please him. And I ended up in the borg.

I can't say I "blame" god for this, because I am currently in doubt of his existance. I blame myself for being so gullible to think that if there was a god and if he heard my prayer, that he would actually intervene in my life and show me what he wanted me to do. I was mistaken, for sure.

So as I've said in other posts, for now, if god exists and if god wants to communicate something to me, he'll have to come crashing down into my living room with thunder and flashing neon lights and tell me directly. Otherwise, I am learning to trust myself, to make my own decisions without worrying if I should ask for god's "approval" first.