Posts by FreeGirl2006

17

Books or exercises to learn critical thinking

by Captain Obvious in

jw
friends

i was sitting at the meeting this morning (yes, still keeping up appearances), listening to the speaker and trying to understand his lack of logic.

his talk was about education.

he seemed all over the place, not really making proper points.

FreeGirl2006

Another good book is You Are Not So Smart

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-So-Smart/dp/1592406599/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342478998&sr=1-1&keywords=you+are+not+so+smart">You Are Not So Smart</a>

38

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 07-15-2012 WT Study (STRAINED MARRAIGE)

by blondie in

jw
friends

comments.

With award-winning advice like "You and (ex) hubby need to take a long weekend away from the children" in response to my complaint that the (ex) hubby never wanted sex and nary a Bible in sight--yeah that inspires confidence that the Elders can help with marital issues. I left the room shortly after this stupid counsel.

Or the other classic I was told "If you had not gone back to work after you married, your family would be in better shape spiritually." I asked that Elder if he was volunteering to pay our bills since (ex) hubby was out of work and I was the sole breadwinner.

So what are the Elders qualified to help with exactly?

46

How many JW pedofiles do you personally know?

by oldlightnewshite in

i was just thinking that out of the 200 jws that i actually know, at least 4 of them to my knowledge are pedophiles.

i know for a fact, through personal confidences.

that means, as far as my circle of jovo friends/acquaintances goes, 2% of them are kiddy fiddlers.. without mentioning names or details, how many do you know of for a certainty to be pedos, and what percentage does it work out at, considering all your circle of jovo friends?.

FreeGirl2006

I know of one personally and he is in good standing with his congo. He was finally df'd after 20 years of my persisting my campaign against him. My sister and her stepmother (the pedo's current wife) finally came forward to back my story. He was reinstated after 2 years. Don't think anyone in his congo knows.

As for statistics on sex offenders--proceed with caution. A large portion of people on the sex offender registery probably should not be on there. Public urination, "Romeo & Juliet" romances, and other "victimless" crimes can cause someone to be placed on the list. If you research the Dept of Justice statistics you will find that sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates for crimes. Most professionals who have to deal with the registry say it is an ineffective tool because the real abusers are obscured by the sheer volume of people on the list (most of their crimes not related to abusing a child). Sexual offense has become a tool for politicians to gain or keep office.

I am not siding with pedofiles, but I also happen to personally know some men who were wrongly convicted of sexual crimes and they are on the list--they cannot find jobs, fear for not only their life, but the lives of family living with them. If you do some in-depth research on the matter, it should scare everyone in the US how easy it is to get charged/convicted of being a sex offender on the unsubstantiated word of anyone. There does not have to be physical evidence to get a conviction. It is considered an "atomic" weapon for women seeking to get a divorce (and revenge at the same time). When a person is charged with a sex offense, it is guilty until proven innocent.

As a victim of a sexual predator I used to think the registry was a good thing, but doing some research has made me change my mind. I also do not agree with the court's stance that a person can be convicted without evidence of any kind and solely on the word of a child. Some troubled children do lie unfortunately...well anyway, I will get off my soapbox.

81

How Did You Become An Atheist?

by NewChapter in

jw
friends

since there seem to be a number of threads in this spirit, i'd like to ask how others became atheists.

for myself, i learned some things that made me understand the bible wasn't true.

i looked deeper, and it became even more unlikely.

FreeGirl2006

I was raised in the borg from aged 2-onward. I believed very deeply in Jehoveh, faith, prayer, the Bible (well the dub concepts of such things). I did have many questions and like a good dubbie I forced them out of my mind. The turning point for me was when my mother died in 2000. She was ill with cancer and it caused her kidneys to fail. We had a nightmare her final 16 hours. The hospital would not admit mom as a patient (she was kept in the emergency room) because they would not admit mom, they would not give her any pain drugs. We begged and pleaded with the ER personel to do something to ease her suffering, but all they would say is that mom was in a coma and couldn't feel anything. Mom was not in a coma and she kept pleading with us to do something about her pain. All my sibs but one was a dub at the time and even he was praying for Jehovah to put her out of her misery. We knew she was dying, we didn't ask for a miraculous recovery only an end to her suffering. Mom had been a faithful dub I would like to add. When mom finally died later that day (we finally were able to get her admitted and get her dosed with morphine so she was able to have a peaceful final hour), I was questioning how an all-powerful, all-mighty god could watch mom suffer as she was and not intercede when it was nothing for him to take her life. Her suffering served no purpose for her or the rest of the family (as one friend told me when I spoke of this). That lead me down a trail of how a loving god could watch any of the suffering going on and let it continue when he has the means to fix it right now. The answers given by the dubs no longer provided me comfort.

Flash forward to my being booted from the borg. I was in agony (I did wrong, was repentant to the point of wanting to die, and was booted out unceremoniiously) and decided I just didn't care about god anymore. That was a lie though, as I still carried with me deeply rooted beliefs. I still believed in Jehovah, the Bible, faith, and prayer. I made the decision that I would never go back to the borg even if that meant signing my death warrant at Armaggedon. With that decision came the freedom to speak freely about religion, to really listen to people about their beliefs, to read books on other religions, science, and everything in between. I became ambivalent about religion. Then I met my boyfriend. He had been as deeply involved in his Baptist faith as I had been with the dubs. He was a deacon of his church and a missionary in Israel. He knows the Bible better than anyone I have ever encountered. He is also now an atheist. His deeper study into the Bible, coupled with his Jewish background and intensive study of the Hebrew language led him to that point. He and I would have friendly arguments about the Bible and God in the beginning of our relationship. I started to see the rationale of his views and the huge holes in the very foundation of Christian beliefs.

I arrived at the place I am at (agnostic/atheist--I am not sure if there is a creator but really don't care either) after about 6 months of conversations with my boyfriend. I realized how I spent the majority of my life looking ahead to a future while barely acknowledging the present. I am much happier today than I ever was in dub-land. I enjoy each day as its own. I frankly don't care how someone believes (although I would dearly love if my still-in dubbie relatives would come to their senses). I have friends who are deeply religious and I have friends who are atheists. I listen with respect to their beliefs and vice versa. We may not understand why the other feels the way they do, but we get along.

Thanks for starting the thread NC--you always have interesting comments to make.

4

Business...........

by Dudu in

jw
friends

as some of you know i started a business this past school year, what i do basically is to help kids with the homework in the afternoon.

i had 2 people helping me out , both quiet uneffective, here is my dilema:.

1) the first one is my niece.

FreeGirl2006

As a small business owner I realized early on that I could not be successful and hire friends or family because typically my expectations and their expectations were quite different. My business is my baby and my mantra when I have to cut loose clients or employees is "it is business." I would explain to your sister that you need an assistant who is consistently reliable and you feel you have given your niece every opportunity you can but it has begun to affect your business and you can't continue. Ditto with your other employee but start out thanking her for all her help. Finish with an offer of a recommendation letter if you can honestly recommend something about her.

2

I had to laugh

by FreeGirl2006 in

jw
friends

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my boyfriend and i went out to dinner tonight and we had trouble getting in the door because a portly clueless man was standing in the door.

FreeGirl2006

I can't believe how much I bought in to all that crap. I wish I could say I didn't have the holier than thou attitude when I was in, but I would be lying. Thamk goodness I was treated like trash when bedridden as that saved my life from rotting away in the borg.

2

I had to laugh

by FreeGirl2006 in

jw
friends

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[endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif].

my boyfriend and i went out to dinner tonight and we had trouble getting in the door because a portly clueless man was standing in the door.

FreeGirl2006

My boyfriend and I went out to dinner tonight and we had trouble getting in the door because a portly clueless man was standing in the door. Once we managed to squeeze in past the gent and got our name on the wait list, we ended up facing the man and his family. I suddenly realized they were wearing name badges and the requisite polyester dress clothes of good Southern dubbies. My boyfriend made the comment that our clueless chubby dubby must be high up on the dub food chain if his waist was anything to go by (his badge indicated he was an attendant). We saw several chubby dubby men after that and decided that elders must be chosen by their girth. I thought it was funny. Cheap laughs at the expense of the borg is always welcome. Since I still have no power from the violent wind storms last Friday night and we are having to eat out for most meals, I am sure I will encounter more than my share of dubbies this weekend...oh joy!

I also realized how grateful I was not having to parade about town like a circus spectacle simply because I spent the weekend mentally numb at the grand annual mind frack. We also had a little fun because we were waiting on a bench with another couple (that I am pretty sure were dubbies without badges) by speaking about the Conti case and my own abuse. The woman was definitely eavesdropping and kept staring at me as if she knew me. I guess she will try to figure out what congo I am from so she can report my apostate ways or she was truly appalled by what she heard. One can hope it is the latter.

21

How the Conti case has re-opened a can of worms for me

by Soldier77 in

i haven't been one to start a lot of threads and i've actually been gone from this board for about a year only to return after the conti case blew open.

i stopped coming here because i had moved on with my life and really started to put being a jw behind me and stopped concerning myself with it.. my anger and hate of the wtbts had come to a simmer, i don't think it will or would have completely cooled, but then on one fateful morning i awake to an email from my mother.

i haven't talked to my mother in about 6 months as our last conversation was her spouting off how great of a time she was having serving where the need was greater and it was all about her and her husband and jehovah this and jehovah that.

FreeGirl2006

I understand where you are coming from. I had a similar experience (I may even have posted it early on joining the site). I have also had my experiences with abuse among the dubs (pedophile/elder/step-creep + the loving judicial committee I faced at age 10 regarding the abuse = nightmares) brought back to the forefront. I agree that going back to counseling is important. Keep a journal and write your feelings out. If pursuing legal action will aid in your healing then go for it!

I don't think it is shunning when you avoid someone because it is affecting your emotional/mental health, in my personal opinion. I have several people in my life now that I consider toxic and as much as I may care for them, I limit my time with them as I cannot stand the negativity that exudes from them.

My case is past the expiration date, but I worry about new victims of the step-creep as he is currently in good standing in his congo in NC. He molested at least 4 others beside myself...all because of the wonderful policies in place.

Freegirl2006

9

anyone seen TED yet?

by dreamgolfer in

jw
friends

i like mark wahlberg, it looks funny, should i go?.

FreeGirl2006

Hilarious! If you enjoy Family Guy you will like Ted.

7

Ireland

by FreeGirl2006 in

jw
friends

i am headed to ireland this year (yeah!!!!).

i will be in dublin, wicklow, killarney, and galway.

any suggestions on must-see places, excellent pubs, shops, art galleries, etc?

FreeGirl2006

I wish I was going to have the time to head north! That would be incredible to see where the Titanic was built! Of course, Jameson's and Guiness are on my list!