can you define "actively speak"?
Please give a real example so we can have an idea what you mean. Do you express your thoughts only to an elder? Or to each other? Or in your answers during the meetings? Or do you actively contradict all the time?
boyzone
JoinedPosts by boyzone
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30
The League of Apostate Pioneers
by Megachusen inrecently it's come to my attention that the other teens in my congragation are being pressured by their parents to pioneer.
the main problem is that, like me, they're all "apostates".
because of this amusing turn of events, i'm thinking about starting my own apostate pioneering group with them.
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43
I am So Angry
by GoddessRachel ini hate everything.
i am so angry at my mother, at my father, my sister, my brother.
nobody understands me.
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boyzone
Yeah too true Journey-on. I'm really pleased rachel brought this thread up again, its helped to know I'm not the only one who felt this way. Sometimes I look around at the people in my life and think just how upset they would be if they really knew how I was feeling or what I was thinking.
Thats why I tend to keep quiet and put a smile on. I can't joke or banter, when I feel like this, I'm not that good an actress, but I get by and most of the men in my life aren't that perceptive to notice my heavy heartedness. I think they don't understand anyway and just expect me to "get over it" whatever "it" is.
So thats what I do, I get over it, at least for a while. Then it gets overwhelming again and the valleys get a little deeper every time.
Sometimes I think I should just go back, I know its all false, but you just get so tired of the battle, you get me? So tired of being looked at as if you're dirt, of dear friends who deliberately come into my work and pretend I'm a total stranger to them. Of JW's who I've known and loved for years, turning and walking away if they see me in the street. To know that my dad, my caring, laughing, whistling, joking dad thinks that its right for his daughter to be treated this way and will defend JW's to the hilt and get furiously angry if his defense is shown to be flawed.
I'm just really tired, physically, psycologically and emotionally. Its too heavy, this burden. Too much.
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43
I am So Angry
by GoddessRachel ini hate everything.
i am so angry at my mother, at my father, my sister, my brother.
nobody understands me.
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boyzone
Thanks for that Rachel and for starting this thread. I've had a couple of rotten days too but was trying to cope on my own. The anxiety was beginning to overwhelm me and I've been having difficulty catching my breath and swallowing the lump in my throat. There always seems to be a tightness round my chest too, and I've found myself close to tears for no real reason other than the pain of having to face another day of JW shunning.
My usual consolation I've found in food didn't help this time and I was back on the bulimic roundabout. Stuffing my face looking for solace, only to find I wasn't comforted and then getting rid of the excess to get back in control again.
Suicidal thoughts have plagued me these last few days too. The thought of just putting a gun to my head and pulling the trigger seems a very attractive idea at times. Not that I want to die, I really don't, I know i have much to live for. I just want to stop it hurting.
So I read this thread and the advice people have offered you and I'd like to add my thanks to everyone too.
I followed Hortensia's advice and decided to get busy. The tasks I'd been avoiding dealing with, I dealt with. The people I needed to consult, I consulted. The jobs that needed doing got done. Its been a busy day and I feel better for it.
Not only am I now physically tired but also better organized which is helping me relax.
Thanks to all you guys for this great thread. Tomorrow I'm gonna try poppers advice to stop the swirl of thoughts that go round and round in my head, thoughts that regularly drag me down into the pit. Yes perhaps its time to start enjoying the here and now for once.
BZ xxx
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26
Any Good Ideas for a Letter to the Editor?
by AK - Jeff inregarding this matter?
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/medical/176165/1/blood-being-refused-here-in-my-area.
i think i will write one this week.
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boyzone
AK-rekrul
So your idea of refuting the points in Jeff's letter is to question his motives, malign his character and slur his family? Now where have I seen those tactics before? Oh yeah, virtually every edition of the Watchtower. Smart move there rekrul - not.
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Show-down with elder at the kingdom hall
by Hobo Ken inthis is podcast 8 in the death or obedience series.. this was recorded on christmas day 2008.. after our last visit from two local elders my wife felt she could no longer be known as a jehovah's witness and had chosen to disassociate herself in november 2008.. we had been on a family holiday and had returned to find that one of the local elders who had visited us had warned off my mother-in-law from having anything to do with my wife - her daughter.
he also made false statements about one of my children.. i decided to confront this elder at the kingdom hall.
this podcast is the recording of our conversation.. notice how he denies making such statements to my mother-in-law and falsely accuses me of teaching her beliefs contrary to jehovah's witnesses.. i ask whether it's a sin to no longer be a jehovah's witness?.
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boyzone
Ronnie HUNTER???? A relative Mark?
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Witness parents using "loophole" to associate with Disfellowshiped children! threats?
by Witness 007 inin my old congregation there are many disfellowshiped young ones.
the parents use the watchtower rule that they need "assistance" from their children therefore can have them over and associate with them more freely.
this has clearly been abused as disfellowshiped kids taking the whole family on hloidays out to dinner, etc....but the elders turn a blind eye.
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boyzone
My mum and dad are elderly and I'm the only daughter nearby to care for them if there's a problem. Dad is usually uber strict when it comes to the JW rules yet they still talk to me and associate whenever they like, its not just confined to "necessary business".
Considering how much strong council they've had recently on shunning xJW family, I'm surprised dad is still talking. When I asked him about it, he said, "I just let common sense prevail". Thats all he would say.
So whilst I'm grateful that they're common sense IS prevailing, its a shame the rest of the congregation are showing a distinct lack of common sense and actively shun at every opportunity.
Of course I also know how expedient it is for the elders to let mum and dad talk to me. I'm not daft either, I know who primarily needs to care for them if there's a problem, and the elders don't want that responsibility thats for sure.
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Sending Out a Letter to My JW Daughter - Give Me Your Thoughts Please
by flipper insome of you probably read my jw daughter's letter to mrs. flipper and me a few weeks ago where she tried explaining to mrs. flipper why she doesn't have anything to do with me ( says i talk negative towards the organization ) .
in that letter though she showed some flashes of her authentic, kind personality and told us she loves us.
but much of the letter was proselytizing to us about how bad the system is and how jeovah will bring a paradise, etc.
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boyzone
lovely post, post, post.
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boyzone
Wolves in sheeps clothing..
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116
Show-down with elder at the kingdom hall
by Hobo Ken inthis is podcast 8 in the death or obedience series.. this was recorded on christmas day 2008.. after our last visit from two local elders my wife felt she could no longer be known as a jehovah's witness and had chosen to disassociate herself in november 2008.. we had been on a family holiday and had returned to find that one of the local elders who had visited us had warned off my mother-in-law from having anything to do with my wife - her daughter.
he also made false statements about one of my children.. i decided to confront this elder at the kingdom hall.
this podcast is the recording of our conversation.. notice how he denies making such statements to my mother-in-law and falsely accuses me of teaching her beliefs contrary to jehovah's witnesses.. i ask whether it's a sin to no longer be a jehovah's witness?.
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boyzone
Hi iknowall558
This elder is an appalling person and these podcasts show him in a very bad light. His unwillingness to admit where he got his info from speaks volumes and the only conclusion anyone can reach is that he was lying to your mum and making things up to portray you and Matt in as bad a light as possible. In fact, his whole reason was to make sure she sticks to the rules and shuns you. The rules come first - every time.
Reading that part about the conversation repeated on the platform by your brother-in-law was awful. How you didn't walk up and give the lad a good slap around the face after that I just don't know. What a wicked thing for someone to do to another, all for disagreeing with the Society!
It goes to show just who their god really is doesn't it? Its not Jehovah its not Jesus, its the Organization. They worship that organization so much that they're willing to lie, slander, gossip, use false arguments, create strife and divisions and inflict deep emotional pain to keep its reputation intact.
I've faced similiar and know what you're all going through. My son was baptized at 18. He "came out" 3 years later but wasn't disassociated or disfellowshipped. He decided to leave quietly, stopped attending meetings and dropped off the JW radar. After 6 months (I suspect at the request of the CO) the elders decided they couldn't just let him leave and tried to contact him, not with the motive of trying to bring him back, but with a view to disassociate him because of, and I quote, "our paramount concern is the reputation of the congregation". My son tried everything to avoid the elders at this point. He didn't answer the phone, or the door to them and managed to avoid them for a few weeks more. But they didn't give up, eventually they caught up with him and asked him that loaded question "do you still want to be known as a Jehovahs Witness?" Of course he said no. From that point on he was formally disassociated.
When I confronted the elder responsible and asked him why he had to pursue my son even after he'd left the congregation, I was told it was to keep the paperwork tidy. I was supposed to shun him, his grandparents were told to shun him and all the friends he grew up with now refused to even look at him, all to keep the paperwork tidy???? It was only after a conversation with my son that I was told the main reason was concern for their reputation, not him.
Whatever the reason, both were poor excuses.
The elders are all the same Lorraine, pathetic sad individuals who deserve our pity. May the Lord forgive them because I still have difficulty.
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26
The Biggest B.S. stories you've heard from a talk
by superman ina few years ago at a convention, they related a story of a jw who was shot during service.
but rather then stop and get medical attention (like a normal person would have done) they moved on to the next door to finish the street.
when they got to the house the householder just so happened to be a (you guessed it) nurse!
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boyzone
So this sister is out on field service and a guy is telling her off for spending so much time knocking on doors when she should be caring for her house. The sister tells him that she got up at the crack of dawn and has completed all her housework before starting on field service. The householder doesn't believe her so she invites him round to her home to show him how pristine it is. The householder is so impressed that he agrees to a bible study.
This far-fetched piece of rubbish was given in a public talk. The looks of scepticism on the audience faces was priceless.