we're 40 today!
to mark the occasion, we have a "special request" topic for this weekend's poll.
it comes from onacruse.
10) other
I would do what I did last time I was in the hospital, I saw them coming at the end of the hall and I hid in the bathroom until they were gone and instructed my neighbour to say that I had to undergo a treatment and wouldn't be back for hours
Eppie
are you happy or miserable, or somewhere in between?
take a minute and see which statement reflects your life:
1. i am estatically happy; life couldn't be better; 2. i am really happy with no more than a few problems every now and then; 3. i am reasonably happy with my fair share of problems; 4. i am rarely happy and wonder what new curves life will throw me this year; 5. i am basically unhappy as nothing ever seems to go right; 5. i am usually unhappy and am beginning to suspect that satan has shown a real interest in me; 6. life sucks and i think i know how job felt; 7. i hope armageddon comes today.
I would say about a 1 and a half, but the half is only because of circumstances now that are never there, so overall it is most definitely a 1! I must say so that Im a student and students life rocks!!!!!!!! Ok so I guess a 1.3 really at this moment......
Ep
for decades the watchtower corruption and lying corporation (hereinafter
referred to as "the cult(tm)" has successfully prevailed in court over their destruction of lives and families due to their disgusting and perverted disfellowshipping policies.
what they've done in effect is to argue that their first amendment rights must prevail, so they can then turn around and use that right to deprive all of their members of that very same right and liberty that comes with that right.
This is such a sad story! I am only afraid that it will be used in a typical JW manner: see we are being repressed, you can see that the end is really coming near! Such kind of bu\\ sh|t.....
Ep
isnt it strange that within the jw religion (or as i like to call it after reading so many posts here: wbts religion) there are so many differences?
it seems as if they are very similar in their ways all over the world but when you look at it is not always the case.
on the website: www.disfellowshipped.org (as recommended by someone on this site) i found the following sentence:
Hey,
Isnt it strange that within the JW religion (or as I like to call it after reading so many posts here: WBTS religion) there are so many differences? It seems as if they are very similar in their ways all over the world but when you look at it is not always the case. One example:
On the website: www.disfellowshipped.org (as recommended by someone on this site) I found the following sentence:
'During the whole time that my husband was "falling away," no elders ever came to inquire as to where he was now, or if there was anything they could do to help me, since my husband no longer attended meetings or went out in field service.' This is the same thing that happens to me, I had a set of 'second parents', I was pregnant when I was 17 and in so much trouble (I lived with them, my parents didn't want me to be their daughter anymore, but luckily its all better now) but they helped me even though they new i was baptised and not married, but at that moment I still wanted to embrace the religion, for me and my child. My child however died and I decided not to be a JW anymore. At that moment they just dropped me and didn't even try anymore. It just seems that there is such a contradiction on the one hand you read sentences and stories like this:' they rather get new people than take care of their own', on the other side you see some threads here of people that have faded and have been contacted again after so many years.
Another example is the story an elder told me the other day (don't worry Im definitely not a dub, just ran in to some elder that didn't know my story), and he told me that at that moment he was serving in a congregation that was very different: they didn't raise their hands when they had to answer, they just shouted out their opinion, and they always finished their meetings 20 minutes before the original meant time.
There are many more examples of the differences. Does it depend on the persons serving the congregation? Does it mean that some really care and others don't?
Another example: I am a medical student and one day I had a patient that said that she was a JW, that she did not accept blood but that she, both in her conscience and that of the elders as she discussed it with them, would accept blood of her own, blood that had been out of her body for weeks! I looked it up in old Watchtowers and Awakes and it always stated that that is NOT according to the rules.
Why does it differ so much? Are they just cathing up in their own lies or do they just really care?
Just some random thoughts (I am very drunk right now ), hope that it makes SOME sense at all.....
Eppie
PS: another thought: I had to make an exam today and I thought: please Jehovah help me, and then I had to laugh so hard as it is just a reflex to think that whilst I have been faded for two years!!!!
how do you feel, now that you are out of the jw's?.
does the watchtower society want to make it feel worse than it actually is?
would you say that the scare of being df'd was worse than the real thing?.
Hai Happysistah,
Welcome to you of course! I know what you mean with your beliefsystem being shoken up. I experienced the same. I faded about 2 yrs ago and have been denying God and all belief systems lately (also all the rules, I am having soooooooooooo much fun ). Recently however one of my family members died and I just cannot belief that this is all there is. This doesn''t naturally mean that there is a God of course, but reincarnation would be cool to believe in as well (how about returning to earth as a pop idol or how would it suck if you were born in a JW family again.......)...
Good luck with reading! I am trying as well but often get the negative feeling of reading about religion (as if you are reading the Awake! or smth). You might also want to read the book Approaching Jehovah's Witnesses in Love from Wilbur Lingle. I just started reading it so I don't know exactly whether it is good or not but I had to laugh so hard about the following (adapted a bit to make it shorter):
...
P(erson): Will everyone living upon this earth be killed in Armageddon?
JW: Everyone but faithful JWs, they will be protected by Jehovah (Eppie: of course JWs would never say it so bluntly)
P: You mean that JWs will live through this horrible disaster, witnessing these people being killed and will have to listen to the blood-curdling screams as people die in agonising pain?
JW: I imagine that will be the case (Eppie: ok they wouldn't say this either but just read on.....)/
P: After all this awful destruction how is the new world order going to come about?
JW: The JWs will completely rebuild this earth so that it will be as beautiful as the nice pictures in our magazines
P: It seems to me that the first thing the surviving JWs will have to do is to get rid of the five billion bodies lying all around! So you mean the first thing they must do after Armageddon is to stand around and watch the worms and birds eat those dead bodies?
etc.
Doesn't it sound brilliant? Reading about smth you once believed in is so funny .... :)
Good day Happysistah, i hope to talk to you in more threads,
Eppie
so far i've had so many wonderful replies to my questions that i dare to venture one more here.. i will tell you a story about abuse in my family by a guy that has become an elder lately.
i will however change some details as i am still afraid to be recognised and dfd (i faded away very happily).. about 10 years ago a member of my close family was raped by a guy.
even though he was 'only 16' (this has been said as an excuse which really pisses me off), he was raping her when she was only 7 years old!!!
Hy'all,
So far I've had so many wonderful replies to my questions that I dare to venture one more here.
I will tell you a story about abuse in my family by a guy that has become an elder lately. I will however change some details as I am still afraid to be recognised and Dfd (I faded away very happily).
About 10 years ago a member of my close family was raped by a guy. Even though he was 'only 16' (this has been said as an excuse which really pisses me off), he was raping her when she was only 7 years old!!! His mother (a sister that always acts as if she is very holy) walked in on him doing that and she threatened my family member so she wouldn't tell a thing. As she was only seven and didn't quite understand what had happened she didn't mention it and lived on. When she was a few years older she got nightmares etc. and remembered everything. She then told her parents who told the local elders. They of course told them to do nothing and let Jehovah judge him lateron. He was called but refused everything (and I am sure that if he would have confessed that nothing would have happened). To my surprise the same elders APPOINTED HIM AN ELDER recently!!!! He ruined her life effectively and now he is an elder?!?!?!? I know I cannot really do smth about it esp as I have faded away and do not want to be Dfd. I would like to tell it to a journalist however, or just randomly go to his home to do I don't know what to him. Also his wife doesn't know anything about it, and neither do most of the brothers and sisters. Recently someone told me that her 6-yr old daughter had gone in the field with him (as in alone in a car to visit farms), I mean what if it happens again? Am i to blame then?
I know this is not a very unique story as many of these stories have been uncovered lately, but I wanted to share it with you as it bothers me really.
How can a religion have so many faces? The other day I was talking to an elder (not willingly, he was just visiting family that I was visiting), and he was so nice! I am sure that he doesn't know anything of a set up and really loves God. So many people really believe in him and it makes me feel warm inside and I really miss believing in smth that intense, but I also know that I will never be able to do that again. And then I feel that warm and the next day a person calls me and tells me that he has become an elder!!!!
Can't I post his name here? I am sure that would really do the job
Thanks for this site and for everyone that posts here, it has been a real pleasure lately to visit it!
Eppie
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did you ever knock on a door, and realize that the person knew more about the bible than you did?
what was your worst experience in the field service?.
How about being a teenager and calling at a door of one of your friends? Or just another teen for that matter. I hated it! Also once I was with an elder from door to door and I really didn't want to say anything (i was about 13 and really didn't want to go from door to door anymore), but after a few doors he said: 'whatever happens it's your door, i'll keep my mouth shut and won't say a thing'. Then we went to the door and I didn't say a thing and it was silent for a minute. Then i started and handed him a brochure. I then said thank you very much for the attention and wanted to walk away, then the elder said 'hey Simon how are you, haven't seen you in awhile!' The person was just an acquintance of the elder! I was soooo humiliated!
Come to think of it I don't really think anyone likes to go from door to door, just the fact that they are doing it for Jehovah keeps them doing it. Most of all in my congregation it was some kind of competition to show how good you were.
Eppie
i have a question.
i attended my, ehm i think the english word is lie in state (the action of going to a room in which a person who died lies and you can say goodbye with only close relatives, like a few days for the funeral) of my grandfather who recently died and something peculiar happened.. just before we left from my grandmothers house, my cousin who is dfd showed up.
i decided to drive with my sister and brother-in-law to the place and my sister was really upset that he came over and was also going to the 'lie in state'.
Hy'all,
I have a question. I attended my, ehm i think the english word is lie in state (the action of going to a room in which a person who died lies and you can say goodbye with only close relatives, like a few days for the funeral) of my grandfather who recently died and something peculiar happened.
Just before we left from my grandmothers house, my cousin who is dfd showed up. I decided to drive with my sister and brother-in-law to the place and my sister was really upset that he came over and was also going to the 'lie in state'. She yelled: 'how can he do this, he should respect grandpa (who was an elder) and grandma, he know we cannot talk to him etc etc.' I, very politely saidL 'but it is his grandfather as well'. This in her eyes was of course not an argument. I then said: 'what about me then?' as she knows i am faded and also knows that i slept with my bf and should be dfd. She then said: 'well you shouldn't have been here either then, you should have thought twice before you got baptised then'. I, as we were on our way to see my dead grandpa, wisely kept my mouth, not to get in an argument. After the whole procedure etc. we went to my grandma's house again and my cousin just stayed and talked to all the family (who are all JWs, also some elders). I was kind of surprised there.
Later on as I was driving home she called me to APOLOGISE for her remarks!!!! She said: 'i was just upset, i shouldn't have said those things. Of course he, and you too, have all the right to be there. And I forgot that you as a family are allowed to talk to dfd family as long as you don't talk about religious stuff.'
Is that true? Is that the official JW rule? I mean I never really thought of it before but I can remember hearing about such a rule but I thought it only applied to parents of whom a child is dfd. But on this board i constantly read posts of people that are shunned by their family as they are dfd.
So what is the 'true organisation rule' about this?
And just a remark: i am so amazed, my very active (so to say OVERactive ) JW sister called to apologise to me! The world can change! Everything will be fine!
Thanks for reading!
Eppie
i have see a few posts on here lately from individuals asking why there there is so much jw bashing on this site.
to you who asked - here's the answer.. when an individual has a traumatic experience this puts an imprint on their sub-conscious and conscous mind (so to speak) - it is a wound and it is painful.
external wounds are healed by covering them and protecting them - however, internal wounds like rejection, fear, etc do not heal by being supressed.
Thanks Dawn for your post, i'm one of the Newbies. It's also very funny to see that when i first left I was kind of upset with the people on this forum for their 'bashing' and hence i didn't visit for a long time. But exactly in that time i got upset with all the things that happened to me and that were caused, at least partly, by the organisation. I think that it is quite normal for us Newbies to have so much guilt for leaving that we do not want to bash the JWs immediately, it takes some time to lose the connections to the JW thinking. (hell i still feel guilty after 2 years)
I think it is a very common psychological response to blame something/someone for what happened to you. Another very common phenomenon is to judge something that you don't agree with, of which you are not a part, as wrong and bad, otherwise you yourself would be bad and wrong.
Just a thought,
Eppie
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is there any basis for these claims?.
http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/index.html
Yup, excellent link, although I do not completely agree with everything they say, it's nice info!
Wondering what JWs would say about this link...... how about the JW organisation is the worst disaster in religious history?
Eppie
