Posts by Georgiegirl

38

Are you UNDERSTANDING towards Second, Third, and even Fourth-generation Witnesses on this forum?

by BonaFide in

jw
friends

do you all realize how tough it is for a second-generation witness?

what about a third-generation witness?

fourth?.

Georgiegirl

Whoa. And today's Snarky Award goes to Johnnytwofeet! (shakes head). Really, people, does it always HAVE to go there?

Bonafide - yes. I get it. I am third generation and quite frankly, my family would "outrank" your elder friend. I faded and I'm fairly discreet. I don't post much because I am not In Your Face with being out of JWs...it's just not my personal style. There is alot of anger here by people who did choose the pay the price against people who have not made that choice. Just like JW shunning doesn't endear us to any of the organization, neither does snarkiness on the part of those who are out toward those still in.

I don't think there is a good, clear, firm answer to your questions because everyone is different. For me? YES. I would do it. I have a great life now but it took a couple of years (and a good therapist) to get here. Even though I faded and not DF'd or DA'd, my family still doesn't have much to do with me. I've created my own family out of dear friends who understand the real meaning of love and loyalty - my "worldly heathens" - (said with great affection).

Let me ask you this (and it's a little harsh) - if some horrific accident wiped out your family and you were left alone, would you survive? Would you go on? Of course you would. And eventually the pain and grief would fade and you would create a new and healthy life for yourself. The same can happen here. You don't know what will happen. You don't know if your family would eventually leave or not. You CAN move on. YOU have to make that choice. Until you do, you will continue to live in the confused, miserable, and depressed hell that you CHOOSE to live in. It's all about choice. It takes courage. I think most of all - it takes really believing in yourself and your abilities.

Where do you want to be in 5 years? Still floundering about? For me and many others here? That would be a waste of our lives. For others, it's the right choice. (shrugs) But don't be angry at those who don't seem to "get" the difficulty - because so many of us do.

9

Bible Based Marriage

by Georgiegirl in

apologize to those who find this offensive - i laughed til i cried.

so true!!!!.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofkekkszxtw.

Georgiegirl

Apologize to those who find this offensive - I laughed til I cried. So true!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFkeKKszXTw

34

When you heard "apostate" who did you imagine?

by nbernat in

jw
friends

i've always imagined a 60-year-old man with white hair who is really arrogant and grumpy with an evil look in his eyes, a very cold person who wanted to do nothing but ruin people's lives and was working for satan.

i never imagined i'd be one.... ...that or a 55-year-old woman with gray hair with glasses and a very rude look, and smarter-than-thou attitude.. you?.

Georgiegirl

Yep. Agree with mraimondi - or raving lunatic types or ones that are clearly just a little off their rockers...never anyone thoughtful or that I would take seriously.

26

Any Good Ideas for a Letter to the Editor?

by AK - Jeff in

regarding 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.

Georgiegirl

I think the challenge (as pointed out in another thread) is that Baby Binn appears to be responding to alternative treatments and doing well. In the eyes of many JWs, this will, in fact, be seen as a divine blessing and your letter (no matter how carefully written and well-reasoned) to be the rantings of a lunatic apostate. I would suggest acknowledging how fortunate it is that medical progress is such that there are alternative treatments HOWEVER in many cases, that is not the case and babies die.

4

Wife's bible study continues....prophecies of 1914

by insearchoftruth in

well the wife's bs continues.....it seems they are somewhat leaping around right now, yesterday she was shown the 'amazing prophetic' explanation of 1914......she read the bible teach book account of it to me last night, did all i could to avoid wretching...... any ideas of simple questions i could ask to get her thinking, i know all the history of the 1914 stuff, originally pyramids, the wts being the only people to use 607 as the destruction date of the temple, but i do not want to come out with a lot of facts....i need her to think for herself......

Georgiegirl

Oh heck no. I'd kill three birds with one stone.

You: Really? This is amazing! (nod sagely and try to do it with sincerity) In your excitement over the revelation that Divine Prophecy has Proven JWs to be True...run to a history book.

You: (utter shock) Um. Honey? I'm confused. Didn't you say that the destruction occured in 607? Hmm...This says 586. It must be wrong. Let me get another one (pull out a dozen sources showing 586)

Wife (confused) Calls Bible Study conductor. BS (isn't THAT appropriate - "BS" - always makes me chuckle) either a: does research and eyes are opened or b: drops your wife like a hot potato because she's "apostate"-bound. There is a possibility that c: they try to say that THEIR "bible" chronology trumps secular, and hopefully your wife will be smart enough to see that.

End of Issue. Keep it simple.

41

OK.Who the He$$ is Lying???

by sammielee24 in

jw
friends

i just read this coming in from a doctor in texas.

sammieswife.. dr. marcus gitterle, an emergency medicine physician based out of new braunfels, texas, sent out an internal alert which contains several stunning claims about swine flu that, if true, officials have presumably sought to keep from the public.. dr. marcus gitterle, an emergency medicine physician based out of new braunfels, texas, sent out an e mail alert to his patients which contains several stunning claims about swine flu that, if true, officials have presumably sought to keep from the public.. after i returned from a public health meeting yesterday with community leaders and school officials in comal county and hays county, (name removed) suggested i send an update to my patients in the area, because what we are hearing privately from the cdc and health department is different from what you are hearing in the media, writes gitterle.. the doctor claims that the actual number of confirmed cases of swine flu is 10 to 25 times worse than has been reported, and that people are not recovering easily, as has been claimed, but that many americans are in fact seriously ill.. the way they fudge on reporting this is that it takes 3 days to get the confirmatory nod from the cdc on a given viral culture, but based on epidemiological grounds, we know that there are more than 10 cases for each confirmed case right now, claims gitterle.. .

click for enlargements.

Georgiegirl

I don't know, but I find it interesting that a doctor who owns a supplement company is recommending um...supplements. And is the only leak (thus-far) of this "secret" info. I think I'll take a 'wait n see' on this one. http://www.journal-post.com/2009/04/dr-marcus-gitterles-e-mail.html

12

PTSD ... The Rest of the Story

by The Berean in

jw
friends

on a previous posting i suggested that i have experienced post-traumatic stress disorders due to my jw upbringing.

feedback has been mixed.

some agree with my assessment, others suggest a misdiagnosis on my part.. please allow me to be more specific concerning actual events that led to my usage of that trerm:.

Georgiegirl

PM'd you.

33

Does Psychiatry Truely understand JW Post Traumatic Stress Disorders?

by The Berean in

jw
friends

the professionals i have visited don't seem to get it.

they believe you can just get over it and move on .... what say you?.

Georgiegirl

Tyrone - one of the other things that I have learned, and that I think most people don't know, is that there are different approaches to therapy. For example, the psychodynamic approach is more Freudian whereas cognitive-behavorial therapists are more thinking/action oriented - it's not so much about the past but about creating ways to deal with now and future. Depending on the approach of your therapist - it simply may not have suited your needs or personality.

Nevertheless, I think it can take great courage to allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to speak to a therapist/counsellor/psychologist and even though that particular therapist might not have worked out for you, I have to commend you for going at all. So many don't.

Steve2 - I've pm'd you. :)

33

Does Psychiatry Truely understand JW Post Traumatic Stress Disorders?

by The Berean in

jw
friends

the professionals i have visited don't seem to get it.

they believe you can just get over it and move on .... what say you?.

Georgiegirl

Hey there. Sounds like you have been pretty frustrated in finding a good therapist. I completely get that; I was so lucky to have stumbled on one who happened to have some training in working with cults. I am currently studying for my degree as a counsellor. I am NOT certified to provide therapy at this point (I have not yet gotten my master's) so please take what I'm saying with the spirit in which it's offered...just educating...my last paper, ironically, was on cults and mind control. I plan to have a pretty narrow focus simply because of "been there done that" (raised as a JW) and b/c there are simply not enough counsellors in this field.

Having said this...PTSD is one of those terms that is often mis-used. In order to actually diagnose it, there are several criteria that must be met. Here is a link: http://www.mental-health-today.com/ptsd/dsm.htm Most counsellors would be reluctant to diagnose PTSD based on the majority of experiences most ex-JWs have. In no way am I trivializing the pain, grief, and trauma most of have gone through. I'm simply saying that unless there was trauma like physical or sexual abuse associated with a specific JW experience, most ex-JWs would not qualify for this specific diagnosis. For example, I recently worked with a gentleman who has PTSD; he was subjected to horrific child abuse (physical and sexual). In the military he was special forces and has described to me actions that were just...well...more than any one person should ever have to endure. He experienced incredible trauma and will disassociate completely and be unaware of his actions, conversations, etc. etc.

The DSM-III had disassociation as a possible diagnosis resulting from the mind control exercised by cults. However, the research that was based upon was found to be flawed. For that and other reasons, mind control as a reason for diassociation was removed in the DSM-IV. (DSM-III and IV are the manuals used by psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose disorders).

So yes. I agree that the psychiatric profession needs more qualified counsellors to work with survivors of cults. I'm sorry you are going through a hard time - I don't know any details, of course, but it is obvious you are struggling. If I can help, feel free to PM me.

6

can an ai (adobe Illus) file be converted to Corel 12?

by SnakesInTheTower in

jw
friends

just a shout out to poster georgiegirl (or anyone who can do this).... is it possible to downgrade an .ai file (i believe this is in adobe illustrator v. 10) down to an adobe illustrator version 7 file?

or convert to coreldraw 12?

the shop that we took it to locally is using cd12...and only has adobe 7. personally i wouldnt have used that particular shop for printing or anything... for one particular use, we are piggybacking on another organization and they made the decision to use that vendor.

Georgiegirl

oh - and yes, you can try doing a file save as and selecting a lower version of illustrator. Any special effects that you have added that aren't support may be lost, but usually you wan't have big issues. The biggest thing is always the fonts...