with our latest and final run in with the elders, the wife and i had a very long talk about what's next in our life.
do we try to help others see the light as it were concerning watchtower or do we just let it go and move on with our life?
we have made it perfectly clear that we will never go back to watchtower and we are finally happy.
Dark knight, move on and be glad you have your wife along with you. This board has been a great support. I probably still come here because I see stories of older JWs leaving WT and it gives me hope that my 73 yr old JW mom will leave it behind.
For me, I cannot take on the role of ex JW activist. If someone comes to me, knowing my exit story, and asks for my help, I will. Once my mom either leaves the cult, dead or alive, I'm done too
Enjoy your freedom.
Snakes
i'm putting the below information on this forum first to get your input.
so my 9 year old leukemia survivor wants to do his science project searching for the cause of leukemia in children.
the data required to put together a semblance of a cause is vast to put it lightly.
Don't know where you are located. Check with local Children's hospitals and pediatric cancer centers. Also teaching hospitals with a strong pediatric program. Maybe your child, as a survivor, will illicit a positive response from researchers in these programs. Social media is a good place, but be careful, you might get TOO MUCH unusable info. Keep it simple.
Good luck, one never knows which mind the cure will come from.
Snakes (Rich)
i registered in the board and i wanted to present myself.. i used to visit this forum some time ago and even register an account but then i tried to convince myself all was ok in the congregation.
now, i'm coming back :).
i live in a southern european nation, i'm a young jw, a good example in the congregation serving as a regular pioneer and ms. for all in the congregation i'm the good guy, one of the best examples in the area i live.
Good plan, quit pioneering, take the job, save up money, stay out of debt, move out on your own, switch congos....fade. The treadmill in WT never stops.
Do you know what foie gras is? The way a goose is raised for that is horrible. That is the way I felt growing up in the cult...force fed with goals...pioneer, ms, elder, mts...all of which I did...in the end ...the goose is still cooked, with a horrible life until then.
Good luck with your new life and freedom.
Snakes (Rich)
as i was sitting in the meeting last night i thought about this question.. sometimes it feels really lonely because i don't connect with most others in the congregation and i have to be so careful with the ones with whom i do associate.. quick rundown on my life...got baptized at 17...married at 20...became inactive at 28 wife still active though...came back to meetings with her 20 years later just to keep her quiet and see if they had changed (for a while i actually thought they had)...now i am still inactive and haven't gone out in service or anything.
i just go to meetings with my wife who is happy as a lark to have me there with her...just go to meetings and think...and think...and think.... anyway, i just wondered if there are any out there like me who are going to meetings and nothing else?.
It has been 10 years this month, Christmas week to be exact, since I was removed as an elder during the CO visit. Best gift ever. Moved congos, circuits, states without physically moving away. Started to fade. When the new elders figured they couldn't reappoint me, an MTS grad (read: dump their work on me), as an elder, the new car smell faded almost as quickly as I did.
When the KH went through a total renovation, everyone scattered and I left for the summer, coming back for the first Sunday back in the shiny new hall. Listening to the visiting speaker, a friend, I had the same type of thoughts as the OP. I knew I no longer fit in. I stayed only through the talk and left.
Never stepped foot in a KH in over 9 years since. No funerals, no Memorials, no CONventions. Been to 2 JW weddings held at a banquet hall. Same elder (initials RC) gave both talks. Both times the worldly people attending scratched their heads with a WTF look. Bad even by witness standards. I won't be doing that again either.
Friendship in the Borg is CONditional.
Snakes (Rich, of the "never being CONNED again Sheep Class")
this has probably been discussed before so please feel free to include links as well.
so what would wt be now if it had encouraged it's members to use the internet or technology for spreading the good news.
.
G O N E. Let's hope it doesn't take 20 more.
Snakes (Rich)
i have two questions.
1. if you work on kingdom hall construction, are you allowed to count your time in lieu of field service?
an old thread here indicated that if you are pioneer, you can count your time.
I often got credit slips from the assembly hall overseer for working the literature depot, special projects at the AH, feeding students at MTS. Of course quick builds. Did I mention I HATED the ministry, yet I was a pioneer? Go figure, you did what was expected.
Now I do whatever the flip I want. And the only "credit" I want is a paycheck.
Snakes (Rich)
when you were "in" did you ever actually enjoy the ministry?
and i made no secret about it.
instead i would joke about me feather knocking, and made sure i had my bible in hand so as they come to the door they know what im about so they can shut me down before i even start.. i always wondered how or why there were people who enjoyed it.
I gave a public talk as an elder and admitted from the platform that I couldn't stand FS. I even said that as a visiting speaker. I usually warned the PO about it ahead of time and gave him context, so they didn't think I had gone off the rails. Fun to watch the other elders, in the dark, drop their jaws. I almost always got invited back. I couldn't do talks the way it is regimented now. And the cart work? SCREW THAT! So glad I can work weekends and make OT now.
Snakes (Rich)
Ps..edited to add...esp. shocking since I was, by all appearances, an all in Org boy...elder, pioneer, MTS graduate. Too bad for them that, even in 2002, I was already having doubts. I went back to college in 06, and FS started to decline rapidly. LOL
can i please ask people not to repeated signatures on their posts.. i have pm'd a few people directly with the request as i've noticed them but i guess the inevitable "explain why / show it's fair" means i need to make it publicly to all .... everyone's name and avatar is already displayed next to each post made so anything added at the bottom is really superfluous and just reduces readability on smaller devices where screen-real-estate is already at a premium.
if the layout is redesigned for mobile devices with the poster name at the bottom then it looks kind-of stupid (e.g.
"said simon - simon ...").
Actually, I post more on my tablet and have gotten lax about my trademark "signature" because typing on it is tedious.
can i please ask people not to repeated signatures on their posts.. i have pm'd a few people directly with the request as i've noticed them but i guess the inevitable "explain why / show it's fair" means i need to make it publicly to all .... everyone's name and avatar is already displayed next to each post made so anything added at the bottom is really superfluous and just reduces readability on smaller devices where screen-real-estate is already at a premium.
if the layout is redesigned for mobile devices with the poster name at the bottom then it looks kind-of stupid (e.g.
"said simon - simon ...").
So I shouldn't sign off as always?
Rich...Snakesinthetower (of the rebellious Sheep Class)
after listening to the hearings of the australian royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, i am no longer content to have simply walked away from the organization.
as a matter of conscience, i do not want my name linked with the organization in any way.
i know this letter has been posted previously, and i thank the author.
Whatever happened? Paul Harvey used to say "...the rest of the story."
Edited to add... I see you posted on another thread.
