Posts by Alpaca

17

Can anyone just let go??

by Quirky1 in

jw
friends

i've only been a witless for about 7 years or so and left al little over a year ago and i've been coming here since.

you would think that after a year it would all be over with but i just cannot get the wt shit outta my head.

it's like a plague... .

Alpaca

Quirks,

Similar feelings here. This summer I will have been out for 12 years and it still pisses me off.

I have an insatiably curious mind and one of the things that makes the angriest is that I denied myself an education. While I was in, every time I brought up the subject of going to college, my ex-wife and her parents would give me a ration of shit about it...it is dangerous for your spirituality, you don't need higher education to serve Jehovah, blah, blah, blah....you know the BORG reasoning. There were multiple reasons that I bailed on the BORG, but that was one of the biggies.

When I bailed on the BORG, in 1997, I was 41 and I almost immediately went back to school. It has been a long but incomparably satisfying haul. I got a geolgoy B.S. in 2004, a geology M.S last December, and am finishing the last assignment for a J.D. which I expect to receive in May. While I am extremely happy to where I am now, I am bitter because I have done all this by the time I was 30 instead and a much longer period of my life would have ended up being richly enhanced.

So, no matter how long you're out, once you've been run over by the bus there are lasting impacts that never go away. Everyone has suffered different specific injuries but it still leaves all of us scarred.

Hang in there man.

Alex

20

To Newbies--Please read

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

you've found the courage to visit this forum, or maybe you happened across us, or maybe you're just here to complain about us.

let me save you some time-think of this as your automated telephone response....you know, press 1 to reach customer service..... if you're a jw or ex-jw who is afraid of apostates but just wants some info...... * stick around, lurking is fine if you need to.

* apostasy is not contagious (even though wts called it rabies at one time).

Alpaca

Rebs.

Thanks for a concise user guide to the forum.

Good post.

4

When do we count ? I thought they new what they were doing.

by cluless in

jw
friends

when.

Alpaca

Clueless,

You have suffered the same injustices that have driven so many people out of the BORG.

This discussion board is a good place to come so you can vent and heal.

There are lots of people on here who have had similar experiences.

Hang in there man. How long have you been out?

Alex

24

Greetings!

by viva in

new here, lurked for a while, glad to be able to join.. my introduction from jw recovery:.

"i am new to the board, so a short introduction is in order.

i am 26 years old and just out for about a month (update: four and a half months).

Alpaca

Welcome Viva.

Thanks for sharing your story.

42

Does Coming To This Site Make You Feel Better?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i recognized, when i first started searching the web, that there are tons of information regarding jehovah's witnesses.

most is negative toward the religion.. coming onto jwd/jwn gives one a different perspective.

you get to interact with those thinking about leaving, those who have already left and even some who never were in the cult but are fascinated by the experiences of those that were in the "truth".. when you are on this site, how does it affect you??

Alpaca

Hey Min,

This site helps in ways you cannot even imagine.

I just posted a comment on the suicide thread in response to some posts and PMs I received...indicating that some posters who are just that depressed have benefitted by being here.

This site is literally a lifesaver.

Thanks for the thread.

Alex

64

Has anyone lost a friend or known of someone who committed suicide over BORG-induced guilt?

by Alpaca in

jw
friends

i am not going to use any names for this because i don't want to cause potential hurt to anyone.. there was a very nice family in my congregation when i was a teenager.

step-dad, mom, and her 4 kids.

the dad became an elder, had a great business, the mom spent lots of time with the kids.

Alpaca

Thanks TM,

I knew this was a subject that has affected many but had no idea that it would have hit the nerve that it did.

I also want to say to everyone who is participating in this thread that there are posters on here right now who are struggling with their own thoughts of suicide.

Please, please, please....do everything you can to encourage them.

I am not a mental health professional and I feel a little overwhelmed with what to say. I used to be an elder and ironically, this really makes you realize how arrogant the BORG leadership is because they instilled in us a belief that we were qualified, as elders, to counsel the brothers and sisters who were depressed.

4

When do we count ? I thought they new what they were doing.

by cluless in

jw
friends

when.

Alpaca

Are you a zen master?

Some of us need a little more to work with if you want some interactive conversation.

57

Do you REALLY know how crazy J. Rutherford was?

by gumby in

below is an interview with the drunken, pipe-dreamin, selfish, psychopathic bastard back in 1930.. the interview with j.f.

rutherford that appeared in the sun diego sun, march 15, 1930. .

"but how will you identify king david or any of the other representatives from god?

Alpaca

Wow.

It's amazing what can be revealed by an outsider's view of the leader and "shepherd" of the BORG during the 1930s...JFR was completely delusional. The guy should have been institutionalized.

Compare this info to the sanitized, buffered, edited, version of Beth Sarim that appears in the "Proclaimers" book.

If I had seen this before I got baptized I wouldn't have gotten baptized.

The "spiritual heritage" of the BORG is nothing short of scary. This was God's "spirit directed organization"??? .... I don't think so.

This is the kind of stuff that faders and exiters need to show to their families.

It is scandelous.

24

Its All About Them Until We Remember Our First Name

by AllTimeJeff in

i have been told by more then one person of my propensity to use the phrase "...it's all about them.

" when it comes to the governing body.

them and their authority that is.

Alpaca

BTTT

12

Have You Ever Been "Too Late"?

by compound complex in

in the recent past i have recalled many kindnesses shown me as a younger man.

i probably said "thank you" at the time of a person's single kind gesture or act [polite thank yous were expected of 50s children]; some older people have acted on my behalf, however, over a period of time in ways that shaped me in a favorable way.

i couldn't have been aware at the time that their nurturing or mentoring me would have such far-reaching results.. several years ago it occurred to me how instrumental an older person's generosity toward me as a child put me where i am today.

Alpaca

BTTT