Posts by flipper

20

How is life better?

by Freedom rocks in

i know this thread has probably been covered in the past but i thought it would be nice for newbies and lurkers and just a reminder to those that left a while ago.. how has your life improved since leaving the cult?

are you happy?

have you made some amazing friends or maybe met an amazing partner in the world?.

flipper

I've had a much more satisfying life since exiting the Witnesses. Got married to a wonderful companion about 12 years ago , beautiful lady I met on E-harmony. She's been very supportive to me in the ups and downs of being an ex-JW. My son and me have developed a closer friendship and relationship these last 15 years or so, as we both exited the cult about the same time back then, and I consider him one of my best friends. My self employed business is doing very well as I take on as much work as I can handle because now- I don't have to worry about meetings, field service, and the WT worship Society clogging up my time and life.

Also I've been playing guitar, banjo, mandolin and writing songs and selling them on the Internet , recording albums, occasionally doing open mics and performances. Music is a healer and about 7 years ago I dove right in and it's a huge part of my life now. I really enjoy my down time when not working and either tend our vegetable garden or play & write music, go on hikes in the mountains with my wife, son, or my black lab dog. Love to read history or psychology books, my wife and I read together a lot.

Life is magical these past 15 years out of the JW cult. Feel like I've grown as a person and matured psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually even though I'm not religious. I get my spirituality from being out in the mountains seeing and being near lakes, rivers, streams, trees, wild life , animals, birds, all of that. And music and meditation. I'm not into organized religion at all- just personal happiness and self improvement. Also get spirituality from music as well.

I miss my adult JW daughters but I try to call them, and they never return my calls, even though I'm not dfed. I just hope that one day their eyes will open up about the JW cult. I'll always be there for them waiting- if and when that time comes. But I'm not going to sacrifice my principles and beliefs by supporting a JW organization that's corrupt- just to live a fake, pretend life in the WT organization. Much happier being real. It's the only way I can live

25

Being a JW kid is hell

by JRK in

in therapy, i was told i should write a letter of grievances to each of my parents.

i really do not have any for my mother, except for things that directly relate to being raised as a jehovah's witness.

upon reflection, my childhood was hell because of the religion and its pernicious corruption of a normal childhood.

flipper

Hey my friend, therapy is SO important, glad to hear it's helping you. I went through some counseling sessions after my mom died in December of 2016 , and 3 sessions of an hour and a half were extremely helpful in talking to my counselor. Helped me to deal with anger issues I had towards my older dad and older brother in how they warehoused my mom in a senior care facility the final two years of her life.

Helped me to see how the JW cult stole away their true feelings of empathy and why their emotions were stifled in silence and lack of expression. My therapist showed me how to display civility towards my dad in his final months of life before he died so that I would have no regrets and feel better about myself in calling him to just check on his health. I did this and it made me feel a lot better and tie up loose ends regarding my dad and my brother. Take care buddy, I'm with you, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

81

Roll Call for the benefit of Newbies and Lurkers. In One Sentence tell why you left the Org.

by Wasanelder Once in

roll call for the benefit of newbies and lurkers.

in one sentence tell why you left the org.

not 2 sentences.

flipper

I exited due to injustices from elders committed towards myself and others in the organization and discovered there is no such thing as " holy spirit " appointing these men to their positions

21

Remark at memorial about growing annointed numbers

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

don’t know if it was part of the script.. at the memorial the remark about growing annointed numbers including this numbers from 2015 to 2017 was made (from 13.000 to 18.000+).. reason for the growing numbers could be:.

- feeling annointed because of former believe.

- psychical reasons.

flipper

Didn't the number of partakers , those claiming to be of the anointed used to be about 5,000 or so about 20 years ago ? Now it's 18,000 ? Amazing. Lots of anointed up in heaven must be screwing around proving unfaithful getting dfed - so the GB has received new light that the door is being opened up again for prospective rulers ! ( Joking )

The GB will pull any reason out of their anus to make anything work

9

Time Gained by Leaving JW World

by Farmer Jim1 in

jw
friends

does anyone else wonder at the amount of time a person immediately gains when they leave the jws?.

just today, a sunday, i would have woken up at 7, frantically taken a highlighter pen to my wt to make it look like i had made a deep study of it.

packed my stuff for meeting and ministry, cycled to the kh, joined the pre meeting ministry arrangement, rushed back for the meeting, sat through a sometimes interesting public talk, sometimes mind-numbingly dull one, strained through a wt study to which i usually had more questions than answers.

flipper

Great thread Farmer Jim , thanks for posting it . Very well put. I was born into and raised a JW until I finally escaped over 15 years ago in 2003. Left at age 44 .Hoser's statement, " Over an average lifetime attending assemblies and conventions will cost you more than one year of your time. " I disagree with that, way too short of an estimate of how much time a person loses.

Because EVERYTHING we did as JW's, waking up in the morning being forced from elder fathers to listen to the daily text, attending meetings constantly, field service several times a week, pioneering every day, doing the " personal study " or actually WT indoctrination study daily in our own homes - that took up ( aside from sleeping 8 hours a night ) virtually ALL of our time when we were not working on our jobs. I would venture to say a minimum of 30 % to 50% or 60 % of our waking hours were spent with our minds and activities being clogged up with WT cult activities.

Some on the board over the years dwell on how much time we lost being trapped in the mind control cult Jehovah's Witnesses, yet it's nice to see a thread where the glass is looked at as half full, not half empty where we actually look at it as GAINING time by leaving the cult and being able to experience a vast variety of experiences in furthering our education, job opportunities, hobbies, playing music, doing sports activities, having closer unconditional friendships and relationships without being judged, the gains have far outweighed the disadvantages as far as I'm concerned. Kind of how I see it. Good thread, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

40

After leaving the JWs - Has anyone stayed with Christianity?

by rulehayl in

i recently made the decision to stop studying with my study conductor, due to a situation i found myself in that led to a high possibility of my unbaptized publisher "rights" being taken away from me.

i have since told my study conductor i have joined a new church (to which she dropped me like a hot rock, of course).... last time i posted on here, i was progressing nicely towards baptism, and was well into it.anyhoo, i like my new church, very hillsong-esqe.

so just wondering if anyone else has stayed the course of christianity after leaving the jws, and if so - where did you go?

flipper

Here's another link dealing with secular humanism :

https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/13.

40

After leaving the JWs - Has anyone stayed with Christianity?

by rulehayl in

i recently made the decision to stop studying with my study conductor, due to a situation i found myself in that led to a high possibility of my unbaptized publisher "rights" being taken away from me.

i have since told my study conductor i have joined a new church (to which she dropped me like a hot rock, of course).... last time i posted on here, i was progressing nicely towards baptism, and was well into it.anyhoo, i like my new church, very hillsong-esqe.

so just wondering if anyone else has stayed the course of christianity after leaving the jws, and if so - where did you go?

flipper

I guess I consider myself kind of a secular humanist from the aspect that I feel people do not need religion to make them a better person. I believe that real truth lies within each human being to find out in time through life experiences, school of hard knocks, and just being decent from a humanistic, empathetic, and ethical view of the world and other people in it.

Here's a wikipedia link concerning humanism : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism.

I respect others rights to pursue religion if they feel it will help them ; however I feel the teaching that all humans are sinners that need to be redeemed is totally false. We aren't " born sinners " or " born evil " in my opinion- evil is a taught and learned trait in humans by the environment they are raised in. Little children are not born with prejudices either racially, politically, religiously, or otherwise - not until they are taught these things from the people around them who then shape these children's world view.

If you don't believe me - then ask yourself ( especially those of us who were born into the Jehovah's Witness beliefs ) WHY it took some of us born-in JW's so long to exit the JW cult and religion ? It's because we were " taught " or " programmed " to believe the WT Society world view as minor children without being allowed any other information to have any other viewpoints !

The one difference I have with secular humanism is that I think there may be such a thing as the " supernatural " . Not necessarily a " God " , but perhaps invisible entities of people who have died that may come back through some electrical energy to visit us occasionally like deceased relatives, etc. to assist us or possibly watch over us. I've experienced these connections with deceased loved ones & friends attempting to contact me through electronic media, ie. cell phones, computers, voices through such things and in dreams I have. So I'm not dogmatic on this point- but I'm open to the possibility that something lives on in humans after they die- in the invisible hereafter.

But I don't believe that has any connection with " God " or " Jesus " or any need for the saving of souls due to " sinfulness " . I feel more spiritual now these last 15 years without religion than I ever did in my 40 plus years as a JW. I'm much more balanced, reasoning, ethical, and empathetic in my views now than I was as a JW and have love for all of mankind no matter what race, gender, sexual leaning , or whatever. All humans are important

9

Trey is still on top of it!

by cha ching in

there is still a chance that the watchtower files zalkin received, will surface again in the future!

.

https://www.revealnews.org/blog/jehovahs-witness-abuse-files-remain-secret-after-court-settlements/.

flipper

So let me get this straight. Zalkin IS in possession of the WT documents naming thousands of potentially dangerous child molesters that were never reported to police authorities and these documents are under a " protective order " from the courts so these offenses cannot be discussed or shared with law enforcement agencies, reporters or the public. ??????

And this is beneficial in what way ? If these documents are under a protective order - then just HOW will these documents be finally made public for the FBI or police authorities to bring the hammer of justice down on the WT Society ? Who determines when and how that happens ? Or is this protective order an indefinite amount of time ?

And was the keeping of these documents under the "protective order " a condition Zalkin had to agree on in order to get his two San Diego clients ( the victims ) their settlement for their abuse that happened to them ? Or is it a separate issue aside from the victims settlements ?

Seems strange to me that thousands of Catholic molestation victims came out naming hundreds of Catholic priests, fathers, church leaders who were child molesters back in 2005 with police authorities involved in arresting them ; and here we have a much smaller organization ( WT Society ) bringing the courts / and/or Zalkin to their knees.

I don't get it. Breaking the law, is breaking the law . And thousands of JW appointed men in positions of oversight have broken the law molesting minor children over these last 20 years in the United States with verification on record in the hands of an attorney. It seems to me that it shouldn't be that difficult to get court orders from U.S. marshals, get the FBI involved in order to protect children and bring forth justice. What kind of threats did the WT Society make if these thousands of names get exposed to media and law enforcement ? The Catholic church pays the piper, but WT Society gets a free ride or a mulligan in being exposed ?

I think it's time to call WT leaders bluff and play hardball. Screw what THEY want. It's time to expose their crimes in detail. Just supplying another view here. All of these thousands of abused children deserve justice now. They've waited too long already

50

How long is a generation?

by LevelThePlayingField in

what splain does in his talk and chart illustration is make the leap that a generation can have two groups.

and in this case the two groups span more than 108 years.

but no where in scripture is there ever a notion that a generation has two groups.

flipper

" J-dubs say this " , " WT says that " , " Jesus says this " - Arghhhhh ! It doesn't matter !

Makes me want to set my hair on fire ! It doesn't MATTER what these people say or teach or think- a REAL generation's length is about 30 years like most any dictionary states.

Remember- WT Society makes money on alternate views of reality and changing the meanings of words. I feel like I'm sniffing crazy glue trying to get my point across here

50

How long is a generation?

by LevelThePlayingField in

what splain does in his talk and chart illustration is make the leap that a generation can have two groups.

and in this case the two groups span more than 108 years.

but no where in scripture is there ever a notion that a generation has two groups.

flipper

At the risk of sounding redundant ( as I've posted this quote so many times before from Websters New World College Dictionary ) :

Generation Definition : " The average period ( about 30 years ) between the birth of one generation and that of the next . A single stage or degree in the succession of natural descent ( father and son are two generations ) "

Hope this is helpful

P.S. All the gibberish about the Bible's interpretation or JW interpretation of " generation " doesn't mean a thing. What matters is the actual English language definition.