when i was 9 i wanted to be daisy duke from the dukes of hazzard, but had to put aside the dream when i realised my legs weren't going to ever get any longer.. when i was 12 i wanted to be ghandi, but realised wars wouldnt stop because i missed breakfast.. when i was 16 i decided that by leaving the borg and living fast and hard enough being alice cooper was achievable.. now i'm 32 i think i'd quite like to have the sensuous, striking confidence and certainty of helen mirren when i grow up.. who did you want to be and why?.
I had the wife and mother dream too when I was young.
When I was older I wished I was Rachel from Friends, which I believe had to do with how she was able to afford living in New York and wearing expensive clothes on a waitress-at-a-coffee-house budget, and then how she was able to get an amazing career with no education at all. PLUS her hair was always amazing.
Ah, sitcoms.
i guess it's about time i write my story.
i've put this off for a long time... primarily becuase, while i thought my story was bad, i've read so many worse and heart-rending stories here.
i think, though, there is some therapeutic value in 'letting it all out' with others who know what 'it' was like.
This will sound odd in the light of everything I've said so far, but there was "love" in the family too... lots of hugs, actually. Of course, they were given when "accepted back in" at the end of restrictions. It was feast or famine on the emotional level.
This is deceivingly sick because it messed with your head even more, convincing yourself that this was YOUR problem and not theirs. I echo what many have said that these monsters should be locked up!
I agree with Changeling. YES, write a book, publish it. You can self publish at lulu.com.
Oh my god, TJ, I am so sorry for all that you and your precious siblings have endured and I thank you so much for having the courage to share this with us here. As I sat here and read this I alternated between shaking and crying. This was very important for me to read; I'm sure many others feel the same.
I was disfellowshipped from the congregation and reinstated. It was traumatic for me, but through it all I knew my family loved me, even if they wouldn't call me during that time (I was an adult and out of the house). What you endured is beyond horrific. Knowing what being disfellowshipped feels like I am especially struck by the pain and torture of being actually disfellowshipped from the family. There is just too much to even comment on, so much of it is just beyond wrong. Your father and step-mother are sick sick people, TJ, and I hope they are exposed for all that they have done! Again, THANK YOU for sharing this. Thank you for reaching out to us. Thank you for allowing us to share and heal together.
Also, when Crumpet and TIJ described how they are, where they can be sociable but have to fight the urge to run away, how they just hole up and don't speak to people for weeks at a time, well, that was a revelation to me. I have thought it was my conditioning through being disfellowshipped that created this side of me, but I thought I was just a freak and alone in this. I was crying to realize that the WTS did this to me, and I'm not alone in this struggle, that the punishment was too long and I am like that broken child in some ways... and that is why I'm not capable of keeping friends (I'm great at making friends! just not the long term part - too hard, I shut down), returning phone calls, being "normal." So, thanks, for helping me. I love this place so much.
PEACE,
Rachel
ok, so you have heard that the witlesses are against idolatry.
but, they do actually worship a group of men called the filthful and disgraceful slavebugger class.
notice how many times they have been wrong, reversed position (often multiple times), and have even been responsible for people's death.
I said it tongue in cheek
Oh. Whoops, Journey-On, sorry if I jumped on you there. I must still be a little worked up from reading R. Crusoe's very sexist and incorrect opinions on another thread...
ok, so you have heard that the witlesses are against idolatry.
but, they do actually worship a group of men called the filthful and disgraceful slavebugger class.
notice how many times they have been wrong, reversed position (often multiple times), and have even been responsible for people's death.
Thanks, Satanus.
Journey-On:
Easy folks......It's just a BUSINESS LOGO!
The WTB&TS of JWs is a BUSINESS with religion as its product. The only difference is
that its salesmen aren't paid. So why do the salesmen continue to sell the product? Because they think they will get
paid a huge bonus in the future when Armageddon comes.
Well, what are you saying, Journey-On? It's not idolatry if it's a business logo? What about all the things the JW's say is idolatry, like having a celebrity's picture? Isn't that just successful marketing?
how should one go about it?
should they just up and leave family and friends?.
should they take their time and make a plan to slowly fade??
Great question, Minimus! You should get an award for all the thought-provoking questions you invent.
The most important thing I would tell someone is to build a solid network of people outside the JW's. I believe people need people, and if all your people are wrapped up within the JW's you are going to crash hard once you isolate yourself by walking out without first making friends outside the JW's.
Yes, that means living a so-called double life for a while. Do it. It's for your own well being. A small struggle now for a long-term benefit.
Secondly I would say try to fade. Like was already brought out, DA'ing is their rules. Don't acknowledge them as your authority. Make your own rules; it's your life. PLUS another benefit to fading is if you are leaving behind a lot of JW family you might not want to outright cut yourself off from them (by their viewpoint that's what a person who DA's is doing).
Peace,
Rachel
i have often heard women speak about men who think with their meat and two veg!.
it is as if they lay claim to a theory that all male agendas form as thoughts which mainly travel down the cerabal cortex and out through the zipper before coming to life in the real world.. but how do men think women think?.
.
Sorry Rachel I wont call you cute again or I'll end up on the sexual harassment thread! Glad I don't work at your place!
And with that comment, I decided I don't care for Mr. Crusoe's sexist opinions. You just can't help yourself, can you? What do you know about my workplace and sexual harassment? NOTHING. Thanks for the apology though. Guess I need to take a hike off this thread, with all due respect to he that started it.
i have often heard women speak about men who think with their meat and two veg!.
it is as if they lay claim to a theory that all male agendas form as thoughts which mainly travel down the cerabal cortex and out through the zipper before coming to life in the real world.. but how do men think women think?.
.
Godhoney,
The feminist in me says, what are we, pieces of meat? And though I like freakiness,I like the freakiness part, but the "peice meat" part I think is a gross over simplification designed to create hostility over the natural sexual attraction found in males for females, and has been responcible for many men&women not get any. So you see my point from my point of view?
I think the song Don't Cha is ridiculous: it's about women tearing other women apart, trying to take their men, not respecting relationships. What an AWESOME song (Not). RachelForget about the women tearing part other women, and just turn up the bass&volume close your eyes and picture yourself as the foxy women part and using all your sexiness to win your man prize. I think you will like it much better. Miss Freaky.
Fine, Frankie, I see your point. Thank you for responding to my post in such a way that you acknowledged my points without tearing them apart. That won huge points in my silly little female brain. Rachel, Miss Goddess if you're nasty
i have often heard women speak about men who think with their meat and two veg!.
it is as if they lay claim to a theory that all male agendas form as thoughts which mainly travel down the cerabal cortex and out through the zipper before coming to life in the real world.. but how do men think women think?.
.
That's funny a woman saying they don't like being treated like a piece of meat after they always say to men if his piece o meat can make the scale hit a pound! Very cute!
I don't say that. Ever. And don't call my comment cute. Or imply or outright accuse me of saying things when you don't know me or what I say. Rachel, of the "don't call me cute" class
no, kingdumb hells do not have traditional images.
they lack crosses, statues, and other symbols that most christian churches have.
however, they do have an image.
I believe there was a marble statue of the watchtower symbol in one congregation I attended for quite a long time. I have to really dig into the distant dark recesses of my memory to pull that one out!
I have an ex-JW book that has that symbol on the front; it's so easily recognizable as the JW symbol.
Rachel
ok, so you have heard that the witlesses are against idolatry.
but, they do actually worship a group of men called the filthful and disgraceful slavebugger class.
notice how many times they have been wrong, reversed position (often multiple times), and have even been responsible for people's death.
Wow, THANK YOU for this thread! I was just thinking about idolatry and how to speak on it to a JW family member, and then there is this thread with all these wonderful examples and amazing logic. And so logical, I hardly think my JW will know what the heck I'm saying.
It's so sad though, isn't it? That the WTS has so many of our loved ones falling for this BS, when it is so obvious.
