Posts by shopaholic

28

have you found it difficult?

by 4digitcode in

jw
friends

to make friends since you're out of the organization?

maybe these things take time.

it's hard to establish new friendships when ones i had for years floated away in an instant.

Add me to the club!!! I'm finding it very difficult. I'm outgoing and I know folks enjoy my company but I just haven't found the right folks. I've gotten involved in several things I enjoy, like volunteering at charities and various local fashion events. So at least I'm getting out of the house now. I went to a non-witness wedding last weekend and had a nice time but didn't really make any connections. Its so funny, I spent so many years turning down invites from non-witnesses and now when I want them their no where to be found. But I know it takes time.

Also, how do you explain to someone that you don't have any friends?..."Uh...well...I was in this cult....and uh...I left and now they won't play with me."

19

Lord give me a sign

by + in

with the new watchtower video jehovah`s withnesses - organized to share the good news.

.

shopaholic

Is this for real? Are they actually staging the cover? I knew the happy shots were staged but I always thought the disaster shots were real. So that would mean that any of the pictures in any of the articles could have fake or doctored to persuade the reader. Okay...that is soooo not cool!

20

How did you break away?

by zennin in

jw
friends

7 months ago i came to a foreign country on a working holiday visa for, you know, a 'wonderful experience'- i had plans to pioneer and a kind of determination to use this time to prove to myself, and to jehovah, that i can be loyal to him no matter what.... have i failed?

i don't think so, but even as i type this i think it is too early for me to answer or even ask that question.. all i know is that during the past 7 months i have done more research and more deep thinking and meditation than i have done in my whole life.

i have met wonderful wonderful people- many of them witnesses who have helped me out immensely and shown me a lot of kindness, and many of them non-witnesses- just ordinary people with their own moral foundations and personal philosophies.

shopaholic

Zenin, welcome to the board. I also started to have serious doubts while in a foreign country where I went to pioneer. Once you get out of the JW bubble, its amazing how you begin to see the whole JW thing for what it really is...just another religion. Best wishes in your journey!

12

You can't blame The Truth anymore.

by wanderlustguy in

jw
friends

someone related a story to me a couple of months ago over the last few days it sunk in.

there was a time it was so easy for me to get mad and angry and virtually meditate on how the organization systematically stripped me and so many of my loved ones of their lifethe life that could have been.

real love was replaced with a recipe of what love is, putting god first and then defining what the perception of god was supposed to be, to include a group of men directed by a corporation that decides who we can or cannot speak to, as well as who we can or cannot love in the common sense of the word.

shopaholic

wanderlustguy,

You're right...at some point a person has to move on. John Doe has responded similarly to various threads. I applaud everyone that reaches that point but some of us need a little more time than others to reach the 5th stage of acceptance. I would like to think that I'm almost there as it seems that I'm finally moving out of the depression stage. But thank you for your post as it reminds me that although the tears and peanut buttercup ice cream may be temporarily theraputic, its not the solution.

76

Update: Last Nights Meeting

by FadingELD in

first of all i would like to think everyone for the support i recieved yesterday.

i would also like to shed some light on my past, hopefully this does not give it away as to who i might be.

my wife and i were both raised as jw, we were both baptized when were fifteen years old.

shopaholic

FadingELD......what courage. I really hope everything works out well for you and your family. Like others have said, your wife reacted the only way she knew how...at least now she's willing to talk. I am inspired by your courage. Your experience helps folks realize that one can be open and honest about their stand with the JW org and the world doesn't stop spinning.

Thank you for sharing with us.

10

One Wasted Night

by WTWizard in

once, when i was studying, my upline moved out of the territory.

he suggested that it would be good if i stayed one night at his new apartment, at which he worked as manager (and maintenance person).

so i accepted the invitation.. turns out that i spent the better part of the afternoon working alongside him on a project, so he could get back out in field circus.

shopaholic

Once, when I was studying, my upline moved out of the territory.

LOL..."my upline"...that hilarious...I never though of it that way.

30

exiting the watchtower

by jacethespace in

hi im new to this forum and am currently trying to exite the watchtower.for the past 12 months or more i have stopped going on the ministry.in august last year i stopped going to the meetings but depression kicked in and other symptoms and i returned to the meetings in april.i stopped going to the meetings again in july and did more research to see if this is a cult.but im having all sorts of symptoms.confusion of whats right and wrong, panic attacks when i go out, one minute i hate the watchtower the next i wonder whether this is the truth and wonder if ive been mislead by satan.i dont know who to trust and where to go from here.and none of my family was ever in the watchtower so i think they know somethings going on but they can,t understand what im going through.ive been in the watchtower since 1999 off and on, i finally got baptized in 2005 after what i thought was carefull examination of the truth.and whats worse is the elder i studied with when i came into the " truth" lives right next door to me with his wife, which plays all sorts of guilt trips on me and paranoia.

shopaholic

Hi jace and welcome. Anti-christ makes a good recommendation about seeking professional help (I may be following that advice myself). Also, if you are able to, find a new place to live. Since your family are not witnesses, can you stay with them until you find a new place? That would take away some of the guilty feelings you get from seeing your JW neighbors.

16

COLLEGE club caters to Witnesses

by DannyHaszard in

religious club caters to witnesses comment.

beacon newspaper (subscription), fl - 15 minutes ago.

club members provide any student who is interested in becoming a jehovah's witness with home bible studies, free of charge.

shopaholic

Isn't this illegal in the JW world according to the Sept '07 KM? Not to mention the School Brochure - JWs don't join clubs!!! Shouldn't they just direct folks to the kingdom hall or just have a study with them.

18

Purple triangle monopoly

by 5go in

this is one i would love to see busted.. jw were not the only ones to get a purple triangle in the nazi camps.

i bet they were not even the majority of the ones to receive them.. .

the purple triangle was a nazi concentration camp badge used by the nazis to identify several un-orthodox religious groups known as "bibelforscher".

shopaholic

I did a tour of a concentration camp in Germany about a year ago. The bethelite that was supposed to give the tour was running late, so a staff person started the tour. About 45 minutes later the bethelite showed up and took over. While the staff person gave the tour, I got the distinct impression that JWs were not the only folks with the purple triangle. Also the staff person spoke about ALL of the various groups terrorized at that time but the bethelite made it seem like only JWs were affected.

15

I am stupid...

by metaspy in

i just thought i would give a little update on my fade.. for starters, i found a new job and will be starting soon.. secondly, i found the job far enough away that a move to a new apartment is necessary.. thus i have achieved two of the major parts of my fade at once.. i will not be working for a brother, nor renting from one.. .

however, another part of my fade is my wanting to get out zelda, the girl i have loved for quite some time.. recently she tried to commit suicide again.. i have gone to see her every day since she went into the hospital.. this is more than i can say of the brother she is courting.. .

her mother is df'd, we shall call her kairi.

shopaholic

What marmot said...walk away.