Posts by shopaholic

29

Not Born-in, Not converted as adult. The In-Betweens

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

i think some of us get lost somewhere in the middle.. my kids knew nothing else but the jw lifestyle.

they could only guess what holidays were like.. my jw husband converted when he was 20 an adult...a young adult but still an adult.

he wasn't influenced by his parents.

shopaholic

Great thread.

Guess I'm actually an in-betweener as well because I wasn't actually born-in and I remember celebrating holidays but my mom got baptized when I was 5 or 6 years old.

Well I didn't like not being able to say the pledge because I really liked it as a kid. Literally one day I could say the pledge and the next day I couldn't and it was on the day that I was supposed to be the class leader. That sucked, but like the good little girl I was I told the teacher that I couldn't do it. I didn't like that all of a sudden there was no halloween or christmas either. But hey, what could I do other than follow the program? I was just a kid.

49

I got shunned at Wal-Mart

by loosie in

this is actually hilarious to me.

i am not df'd or da'd.

i just haven't gone for 3 years.. this woman (sister) works at my daughters school.

shopaholic

This woman (sister) works at my daughters school. When my hubby who is DF'd goes into the office and has to speak to her, she directs her replies to myself or my daughter not to my hubby who asked the question.
And the NEXT day she would be looking for a freakin' job...

Totally agree.

11

Fake Friends?

by Save My Soul in

jw
friends

i asked my brother why my (now deceased) father never associated with many witnesses.

he said that many (j-dubs) were phonies,.....two-faced even according to my dad.. did you ever notices witnesses to be phony, or fake friends?

did you ever notice someone be nice to someone then bad mouth that person to you directly?.

shopaholic

One time an elder and his wife invited my friend and I (teenagers at the time) over for dinner and a delightful game of ping pong. The night took a nasty turn when the ulterior motive for the invite was to interrogate my friend and I about being seen with a worldly boy.

Nancy, something similar happened to me when I was in my mid teens. I explained to elder that we were on our way to the library to meet others for a school project. He wasn't buying it and kept on with the questions and lecture. Finally, I told the elder something about him not being Jehovah and then got up and left. He had a talk with my mom and told her to look after me because I was on my way down the wrong road, blah, blah, blah. About 3 months later, his 17-year-old pioneering daughter was DF'd for moving in with her worldly boyfriend....ROFL....he couldn't even look me or my mom in the face after that.

11

Fake Friends?

by Save My Soul in

jw
friends

i asked my brother why my (now deceased) father never associated with many witnesses.

he said that many (j-dubs) were phonies,.....two-faced even according to my dad.. did you ever notices witnesses to be phony, or fake friends?

did you ever notice someone be nice to someone then bad mouth that person to you directly?.

shopaholic

father never associated with many witnesses. He said that many (J-Dubs) were phonies,.....two-faced even according to my dad.

My dad is not a JW but says this about JWs all the time. He tells my mom how she worships is her business but to realize that most JWs are not the holy-rollers she thinks they are.

44

Other KC DC highlights

by stillajwexelder in

jw
friends

manuscript talk - denim is bad - then a whole item on low cut tops, tight clothing, long slits etc - and bra straps showing (you can not make this shit up) is also bad.

last but one item - desperate need for brothers to reach out - cant form congregations if brothers dont reach out.

shopaholic

Denim is bad??? Bad in general, bad to wear to the KH...please elaborate.

Thanks,

Shop.

43

Do you ever think of going back to a meeting?

by digderidoo in

jw
friends

ok this is for all of you who don't attend anymore.. i had a friend come over last night.

we've been best mates since we were kids, he was brought up in the ' truth ', but left a number of years ago.

we talk about just everything.

shopaholic

digderidoo, you are not the only one. Like momscrazy said, its probably because of the familiarity of it all. Sometimes I want to go just to be able to tell friends and family that I went. In the past, I would go if the urge hit but then I would be so disappointed in the information because I could see through it all. And now, I have trouble getting through the Watchtower recaps on the board.

Even with all of that, I still think of going to the meetings but not of being an active JW.

43

Sex and the City Movie

by lonelysheep in

i saw it on friday night and loved it!

it was funny, sentimental and never dragged.

there were two theaters full of women.

shopaholic

***Warning: Movie Spoiler****

sandy and lonelysheep, what are you talking about? What was there to explain? After all she had been through with him? I think I would have reacted the same way. It was so totally realistic to me that my heart sank. I was so into the movie I wanted to jump into screen.

138

Why I will NEVER be an elder again

by stillajwexelder in

so the po confirmed what many on this board already know.

at latest round of co to elders meeting, the co quoted from the society outline.

any elder or ms who encourages college for his kids or others or who allows his children to go to college will no longer qualify.. he then asked if i was going to take the cos encouragement and reach out again to be an elder and get my hours on the ministry up.. i replied "i will never be an elder again - i strongly approve of further education and college and have been through college myself.

shopaholic

Second, I can cite numerous examples of JW youth who went to college and then were accepted to the World Headquarters based upon those educational qualifications. I know personally of a young sister who went to law school and became an attorney. She was accepted to Brooklyn Bethel and immediately began doing legal work.

I know a few folks that were invited to Bethel because of their special skill set (aka college degree). Some accepted. Some declined.

31

Does Fear Rule Your Life ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

the definition of fear in the dictionary is " a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence of imminence of danger.

" another dictionary i have states the definition as , " an unpleasant emotion caused by exposure to danger, expectation of pain, etc.

a state of alarm .

shopaholic

Fear does not rule my life as much as it used to but its still very present. I'm finally learning to live life on my terms. Most of my fear is around family and how they will respond when they find out that their super zealous pioneer has been inactive for a while now. But then I ask myself, what can they do, really, other than call and cry and plead. Its not like they are going to kill me. Its probably fear of having to explain myself to them.

I used to fear "worldly" people, but after going out with some a few times and having a really good time that fear is starting to go away. Not all non-JWs are buck-wild and drugged out. My social calender is more full now that it was when I was an active JW.

47

Children Who Leave Always Come Back to the Society

by ataloa in

jw
friends

i heard this in a car group one day.

a young single mother said she always heard that growing up.

when she left she was adamant she would never be back, and now here she was.. is this true for the most part?.

shopaholic

I have seen many df and work hard to be reinstated. Straight after they start a fade. I think a lot who are df only work towards reinstatement so they can reestablish family ties before leaving again.

I agree with Mickey. All of my relatives that were ever DF'd did this exact thing. Got reinstated and faded within a year. We have lots of large family get togethers with non-JW family and it seems horrible to them that some family can't attend because they were DF'd by JWs.

When told why a few folks were not at a family reunion, one of my country non-JW cousins said "Sh*t, everybody sins. Even y'all eljers (thats how she pronounces elders), trust me, they sin too, ain't nobody that holy. Sh***********t, you can't kick nobody out no church. Thats God's house." The JWs in the family always get upset and start into Jehovah holy spirit, blah, blah, blah. Then the JWs pressure the DF'd folks to get reinstated because it brings reproach on Jehovah's name because the non-JW relatives don't understand, blah, blah, blah.

It can get to be a little crazy. That's why I decided not to DA.

Outside of my family, I know several born-ins that left many years ago and never came back. Most went back to school, started a whole new life and are doing quite well for themselves. When I would see them, they would always either speak or smile. And their parents are always bragging about their accomplishments.