Posts by mentalclearness

40

Avoiding an Elder

by R.F. in

i'm almost six months past walking away from the religion, and one of the elders has risen and thrown a monkey wrench into my entire plan.

things have been great actually.

since i've managed to shed myself of congregation responsiblities, the elders have gotten off my back quite a bit.

I also was getting phone calls and had elders coming to my house a couple times. Thankfully I was at work. But after avoiding them successfully for months I was walking to my house and there they were at my doorstep. No escape!!! So I let them in and basically just told them that I had not gone to the meetings because i felt discouraged and I was re-evaluating what I wanted to do as far as religion went. That at the moment I felt like hypocrite if i were to go to meeting because it wouldn't be sincere. One elder kept on mentioning how close we are, and think about the PRIZE etc etc...oh yeah and my children and the responsability I had to Jah for them...

The only question one of them asked me that was very direct was if I still believed the end was coming and I said I didn't know. I had been hearing that story for years...and nothing..And then he said if I wanted to study the bible with them to regain my faith and I said I would think about them and contact them if I needed anything. It all ended well. My advice would be to get the meeting over with. They have to check up on all inactive ones in the territory. Just be nice and decline their help. I'll call you..don't call me thing....Well that's how it went with me and ever since I've had no more phone calls or visits...

62

For those of you who don't go to meetings anymore...

by exwitless in

when you attended your last meeting ever as a dub, did you know it was your last?

did something happen which made it clear in your mind you were 'never going back' (not to be confused with nvrgnbk)?.

the last meeting we went to was the memorial in 2006. we only went because we knew we were already pegged for the elders' unwanted attention, so we had to go to keep them off our backs a little longer.

mentalclearness

Yes I knew it would be my last meeting. I had an epiphany of sorts. I was attending the meeting during the circuit overseers visit with my three lovely squirmy young children. We had managed to get there on time. No small feat if you know what I mean. Of course I wasn't able to feed them before so during the song we slipped out to eat a snack and come back. Well, anyways came back to the meeting for the last talk from the CO. It was about being humble. How we should accept Jah's guidance. Not be independant and be like evil Eve....Meanwhile some sister in front of me kept on looking back at me because the kids were making noise. Geez, one was 2 YRS OLD...we were in the back...well, after hearing 10 minutes into this wonderful be humble, be submissive..if you feel tired..read the bible and pray talk....Something just clicked!!! I just thought to myself..this is ridiculous. It's such a scam..Here we are being told over and over to be slaves..Just be humble..I am nothing...I guess it was the last straw, because even before this arrogant prick of a CO could finish his talk, I got up with my three children and left...I'm sure he was shocked at such disrespectfulness...I mean those CO's think they should be worshipped...and I knew I would never go back...I didn't know anything about the scandals. I had never gone into an apostate site. I just allowed myself to really listen without my JW ears and I knew there was no truth in this....

42

How Have You Gone About Making Friends Since Leaving the Witnesses ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i've noticed lately that some on our board, or perhaps for many of us, that's why i'm writing this , have had a challenge making new friends after leaving the jehovah's witnesses religion.

it has been a mixed bag for me.

i have met some through my wife, who is not a witness.

mentalclearness

I've also made some good friends at work. I guess I'm luckier than some because I already had a best friend who was not a jw. I also have a good jw friend who I always talk with who I can be open and honest with. We've known each other since infancy. Through my children's classes I've met some other families that I hope to develope into friendships. I had to learn to be less aloof and distant than I was used to being.

20

Do I owe my life to the org?

by Serg in

jw
friends

the only reason i'm here and i exist is because of the jw org., my parents met in a hall.

is this your situation?.

if it weren't for that missionary couple out in dominican republic in the 50's that called on my grandma and if it weren't for the brother in the early 70's who called on my dad, my parents would have never met and i wouldn't be sitting here writing this post.. i just realized all of these years i thought i owed my life to god and his organization what i actually owed my life to was an organization that claimed to be god's channel.

mentalclearness

my parents met in Gilead..yey!!! I don't feel I owe anything to the Jw's. Just a circumstance like any other.

66

A Mormon President?

by a Christian in

mitt romney is running for president of the united states.

i see one big problem with electing a mormon as president.

doing so will give much more respectability to the mormon church.

mentalclearness

Yup..definately putting a good christian into office like Bush has done the U.S. loads of good!! LOL!!!

32

My Letter to The Editor was Published.....

by AK - Jeff in

again it ran in the sunday edition - i hope that a few people might be 'forewarned' and thus 'forearmed' against the jw religion.

perhaps a jw or two will read it also- here was the letter:.

to the editor; on october 25 the british press was awash with the story of young emma gough from tellford, uk.

mentalclearness

Very nice letter...

20

So close to sending in the letter

by PoppyR in

jw
friends

so, i found out today that my whole family, that is mother, older brother wife and child, older sister and husband, younger brother and wife have gone away together for a week.. previously i would have been right in the center of all that.

this time i didn't even know until after they'd gone.

cant say it doesn't hurt, what a punch to the gut.

mentalclearness

It's difficult to make new friends. But one thing that has worked for me is observing the children who seem to be well behaved and pretty normal at the activites my kids are involved in (soccer, etc) and befriend their parents. It's not easy but necessary to make a network that replaces the old one.

25

What Relgion Would You like to Be After Being a JW?

by freyd in

mormon underwear .

this is an informational site to about mormon underwear (mormon garments), what it is, and why mormon's wear it.

there are many sites on the internet about mormon underwear that have incorrect information.

mentalclearness

No organized religion for me.

20

So close to sending in the letter

by PoppyR in

jw
friends

so, i found out today that my whole family, that is mother, older brother wife and child, older sister and husband, younger brother and wife have gone away together for a week.. previously i would have been right in the center of all that.

this time i didn't even know until after they'd gone.

cant say it doesn't hurt, what a punch to the gut.

mentalclearness

I know how it feels to have all your family doing great activities and being left out because you are no longer an active witness. It's probably time to just start planning your own activities with other families. I am trying to get to know other families with kids so that we can organize camping trips and days at the beach ect. Make your own group. The great thing about friends is you can choose them. Unfortunately, family you are just stuck with.

13

JW's negative outlook on humanity

by kwintestal in

always thinking that the world around you, the people you see and deal with day-to-day, and the forces controling everything are wicked and evil in the most horrible ways is pretty much standard thinking for most active jw's.

none would think more so then those who have had this indoctrinated into them from infancy.

how do you think this effects people trying to leave?

mentalclearness

I agree with Nvr. It was having contact with people who were not JW's and had more moral standards and principles than those I knew inside the organization that got me questioning many things. Now that I am completely out though, I find I have a problem either completely trusting someone or being biased towards them because they are not witnesses. I need to develope skills needed to be able to see if people are trustworthy based on who they really are as opposed to what religion they are.