any takers?
we can pick a date and pull the plug?
lol .
Cool and calm and unemotional, like fmf said, otherwise people switch off straight away. That's why I think jwfacts is so effective, I turned away from many other bitter, weird or hysterical websites before i found that one.
where is the ex-jw ms from Washington state letter, please?
Wouldn't it be great if a TV company would do a documentary called 'shunning', as opposed to 'knocking' .
any takers?
we can pick a date and pull the plug?
lol .
I don't have time to read the whole thread so i hope I'm not way off topic.
But for those who can't dissassociate, how about an anonymous letter to all the witness email addresses they have. Something like: we are your fellow brothers, we sit in the Kingdom Hall with you, we love Jehovah, but we are increasingly concerned about.....
include the most divisive topics such as shunning, blood, child abuse, false prophecies, GB worship, everyone else will die etc etc with some jwfacts style hard arguments against the wt stand on these issues. Sending them all at the same time to r&f might cause a lot of people to think, certainly stir the pot. If these things are only addressed to the ones in charge it will quickly be clamped down, but if to the r&f it would really be out there and uncontrollable.
Personally I must have more than 100 email contacts who are witnesses, if we all put these together on mail chimp or something and send out a mass mailer on one day (say get cedars to own the account coz he obviously doesn't care about anonymity) we could have thousands upon thousands of witness addresses.
i have put up previous posts about this in the past, but i just thought that it was worth mentioning again.
it has to be of concern to them with how quickly information is getting leaked.
hell it even surprises at just how slowly information spreads by offical means.
hello, i am a new member.
i grew up in the jw religion; however i am not an active jw.
have been visiting this site for about 3 yrs, and have become quite attached to it.
Welcome - it's lovely to have you here.
I am so sorry you had such a horrible, abusive, childhood. I don't think this is all the religion's fault but I do think parents with narcissistic, controlling personalities can have these traits exaggerated when they are witnesses - it gives them so many rules to enforce and feeds their controlling nature.
I am glad you've found a sense of normality with your new family - a second chance at a normal, happy family life and that you are free of the oppressive guilt and mind control. Best wishes to you and yours.
yesterday i read something that hurt my heart.
at a talk given by a brother lyman swingle ( i apologize if i am stepping out of line by using this) he said "that if you leave the jw ( i find it difficult to refer to it as the truth now days) you may as well go jump off a bridge".
this i think is disgraceful talk to say to any body let alone an audience in which children are present.
Pete zahut: They even say (publicly) that they are not the only ones who will survive into "the new system"
where do they say this? This is a crucial point for me..
they dont say this in writing as far as i have seen, they say the opposite, that you have to be associated with/supporting 'christs brothers' (them) and be in the modern day 'ark' otherwise you have no chance, it's not enough to to be sincere, you have to be in the 'true' religion. Individual brothers say things like "Jehovah can read hearts.." Etc as I did, we comfort ourselves with those thoughts, but that isn't what the WTBTS says. As far as the GB are concerned, all non witnesses will be burned, charred 'hotdogs roasting on a spit' (yes AMIII actually used that analogy in a talk, I have the link).
thats my main problem with this religion." We are all right, you are all wrong, we will all live, you will all die." The opposite of christs message. The answer as others have pointed out is not where but whom, JC.
BUT WHY?, why don't the GB take the more reasonable line? why don't they humbly say: "others will survive, Jehovah is merciful, we won't be the only ones" - the answer, as soon as you say that you take away the importance of the preaching work, membership of their congregations, allegiance to their cult .
It's ALL about POWER AND CONTROL.
i'm reaching out here, i've known ttatt for about 3-4 years now.
sadly when i first grasped it i had a total mental breakdown as i was a hard core firm to the core pioneer and 110% believer of my faith.!
now nearly 2years on after my breakdown i still have to attend to please my jw wife.
Don't go.
You are not being true to yourself - you are going to give yourself another mental illness.
I've been known TTATT for less than 6 months, Im now inactive and down to one meeting a month, and really it's when I want to go for my own reasons. My husband is still in, he's disappointed but not pressuring me, in fact when I do go he says 'why do you go if you don't really agree with it?' - we've agreed that he won't report about me to the elders, but they did come to see me and I told them I was doubting and confused, they aren't pressuring me, I have family issues too so people think that is partly the reason I'm not attending. My daughter is still going but she got really upset with me when I was attending because she said 'I can see you're heart's not in it and you don't want to be there, so I don't want you to do it for me', shes actually happier if I don't fake it, it is also giving her 'permission' to miss more meetings whilst she figures things out for herself.
You seem to have the perfect excuse if they already consider you are unwell. Can't you tell your wife that you don't feel able to keep up with the jw demands at the moment, that you are not sure about some things and would rather keep your relationship with J personal at home? She might be upset, might even yell and scream but that won't last forever. Then your free, more time for yourself to do research, heal, find different interests, whatever.... no more faking and less internal pressure. You can always offer to support her in any way you can manage (with rides if needed or even go to assemblies if that will be the most difficult for her) but it sounds like its time to be honest for your own well-being.
definitely something going in the london bethel.. i thought i'd ask them again (and record it again) what the situation was regarding the new britain branch construction work.. i got the same sister (debbie) and here is how the conversation went: .
me: i've been told that construction of the new branch has been stopped - is this true?.
debbie: no, it has not ceased, it's carrying on as normal - can i ask where you're calling from?.
Here's a link to the new article confirming cuts:
http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/watchtower-in-crisis-frustration-grows-at-bethel-as-governing-body-focuses-everything-on-warwick-on-
://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/watchtower-in-crisis-frustration-grows-at-bethel-as-governing-body-focuses-everything-on-warwick
i just read an email from a friend, and she shared some very interesting emails from her friends about information on changes now happening at the bethels around the world.
here is the email: .
---------------------------------thanks sally, jesus is directing the org and all decisions and instructions to us may not seem practical from now on, neither will we understand the reasonings behind many of the changes that the organization makes.
Wow Absalom, where did that news come from?
if they are considering closing the Britain branch I wouldnt be surprised if it was to do with the charities commission investigation, another poster said the UK is looking at giving the commission more powers.
i just wanted to say that my dear 89 year old mom is terminally ill and will soon pass.
she is on morphine and hanging on.
she has been a devout witness for about 60 years and a wonderful mother.
I'm so sorry for you, minimus.
Its wonderful that you've had such a great relationship with your mum, I'm sure it makes it harder to lose her but I hope that the good memories will give you some comfort in time x
sorry for the length of this, i hope anyone stopping by to read will take the time and read it.
i haven't included any things i would consider "apostate" specifics about doctrines, or major scandals.
it's just a general layout of the path i took to becoming an exjw.
Thank you fmf, really interesting...
living so close to the hq you got to see a lot more than other witnesses would, peep behind the curtain so to speak...
id love to hear what the crazy brother from Brooklyn said in this talk, and what it was that made you so angry about AMIIIs zone visit.
Its definitely a process waking up, I've been going through it for just 6 months, but I look back now and think there were niggling doubts as long as 5 years ago. Such as when I read a comment section in a newspaper article about a young jw mother dying in child birth due to refusing blood. Someone said something like "the witnesses are so hypocritical, they won't donate blood but they accept blood fractions - where do they think that blood comes from? Huge blood banks of donated blood". It niggled me and I thought 'that is hypocritical' but didn't come to fruition until years later...along with many more seeds of doubt along the way.
