Posts by Tornintwo

116

3 words to describe.....

by punkofnice in

..your experience with the watchtower corporation:.

i'll start...... bully boy elders.

Tornintwo

Man made rules

fear of man

expectation postponed

sacrifice your life

prominent abuse lowly

372

On respect for the belief of others. Sorry for the long post

by StarTrekAngel in

i am inclined to start this thread in response to some comments made in other threads.

i have been coming around these forum for quite some time now so whatever you find in here is not just related to something someone may have said this week.

it can go months back as well.. i have seen many who claim to respect the belief of others but when it comes down to applying it into practice, things take a whole different tune.

Regarding respect for others beliefs: I remember when I was a super zealous new jw and my mother's mother had just died, my mother and her were very close, she had lost her father when she was a teenager. I pushed and pushed for her to listen to and respect the resurrection hope, quoting 'their conscious of nothing at all etc etc' thinking it would make her feel better. At some point She stopped me, grabbed me by the shoulders and said, 'I need to believe she's looking down on us in heaven with my dad, taking care of us, I NEED that'. That's what has kept her going when her dad died as a youth.

with my superiority complex I thought I could easily disprove her belief, but that didn't take into account the affection she had for that belief and the importance it played in her life.

Some members here would say that with enough education and research all belief in a deity can be disproved. I find it difficult to believe that any such thing can be completely disproved or proved, haven't scholars tried to do so for centuries? That's where there is room for faith.

We are at various stages of awakening, after a high control religion was our crutch and whole life, it could be insensitive and cruel for someone further along in the process or with a greater knowledge of certain areas of study to ridicule and tear down someone else's dearly held religious belief.

I think the important thing for us all to display here is open mindedness and mutual respect for each others beliefs, considering we came out of a cult which encouraged close mindedness, blinkered thinking and disrespect for anyone else's religion.

30

Handing out candy

by mikeypants in

growing up my parents would barricade our home off by parking vehicles bumper to bumper - you would have to crawl under the cars or over the bumpers to get to our door.

also, we would turn off all the lights and hide in the back room away from the street.. that was the norm for me.

isnt that insane?

Tornintwo

I living in a reverse divided home, last night my hubby said 'the kids are coming around for trick or treat' let's turn the lights off and go in the back room. I said "don't be silly. I've bought some sweets and I'll handle it". He didn't say anything else! My daughter dressed as a cat and went to a friends house with about 15 kids to watch scary movies, but was careful not to post any photos on social media for the JWs to see. My son was 'the real batman' and went nightclubbing with his mates. So Happy they are getting back to the real world and enjoying themselves.

47

Suicide or Real Freedom? - My Story As One Of Jehovah's Witnesses

by dubstepped in

"sometimes i think the only thing i could do that wouldn't upset someone would be to kill myself.".

those were the frustrated words of my friend as we stood out in his large yard in the country, just about to enjoy a nice bonfire on a beautiful night.

what was it that could have been a lesser evil than killing himself?

Tornintwo

Wonderful story Dubstepped and so well written.

it really illustrates how this organisation tramples on individuality and people's emotions in pursuit of drone slaves for the watchtower. I'm so sorry your family have made such a narrow minded choice, it is their loss and I hope they realize that one day.

its great that you didn't throw the baby out with the bath water and abandon your faith. I am clinging to a faith in God and Christ, there are things in my life that have made me just feel there is a God, unpopular as such thinking may be with some here. it's difficult because the witnesses claim ownership of God, yesterday I was told 'Jehovah misses me' because I'm not at the meetings, I was like 'how do you know Jehovah isn't with me?'.

Thanks again for a great story, enjoy the rest of your lives and a huge congratulations that your wife is by your side, it's a luxury many of us here don't have X

18

I could sue the WTBTS

by shattered_origins in

ever since my sister gave me an " awakening," i have been somewhat obsessed with the failings of the religion i was born into.

i am especially outraged at the article i read about how the elders are supposed to deal with accusations of sexual abuse (jwfacts.com/watchtower/paedophelia.php).

i myself suffered sexual and emotional abuse from a family "friend"/ministerial servant in a neighboring congregation.

Tornintwo

Sue them!!! Call Irwin zalkin and at least get some advice. After all you've been through you deserve compensation. I'm so sorry you suffered this abuse and mistreatment.

Reinstated after a year, eugh, "we're not permissive to pedophiles" said Lett on jw broadcasting, well plenty of experiences like this say you are.

105

New Watchtower Propaganda and hate speech destroying families (Feb 2016 WT)

by Daniel1555 in

the following is a paragraph from the new february study watchtower article "learn from jehovah's loyal servants.".

7 a conflict of loyalties may arise when a close relative is disfellowshipped.

for example, a sister named anne [1] received a telephone call from her disfellowshipped mother.

Tornintwo

That's just sick. Confirms again I'm doing the right thing walking away.

Strangely enough, when I converted from CofE to JW, none of my family shunned me - they supported us even when we didn't join in their celebrations, they even financed our Kingdom Hall wedding. My husband converted from Catholicism, same, nothing but love and support.

This is supposed to be true christianity - well, by their fruits.....

Ironically the next subheading is 'Loyalty to God Helps us to be Kind....' lol

48

Your thoughts on Halloween , yes, no or maybe ?

by Finkelstein in

well its that time again when the ghouls come out to play.

i personally think halloween is a bit irresponsible and inappropriate from a sociological perspective.. there's something about the intent of frightening young impressionable children minds with frightening objests.

and feeding them candy which most likely cause tooth decay and stomachs is irresponsible activity conducted by adults.

Tornintwo

For the most part if it's kept low key, like we did it when we were kids with sheets over our heads as ghosts and bobbing for apples, then it's harmless fun and a great opportunity to spend time as a family and community.

BUT I do think these days it's turned into rampant commercialism and yet another opportunity for big business to fleece the common people.

I also find it very disturbing that kids near me don't dress as cats, witches and silly ghosts anymore but as zombie 'dead schoolgirls' and 'dead cheerleaders' and 'chucky' - all a bit sick and perverted....

137

Something interesting!

by John Aquila in

i was invited to a small get-together by a long time friend.

we both served as elders for years.

he is in his late 70s.

Tornintwo

No way, is this for real?!?!?!!

8

Personal experience rant

by Crazyguy in

so i was reading over new member hollywood 20s experience and thinking of using it when i'm going to talk with my son that their trying to get baptized.

so that with all the other things through my mind i decided to say some things to him about what's going on with my daughter.

so this is what happening with her.

Tornintwo

Unfortunately they'd rather build a lakeside retirement home for the G.B., aren't you glad you woke up? Sending love, hugs and best wishes to you and your daughter X

44

Need advice

by Darkknight757 in

hi.i've been pouring over this site for the past few days looking for some advice and i hope there is someone here that can help a guy out.

i'm desperate.....short bio: i came into the organization after high school and shortly after married a wonderful girl who was born-in.we have been happily married now for nearly 20 years and things were well until 2015 hit.

by the way, i currently serve as an elder and have the ""privilege"" of being the "watchtower overseer".. either here nor there, we were told we would never have children but late last year my wife became prego!!

Tornintwo

Hi darkknight - there are a lot more experienced people than me on this board who can help you with fading advice,. Just wanted to say as a woman and a mum how sorry I am for you and your wife, my sister went through this heartbreak 3 times but finally has 2 lovely children, so don't give up hope (I'll pm with you with the treatment that worked for her, just in case it's relevant). The organisation is terrible at shepherding people through loss and trauma, they only tell people to do more and are always ready to reprove & discipline. It sounds like maybe your wife is feeling this too and a bit of time away from the meetings, maybe a few weekends away here and there might do her good, and get her out of the mind control....

I am sure it won't alarm her if you just say 'do you ever have any doubts....?', if she says 'what no! never!' you know where you are, you can just cover it over quickly and say 'I don't know what's wrong with me, think I'm a bit down' or something like that. But she might say, 'well actually, yes.......'. I like Giordanos suggestion of starting with the child abuse issue, for any one with maternal tendencies this is a crucial aspect for awakening. I mean, 1006 pedophiles on file in Bethel in Australia alone and not ONE reported - that's got to ring alarm bells for any decent human being. Best wishes to you both x