GentlyFeral

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Posts by GentlyFeral

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  19

  How long out? Why still here?

  by hillary_step in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some posters to this board, who perhaps are bored posters, have been out of the wts for a long while, some for decades.

  i think i understand why you still feel the need to meet here but just wished to hear from you personally.. how long have you been out?

  why do you still feel the need to discuss and involve yourselves with jw issues?

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  GentlyFeral

  Radar:

  I believe the psychological bond we had, when we were with the (Borg)
  now seeks a home with those of us, who find themselves outside the Borg Org.
  In other words, that cultlike interdependency is still with us.

  I'm not at all sure that it is cultlike. Interdependency itself is a great thing; it's a larg part of the sensation we call "belonging" or "community". The particular bond between XJW's is similar to that of any other group that has been scarred by common experiences. The pleasure in it comes from the healing that we experience, which often includes bitching about the bOrg.

  drahcir yarrum:

  For me, it was mainly the lack of any real "Christian love" that the society claims to display, but never really does.

  Yeah, me too, but what sent me out the KH door at top speed was the realization that I had been infected with this same lovelessness.

  Introspection:

  Actually, it isn't so much that I feel a need to discuss JW issues, I actually don't have the patience

  Me too. My reaction to the UN issue has been mostly confined to sardonic smirking. As far as I'm concerned it's just another justification for my leaving, nothing more. The few XJW issues that actually interest are the ones that still affect my life: namely, how to find my way in the larger world. I'll read just about anything on that topic -- calls for help, bitter rants, and especially brag stories. I'm a sucker for "first Christmas" stories, naturally :)

  hillary_step:

  I just hope that in ten years time, ... I will not experience an emotional shudder when I drive past a Kingdom Hall,

  I went through that stage. Sometimes I gloat instead. It might help, when driving past a KH, to raise your middle finger in salute (or, if you're British, two fingers).

  Gently Feral

  "There were cockroaches of course,
  but very clean cockroaches."
  -- Julia Vinograd

  (edited for surplus quote brackets)
• 
  132

  100 Good Samaritans needed

  by Trilobite in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  two of this board's, and h2o's before it,long time and well known participants have fallen on desperately hard times.

  if they could set up pay pal accounts and enough of us could contribute say $20 - $50 per month it would help them though their hardship.. these two people have helped many escape from the wts and i know for sure have given money and other material help to those in need, even when they could not afford it.. if you can help, send an email to: [email protected].

  you need not include any particulars of who you are etc, just an indication that you could support this and how much you could send.

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  GentlyFeral

  I can certainly spot Farkel $20/month until next spring. Emailing you privately.

  Gently Feral
• 
  9

  Be Magazine Conscious!

  by MacHislopp in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  look what worries this week the wtbs:.

  "*** km 10/99 2 service meetings for october ***.

  be magazine conscious!

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  GentlyFeral

  Oh, I'm magazine-conscious all right.

  1. Witch Eye
  2. On Our Backs
  3. Fantasy & Science Fiction
  4. SageWoman
  5. The Beltane Papers
  6. The Good Vibrations catalogue

  ...come to think of it, I detect a slight imbalance here...

  7. UU World
  8. National Geographic

  ... There, that's better. Although I told a fib; haven't read a current National Geographic in years. For shame :)

  Gently Feral
  dragging this thread off topic
• 
  17

  How do I get out?

  by fancyschmancy28 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was baptised as a jw when i was about 12. i dropped out when i was about 19. i just stopped going to meetings and going in service.

  it is now 20 years later.

  i am interested in learning about other religions.

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  GentlyFeral

  I just thought they might be more friendly to me if I were really "out."

  Who might be more friendly? Other churches? You'll find that any church worth attending won't care what religious brand name you carry now. If they make a big fuss about it, they probably have a lot of flaws in common with the JW's.

  Does anybody remember the URL for the "Belief-O-Matic" quiz?

  Gently Feral
• 
  26

  Why I will NEVER become a Jehovahs Witness

  by kevin221 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  because they are insane.

  mabey not all of them, but the one's i've been exposed to so far have some serious mental problems.

  and for the record i'm not talking about their religious beliefs, i'm basing my opinion on direct actions taken by the ones that i have had personal experience with.. thought some of you might be interested in the things that have been going on with me and jon's family.

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  GentlyFeral

  Hey Feralwoman can't you do some hoodoo to make these cretins lose a nut or something?

  Well, with the friends talking about getting that nasty sign fingerprinted,... I don't think any other mojo will be necessary.

  Oh well, I can always treat is as a theoretical exercise for future reference }:)

  Gently Feral
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  26

  Why I will NEVER become a Jehovahs Witness

  by kevin221 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  because they are insane.

  mabey not all of them, but the one's i've been exposed to so far have some serious mental problems.

  and for the record i'm not talking about their religious beliefs, i'm basing my opinion on direct actions taken by the ones that i have had personal experience with.. thought some of you might be interested in the things that have been going on with me and jon's family.

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  GentlyFeral

  Hey Feralwoman can't you do some hoodoo to make these cretins lose a nut or something?

  Nah. I can think of much more elegant things. More just, too. I'll research this in leisure moments over the next couple days. Between Witch Eye Magazine and my prayerbook, I think I can find everything I need.

  Gently Feral
• 
  28

  The three reasons we leave the "Truth"

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  seems to me there are mainly three roads most of us have taken.

  1.we did something "wrong" and were disfellowshipped and after felt able to look at the society in a different light.. 2.we didn't like the "truth" and were looking for a way out.. 3.we wanted it to be the truth but were overcome by the mountain of evidence against it.. which is the most common i wonder.. also do our motives play a large part in how we deal with information criticising the org.. without a reason to act information seems useless.. for instance if a person feels he has nothing to gain by leaving the org will he read different things into the same info as us?.

  i think so and that all who leave must have a reason to do so, something to gain.. this does not make their reasoning wrong or prove they we are looking for just excuse.. but is a normal way in which humans deals with information.. two humans can have the same information but if they want or desire different things they may use the information differently.. maybe thats wht so many say "where else is there to go?

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  GentlyFeral

  Okay so that is my suggestion for a fourth reason for leaving.

  I'd like to amplify this by suggesting that being "weighed down" can result in two different kinds of breakdown:

  1) exhaustion, as Steven describes, and

  2) corruption, as I experienced. To put it bluntly, I finally realized that the more obedient I became, the nastier and more hypocritical I got.

  Gently Feral
• 
  66

  Why My Wife and I Have No Kids

  by JT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  *** g74 11/8 ***9 is this the time to have children?there has always been a positive attitude about childbearing.

  *** g74 11/8 10 is this the time to have children?

  what does imminent mean?

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  GentlyFeral

  Of course being immature had it's benefitsLike the time I told her that trees were named cars and cars were tress! LOL she really thought that for about 2 weeks...ahh how silly and foolish I was, but it was kinda fun.
  wendy(wondering why I just told everyone that)

  Aww, that's kinda cute.

  When I was homeschooling my daughter, I put this mischievous impulse to good use in a reading game I called "misdirection." I'd make up flashcards with words she knew, simple ones like "dog" and "ride" and such, and offer to read them to HER. But I'd deliberately get them completely wrong, insisting that LOOK was "malachite" or CAT was "serendipity" or something. The more fantastical the word, the better. She'd laugh and I'd let her correct me. It was great for morale on those days when she was convinced she'd never learn to read.

  Gently Feral
• 
  33

  Favorite Activity Since Leaving The Borg

  by tyydyy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just about everyone i have talked to has started doing some different activities since leaving the borg.

  just out of curiousity what would be your favorite activity?.

  mine is flag football.

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  GentlyFeral

  I agree, the list is too long to post entire.

  Highlights, though --

  Dressing in a way that would bring down the wrath of the Taliban, and make the elders at least a little bit nervous, even though I'm a fat chick.

  Polyamory (which is not that easy to arrange, dammit).

  Writing the best poetry I can, without self-censorship.

  Dance. I do simple folk dance with some friends at church; the rest is just impromptu gyration of just the sort I've been avoiding all my life!

  Pot-smoking. Part of my spiritual practice.

  The practice of witchcraft. No, I haven't hexed anybody except George Parrish ;)

  Deliberately reading things that contradict my beliefs, just in case it might convince me.

  Encouraging my husband in his creative endeavors -- see http://www.artistlaunch.com/brainbelly

  Gently Feral
• 
  27

  Should I be doing more?

  by WTLies in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my story is posted in the "personal experiences" section of this discussion board and someone responded with and interesting observation.

  he said that it's great that i'm now out but that i have 'dues to pay' to those whom i have disfellowshipped and talked out of going to college while serving as an elder.

  while serving as an elder i did share in disfellowshipping several members of the congregation, many of whom are still out there being shunned by family and friends.

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  GentlyFeral

  William, what do you think of this:

  Pettygrudger gave me the idea by saying...
  

  LOL - unless ya wanna pay for my son's education as I never went to college? (thats a joke - lighten up

  But isn't that a great idea? Starting a scholarship fund for XJW's? You don't have to put up much of the money yourself, just learn how to collect and administer it. Start a foundation!

  Gently Feral