Oddly enough, recently I was thinking about PTSD. Since I am as my name implies "laying low" and yet not df'd or da'd, there is a great deal of stress in public a lot of the time. I have family in, and they're fine with where I've chosen to take my stand, unfortunately I can't tell anyone else (that is a JW). Therefore I fear running into them because it is so terribly awkward. The anxiety about running into someone and dealing with that awkwardness waxes and wanes. I wonder if that could screw somebody up. If I was out I would feel fine, but I'm just MIA. I then got to thinking about all the other ex-jw's and others in similar situations. My heart goes out to you.
LayingLow
JoinedPosts by LayingLow
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Today I got diagnosed with PTSD... I thought only people that went to war
by cognac inand things like that got ptsd... .
anyways, my husband and i talked and i said that i can't take the anxiety of going to the meetings anymore, so either i'm not going or i'm bringing and ipod or something... he's very supportive.
he felt bad about pushing me to do it.
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LayingLow
They are also binitarians (Jesus and the Father are God). They've fragmented into the RCG and some others. Sometimes they have banners on this site. In the first several centuries after the apostles there were collectives of Jewish Christians who had views different from the rest of the Christians. They hold to some of these beliefs. 10 commandments, sabbath keeping, certain Jewish festivals, etc. I don't know how they started but one huge difference is that there was a huge organization wide repentance and they changed many of their teachings.
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Thinking of becoming a Witness again and my reasons for doing so :(
by reniaa ini've been a faded jw for 10 years i left because of my failed first marriage, i'm no hypocrite and realised i had left completely so i embraced the world and dived in, only christmas and birthdays i could not get into, they were too foreign to me having never celebrated them, like if i suddenly tried to do ramadan or something like that.. 1/ all the criticisms of the people in the truth you say on here, i've found in the world, warts and all only in the world nothing holds them back from being utterly horrible to you.. 2/ i got stabbed by a worldly boyfriend, i got married 2 times of my own choosing to men outside the truth, the first smoked and was an alcoholic, the second gambled every penny we had and defrauded me out of money after we separated, 2 divorces later i am currently pregnant and a single mum since current boyfriend decided kids was to much of a responsibility and he needed his freedom and i was 'too selfish to expect him to give up his life'.. 3/ parents-in-law!
i have been shunned by them as equal to anything you accuse witness families of and for the silliest of reasons, i had a disabled son and his grandparents said they wanted nothing to do with him because they didn't want to become attached in case he died.. 4/ i miss the honest friendships of the truth, i had friends of all ages from 14 to 80 years old and they genuinely cared for me, many trying to keep me in the faith a long time after i left but i was determined to fade so moved away completely, but i find friendships in the world so shallow in comparison and very hard to sustain :( i've never been a drinker and sometimes thats what friendship means you being a companion for them to goto pub with.. 5/ my recent boyfriend was in a christian religion, i thought why not find out about it, harvest churches if you ever heard of them, unfortunately it still hasn't stop him leaving me pregnant and alone and when i said to him how does he clear that with god, he replies "as long as i repent it doesn't matter" it's like he has a "get out of jail free card" for any wrong-doing in the bible, this is so alien to me and my witness trained conscience.. 6/ i recently out of frustration tried looking into atheism and joined their forums, it wasn't fun, they are as bombastic and arrogant as their religious counterparts can be from any religion, they make a religion out of not believing in god, it's very weird they talk of saving people from believing in god and offer nothing to replace it.
they said to me "be happy you are in reality now and enjoy it" and i thought "well if this is reality i've had enough of it".
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LayingLow
One final thought....
This is just a personal observation, but I have noticed that those who are not particularly active in the organization are much more accepting of the "it does more good than bad" argument. In practice, that stance doesn't hold with being either an active or zealous JW. Zeal and activity need to be spurted by faith and not by a "it does more good than bad" argument. Reniaa, I sincerely hope you continue to seek accurate understanding and find an organization that accurately portrays and preaches Jesus death, burial, and resurrection and the life in him that follows. If you continue studying you may very well study yourself into and out of the JW religion as many have. I don't regret what I've had to do to get where I am but I also didn't have to drag children into something that I later had to leave. Fortunately I could leave on my own. That is not a luxury you have, so I hope you make a very educated and conscientious decision for all parties involved. May you find peace and love in Jesus Christ,
LayingLow -
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Thinking of becoming a Witness again and my reasons for doing so :(
by reniaa ini've been a faded jw for 10 years i left because of my failed first marriage, i'm no hypocrite and realised i had left completely so i embraced the world and dived in, only christmas and birthdays i could not get into, they were too foreign to me having never celebrated them, like if i suddenly tried to do ramadan or something like that.. 1/ all the criticisms of the people in the truth you say on here, i've found in the world, warts and all only in the world nothing holds them back from being utterly horrible to you.. 2/ i got stabbed by a worldly boyfriend, i got married 2 times of my own choosing to men outside the truth, the first smoked and was an alcoholic, the second gambled every penny we had and defrauded me out of money after we separated, 2 divorces later i am currently pregnant and a single mum since current boyfriend decided kids was to much of a responsibility and he needed his freedom and i was 'too selfish to expect him to give up his life'.. 3/ parents-in-law!
i have been shunned by them as equal to anything you accuse witness families of and for the silliest of reasons, i had a disabled son and his grandparents said they wanted nothing to do with him because they didn't want to become attached in case he died.. 4/ i miss the honest friendships of the truth, i had friends of all ages from 14 to 80 years old and they genuinely cared for me, many trying to keep me in the faith a long time after i left but i was determined to fade so moved away completely, but i find friendships in the world so shallow in comparison and very hard to sustain :( i've never been a drinker and sometimes thats what friendship means you being a companion for them to goto pub with.. 5/ my recent boyfriend was in a christian religion, i thought why not find out about it, harvest churches if you ever heard of them, unfortunately it still hasn't stop him leaving me pregnant and alone and when i said to him how does he clear that with god, he replies "as long as i repent it doesn't matter" it's like he has a "get out of jail free card" for any wrong-doing in the bible, this is so alien to me and my witness trained conscience.. 6/ i recently out of frustration tried looking into atheism and joined their forums, it wasn't fun, they are as bombastic and arrogant as their religious counterparts can be from any religion, they make a religion out of not believing in god, it's very weird they talk of saving people from believing in god and offer nothing to replace it.
they said to me "be happy you are in reality now and enjoy it" and i thought "well if this is reality i've had enough of it".
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LayingLow
If you would allow me, I would recommend doing more research before you go back. I could never make the choice for you nor would I. However, I think there are many things to be considered and if you're not quite clear on the paradise earth/ end times teachings you may want to consider researching them among other things in more depth before you would return.
Any group that would have you read a plain scripture from the Bible and then say "Oh, that only applies to the anointed," needs to be scrutinized before you let that teaching slide under the radar and accept it.
Do you have a copy of the New World Translation Bible Concordance (Not the abridged one in the back of the Bibles, but the actual burgundy bound copy)? Or do you have the Watchtower CD?
Please let me know because I think just doing a search in either on the word "Union" could really demonstrate how pronounced a divide in teachings believing certain scriptures only apply to the 'anointed can make. -
383
Thinking of becoming a Witness again and my reasons for doing so :(
by reniaa ini've been a faded jw for 10 years i left because of my failed first marriage, i'm no hypocrite and realised i had left completely so i embraced the world and dived in, only christmas and birthdays i could not get into, they were too foreign to me having never celebrated them, like if i suddenly tried to do ramadan or something like that.. 1/ all the criticisms of the people in the truth you say on here, i've found in the world, warts and all only in the world nothing holds them back from being utterly horrible to you.. 2/ i got stabbed by a worldly boyfriend, i got married 2 times of my own choosing to men outside the truth, the first smoked and was an alcoholic, the second gambled every penny we had and defrauded me out of money after we separated, 2 divorces later i am currently pregnant and a single mum since current boyfriend decided kids was to much of a responsibility and he needed his freedom and i was 'too selfish to expect him to give up his life'.. 3/ parents-in-law!
i have been shunned by them as equal to anything you accuse witness families of and for the silliest of reasons, i had a disabled son and his grandparents said they wanted nothing to do with him because they didn't want to become attached in case he died.. 4/ i miss the honest friendships of the truth, i had friends of all ages from 14 to 80 years old and they genuinely cared for me, many trying to keep me in the faith a long time after i left but i was determined to fade so moved away completely, but i find friendships in the world so shallow in comparison and very hard to sustain :( i've never been a drinker and sometimes thats what friendship means you being a companion for them to goto pub with.. 5/ my recent boyfriend was in a christian religion, i thought why not find out about it, harvest churches if you ever heard of them, unfortunately it still hasn't stop him leaving me pregnant and alone and when i said to him how does he clear that with god, he replies "as long as i repent it doesn't matter" it's like he has a "get out of jail free card" for any wrong-doing in the bible, this is so alien to me and my witness trained conscience.. 6/ i recently out of frustration tried looking into atheism and joined their forums, it wasn't fun, they are as bombastic and arrogant as their religious counterparts can be from any religion, they make a religion out of not believing in god, it's very weird they talk of saving people from believing in god and offer nothing to replace it.
they said to me "be happy you are in reality now and enjoy it" and i thought "well if this is reality i've had enough of it".
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LayingLow
I found the repentance issue interesting with your ex-boyfriend. He might want to consider scripture texts like when Jesus met Zacchaeus the Tax Collector in Luke 19. It might be worth having him look that one up himself and consider what his repentance consisted of. Take care, I wish you the best.
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LayingLow
I've just begun watching the Watchtower Comments. Very interesting. It's nice to actually see those references to contradictions concretely. When I was active, I would just remember the premise of older articles and get a pit in my stomach feeling recognizing there were contradictions. This is neat to see someone actually look them up.
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How many of you knew this?
by startingover inthat the first real discovery of a dinosaur was in 1822?.
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4772.
for some time now i have been of the opinion that those who believe in the bible are extremely near sighted, and are not looking at the big picture.
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LayingLow
I know my grandparents believed that each creative day was 7,000 years but I know that that is no longer that stance. The "Evolution vs. Creation" book indicated that the Hebrew word for "day" really meant the equivalent of "era" and therefore only meant that significant changes took place. So now there really is no limit and they do believe that it could be billions of years. And the human ancestry is definitely believed by them to be around 6,000 years thus far (give or take a hundred years, I'm not sure how their chronology works). They've changed their chronology since Russell but it hasn't changed their chronology more than 100 years. I've always found chronology to be dry so I haven't looked into it much, but I believe the Orthodox Church has a Bible chronology for man closer to 10,000 years if they still use it (Not really sure, just passively came across something one day about it).
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2 Special Pioneers 1 Missionary sick with Chronic fatigue- Quit Ministry!
by Witness 007 in2 special pioneers i knew were at the assembly last year i wanted to know how they were since they have special pioneered for 20 years.
both got sick and have chronic fatigue.
they quit pioneering to rest and get better.
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LayingLow
There was a tremendously high number of Fibromialgia cases in our hall. Everyone had depression and fibromialgia it seemed. I don't think that it is not real. But I do think it is an unprovable thing that gets you out of the JW routine in one of the only 'legitimate' ways possible. The frequency at which those two things strike JW's is phenomenal. Actually, outside of JWs, I rarely hear about it (I recognize the possible lurking variables such as people suffering from these things not being as social, etc...) Yet still I believe that the norm has to be less than 1 in 3 women having one of the two or both.
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Are you mostly disappointed in the WTS beliefs,doctrines,or practices?
by RULES & REGULATIONS ini'm here on jwd because of the watchtower's practice of disfellowshipping.
that's is one pratice that really made me question if i really wanted to continue as a member.
i always thought that by kicking the disfellowshipped or disassociated out of the kingdom hall was enough.
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LayingLow
For me it is completely the doctrine. I expected abuse of authority and slander etc.. with any group of humans. The fact that they destroy the sonship with God that Jesus offers by setting up a two part system of Christians then denying the one class salvation by grace, forgiveness now, and receipt of the Holy Spirit is what I can't deal with. The sole channel to God thing also grated on me, too. Where's the proof? The apostles had signs to prove God had changed his favor to Christians, and according to the WTS those who rejected them will still get a resurrection. Now, supposedly, there is a group with a history of false predictions who if you don't listen to them you will be destroyed forever. I can't buy that.
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Should I register to vote?
by tinker ini have been asking myself this for several months now.
i have no idea even how to do it.
but since leaving the wtbs i have a new interest in the political process.
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LayingLow
Since you've never voted before you may have to register to vote in the primary in order to be able to vote in the election in November (I know it is at least the case in the state I live in.)