Topics Started by chickpea

7
from PBS' The Amish:Shunned
by chickpea in
1. watchtower
2. bible
caught it on an advert for the program .... "shunning is the new testament version of stoning.".

.
2
"fastest-growing" religion in perspective
by chickpea in
1. social
2. humour
.
16
i am vocal visible apostate with a transgender kid i support publicly and i am getting HUGGED in public by an active witness; WHY??
by chickpea in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
my initial withdrawal from the cult about 5 years ago or so, was as a fader, but now there is no doubt i am so over the cult, having publicly sat on the board of the local pflag chapter!

my bumper stickers declare don't believe everything you think and stop the violence; legalize marijuana (also a generic pflag sticker)... i am out and i aint coming back and i denounce the cult as a cult, i never call it anything else... .

today at the local food co-op a congregant saw me and bee-lined it over to hug me!
3
if only it were this easy to spot a cult
by chickpea in
1. social
2. humour
.
1
the tactic of disdain for others called out as BS
by chickpea in
1. jw
2. friends
it doesnt matter if the group is a church or a gang or a sewing circle or masculinity itself, asking members to dislike, disown, or distance themselves from another group of people as a condition of belonging is always about control and power.

i think we have to question the intentions of any group that insists on disdain toward other people as a membership requirement.

it may be disguised as belonging, but real belonging doesnt necessitate disdain.. .
23
has shunning been downplayed?
by chickpea in
1. jw
2. friends
several times over the course of a year or so, jws from the kh i attended have been downright chatty during happenstance crossing of paths... .

wth is up with that?

i have no grudges against any of them, but it is confusing as all get out to have left the cult as an ardent supporter of my out, open, front page headlining transgender son, becoming vocally and decidely apostate knowing i was dead to them... now after at least a half decade out, to have them chummy-ing up to me in a check-out line.... frankly, i would rather they look the other way, you know, if none of them would ever genuinely want to know how my son is doing.
7
next big thing: punch card for the Big A?
by chickpea in
1. social
2. humour
.
14
been a while, it has
by chickpea in
1. jw
2. friends
soooo i fired up the interwebs to come looking for the date of the memorial, as a dear friend who stood by me through those crazy and sadly wasted years in dub-dumb mentioned she had seen a still faithful member at the library... she said he invited her to "the world wide memorial" .... and i was pretty sure that there had been a full moon yada yada and the memorial had come and gone.... .

i ended up coming back here to verify and realized she must have been asked to that lame ass event where "the same talk is given from every platform" and ooooh how fired up can you be about virtually nothing?

anyway, nice to see the place is still rockin' and that there is a continuity of personnel (that means old timers!
5
a drive by hooting
by chickpea in
1. jw
2. friends
5
transitional progress
by chickpea in
1. jw
2. experiences
stopping in quickly to update re: the progress.

my transgender son is making in his journey.... this month he finally cleared all the requirements.

to begin hormone replacement therapy and now.