Thanks for the replies everyone. I am sorry that the same thing happened to you manochan13. Are there any epic stories that really stand out in the JW world? Something that would make a Mormon say "WTF"?
FormerMormon
JoinedPosts by FormerMormon
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The Mormons would not let me speak at my Dad's funeral
by FormerMormon in--because i no longer nelieve.
i was excommunicated for "apostasy".
that was their rationale for not allowing me to speak at his funeral last month.
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The Mormons would not let me speak at my Dad's funeral
by FormerMormon in--because i no longer nelieve.
i was excommunicated for "apostasy".
that was their rationale for not allowing me to speak at his funeral last month.
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FormerMormon
--Because I no longer nelieve. I was excommunicated for "Apostasy". That was their rationale for not allowing me to speak at his funeral last month. My family did everything they could to keep us away. They threatened to call the cops if we stepped foot on any of my dad's properties, including a home me and my sons helped my dad to build. I raised my 3 sons a half block away from my parents. Yes, my dad wanted me to rejoin MORONism, but we still spoke weekly and we had plans to visit during spring break. My family said that if we insisted on coming, they wanted us to stay at a hotel, "behave yourself" and never come to the family home. They couldn't give ANY example of when I had EVER not behaved. They expected us to stay away while the rest of the family created memories a few blocks away. Other wild and outrageous accusations about us were made secretly. They really want and NEED to believe the worst about us. It used to be such an idyllic family.
My family has been giving me "tough love" to force us back into the clutches of mormonism. I have been told repeatedly what I needed to do to be good with the family. Go back to Mormonism. We "excluded" ourselves, they say. The word "shun" isn't used, but effectively the same thing exists.
I decided to take my family to the funeral anyway. Family and friends were very divided at our insisted presence. Very few risked coming up to us, expressing love, and thanks that we had come, despite our treatment by the church and family. These few examples were deep, sincere and long lasting. We had a hard time getting out of the chapel by speaking with these few who still cared, despite being trained not to by the cult.
Anyway, at the beginning of the meeting, they "boxed" us in the pew with the two largest guys in the family sitting on both sides of us. We were on the front row by the casket. In her eulogy, my oldest sister said that my dad had wanted ALL of his kids to speak at his funeral. But there I was, excluded from the program of speakers and boxed in. A scene would have developed had I tried to say one word at my dad's funeral, or go up to the podium. Instead, I stood up by the casket and started humming Edelweis, a family favorite. I choked up trying to hum the song. A few family members started chiming in with the "words" I was forbidden to say. Afterward, I kissed the casket and had a moment of silence before sitting down. Afterwards, several commented that they had held it together, until I did that.
My family just does not "get" how cruel they are being. The new family rules seem to be 1. You can't be too cruel with "apostates". 2. NEVER apologize to apostates, no matter how eggregious the behavior. 3. Secrecy, false accusations and back talk are used to justify their behavior. 3. Never give us a chance to know what shit they are saying about us, nor calling us to get our side of anything.
To me, my siblings are a lost cause, until they or I come to a radically different opinion of what has happened. To the few in my family that still care, I can't say ANYTHING Mormon. They might listen to how loopy the JW's are though.
Do you have any epic stories or examples of how hurtful JW's can be when a family member leaves?
TIA,
Former Mormon
P.S. My God had better sex than your God...
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Dear God...
by FormerMormon indear god,.
i don't know if you are watching or not.
but a lot has happened down here since you let your son be tortured to death.. we can print new hearts and grow new organs.. we can clone ourselves.. we can make 3 parent babies.. we are successfully integrating computers with our nervous system right now.. is it ok if we merge with computers?
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FormerMormon
Zagor,
I am lucky. I do have a hottie. I took her out of my cult a year after I left. I was lucky. The FLDS branch of mormonism sure do have homely looking women. You would need 20-30 of those to equal a real woman, wouldn't you?
And yes, life is what you make of it.
Screw both our cults.
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Dear God...
by FormerMormon indear god,.
i don't know if you are watching or not.
but a lot has happened down here since you let your son be tortured to death.. we can print new hearts and grow new organs.. we can clone ourselves.. we can make 3 parent babies.. we are successfully integrating computers with our nervous system right now.. is it ok if we merge with computers?
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FormerMormon
Cameo-D
They will let you be a god in the next life, if you give them everything from this life. You would think your cult would try to win in the "greatest after life blessings contest". Can it get any better than being a GOD having endless sex with lots of wives? (Assuming you aren't a woman) That ole Joe sure was astory teller. He missed his calling as a sci fi writer.
Yes, the envelope is getting pushed. I do think we will make a heaven or hell of this place without any "gods".
Yes, the Mormons are an evil force, but I don't know that they exhibit much in the way of being under any "direction".
And---"You are not my father..."
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Dear God...
by FormerMormon indear god,.
i don't know if you are watching or not.
but a lot has happened down here since you let your son be tortured to death.. we can print new hearts and grow new organs.. we can clone ourselves.. we can make 3 parent babies.. we are successfully integrating computers with our nervous system right now.. is it ok if we merge with computers?
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FormerMormon
Chapel, meetinghouse, church. They are all used interchangeably. If you get a chance to visit before a temple dedication or rededication, make sure you ask why the layout is so much different from Solomon's Temple. If you want to get escorted out, keep your four fingers together, thumb extended, then draw the thumb (knife) from the left ear lobe to right earlobe across the throat. It's one of the cultic signs and sybols they taught me when I first went to the Oakland temple in 1985. (Oops, now you know one of the super secret tokens needed to get into Mormon heaven) They removed the gory stuff like this in the 1990 version of the temple ceremony.
I like to pop in here every now and then and see what my cult recovery cousins are up to, and see what mischief SusanHere is spreading. You used to have a friendlier search feature I could sort by date to see the latest.
Just remember, MY GOD had/has better sex than your god. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I always envied your colorful pictures of Paradise, but I quickly forgot that when I imagined all the SEX I was going to have with all my many wives. Honestly, which paints a better picture? Which sells better?
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Dear God...
by FormerMormon indear god,.
i don't know if you are watching or not.
but a lot has happened down here since you let your son be tortured to death.. we can print new hearts and grow new organs.. we can clone ourselves.. we can make 3 parent babies.. we are successfully integrating computers with our nervous system right now.. is it ok if we merge with computers?
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FormerMormon
Dear God,
I don't know if you are watching or not. But a lot has happened down here since you let your son be tortured to death.
We can print new hearts and grow new organs.
We can clone ourselves.
We can make 3 parent babies.
We are successfully integrating computers with our nervous system right now.
Is it OK if we merge with computers? Will logic subroutines that prevent mental irrational houses of cards frustrate your plan?
We can synthesize genes from scratch
We can mix and match organic genes with synthetic and even across species.
We have replicated genes from extinct animals like Tasmanian Tigers, Wooly Mammoths, saber toothed tigers, and old dead pharoahs.
We may resurrect them. You OK with that?
We will fix things so we don't die for hundreds of years.
We may fix things so we have indefinitely long lifetimes.
Will this fit into your plan, or did you want any input on this? Don't say we didn't invite you to the meeting where we discussed all this.We found the genetic instructions for our vestigial tail, among things. Funny you left that in our design. Are you carrying the vestigial genetic instructions for a tail too? Why?
We are piecing together genes from different sources to give us medicines.
We are assembling microbes from scratch to digest our garbage and produce fuel for our cars.
We are identifying all kinds of genetic mistakes and diseases you made in our design. Is it OK to fix them? Are we still human if we do? Is it OK if we use animal genes to fix your mistakes? How many animal genes can we fuse with and still be your kids?We can make sperm and eggs from skin cells. Is it OK if lesbians make a daughter together? Will this daughter have a soul?
Genetic single parenting is now possible. We can genetically mate with ourselves.
I know you spent a few days creating all the plants and animals. Is it OK if we knock down all your Lego's and build better, sturdier and cooler looking plants and animals? We'd like to rebuild dinosaurs if you don't mind. Do you? I'd like to gentically program a giant floating hydrogen filled plant or animal. Maybe both.
Maybe it will be both plant and animal... a planimal?Is it OK if we genetically reengineer everything on the planet, including ourselves? Is it OK if our creations displace the ones you made?
I hope you don't mind some constructive criticism, but you left some sloppy genetic code down here.
Did you have a party weekend before you wrote the code? Are we a "Monday car"? Or maybe you learned programming at Brigham Young University?"As Man now programs, God once did. What God once programmed, Man will recode". Or is that more of a couplet? (For you JW's there is a Mormon teaching: "As Man is, God once was, as God is, Man may become"
We are finding all kinds of extinct plants and animals. Is there something special about the current set of plant and animal genomes, or can these be modified out of existence like previous ones?
Is it OK if we separate the anus from the fun stuff?
Is it OK if gene sequencers can be bought on EBAY for less than $10,000?
We could solve the energy crisis or kill the world with a gene sequencer.
Is it OK if your fanatical ISLAMIC followers get ahold of one?
How do we contain this?
Should we contain this?
If we do contain this, will only the bad guys and drug kings have illegal gene sequencers?
Will only the rich have access to genetic and technological upgrades?
Will genoism be the new racism?
How does a mere human compete with a dna and computer enhanced person?
There is SO much potential for good and bad here.
Should everyone have the right to genetic or technological upgrades?
How would we pay for it?
Should our genetic creations be able to reproduce?
Should we have uniform standards that EVERYONE'S DNA is moving to or will that make us vulnerable to a uniform attack?
Should there be different genetic versions of sensient "humans", like we have different operating systems? That way when a virus takes out all the PC's, the MACS can fix them?
We are playing god down here like never before.
No prophet has given any direction on this.
If ever there was a time when we needed to hear from you...
We asked Tommy Monson (the current Mormon "Prophet" and all he said was pay, pray and obey and all these questions will be resolved in the next life.
But my next door neighbor is using open source technology to mix genes in his garage right NOW. Is this dangerous? Should I move? Would it help?
My wife is sick. I need to know if I should have her genes sequenced and fixed, or if your son's imminent return will forgo the need.
We are so glad you made the LSD church so big and powerful and respected, that WHEN your prophet finally bothers to speak on the matter, the world will obey on his beck and call. Or will Tommy give us a dazzling magic show to convince the world if/when you finally decide to say something about this through him?
We stand at the greatest crossroads man has ever seen, facing questions that were inconceivable just a few years ago. Is this what prophets are for?
One way or another, we are about to RADICALLY change things down here. We don't forget technology. We are messing in YOUR sandbox playing with YOUR toys. We are going to make a heaven or a hell down here.
We are going to continue discussing this in our meetings with other mortals. We know you are hiding under the table or something. If you decide to say something, feel free to speak up. We won't bite.
N' K?
It's now or never, God.
Love,
Your Kids -
88
British Sociologist Predicts Possible Collapse in Jehovah's Witness Numbers
by slimboyfat ina newly published article by british sociologist david voas argues jehovah's witnesses may be about to experience a collapse in numbers.
contrary to claims by american sociologist rodney stark who predicts strong future growth for jehovah's witnesses, voas shows that jehovah's witnesses' efforts at recruiting new members have become increasingly unsuccessful over the past few decades: the rate of increase has steadily declined, and the number of hours each publisher must preach to produce an extra convert has gone up substantially.
voas suggests a reason for the stagnation may be that there is a natural limit to the number of people in a given population that are susceptible to conversion to sectarian groups like jehovah's witnesses - the 'carrying capacity' of the population, and that the limit has largely been reached.
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FormerMormon
Interesting. I think this would affect other cults fishing the same waters (Mormons, scientologists, moonies, etc)
Do you have a link to the article?
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Big Love - temple scene and Barb's excommunication
by undercover inwho saw big love last night?.
...and here i thought jws were fucked up.... the whole temple thing was just surreal.
i've always liked barber's adagio, but that music made it even creepier.... jws got nuthin on their temples and ceremonies.... jws are cult lite compared to that shit.... but.... the disciplinary meeting that barb went to with the elders...how deja vu was that?
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FormerMormon
Alamb,
There is a difference in treatment, depending on why someone has been exed or disfellowshipped. If someone is exed or disfellowshipped for sin, then yes, church members will turn on the judgement, leverage, guilt and shame to get you back in line again. If someone is SUSPECTED of harboring doubts in belief, or leaves for disbelief, they are shunned.
I hope that clarifies things.
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Big Love - temple scene and Barb's excommunication
by undercover inwho saw big love last night?.
...and here i thought jws were fucked up.... the whole temple thing was just surreal.
i've always liked barber's adagio, but that music made it even creepier.... jws got nuthin on their temples and ceremonies.... jws are cult lite compared to that shit.... but.... the disciplinary meeting that barb went to with the elders...how deja vu was that?
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FormerMormon
Doubing bro,
There isn't any formal "shunning" that is ordered for errant Mormons. It's an informal, assumed and indirectly obeyed shunning. It just happens. We are technically still on the books for a few more months (we will be resigning). Having publicly expressed doubts, our family communications have shriveled to next to nothing. Church leadership does actively prohibit members from speaking with former or disgruntled members. It is question #7 in the temple recommend interview. They don't tell you to shun doubters, but if you want that recommend, and if you believe the scary things they tell you about doubters, you will shun them.
I need to correct something I said earlier, maybe in another thread. In my family, it would be inconcievable that anyone would help you sneek into the temple. That's true for my family. MANY other exmo's are reporting instances where family members did bend the rules and sneek people in.
I stand corrected.
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Big Love - temple scene and Barb's excommunication
by undercover inwho saw big love last night?.
...and here i thought jws were fucked up.... the whole temple thing was just surreal.
i've always liked barber's adagio, but that music made it even creepier.... jws got nuthin on their temples and ceremonies.... jws are cult lite compared to that shit.... but.... the disciplinary meeting that barb went to with the elders...how deja vu was that?
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FormerMormon
Humble Yourself--
You may pick on minor details that don't mirror your experiences as a juror in a Mormon court of love. A small difference is that they would have dismissed Barb, and discussed amongst themselves before readmitting her to inform her of their decision. So they took a little bit of theatrical license. Big whoopdee. You can't deny that ecclesiastical abuse is happening in the Morg. You also can't deny that the Temple rites are a changing freak show. I mimed slitting my throat and belly starting in 1985. I KNOW HOW FREAKISH AND DISTURBING IT ALL IS. Further, the Morg excommunicates people for reasons that the rest of the world finds very disturbing.
This episode is merely exposing the uncomfortable cognitive dissonance members have about the temple.