Gopher

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Posts by Gopher

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  34

  Ozzie's Weekend Poll

  by ozziepost in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, it's sunday and we've done reading the sunday papers, so thought it might be nice to poll the worldwide community on some important issues.

  no, it's not meant to be fluff, i'm serious in inviting opinions from exdubs in many places, so please respond.

  this week i've chosen the question especially for the large worldwide da/df community: what is the main reason for you not wanting to return?.

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  Gopher

  Combination of #1 (elder's unloving conduct towards me personally) and #6 -- other. The other is that love does not mark the body of JW's as a whole. I see backbiting, competition, gossip, just lots of mean-spirited actions and attitudes. I found more 'unconditional' acceptance among the non-JW's (friends and family) than I knew in my entire lifetime before leaving the JW's. (Since coming to this forum, I see that this problem is a worldwide plague and not just isolated to my home territory.)

  -J.R.

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
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  8

  Cow gets key to the city

  by larc in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is old news to those in southwestern, ohio, but i don't know if this made the wire services.

  it seems that several weeks ago, 1,200 pound cow jumped a 6 foot fence and got way from the herd that was destined for the slaughter house.

  the cow escaped to a nearyby city park, and remained hidden for ten days, despite search parties with heat sensing devices looking for her.

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  Gopher

  This obviously was an APOSTATE cow. It didn't settle in its proper place in the herd. Any time any of the cows who "remained loyally in the flock" will see this cow, they are urged NOT TOO MOO to their old companion, not even once. Such association could engender in them a spirit of independence, leading to more fence-jumpings.

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
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  8

  Bad influence of JW's

  by Pardus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i think about growing up as a witness, the worst thing my mind was subjected to was thinking about, and actually believing that, everyone, even "good," moral people, would die at armageddon except "faithful" jws.

  the more i thought about this, the more i came to believe that i don't want to serve a god that would kill billions of people simply because they were not jws.

  if that did happen, i would not be happy in paradise, laughing and enjoying myself, knowing that jehovah and his armies had slaughtered so many people for that ridiculous reason.

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  Gopher

  Pardus,

  Good points! How unloving and arrogant of the JW hierarchy to teach that the world is filled with BAD, EVIL people on the edge of eternal destruction. By doing this, they built up an artificial wall separating their people off from normality. Teaching their members to look down on others, sounds like the Pharisees to me! This attitude fostered a general arrogance on the part of the JW's, poking fun at others while ignoring their own faults.

  Then their man-made teachings about medical usage of blood, holiday celebrations, etc. was another way to build an artificial wall between their followers and "the world". Such things needlessly built up animosity towards JW's, and average JW's have to put up with such hostility and try to explain unreasonable stands their organization takes.

  And then creating rules, such as "thou shalt not masturbate" (almost universally ignored because it is a "secret sin"), inflicts unnecessary guilt on their members who believe they have a Bible-trained conscience when in fact they have a Society Headquarters-trained conscience. The Society does all their thinking for them. A long list of rules is stated or implied in the publications, again in the spirit of the Pharisees.

  No wonder those who manage to break free feel such a relief.

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
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  14

  BLUE STUFF I got it

  by plmkrzy in

  1. social
  2. physical

  i said i would post after i got the blue stuff and used it.. well i finally got it and i like it.

  the very first thing that impressed me was the smell!

  wow!

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  Gopher

  A note on their PEACH and WHITE stuff: These are strictly moisturizing formulas, for topical use. They have nothing to do with pain reduction.

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
• 
  14

  BLUE STUFF I got it

  by plmkrzy in

  1. social
  2. physical

  i said i would post after i got the blue stuff and used it.. well i finally got it and i like it.

  the very first thing that impressed me was the smell!

  wow!

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  Gopher

  PLM,

  Good that you found this "stuff" brings you some relief, for longer than you'd expect. That's exactly how it's happened for me.

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
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  28

  Quitting Smoking is No Fun

  by MrMoe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am fed up.

  i quit smoking.

  are you proud of me?.

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  Gopher

  Way to go, Moe! I am happy for you. Don't stop quitting. er, um, I mean, don't get started again!! I hope the awful "cold turkey" feeling goes away pretty soon (I'm sure it will).

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
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  31

  Wanna See Some Pics?

  by think41self in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  well, we got a new digital camera and took it on our little jaunt to orlando, so i thought i'd share a few with you.. we went to this dinner theater where they dress up as knights and do the whole jousting and sword fighting thing.

  since we had two teenage boys with us...it was their idea of a fun evening.

  here's one of me and dana(she's the younger looking one) .

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  Gopher

  Thanks to RR, Beck, Think41, and Dutchie. I am truly grateful to have such a wonderful daughter.

  Beck, yes this girl is exceptionally tall for her age, like her half-sister. And she's smart and lovable, and I could go on and on.

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
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  28

  Once I had a secret love

  by joelbear in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  don't ya just love doris day songs.. last night i had a dream about my first love.

  his name was david.

  it was 8th grade.. sigh.

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  Gopher

  Joel, you said

  And you would have to add Cher and Judy to make it a perfect quartet.

  I didn't know you liked 4-somes!!

  Which Judy do you mean? Oh, duh -- you must mean Judy Garland. She's one of my absolute faves (see -- something good CAN come out of Minnesota!!).

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
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  49

  Whats the worst 'get-together' game you endured?

  by Latte in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  dear all,.

  as a young teenager, we were always having get-togethers.... you know the spiritually upbuilding' kind ie.

  bible quizzies, really boring stuff.

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  Gopher

  SPOOONS---

  A game with cards and spoons. There was always ONE LESS spoon than there were eligible players.

  A card of a certain rank (say, seven, or jack) would be announced as the card for that round. As I remember it, people took turns laying down the cards from their hand, and then when the MAGIC card appeared, everyone grabbed for a spoon! The one person who didn't get a spoon was eliminated from the competition.

  Then one spoon would be removed, and another round would begin. This repeated until you got down to two players vying for one spoon.

  Or something like that.

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
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  39

  Who shuns you?

  by Dawn in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after reading a number of posts it sounds like most of you have been shunned even by your immediate family members (parents, brothers, sisters)after you were df'd.. i am shunned by my sister-in-law - but she's it out of the entire family.

  my uncle, brothers, mother, and father (an elder before he passed away) all continued to associate with me - we even go out to dinners together.. so here's my question - is my family the minority?

  i thought that only non-family members had to shun you but family was ok as long as they don't discuss spiritual issues.

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  Gopher

  Dawn, you wrote:

  I thought that only non-family members had to shun you but family was ok as long as they don't discuss spiritual issues.

  This is what's written in the elder's manual, if I'm not mistaken. It says that JW's generally wouldn't get disfellowshipped for contact with family unless they discussed spiritual matters.

  But in the Watchtower magazine, printed for the general populace, it is stated to try to avoid all unnecessary contact with the shunned one, even if you're a family member (specifically family members living APART from the shunned one). Contact is supposed to be limited to 'necessary business', and the JW reading between the lines will discern that "the way the Society is leaning", you shouldn't make excuses to conduct business with the shunned one. Just leave them out on the vine to wilt and die!!!

  My father is an elder, and has access to both sets of rules. He has chosen to enforce the stricter rule on me and my disassociated sister. As a result, when they travel to visit old friends in our area, they ignore us (besides the obligatory phone call to check and see if we're "coming back to God's organization").

  We have one pioneer grandmother who strictly enforces the shunning, and an INACTIVE grandmother who doesn't shun us at all (but offers us theocratic literature on our way out, after the visit).

  Shunning has helped break up our family, and our parents and grandparents aren't getting any younger.

  -J.R., member, UADNA-MN
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

  This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
  Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.