Posts by chicken little

46

A question to the ex-JW's...

by losthobbit in

i'm curious about what made you realize that your ex-religion was not "true"?.

i've had discussions with many religious people, and they're always trying to protect their beliefs, rather than allowing anything i say challenge what they believe.

was there ever something someone said to you, or something you read that maybe made you doubt your beliefs for the first time, or had a similar effect?.

Welcome to the board, good question. I wish I could say yes, that it was listening to outsiders raising my awareness of something being not right in my religion. Sadly I was like most Jws, trained not to listen to anything remotely critical of the religion I belonged to.

Most witnesses develop a feeling of great discomfort when facing questions that rock their faith or belief in the organization. Its termed cognitive dissonance, I think.

I think that leaving the religion is very much a personal matter and cannot really be speeded up by outside intervention no matter how well intended. I know that if my friend who left some ten years before me, had tried to get me to see things her way, I would have pulled away from her and become very defensive. She never tried to sway me and when finally I woke up and started to listen to the gnagging doubts I could take the steps that led me out.

I now have a friend that is still in, I would dearly like to share what I know, but again she becomes defensive and retreats, so I just keep being a good friend. I do borrow dozens of novels from the libary and life stories, I read somewhere that you cannot be a fanatic if you read novels! So by getting her to read, which she loves to do, then I hope it will help open her mind and allow her true personality to come through.

Others on here may have had other results but the best advice I can give is be happy, talk about your positive life experiences, avoid scriptural discussions and do fun things with the person if they will allow that.

Best wishes

Chicken little (In from infancy, left at 46!)

81

Here i am....

by makersmark in

here i am - born in truth, hard-core spiritual everything all my life, early reg.pioneer, ms, elder, assembly parts, tour at bethel, etc, married now...... i'm trying to examine jw teachings a little closer...... i've spent the last two weeks reading many many posts, info , references on where ex-jw's are coming from.

i'm kind of concerned about a few things lately..... honestly - some points make sense to me - some don't - here are my general thoughts:.

-wt getting un membership for access to library - doesnt bother me - some passports and other governement documents have similar forms and requirements..... -blood issue - some counterpoints to the jw 'rules' makes sense (original intent of scripture is unbled animals, white blood cells similar in mothers milk) etc -however a lot of 'apostate' reasonings and proof are inaccurate.

chicken little

Excellent post, really good responses. I was in from infancy, pioneer, married to elder, moved to serve in another country etc.....

Nagging doubts as to the inflated position of the governing body, unhappy with the generation changes and finally I read George Orwell's 1984, quite an eye opener when I compared it to my own religion and its methods of control. When I saw that the organization had its own way of changing its history, even down to altering what went into the bound volumes of the watchtower compared to what was in the actual watchtower we had placed in the service. Well I just had to start examining and that took me out. My family are now extremely happy and living a life of peace and harmony, we are deeply involved with humanitarian work and feel fulfilled and contented. If so called apostate books worry you, try reading Orwell's books as a start.

Thanks to all the other posters, fantastic reasoning.

32

An update on the wife

by sooner7nc in

i just wanted to let you all know that my wife is feeling great after receiving her kidney transplant last week.

her labs immediately started coming into line as soon as the organ was attached and as of now are almost completely normal.

she's obviously having a little pain and soreness from the huge incision they made but overall she's feeling wonderful.

chicken little

Just think of the new life she will have once the recovery is complete....just great for you all!

Love to you all

Chicken little

29

Did you make very good comments at the Kingdom Hall?

by Iamallcool in

did you study beforehand?

alot?

did you only "study" while you are reading the paragraphs during the wt study and still make great comments?.

chicken little

I always anwsered from my head, not the watchtower, people said they enjoyed the honesty of my comments. I once said that I could not imagine Jehovah destroying mentally handicapped people at the big A; so I said we would be looking after them all after A came. Got a few stares after that comment.

73

My Labrador died can anyone please help me. I can't stand the pain.

by Witness 007 in

my wife recovered from depression just 14 months ago and things have been going well.....so much so that i started a buisness for her and we are two weeks into it.

my labby was ill vomiting abit of discomfort, i thought great, you ate something bad again!

the vet gave him a shot and sent us home.

chicken little

So sorry 007,

I really feel with you and your wife. It is a huge gap that will be there for some time and you will feel such an ache when you think of your dog.

My dog saw me through a long depressive illness, she would sit by my side in the tough times and only go off to play when my moods lifted, I miss her incredibly even after three years. Our tears seemed to keep flowing, we all were deeply moved by her loss. I hope you enjoy your new dog, you were very brave to get one straight away, I could not do that.

Much love

Chicken little

34

England is poisoned for me

by highdose in

i used to live in a part of england that was popular with tourists.

the kind of tourist who wanted to experiance the "real" rural england.

they would come to my town and thrill at the quaint old shops, delight in afternoon tea at the many little tea rooms.

chicken little

Hej Highdose,

Good to hear from you, I can relate to the feelings you have. I know that a person that has suffered terrible depression caused by trauma often feels that any trigger of the feelings related to the memory, cause great discomfort and sadness. For you all the lovely things about England, take on another facet, because you are looking at them through the veil of your bad memories.

I have done the same for many years with my hometown in the north of England, because of a terrible childhood, jw indoctrination, rejected love, I feel a deep aversion to the place I grew up in. Yet I know deep down that my viewpoint would be the opposite if I had not had those experiences, I try very hard now to look at web sites about the place I grew up to try to feel at ease with it. I live abroad as you know and I do not miss England as such, but I do miss the british humour and character. I hope in time that your memories will fade, but at the moment I think that re-living the hurt and anger is all part of the recovery process. When I stopped taking meds, the blocked emotions poured out for quite some time, now after 4 years I am almost serene!

All the best from minus 7 degrees with a stiff breeze that makes it feel double so cold!

Chicken little

67

last day at the kingdom hall

by ex-Special Pioneer in

jw
friends

prologue.

get out shouted the audience you must be ashamed of yourself.

the crowd was in a hysterical state, every time that we tried to say something we were silenced by the clapping and screams which got louder and louder of the majority of the two hundred people in attendance.

chicken little

I want to read the rest of this experience please, so if the negative responses have put you off please pm the ones who are interested with the continuation. I have attended congregations in countries where punch ups and screaming in the kingdom hall have taken place, so I am not sceptical that this person has had this experience.

64

Why I Eventually Left

by itscrap&theyknowit! in

jw
friends

i am new to this but, for years, i was already out.

don't know where to start.

as i have read the many posting, i'm not alone in my feelings.

chicken little

Welcome, I can really feel your frustration, hope that things work out for you and your future decisions.

26

Hi, I'm new

by clearbrook5.0 in

jw
friends

hi, i used to be a jw, but too many things bothered me.

this is a good site.

thanks..

chicken little

Welcome to the site

53

Here's an update to what has happened since I used the words, "Big News," five years ago

by AndersonsInfo in

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/103353/1/the-news-is-bigger-than-dateline-bbc-cbc-etc.

as many of you know, i made the "big news" statement when kerry louderback-wood's scholarly article about watch tower's blood misrepresentation that was published in the journal of church and state was just about to be published.

i was excited about it because lives were at stake and weve never had such an article before to be able to use to show how the watch tower misrepresents the blood issue through its literature and people die because of it.

chicken little

Thank you for your Big News article, I for one am grateful for any information that confirms all the suspicions I had about blood. I exited in 2007 but had been in great doubt after giving birth to my third child in 2000 and finding out that it was ok to have the injection against rhesus negative blood. I was so shocked to think I had risked my second childs life based not on God's word but men. So keep up the good work! It really helps people to see the light.