Posts by AlyMC

23

OMG - I did it - I told my Mom and Dad how I feel...

by Princess Daisy Boo in

jw
friends

my mom and dad came round today and we ended up at the local mall with my hubby and kids having lunch.

after lunch my hubby went home with the kids and i stayed on with my folks to do some shopping.

as we were driving home, i pointed out my son's new school, and we were discussing the merits of private vs. public schools etc, and mom says "i just hope that by the time the kids get to highschool that the end has come, and you and the family are in the truth".. i mumbled something about having my doubts.

AlyMC

I know when I was going through the stage of researching I had word files divided up by topic (like "holidays", "disfellowshipping", etc) and then put all the bible verses and arguments or links to non-biased sites there under the appropriate document.

I have a terrible memory, and it helped me organize my thoughts and I also had many of my conversations by phone so I could sit at my computer and pull up a watchtower article date or scripture really fast.

I to liked your response to it all being written by apostates. It took away the impact of the statement completely. I am impressed you came all out and open about it, that took a lot of courage.

12

Good article by college student who was DF'd

by Gopher in

jw
friends

this was from the san jose state university newspaper:.

'this queer life'.

the choir preaching backmichael rizzoissue date: 2/21/08 section:opinion"in the beginning ...".

AlyMC

I had a friend DF'd for habitual masturbation a LONG time ago... it was before I got married in 98. Porneia can also occur without taking a person's virginity. Mutual stimulation, oral sex, etc.

I am so saddened by stories like this. Unfortunately they are common... everywhere. It is so wrong. It bothers me more than people commit their life away as mere kids half the time without knowing what it means.

14

Having a good conscience although doing things not approved

by JH in

jw
friends

would you have had a good conscience at the meetings if you would have given or taken blood, and knowingly broken a jw law?.

basically, what i'm asking is, "would you have been able to have a good conscience as a jw, although you know you did something you deserve to get disfellowshipped for.. .

.

AlyMC

I did a lot that I could have been DF'd for, but there is only one things that sat with me and really bothered me... and that is because it bothered my conscience outside of rules and regulations. It was wrong, period. I don't need a religion to tell me that.

The other stuff though, yeah... I had no problem living with and still don't :)

23

Yoga - Not a Choice for Christians

by 5thGeneration in

jw
friends

my wife wants to start yoga for her joints.. what do you think in light of the counsel?

http://www.watchtower.org/e/20020801a/article_01.htmnot a choice for christians.

whatever health instructors may say to the contrary, yoga does not stop with physical exercises.

AlyMC

I was counseled about it years ago (like 13?) and their reasoning was just silly.

11

thought of birthday rebutal

by atpeace in

jw
friends

growing up of course as a jw child - birthdays couldn't be celebrated because the only instance of a birthday was when john the baptizer had his head cut off.

sooo... seams like "the memorial" shouldn't be celebrated because jesus was murdered.

just a thought.

AlyMC

I use the Samson example as well. Also Job 1:4 and 5 where it discusses jobs children honoring their own day and Job sacrificing for them according to their year. The hebrew word YOHM (if I remember right) is only used three times. Gen 40:20, Job 1:4, and Job 3:1. The first and last clearly indicate that the day referred to is the day of one's birth... but in 1:4 they use "his own day" or something similar (it has been awhile and I'm rusty).

IOW, they specifically try and hide that birthday occurrence because nothing bad happens to support their claims.

At this point the JW will undoubtedly go into pagan origins or honoring one person above another. For which I have other scriptures prepared.(honoring a person above others: Gen 21:8- Isaac's weaning celebration. Pagan origins: John 19:40- jesus' body being mummified which was culturally normal and of pagan origin, baptism acknowledged as pagan origin in 4/1/93 watchtower)

Then they change the subject and tell me that it is not my place to question the FDS and that if I'm right they will have new light about it when Jehovah wants to.

To which I'm completely empty... (I had this conversation SO many times though when people discovered we were celebrating birthdays)

15

Have you ever been called on by JWs?

by LouBelle in

jw
friends

i've been out for nearly 3 years now.

i live in the territory but not once has jehovah witnesses knocked on my door - i haven't even seen them preaching in the area - or perhaps it's because i'm never at home in the mornings any longer.. if you have been called on, or offered magazine too - what do you say?.

.

AlyMC

I've been called on when I've lived in other states and they didn't know my from any other householder. I've just said "no thanks, I'm not interested" and repeat it until they leave.

I don't have the heart in me to be aggressive when that used to be me, and haven't figured out the "right" thing to say that can be both thought provoking and compassionate and mostly just heard. Besides, they usually catch me off guard when I really am to busy to engage in conversation.

15

My jw brother wants to be my facebook friend lol

by free2think in

jw
friends

ok so im starting to think that maybe, just maybe facebook and i arent meant to be friends.

since ive joined i keep having old jw friends finding me on there.

which is fine because i just deny their friendship, we weren't that good friends anyway.. anywho i just logged on to find that my brother has now sent me a friend request.

AlyMC

I have three JW's on my myspace, one of which is like a brother to me. (We were raised together) But I'm out completely, so they see the dodgy stuff that I shouldn't be saying or doing and that is ok with me.

If I were in still I'd be inclined to make another profile and friend request him there... I know sometimes my friends post images or text that aren't really appropriate to a JW and I have no control over that.

If you want to talk to him, and reconnect- sometimes online you can do that when you can't in the flesh. Then again, it might just be best to keep it to email and claim you don't use facebook much. I don't know.

25

Asked a deep question to my father last night

by Alex Delta in

jw
friends

im in bed trying to get shut eye and just cant because of this repeating question that i have in my head.

i know what the answer is to the question, but i need to hear it from the horses mouth.

so in my 30th hour of being awake i get the courage to dial 411 and call my father whos an elder that i havent spoken to for 10 years.

AlyMC

I thought a DF'd person had "turned against Jehovah" and was "in Gehenna" according to JW doctrine, so would their sins really be forgiven at death? I thought it was up in the air and nobody could know for sure, but that one would lean towards thinking the person had died a final death because they committed the ultimate sin of "knowing Jehovah" and turning against him. of course, I never did pay as good attention as I should- but I know it was explained to me that way when I was counseled for association with DF'd people.

I actually think the only part that went over the top was having the secretary say that to them... everything else I thought was fair game. And I hope it does make them think.

I agree it is a mind control cult, but honestly it isn't something I will ever get. I don't care what anyone told me, I wouldn't abandon my kids. Perhaps because I was abandoned as a kid (age 4/5) by my mother and didn't know her again until my adult life. There is no excuse for cutting off your kid in my perspective.

23

Holy crap, I'm 30!

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

wow, i feel way more crusty than i did yesterday.

the other day, i was thinking about the last 10 years of my life.

bought a house, engaged twice, married once, and spawned once.

AlyMC

Happy Birthday!! I just had mine on Sunday :)

I'm not dreading 30 like I expected to. 27 was the first really good year of my life, 28 got better... and I have high hopes for 29, 30, and on. As I get older I feel so much more comfortable in my skin and with my life.

Then again talk to me next year, everyone says it will hit me harder than I anticipate. lol

13

How many of you feel you have had more material success AFTER leaving JW

by BBOARD in

jw
friends

how many of us since either mentally or physically leaving the witnesses have had more material success ... or any other kind of success that needed time ... the kind that was given back to you when you stopped attending jw meetings.

you see my mother has come down with a little flu over the past two weekends and this has in proxy allowed me to miss, already, 2 thursday /saturday (book study & field service)/ and sunday meeting.

in just these two short weeks i have had more time to go online and run my half.com small-time book business, study more for those tests, and live fun.

AlyMC

you know, this is one thing that is really weird to me. My husband and I don't really feel a strong desire to be rich, we'd rather work less hours and have more fun than work harder to acquire more.

We left the JW religion shortly after my DH finished at university. So, we weren't financially affluent through college on my salary alone. I felt such a pressure to acquire and have nicer things as a JW, and really both DH and I felt we had something to prove. We tried so hard to keep up, when we really should have just embraced the student life.

Since leaving we live more comfortably simply because he is out of school and I do something I love with a passion, so in that sense we are more financially rewarded now than we were as witnesses. But we no longer feel pressure to acquire and appear wealthy like we did as JW's. Which goes against what you'd think, but it was very much our experience.