Posts by spanteach

28

Mr. Flipper's Conversation over Coffee w/ JW Daughter - Mixed Results

by flipper in

jw
friends

it is truly amazing the varied emotions i've felt since my jw daughter has been talking to me after not talking to me for 9 months .

" i replied, " i haven't said anything about the witnesses today .

she had told me an elder from my area had given a talk in her congregation 30 miles away , and she told him i have issues with the child abuse scandal.

spanteach

SPANTEACH- I'd gladly adopt you sis ! LOL! If I wasn't in California I'd take you to coffee ! Peace.

Yay! I shall start calling you "Dad." Um...even though I don't really know you

Thinking more about it now, the shunning thing probably was another nail in the coffin as far as my leaving "the truth." When I was in my early 20s, my father just stopped short of forbidding me to have anything to do with my older sister, because he viewed her as an "apostate." She left the religion and started having her own viewpoints, celebrated holidays, voted, etc. So in the truest sense of the word, yes, she was an apostate in that she's left. But the bottom line is, she's still my sister and I refused to stop speaking to her.

And guess what? In the last two years, after years of ignoring his children because they weren't doing what he thought they should, my dad has reconnected with both of my older sisters. But my sisters are naturally VERY suspicious. One of them jokingly said "are they (our parents) dying? Is that why they're suddenly speaking to us?" Funny, but sad.

FlipperDad, I hope that you and your daughter are able to peacefully resolve things without having to deal with years of not speaking to each other. It would be very unfortunate if that happened.

28

Mr. Flipper's Conversation over Coffee w/ JW Daughter - Mixed Results

by flipper in

jw
friends

it is truly amazing the varied emotions i've felt since my jw daughter has been talking to me after not talking to me for 9 months .

" i replied, " i haven't said anything about the witnesses today .

she had told me an elder from my area had given a talk in her congregation 30 miles away , and she told him i have issues with the child abuse scandal.

spanteach

Mr. Flipper, will you be my new dad? We could bask together in father-daughter non-going-to-meetingness. And I love coffee!! A friend gave me a coffee grinder and French press for my pagan birthday :D

17

anyone else feel inadequate

by 46&2 in

over the past 10 years ive tried coming back to the truth only to find myself back in the world doing silly things again and again.

i am onnce again determined to come back to the truth but feel that i am beyond redemption.

i feel ashamed going to talk to the elders cause they have dealt with me on two other occasions once being disfellowshipped 10 years ago and reproved two years ago.

spanteach

constantly, week after week, year after year, remind you of how much more you should/could be doing, they constantly force feed guilt on you.

For the longest time, I thought the problem was with me. I guess that's the point of it all, isn't it? You're not doing enough and (unspoken) you therefore are never deserving of Jehovah's unconditional love. And if you're not spending every waking moment talking, thinking, and doing theocratic things, you'll be destroyed at Armageddon.

What a way to live.

12

Retraining our WT-controlled minds - THE GAME 2

by Lady Lee in

i thought this might be a good way to help many of us to see the absurdity of some of the wts/jw rules "principles" .

women can't wear pants to meetings or service or i've heard even to go clean the hall.. what scriptures would the elders use to get a jw to conform.

you don't need to quote whatt he scripture and i certainly have no desire to do that but if you have the quotes handy feel free to post them.. the rule principle.

spanteach

Mega, how about a nice formal mother-of-the-bride pants suit? Cybil Shephard used to wear them all the time for red carpet arrivals and she looked nice. I agree about the dress code. Like the world will end if I don't have a skirt on. I remember the shock on my mother's face when I wore a skirt out in field service and she could see the bottom half of my knee-caps.

41

They Push You In,,,,Then Punish You If You Go!

by new boy in

they brag about the fact that they the don' t baptize their babies because "how can a baby 'know' what religion it wants to believe in the rest of it's life!".

but a 14 year old does?.....they put so much presure on their children to get dunked, that if your not baptize by 18 years old there is something really "wrong" with you.. so the poor kid does it, just to get everyone off their backs.

legally a minor can't be held to a contract if they are under 18 years old and why?

spanteach

It's just my personal opinion, but I think it's the responsibility of the parents guide their child's lives in the early years, religion included. But I think any steps the child makes toward any particular path should be THEIR decision, not the parents. And they shouldn't be punished if their parents don't agree with the path.

41

They Push You In,,,,Then Punish You If You Go!

by new boy in

they brag about the fact that they the don' t baptize their babies because "how can a baby 'know' what religion it wants to believe in the rest of it's life!".

but a 14 year old does?.....they put so much presure on their children to get dunked, that if your not baptize by 18 years old there is something really "wrong" with you.. so the poor kid does it, just to get everyone off their backs.

legally a minor can't be held to a contract if they are under 18 years old and why?

spanteach

The year leading up to my baptism, my dad would point out various ones around my age who were already baptized and why wasn't I baptized as I surely knew more of the truth than they did. So....it's a contest? I wish I'd had the guts to stand up to him and say what I now feel. But alas, I was a teenager who had no one in my corner and I didn't have the strength I have now.

Because my dad was an elder at the time, he was the one to "study" with me. But because he was the King of Inconsistency, I think he studied with me a total of three times. Way to go, dad!

41

They Push You In,,,,Then Punish You If You Go!

by new boy in

they brag about the fact that they the don' t baptize their babies because "how can a baby 'know' what religion it wants to believe in the rest of it's life!".

but a 14 year old does?.....they put so much presure on their children to get dunked, that if your not baptize by 18 years old there is something really "wrong" with you.. so the poor kid does it, just to get everyone off their backs.

legally a minor can't be held to a contract if they are under 18 years old and why?

spanteach

I was 14 when I was baptized. Just like someone mentioned earlier, my parents would never have dreamed of allowing me to enter into a marital contract. Yet I was forcibly coerced into dedicating my life to God? This doesn't make sense.

Then when I'd left, I got the same "but you made a dedication to Jehovah" speech. The bottom line is, if I was going to be held accountable in later life then the dedication should have been my decision and mine alone.

39

How have you benefited by leaving the WT Organization?

by Quirky1 in

this is just a curious study.

i would love to get everyone's input on how each individual or couple has benefited from leaving the jw/wtbs as well as how their life is currently vs. being part of the organization.. eyes wide open .

quirky1 .

spanteach

There's so many things people have said that made me say "yep!!! Exactly!" So I'm just going to borrow what they said:

No more guilt about reading stuff for pleasure rather than making sure I'm caught up on personal study, WT & Awakes, personal Bible reading, new releases, etc.

No more having to get up early on weekends. I can sleep in now.

No more going in field service. I really disliked it and struggled with those feelings while I was in. Now it's just a feeling of immense relief.

I haven't worn a skirt in three years. That's been nice, let me tell you! A small fringe benefit, but nice nevertheless.

I can now move ahead with my plan to join the Peace Corps in a few years without having to worry that it's not something a Witness should do. I may even get to learn a 3rd language. MAYBE I'll even get a government job after that!

No more guilt when I crank up my beloved Guns N Roses.

31

Did you know I am a SATANIST?

by Tired of the Hypocrisy in

several months ago, my wife's drunken, wife abusing, bully of a jw uncle offered (we didn't ask...he offered, ok?

) to allow us to use some space on his property to store some things we had in a 10x10x8 storage unit we were paying for.

it sounded good since we are short of cash most of the time and it would only be for about 3-4 months.

spanteach

Did you know I havebeen treated much better by the so-called evil folks than by any jw?

Remember when that line was used in talks as a tactic for why you should get closer to the organization? Why's that, so I can better see who's stabbing me in the back?

14

How women are treated

by newbiedoobiedoo in

i share a little tid bit.

my cong was always trying to tell men how to run their wives.

i get a little money from my dad for medical prob, here comes elders telling my hubby to 'make me' donate it to buy new chairs for hall.

spanteach

When I asked hubby at home what he thought of the headship issue he said he felt we were equals, he doesn't see himself as being "over" me, that he values my opinion and we make our decisions together.

That's exactly what a marriage should be, a partnership not a dictatorship. The elders constantly quoted the Scripture about Jesus being the head of the man, the congregation, etc. Well, he never told the congregation what to do in every single solitary aspect of their lives. We're still treated as free agents. Bogus reasoning.

Mega, I had the very same issues with joining the TMS. Paul said women shouldn't teach, Okay, fine, so why am I up onstage pretending to be in field service or pretending to witness to a co-worker? That's still teaching. I was told that because I was not addressing the congregation, it was permitted.

Another thing I have an issue with is that Paul was the ONLY Bible writer to ever say that women shouldn't teach and it was accepted as gospel. What ever happened to finding other scriptures to back up a concept? Plus, in one of his letters to the congregation, Paul admitted that he didn't always know what he was talking about. Way to go, WTS!