ataloa

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Posts by ataloa

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  25

  bad experiences with C.O.s?

  by startingovernow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am still trying to recover from an experience that i had with a c.o.

  reading other discussions has helped me to start getting other bad experiences into a better perspective and since the experience with the c.o.

  was really the final straw i was hoping that reading that i am not alone would help me in moving on.

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  ataloa

  As long as you believe Jehovah or God is involved, it all comes done to your unworthiness. Afterall his shepherds search for lost sheep. Their recovery is more important to him than the 99 who do not stray. So you must not be one. End of story.

  Thanks for that, TMS. That is exactly how I felt at the end. As things were getting bad and the people that had mattered to me all turned against me, I still had faith that Jehovah would not leave me, as he promised. He never came to my rescue, and I had to make the painful decision to leave my whole life behind, just to survive. I had to accept that I was just not one of his sheep.

  I went on to have a good life, the best I've ever had and more than I deserve; but I couldn't be truly joyful, because I still had that spiritual need that I didn't know what to do with. Over time, I looked back at what happened and began to think that maybe Jehovah's not coming to my rescue, was the rescue.

  Now I know I'm a diehard and I can't give up on anything I want easily. What if God had sent someone compassionate and kind to me from that organization and I was able to keep hanging on, still taking up the slack in every relationship, etc. I would still be there! Having a miserable, loveless life. For a person like me, I had to scrape the bottom, before I would have the courage to make a huge change.

  So I started to allow the thought that maybe it wasn't too late for me spiritually, and someday maybe I would find my way to god.

  Something led me to this board. I don't remember what. I've never been on one of these before. But I've learned so much about that organization and am so glad I am no part of it anymore.

  I used to believe it was Jehovah who saw me searching for God and had Witnesses come my way.

  That's exactly what I thought - and maybe it was. There is some truth in the WTS, as in other religions. It's just information. Like this board. Some things we could never have learned at other places and times in our lives. I think we should use it to sort things out in our minds.

  No one has THE ANSWER. We just have to take what resonates with us and try to find some peace of mind, I guess. I've noticed from reading a lot of these posts, that many people have had one belief when they got here and now totally believe something different.

  That may happen with us too; some of the sweetest-spirited people on here are agnostic or atheist.

  I don't know yet where I'll be when the board closes, but pm me a little later; I've never gotten into a lot of serious stuff here, because I thought I had all the time in the world, and I've mostly just been playing. But I will probably try to find a board for information, more than for socializing.

  I hope you're feeling better.

  Ataloa
• 
  10

  Has any one ever asked this question?

  by dogon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  correct me if i have this wrong.

  jesus suposidly fulfilled the proficey that the meshia was to come from the line of david.

  since joseph was the decendent of david and jesus was a "virgin" birth, how could he have fulfilled the proficey?.

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  ataloa

  If I remember right, we were taught that both Joseph and Mary were from David's line; but it was being Joseph's adopted son that gave Jesus the legal right to the throne.

  Don't know if this is true, but I think it's what we studied.
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  26

  My best friend died today...

  by Confession in

  1. social
  2. family

  from age ten until today.

  he was my friend; we used to play.

  no im not really okay.

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  ataloa

  So sorry, Confession.
• 
  25

  bad experiences with C.O.s?

  by startingovernow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am still trying to recover from an experience that i had with a c.o.

  reading other discussions has helped me to start getting other bad experiences into a better perspective and since the experience with the c.o.

  was really the final straw i was hoping that reading that i am not alone would help me in moving on.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  ataloa

  "Cults shoot their wounded."

  Well said, leavingwt.
• 
  25

  bad experiences with C.O.s?

  by startingovernow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am still trying to recover from an experience that i had with a c.o.

  reading other discussions has helped me to start getting other bad experiences into a better perspective and since the experience with the c.o.

  was really the final straw i was hoping that reading that i am not alone would help me in moving on.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  ataloa

  Oh, where do I start in even attempting a reply to your post?

  First of all Welcome to the board, startingovernow.

  I am not up for trying to tell my story, but I just want you to know that so much of your post sounds like me. I'm so sorry for what you've been through. My last talk with a c.o. was one of the final straws, but not exactly the last one.

  I learned a lot from that experience. One thing I started to realize is that they are mostly only interested in the numbers game and how many hours are put into field service. Also, they don't really keep up with their magazine reading.

  I, like you, always kept up with the reading, and would meditate on what I read and how it applied to real life and I would try to actually do it. There never was anyone else in my congregation that I could have a discussion with about any of it, because they hadn't read it (yet). So this last c.o. I talked to really didn't have any understanding of the principles back behind what the problem was or love itself.

  I didn't keep my cool, like you. By the time six months rolls around, I can work up quite an anger. I realize they are supposed to be trained to handle things like that, but my angry talk did not help my situation. (I did apologize to him later). So I gave up on the whole lie of shepherds to encourage us.

  It seems to be all politics and numbers. You would think they would want to encourage a pioneer, but it really just depends on who you are within the congregation, whether you are counted as valuable or not. I was another who 'came in all by myself' against massive opposition. But I never was really connected, because I was a nobody in the community.

  Now I have to say that my complaint was the things going on with the hateful elders in the congregation, so he was on the defensive, and that is probably why I wasn't helped. They just want to get rid of complainers; hence their incessant illustrations such as:

  If you fall down in the parking lot, are you just going to lie there complaining, or are you going to get up.

  It's always our fault, no matter what the complaint is.

  But I did talk to a different c.o. before this when I was just depressed, and he really did help me and encourage me, read a scripture with me, and all the things they are counseled to do. That is why I am a little puzzled, that if you were just ill, they would treat you like that; it makes me mad.

  I'm wondering how many people he has helped to give up going on in the "Truth."

  I don't know if you are all the way out, or what your situation is, but did you ever think that maybe all these horrible things that force us out the door are god's way of protecting us from further harm? I'm not saying that's what happened, but sometimes I think about that and wonder.

  You might want to post a separate introductory post so you can be properly welcomed. I am very glad to have you here, because I think we might have many similarities. I look forward to learning more about you.
• 
  19

  Does anyone remember this old tv preacher?

  by Tired of the Hypocrisy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i can't remember this guys name to save my life, but he used to crack me up late at night on cband sattelite back in the early 1980s.

  he was sort of a judge roy bean type of guy with gray hair and he would sit there and cuss and complain and and talk about how enoch (he would call him eenick) was the model for christ.

  he used to give the funniest explanations and illustrations.

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  ataloa

  One time he just sat on the t.v. and said he would not talk untill the people sent in so many thousands of dollars.

  I remember seeing this about 20 years ago; he was always saying "pick up the phone", and constantly relighting those expensive cigars.

  I think he's dead.
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  45

  I stumbled upon this anagrams website....

  by lisavegas420 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i typed in:.

  jehovah's witnesses .

  and it came back:.

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  ataloa

  webuser: Lisa thanks for the thread
  sternest: Horseshit! Half-naked tart.
• 
  45

  I stumbled upon this anagrams website....

  by lisavegas420 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i typed in:.

  jehovah's witnesses .

  and it came back:.

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  ataloa

  Not theocratic; I just thought this was funny:

  webuser: quantum physics

  sternest: Up squinty chasm.
• 
  45

  I stumbled upon this anagrams website....

  by lisavegas420 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i typed in:.

  jehovah's witnesses .

  and it came back:.

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  ataloa

  webuser: loving shepherd
  sternest: Shh! VIP or legend.
• 
  24

  Another new guy from TX

  by Texman55 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  howdy all, i just happened to be in your neighborhood and thought i'd ring your doorbell to tell you the good news about jehovah's kingdom, and if you don't believe every damn word of it you're going to die a horrible death real soon m*th*rf*ck*r thought i'd say howdy.. like it says on my profile, i wasted my vulnerable teen years in the watchtower bible and crap society, and it nearly killed me.

  funny thing is, i wasnt coerced into it by my family, they were all worldly (well except for a very eccentric old great uncle that nobody liked or visited) and thought i was out of my fucking mind to join up with that jw shit.. which i was.

  understandably, because my parents drank too much, there were truly horrible fights every night at home, a very bitter divorce when i was 10, and only child me was trapped in the middle of all that with no one to turn to.

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  ataloa

  Hi and Welcome Texman.

  You've been out 30 years? It's amazing how we still need to talk about it, isn't it. You're right, there is no one else who truly understands except those that have been through it. Enjoyed your post.