LearningMore

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Posts by LearningMore

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  20

  Part 2: A@G interviewed in WT Comments Video

  by Awakened at Gilead in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  in case you missed this on other threads, check out part 2..... lance.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i91g1v_mrr4.

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  LearningMore

  Very interesting videos. I also liked the end where your educational/career accomplishments were noted. It just goes to show that not everyone who leaves the society ends up a "vagrant on the street." Many people live happy, successful lives! (Ending up a vagrant is said tongue in cheek... When I was active, I was under the impression that everyone who left was homeless and/or on drugs.) LOL
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  43

  Hi all

  by SailAway in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have decided to join this forum after quite a long time lurking here (a number of years actually).. i have been out of the truth for a while and recently started to attend some meetings.

  but i now think a bit more freely and wonder whether i am doing the right thing.

  a cousin of mine regularly posts on here, didgeridoo in fact i have seen him today, speaking to him has made me decide to finally post on here, although i have my reservations whether i am doing the right thing.

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  LearningMore

  Welcome SailAway! No avatar showing for you on my computer.
  
  -LM
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  17

  A real-life dub fairy tale. Happy ending? Not so much.

  by parakeet in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  new light for you started a thread a day or two ago regarding an email that's been circulating around dubdom.

  it's a fairy tale in which a 60-year-old guy with down's syndrome supposedly searched for years for dubs to connect with.

  when he finally found one, all the dubs rejoiced that jehovah doesn't let his faithful followers down, blah, blah.

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  LearningMore

  Sort of related...There was a very elderly brother in my congregation as a kid. He was a little "rough around the edges" in that he would hack up phlegm in service and some refused to work with him, but I always thought he was a sweet old man. Anyway, I think he may have gone into a home or something for awhile (we didn't see him for some time...maybe his worldly relatives were taking care of him). Anyway, he seemed to me to be a real fixture in the congregation. When he died, his funeral was at our hall. Literally maybe 20 people showed up. I was appalled even as a teen.
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  283

  News from Mother ship

  by jefferywhat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  1. bethel in ny suspect high level apostate, cant identify it but know its there.

  2. major organizational changes about to start rolling out, one is changes to the "service committee" and titles, po to be done away with, thats all i know for now.

  was told that if you are the sort of person that cant handle changes, you wont stay in the org for long.

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  LearningMore

  I have a question about the one week elder school in Patterson....I did a search, but I couldn't seem to narrow it down enough... Are all elders invited to this program? Or is it only the POs? Also, do the elders have to fund their own way?
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  38

  Any actually embarrased to admit they were Witnesses?

  by Robert7 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was active, i was always (usually) proud to talk about being a jw, our faith, reasons for our stupid beliefs on birthdays, x-mas, etc.

  now with everything i'm going through, given how much of an impact this is to my life, i want to talk to others about it, like coworkers, and other friends.

  but thinking about how i would explain how it's a mind-controlling cult, i feel stupid for falling for it.

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  LearningMore

  I was always uncomfortable/embarrassed to admit it when I was a witness. In fact, very few people who I worked with actually knew. I think most people in high school knew, but after that I pretty much kept it to myself. Fortunately, I didn't live in my service territory; I was petrified of meeting anyone I knew.
  <br><br>Now, I still don't talk much about it. No one at my job knows that I was one in the past. In fact, a coworker was just telling me about a family member who was a witness, and I didn't say anything. Part of it is that I just don't want to get into it. I don't think I am embarrassed so much as I just really don't want to explain anything.
  <br><br>Really, the only person I talk to about it is my fiance and a little bit with his family if they ask questions.
  
  Edit: Actually, I just remember a coworker recently asking if I was raised religious, and I said, Yes, a Christian. That usually stops people, however, my coworker pressed on which religion. I just told her that I didn't like to talk about it, which kind of makes me feel bad like I blew her off.... Your past really does follow you around, doesn't it?
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  45

  Faders: When You Left, did Anyone Give a Damn?

  by shamus100 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it seems funny to hear how some get love bombed, others get left alone when they fade.

  i moved and told nobody - by the time they figured i was 'weak', it was too late - i was gone.

  so honestly, what was it like for you when you left the 'organization'?

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  LearningMore

  I realize now how lucky (wow, I just paused when I typed that word LOL) I was to not be harassed when I faded. It was a series of fortuitous circumstances that allowed me to fade peacefully. I had been out of town for several months, then my congregation was disbanded, and the members of the congregation scattered to the other halls in the area. I never went back. No love bombing, nothing. Well, maybe a call or two, I don't really remember. Obviously not too memorable.
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  27

  How did you think the GB made decisions?

  by LearningMore in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was just thinking about this today.

  c of c opened my eyes on how the gb makes decisions.

  i used to think that they must have prayed a lot together and then had moments of enlightenment from god.

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  LearningMore

  I was just thinking about this today. C of C opened my eyes on how the GB makes decisions. I used to think that they must have prayed a lot together and then had moments of enlightenment from God. I never thought that they just sat around and debated things. I certainly didn't think politics would be involved with certain members always siding with others.
  
  How did you think the GB made decisions? Did you think about it?
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  8

  Sorry I haven't been on the board lately but...

  by JimmyPage in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sorry i haven't been on the board lately but i've been reading steven hassan's "combatting cult mind control" and can't seem to put it down.

  i bought it used on amazon for four bucks plus four bucks postage.

  probably the most therapeutic eight bucks i've ever spent.

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  LearningMore

  I just bought this on amazon yesterday. I am looking forward to it arriving! I found C of C interesting (I haven't actually finished it entirely), but I want to know more about the mind control aspects. I was never "strong in the faith," so while CofC was interesting, it wasn't earth shattering.
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  53

  Some single older women in bad circumstances

  by LongHairGal in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am saddened and angry to observe the pitiful situation some of my jw single female friends are in.

  they are over 40 and have little work record, hardly any money and in some instances compromised health issues.

  i am angry because these women were waiting for armageddon to come and save them.

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  LearningMore

  It always seemed like the single older women were looked on as pathetic. It was so sad. They used to carpool together, and sit together at the meetings, but they never seemed that happy. They also really struggled. Actually, thinking back, all of them lived in trailers. Nothing against trailers, but one of them was only about 15 feet long. I had no idea how she lived in that.
  
  I know of lots of "sisters" who are living paycheck to paycheck either because they married young just to have a husband leave them 20 years down the line, or never married and never got an education. Most of these either clean houses or take care of elderly people. Neither of these career paths have benefits or retirement, so I don't know what they will do when they can't work anymore.
  
  I am so glad I am free of that, educated, and can fully support myself! Oh, also, these single women seemed to be pushed out of the social circle. They don't get the invites that the married couples get, so they are socially isolated, too!
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  43

  sex before marriage in the borg

  by heyfea in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (i don't know if i posted this already, since i got errors every time i tried) .

  do you think that a lot of engaged jws have sex before getting married?

  i think so, only a few fall into the guilt trip after they're married, and ultimately confess.

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  LearningMore

  I felt obligated to "confess" because I was raised to believe I had to confess any "wrongdoing." Living with the guilt was not an option. But being in a JC was a traumatizing experience, and one of the reasons I left for good. After that, I thought, I don't ever want to go before a group of men and be humiliated.