ok, so i have been thinking about my time as a jw (i'm fading out - read my other posts for background info).
you know how you always hear how the ministry will bring so much joy and contentment, yadda yadda yadda?
i always hated service...always!!
Going door to door from 3 until 12 or so, joy for me was when my mom let me get a happy meal from McDonalds. But we were so pisspoor that most of the time I only got a hamburger and a water. Boo hoo.
As a teenager, joy was experienced when I drew little comment bubbles in the front of my song book and made King David sing the verses to a Beck song or Snoop Dogg on the harp.
Ima
i say this because i have been helped so much by the many posts that represent the way i feel about the wtbts.
it is good to know that there are so many people that feel this way.
i am currently inactive and dont comment but do attend meetings for the sake of the family.. my wife is still in and i have a daughter and one on the way.
I haven't been on here much lately, but I just wanted to welcome you! I am also a North Florida inhabitant, and a FOURTH GENERATION (sadly) Witness. My great-grandma was in it back in the early, early years.
Welcome again and I hope you get lots of encouragement on this site while you wait for your wife to see the light. It really is very freeing.
Ima
it was two years and two months ago when i told my mother that i no longer recognize the wts religion as being "the truth.
" as you may know, to a jw mother, this is like telling her you've decided to jump off a skyscraper.
i have spoken to her only two times since then, and have not seen her or my dad since then.
I wish you the best of luck.
my family just took a stroll down witness lane this month as we searched for photographs that our graduating high school daughter needed for her display at her graduation party.
we have an immense file of photos of a previous life with the jw's.
in a way its a history of a former life.
Not to hijack this post, but I'm suprised so many people pine for their old JW friends. Mine were so lame, really. You could never discuss really interesting things. When I hang out with my JW cousin, we don't talk about politics, sex, religion...any of the things I enjoy talking about. Also, they have very limited hobbies, oftentimes don't listen to very good music, watch few movies I'm interested in, don't do any volunteer work...
Worldly friends are awesome!
My parents have all my photos from the JW years. I will inherit them one day. I'll keep them, when I do, to remember that weird time in my life.
i remember as a child being impressed by several older 'brothers' who were well educated and articulate.
we had guys with degrees and one had a ph.d in some branch of physics - a professor.
now you know as well as i do that that level of education was, and still is, mightily discouraged by the wt but these guys had managed it somehow.. as an impressionable kid it put 'the truth' on a more secure footing for me, after all if these intelligent men could believe .
No, everyone in my congregation was an idiot.
Well, seriously, I don't remember anyone as standing out as intelligent. They all said the same shit.
hi all.. i am new to the board.
my story is reminiscent of just about everyone else on the board.
here is a quick run down.. .
Best of luck to you... It is so much fun, learning the truth, but it also is a lot of work. You may find it takes a lot of soul searching to rid yourself of some of the JW doctrine, even when you want to.
I look forward to reading your future posts.
for me, it's having friends that i don't have to hide my lack of meeting attendance/service from.
it's amazing how they teach you that only jws can be your real friends, but in reality, it's all contingent upon your religious "performance.
" sure, if you're not going to meetings, they'll try to be "friends," by encouraging you to go back.
REAL friends, listening to and watching what I want, no nosy freaks sticking their nose in my business, drinking beer to excess, not feeling guilty for what I do with my husband, not going in field service, looking at my tattoos and contemplating more, freedom to be who I want without reprisal...
Holy shit, I can't think of one thing I miss.
Wait, I've got it... When we had 'get-togethers' with our congregation, which was 98% black. The food was so freakin' good. My parents couldn't cook.
sunday, the giant center hershey pa. .
before the show, i of course ducked into the mens room so that i wouldnt have to during the show.
(which was awesome by the way) anyway, as i am standing in line waiting my turn, whom do i see turn to leave?
Maybe he'd bought the Elder life hook, line and sinker and feels like an ass for believing the lie... I can't imagine converting as an adult and then having to figure out that I was decieved. All I'm saying is you don't know what his background is, and maybe he would apologize for being an ass if you gave him a chance.
Ex-JWs can be some of the coolest people. I feel sort of sorry for the guy.
of course you know the answer... how ironic.
i swear, jehovah's witnesses only come when i'm hanging out in sweatpants and a tank top with no bra on.
if i am wearing a bra, they don't come.
Haha... Something tells me the nice middle-aged black lady won't be coming back real soon.
But if the guy comes back, I thought of a universal hand sign I could give him. I've known it since the third grade ;-)
of course you know the answer... how ironic.
i swear, jehovah's witnesses only come when i'm hanging out in sweatpants and a tank top with no bra on.
if i am wearing a bra, they don't come.
ASL - American Sign Language
Sorry, I forget not everyone knows acronyms... I get confused by quite a few of them on here.
