Posts by song19

28

growing up witness

by milligal in

i grew up a witness and i never felt bad about my lack of material belongings a.k.a.

not having nice clothes in school, it didn't bother me that the other first graders were stuffing their faces with birthday cupcakes and i was in the school library researching fossils; but what did bother me?

my cool cousins.

song19

asimpleservant, welcome to the boards.

Not everyone on this board got OUT of the cult at a tender age of 17. At 17 you were just entering adulthood with your entire life ahead of you. Many, many ex-jws on this board have been in the cult for 20, 30, 40 plus years. I am in my 30's, practically raised a JW as I was taught very young. I never had the opportunity you did to make use of my youth. With that said, I have a lot of hate and anger because I was forced to suppress my dreams which many, if not all, are unattainable now. Of course I will try and pursue new ones but I will never get those years back. Be happy that you got out when you did, be thankful.

50

How did you handle facing the reality of death?

by song19 in

jw
friends

for those raised or who got the truth at a young age, how have you been able to handle the reality that you are in fact, eventually, going to die in this system?.

for me, this was a real hard reality check.

as a witness, my entire life i was convinced that i would see armageddon, that i wouldnt grow old and die.

song19

I want to express my thanks for everyone’s views on the subject. I wish I had time to quote you all and say how each one of you have helped me face this unpleasant reality.

Where I end up I do not know. Seeing family eventually die is a hard reality to face, as is realizing that I too will die. It will probably forever sadden me that I will have to leave my children that they will have to some day say goodbye to their mother. But like most of you said, don't worry be happy and live life to its full. Now to figure out how to do that? LOL

36

Elders Appreciation Day?

by Tired of the Hypocrisy in

jw
friends

hi everyone, here i come, "from roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.".

i have been trying to keep from expressing my volatile opinions and doing pretty well until i came across this rediculous video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkzrvkey5yi.

song19

I have seen this in every large congregation I have been in and it also depends on how liberal the PO is. One congregation did a huge party while a New York Bethalite came to visit. All hail the bethalite! CO and pioneer parties… very popular. I was never in any elite group to get a congregation party.

Has anyone ever wondered why Wedding and Baby showers are still permitted? Never mind the Wedding and the Bride being the CENTER of attention. I loved that part of my wedding LOL!

41

Hi!--It's time to jump in!!

by Pandoras cat in

jw
friends

i have been lurking on this site for long time now.

my sister-in-law told me about this forum when i had questions and concerns about bible teachings from the organization.

i have never posted because i was scared of getting found out---that would have disastrous results.

song19

welcome to the boards! There are great people here that have helped me too.

glad you joined!

47

Let's Hear it For Simon -Thanks For This Board - And All it Accomplishes

by flipper in

jw
friends

i think it's only appropriate to put out a thread to thank simon for the great job he does in moderating this board, watching over discussions to make sure that the purpose of jwd discussion stays focused .

i believe that he and the mods do a great job in helping this board along in it's journey - and enables us to have the freedom of speech- without having fear of reprisal - as long as the guidelines are met.

so, i for one would like to personally thank you simon - for bringing this board into existence, as it has helped many to be able to vent after leaving the jehovah's witnesses cult, and get support, and for others it has helped them have a great place to discuss many important topics that have a heavy play in many of our lives !

song19

Thank you Simon... don't know how I would survive this ordeal without this site!

46

DIASSOCIATED NO WHERE TO GO LOST AND BROKEN

by DonaLeigh in

.

dls.

song19

Welcome to the boards. Sorry to hear of your pain. I too am new here and have found a lot of support here. Although we are just faders, we have told my mother a lot of the stuff we learned and after she accepted it, she went into super denial mode and now lightly shuns me. That has been the hardest part. Reading your post, I feel your pain... take one day at a time... it will get better.

A letter was posted not to long ago written by a former elder to his mother who is shunning him. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/159928/1.ashx I plan on giving it to my folks to read.

hugs to you... you're not alone... keep talking, keep posting… we are all here to help you through this

26

expenses -vs- donations............. the fall of the Watchtower empire

by DaCheech in

jw
friends

as long as i've been here, i have preached that $$$$$ will be the only way for the wt to drop.. many agree on a small level, but think the wt has deep pockets.. they may have deep pockets, but i bet the investments they have have lost quite a bit since 2001.. my main calculation reguards the following hypothesis::::::.

magazine and literature consumption -vs- donations.

i know of 2 congregations, and let me post some figures:.

song19

Maybe the WTS at that point can go IPO and raise some funds. I wonder what would happen to their stock soon after? It would probably tank and become a penny stock. Hey, maybe they can just keep printing shares and sell them to unsuspecting investors.

50

How did you handle facing the reality of death?

by song19 in

jw
friends

for those raised or who got the truth at a young age, how have you been able to handle the reality that you are in fact, eventually, going to die in this system?.

for me, this was a real hard reality check.

as a witness, my entire life i was convinced that i would see armageddon, that i wouldnt grow old and die.

song19

I have found it very hard to come to terms with. I don't fear death, though I will miss life, but I just cannot get use to the concept instilled from birth they I will loose everyone over time. It is worse since I have just had a child, as I am 38 and fear that I will not live long enough to see him grow and have a family.

I can't imagine not being there for my kids. It will be hard to have to experience my parents death. It will be hard to leave my own children. I hope that I too will see my grandchildren. But sadly, I probably won't see my great grand children. Its the sadness of saying goodbye and missing out... knowing that they will mourn for me. It's like I am dead already inside.

I agree with you Scully, I need to start living life. I have just put it off for over 30 years, I don't know where to go or where to turn. Having problems socializing and being a full time mom, doesn’t help either. I just don’t know what I want to do with my life… gosh I am so angry that I missed the best years of my life. You know my doctor is 5 months older than I am… that could have been me.

37

Did you skip the meeting to watch the superbowl ?

by av8orntexas in

i know we must have alot ofpeople on here huge football fans like myself.

born and raised in boston, i am a huge sports fan, and of course patriots fan.

so anyone here go to another meeting, makeup some bs excuse, illness, flat out miss the meeting or anything else to watch game if your meeting happened to go from the 9am to the 3pm in january ?.

song19

I remember I would go and leave the hubby behind with his buds... we were still in at the time, even his buds too. I was a good girl and went to the meeting. (smiley with a halo definitely needed here)

Although this year, we all stayed home to watch the game and we were still 'in'. My son LOVED all the commercials, even the terminator ones after he got use to them. He still asks me to this day if we can watch the superbowl. We're watching Euro now... AWSOME! and miss every meeting to watch the games… freedom rocks!

50

How did you handle facing the reality of death?

by song19 in

jw
friends

for those raised or who got the truth at a young age, how have you been able to handle the reality that you are in fact, eventually, going to die in this system?.

for me, this was a real hard reality check.

as a witness, my entire life i was convinced that i would see armageddon, that i wouldnt grow old and die.

song19

For those raised or who got the ‘truth’ at a young age, how have you been able to handle the reality that you are in fact, eventually, going to die in this ‘system’?

For me, this was a real hard reality check. As a witness, my entire life I was convinced that I would see Armageddon, that I wouldn’t grow old and die. Now that I am ‘out’, it has been an emotion shock to now have to accept the fact that I will have to eventually watch my parents die, watch my family die, and eventually I too will have to say goodbye to my kids when I die.

It’s quite damaging really… most people learned about death at a young age, it’s normal to live knowing you’ll eventually die. For me, that thought never once entered my mind. It’s been a shocker to say the least to have to accept that truth, that reality that I will get old and eventually die. An extremely sad reality for me.