i am new to this board after lurking for awhile (thanks so much for creating this place simon, and for everyone's shared thoughts!).
i am going crazy because i have recently allowed myself to begin thinking (and it is so fun!
) and i am an outspoken person, and it is very hard for me to keep my opinions and discoveries about this place under my hat!
Welcome!!!
Don't do it-yet. Continue to do research and inform yourself about the real "truth". You will see that sharing that information with others cold turkey very rarely works. You must proceed slowly to help others learn. It's difficult to do but worth the effort.
randy and i have been discussing a daily column briefly focusing on recovery issues for ex-jws.
i am very pleased to announce our plans to work together on this endeavor.. monday to friday i will have a new column posted on the front page - (right side of the page and scroll down).
http://www.freeminds.org/ .
What a wonderful addition to an already fantastic website. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and time with us.
after my mom died, my aunts and i were going through her personal belongings for my dad.
late that night, in one of the last boxes we went through, i found a mother's day card that i had made for her when i was in first grade.
even though mother's day was a forbidden holiday, she kept that card for all those years.. i wonder, in spite of their surface indifference, how many jw mothers wish that they could participate in mothers day, at best, or resent it, at worst?.
On Saturday, me and my sisters took my mom her 'Mother's Day' gift. It was an outfit and she wore it to the assembly on Sunday. It was okay to get it for her because we gave it to her on Saturday-not Sunday-the real Mother's Day. Technicality, right? She knew what it was for and was gracious about accepting it. We appreciate her and are happy to show her. It's funny, sad and irritating all in one but she's a good mom and we love her.
collecting money after every meeting.
i could never get someone to help, and i was always last to leave.
when i did finally have one person who would help, if i used them too often i got questions about why the two of us were always taking the contributions.
I had the 'privelege' of sweeping the rows at the Pontiac Silverdome after the program ended each day. I was young and there were a bunch of kids from our hall who helped. It wasn't too terrible.
i will be there with the lonestar tea partiers!.
-cage.
No, but when they came to my town over the weekend, I went to support the Tea Party opposers.
witnesses say that when people leave "the truth", they get involved in a debauched life, misery, and general unhappiness.. they give experiences of some that left the "sweet fellowship" of the "brotherhood" and the awful results because of it.
then, they come back and their lives change 100% for the better!.
have you found life to be miserable and unproductive since "leaving jehovah"?.
I am so much happier since leaving the truth' it is unbelievable!! My life is peaceful, I don't have that daily fear hanging over my head. I only regret that I didn't leave sooner.
surprised me that he actually followed up on his word and called .
it will be strange after four yrs.
to have them in our house .my husband was not happy to hear it will be two brothers coming over, because he really does not want to feel we are being counseled .
Good Luck! If it was me-I would not meet with them, but I wish you and your husband well.
to respond to serenity now's question on another thread (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/191790/2/ugly-sisters, let me start this thread about ugly brothers in congregations.
women, speak freely if you will.
were there any hot men in your congregations, i mean, men you wouldn't think twice about marrying?
There were more than a few good looking, handsome guys in my congregation. They all married pioneer sisters and now have the 'perfect' life in the eyes of the JW's. One of them was a total a**hole and doesn't treat his wife very well. The rest were decent guys and seem to be happy.
I can't say that any of them were more attractive than worldly men. I can say for certain that they weren't as 'cool' as the non jw guys.
what are their first names?.
mine are henry and daisy, thomas and katherine.. sylvia.
Fern and Arthur -dads side
Mattie and John- mom's side.
i have done this thread a long time ago , but a few newbies have joined recently and may have had some experiances to share , there was 2 in the congregation i was involved with (i was a "study" ) one was from bethel in america and got deported after his prison sentence and the other was reprooved for abuse then carried on abusing in the congregation , years later he abused my daughter and after i found out i reported him to the police , but he had got off "scot free" for 20 years untill i reported him .
i believe the one from bethel was reported to the police simply because elders kids were affected ..
We had 1 in our congregation- JD- he was an elder for many years. One of the victims friends learned of the abuse and went to the elders with the information. An investigation was opened and several young men came forward to confirm that it was indeed true. The man was DF'd after a lengthy investigation. He denied any wrongdoing. One of the young men he molested committed suicide before the abuse came to surface.
He was DF'd for about 5 years and was reinstated. He never faced any criminal charges.
