home_and_dry

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Posts by home_and_dry

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  64

  "Dubs For Dummies"

  by Farkel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  dear brothers and sisters in the worldwide brotherhood of jehovahs witnessestm,.

  there has been much public interest in our beliefs lately, so we have prepared a very brief summary of our core beliefs in a new pamphlet which you may offer to interested persons.

  hopefully, this pamphlet will generate enough interest with honest-hearted people and enable you to start many new bible studies.

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  home_and_dry

  ROTFLOL!!

  That is the funniest thing I have read in ages! I am STILL laughing my head off!

  I would SO love to show that to my Elder Dad!!

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
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  41

  How often did you comment at meetings?

  by LDH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have a theory and i'd like to put it to the test here.. i would be willing to bet that the posters who post a great deal probably commented more than the average publisher at the meetings.. i know it's true in my case.. on simon's forum we have the whole range of 'publishers-' from those that comment a lot ---down to those that are just there.

  the lurkers.. what about you?.

  lisa

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  home_and_dry

  I used to comment all the time at the bookstudy. My bookstudy group was full of half comatose people so it was left to about 3 of us to keep the meeting ticking over.

  As for the KH meetings, that would depend on what mood I was in on the day. It was usually one of three moods:

  1. Spiritual mood. Very rare. Well prepared WT with lots of show off answers. I even explained the 607 - 1914 mathematics once.. Got lots of pats on the back after the meeting for that one!

  2. bored rebellious mood. Quite common. No comments at all, or the obligatory last paragraph answer. Or even better, the recap questions from the box. Easy to repeat what someone else said ten minutes earlier.

  3. Mischeivous mood. This was my fave. My friend and I would play a game. Its like the FS game, where just before someone answers the door your FS partner gives you a word to use in your presentation. My friend and I would sit next to each other and when one of us put our hand up to comment, the other would quickly scribble a word on their WT and the other would have to use this word in their comment. It would start of quite easy, with usual JW terms to incorporate, but then it got ridiculous. we would scribble really obscure words and by the time the mic arrived we would be laughing that much we could hardly get our comment out!

  I really miss that actually!

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
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  10

  How did I get away with it??

  by home_and_dry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the more i read on this board, the more it makes me wonder how on earth i managed to escape the jw's without being df'd.

  i was baptized in 1990 aged 15. i was df'd in 1991 and was reinstated after only 2 months 'out' and a further 3 months of returning to the meetings.. two years after being reinstated, i knew i wanted out but couldn't bear the thought of being df'd again.

  so i found a flat to rent and moved out of my jw parents home.

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  home_and_dry

  Sorry it has taken me so long to return to this topic!

  Roybatty, I was actually pretty active in my cong. In fact I Aux Pioneered the last month I was in the cong! I was kind of railroaded into it my my parents, but I suppose I thought I would do it for that month and maybe I would change my mind about leaving. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t, but as it was such a permanent decision to make, I didn’t think it would do me much harm to give it one last shot.

  As it happened, I stuck to my FS schedule for about two weeks, then thought ‘stuff this’ lol. Even though I never made the 60 hours, I still managed to convince my dad (who also was the cong secretary) that I had done all the hours when I handed in my report.

  Maybe this is what makes my situation so unusual? I just went cold turkey. Up until the day I moved out I had been attending all meetings, participating, and going out of FS. I suppose I was quite ‘high profile’ in the Cong. I think I also had a talk during that final month too. I tried to get out of it because my householder was Sister Perfect which would have been bad enough under normal circumstances!

  I think looking back I was always considered something of a ‘golden girl’ by the older cong members and the elders. Even when I was DF’d, I attended the judicial meeting and had a hard time convincing the three elders that I had actually commited the ‘sin’ I was about to be DF’d for!! My best friend in the cong had DA’d herself a few weeks before and the elders thought she was influencing me and we had conspired to get me thrown out too. The Elders REALLY didn’t want to DF me. They went round in circles for ages just trying to talk me out of leaving them no choice.

  My friend was always looked down on. She wasn’t baptised and only a year younger than me. I was the ‘spiritual’ one, she was the ‘weak’ one. That’s how they saw it. But that wasn’t true. They didn’t see all the times she dragged me out on FS, they didn’t see her forcing me to do the WT study prep with her.

  One time we were sat together at a meeting and we both got a fit of the giggles. As much as we tried to hide it, our shoulders were going up and down ten to the dozen and there was the occasional snort to be heard as we tried to stifle our giggles. After the meeting I was on my way out of the KH when Sister Old Bag took me to one side, having been sat directly behind us, and said “You can do better than associate with her, you’re worth more than that. Don’t let her drag you down.”

  That made me really angry, but it summed up the cong attitude towards me and my friend.

  Even after I was reinstated (my friend never returned) I wasn’t treated like a second class citizen because I had been DF’d. Everyone welcomed me back with open arms. And yes, it was a quickie reinstatement. The elders on my original judicial committee called it a ‘short sharp shock’. After all, I was little miss perfect and how could they possibly hold out on me for longer than three months?

  LDH, I think this really was a case of the ‘wink wink’ rule. In a weird way I am pretty angry about it. Okay, so I have benefited from it, but what about all of you that haven’t? And just because I had an elder for a Dad, why should that make a difference. Of course, I don’t wish to be DF’d, but if I was in my ex-cong and had witnessed all this happening to another Elders daughter, then been thrown out myself on a whim, I would be pretty angry about the double standards!

  Orangefatcat and others who have experienced similar, my heart really does go out to you and it makes me all the more angry, especially now I have been able to learn about others experiences.

  As a ‘newbie’ here (in post terms rather than timescale, I have been lurking for months) I feel a bit strange joining in, but I will make an effort to participate and get rid of this awful ‘newbie’ title lol.

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
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  1

  My Last Memorial.

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  its confession time, folks.

  some years ago, i actually attended a memorial.

  you see, i was enviegled into it.

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  home_and_dry

  LOL Englishman! What you should have done is taken your own supply of bread and wine and when the attendants start their synchronized row dancing, you should have whipped them out of your bag and passed yours along just as the attendant got close to you. :)

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
• 
  10

  How did I get away with it??

  by home_and_dry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the more i read on this board, the more it makes me wonder how on earth i managed to escape the jw's without being df'd.

  i was baptized in 1990 aged 15. i was df'd in 1991 and was reinstated after only 2 months 'out' and a further 3 months of returning to the meetings.. two years after being reinstated, i knew i wanted out but couldn't bear the thought of being df'd again.

  so i found a flat to rent and moved out of my jw parents home.

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  home_and_dry

  The more I read on this board, the more it makes me wonder how on earth I managed to escape the JW's without being DF'D.

  I was baptized in 1990 aged 15. I was DF'd in 1991 and was reinstated after only 2 months 'out' and a further 3 months of returning to the meetings.

  Two years after being reinstated, I knew I wanted out but couldn't bear the thought of being DF'd again. So I found a flat to rent and moved out of my JW parents home. From that day I never went to another meeting (expect 1 memorial and one day at the July convention the following year which was just 'for a laugh')

  I kept a low profile, didn't associate with any JW's other than my parents. I didn't even see them that often because they would just go on about me getting to the meetings etc. After a couple of months I think they realised I wasn't going back.

  I soon met someone, now my partner of 7 years. I fell pregnant. This was about 9 months after my last meeting. I delayed telling my parents for as long as I could but eventually my condition was getting just a bit obvious!

  My (elder) father offered to pay for a shotgun wedding there and then. I refused, as I didn't feel it was a basis to get married. The other elders were informed. A conversation ensued between my dad and the PO. My dad argued that because I no longer associated with any JW's other than them, by being DF'd, all it would acheive is to ruin my relationship with my mum and dad. The PO AGREED and I wasn't DF'd. To this day I am still unmarried, still living with my partner and have 2 children.

  I have an excellent relationship with my parents, and my children also have a great relationship with them. They babysit for me and we go out for daytrips quite often. There is absolutely no limits on my association with them.

  Everyone that knew me in my ex-cong know my situation. Alot will stop and talk to me, ask about my partner and children. Some will even jokingly ask 'isn't it about time you two got married?!?' There are very few JW's that will not acknowledge me.

  I feel like I must be the exception to the rule here. From what I have read even some are DF'd on mere speculation. So how on earth did I get away with it???

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
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  110

  Memorial No Shows...Please Check in....

  by ISP in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, i was tempted but i decided not to go to the most bizarre religious ritual of modern times....how about you?.

  isp

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  home_and_dry

  Nah. Not been since 1995. And I didn't even get one single invite! I am quite offended that I am so openly considered a lost cause!

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
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  87

  this website

  by little_lamb_on_a_hill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just stumbled onto this website whilst messing about on the internet and i've taken exception to quite a lot of what i've seen here.

  incase you think i'm some irate jehovah's witness idiot who's been offended by the terrible blasphemy that he's read on here, i'm not.

  i was raised a jw, but now i'm not one.. first of all, given the url, i thought this website was in some way affiliated with the jehovah's witness organization, whereas in reality it seems from the posts i've read that most people here are either former jehovah's witnesses or soon-to-be former jehovah's witnesses.

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  home_and_dry

  Little Lamb,

  I feel you have summed up yourself exactly why you feel the way you do. You said you had no bad experience while you were a JW so I guess you have no reason to bear a grudge or be 'anti-JW'.

  A few years ago I felt exactly the same as you did. I was baptized, but I 'drifted away' (a deliberate and carefully planned operation to leave without being D'FD) I didn't expect it to work, but it did. Even when I was expecting my first child and I wasn't married, still I wasn't disfellowshipped. Today I still live 'in sin' and haves two children. Most JW's I know will still say hello to me in passing. My parents are JW's, my father is an Elder. We have an excellent relationship (better than when I was a JW living under thier roof) and they love my children to bits.

  I too have been very lucky. For five years after I left I would never say a bad word against JW's. I totally supported the disfellowshipping practise, even though I was disfellowshipped myself once. I was reinstated around 2 years before I 'drifted'.

  I saw the Society as a loving organisation. Doing the best it could and protecting JW's from the outside world. I only left because I felt I wasn't good enough and couldn't live up to the JW way of life.

  But then a couple of years ago I got online and started doing my own research. Nothing major, just browsing various sites and learning more about the JW Organisation than I ever learnt while I was there. And that is a fact.

  I also found out that within my own 'loving' ex cong, a pedophile had been protected by the elders and no one knew that he was a child molestor and had molested a good friend of mine. It wasn't until he was jailed for abusing his own granddaughter that it became public knowledge and everyone knew.

  But even that wasn't the main reason why I feel the way I do today. It came from reading peoples experiences, people who had been raped, and then slandered, the suicides that occur from disfellowshipping and the corrupt ways of the Organisation.

  Now I feel I know the whole truth I can't just ignore it. Just because I was lucky with my own experiences, it doesn't stop me feeling the injustice and pain suffered by so many others. Even though I have never these people, it doesn't stop me caring about them.

  Give yourself time to THINK about the things you read, don't just pass it all off en masse as anti-JW hatred. Think about the individuals and how their lives have been ruined. Then maybe you will start to understand.

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
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  12

  Lest We Forget...September 11, 2001

  by sunscapes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anybody watching the cbs special now?

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  home_and_dry

  Does anyone in the US know if there are any plans to air that programme in the UK?

  I am in two minds as to whether I could watch it or not, but I from what I've heard about it, it would be good to have the opportunity.
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  1

  JW Molestation info needed for UK radio show

  by home_and_dry in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  hi all.. i recently emailed a radio dj here in the uk who has a late night phone in show.

  he is a great bloke, not afraid of touching issues that others won't.. i told him briefly about the peodophile issue amongst jw's.

  he replied, saying that he was very interested in the issue and has asked for more info.. i feel that i am not the best qualified to act as spokesperson on this, and there are plenty of people here who can explain the situation better than i can.. so what i am asking is for any of you to explain the issue here in this thread.

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  home_and_dry

  Hi all.

  I recently emailed a radio DJ here in the UK who has a late night phone in show. He is a great bloke, not afraid of touching issues that others won't.

  I told him briefly about the peodophile issue amongst JW's. He replied, saying that he was very interested in the issue and has asked for more info.

  I feel that I am not the best qualified to act as spokesperson on this, and there are plenty of people here who can explain the situation better than I can.

  So what I am asking is for any of you to explain the issue here in this thread. Personal experiences maybe, examples, and the ins and outs of how it all is allowed to happen. Then I will email him back, providing a link to this thread so hopefully between us we can give him enough information and that he will bring this subject up on air on his show. The radio station is based in Wales, but is available to listen to on the Net so this could be a good opportunity to get this information out to the public.

  So please, help me out and lets make this thread into a good source of information for him.

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb
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  19

  Hear'say

  by Duncan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those who dont know, hearsay are a recently-manufactured pop group.

  they were formed from the successful auditioners to a prime-time uk tv show popstars.

  you know the general idea, five thousand hopefuls apply, there are regional auditions, regional finals, the cut to the final hundred, then the final fifty last ten, then the best 5 were chosen to be in the group 3 girls 2 boys.

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  home_and_dry

  Alliwannadoislive, I wouldn't exactly describe my endearment to Gareth in the way you describe but nevertheless, I like him because he has a lot of guts to do what he's done. Okay so he hasn't got the greatest voice in the world, and he doesn't sing as well as William or Darius, but he just has that 'something' about him that I like. So there.

  And yes, I am very comfy here thanks! If someone would just pass me a nice comfy fluffy cushion I will be in my element. LOL

  We all make a mess of our lives from time to time
  It's part of the process that you stumble as you climb