I realized this wasn't true before I even left the JWs. It's one of the main reasons I left. I knew that my non-JW friends at school lived moral lives and they were very happy. Same with my non-JW grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I am very grateful for all their influences on me and my life.
Scarred for life
JoinedPosts by Scarred for life
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74
Most people who are not JW's live with out moral restrain! All who have left the "Truth" regret it. June 15th WT
by life is to short inin the june 15th wt it says on page 9 i will just write it out as it is to hard and unbelievable to preface this.
so here it is.. "many who today are members of the christian congregation can tell you that before learning of and adopting jehovah's righteous standards, they lived without moral restrain.
yet, they were unsatisfied and unhappy.
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Uh Oh!!! The elders are coming!!!
by Blue Grass inwell after fading and keeping a low key i think the elders are finally going to get to me.
in 2007 i moved to another city but quickly moved back home about two months later.
the whole time everyone from my old congregation has been thinking i've been in another city.
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Scarred for life
I agree with Mad Sweeney. It's impossible to have a normal relationship with a JW. Sad but true.
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Uh Oh!!! The elders are coming!!!
by Blue Grass inwell after fading and keeping a low key i think the elders are finally going to get to me.
in 2007 i moved to another city but quickly moved back home about two months later.
the whole time everyone from my old congregation has been thinking i've been in another city.
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Scarred for life
As usual, I agree totally with OntheWayOut.
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Uh Oh!!! The elders are coming!!!
by Blue Grass inwell after fading and keeping a low key i think the elders are finally going to get to me.
in 2007 i moved to another city but quickly moved back home about two months later.
the whole time everyone from my old congregation has been thinking i've been in another city.
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Scarred for life
I like that last one. "NO, there is not need for you to come by for a visit." Repeat as often as needed.
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If you felt/feel that you had/have good, close "friends" in the org, how did/does it feel to just give them up?
by Crisis of Conscience inthis is my biggest dilema.
although mentally i really feel i could walk away from the org right now, i still have genuine love for the people i have come to know over the years.
i love people!.
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Scarred for life
This subject affected my mother more than myself. My father died suddenly in 1978. He had not attended a meeting in about a year after fading gradually for several years. At my strong insistence, as well as the opinions of my non-JW relatives of my father, we elected to have a non-JW funeral. My mother never heard a word from any JW from any of the 3 congregations that we had been a stong part of at one time. It did not affect me very much at all. I had not considered any of those people to be friends for 6 years or more. But my mother had the same feelings as Terry. She never got over it. And she died 30 years later hurt, angry, bitter.
Her JW family never shunned us as long as my mother was alive. They considered my mother a baptized witness that was inactive and they hoped to her dying day that she would come back to meetings especially a Memorial.
Since her death, I do feel that my sister and I have been shunned by her family. Especially since I expressed my honest feelings about the JWs in an email to an uncle. I haven't heard a word from any of them since and I don't think I would be welcome to visit.
There is a sadness to me that a whole chunk of my extended family is non-existent in my life. But it's not new. They really haven't been an important part of my life since I left the JWs at 15. So it's something that I have lived with to a certain extent for a long time. But it's still sad.
My advice is to make the best of what you have. Live your own life. Be open to making new friends. Pursue your own interests. Chalk it up to experience. Don't become bitter.
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When you meet up with real life friends who are ex-Jehovah's Witnesses...
by Quillsky in....... how much of your conversation is "exie" stuff?.
for me, i don't have many ex-jw friends, but those i do have are brilliant friends and we entertain our partners a lot with ex-talk.
the spouses find our history a bit weird but fascinating..
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Scarred for life
one ex-JW relative with whom I don't discuss JW history because they almost seem to be in a bit of denial about being ex-dubs. It's like I can laugh about it and criticize it, but they can do neither. They are also the two that are the most critical of me visiting ex-JW forums.
This is exactly my experience. Especially with one aunt who has not attended meetings in about the same length of time as me. But she is noticably uncomfortable if I bring up the subject or criticize the religion. She does not want to talk about it at all. And she thinks that I should NOT be on this forum. Even though she no longer considers herself a JW she has not dealt with the mind-control aspect of it at all. She says Jehovah's Witnesses are " a religion just like any other".
My sister and I , on the other hand, had some very healing talks about 2 years ago about our experiences being raised as JWs. We had never talked about it before but it was good for both of us to finally do so.
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My Congregation = I'm like a sober person talking to "high" drug addicts!!!!
by Witness 007 inin my cong.
you start a "normal" conversation like....i complimented a brother on having 8 grandchildren....he got a sad look in his eye and said:"yeah, well i wish it was in the new system.
" {i guess they are all doomed to destruction} i honestly was stumped.
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Scarred for life
Yes, I have seen it. Creepy, isn't it?
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Newbie Here
by Bluegill injust wanted to introduce myself.
i've been lurking for 3-4 years.. i was baptized in 1981 and served as a ms and regular pioneer for some time.
started fading around 7 years ago when we moved to a different part of the country.
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Scarred for life
Welcome, bluegill! So you'd rather watch American Idol! You sound like you're cured!
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I just watched The Matrix last night...
by doublelife inand i understand now what everyone means when they talk about taking the red pill.
creepy.
especially when laurence fishburn's character tells keanu reeves' character, "welcome to reality.
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Scarred for life
Totally agree about The Matrix, Pleasantville, The Village, The Stepford Wives.
And I agree if you haven't seenThe Village don't read anything about it at all. Just watch it.
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My Congregation = I'm like a sober person talking to "high" drug addicts!!!!
by Witness 007 inin my cong.
you start a "normal" conversation like....i complimented a brother on having 8 grandchildren....he got a sad look in his eye and said:"yeah, well i wish it was in the new system.
" {i guess they are all doomed to destruction} i honestly was stumped.
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Scarred for life
I totally agree. The extended family members that I have that are JWs are just like you describe. It is IMPOSSIBLE to have any kind of normal conversation with them. I made a renewed effort after my mother died to try and renew relations with some of them. But , I must have been dreaming. I wanted so much to have some sort of sense of family. Since I've been on these boards I've realized that I'm wasting my time. I haven't seen any of them in over a year now. Nor have I heard from them. Nor do I care.