Thanks for your story, OTWO.
Scarred for life
JoinedPosts by Scarred for life
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35
How did 1975 effect your family? here's mine...
by Aussie Oz ini just spent a few days with my dad.
i asked a few questions about the time when mum became a witness which i know is still, 38 years later, a painful thing for him to talk about.
in the course of it, he also learned some stuff that he did not know about the pressures of the times.. as i expected, mum and dad have different versions of this time, and it is pretty hard to find the real truth in it and in some ways it does not matter anymore.. mums version: she first was contacted in echuca late 1960s and dad put a stop to it.
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18
On your way "out" of the WT, did you experience physical syptoms?
by whyizit ini'm not a jw, nor have i ever been.
all of the sudden she wants to spend all this time with me.
of course, lots of what she was telling me about the "bible", didn't make sense.
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Scarred for life
FAscinating statistics, bversaci. Thanks!
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35
How did 1975 effect your family? here's mine...
by Aussie Oz ini just spent a few days with my dad.
i asked a few questions about the time when mum became a witness which i know is still, 38 years later, a painful thing for him to talk about.
in the course of it, he also learned some stuff that he did not know about the pressures of the times.. as i expected, mum and dad have different versions of this time, and it is pretty hard to find the real truth in it and in some ways it does not matter anymore.. mums version: she first was contacted in echuca late 1960s and dad put a stop to it.
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Scarred for life
The ones who stayed afterward and denie what happened are a sad group of folks.
Yes, they are. I've always felt very sorry for my relatives that were so sure that it would happen. And they were even more sure that my grandmother would never die and she would see Armageddon and the New World. She died in 1986. I think they were even more disappointed at that.
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18
On your way "out" of the WT, did you experience physical syptoms?
by whyizit ini'm not a jw, nor have i ever been.
all of the sudden she wants to spend all this time with me.
of course, lots of what she was telling me about the "bible", didn't make sense.
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Scarred for life
My sister used to throw up on the way to the meetings every time. This was mainly after I was no longer going to meetings. My parents would have to pull the car over and let my sister open the door and vomit. They never said a word and never tried to find out what the REAL problem was. My parents were SO OBLIVIOUS!!!!! It makes me so angry. Even now.
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30
My awakening and realization that I have been told a lie
by Soldier77 inhi all, new posting, but i've been lurking for a while.
i thought it was time to "come out" as it were and voice my story.... i was born into the jw cult surrounded by all of my jw family.
grandfather was an elder for almost 40 years till he passed, both of my uncles are currently now elders and have been for the last 15 years.
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Scarred for life
Welcome ,soldier 77. And welcome to all the newbies.
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41
How Many 18-35 year old JW's have Exited the Cult in Your Family ?
by flipper injust wanted to start this to get a pulse on how many young jw's are exiting percentage wise recently in the witness organization.
in my family i have 8 young people aged 21 through 35 .
these are my son and two daughters and my older siblings 5 adult children.
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Scarred for life
I'd like to add one thing, Flippepr. Your question is complicated, at least in my family. Out of the 11 cousins in my family that "left" the JWs by the age of 35, I would only say that 5 of us completely left and have moved on to successful lives without any emotional ties to the JWs or severe emotional damage. Actually, I'm going to change that to 4. So 4 out of the 15 have left the Borg, left the state that the family is centered, made new friends and a life of their own. 3 of us are educated and able to support ourselves reasonably well. And the other one, though not educated has supported herself in various ways including a housekeeping business. She's a fighter and a survivor.The other 7 have:
1. run off to travel on the carnival circuit and died young probably drug and alcohol related,
2. suffers from debilitating depression and is not able to work and lives on "welfare",
3. comitted suicide at about age 34,
4. has been arrested for numerous DUIs and been married multiple times and currently lives in a duplex beside his uber-Witness mother(He spent several years at Bethel) He knew Ray Franz.,
5. has no friends and lives in an isolated world,emotionally paralyzed,
6. and a paranoid schizophrenic that lives in a group home
7. Married, has a child that is being halfway raised by her uber-JW grandparents. She's doing OK but I really worry about the JW influences on her child.
So, I don't think the success rate is as great as it looked initially. It's hard to pick up your life when you don't have a strong foundation. Very hard. You have to be tough and mean and determined to look after yourself.
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40
How long will I be an exJW vs a fomer JW?
by AllTimeJeff indrew sagan in a recent post (he recently graduated college) said this, something that i agree with and frankly, think about often.
to those of you who feel that you need to "help others" in the watchtower i give you this word of caution.
be careful, because that may simply be an excuse you are using to remain stuck in the past.
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Scarred for life
I do not read every thread. I look mainly for the ones that are about getting past the anger and hurt and horror of being raised as a JW. As far as JW dogma, I just really don't care that much. I'm not interested very much in their current doctrine. All that stuff is way in my past and I don't have anyone in my life that is a current JW and I haven't for many years. It's the emotional issues that I come here for.
Maybe you're looking for a boost to your social life. I hope you are able to do that . I'm sure you can. Good luck!!!!!
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24
How Can Jehovah's Witnesses Take Themselves So Seriously?
by minimus in.
i don't get it.. they're wrong about almost everything they say.
they flip-flop on dates, chronology, prophecy, bible understandings.........
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Scarred for life
Very good points, Mad Sweeney.
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41
How Many 18-35 year old JW's have Exited the Cult in Your Family ?
by flipper injust wanted to start this to get a pulse on how many young jw's are exiting percentage wise recently in the witness organization.
in my family i have 8 young people aged 21 through 35 .
these are my son and two daughters and my older siblings 5 adult children.
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Scarred for life
I don't know if they talk to me or not. I don't see them and we haven't lived in the same state in decades and we really just don't have anything in common. Especially since my mother died , I just have no communication from them at all. The last time I saw most of them was my grandmother's funeral in 1986. I did see a few at a cousin's funeral about 10-11 years ago. And I don't plan to go to another JW funeral. I consider myself to have "divorced" them as much as them shunning me. Even when I have seen some of these relatives I totally avoid talking about JW stuff. I've been doing that for 37 years so it makes it hard for me to know who is active in the JWs still.
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21
Think of JW 's as Victims Instead of Enemies ? They get Conditional Love
by flipper ini have to give credit for this thread where credit is due- to the poster black sheep who used this expression in an answer on another thread recently.
" black sheep.. perhaps the leaders of the wt society are not victims - they are the ones handing out the mind control to the rank & file - ( i know some differ as to whether the leaders are victims as well ) - however that is not the purpose of debate on this thread.. the rank and file jehovah's witness members are trained to have relationships based on " conditions of obedience and membership ".
notice this quote from steve hassan's " releasing the bonds - empowering people to think for themselves " on the last paragraph of his introduction .
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Scarred for life
I like your idea of sending the pictures, flipper. I hope it gets you results.