Posts by Hopscotch

I see what you mean about the resemblance between these scenes and the ones of Taman Negara. I don't think I would be brave enough to walk on the Taman Negara canopy walk though. It is much higher off the ground than the one here!

Hopscotch

18

Do nice people who leave the truth have more friends?

by wouldacouldashoulda in

jw
friends

hi posters.

something has really been bothering me a lot lately.

in a nutshell i faded about 4 years ago.

Hopscotch

wcs my husband and I found the same thing happening to us when we started fading 4 years ago after 40 years of being JWs. Dropped like hot potatoes by even our so-called best friends. It has nothing to do with how 'nice' you are as a person. My husband and I whilst JWs were constantly told how kind, generous and hospitable we were but that counts for nothing. On top of that my entire JW family has been shunning us since January this year - even after my father admitted that my husband and I had done more to help him out over the years than any others in the family. Again what you are as a person doesn't count for anything. The only thing that counts is having an active JW label.

Having your entire social network and family support system ripped out from under you can really shatter your confidence in yourself as a person. It takes time to slowly get out there and try and find new friends but it can be done.

All the best

Hopscotch

17

Any Aussies about?

by OlderTom in

how about dropping a line on the main board or e-mailing me.

we are organising another bbq and would like to invite you along.. oldertom.

pretty soon we'll have to organise warwick farm race cource for our assemblies.

Hopscotch

Lillith26 I love potato bake at BBQs. Which part of Oz are you in?

Hopscotch

164

My sister died in a head on collision last night

by Bumble Bee in

jw
friends

i still can't believe it.

she was here for the bbq, we had an awesome time, laughing, her telling stories from our childhoods.

i gave her a hug and told her i loved her before she left.

Hopscotch

Bumble Bee

Hugs to you and your family at this tragic time.

Hopscotch

45

Help - am I on the fence??

by wantstoleave in

jw
friends

please bear with me, newbie here :).

i have had doubts for a few years now.

i was raised in the truth, baptised at 16, married at 24...the usual stuff.

Hopscotch

Hi wantstoleave

I know where you're at - as Baba Yagu says most of us have been there and done that.

Just take your time and be patient and gentle with yourself. You don't need to figure it all out at once. Things will become clearer to you the more you read and then take some quiet time to think about what your learning. And as Baba Yagu says trust us - it will get better. You have been a witness for 30 years so it's a huge thing in your life to break free of it. It takes time to learn to trust your own thinking after having had an organisation doing it for you all your life. And what you think of as your conscience is most likely the guilt and fear that has been programmed and brainwashed into you to keep blindly following the directives of this organisation. I was a JW for over 40 years (from the age of 5) and my husband was an elder. Both our families are staunch JWs. But we gradually listened to the doubts and alarm bells that were going off in our head and eventually woke up to the lies that we had been told all our life. We have faded away from the organisation over the last 3 years or so and are still reading and learning about life and what it's all about.

Best wishes

Hopscotch

17

Any Aussies about?

by OlderTom in

how about dropping a line on the main board or e-mailing me.

we are organising another bbq and would like to invite you along.. oldertom.

pretty soon we'll have to organise warwick farm race cource for our assemblies.

Hopscotch

Hi wantstoleave

I'm a girl. Married with one son (19). The three of us got out together.

Hopscotch

17

Any Aussies about?

by OlderTom in

how about dropping a line on the main board or e-mailing me.

we are organising another bbq and would like to invite you along.. oldertom.

pretty soon we'll have to organise warwick farm race cource for our assemblies.

Hopscotch

Hi wantstoleave

I just posted on your I'm New thread and then saw this one. Where about are you. I'm in Queensland just north of Brisbane

Hopscotch

45

Im new....posting hesitantly :)

by wantstoleave in

hi everyone...i have a confession to make, i actually joined 5mths ago, but never came back to the site.

ive had doubt for a few years now.. my parents came into the truth when i was a toddler.

no other family members are witnesses.

Hopscotch

Hi wantstoleave

I just wanted to say to you that it's often a good idea to listen to that voice inside you - it really does know what to do. My husband and I had doubts for a long time but pushed them aside until a crisis occured in our life that made us sit up and listen. We wish now that we had listened to our doubts a lot sooner while we were a lot younger and before things reached crisis point.

You are still young and you deserve to be able to live the rest of your life in freedom not in limbo. You also have your little ones to think about - one of our greatest regrets is not leaving JWs while our son was young.

The WTS most powerful tools to keep you trapped in their organisation are fear and guilt. It is not easy leaving JWs when the rest of your family is still in but it can be done successfully. And if you read through the stories on here of those of us who have done this (and for some of us it has meant being shunned by our JW families) you will read time and again that the freedom to live our life our way and not under the mind control of the WTS is worth all the effort and in some cases pain that it takes to make the break.

Wishing you all the best

Hopscotch

58

What's in a name?

by dissed in

jw
friends

its friday, and you know what that means?.

its time for the weekly tradition of sharing what your name means and why you chose it.. there has to be a reason, and it must reveal to us something special about you.. sure this post has probably been run by the forum before, but many of us are new here, and 'by golly, we need to get to know you all better.'.

even if you are using your real name, why and the heck are you using it?

Hopscotch

I chose Hopscotch because it is the title of one of my favourite movies starring Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson. The movie is about a CIA agent who gets tired of the lies and dirty tricks going on in the agency so he bucks the system. When his boss then tries to demote him he turns the tables on him and exposes some of the CIAs little secrets. It is a very clever and very funny movie. So I thought it was kind of an appropriate name then to use for someone who leaves the JWs and is helping expose their lies and dirty tricks.

Hopscotch