well, i picked my username because that's what i saw in front of me and i like the way it sounded.
no real story behind that.
i picked my avator because that's the way i felt.
I chose Hopscotch because it is the name of one of my favourite movies with Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson. It is about a CIA agent who gets tired of the lies and dirty tricks going on and bucks the system. When they try to demote him he turns the tables on them and exposes them. 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 JWs and then helps expose them.
Hopscotch
i love to find bargains.
good quality items/products at very low prices.
my idea about decorating is "looks expensive: costs a dime.
FHN one of the bargains I clearly remember was a large bowl I found at a thrift shop. It was down on the bottom shelf in amongst all the glass bowls. I knew it was actually crystal. It cost $2. When I got out to the car I looked at it more closely and found it was Stuart Crystal - very expensive. I have found many, many bargains over the years but that one sticks in my mind.
Hopscotch
i`ve been on this board,since before noah built his ark (take note badboy..lol!!
).........it`s hard to post publicly,at first..it was for me....eventually you get used to the board and start to speak your mind..that can draw criticisim from a few,or sometimes many posters......personally i could care less..if you don`t agree with me,so what?.............does it bother you,when other posters disagree with you?
...outlaw.
NOT IN THE LEAST. I NEVER, EVER GET UPSET WITH ANYONE NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY. I LOVE IT WHEN POSTERS DISAGREE WITH ME. IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!! IT MAKES ME FEEL WARM AND FUZZY!!!
Seriously though, this is such a large, diverse group of people here on the forum, many of of whom are going through very difficult times emotionally due to exiting JWs. So naturally there are going to be many different opinions on a subject, and it's more than likely that some of them will not be in agreement with your opinion. That's just how it is with people. Agree to disagree is sometimes the best motto.
Hopscotch
A more relevant question would probably be:
Were there any who weren't nit biters (pickers) in your congregation?
Nit picking seems to be indocrinated into JWs - it's a part of the culture.
Hopscotch (who is soooo glad to be away from the nitpicking)
PS - I hope you don't view my reply as nit picking!
i don't know the boy.
my daughter and i were coming home from a shopping trip at wal-mart, loaded down with goodies to eat.. the road we had just travelled on was clear of any mishap, an hour later on our return .
ahead of us was blue lights and more blue lights.........about 8 city cop cars, state police, .
Purps that was so sad. My heart goes out to that poor boy's family and to you for the way this has saddened you. It really is a mother's worst nightmare.
Hopscotch
as i went out less and less and less.......i loved the look on the bro at the magazine counter when i said i need three fewer or whatever.....after i did this a few times he said "yeah...several others have had to do the same"......and then i noticed that not only did i bring a huge stack of "back issues" into the hall and place them on the counter when nobody was looking......but there was already a pile there......then i just started trashing them........ahhh.......those were they days...............
Bit by bit we reduced our order over the years. Looking back, we were actually starting to fade but didn't realise it at the time! So it made me feel a tiny bit guilty and a bit of a slacker when we reduced our order. Then when we weren't going anymore and were now deliberate about our fade, the zealous magazine servant and his equally if not more zealous wife made a point of bringing our order of magazines around and leaving them at our front door with a little note of 'encouragement'. We were always not home (even if we were). By then I just wished someone would realise we don't want them and cancel our order, but of course they thought we were just a bit 'spiritually sick' and weighed down with the problems of aging parents, so they made sure we got our magazines. I'm sure that they were probably counting the time and the placements in the end.
Then my devout JW mother-in-law moved in with us when I became her carer 3 years ago. So as she gets picked up and taken to the Sunday meeting she brings us home one copy of each of the magazines. But now I am happy to get them because some of the articles have made for a few interesting threads on the forum!
Hopscotch
step 1: get dragged into jws by your parents when you are 5 years old.
step 2: get baptized in 1975 when you are 16 because armageddon is coming and you don't want to die.
step 3: continue being brainwashed and mind controlled for the next 30 years because you don't want to die at armageddon.
Rachel - Thank you so much for letting me know about Scully's post on your thread. It is a fantastic post and I can relate to so much of what is said. Those 3 points in Barbara Coloroso's book about contempt are spot on in showing the underlying attitude behind the way our familes view those of us who have left JWs. The other book of hers that Scully mentions (the one on Evil and Genocide) showing how this attitude of contempt can ultimately lead to genocide also fits so well with the WTS. I have for some time been able to see a similarity between the way the WTS is able to get it's members to view as less than human those that leave JWs (and those in the world that are to be destroyed) and the way the Nazi party was able to whip up such hatred and contempt for the Jews to the extent that children would turn in their own parents. It is evil and frightening.
When I asked my father during the final phone call why he shows love to two members of his congregation that are both in prison for separate murders (he drives a long distance to visit one of them) yet is cutting me out of his life, he told me that these criminals are repentant and want to remain JWs whereas I don't, so he and the rest of my family have no intention of showing me love any more.
So Rachel just like you, these people who were my family neither love me or deserve my love. By the way they have decided to cut me off even though I am not df'd or da'd - it is their own decision as a family!
Thanks again Rachel. All the best with your family issues as well.
Hopscotch
step 1: get dragged into jws by your parents when you are 5 years old.
step 2: get baptized in 1975 when you are 16 because armageddon is coming and you don't want to die.
step 3: continue being brainwashed and mind controlled for the next 30 years because you don't want to die at armageddon.
Goddess - what you say about a JW family knowing their love is conditional is so true. I believe that many JW parents (not all) use the JW fear and guilt tactics in the place of good parenting, and dole out their love and approval conditionally depending on whether you are a good little JW or not that day. Looking back it felt like that to me growing up as a JW child/teenager - every minor childhood demeanor was viewed through the lens of JW'dom and so became a major deal that would make Jehovah angry and bring shame on the family. I felt that I was never good enough (often being compared to other JW children) and grew up with this tremendous sense of guilt and shame. I would overhear my parents running me down behind my back. The thing is in reality I did well at school, was zealous for 'the truth' and never did anything to bring 'shame' on my family. On the other hand my father was an secret alcoholic and had an affair with a sister in the cong while he was PO!
On the other hand in most normal non JW families, children grow up secure in the knowledge of their parents unconditional love and support. That does not mean there is no discipline or punishment, but there is a real sense of love and approval that builds a child's self esteem.
Yet in spite of being treated like I was, as a teenager and adult it was always me who was there non-stop for my parents in their sicknesses and business troubles. Right up until my father told me in January this year he was cutting me off, I was cooking meals and doing baking for him (my mum died 4 years ago) and other things to help him out. I was also doing a lot to help my brother (and his family) who has been in and out of hospital many times in the last few years.
But that means nothing to a JW if you decide not to be one anymore. I was told I was Satanic, demonised, have lost all my intelligence, was never really in the truth, am deceitful and a whole lot of other sarcastic, insulting things that are totally untrue. It leaves you reeling, because in spite of everything we were a close family who did have many good times together. 49 years of being a dutiful, obedient, loving caring daughter to my father and sister to my brother and sister means absolutely nothing because I uttered the words that I don't want to be a JW anymore. They spit you out into the trash like a piece of spoiled food. That is conditional love at it's best.
Hopscotch
organization member tressa ballard, 62, left the jehovah's witnesses in 1990 and has since embraced evangelical christianity.
the colorado springs resident sometimes speaks at the meetings about how four of her five children who remained in the church refuse to talk to her since she left the faith.
"people can leave, but they will be shunned by family and friends," ballard said.. .
If Ringle wasn't misquoted then what an outright lie. I hope there are lots of letters to the editor sent in to refute that comment. The hide of him - it is a fundamental part of JWs policy and beliefs. Especially after that paragraph in yesterdays WT.
Hopscotch
hands hubler was the rudest most arrogant man "jehovah" ever made.
he was famous for kicking out sisters with crying babies during his talks.
he went to a bible study as a sister asked him to come along, he saw the christmas decorations were up so he excused them and said they would not be coming back, "terminating" the sisters study, no discussion, no nothing.
PS: As for a*s^-kicking Circuit Overseers, do any of you in Australia remember "Cyclone Rex" Mannering?
I remember this guy very well. What an uneducated ignoramus! My husband reckons he looked like a cross between John Wayne and Crocodile Dundee. He would get up on the platform and rant about the evils of wall to wall carpet (so materialistic) and how some witnesses would put more than one type of wine glass on the table at the same time. That was the epitome of worldliness. Goodness only knows what any interested ones who came to those assemblies thought. But he was quite horrible and rude and unliked. How do they pick these COs?
Hopscotch
