Ugh YES! The Looney Tunes one...
How pleasant to see brothers All dwell in unity...
Unity, my ass...
But usually it's just in my head and not an outward hum...
i haven't been anywhere near a jw meeting or convention in at least 8 or 9 years.
but this afternoon, i'm doing some weed trimming and suddenly realized i had this lyric playing in my head...over and over.... .
"ours is the god of true prophecy,.
Ugh YES! The Looney Tunes one...
How pleasant to see brothers All dwell in unity...
Unity, my ass...
But usually it's just in my head and not an outward hum...
i completely forgot about this place until today.
i had an epiphany two das ago.
i must admit i was taking "legal plant food" and still have not gone to bed.
Agreeing with nugget and Paula on all points (including that you're good-looking ). A large amount of JW's and those exiting are either on anti-depressants or need to be. I myself was severely depressed for years and had no idea why. Aren't we supposed to be the happiest people on earth? I was lethargic, had no energy, all I could do was make sure my kids were still alive and fed and clean, but as for interactions, I didn't have it in me for a long time. I know that empty void that gets filled with anger over the stupidest things. You feel nothing positive, only anger and sadness, and that overwhelming numbness. Anti-depressants, with the right dose, can help. I was on them for a little while (a year, just the smallest dose because I just wanted to feel a little better, not all foggy and high). I slowly weaned myself off after I left the JW's and I've been fine ever since...it's been almost a year.
Counseling has helped a lot of people. I'm going to start once I move next month and get settled in. I still have issues to work out that I don't think I can do on my own. I hope you will at least look into it.
Finding out this was a cult kind of knocks you on your butt doesn't it? It's like you knew there was something "not right" for years, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it. Then when the puzzle pieces click together, it's a tempest of emotions. We're all here for you while you weather that storm.
Child abuse is common in the Watchtower. You should know that you're in good company here. A lot of us suffered at the hands of our parents. I'm going to borrow a line from Good Will Hunting and just give you a hug and say "It's not your fault".
Welcome back!!!
MB
this was mainly referring to religious mythology.
satan is the author and orchestrator of false religion.
pauls warning about false stories is part of his first letter to timothy, a christian overseer who was charged with preserving the purity of the congregation and helping fellow believers to remain faithful.
The fact of the matter is, a huge percentage of "experiences" and "illustrations" used by the WTBTS are contrived or stolen from other religious organizations.
This little gem: http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/conventi.htm was used at a convention that I attended, yet it's from "false religion". Many talks on convention programs are specific outlines. Be that as it may, if this wasn't on a specific outline, the brother was chosen to represent the Society's views and took an "illustration" from a false religious organization.
You still have not addressed the fact that the WTBTS changes people's names all the time when they print an experience. Maybe not in every instance, but in a lot of them. Now, why would they need to do that if it's an encouraging experience? If it wouldn't ruin anyone's life, why not print their real name? Because it's false. Because attaching a real moniker to it is impossible because the story can't be corroborated and they don't know WHO it came from. They pull stories and experiences out of the their asses all the time and pass them off as truth.
I could see that it would be fishy and possibly a false story if it was the first time ever that anyone had heard of this going on in the WTBTS. But it's not. For thousands of people to stand up and say "Yes, this has been my experience as well!"... Then that's thousands of people who have experienced the truthfulness of that "false story". They are witnesses to the fact that it DOES HAPPEN. When one person stands up and says "This happened to me", and then another, and another, until you have thousands of voices crying out at the injustice, then yes it is true. Whether you like it or not. And we apostates are not going to keep quiet and quit spreading these "false stories" because people deserve to know how destructive your precious Watchtower is.
Going the Distance
this is very difficult to write (forgive me for any spelling mistake, i am not a native english speaker).. i cannot tell my complete story on this board - i eventually will, once i have broken the last "link in the chain" that has kept me captive to the borg.
i can't tell my story, because.....basically i will be known.....as a more or less "famous" jw..... i have been lurking this site for many years, wrote here under another name - this eventually was found out and i had to do "damage containment".
i had to "go back" and tow the party line....all my family (extended and close) are witnesses, all my "friends" and even work & business relationships are jw.
Intel, first let me say I'm truly sorry that you're going through this. Having a young child involved in the situation makes it that much more difficult.
Secondly, I will say that I am very happy for you that you have broken free of the mind control. If you yourself aren't completely free yet, at least you are in your mind and that is a powerful thing!
I've gone through the same...I didn't DA, wasn't DF'ed, but I faded. Once my ex found out I didn't want "The Truth", he decided I was a "spiritual danger" and had to go. He had family and fellow JW's agree to swear in a court of law that I was abusive ("abusive" in a JW's mind could be something as ridiculous as a parent not giving a child a bible study or praying with them, refusing to care for their "spiritual needs" translated into neglect). Armed with this testimony, he came to me and told me he had a huge amount of evidence against me and people willing to call Child Welfare and testify that I was abusing my kids. His family threatened me that they would make sure everyone in the area "knew what I was" and that I'd never make it on my own because no one would give me a job once they were done. And staying in my home was not an option because my ex was trying to find some sort of grounds to have me arrested or physically removed from the house. All he had to say was that he feared for himself and my children. I was a stay-at-home mom, didn't have access to our bank account. I didn't have a penny to my name.
That's not the entirety of it, but I try not to post TOO much detail as I'm still lying low for the time being. But know you're not alone. I wish I had the Child Custody packet back then. I have a PDF of it now, if you would like me to email it to you. I wish I had the money for a lawyer then. I wish I had the time to get more information at that time. So many things I'd do differently. Now my children are half a world away, I only get to speak to them a couple of times a month (after not being able to AT ALL because of my ex's lies), and he has another wife who is raising MY BABIES. What I'm trying to say is DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU. Prepare yourself, even if you think you will stay together! Make sure you always have a backup, a contingency plan. Give yourself an out and make SURE you can remain in contact with your precious little girl. As she gets older in this cult, she will need her daddy.
Take care, and please feel free to send me a PM if you'd like to talk further.
i was reading a thread on here that got me thinking.. what is the purpose of confession if not another method of mind control?
back in ancient israel, confession was just this thing you did if you were a good jew.
just like observing sabbath, fasting.. you get the point.
My ex husband and I were like you and your wife, doing stuff before we were married, but not going all the way (and yeah, there was a bed involved lol) and it was all hands. We would have been just fine and dandy, but 3 years after we got married, he decided to roll and come clean to the elders about it. I was PISSED. That was our business and was between us and "god". But he was convinced that was why we were not "receiving Jehovah's blessing" (cause we were friggin' miserable and poor, etc). We went to the elders, a committee was formed because of the "nature of the sin" and we were given counsel and private reproof.
However, I've had a few partners since my divorce. Not ashamed of it, either. Goodness knows I needed to know what REAL sex was like after being married to a JW for so long and not having any other experience. I was an active JW at the time, but not a believer. And I refuse to give any creedance to the WTBTS policy on confessing. My body, my business.
this was mainly referring to religious mythology.
satan is the author and orchestrator of false religion.
pauls warning about false stories is part of his first letter to timothy, a christian overseer who was charged with preserving the purity of the congregation and helping fellow believers to remain faithful.
Another known religious charlatan Jack Van Impe recently pointed out in his Sunday TV preaching lambasted Harold Camping as a disingenuous charlatan fraud, which is quite laughable being that Jack Van Impe has been making End Time Prophesies by using the bible for quite some time now selling books and DVDs on the subject, making millions $$$
Hello, Pot? This is the Kettle...
i know that some will disagree on this, and say you can ask questions.
yet, i ask you to honestly think what would happen if you openly started asking questions on jw doctrine or evolution.
likely you would be made to feel like i did below if you started asking these questions to other jws.. .
@ pnt428571~ You'll answer any questions? Okay, how about the ones in Tuesday's (Tim Kilgore) videos on Youtube? There's a whole channel with tons of them. Let's start with this one:
this was mainly referring to religious mythology.
satan is the author and orchestrator of false religion.
pauls warning about false stories is part of his first letter to timothy, a christian overseer who was charged with preserving the purity of the congregation and helping fellow believers to remain faithful.
Maze, as Spade you said you don't believe in a higher power and that your wife was studying with Jehovah's Witnesses.As spade you mentioned you have been associated with witnesses for 30 years and that you are defending your religion.
Must be a JW then, talking out both sides of their mouth lol
under the heading, "transplants and the first amendment" today:.
"i respect the jehovah's witnesses for fighting to keep the government from forcing them to violate their religious principles....... but to go from those rights to demanding that i pay for their more expensive medical treatments to satisfy their religious scruples is outrageous.
if they have special medical needs, let them turn to members of their faith community for financial support..... to demand that the government finance their religious preferences, while refusing to salute the flag of the government that will pay for them, is blatant hypocrisy.".
Another double standard regarding blood: They are willing to allow fractions, which take more pints of blood to obtain and process than a whole blood transfusion, yet they will not donate BACK to the already scant blood supply that they pull out of. For instance, it takes about 40 units of plasma to get one unit of cryoprecipitate. If, as I read on a different website, the dosage is usually 5 units, that means that it takes 200 units of plasma to treat ONE PATIENT with ONE DOSE. 200 units...meaning 200 people gave their blood for that one person. And yet, they give NOTHING back. And they claim to be so selfless...
Sickening.