Posts by silent

19

Chronic relapse - what do I do?

by wayoutthere in

jw
friends

my first post here and unfortunately it is asking for help.. i was a born in jehovah's witness and from my earliest memories, i know i hated being one.

i hated the embarrassment of being the "outsider" at school and i hated not being allowed to have any friends.

of course i had the obligatory friends in the kingdom hall - none of whom were my age exactly and none of whom i would have personally chosen to be friends with if i had been left to pick them myself in a natural setting.

silent

Your story could be me and lots of others. The stigma, the day-to-day fear and terror of being taunted by your classmates, feeling alone, being an outsider, etc. is ALL a side-effect of this religion. You never got over it and hid it all those years. When you hide something, you are allowing "IT" or "THEM" to have power and control over you. Simply put, you have chosen to live as a prisoner of other people's thoughts all these years due to the traumas inflicted upon you during your youth. I'm not being critical of you, but save yourself the money from having to have a therapist tell you the same thing. I'm very open about my upbringing because the vast majority of adults and sane/free thinkers totally get it at this stage that as kids, we all have very little choice in how we were being raised. When you mature and come of age, you make decisions to either keeping being what you are, or be different from what you once were. I simply tell people I was raised one of Jehovah's Witnesses and due to some problems I had with the teachings and how I was treated, for my own health and mental well-being, I just couldn't go anymore. Problem solved and I've never run across anyone who was critical of that. Actually I have people ask me more questions about the Bible after they find out. Kind of a weird witness situation that seems more natural than ever before. You will cause yourself way more grief and trauma if you keep hiding it. Instead, grow up, be open about it, it's part of you and anyone who holds you in derision over it is a bloomin' fool that isn't worth your time. You had no choice in the matter at the time, but now you do.

I must mention that I don't have a large circle of friends. I seldom ever go and visit friends anywhere, I come home from work, fix a meal, surf the net, work on my farm a bit, and my wife and I pretty much keep to ourselves. We have friends that we keep a good 100+ miles away that we are welcome to go see anytime and hang out with and in so doing, we do maintain strict control over who comes to the house. I have a couple of close-knit "worldly" contacts that know my story and they of course are allowed over anytime - I'd actually trust them to house sit for me. I'm a jack of all trades, so anyone who takes issue with my Witness past, can usually be subdued when I fix something of theirs for cheap or free and they realize, I'm not such a bad guy after all. I can see how if you're the BBQ-on-the-weekend type, and drink, watch sports with the gang, etc. then the shallow-flighty nature of that social situation could wreak havoc on your fantasy life of fun and games, but in the long term it's best to come out with it. Part of not being embarrassed or ashamed is to never outwardly show it. Growing up as a Witness, I became very good at acting - to a pathological level - but when you show no shame - it's funny but the shame actually transfers to the person who thought you should be ashamed. Then they're ashamed that they thought you should be ashamed.

I feel for you, but I've learned to cope and deal with this every day. For people who are more sensitive emotionally, being a Witness is pure torture, and I completely understand why the suicide rate is high and largely ignored by the upper brass.

I wish you well. You're in good company here.

53

Need to vent: Wife just went in full cult mode, huge fight. she is so brainwashed

by goingthruthemotions in

jw
friends

out of the blue my wife started to ask me about my feeling about the borg.

i told her i didn't want to talk about it...she persisted.

she already knows how i feel, i told her that my biggest beef is that they use mind control, and yep she went in to how i was an apostate and how she doesn't want to be married to an apostate.

silent

I wonder why she is asking? I've found that usually when a Witness asks things, it's never for an innocent reason. They are doing the bidding of someone like an elder or family member - doing the spying and dirty work. No doubt she is off and reporting this to someone somewhere. The best thing I would say, *IF* (and this is a big *IF*) you wish to stay together and don't mind lending lip service to supporting her activities, taking her to the Hall and dropping her off on bad-weather days like snow if that's where you live, then you don't give her any grounds for divorce or at the very least, you show you're amicable to what she wants to do. The more you conduct yourself in a kind and Christian manner that is un-dub like (an answer when mild turns away rage), then you prove yourself the bigger person, the more Christ-like person, and you gain the upper hand. I wouldn't engage her in any more conflicts - just tell her that you'll support her beliefs as long as she respects you as her supporting mate. That puts the entirety of the situation on her and she will have to do the cheating or whatever devious plan she has to concoct to justify divorcing or leaving you. I don't know your entire personal situation, but it's a great plan of attack if you can love her despite her beliefs. Usually sincere dubs aren't too hard to get along with once they learn to respect you for your beliefs. On the other hand, if she's a wild and crazy dub bitch, then there is no hope and I wish you the best.

7

Looking for 4 years of my posts!

by clarity in

dear simon, did you ever explain where all our previous posts have gone?.

if you did ...i missed it.. my current info states that i have only posted 2 times & responded to only a few posters.. seems to me my count was about 3,000 the last time i looked......plse tell me how to access my old stuff or has it been destroyed now?.

clarity .

silent

I think you can delete your old posts, but you have to go back and edit them and leave 'em blank before you resave. That's the only way I figured out you could do it.

91

Your worst convention experience.

by zeb in

by a split second rescuing our handicapped son from being pushed down the stairs by a flood of sisters rushing out to see as the drama had started.. the main offender being a special pioneer..

silent

BTW: Freddie Franz was small frail man when I saw him back in the 80s. I was taller than him and people were standing in line like he was some kind of a celebrity. I went to get a closer look and then while I was waiting in line, I felt like a fool, and just went back to my seat. He was just a man.

91

Your worst convention experience.

by zeb in

by a split second rescuing our handicapped son from being pushed down the stairs by a flood of sisters rushing out to see as the drama had started.. the main offender being a special pioneer..

silent

My worst one was at a convention in the midwest where bleacher seating was located immediately above tightly spaced and packed hard-plastic seating. My legs got really sore and cramped up and so for lunch, I just stepped right behind my seat and sat on the wooden bleacher so I could enjoy my lunch with my legs stretched out. This area had been marked off with yellow tape for which I presume was their attempt at forcing everyone down below into the regular seats so it didn't appear to look so sparse (all about the appearances ya know!) I had an attendant in his upper 40s come over and inform me that I needed to get back down into my seat. I said I would and that I was stretching out my legs. He walked the entire perimeter and when he came back, he zero'd in on me and glared and said, "I thought I told you to sit back down in your seat." That was the beginning of the end for me at conventions. I suffered (yes - suffered!) for years at conventions with sore legs, legs going to sleep, sore butts due to hard seating, sore backs, and just a horrible affair with my comfort. They quit allowing people to bring in lawn chairs (which they used to allow) and it got the point I would start brainstorming about bringing a recliner on a dolly with handicapped placards all over it to see if I could sneak it by. :)

Yet another time I was helping a family member with cleaning duty with the bathrooms. I would sit at this little table and listen to the talks droning on and on. The family member said something about leaving for a little bit and I said okay. So I sat there by myself for quite some time and sure enough, an attendant came up and queried me about why I was sitting there and why I wasn't in my seat with my family. Yet I would see others sitting at desks and the same attendant would just walk on by them. WTF!?!?!?!

Finally one other time, when I was really young, my brother and I would do like kids do and play hide and seek or tag in the auditorium at intermission by walking really fast all up and down the stairs in all the little nooks and crannies (just below a run so we wouldn't get in trouble.) One time I decided to run like I had seen all the other little brats and elder's kids do with impunity and right off the bat, I got stopped by an elderly brother who counseled me about running in Jehovah's house. All this while kids were running by us. I felt so horrid and later when that brother died, I didn't hold back by telling all that asked me if I had heard he passed away what I thought about how he drug me off in a corner to counsel me while others kids kept running by us. JERK!

NEVER in my whole life, have I ever felt so bad for just being myself. I was not an elder's child (in fact I had a handicapped father that precluded me from ever going to other congregations for talks) so I was easy pickings and fodder for anyone who wanted to wreak their counseling arm of authority on me. I would get counseled for just being myself, for wanting to stretch my legs, for doing what others did with impunity (and screw all that talk about Jehovah disciplines those he loves.)

I haven't been to a convention of any sort in about 4 years and I don't miss it at all. As a matter of fact, I'm a lot more relaxed because I know in the small town I'm in, all the JWs will be gone. It's a great feeling.

Honestly, when I look back, once I got a little older and wiser, I really didn't enjoy any of the conventions at all. I enjoyed the motel stay, swimming in the indoor pool, loading up on knick-knacks at the gift shop, and eating out. The conventions bored me and I didn't understand why we had to meet there anyway when everything they said could be covered as talks at the local Kingdom Halls. Does anyone remember the circuit assemblies that would start about 8:15am and run to 5:55 with an hour for lunch? That was forever to a young kid!

It's probably a good idea I don't go, because if I was to sit in the bleacher seats again and I got accosted by an attendant, I'd not only tell him to buzz off, I'd call the police and tell them I was getting harassed by a person in a public facility for sitting in an area that is OPEN to the public and demand they be removed and press charges. I won't back down next time.

12

Waking someone up using WT Article on "Doubts"?

by cappytan in

has anyone had success in using this article to convince their family member or spouse that critical research of what the society presents is important to build faith?.

this article has this passage that jumped out at me:.

of course, not all doubt is bad.

silent

Of course they strongly encourage you through roundabout-reasonings that you shouldn't apply this to their beliefs. I've often wondered why it doesn't say in scripture what a "pioneer" is and why no hourly requirement is mentioned? It seems to me that removing the hourly requirements would mean people could speak to others about their beliefs as the opportunity arose and in non-confrontational situations. It's why I only turn in token time, but in reality I don't keep track. Keeping track of hours is not biblical nor is there any other precedent about service time other than sending them off in pairs. Other things like facial hair and cultural limitations are encouraged as if they were from the scriptures, but have no basis in scripture whatsoever. I invent my own culture and follow it as opposed to the vast majority of sheeple who follow other people's culture.

31

Is this proof that the flood was regional?

by silent in

jw
friends

i stumbled across a scripture today.

it's numbers 13:33 "and there we saw the nephilim, the sons of anak, who are from the nephilim, and in comparison we seemed like grasshoppers, both to us and to them.. now if they honestly believed that they saw the nephilim, it would mean that some nephilim would have had to survive the flood or that the hijinks of the fallen angels before the flood, happened again shortly thereafter.

the only other thing i can come up with is that nephilim was some kind of generic word that implied giant proportions, but not necessarily the nephilim.. comments from the more educated appreciated.. silent.

silent

I would like to believe the Bible about the flood, but I still haven't come up for a reason for Australia. Unless Jehovah used his holy spirit to either fly kangaroos and koalas there or via a land bridge before cutting off the bridge. At any rate, if indeed everything did perish (there are ocean-life fossils found on the tops of every mountain range in the world), then that would lead to just one logical conclusion that the fallen angels who materialized bodies for themselves, were up to the same thing after the flood although the scope of what happened previously was never allowed to manifest itself where the entire earth was filled with violence due to the Nephilim. I would suppose that the Israelites going into these lands and conquering them was more than just a war of people. It was the subjects of Jehovah battling the subjects of Satan and coming off victorious. It was the little normal-sized guys conquering the giant-sized guys and a wiping out of the Nephilim. Evidently there is some kind of prohibition that doesn't allow the fallen angels to do that again or they simply tired of it.

Thanks for your input everyone. I personally think the Bible has a bit more credence so as to not be written off as a myth. I approach it as a book of truth and go from there. Maybe some like-minded individuals would enjoy this thread more.

31

Is this proof that the flood was regional?

by silent in

jw
friends

i stumbled across a scripture today.

it's numbers 13:33 "and there we saw the nephilim, the sons of anak, who are from the nephilim, and in comparison we seemed like grasshoppers, both to us and to them.. now if they honestly believed that they saw the nephilim, it would mean that some nephilim would have had to survive the flood or that the hijinks of the fallen angels before the flood, happened again shortly thereafter.

the only other thing i can come up with is that nephilim was some kind of generic word that implied giant proportions, but not necessarily the nephilim.. comments from the more educated appreciated.. silent.

silent

gda: Yes I just came back to post that in Genesis 6:4 it says that afterward there were Nephilim which, between these 2 scriptures, is a different understanding than what I originally thought. It appears Nephilim continued for a time after the flood. If Noah and his family were the only ones to survive the flood, then evidently those fallen angels tried it again.

cofty: I appreciate your input, however for someone like me that believes a version of what the bible says, you probably aren't going to find anything more in this thread that is of interest to you. Certainly feel free to continue telling me that it's all lies and fables, but I think there is still truth to be found within its pages.

31

Is this proof that the flood was regional?

by silent in

jw
friends

i stumbled across a scripture today.

it's numbers 13:33 "and there we saw the nephilim, the sons of anak, who are from the nephilim, and in comparison we seemed like grasshoppers, both to us and to them.. now if they honestly believed that they saw the nephilim, it would mean that some nephilim would have had to survive the flood or that the hijinks of the fallen angels before the flood, happened again shortly thereafter.

the only other thing i can come up with is that nephilim was some kind of generic word that implied giant proportions, but not necessarily the nephilim.. comments from the more educated appreciated.. silent.

silent

I stumbled across a scripture today. It's Numbers 13:33 "And there we saw the Nephʹi·lim, the sons of Aʹnak, who are from the Nephʹi·lim, and in comparison we seemed like grasshoppers, both to us and to them.”

Now if they honestly believed that they saw the Nephilim, it would mean that some Nephilim would have had to survive the flood or that the hijinks of the fallen angels before the flood, happened again shortly thereafter. The only other thing I can come up with is that Nephilim was some kind of generic word that implied giant proportions, but not necessarily THE Nephilim.

Comments from the more educated appreciated.

silent

18

FYI, links to photos of jw.org signs on top of WT buildings

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

yesterday, on the thread i started on 4/15/14, http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/279088/1/essay-by-barbara-anderson-whats-in-a-name#.u1e98jao7l9 that introduces a recent article i wrote which is posted on www.watchtowerdocuments.org , i thought i made an inaccurate statement in one of my posts about wt having a sign, jw.org, on the top of one of their buildings.

i was sure i had seen a photo of such a sign but couldn't prove it until last night when proof was sent to me in an email and the proof is to be found in the form of links to photos of the sign.

i was wrong in thinking the sign was on a wt factory building.

silent

Boy they are going after the jw.org domain name like it's the late 90's. That puts them at least 15 years behind the curve. It's now like the rank and file have discovered internet for the first time.

You were looked at with disdain if you showed up with printouts of the WT and especially the Bible. You were to USE THE BIBLE itself and no facsimile thereof and not doing so was not heeding the counsel given. You were to have that bible in your hand and show people right from God's word - that very book - what was being said. Personally, I don't care for electronic notebooks, notepads, tablets, and the like. Heck, I don't even have a smart phone and never have. It really disgusts me that they are embracing this technology, but really - all the hooplah is like someone discovering moving pictures with sound for the first time. A bit late for that mate!