we hadn't had any visits for a long time. we have had lights (the white ones that look like icicles) for a while. i didn't think much of it. it was on my mind to send a DA letter. Is it too late?
FinchAndWeston
JoinedPosts by FinchAndWeston
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61
I too have been charged with apostasy! Stunned.
by FinchAndWeston inmy wife and i got a letter sent to me stating we are being called before a judical hearing to discuss allegations of apostasy!
we haven't gone to the meeting in 5 years.
are the jw's on a witchhunt lately?
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61
I too have been charged with apostasy! Stunned.
by FinchAndWeston inmy wife and i got a letter sent to me stating we are being called before a judical hearing to discuss allegations of apostasy!
we haven't gone to the meeting in 5 years.
are the jw's on a witchhunt lately?
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FinchAndWeston
wow. so lights = apostasy? I would have thought just DF. but apostasy? isn't that extreme. honestly I don't care. its the family members still in that i care about.
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I too have been charged with apostasy! Stunned.
by FinchAndWeston inmy wife and i got a letter sent to me stating we are being called before a judical hearing to discuss allegations of apostasy!
we haven't gone to the meeting in 5 years.
are the jw's on a witchhunt lately?
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FinchAndWeston
My wife and I got a letter sent to me stating we are being called before a judical hearing to discuss allegations of apostasy! We haven't gone to the meeting in 5 years. Are the JW's on a witchhunt lately? Is anyone who doesn't go to meetings being branded apostate? We got on the radar and we don't know how. They saw the christmas lights hung outside. Is this an act of apostasy? Should we ignore the letter or respond. Comments?
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untitled
by jambon1 ini had nice friends that i chose.
i loved them & they loved me.
we had some nice friends.. but i do find it difficult to be extreemly close to people who stand by the rules of d/f.. my worldly friends are astounded that modern day people treat others like this.. i have found lovely friends in the 'wicked world'.
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FinchAndWeston
Don't be mislead. In the Jworld, you do not have friends, you have conditional acquaintances that will only be around you if you meet the minimum conditions set out by the Org. These conditional acquaintances are trained to leave you if you do not meet the conditions.
Not out in service? You are not good association.
Not having perfect attendance to meetings? You are not good association.
Not commenting in meetings? You are not good association.
Going out in service, commenting in meetings, perfect attendance? You are worth of having friends.
Honestly, you don't need friends like that. Friends are the ppl that are there in the good and bad.
A good friend will come bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying...'Damn, that was fun! Yet a JW friend will be the one abandoning you in your time of need!
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New here
by FinchAndWeston inhi, everyone, just wanted to say hi to y'all.
i've been lurking for a long time... .
i only wished i had visited sites like these before!
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FinchAndWeston
yeah - funny how this site just draws you in . i like the energy in this forum. always an interesting read, here, that's for sure! i love how everyone here is from the JWorld and can relate to each other's pain.
p.s. i added this site to my RSS reader last year and i'm constantly checking for new posts. yes, i have been lurking for a while.
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New here
by FinchAndWeston inhi, everyone, just wanted to say hi to y'all.
i've been lurking for a long time... .
i only wished i had visited sites like these before!
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FinchAndWeston
thanks for the words of encouragement. nice to know i'm not alone. when i was DF'ed, it was horrible. first time out in the 'world', no friends to speak of as most were from the cong. i had some 'worldly' friends, but i used to hate calling them 'worldly' - as they had some sort of disease or somthing. lol. labeling is a technique religions use to create in-groups/out-groups and a sense of alienation - "us versus them". i considered my non-jw friends better than some JW friends cuz when the chips were down, they were there, not the jw's.
mind you, i did make some really awesome friends in the JWs and I would be lying if i said i didn't miss them, even now. i came back, but found it was not the same. everyone treats you like a 'use-to-be-DF'ed' and it's a label you never lose. sigh.
mouthy, religilously speaking, i threw out the 'baby, the water and the tub' when i decided to fade.
i've been reading a lot, thinking a lot and generally experiencing life for the first time. i need to clear out the old before i bring in the new. dunno where i'll be in 5 to 10 years, and i'm perfectly fine with that.
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New here
by FinchAndWeston inhi, everyone, just wanted to say hi to y'all.
i've been lurking for a long time... .
i only wished i had visited sites like these before!
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FinchAndWeston
yeah, i never understood how some seats were 'reserved' before 8:00am at DCs. I used to line up at 7:30am, which was late by JW standards, btw, to get "decent seats". i found the whole situation untheocratic. my wife and i used to hope and pray they would change the situation so that families with multiple kids got the aisles either by assignment or by "brotherly love". sigh. i needed the whole morning program to recover from the seating fiasco.
then there was the 2pm stretch on sunday. please tell me i wasn't the only one that just had to nod off for at least an hour. why would they choose the most monotonic bro's for that time slot! ppl, please! by sunday at 2, the coffee long ran out, you were tired and exhasted from already 3 days ... seriously!
in the end, you could always catch up on the latest JW buzz at the next service meeting, making the whole situation of going to DCs kinda pointless, for me, anyways.
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New here
by FinchAndWeston inhi, everyone, just wanted to say hi to y'all.
i've been lurking for a long time... .
i only wished i had visited sites like these before!
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FinchAndWeston
i'm ok with "seen as slightly worldly and not elligible for positions of privilege"
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25
New here
by FinchAndWeston inhi, everyone, just wanted to say hi to y'all.
i've been lurking for a long time... .
i only wished i had visited sites like these before!
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FinchAndWeston
thanks you guys.
Another questions: I have been sporting a Goatee for over a year (p.s. wife loves it! and so do I, frankly. I don't see the big deal). Are they alllowed now? I saw another brother sporting one, though he is not from my hall. I didn't have the chance to talk to him and ask him. His BFF is an MS and they were talking together so I guess they are OK?
As for my story, my ma and pa became JWs when I was 3. My ma took it serious and imposed it on me and my sis. So much so, that we had to go to meetings, and have JW friends, etc. Eventually, I came to enjoy 'being in the truth'. I grew up with the fear that one day, Armageddon was around the corner. I remember the TV movie "The Day After" (anyone else scared sh*tless by that one???) had a HUGE impact on me, and I clinged to the Org thinking it would be the best way to survive should an A bomb drop. I got baptised at 17 and I became an MS at 20. I was really devoted to the faith. I religiously went out on services. I did public talks and I participated in 1 drama, and did a 5 min talk at an assembly. The elders were constantly pressuring me to join MTS school or go to bethel. I did aux pioneer for 2 years during my collegue years. Yeah, I was an MS, pioneering and studying. It wasn't easy.
I'm leaving a lot of other parts of my story out for simplicity sake.
Jump ahead a few years, I got DF'ed for what appears to be the #1 reason all young guys do. I got married and we had 3 wonderful kids.
We quickly came back. I'd say we were reinstated in less than 2 years. Going to the meetings when you are DF'ed is no piece of cake, I tell you. Anyone else hate going to places where everyone ignores you, and you feel more like you are invading more than attending a meeting?
My doubts of the truth came when I had kids. I dreaded the 3 day conventions. It's really hard with kids. We had to wake up so early to go, reserve seats. I used to get into shouting matches with other ppl. The marathon running at 8:00am when the doors opened was INSANE!
I remember specifically as a young guy in the truth when the 'payment' for mags was changed to 'donations'. I bought the explination hook-line-and-sinker. Ray Franz' book was what really opened my eyes. When I read Ray's account, it made soooo much sense.
Honestly, I used to always wonder why the hours were always published but not the total $ donations made and WHERE the freaking money went. I guess they couldn't otherwise it would be toooo easy to calculate the taxes owing. hehhe.
I have so much more to write and tell you guys. I'll write some more soon.
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New here
by FinchAndWeston inhi, everyone, just wanted to say hi to y'all.
i've been lurking for a long time... .
i only wished i had visited sites like these before!
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FinchAndWeston
Hi, everyone, just wanted to say hi to y'all. i've been lurking for a long time... so i recently decided to join this group. i find myself coming here every morning and read the wonderful stories. i share the pain most of you have experienced being 'in the truth', DF'ed, reinstated and now fading away. I hope to add and share with others, too.
i only wished i had visited sites like these before!
Thanks to everyone who has ever shared his/her story. I have read most of the ones in the past year. It is knowning that there are others who feel like me, that reaffirms the truth about the truth ... that mind control is mind control is mind control but not a religion.
I've begun my fade since last year.
A question to the experienced faders : what do you say if you run into elders? i've been dreading this situation for a long time. i'm not naive. i know i will run into them eventually but i'm not interested in getting publicly DF'ed or DA'ed. I just want to fade.
Mind you, if it came down to it, I guess I would come out and say it, that beleiving in God and belong to a religion are 2 separate and distinct things, and that I don't beleive everything the society publishes.
Thoughts?