Gulf Coaster

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Posts by Gulf Coaster

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  63

  New Spiritually Weak Label: Not Using Tablet/iPhone

  by Doubtfully Yours in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  with last night's meeting it became official: here in the states is a must to keep up with 'jehovah's org' that one fully jumps on board with this tablet/iphone crap.. so, now, all of us that up to this point have refused to follow the wtbts in their electronic/wireless revolution will deal with the browbeating from the 'spiritual' ones.. already receiving lots of grief from hubby and rest of the family/close friends when seen at the meetings with paper publications.

  damn it!!!

  am i alone in this resistance???!!!.

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  Gulf Coaster

  Must be tough for technophobic older people. I wonder how my mother is coping since she has trouble operating a microwave oven. She's in Australia and I'm not sure if they're browbeating their flock the same.
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  10

  Anti-gay Kid video in European Parliament

  by sp74bb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ms. elena valenciano, chairman of human rights commission in european parliament has been informed about this video:.

  https://twitter.com/elenavalenciano/status/728122799336775686.

  she is taking care to bring and claim about this situation within european parliament.

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  Gulf Coaster

  Fantastic news. It's getting a lot of coverage on various sites and many of the comments are very satisfying although the apologists are out in full force too, desperate to control the damage.

  Technology will be the downfall of the WT. First, the internet allows JWs to see "apostate" material and sites. And then their intolerant and damaging dogma is exposed for all to see.
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  4

  Are you angry at the people who ignored your abuse?

  by purrpurr in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  following on from my privous thread about being beaten.

  (which seems to have got the most horrendous stories now, i'm so sorry to all those who suffered in that manner).

  i'd like to ask when you think about all those people, jw's, family members etc who knew that you were being beaten/abused and did nothing to stop it are you angry with them about it?.

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  Gulf Coaster

  Since it was the 70's, "spanking" was still an appropriate parenting strategy with most so I can't get angry at society for not stepping in. Besides, our abuse happened in the privacy of our home, so I doubt anyone knew.

  Maybe some neighbors wondered what the screaming and yelling was about, I'll never know. My dad worked long hours and I don't remember him being home when my mother was in full psycho mode. I used to excuse myself from gym class sometimes when the bruises were fresh and especially noticeable, out of embarrassment. I doubt even the gym teachers would have done anything back then.

  Since I was so terrorized by my mother, I doubt I'd have had the courage to complain to anyone anyway. Guaranteed she'd have punished me for that.

  She feels so righteous about her method of "parenting". Like I mentioned before, when I brought up her harsh methods, she wasn't apologetic at all, nor did she try to whitewash it. She was immensely proud of herself. Lost cause. Which is why she is still a JW and will die one. That harsh, hateful cult suits her to a tee. And it's why I was miserable in it and escaped as soon as I could.
  
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  64

  Were you beaten as a child?

  by purrpurr in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i've been confronting my mother with her dubious parenting skills (abuse) of me as a child.

  particularly the beatings i would get with the wooden spoon.

  not a light smack but hitting me as hard as she could for as long as she could.

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  Gulf Coaster

  To be fair, physical assault of children by parents goes on even outside the cult but it's usually not something those parents are encouraged to do, nor do they feel so righteous & open about it. JW parents have no qualms about publicly humiliating their children at the KH, believing it makes them look good in front of their peers. It's particularly sick and evil.

  Myself, yes, lots of times yet I was a submissive mouse of a child who walked on eggshells trying not to pi** my uber-dub mother off. I never did anything bad really, just minor mistakes that a child would be expected to make, i.e., drop and break something, accidentally knock my little brother over while playing, etc. Hands, fists, kicks, belts, shoes, wooden spoons, tree switches, fly swatters, yardsticks, books, rolled up newspapers, whatever she could get her hands on. She'd fly into a rage at anything. I'd try to get away, of course, cramming myself into closets, under furniture and wherever I could escape which enraged her even more. I rarely didn't have bruises, scratches and cuts. Sometimes I peed myself out of terror.

  She also perfected the emotionally abusive "silent treatment" that could go on for 4 or 5 days. She'd either ignore me as if I were invisible or look at me with complete contempt like I was filth. She'd refuse to do any of the things she normally did for us kids - plate my food, include my clothes in with the family laundry, etc. These silent treatments were either separate or added onto the physical assaults.
  

  But my worst memory was of my mother assaulting my little brother who was probably about 4 at the time. I was 13. His sin: not wanting to eat his lunch. I remember feeling so helpless and anguished that I couldn't dare stop her even though I desperately wanted to, and to beat the crap out of her. I just had to bear listening to his screams and the blows she rained down upon him and watch as he cowered and crawled out of the way. He peed and shat himself during that particular assault. So much for the "best life ever!".

  I've never forgiven her because it was physical, mental and emotional abuse and when I brought it up once, she smugly and obnoxiously said it's how kids needed to be raised and we deserved every "spanking" as she called it. I left that psycho woman's house and her psycho cult when I was 20.

  As for my own kids, there were only 2 or 3 occasions when I smacked them once, with my hand on their bottoms when preferred methods of discipline wasn't get through to them, and what they were doing was very hurtful to others, or dangerous. I hated doing it.
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  128

  Participate In The EX-JW Personality Test!

  by C0ntr013r in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  first of all; i must admit that i'm not a huge fan of putting people in boxes like this, it is not an exact science.

  but i still think the data can be quite interesting and i intend to collect it and share it in a structured way with you guys.

  so without future ado here are the details.. link to test: .

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  Gulf Coaster

  Personality: ISFP-T ... The Adventurer

  Variant: Turbulent

  Role: Explorer

  Yup, close enough.
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  47

  What are you up to this summer?

  by Xanthippe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i really enjoy hearing about other people's lives.

  feeling a little lonely this evening so please tell me if you have plans for the summer months.

  i may go to some outdoor theatre with my daughter who's home from uni; with a picnic and a bottle of wine.

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  Gulf Coaster

  Xanthippe, wow, Greece! Good for you. I was there years ago but would like to go again one day. Have a wonderful trip. Enjoy the delicious food. I love Greek cuisine.
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  21

  People who study for years ??

  by Clambake in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in my cong ( my wives cong.

  ) there is a lady who attends every meeting , minus the field service just like a regular dub.

  it just seems odd she has not taken the dip yet.

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  Gulf Coaster

  They weren't pushing young kids to get baptized back in my day (late 70's), or at least not in the KH I went to. 16 or 17 was the common age for kids to get dunked at our KH, slightly younger if they were born-in keeners. But around that time, my doubts had become so strong that I knew the JW life was not for me.

  From about age 17 to 19, I put up with some pressure to make the commitment. A couple of the hardliner elders were pretty passive aggressive about it to me, and sometimes not too passive either. My mother often got quite nasty about my avoidance.

  It was stressful and sometimes miserable but getting baptized felt like I would be trapping myself forever. Something about it just scared me silly. I'm glad I listened to myself :-)
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  42

  How much damage has internet done against the The Watchtower Society ?

  by opusdei1972 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in the beginning of internet the society was worried about the information published exposing its falsehood.

  so, i wonder how many people lost the society on account of forums and web sites like this.

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  Gulf Coaster

  I'm sure the internet is a massive carbuncle on the bOrg's backside. How can it not be? I can only give you a comparison to when I fled that cult back in 1980. There was nothing out there as far as info, other than a few old books in the library. I can't even remember the titles but I recall two written by ex-JWs that I took out and read in secret, as well as some books on cults in general. So without the internet, you actually have to be doubting the JW scam in the first place and making the effort to look for proof of your doubts. With the internet, it's far easier to just come across something that makes you stop and think. Even if you listen to the warnings about not reading that stuff, the ease of access is a problem for the JWs. Far easier to keep away from the Religion section in the library.

  The thing I regret not having though was the support everyone gives and gets here. I so could have used that back then, so be grateful you have this place and appreciate your fellow forum members. It's really tough doing it completely alone.
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  7

  Manipulation of child minds

  by Marvin Shilmer in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  today i read a comment on my blog about an image found in a 1958 watchtower publication titled from paradise lost to paradise regained.

  it reminded me of what went through my mind back in those years.

  watchtower meeting agendas were notoriously boring with the result of children (including teenagers) spending their time looking at pictures in great detail.

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  Gulf Coaster

  I became a highly skilled daydreamer. I would sit there and zone out most of the time. I'd pretend to be paying attention once in a while to keep my mother off my back. Some of my fantasies weren't exactly pure or JW-approved as I got into my mid to late teens but they helped me deal with the excruciating boredom of those meetings. Unfortunately, I couldn't employ my excellent daydreaming skills while out peddling propaganda.

  Yeah, those pictures were something else. Fortunately, I was probably old enough to not be traumatized by them - my mother dragged us into that cult when I was about 10. After I became free, married and had kids, my 5 year old daughter was really freaked out by those pictures when my JW mother sneakily started proselytizing to my kids, against our wishes. I suppose if you grow up with that fear mongering crap all around you, as part of normal discourse, it's not as horrifying as it is to a kid from a normal family who's suddenly presented with it.
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  64

  Kingdom Hall Sign Generator

  by reneeisorym in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  let's have fun with the church sign generator!!!.

  http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/sign11.php.

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  Gulf Coaster

  Thanks for bumping this. Very clever, very funny.