Posts by life is to short

21

Candace Conti: WTS Notified Re Opening Appellate Brief

by DNCall in

jw
friends

according to the docket, wts was notified that their opening brief has not been timely filed.

their appeal will be dismissed if there is no further activity by february 22, 2013.

What is your religious belief now?

by jwfacts in

i have a new poll at jwfacts.mobi/pollsarchive/ as i am very interested to see what people have moved on to believe.

as this is considered sensitive by some, you can answer anonymously at the jwfacts.mobi/pollsarchive/, or answer on this thread.

this is what i have created in the list, but feel free to add comments, corrections, or options i have missed.. .

Agnostic, its funny because even as a small child of four and fives years of age and going to all the meetings, when I first heard what an agnostic was at that age it made perfect sense to me and I thought to myself that is what I feel also.

God never seemed to care, and there was always so much pain in my life no matter how hard I prayed or tried to do good God never cared.

LITS

44

Annoying 2/15 WT - Don't Be Stumbled- your Mind Just Misunderstands !

by flipper in

jw
friends

another wt article which causes jw's to doubt their own perceptions of reality.

) in this particular article titled " for those loving jehovah, " there is no stumbling block " - the wt society stoops to new, or rather re-hashed lows to insinuate that most if not all jw's really misunderstand causes of stumbling as it's just their minds that are imperfect, messed up, or gone entirely anyway.

the first abhorrent bit of information here describes a witness man who " fought " with feelings of being homosexual and of course the elders thought they had the perfect antidote to keep him from his alleged " abnormal " desires.

life is to short

Thanks Flipper for posting this. I just glanced at this WT when my husband gave it to me and was ready to explode when I saw that about the poor brother with homosexual tendencies. All he had to do was pray more, study more and go out in service more. It just made my blood boil to read that. It was exactly what the elders told me to do about my problems with being molested as a kid. I needed to pray more, study more and go out in service more.

Oh and also by the way I needed to also call all the pedo men in the hall brother and I was told that I hurt the feelings of one of the pedophiles because I would not listen to his talks. One of the elders went out of his way to let me know that, and also the CO told me I needed to get a handle on my feelings about this child rapists and I needed to accept that he had a right to RIDE AROUND IN MY CAR and suck up my gas because my husband was an elder. FORGET THE fact that I had been molested as a kid. I wish I had, had the courage to ask the CO and elder at the time if the little girls that this man put his penis in their mouths, if they felt hurt also. But I am sure that the CO and elder could care less about little girls, just so long at this poor pedophile's feelings was not hurt was clearly all they cared about. After all the elder and CO would not even take the court and police records I tried to give them so they could see for themselves what he had done to the girls one of which by the way was his own five year old daughter. I did mail them the records and I have proof that I sent them.

I should have known that all I needed to do was just pray more study more and go out in service more. STUPID ME. The answer was just so was simple.

LITS

14

Extremely ironic anti-bullying video for kids on JW.org

by cedars in

jw
friends

here is a link to the society's latest video entitled "beat a bully without using your fists":.

http://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/teenagers/whiteboard-animations/beat-a-bully-without-using-your-fists/.

as soon as it's up on youtube i'll post the video on this thread.. .

life is to short

This video just truly makes me cry. I was very bullied when I was first married and pioneering in the hall by the other married sisters my age.

My husband had been asked to go to the hall by the CO because the hall needed help. He had been there for a year before we got married.
I can only describe my days in field service as total HELL. The other sisters would totally bully me. Sometimes when I would met for service and my husband was not with me as he had elder things to do the sisters would mock me and tell me in a very condescending you just go home we do not have room for you. Then there were times when they would take me with them in service and make me feel like such dirt the whole day. Just saying belittling things to me the whole day. I am very afraid of dogs and being in the county every house had dogs some of them were really mean. I have been bit over six times in field service. I will never forget this one house that the sisters made me go to. I knew from being there in the past that they had this super mean dog, sometimes the dog would be tied up but other times he would be running lose. It was my turn to get out of the car, and I begged and pleaded with the sisters not to make me go. The sisters were so mean and spite full telling me I did not have any faith, and that I was not truly serving Jehovah, that He would protect me, etc. I finally got out and started to the door. The dog tore around the house when I was half way to the house and he was ready to kill me. I started to run back to the car and just barely made it when the dog bit into my skirt and I jumped into the car and all the sisters were just laughing at me. I was so not funny. I was so hurt that day and I still am writing it now. I was not funny.

I was so very depressed it was unreal. I truly was suicidal. I talked to my husband about it all, he is 17 years older then I am. The sisters all were so sweet and flirty around and him he told me that he did not believe me. That I was just making it all up that there was no way they were treating me like that.

Since the hall was in the country and all we did was drive around with no purpose but to waste time my husband and I spent a ton of money on gas and of course all the sisters wanted to use our car especially when my husband was out so all of our money as a couple went to field service.
Yet these sister were always going to the movies, getting their hair done, going shopping, going out to do fun things together, etc. They were always going on date nights with their husbands. Something I gave up in the first year of our marriage because first we did not have the money to do anything but second and more to the point my husband never had anytime to spend with me. I would make sandwiches and have coffee and beg my husband just to go for a walk and then some elder crisis would come up in the hall and he would dump me for the elder stuff.

I even spoke to the CO about how I was losing it and the CO rebuked me telling me that Jehovah needed my husband now and I could have him in the new system which was going to happen very soon. The CO totally treated me like I was a selfish Which.

That video truly just makes me sick.

LITS

38

The story of Bo Juel Jensen - the man behind the Anti-Watchtower media campaign in Norway

by cedars in

hi guys.

richard e. kelly has kindly contributed a great article to jwsurvey.org on the link below.... http://jwsurvey.org/child-abuse-2/bo-juel-jensen-could-he-be-watchtowers-worst-nightmare.

richard tells the story of bo juel jensen, an ex-witness who has been doing marvellous work in raising awareness of watchtower child abuse mishandling in norway.. as with most child abuse victims, bo's story is a disturbing one.

life is to short

What an amazing story, I am so glad there are people out there who have the skills that Bo has and that he is using them.

Way to go is is all I can think to say.

LITS

57

Mouthy needs a hug

by carla in

jw
friends

hi grace,.

i'm sorry about your family not being around (seeloubelles christmas plann thread) so i thought we could give you hugs here!

not the same but..... a merry christmas to you!

life is to short

(((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))) Grace and Merry Christmas.

LITS

95

What was it about Bethel that woke you up?

by cognisonance in

jw
friends

one the how many exbethelites thread it was mentioned that some think one either leaves down the path towards apostasy or as a 100% true believer.

i'm curious what experiences did you face at bethel that woke you up (or started to at least)?.

.

life is to short

Thanks Zid for the links I just spent the last hour and a half reading Dave's posts what a story especially about Chitty. If only I had known about it all before Bethel what a difference it would have made.

LITS

95

What was it about Bethel that woke you up?

by cognisonance in

jw
friends

one the how many exbethelites thread it was mentioned that some think one either leaves down the path towards apostasy or as a 100% true believer.

i'm curious what experiences did you face at bethel that woke you up (or started to at least)?.

.

life is to short

One of my most scarcest experiences at Bethel was when they sent me alone to the worst part of Brooklyn at that time to get birth control pills. We had no family that would help up with money even though both sides of our family were in the "truth". And we just could not afford to buy the pill.

I needed the pills not just for birth control but also for medical reason as the pill stopped the migraines that I would get and for another reason that was also quite serious and in fact a sister in the hall I went to since coming home died from because she would not talke the pill, so I need the pill for clear medical reasons. Bethel did not care and from what the rumor was one of the GB member did not like the pill and would not allow it at Brooklyn Bethel at that time at least in the ealry 90's. I heard the farm gave them out to the sisters with no problem.

So to get permission to go to this clinic I had to call some very old brother in the service department (I think it was the service department has been so long now I cannot remember for sure) and ask if I could go. He would reluctantly say OK like he was doing me this huge favor, but that my husband could only drop me off and then my husband had to go back to bethel and wait for my call to come pick me up.

The first time I went my husband dropped me off and left, like we were told we had to do. I went in and for some reason the clinic closed early that day and would not see me. I was near tear and told them I had an appointment and no one called me to let me know it had changed. I do not know if they had called Bethel and no one told me or what but the women was so rude to me. She told me that she HATED JW"S because we came in for the free pill, we were able to get them because of the vow of poverty we took and bethel gave us paper work to give to the clinic and the only reason we knew about this clinic was some sister at Bethel was like me and needed the pills and could not afford them and somehow she found this clinic and word spread through Bethel to us sisters. Basically it was welfare that we were getting while we were at Bethel.

So here I was at this clinic and they would not even let me use the phone to call my husband but even if they did he was driving back to bethel and it was a 45 minute drive one way. So I had to wait outside for almost 2 hours. So I decided to go over to the Burger King across the street to wait and as I was walking a group of young guys came toward and one of them purposely slammed into me and said to the other lets mug her. I was dressed up and totally out of place there. I was so scarred they could have done anything to me and no one would have known. One of the others in the group made eye contact with me and he seemed to have some kind of soul and he told the other to just leave me alone.

I went into the Burger King and it had three layers of glass between the teller and the customer. Even the bank I had worked at did not have that. I have never been so scarred in my life.

After that there was another couple at Bethel and the husband said he did could care if Bethel kicked him out he would NEVER allow his wife to be alone there so this brother would take four or five of us sisters to the clinic and wait for us.

Even now it makes me so hurt that they did that to us that they did not care about the women there.

Satanus, we also went to the Canada Bethel to visit and the feeling I got was they felt sorry for us in Brooklyn. They were way more friendly and they seemed so much happier.

ITS

95

What was it about Bethel that woke you up?

by cognisonance in

jw
friends

one the how many exbethelites thread it was mentioned that some think one either leaves down the path towards apostasy or as a 100% true believer.

i'm curious what experiences did you face at bethel that woke you up (or started to at least)?.

.

life is to short

I remember one of my Bethel experiences involved one of the attorneys. I did not know him by name or anything but I did know he was one of the true heavy's and he was someone with weight both ways and who you did not want to cross.

So fpr some stupid reason I was always coming into the 124 building and he would be waddling up. He was huge well over 350 pounds and he truly waddled as he could not walk fast being so fat. He always called to me HOLD THE DOOR with a very rude voice. So I held the door. He was so rude when he came up to me and he would stormed by me never saying thank you or even acknowledging I was standing there. He would only yell at me to HOLD THE DOOR so he would not have to get his key then he looked at me like I was dog poop.

This happened about four or five times in a roll. Then one day he happened to be in front of me and he clearly saw me and slammed the door shut in my face. It was so beyond rude, I was speechless.

I got my chance a very short time latter when he came waddling up and yelled HOLD THE DOOR. I made clear eye contact with him and slammed it in his face and took off. He was so hot with anger but he did not know my name so there was nothing he could do to me as I am sure he would have loved to.

It never happened again after that. I was just so blown away by how arrogant and haughty he was.

LITS

95

What was it about Bethel that woke you up?

by cognisonance in

jw
friends

one the how many exbethelites thread it was mentioned that some think one either leaves down the path towards apostasy or as a 100% true believer.

i'm curious what experiences did you face at bethel that woke you up (or started to at least)?.

.

life is to short

Reading through this thread has brought back so many painful memories.

I thought Bethel was going to be the best place I could be. It had been my goal forever but I was a sister and never thought I would be allowed to go.

I got married to my husband who is older than I am and he was the only elder in small country congregation. It was hell from day one in the hall. People would call and demand my husband's time they treated me like dirt. I was yelled at all the time and talked down to horribly. I told the CO I was loosing it and he told me that I was being selfish because Jehovah needed my husband and I could have him in the new system.

I begged my husband to put in our apps for Bethel hoping to escape where we were. We got accepted for the 90 Sands project. I was so excited that I was going to get away from the hall of hell and I just knew Bethel was going to be great. Boy was I in for a shock.

My first day there I meet my overseer and HE HATED ME he looked me up and down and just hated me. I had asked the CO's wife what I should bring to wear at Bethel and she said that I should NEVER bring any jeans. Sisters did not wear them and that if I brought any I could be looked down on. Now this was the wife of the CO who had told me I was selfish for wanting to spend time with my husband so that should have told me something but I was young and stupid. I was placed in construction working on 90 Sands and that was all the sisters wore were jeans. My overseer was so mad that first day because I did not have a pair of jeans with me. I had to go to the hopper donated cloths to get something to wear.

I remember my first day there sitting in the locker room just crying my eyes out not understanding why I was being treated so horribly by my overseer I remember thinking that Jehovah hated me. I will never forget the real pain I felt in my heart that day. I truly wanted to die.

It felt like I had jumped from the frying pan into the fire. My overseers favorite saying was that 70 to 80 percent of the people at bethel were only there for the free food and shelter. I knew he was meaning me. He was upset if I used any of the Bethel services. I got a tooth ache after I had been there six months and I would not go the the dentist because of my overseer looking down on me, my tooth fell out because of it and still today I have problems with it.

Everyone's story here on this board is spot on to what I remember. It is so sad because I truly loved the religion when I went, I was not there for any free food and it just crushed me that I was told that.

On the plus side I finally had some time with my husband for the first time in our four year marriage. As busy as we were at Bethel we had way more time together then we ever did in the congregation with him being the only elder. Its truly a sad religion that will not even let you have family time without making you feel you are steeling from Jehovah.

LITS