Posts by Jankyn

Mom is, Dad's not, hence the desire to visit when she's not home. But she's from Oregon. She goes to that convention because we have other (non-JW) relatives in the area.

Best,

Jankyn

3

Conventions in Kennewick, WA?

by Jankyn in

jw
friends

does anyone know when the conventions in kennewick, wa, are going to be held this year?

i'm trying to plan a visit to my dad when i know my mom will be out of town.. thanks,.

jankyn.

Jankyn

Does anyone know when the conventions in Kennewick, WA, are going to be held this year? I'm trying to plan a visit to my dad when I know my mom will be out of town.

Thanks,

Jankyn

24

An Esmerelda by any other name would still be just as screwed up.

by Fleur in

jw
friends

i've lost old hotmail accounts and the old account info that went with them.

but it is me, es, essie, esmerel/alda, in addition to anything else obscene i may be known by in these parts.. i just pounded this out in pure frustration.

i'm probably going to get heckled for posting it but what the hell, there isn't anywhere else i can go where people will get this, and i can't keep it inside, it has got to go somewhere before my brain explodes.. so here it is.why did i go to that restaurant today?

Jankyn

Hi, Essie. You'll notice that, even though I've been on the board for almost three years, I'm still a "newbie." I just don't post that often. I come in, I look around to see if there's anything particularly helpful or interesting (which are not always the same things), I post if I have something to say. I, too, can't live in ex-JW land. But it's a nice place to visit when I need to know I'm not alone. And, dear, you're not alone, either. Jankyn.

24

An Esmerelda by any other name would still be just as screwed up.

by Fleur in

jw
friends

i've lost old hotmail accounts and the old account info that went with them.

but it is me, es, essie, esmerel/alda, in addition to anything else obscene i may be known by in these parts.. i just pounded this out in pure frustration.

i'm probably going to get heckled for posting it but what the hell, there isn't anywhere else i can go where people will get this, and i can't keep it inside, it has got to go somewhere before my brain explodes.. so here it is.why did i go to that restaurant today?

Jankyn

Hi, Essie.

It's really good to hear from you. I wish we saw more of you around here--there's always room for your brand of compassion.

As for whether or not it ever gets any easier--well, I think living with a JW upbringing/past is kind of like dealing with a chronic illness. You have your good days, and then you have your bad days; all you can do is treasure the good days and let the bad ones slide off your back.

I'm a bit suspicious of people who are "all over it." Not to cast stones, but that seems over-simplified to me. Maybe when it's been longer, or when my JW family members are no longer living (which would be a mixed blessing, b/c I do love them), it will be easier. But for me, it's been more than 25 years since I've set foot in a Kingdom Hall, and I still have "bad days" from time to time. A lot of it is b/c I'm still trying to have a relationship with my JW mother, who is inconstant at best and a real problem if she's just been to an assembly (oops--convention!).

I suppose we could just "cut them off," as my mom has been threatening to do to me since 1978, but I'm not made that way. A half a loaf--or maybe even a slice--is better than none at all. And in your case, there's your daughter to keep you tied.

I guess I think if I "disfellowship" my JW relatives, that makes me as sick and twisted emotionally as they are. I want to be better than that.

Love,

Jankyn

41

Comments You Won't Hear at the 3-28-04 WT Study

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the 03-28-04 wt study

review comments will be in black and parentheses ().

wt quotes will be in red and quotes "".

Jankyn

Everybody's covered most of the ground with this one--great, as usual, Blondie--but I've got to respond to this comment:

Don't get me wrong I'm for sex ed, but the Watchtower has no business discussing it with your children. Besides, the Bible does not comment on oral or ########, so why have a Bible discussion of it?

I actually received a pretty good sex education from the WT. In fact, I was able to get into a whole lot of trouble at school explaining exactly what "oral copulation" and "bestiality" were to the other children. I didn't know the slang terms, but by golly, I could describe the acts! When the teacher called my mother, she was outraged and wanted to know where I'd learned about such things--and was very dismayed (to the point of willful disbelief) when I pointed to the WT.

On the other hand, a WT study article (it must have been from 1971 or 1972) that described all the "porneia" one could be disfellowshipped for answered a lot of my questions--and kept me from getting baptized, since I knew I'd only be disfellowshipped.

Until then, I'd had no idea that my feelings for other girls were anything but slightly weird--then the WT devoted a whole paragraph to homosexuality (a sin worthy of death, as my mother is fond of pointing out), and in the last line, said something to the effect of "Female homosexuals are called lesbians." Aha! If there are words for it, there must be others! With the help of the public library, this adolescent baby dyke was on her way out of the WT.

Grateful not to have wasted more than a childhood.

Jankyn

38

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 3-21-04 WT Study

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the 3-21-04 wt study

review comments will be in black and parentheses ().

1 corinthians 7:29 (nwt) moreover, this i say, brothers, the time left is reduced.

Jankyn

Blondie,

Thanks for this public service. I realize that I'm not putting it to its best use, but:

My little brother and I would always bet on how long it took our aunt to work a comment from the latest WT study into her conversations with us--then, when she did, we'd both look at our watches and dissolve with laughter.

Thanks to you, we can still play this hilarious game without having to actually study the WT ourselves.

Jankyn

14

Do you get tired of explaining your Witness past?

by logansrun in

jw
friends

last saturday night i volunteered to be an usher at a production of hamlet that my college was putting on.

there were only two other ushers, one of whom was a woman in her early thirties.

(she was paid!

Jankyn

I get tired of having to explain that there's more to having been raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses than not celebrating Christmas and going door-to-door. Most folks seem to think it's just another fundy sect.

My partner, who was raised in a fundy sect, points out that JWs aren't really fundamentalists. They only take some parts of the Bible literally, and see others (Daniel, Ezekiel, Revelation) as requiring figurative interpretations. What's weird is that the parts they take literally--like not celebrating birthdays because of Pharaoh's servant and John the Baptist's decapitation--are parts that no fundamentalist would take literally.

Oh, well. It's just another small bit of weirdness that makes me unique. Though I do get tired of explaining that being an ex-JW is not quite the same thing as being a "recovering Catholic." After all, the Catholics will still speak to former members.

Jankyn

34

How do you view your parents ????? very tough question !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by run dont walk in

jw
friends

being brought up in the borg since birth, i beleived everything my parents taught me and showed me, i looked up to them, they were my heroes in life.. now, i look back, they lied to me, cheated me, mislead me, did not look out for my best interests, and abadonned me when i needed them the most,.

i have nothing good to say about them (or my brothers and sisters), like to tie them both to a tree and ----- them.

they are very stupid people.. i'm sure i will wrestle with this the rest of my life.. thanks so much watchtower bible and tract society !!!!!!!!!!

Jankyn

Abbadon said it...I have two sets of parents, and I really wish I saw the nice ones more and the judgmental ones less.

Mostly, though, even the "good" side of my parents is tainted by the negative mindset that made them vulnerable to JW teachings in the first place. The older I get, the more I recognize what they've missed. They always see the bad side of everything; the world is a terrible place and getting worse; they're so frightened that they've never gone anywhere or done anything (except peddle books and magazines).

I'm coming to believe that, while the culture around the organization made things worse, my parents probably weren't in very good shape to start with. I'm just grateful that I don't have to follow in their footsteps.

And that's the real answer to the question, "How do you view your parents?" My parents are an example to me of HOW NOT TO LIVE MY LIFE. Because I see what a sad, small world they've created for themselves, I hope I'm less likely to do so.

Jankyn, off to enjoy life and revel in the world's beauty

10

Let's play the generation game

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

not at the meeting again this evening so re-reading some of coc on my current favourite topic, the generation that will not pass away.

okay, the november 1st 1995 watchtower describes the generation of jesus prophecy as follows:.

?rather than providing a rule for measuring time, the term ?generation?

Jankyn

And don't forget the Lost Generation (expat writers, including Hemingway and Fitzgerald, in post-WWI Paris).

This waffling on the generation teaching really bugs me (I suppose that goes without saying, but I said it). But they've been waffling for a long time. I remember when 1975 came...and went...and there was a Watchtower article that patiently explained (oops, I mean obfuscated) that, since we didn't know the amount of time between the creation of Adam and some other little detail--could be as much as forty years--blah, blah, blah.

What a bunch of weasels.

Of course, I do get a kick out of "Millions then living are now...DEAD!"

The only problem is, it's my family that's wasted their entire lives waiting for a train that ain't even on the tracks.

Jankyn