Posts by finding my way

56

New Light on Prayer in NOV 15 WT Study Edition

by lepermessiah in

jw
friends

i finally saw that november 15th wt article on prayer that everyone has been talking about - the people in the photos look as stiff as corpses!.

people will be called in the back room for inadvertantly making contact with their spouse during prayer.. i think i will adopt the following stance during prayer now:.

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finding my way

For starters, I really love Dr. Bronners soap ;)

I agree that no one should have the power to require others to not embrace during a prayer or even for a group to hold hands. I grew up in a big family (there were 8 of us living at home at one point). We always held hands at meetings and we took up the whole row. I don't see anything wrong with that. Also, I always thought it was loving for a man to put his arm around his wife during a prayer or song. As a little girl I couldn't wait for the day when I had my own husband to show me the same love.

They don't have the right to make these decisions for people. There are so many different views and consciences out there. It should be up to each and every individual to make their own decisions on how to do their hair, wear their clothes, etc. etc. the Watchtower seeks to make everyones decisions for them. It's ridiculous.

I'm reading Steven Hassans Book on How to Combat Cult Mind Control and I'm blown away with the similarities of WAtchtower and other cult techniques. I read last night that Cults make so many decisions for you that you really lose a lot of the ability to make your own decisions. I remember calling up an older friend when I was in high school to ask him if we believed in Dinosaurs!! I knew that there have been bones upon bones found and all the scientific research was an obvious yes. Duh! but if he would have told me no, that the Watchtower stated in such and such arcticle that dinosaurs couldn't have possibly been on the planet, I would have believed them instead. Maybe it was worse because I was raised in.. I got used to believing things without evidence. I certainly don't think I'm a stupid person, it's just a nasty affect of being in such a controlled group.

But anyhow, I think this kind of thing in the Watchtower is clearly designed to control and unify the rank and file members to create a sense of reliance on the group and a sense of unity. It's always something new. Now if you see people embracing at a meeting, the automatic response is "Obviously they are rebelious, They must have missed that meeting or They must be weak". You either follow their directions or you become a "fringe" member to be cautious of. Sure you have some "freedom" of choice.. but certainly not without consequences. So is that really free?? Maybe not.

~fmy

68

Please Describe Your Autumn

by compound complex in

welcome fall!.

please describe autumn in your community.

its feel.

finding my way

The real life-

"(where' ; s le propriétaire ?) shhh, dormant dans le chou-fleur…"

I would sleep love to fall aslep in tie-dyed cauliflower

68

Please Describe Your Autumn

by compound complex in

welcome fall!.

please describe autumn in your community.

its feel.

finding my way

Still way to hot :(

I live in Hawaii now and I really miss when the air feels crisp and the leaves turn from green to bright Red, Orange and Yellow.

I have a memory of driving across a bridge to connecticut and just past the water we were driving over there were huge bright trees as far as I could see. Then when we got to the orchard to pick apples we had cider donuts !

But here... It's still hot and I can't wear my hoodies and boots :( It is getting more rainy though so rainy season will be in full force soon and I might get a few days with long sleeves. I can hardly wait!

~fmy

24

Why I am Glad to Be Here.

by AK - Jeff in

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"better fare hard with good men, than to feast it with bad.".

thomas paine.

finding my way

I'm happy to be here too :0) It's so great to meet people who have left or are leaving the religion I was raised in. It's a great support to be around those with similar experiences. This site is also a great source of knowledge on false doctrines etc.

Thank you everyone!

p.s. Its mixing with apostates that we must be careful of...

(confused look) I prepared a whole slew of things to say, but reading former threads I know it won't get "through". So, I'll just post the Definition of Apostate.

Apostate-a person who forsakes his religion, cause, party, etc. (see above)

~fmy

11

Closing Scene of Bill Maher's Religulous

by the real life in

jw
friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgfv6rxjmca.

this is an entertaining and moving documentary on the idiocy of religion.

i especially liked the closing speech.. "the plain fact is, religion must die for mankind to live.

finding my way

Very interesting! I need to get this movie ASAP.

The thought that religion is killing us is something I'm just waking up to. Growing up as a JW I always agreed that it must be truth because JW's didn't fight eachother in war like "everyone else". But sitting back and doing nothing for the world (and contributing to other world problems) is just as bad. I remember feeling like it was wrong to donate canned goods at christmas even though that was the only time they set up drives at school. Other donations not to the society seemed to be looked down upon too. That's so sad to me.

I never thought twice about how much waste I generated or how my lifestyle affected the animals, waters, plants and other people on this planet. I do now and it feels overwhelming at times, but it still feels good to be caring and acting then sitting back, contributing to the problem and then just waiting for God to take care of it all.

A ton of things bothered me about the beliefs of the Watchtower when I began investigating and it may sound silly, but one of them was the lack of care for the environment. Even though they print arcticles about these issues, they still use animal glue (which I believe contributes to the mass slaughtering of factory farmed animals going on in the world, which has a huge domino effect on the environment and world hunger) in all their books and I believe they've been fined for environmental issues once or twice.... correct me on that if I'm wrong but I think I read that.

I realize that may sound a little fanatical... It just happened to be one of the things I thought of when I was thinking about my own path.

~fmy

9

OMG!!! People I hope I never encounter at Wallmart!!!!!!! LOL!!

by Lady Liberty in

jw
friends

hi everyone.... my brother in law just sent us this!!

thought it was too funny to keep to myself!!

lol!!.

finding my way

Four Candles ;)

We CAN be weird but as much as we might be tempted..we don't all walk around wearing garbage bags or our cracks hanging out .

LOL! I love that site

76

Circuit Assembly This Past Weekend "Safeguard Your Spirituality" -Everyone Please Enter-

by tryingtoexit in

jw
friends

so we had our circuit assembly this past weekend, and it was the first one in my life that i told my wife i would not be attending.

we had a brief conversation on why, and she said well just go to this last one with me, and then when we can discuss what we learn and compare it to why you've been expressing your "new" feelings towards the wts.. i love my wife, and as much as i thought i was gonna hate it i decided to go.

now that i no longer want to be a jehovah's witness it really didnt bother me that nobody hardly talked to me despite me living in this same area for 4 1/2 years, everybody views me as spiritually weak because i dont go out in service, rarely attend meetings, dont comment, lesson is never underlined, so the "friends" never interact with me anyway and i'm use to it, actually that's the way i prefer it.

finding my way

Babygirl,

uggh. I am so sorry to hear that. I know all to well what you are talking about. I know several people like that from when I lived in New York especially where people found it rather easy to live one life at night in the city and another at the meetings.

My ex fiances sister's car stereo would go from "Move Bitch, got out the way" to Kingdom melodies if we were headed to an assembly or meeting. Yet when I was Df'd, I was of course ignored by her and I know full well she had a "worldy" boyfriend she was spending the night with. Come to think of it, I led a double life more than once in the "truf" and felt like a horrible person. I also went on a rollercoaster like your friend you're speaking of. Trying to do the "right" thing when I would hit rock bottom. I feel now like this was from being in such a high control group with ridiculous standards. Now that I'm free I think more clearly and my 2 lives have evened out and I make much better decisions. Hopefully your friend will come to that point as well and start making better choices and come to realize who her real friends are. It took me 3 years after being out to finally make the connection.... It may take awhile and then again, she may never come to that point. We can only hope for the bet.

P.S. Sure enough, I checked after reading this question and a step sister of mine (not the one mentioned in my last post) has deleted her facebook account. I have 4 step sisters and only 2 of them had facebook accounts to begin with. This is the one that wants to "serve where the need is great" so she's probably trying to obey EVERYTHING. Her husband still has an account though.... curious. We will see how long he and my other sister keep their accounts.

Much love,

~fmy

17

Should one boycott the undeserving rich?

by badboy in

jw
friends

thinking of starting a blog on that theme.

finding my way

My 2 cents

I'm with hamilcarr..

We can't tell if someone is deserving or not.

I think it's easy to be irritated that there are so many super rich people and at the same time there are so many poor. It's easy to get caught up in hating that it's so uneven, but it's not up to us to decide who deserves money or not.

You would also have to start thinking about all the times you could have given away any extra money you had. If one has NOTHING and you have just $200 or less in savings that's still $200 that someone else could use. Or the cereal you threw out because you didn't like it... and the fact that people are starving all over the place. Maybe you do think about that.. I do sometimes

Either way, I don't think it's worth boycotting. Money is a personal thing and what people decide to do with it or how they attain it is on them. I'm not sure if I believe in Kharma, or a God that will set things straight, or if I just think that people cannot be happy if they don't treat others or the world well, or all of the above. But I know I have a feeling that people get what they give out and I trust that the ones that ARE undeserving will pay for it. But I doubt boycotting will do any good.

~fmy

30

Saturday Mornings

by zarco in

jw
friends

then: get up grumpy, shower, go to starbucks, leave magazine to start time, drive to kingdom hall, hope to be able to work with friends in service so we can do just a few doors and then calls and an early lunch.. .

now: get up when i wake up, make coffee, read the boards, read the wsj and sf chronicle, wait for wife to wake up, take dog on a walk and decide what fun things to do in the bay area this weekend.. i love my weekends now!.

zarco.

finding my way

Yeah, that was always encouraged. I did when I wasn't broke myself. I was a teenager going to meetings and service without my inactive mother so I don't think much was expected of me. (Funny thing is she's the main shunner of mine these days)

Hey maybe if I would have contributed more I would have experienced more air conditioning ;)

76

Circuit Assembly This Past Weekend "Safeguard Your Spirituality" -Everyone Please Enter-

by tryingtoexit in

jw
friends

so we had our circuit assembly this past weekend, and it was the first one in my life that i told my wife i would not be attending.

we had a brief conversation on why, and she said well just go to this last one with me, and then when we can discuss what we learn and compare it to why you've been expressing your "new" feelings towards the wts.. i love my wife, and as much as i thought i was gonna hate it i decided to go.

now that i no longer want to be a jehovah's witness it really didnt bother me that nobody hardly talked to me despite me living in this same area for 4 1/2 years, everybody views me as spiritually weak because i dont go out in service, rarely attend meetings, dont comment, lesson is never underlined, so the "friends" never interact with me anyway and i'm use to it, actually that's the way i prefer it.

finding my way

Very interesting thread.

I'm sorry you are going through all this with your wife. My husband was never a witness so I can't totally relate but it seems you've already gotten some good advice. I can't remember who said it, but someone mentioned that women sometimes head off with emotion and calm down. I'm a woman and can totally relate to that. I could see my "believing" mother acting just like your wfe and I know how it can make a persons blood boil so hang in there. I hope she will appreciate you as a husband more and more as you become happier and more weightless with freedom during your fade and after. If you keep up the good behavior and good husband traits then sooner or later she will have to see that she's the one that's not holding up her end of the deal.

I'd also like to thank all those that made me laugh! I'm still learning all the new words to replace Watchtower language and it gets me laughing out loud every time. "Witless", "field circus" etc. etc.

And that whole BAD ASSOCIATION thing?! puh lease. That is so retarded. a couple years back one of my step sisters had me on her Myspace even though she wasn't supposed to be associating with my disfellowshipped self. Then she went to a convention and let me know afterwards that she would be deleting her account and couldn't talk to me anymore. Now she's on Facebook but I'm not on her friends list. My 2 Brothers that have live in girlfriends are though but they are just inactive...not disfellowshipped so it's okay. By JW standards, they are breaking the rules by living with girls before marriage and I'm married, but whatever. It's the label that counts right..? ;)

hang in there,

~fmy