Good luck. I just went through last week's and this week's articles to prep for Cult Free Radio tonight and I'm about to vomit. I don't think I could sit through the actual meeting and see the nodding heads of the indoctrinated sheeple and listen to their fawning comments of agreement. It's such a profound tragedy I don't think I could face it.
Mad Sweeney
JoinedPosts by Mad Sweeney
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51
Not Raising My Hand at Tomorrow's WT Study.
by compound complex ingreetings, friends:.
wishing you all a pleasant weekend.
committed to attend tomorrow's meeting at the kingdom hall, i've decided that i am going because i love my friends and family.
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Mad Sweeney
Sorry about the bite. Those can sometimes linger. ouch. Glad you're on the mend. :)
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WBTS and 9/11
by african GB Member ini was'nt that well informed at the time of the event, what i'd like to know is how the org responded to the tragedy.they must have had a filled day.
it would also be interesting to see the statistics in the 2002 yearbook.
perhaps some people believed jw's at the time due to fear and frustration, or maybe even some disillusioned jw/apostates, df'd, da'd,...went to kh immidiately afterwards..
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Mad Sweeney
Hey AGBM, how's it going? Long time no see.
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Is there anyway to get a consistent high level leak....????
by Momma-Tossed-Me ini often wonder if anyone has a good consistent leak from the top level of the wtbts.
if not how can we get one, one with high level clearance.
they can't want much, probably just another $110 per month or whatever they are getting now, times are tough.. nothing would shake the borg more than consistent correct information coming out early via the internet.. nothing is sacred, all is revealed through a well hidden leak.. mtm.
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51
Suggestions for finally talking to my parents about my doubts?
by stillstuckcruz ini'll give my story again:.
i was raised a believing witness.
i had a normal life and very loving parents who would do anything for me and my brother(who is 21).
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Mad Sweeney
What New Chapter and others said is what I agree with.
Slow Down.
This takes planning and time and patience. Lots of time and patience. Read Combating Cult Mind Control first
Never discuss doctrine. When you ARE ready to broach a doctrinal point, ask a question and then LEAVE IT until they answer. Don't push for a quick answer. Just wait.
CCMC must come first, though. Then you'll understand the psychology you're up against.
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Common Misconceptions Re: Evolution
by cantleave inthis is another cut and paste, but i make no apology (unless it has been posted on here already), as it is very informative.
evolution is one of the best supported, most elegant, and most powerful theories in all of science.
as it stands, it is the best explanation that we have for the diversity of life on earth.
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Mad Sweeney
I'm not sure what you mean by "we can't prove the mechanism for those changes," PSac. Evolution IS the mechanism; it is genetic change that persists across a population across time resulting in a species that is different enough from the earlier observed species that they can no longer inter-breed. (at least that's what I think speciation is defined as - someone correct me if there's something I missed there)
By the way, the article mentions "survival" a lot but for genes to be passed on, "surviving" means "enough individuals surviving long enough to successfully produce a population of offspring." It doesn't just mean one mutated specimen living a long long time.
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My story .....no friends after leaving the Cult and lost wife?
by Witness 007 ini realized today that i have no friends at all...it's me and my wife and two dogs and three goldfish, thats it's....i'm not too bothered by it but my wife wants to go back just for the friends.....i have de-programed her out of the "matrix" and she now thinks for herself, but she still feels like she needs a spritual side and friends.
i have people at work but we don't hang out.
i've become a a loner.
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Mad Sweeney
It truly sucks to be an extrovert and find yourself outside of the Borg. My wife is suffering from the same thing right now. I'm ok with being mostly alone. I see my parents every couple weeks, my wife and kid daily, and aside from my co-workers everyday, that's really plenty for me.
But Mrs. Sweeney, she's so lonely. She has made some friends but they are often busy with their own families. It's difficult. She needs more than just me and our kid. She needs peers. All she has are online. We are pretty far from any big city though there are some good sized towns around. I hope we can get a meetup arranged soon.
So I guess this is to say I understand what you're going through. Hang in there 007 and Mrs. 007.
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Dutch government party D66 want to ban brainwashed sects in The Netherlands
by Dutch-scientist inbegin this year there was a tv program in the netherlands where a guy goes undercover in a sect and show what is going on.
now this government party d66 want to ban sects who do brainwashing.. in our country there is an sect listwhich is 30 years old and outdated.
they start to investigate all the sects in the netherlands.
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Mad Sweeney
People worldwide are sick and tired of extremism in all its forms. For a long long time moderate-minded people have been on the sidelines letting the extremists set the agenda to the right and left of them. I see that changing. We're waking up and slowly we're going to realize we're the vast majority and stop allowing the fringe kooks to take the lead on this planet.
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How many on JWN still trapped in Org. & will it get easier with time?
by Kensho ini have only been mentally out for just over a year and i find it difficult to live this double life, ( ex-elder/reg pioneer).
i'm still in for probably the same reason as most who post here=.
a wife that i cherish= who would be destroyed and kick me to the curb.
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Mad Sweeney
Kensho, there are ways to subtly get your wife started on the path to mental freedom using Family Worship night. Below are cut-n-pastes from older threads where I posted some of my personal experiences with this:
Cantleave makes a good point about using Family Worship Night to get yourself and your family on the same page. I did it with my wife and we were both able to leave the organization together. We stopped using publications and just read the Bible. Usually entire chapters without cherry picking and jumping around. John 14 or Romans 14 for example. When I'd ask what the verses mean, I'd first get the indoctrinated answers. For example, if we read John 14 I would ask, "So who does the Bible say answers our prayers?" They'd say, "Jehovah." And I'd have them read it again. The first time it took several re-reads for them to see that Jesus says whatever we ask, HE will do it. After a few weeks they start getting it: the Watchtower answer isn't always the Bible answer. From then on they were more and more willing to read and trust their own reading comprehension. Revelation 19:1 kind of blew my wife away, as did reading Revelation chapter 7 in context.
Long story short, there are a lot of scriptures that just don't support Watchtower doctrine and even outright contradict it. Read those as part of a family study and slowly, patiently, get your family thinking for themselves.
I don't know if it always works or how often it works. But I know it ended up working for me. After a few months I felt my wife was open minded enough to entertain the thought of a Watchtower scandal and so I introduced her to the pedophile cover ups and silentlambs. That was all she wrote. At that point I had to work to get her to attend a meeting now and then so that I could fade slowly. It turned out, we had to just quit cold turkey because she couldn't stand the meetings anymore, even though she had only known "the truth" for a few months and I had been studying outside the Borg for a couple years.
Here's a pretty good starting point for scriptures to use in Family Worship Night. Aside from some trolls it's a pretty good thread.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/191589/1/Most-Ignored-Scriptures-by-JWs
And here's another one:
You can't TELL a cult member anything the cult personality doesn't want to hear. The cult member needs to find and discover it him/herself.
STICK WITH the Family Worship Night arrangement and use ONLY the Bible without any Borg publications. Start training her to read what the scriptures SAY without loading on the cult-indoctrinated meanings. Don't jump right in with dozens of scriptures that the Borg ignores or misinterprets to support their own dogmas. Sprinkle them in now and then, here and there. Even when you do, DON'T tell her the Borg interpretation is wrong. Simply ask, "what do these verses say?" If/when she tells you what the Borg taught her they MEAN, simply say, "not what they MEAN, what do they SAY?"
If you are already a suspected apostate, it's nearly too late to try this. But over a period of many months it finally worked with my wife. One night during Family Worship Night we were reading and discussion John chapter 14. You could see the light go on behind her eyes when she realized that the Bible says JESUS ANSWERS PRAYERS HIMSELF.
It may be a minor theological point but it is a HUGE step when you see your spouse comprehend and accept that the Bible says things contrary to what the Borg says. Once that chink is in the armor, keep gently chipping away. Ask questions. Lead the discussion with questions. Let her come to the conclusions.
I can't say it's foolproof but it worked for me. My wife and I got out together. Family Worship Night with straight Bible reading was one of the key tools I used. It can be effective because you are obeying the FDS by doing it; you can do Family Worship Night without ever letting on you're mentally fading. I had to keep on doing it for almost a year after I was mentally OUT, pretending all the while, to make sure my family came with me. It's a sacrifice I would gladly make again.
Good luck. Takes a lot of patience but progress can be made.
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How many on JWN still trapped in Org. & will it get easier with time?
by Kensho ini have only been mentally out for just over a year and i find it difficult to live this double life, ( ex-elder/reg pioneer).
i'm still in for probably the same reason as most who post here=.
a wife that i cherish= who would be destroyed and kick me to the curb.
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