i like to think that i have escaped the cult completely, since i, and members of my close family, faded away years ago.
however, i have recently realized that my "elder" uncle, my father's older brother, could technically have me disfellowshipped, such as if he figures out that i post on an "apostate" message board (i've tried to direct my cousin here), or sees me smoking in a restaurant in the small town we all live in, or hears from my father that my boyfriend and i have been away for a weekend together.. so i've recently discovered this fear.
although i believe i'm "out" i'm still trapped in a way.
It seems from your post that your life does not follow the JW ideal since you have a boyfriend and smoke and your Dad seems to know about and accept it.
That does make me seem very worldly, nugget!!
The truth is that although most of my relatives don't have the power to disfellowship me (like my uncle does) some very important people would be affected by my disfellowshipping, like my grandmother and my aunt and some cousins. That is the saddest thing to me.
if you do, what are your motivations?.
if you don't, why not?.
If you do, what are your motivations?
If you don't, why not?
"you were a much nicer person when you were in the truth!
since you havn't been to the meetings your starting to change.
your so into standing up for yourself like you think its a good thing!!?!
I've dinkum overheard a relative say ....... "if [Quillsky] had a brilliant and perfect life outside the truth then I'd maybe consider a life outside of the truth." What????
i like to think that i have escaped the cult completely, since i, and members of my close family, faded away years ago.
however, i have recently realized that my "elder" uncle, my father's older brother, could technically have me disfellowshipped, such as if he figures out that i post on an "apostate" message board (i've tried to direct my cousin here), or sees me smoking in a restaurant in the small town we all live in, or hears from my father that my boyfriend and i have been away for a weekend together.. so i've recently discovered this fear.
although i believe i'm "out" i'm still trapped in a way.
DA is not an option for me. I love my family too much, except the JW uncle.
i like to think that i have escaped the cult completely, since i, and members of my close family, faded away years ago.
however, i have recently realized that my "elder" uncle, my father's older brother, could technically have me disfellowshipped, such as if he figures out that i post on an "apostate" message board (i've tried to direct my cousin here), or sees me smoking in a restaurant in the small town we all live in, or hears from my father that my boyfriend and i have been away for a weekend together.. so i've recently discovered this fear.
although i believe i'm "out" i'm still trapped in a way.
I like to think that I have escaped the cult completely, since I, and members of my close family, faded away years ago. However, I have recently realized that my "elder" uncle, my father's older brother, could technically have me disfellowshipped, such as if he figures out that I post on an "apostate" message board (I've tried to direct my cousin here), or sees me smoking in a restaurant in the small town we all live in, or hears from my father that my boyfriend and I have been away for a weekend together.
So I've recently discovered this fear. Although I believe I'm "out" I'm still trapped in a way. I guess that I'm still technically a JW from their perspective. Does it ever end?
do you not know that they teach wrong doctrine?.
i hope you do i pray you do!
it's brainwash on so many lvls.
Sorry I thought this was an adult disscussion area. Didn't know there were so many childish people on here or I would not have wasted my time.
Barbra, you are welcome to "bother us again" if you can put your own thoughts and opinions into words without littering it with quotes from the bible. That's how adult discussion works.
You will find many adults here who are Christians and still believe in the bible. It's only grandstand preaching that doesn't go down too well, which you will understand if you've been a Jehovah's Witness.
If you can discuss why you're a Christian without quoting the bible then I'll read what you have to say. If you can't understand that and still want to leave then to me that seems like childish behavior.
you know you are a jw apostate when..... .
your fellow jw's mates that are df'd for drug abuse, drunkeness, and wild sex orgies refuse to talk to you because you are bad association.. you know you are a jw apostate when....... you come by to visit your jw parents, they open the door and say they are not interested.. you know you are a jw apostate when........ the wts takes your contribution for the wwf but refuses to send you a thank you letter.. you know you are a jw apostate when....... you can buy tupperware at a yard sale and not worry it has a demon preserved inside.. you know you are a jw apostate when........ you can visit jwn and not feel guillty for weeks at a time.
you know you are a jw apostate when......... the girls at the kh find you more mysterious and sexy now that your df'd.
You know you are a JW apostate when......
You know, a couple of months before JW's do, what the governing body will be teaching a little later this year
do you not know that they teach wrong doctrine?.
i hope you do i pray you do!
it's brainwash on so many lvls.
*why are my eyes glazing over?*
Sorry, so sleeeepy now......
the term cognitive dissonance is thrown around often on this forum, and rightly so, imo.
it has been discussed before and will be discussed going forward, but another thread made me realize that perhaps now is a good time to re-open the discussion.. in brief, cognitive dissonance is how our minds work to close the gap between our attitudes and what we believe to be true, and what we do and experience to be true.
our minds want to close that gap, or reduce the dissonance.. so if what we believe doesn't match with what we're doing, we shift our minds to close the gap.
This is the classic cognitive dissonance experiment........ All I can say is think about it please.
(From the site I mentioned above)
Boring task experiment
In Festinger and Carlsmith's classic 1959 experiment, students were asked to spend an hour on boring and tedious tasks (e.g. turning pegs a quarter turn, over and over again). The tasks were designed to generate a strong, negative attitude. Once the subjects had done this, the experimenters asked some of them to do a simple favour. They were asked to talk to another subject (actually an actor) and persuade them that the tasks were interesting and engaging. Some participants were paid $20 (inflation adjusted to 2009, this equates to $148.40) for this favor, another group was paid $1 (or $7.42 in '2009 dollars'), and a control group was not asked to perform the favour.
When asked to rate the boring tasks at the conclusion of the study (not in the presence of the other "subject"), those in the $1 group rated them more positively than those in the $20 and control groups. This was explained by Festinger and Carlsmith as evidence for cognitive dissonance. The researchers theorized that people experienced dissonance between the conflicting cognitions, "I told someone that the task was interesting", and "I actually found it boring." When paid only $1, students were forced to internalize the attitude they were induced to express, because they had no other justification. Those in the $20 condition, however, had an obvious external justification for their behaviour, and thus experienced less dissonance.
the term cognitive dissonance is thrown around often on this forum, and rightly so, imo.
it has been discussed before and will be discussed going forward, but another thread made me realize that perhaps now is a good time to re-open the discussion.. in brief, cognitive dissonance is how our minds work to close the gap between our attitudes and what we believe to be true, and what we do and experience to be true.
our minds want to close that gap, or reduce the dissonance.. so if what we believe doesn't match with what we're doing, we shift our minds to close the gap.
The term cognitive dissonance is thrown around often on this forum, and rightly so, IMO. It has been discussed before and will be discussed going forward, but another thread made me realize that perhaps now is a good time to re-open the discussion.
In brief, cognitive dissonance is how our minds work to close the gap between our ATTITUDES and what we BELIEVE to be true, and what we DO and EXPERIENCE to be true. Our minds want to close that gap, or reduce the dissonance.
So if what we BELIEVE doesn't match with what we're DOING, we shift our minds to close the gap. Hence we BELIEVE that what we're DOING is correct.
It's the perfect breeding ground for a hectic activity-based cult.
We all experience some dissonance in everyday life, but seldom as much as a lifelong JW who has given up everything and gone out in field service and raised their families with the BELIEF that the world is about to end, and cannot reconcile that belief with the FACT of the awesomeness of the planet and its people and the unlikelihood of the imminent "end of the world".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
Read, and discuss.
