Hi, and welcome! I'm new here myself so I know what you mean about being riveted to this site, lol. Anyway, I'd love to hear your story if you feel like sharing.
bluegirl78
JoinedPosts by bluegirl78
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75
I'm new here!
by its_me! ini have been reading your posts for 2 weeks now, and i am riveted!
i spend every spare moment on this site.
it has become rather like a drug to me!
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Newbie Here
by bluegirl78 inhi everyone, another newbie here.
i've been lurking on this site for over 2 weeks now - love it!
the more i read the more ignorant i feel, but i'm learning... i've posted a few responses to others, and would like to say a big thank you to those who have already welcomed me.
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bluegirl78
Jamie, good question. Maybe temporary insanity?? Seriously, though, it was a combination of pressure from my parents and the fact that I've been out so long it was easier to only remember some of the more positive aspects of the religion - old friends, feeling of having found a truly good group of people even if I didn't believe it was the only "true" religion, etc. Unfortunately, this is the only religion I've ever really known, and even though I didn't agree with all of the JW teachings I really did believe that the WTS was sincere in trying to help others. Yep, I thought they were a bit misguided at times, but overall the best you were gonna find in this imperfect world. Of course now I realize how extremely naive that was, but I guess that's what a lifetime of indoctrination does for ya.
Again, I'm really grateful for this site - thanks everyone!
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QFR: Should marriages be arranged for true Christians in the congregation?
by sd-7 inin many cultures, arranged marriages are a common practice.
often this involves the parents of both parties making specific arrangements for their children to marry upon reaching a certain age.
sometimes there is money or property given to the parents of the bride as compensation for the loss of her efforts in the household.
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bluegirl78
Wow, I was totally taken in for a minute there - great job! I agree that the only thing that really tipped me off was the reference to the form.
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Newbie Here
by bluegirl78 inhi everyone, another newbie here.
i've been lurking on this site for over 2 weeks now - love it!
the more i read the more ignorant i feel, but i'm learning... i've posted a few responses to others, and would like to say a big thank you to those who have already welcomed me.
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bluegirl78
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! It sounds like Crisis of Conscience might be a great starting point.
Heaven, someone else also recently recommended 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to me, so I'll definitely want to check into that. Also, thanks so much for the links, and I wanted to mention that I've been enjoying all of your insightful comments here on JWN.
Wobble, he's a 7 month old boy who keeps mommy very busy.
Skywho, it's really nice to hear from another newbie. I'm definitely interested in reading Kingdom of the Cults, since I never thought of the witnesses as a true "cult" before I started researching the subject.
I'm very, very glad I found this site, and would never seriously consider going back at this point, so thanks again for the warm welcome.
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Did you loathe going in field service, if so why?
by HappyGuy ini always felt like i was not a "spiritual" person because i loathed going in field service.
i'm not even sure why i loathed it.
i am very outgoing and can talk to anyone, anytime, about anything.
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bluegirl78
Yes, I hated it! There was very little, if any, real interest, and if you did place anything usually they were just taking it to get rid of you. One of the funniest things I personally saw during field service was when two brothers went up to the door and a lady answered wrapped in a blanket. She said that she worked 3rd shift and they had gotten her out of bed. She seemed to be politely trying to get rid of them at first, but of course witnesses are trained to never take "not interested" as an answer, so they persisted in asking questions, etc. After a few minutes she finally had enough and purposely readjusted her blanket, flashing them in the process... We immediately moved on to the next house. At least it livened things up a little bit and gave us something to laugh about.
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Newbie Here
by bluegirl78 inhi everyone, another newbie here.
i've been lurking on this site for over 2 weeks now - love it!
the more i read the more ignorant i feel, but i'm learning... i've posted a few responses to others, and would like to say a big thank you to those who have already welcomed me.
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bluegirl78
Hi everyone, another newbie here. I've been lurking on this site for over 2 weeks now - love it! The more I read the more ignorant I feel, but I'm learning... I've posted a few responses to others, and would like to say a big thank you to those who have already welcomed me. I've been trying really hard to get an intro. put together, but with a 7-month-old at home it's hard to write two coherent sentences, let alone anything more complicated! Anyway, I was raised as a JW mostly by my mom, as my dad has only really been involved again in the last few years. I guess my doubts about the religion must have gotten started at a pretty young age, since I can remember wondering why my grandparents (who were kind, decent people) would be destroyed in Armageddon simply because they made the mistake of choosing the "wrong" religion. My dad was probably what you'd call a fader (he had been baptized, but never regularly attended meetings), so my family was definitely not as strict as the average JW family. For example, my dad strongly encouraged my sister and I to do well in school so that we could eventually go on to college, and we were allowed to have "worldly" friends over occasionally. In high school I went through a period where I was a firm believer that this religion was the "truth", that armageddon really was just around the corner, and so I was duly baptized at the age of fifteen.
I really started fading away once I made the decision to go to college, and it was about a year or so into college that I got in trouble for dating someone outside of the "truth". One of the elders had seen us having lunch together at the local McDonald's of all places, haha. Since dating in general was strongly discouraged in our small congregation, and especially dating a worldly person, I was really in the hot seat... (Honestly, I'm not sure how any of the witnesses ever manage to get married - how in the heck do you know you're compatible without spending time together?) Anyway, I was publicly reproved rather than disfellowshipped mainly due to the efforts of my dad who spoke with the elders about how he had "failed" me by not being a good example throughout the years, etc. As for me, I had to meet twice with two of the elders, which started out okay and then quickly degenerated into what seemed more like sexual harrassment than loving guidance... So while I was grateful not to be disfellowshipped at the time, I was so traumatized by the "interrogation" I was put through by one elder in particular that I pretty much stopped attending meetings completely. Basically that was the catalyst I needed to see the religion for what it really is, and to get me out of there. This all happened well over 10 years ago now, and I only recently started looking into the possibility of going back after my son was born. Yeah, going back - crazy, huh? I've pretty much avoided all religion as much as possible since I knew I didn't want to go back to the witnesses, and I grew up hearing about how evil Christendom is... My parents still witness to me every chance they get over the phone, and my mom mails me Watchtower and Awake magazines when she sees something she thinks I really need to read, so it's hard to completely get away. I'm pretty much starting from square one with doing my own research, and I'd really appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions for where a newbie should begin - recommended readings, etc. Thanks so much for your input!!
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Accidentally Got an Email from a JW. . .
by leavingwt ina few minutes ago, a former jw friend of mine (ex-bethelite) sent me a bulk email.
this happened once before, a few months back, i just deleted it, but found it curious that he hadn't removed all "known apostates" from his address book.. .
this time, i couldn't let it pass.
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bluegirl78
LockedChaos, you had me laughing out loud on that one...but I'm afraid it would probably give the poor guy a stroke!
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This video scared me so so much... it can't be true!!!
by Butterflyleia85 inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3rphfrwi8.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdmc367zors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt8f8dydmou.
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bluegirl78
Butterfly, I know what you mean about still having family members in this religion. Plus, I think this info. is especially shocking for anyone such as myself who was raised in this religion and is just hearing this stuff for the first time... It definitely makes me want to dig deeper and see for myself how much of this might actually be true. For example, I'd have to see some actual sources to back up the pedophile claim supposedly made by C. Russell's wife. I'm not sure where they got that from, since it doesn't say in the video. Anyway, interesting post!
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The dirty little secret of Watchtower PREACHING WORK you may not know
by Terry in[if !mso]> <mce:style><!
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#vml);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#vml);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#vml);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#vml);} [endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser /> </w:worddocument> </xml><![endif].
here is a dramatic statement: .
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bluegirl78
Wow, very interesting and eye-opening post! I have been lurking on this site for at least a couple of weeks now and have learned a lot, as well as confirmed some of my own doubts about the religion. It really does seem that the door-to-door preaching is nothing more than busy work. What makes it even worse is that I remember being told that there was no need to even consider college since this system would end well before my sister and I would even graduate from high school - the preaching work was the most important thing and we should all be putting in more and more hours. Well my high school graduation came and went (1996), and I am so thankful that my parents did not share in the attitude of condemning a higher education as a waste of time that should be better spent in pioneering. I have often wondered what happened to some of the others in our congregation who decided to forego college for the all-important preaching work...
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Finished Ex-Jehovah's Witness Survey (Please fill out for help with project)...
by Tuesday inhey everyone!.
) did you feel the religion was a cult before leaving?:.
) do you feel the religion is a cult now after leaving?:.
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bluegirl78
A.) Name: (First name only please)
Joyce
B.) Gender
Female
C.) Age:
31-35
1.) How were you introduced to Jehovah's Witnesses:
Parents/Grandparents/Relatives were in before you were born and taught you
2.) How did you leave the religion:
Faded Away (slowly missed more and more meetings until you stopped going completely) - after being publicly reproved for dating outside of "the truth".
3.) What Age did you leave?
19-24
4.) Were you Baptized
Yes
5.) What General reason did you leave the religion:
Left for a boyfriend/girlfriend in the world, Fornicated with man/woman, General Fornication
Wanted more Freedom (play school sports, date who you wanted, listen to music, etc.)
Felt the elders or organization abused their power, felt they took presidence over God, Problem with the way they organized the religion
Left because of the people (saw too much hypocracy, too much gossip, passed over for some leadership role, was treated badly by those in the hall.)
6.) How did you feel about the doctrine before leaving:
Believed there were more things right than wrong
7.) Did your feelings about the doctrine effect the way you left?
No
8.) If you were disfellowshipped for sin, did your feelings on the doctrine effect you sinning in the first place?
N/A
9.) Did you feel the religion was a cult before leaving?:
I did not think they were a cult at all
10.) Did you research the religion's teachings after leaving?
No
11.) What are your feelings on the doctrine of the religion since leaving?
The religion is like any other religion out there it has right and wrong in it
12.) How do you feel about the organization since leaving?:
They are no different than any other religion they have good and bad
13.) How do you feel about the people since leaving?:
They are filled with liars and hypocrites
They are no different than any other religion, they have good and bad
They are misguided people and I feel sorry for them
14.) Do you feel the religion is a cult now after leaving?:
They have most of the qualities of a cult
15.) What is your opinion on the intelligence of those still in the Organization? :
They're intelligent but purposely deny facts for their religion
16.) Are you happier now that you’re gone?
I think I’m much happier now that I’m gone
17.) Do you feel that other than the fact you left the Jehovah’s Witnesses that they would agree with how you live your life?
I do a few things they would not agree with
18.) If a Jehovah’s Witness approaches you to discuss their religion you’re more than likely do the following:
Give them a simple Not Interested
19.) Would you consider returning?
It’s nearly impossible I’ll return but I guess anything’s possible
20.) How do you feel about discussing your time as a Jehovah's Witness?:
It's part of me I'll discuss it if it comes up
Questions: