freeflyingfaerie

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Posts by freeflyingfaerie

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  49

  How did you find the strength to leave?

  by SAHARA in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  to all of you exjws, i'm sure you've been asked this question one way or the other many times and i'm sure the answer is different for many of you, i'd like to know directly from you never having a chance to hear or read many exjw's answers to this.

  knowing that you would be cut off from your family and friends and other consequences for your decision to leave, how did you ever get the strength to do it?

  i mean really, i find it fascinating to know that there are so many of you who were at one time very devout, if not at the very least loyal to one of the most successful mind-contol organizations ever who believed all if not most of what the society taught and still you found the courage to risk everything once you accepted that it isn't what it claims to be.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  (alltimejeff, i swear i wasnt copying your 'mantra' thingy , lol)
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  49

  How did you find the strength to leave?

  by SAHARA in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  to all of you exjws, i'm sure you've been asked this question one way or the other many times and i'm sure the answer is different for many of you, i'd like to know directly from you never having a chance to hear or read many exjw's answers to this.

  knowing that you would be cut off from your family and friends and other consequences for your decision to leave, how did you ever get the strength to do it?

  i mean really, i find it fascinating to know that there are so many of you who were at one time very devout, if not at the very least loyal to one of the most successful mind-contol organizations ever who believed all if not most of what the society taught and still you found the courage to risk everything once you accepted that it isn't what it claims to be.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  For me there came a point when I felt that i had outgrown this religion and to stay would mean soul-suicide. It was my deepest feelings and intuition followed by analysing that brought me to my knees , then into peace . I wasn't so concerned during the months of my walking away about the consequences ( of course i knew intellectually that there would be backlash) , I was more concerned with my own psyche and well-being and being true to myself. The strength comes from pain. Pain and not being settled inside can drive you to do the unthinkable. I still have to find strength when I think of my family and some dear friends that i am 'dead' to.

  A personal kind of mantra that i tell myself when I feel alone or the heartache resurfaces is~~this is my life, no one else is living it but me, this is my experience...I am alive today, I may not be alive tommorrow...~~

  and when i think that way, I breathe deeper, walk slower, enjoy the moment, take it all in.....

  ....did i go off on a tangent?
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  16

  Outcast & Rejected

  by Drewmeister in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just wanted to interduce myself an give an quick synopsis.. i was a happy an healthy(ish) young man back in march 08. i was cornnered by a (didn't know it @ the time) jw who talked to me alot about "the truth" and why the world is like it is.

  he is a window cleaner in town, hence i didn't know as he wasn't in his suit.

  everything he said made sense to me @ the time, but thinking back i wasn't @ my healthiest or strongest so he got me @ my weakest point.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  yes, it is too much for us to live that lifestyle, it actually hurts

  sorry you're having such a difficult time of it right now, no one knows truly how much a person can be suffering inside. it's so good that you listened to your gut and left.

  the rejection is adding injury to insult....disagreeing w a person's choice to decide to no longer believe something they've been taught, and then shunning them (which also perpetuates the ignorance of the 'flock' by not being able to discuss other ideas w them)

  I wish you the best in your healing..

  Faerie
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  290

  What hope is there then?

  by sayitsnotso in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if jws don't have the truth; if there is no paradise earth; if there is no end of this system; if death is all there is, then what hope do we have to look forward too?.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  I remember a conversation I had w a former JW friend as I was 'falling out of the truth', in which she said 'what purpose do people in the world really have?'

  This just sounded so arrogant, ignorant, and presumptous!

  And this is how JW's are closed-off. It is engrained in them to think that if you aren't living the way theyv'e laid out so precisely (according to their very own special interpretation of the bible) ..then my god, you are just without any purpose or hope.

  It really is narrow thinking.

  There are other ways to think. Their are other ways to believe, if you wish. There are other ways that don't isolate or divide.

  It may seem scary to imagine that the paradise utopia is not the ultimate, but if you can let that go, then there is a sort of freedom in not clinging so very tightly to a fantastic dream that comes at a such a high price.

  Maybe there is an afterlife, maybe we'll find out...after-life...

  We are all capable of expanding our minds, changing our perspective, growing...if you are conflicted inside, it's ok, you're human. (as a JW, are people really allowed to be human?)

  I wish you peace in your quest

  carpe diem,

  gather the roses!

  Faerie
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  69

  Jehovah's Witnesses and Calvinistic Predestination

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is a complex question, and i just want to get a discussion started on the message of jehovah's witnesses and how it relates to their adventist roots, and esp calvinism.. bear with me, i will try to be concise.. we all know that while jehovah's witnesses like to deny adventist roots, that it is clear that according to them, the man jesus selected to get the whole thing started, c t russell, was heavily influenced by adventist ideas, esp the (adventist) idea that has really never left them; the idea that somehow, a time date or period can be inferred from the bible if you read certain scriptures through an adventist lens.

  (thus, the 2520 years, 7 gentile times, etc.).

  so while this is relatively well known, there is a concept that jehovah's witnesses teach against, yet practice.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  Rufus, I realize that religion is not the single source of the world's problems. But that fact doesn't make it any more attractive.

  It saddens me to think of how we humans can become so indoctrinated and forget our basic need, Love. Just in my observations and experiences, people can really get caught up in promoting their own brand of God. And if their own brand is so shiny and clean, then others must therefore be wrong . Maybe its a generalization, but in man's quest to understand it all, organized religion seems to have just complicated things. And nobody seems to me to have all the answers.
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  69

  Jehovah's Witnesses and Calvinistic Predestination

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is a complex question, and i just want to get a discussion started on the message of jehovah's witnesses and how it relates to their adventist roots, and esp calvinism.. bear with me, i will try to be concise.. we all know that while jehovah's witnesses like to deny adventist roots, that it is clear that according to them, the man jesus selected to get the whole thing started, c t russell, was heavily influenced by adventist ideas, esp the (adventist) idea that has really never left them; the idea that somehow, a time date or period can be inferred from the bible if you read certain scriptures through an adventist lens.

  (thus, the 2520 years, 7 gentile times, etc.).

  so while this is relatively well known, there is a concept that jehovah's witnesses teach against, yet practice.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  what i mean about 'at each others throats' is all the atrocities and sufferings over the ages that were caused by religions
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  69

  Jehovah's Witnesses and Calvinistic Predestination

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is a complex question, and i just want to get a discussion started on the message of jehovah's witnesses and how it relates to their adventist roots, and esp calvinism.. bear with me, i will try to be concise.. we all know that while jehovah's witnesses like to deny adventist roots, that it is clear that according to them, the man jesus selected to get the whole thing started, c t russell, was heavily influenced by adventist ideas, esp the (adventist) idea that has really never left them; the idea that somehow, a time date or period can be inferred from the bible if you read certain scriptures through an adventist lens.

  (thus, the 2520 years, 7 gentile times, etc.).

  so while this is relatively well known, there is a concept that jehovah's witnesses teach against, yet practice.

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• 

  freeflyingfaerie

  OMG! This thread is a trip!

  It stresses me personally to think of a big guy in the sky having his piercing eyes watching my every move so as to decide my destiny ( or has it already been all laid out?) ...somehow i feel just fine not having that burden to carry. The burden of approval.

  I like to shrink it down to we don't know so much, and I'm so very fine with that.

  Maybe my post is simplistic, but I think we can all get our panties in a pucker (or start wars) and forget to actually enjoy the simple pleasure in life

  or

  maybe we were all predestined to really just love ourselves, and love others, period. ( but there was a malfunction and our brains grew bigger than our hearts)

  or

  if there is a big guy in the sky, he's got some esplaining to do, because his kids are always seeming to be at each other's throats, and it's usually about HIM!! Not a very nice daddy!
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  12

  The Revolving Door to Eden

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was not born in eden, but close to its entrance.. a little boy's eyes can take in big, wonderful things.

  he does not fathom their complexity nor why celestial chambers of exquisite delight open wide before his uncomprehending gaze.

  he is drawn by his heart to what the cosmos have destined him to possess.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  that was beautiful
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  20

  "Losing My Religion" Film Project needs help

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  passing this on from jim moon:.

  subject: exjw documentaryhi everyone!.

  one of my exjw friends in los angeles is developing a documentary about the jws entitled "losing my religion" and he asked me to forward information to anyone i thought might be interested in helping out with its development.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  this is wonderful, more awareness for all about the ways of the JWs and the struggles of those who leave . and a feeling of connectedness for those of us who have walked way
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  71

  How Do You Feel Being Thought Of As An "Apostate"?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does it bother you if witnesses regard you as an apostate?.

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  freeflyingfaerie

  i totally agree w heartbreaker and scully.

  'apostate' is jusst their word of choice used to describe free-thinking people that were once under the spell alongside them. and for them to continue in that life, we MUST be horrid evil curmudgeon freak(in a bad way) losers that drink blood ...evil...evil i tell you! let it be known... let us be burned alive with the witches

  they can also call me witch and pagan if it suits them... for i'd rather adore a tree or a flower than be prey to them ever again