i have grieved over many deaths in my short life, but now i am grieving over what i once believed.
i'm past the anger now, so here comes the denial, and then the guilt.
does anybody have one of those "men in black" memory eraser pen flashing dealies?
Just don't let the grieve become the center of your life. The best way to do this is to pursue new interests and new studies.
The grief will be there and will surface from time to time. People certainly see it surface in my posts here once in a while. But, grief is okay, use it to help you meditate on things.
I wish you peace
hugs
Joel
last night in chat, just as i was about to log off and go to bed, a person unknown to me came in.
i did not recognize the name, so i introduced myself.
with me in chat was another new person, who identified him/her-self as a 19 yr old da'd person on the east coast (us).. after the initial introductions, the new person stated he/she was a therapist working with a troubled 15 yr old witness girl who wanted to quit the religion over the objections of her mother.
Dear Wasasister,
I talk to a lot of people online and I get my sympathies duped from time to time.
I still trust everyone who asks me for help and I respond to all of them in as kind a way as I can. I usually point them to help they can get locally offline.
Yes, I'm a sucker too. But I don't care. If I have to sit through 100 frauds to help 1 or 2 sincerely troubled people (no matter what their troubles are), so be it.
hugs
Joel
it's strange how life has a tendency to balance things out, to ultimately repay us for both our bad deeds and our good deeds.. how ironic it is that the wtbts's policy on shunning has now become a major force that actually unites searchers for justice throughout the world!
what a smack in the teeth to this unilateral org, they themselves through their appalling treatment of ex's, have finished up simply pushing so called apostates into each others arms!.
would sites such as this exist if the wtbts rescinded their belief in shunning?
Englishman,
As you know, the shunning issue is the one where we both agree the most strongly.
Shunning is inhumane.
I don't care if the Watchtower Society is destroyed or not. I only hope to help people avoid being part of it. Thankfully You Know helps us out.
hugs
Joel
iam trying to work out how many of u are proper witnesses?
Proper is an awful broad term.
How bout, how many of us are Watchtower Society approved.
hugs
Joel
since i have left the non-truth it seems like sometimes loneliness sets in regardless of what you do do prevent it.. i suppose the main reason it happens for me is that my family still is very involved in the non-truth and i tend to not to have nothing to do with any jws at all, even though my wife has bookstudy and field service at our home.. well i guess that goes with the territory when you make a firm conviction to take a stand against something you know not to be true.. here are some quotes on this subject for anyone who likes quotes.. .
shakespeare, leonardo da vinci, benjamin franklin, and lincoln never saw a movie, heard a radio, or looked at a tv they had loneliness and knew what to do with it.
they were not afraid of being lonely because they knew that was when the creative mood in them would mark.. .
Big Jim,
First a big hug.
I was totally involved in the watchtower, so I lost everyone. But, then again, I never really had them.
I get desperately lonely for my old friends from time to time. I write about my feelings here on the board.
I try to view being alone as solitude not loneliness and feel the best when I do as you advise in your post and try to create something.
When I am with my new friends I am very happy. But, I agree with you about your feelings about old friends and family.
Shunning is evil. I think its marks the witnesses as the furtherest thing from true christianity out of all denominations.
hugs again
Joel
| http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id=311102&categoryid=2967&threadid=18518.
farkel
I disagree that this site is in any way deceitful.
The Watchtower Society could have bought all the domains it wanted with its money.
It chose Watchtower.org not Jehovahs-Witness.com. I think that clearly shows where its priorities are.
This is a people oriented site and has the right name. Watchtower.org is a marketing site for a profitable religious journal. It has the right name too.
hugs
Joel
i wanted to give an update to all those who kindly offered suggestions on how to deal with my jw son's ultimatum' "go tell the elders, or i will".. these last few days have been an intense crash course in life for me.
having experienced my firstborn son, whom i gave birth to, wiped his behind, dried his tears, and helped to grow to adulthood with loving support, threaten to turn me over to the "authorities" (elders) for wrong thinking and wrong speech, has been a deeply disturbing experience.
learning the truth about the "truth" was shocking, but this is just a crying tragedy.. after he found a short email from a board friend, which inadvertantly got into our regular email box instead of my private one, i was given a week to go to the elders.
Truman,
The Truman Show is one of my favorite recent movies for just the same reasons you stated. And you are indeed real as each of us is.
The org is about power. The Bible clearly says, man dominates man to his own injury. Men who use god or the threat of retaliation from god if we don't listen to them are the worst kind.
Only God, who is love, should dominate man (and woman).
I hope that your life will be happy. I lost 100% of friends and family and had to start over.
take care
Joel
i read this in the news on cnn's website today.
will the watchtower set it's dooms day clock back a few minutes?
what dou you think?.
I think its pretty clear that You Know is actually Fred Franz.
Show me one Watchtower or Awake article that says lawlessness in that scripture applies to apostate JW's.
NEW LIGHT NEW LIGHT ALERT.
LOL
hugs
Joel
"i'm just a son of a son, son of a son .
son of a son of a sailor .
the sea's in my veins, my tradition remains .
Buffett rules.
For the six months after I was DFed I listened to nothing but Buffett. Also listened to him on my first 2 trips to Key West.
Buffett rules.
My favorites:
Take Another Road
Pirate looks at 40
He went to Paris (He went to Key West looking for answers to questions that bothered him so.)
Stars Fell on Alabama.
Cheeseburger in Paradise
Life is just a Tire Swing
One particular harbor
Oh, there's just too many.
salty hugs
Joel
like many of you i dedicated many years of my life searching for the "true" faith or religion.. after researching and considering religion i came to the conclusion that there is not such.
i decided to worship god in my own temple.
i hope you find yours.. the force be with you all !!!
Hi Ed, nice pic, woof.
Groups are dull.
Life is good.
Be kind to people, have a blast.
Pretty Simple.
hugs
Joel
