Posts by joelbear

25

No Nookies In Nero's!

by Englishman in

jw
friends

i must be honest here, one of the main reasons that i chose to depart the jws was so that i could have more sex.

actually, thats not quite true, when i say have more sex, i really mean to say have sex with more girls.

it feels so good to be honest, doesnt it?

joelbear

LOL Englishman,

Very good post. Aubergine and suede and you went to a straight bar? That may have been the problem.

Like you, when I left the witnesses, I thought sex aplenty was just waiting on me at every turn. I started hanging out in gay bars in Jacksonville Florida. I just knew they would be so happy that another man had been flung into their midst. LOL, boy what a lesson for me.

It was almost a year after I left that I actually had sex for the first time. I exaggerated my encounter in Key West to the elders so they would DF me. Of course I wasn't exactly a great pick up artist with opening lines like:

Hi, I used to be a Jehovah's Witness minister and now I am completely alone and lost, wanna screw?

Hi, I just moved to Atlanta, I have no friends or family, wanna come over to my place?

Hi, I just came out and I am really itching for some, will you teach me stuff?

Well, you get the idea. At least in the gentille South, the men excused themself to the bathroom and just never came back, rather than running screaming away from me.

Of course, I also found out that overweight hairy guys just weren't the cats pajamas at the bars I was going to. Neh neh, my type of guys were in bars that were a couple of blocks back away from the main, excuse the expression, drag. Darker and smellier than the pretty boy bars where everyone wore preppie clothes and wore Polo or Aramis.

Anyway. Thanks for an interesting discussion topic.

hugs

Joel

5

Imagine

by joelbear in

jw
friends

my favorite song of all time is imagine by john lennon.. what if everyone came to believe that there was no god and no afterlife?

would people learn to live peacefully together or would they rip each other apart even faster?.

god has clearly be used throughout history to justify this that or the other political ideology or cultural colonization effort.

joelbear

My favorite song of all time is Imagine by John Lennon.

What if everyone came to believe that there was no God and no afterlife? Would people learn to live peacefully together or would they rip each other apart even faster?

God has clearly be used throughout history to justify this that or the other political ideology or cultural colonization effort. Without this justification could people still be influenced to kill their neighbor for their land?

just thinking hugs

Joel

6

C.O. Location ?

by HoChiMin in

jw
friends

being from the new england area, where this c.o.

liked to kick ass, a few of my elder friends wanted to know whether anyone has heard of whatever happened to a circuit overseer by the name of terry angelacos.

had a reputation of really trying to get elders removed and then he'd gloat about it at the congregation meetings.

joelbear

Speaking of rats,

Has anyone here ever run into a Don Campbell. He was CO in South Georgia for a while. He had a wife who has a lot of problems with nerves and depression.

He was quite a jerk. I should thank him. He was the main contributing factor to my ending my career as a pioneer.

hugs

Joel

21

Toppled Tower

by Skimmer in

jw
friends

(headline) toppled tower.

(dateline) october 2029, brooklyn, new york; associated internet media news service.

after a century and a half of preaching and publishing, the wtbts (watchtower bible and tract society) has closed its doors.. the group was started in the 1870s with most of its doomsday doctrines borrowed from the second adventists, another american-born religion of the 19th century.

joelbear

see you on october 22nd

21

Secret Posters Hedging Their Bets?

by Englishman in

jw
friends

since i found sites like this on the internet i have been constantly amazed at the great number of people who post here and yet do this in secret.. so many people seem to be trapped in a situation where they desperately want to leave the jw religion behind.

so many people seem to be unable to do so for fear of losing their families, fearing that a da'ing or df'ing decree will separate them from the people that they love.

some posters are even elders and ministerial servants.. so, can you guys tell me how you manage to lead a life that is so complex?

joelbear

I hedged my bets until I was 30. I stayed a witness even though I no longer believed in it because of family connections, friend connections and I would admit also on the off chance that I was wrong and they did have the truth.

I left when the price for staying became higher than the price for leaving. I would imagine that is what happens with most people. For instance, they make enough non witness friends that losing their witness friends becomes irrelevant. They discover a new spiritual path that enables them to leave the old one behind, etc.

Every decision in our life has a cost/benefit analysis to it. Most of these we make by rote (Stopping and looking both ways before crossing the street so we don't get smooshed). But we do it with every decision. Every decision we make costs us something. We each weigh whether the benefits of the action are worth it to us according to our own personalized value system.

hugs

Joel

25

You Know's Seared Conscience

by Seeker in

jw
friends

[moving this to its own thread so as to avoid hijacking the original thread to a new topic.].

when i pointed out how you know was associating with apostates by being here, as the society has pointed out, he responded:.

my conscience doesn't bother me.

joelbear

You Know,

of course its about you sweetie. If its not the truth, then you are not of the annointed, you are not part of a faithful and discreet slave class that is in line to be God's right hand men, angels or whatever.

You want it to be the truth because of what it means to you.

But hey, you are no different than any of us. We all want whats good for us to be truth, it just seldom is.

Joel

37

How will Gen-Xers contribute to the fall of WTBS?

by LDH in

jw
friends

is it because we're a cynical lot?.

maybe because we were the first generation of latch-key kids who learned how to raise ourselves?.

what is it that makes it so 'hard to lie to a gen xer?

joelbear

The Watchtower Society will be around for the rest of our lifetimes for sure.

They will change the 1914 doctrine in 10 to 15 years which will have an impact on their membership.

I think you will see the society move more and more towards earlier baptisms since baptized witnesses have much less freedom to move out of the org without substantial consequences.

hugs

Joel

8

The Heavy Toll on Children of DF'd Parents

by FreePeace in

jw
friends

note: contains passionate language.

two years ago, i divorced my wife, (who was an alcoholic).

close to the same time, think41self and i decided to marry, and for that, we were both disfellowshipped (couldn't prove scriptural freedom, but who cares now?).

joelbear

Hi Free,

First, HUGS. I really feel for you and your son. As you know, I lost 100% of relationships when I left.

The "Brooklyn Boys" don't care. Their attitude is demonstrated by You Know's writings. Basically, individual feelings or desires, including wanting to be close to grandparents are secondary to God's will. You can't reason with that. Most of the decision makers of course don't have extended families or even immediate families, so of course, its not that relevant to them.

I agree with you on making the world aware of what the Watchtower Society is actually like. I speak freely about how my life as a witness affected me and my family. The Truth about "the truth" is the best weapon we have. We don't have to make anything up, all we have to do is let people know our experiences and that will be enough to ward most people off.

hugs again

Joel

24

I am new here!!!

by Sarah in

jw
friends

i have been reading post after post since january, (when my husband and i quit going to the meetings), just now getting up the nerve to say anything.

you people scare me!!!

there are some intense messages on here.

joelbear

Hi Sarah,

Welcome to you and your family.

As you already know from your experience, Truth is strong, so strong that it cannot be defeated. Truth does not have to hide from anything because like diamond it can cut through any nonsense.

hugs

Joel

22

Does anyone know about ADD in adults?

by Mulan in

jw
friends

i really need some help guys.

my youngest son is getting married in 3 weeks to a really annoying .

young woman, 22. she has add and talks all the time!!

joelbear

I work with a man who was diagnosed as ADD at the age of 45. So it does happen. He is on medication to control it and says he is much happier.

I know that my OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) certainly makes me a pain to be around when it is acting up. With some medication and a lot of hard work I keep it under control most of the time.

As someone with mental health problems I would give this advice:

1. Do not enable her. My friends and my partner Mitch challenge me immediately when they see me sinking into my sickness. For this I am very thankful. For years, people would just play into my sickness and tiptoe around me. This just made me worse and worse and I lost many friends because of my terrible behavior. It is not bad to insist on proper behavior from someone who has a mental problem.

2. If you truly suspect she may have a mental illness, even if slight, insist that she see a doctor. People are often shy about suggesting this to someone with mental sickness because they are afraid of hurting their feelings. Mental illness is just as serious and debilitating as cancer. Again, I am thankful Mitch made me go get help. Im not cured, but I am healthier.

hugs

Joel