Posts by man in black

The po was quite a weird guy and in order to spite the guys who did not make the efforts to do more things like service, study, etc. he had several sisters

do the literature, and magazine counters. That went on for several months until the overseer came in and put a stop to it.

31

Where else is there to go?

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

when i left the jw's, close friends and some elders discussed my desicion with me,without fail they all concluded the same thing.... "but where else is there to go?!".

at the time, the question just confused me, i could not see why it confused me or the very telling nature of such a comment.

i never thought that once.. firstly, this indicates that many jw's remain jw's simply because of this tunnel vision perspective... everything in their periphery is valueless, but the wt on which they focus is everthing.

man in black

Interesting post, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

When my wife and I walked away from the jws she just jumped with both feet into mormonism.

It has now been seven years, and I am continually beating myself up because I do not belong to a religious organization.

She seems so happy with her new friends, and I deal with the indoctrination undercurrent most of the time.

Yet deep down I feel very insecure, and like Im missing something needed to be happy.

So your posting really resonated with me. Learning to develop a new mentality regarding spiritual happiness is like walking over a minefield.

34

AUTISM and JW children

by apostatekate in

i was a jw kid.

i remember having to sit still through long, boring meetings.

i remember being taken to the book room for numerous spankings.

man in black

Thank you for sharing your story. My wife is a speech pathologist and I have developed a very sensitive sense when around autistic children and their parents.

when we were witnesses, it would just floor me mentally and emotionaly to see how uncaring the elders and the congregation as a whole looked at kids who did not wear the perfect little "jw suit".

9

That talk at the assembly where...

by ?evrything in

jw
friends

...someone who was disfellowshipped ended up goin to a bar getting into a fight/getting preggo or somethin of the nature and then realized how pitiful their life had become.

they then 'prayed' to jah and wala the light clicked and they came back and feel better then ever!!.

sigh.

man in black

And I would like to comment on the fact that when I was in HS, the three sons of the presiding overseer showed me the real meaning of being a "worldly person". We would smoke, drink, date girls, use various drugs, and then go to the hall and be commended as to how wonderful and example we all were for the congregation ! If my parents never had gotten involved with the witnesses, my life wojuld have been much more cleaner, and honest I have absolutley no doubt regarding that.

9

That talk at the assembly where...

by ?evrything in

jw
friends

...someone who was disfellowshipped ended up goin to a bar getting into a fight/getting preggo or somethin of the nature and then realized how pitiful their life had become.

they then 'prayed' to jah and wala the light clicked and they came back and feel better then ever!!.

sigh.

man in black

Interesting comments. I would like to use the example of my son, who really got the ball rolling regarding leaving the jws for me.

He went to college, got his degree.

Two years ago he started an animation business, ( using several ex-jws as characters for his cartoons, and musical scores).

And now he is buying his first house, my wife and I are just in awe regarding what he did after leaving the religion.

He is not a drug-user, and he has a very well respected reputation regarding people in the industry.

If you are interested in some of his work, go to you tube and type in Noob Adventures.

This example will never be used in an assembly Im sure.

5

Training the child regarding right and wrong

by man in black in

interesting experience i had friday morning :.

here is illinois we had freezing rain, so while waiting for the train at 8:00 am people were slipping and sliding all over the place.

i was on the platform, 5 minutes before the train pulled in, quite a few people were also waiting.. a lady ( about 40 years old) was holding onto her mother, who looked to be in her mid 70's as they crossed the track platform.. suddenly the mother slipped and fell, i dropped my coffee and ran over to help her along with one other man.

man in black

Interesting experience I had Friday morning :

Here is Illinois we had freezing rain, so while waiting for the train at 8:00 am people were slipping and sliding all over the place. I was on the platform, 5 minutes before the train pulled in, quite a few people were also waiting.

A lady ( about 40 years old) was holding onto her Mother, who looked to be in her mid 70's as they crossed the track platform.

Suddenly the Mother slipped and fell, I dropped my coffee and ran over to help her along with one other man. We each grabbed a shoulder and lifted the older lady up. She was more embarrassed than anything, but I walked her over to the platform shelter and we talked about where we each lived, and our families. Her and her daughter were so happy that us two guys helped her.

Now when something like this happens, I completely block out who is around, or what is going on, but as the train pulled up she hung onto my arm and we kept talking as we walked slowly to the train. Her daughter and I helped her get into the right side of the train car, and I wished them a good day. Then I turned and went into the left side of the car. As I sat down a young man who had a son of about four years old sat across the aisle from me. The boy kept asking his dad why are there colored lights wrapped around the light poles?

My antenna went up and I realized that the dad was a member of the hall I once attended. The little boy kept glancing over at me, and talking to his father. Suddenly the boy was asking questions about " that bad man" while looking at me, not anyone else on the train. ( remember, this is rush hour, so it is pretty crowded).

I got off the train about twenty minutes later, and he was still talking about the bad man. Standing in the vestibule, I looked back and the little boy was staring at me.

It kind of shattered me for most of the day. Helping an old lady who had fallen,is not important. Tell your kid that I'm bad because I no longer go to the hall is the most important thing.

Perhaps I'm reading into this too deep, but going back to the jw mindset. and knowing this dad when he was younger the story completly comes together

Ah yes, raising a child to believe in the jw way of thinking, what a wonderful thing, no wonder so many leave !

16

what have you learned since leaving ?

by man in black in

jw
friends

since leaving the jw religion,what can you say that you have learned about life/people in a positive way that you probably would have never experienced.

if you had remained a witness ?.

my story is regarding this :.

man in black

Since leaving the jw religion,what can you say that you have learned about life/people in a positive way that you probably would have never experienced

if you had remained a witness ?

My story is regarding this :

My Mom died 5 years ago, and was a jw for 30 years. My parents moved out of state, but still remained close to quite a few members of their hall.

After she died, only 5 people sent a card. Only one couple stopped off to talk about what happened. I completely lost respect for the people that I thought were "friends" over the years. Since I left, I promised myself that I would attend every visitation / funeral of anyone or their relatives that i knew during my life. Over the years, I have reconnected with old school friends, distant relatives, and just associates that I hardly knew.

This has been a real eye opener for me because it showed me how important it is for the survivors to have closure, and people attending the funeral really do help them out.

It may sound somewhat fatalistic learning such a valuable lesson by focusing on funerals, but that is when people are at their lowest both emotionally and

spiritually.

I have developed a completely new viewpoint regarding the coldness and hard-headedness of the jw religion regarding death. There is a whole aspect of human emotion that is closed off because of their beliefs. And I'm very embarrassed to say that I went along with it for over 25 years

astronaut Chris Hadfield

by man in black in

"if you start talking in depth about your own [faith], you are excluding other people who have different faiths that give them strength.

there's no point in that.".

ran across this article today,,,, interesting:.

man in black

"if you start talking in depth about your own [faith], you are excluding other people who have different faiths that give them strength.

There's no point in that."

Ran across this article today,,,, interesting:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/chris-hadfield-faith-spirituality-space_n_4235055.html?ref=topbar&utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false