Posts by Hadit

Great job on getting down to less than 10! Well I've never smoked so I have limited suggestions but you could try acupuncture. Also you need to replace the habit with a new healthy habit as one habit usually turns into another. Try to find the underlying cause of your smoking - stress or whatever it may be and try to minimize it. Stay away from smokers as much as you can at least for now while you are trying to quit.

Good luck Quentin You can do it!

V665 - LOL! Great story.

19

Will this Society survive ?

by WildeLover in

this is my first post and i suppose something like this has been posted before but i would love to get your thoughts on it.

really do you ever think that the society will fall apart?

or will it always be propped up by die hard members?will it see 2020 i wonder with the growth it has seen?.

Hadit

Hello and welcome to the forum! I sure hope it won't survive but, unfortunately, for the reasons stated in the above posts I think it may be around for a while yet. Fear and mind control go a long way to make sure they will be around too.

68

As a Witness - What did you Notice in How Elders Got Appointed ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i found it amazing being raised in the witnesses to see exactly who got appointed sometimes as an elder.

it seemed that the criteria in my opinion had more to do with getting 10 hours a month in field service, answering at meetings, carrying microphones as a ministerial servant, or handling the magazine or literature counter !

in doing these " functions " and attending meetings on a regular basis - a man was thought to be considered " spiritually strong " and qualify to be an elder and serve on judicial committees judging people's personal problems.

Hadit

Great points Flipper!

I noticed that I wondered way too many times how most of them became elders (a few I knew were truly decent and loving people). Most lacked love, they lacked tact, they lacked skills, they didn't take care of their families, they treated their wives like servants and all their wives were alcoholics and taking medications for depression (no wonder!), they were egotistical, misogynistic and chauvanistic. Many of them creeped me out at the way they stared at the other sisters. I remember a sister telling me of an elder who approached her at the hall and was picking something out of his teeth and he said "Ya - I'm just picking the short and curlies out of my teeth" and then winked. PIG! Yes sir Holy Spirit appoints them!

The whole thing is scary. So many people entrust their lives to these unqualified men who then take advantage of others. They are also privy many times to personal information about people in the hall which is very dangerous considering the history of some of these men.

I knew of an elder who would seek out depressed sisters who had been abused and on medication and rape them. He would use the date rape drug many times on people as well. The whole thing was so disgusting that it's one of the things that jolted me awake. I just couldn't let it go and it didn't make sense to me that he gets away with this repeatedly from hall to hall. I asked questions but it got me nowhere! They hide and lie. So infuriating.

Okay - talking about this guy is making me angry and upset so I'd better end my post!

24

Treatment of Women In the Watchtower Society

by phoebed in

jw
friends

i am new here- and very very depressed.

my story is very long and i can not now even tell all the story.

i am shocked, disoriented, depressed.

Hadit

Welcome phoebed! Many hugs to you! I'm so sorry for your situation. My heart goes out to you. You mentioned about not giving your details - please do be very careful about the details you give in order to protect your privacy.

The subject of women and the WTS is an infuriating one. They are awful in their treatment of women. The chauvanism and misogyny of the organization is DISGUSTING.

As jamiebowers said - if there is any violence involved please get OUTSIDE help!

I look forward to your story. You've come to the right place to share it. You will get empathy, compassion, care and love here. There is a lot of good advice as well. Just knowing that others are going through or have experienced similar things is a great help and comfort.

Right now you need to take really good care of yourself. You can do this! It gets better one day at a time.

Hadit

16

I've Completely Abandoned My Principles~~For Gals

by StAnn in

jw
friends

when i was a girl growing up, my mother always said that makeup was for old women and prostitutes.

she never wore much makeup.

i played around with makeup for awhile as a teen but once i grew up, it began to bother my conscience.

Hadit

Oh dear! The age crisis. It SUCKS! I don't wear makeup either - only once in a blue moon. I know I look a bit washed up at times but I figure if someone doesn't like the way I look - it's their problem. Easier said than done I know!

We are VERY hard on ourselves and we shouldn't be. You are still that natural beauty - that doesn't go away - it just changes a little.

As for wearing some makeup you are not selling out! You are doing something for yourself and that is great. We tend to neglect ourselves sometimes and doing little things really can help us to feel better. Wearing it doesn't make you fake either - it accentuates your OWN looks! I bet you look damn good !

I've decided that I'm going to take better care of myself and have started to do all my "home" beauty remedies again on a weekly basis. They really do help and make a big difference. I am happy to share some of them with you if you would like.

Hang in there - I'm in the same boat! Sending hugs.

12

Lessons Learned....

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

want to briefly address why i am here.. i did say i was done with jw forums.

and i am in a sense.

i would like to announce a couple of things.

Hadit

Well I for one like your posts! Attention whore? LOL! A little attention can be good.

Get to know yourself, and give yourself time to do so.

I think that is a very important thing to do. As witnesses we never got the opportunity to get to know ourselves. We were too busy putting on the fake personality and thinking things we thought we had to think so that we don't get destroyed by our loving God at the big A. We were too busy being clones of the WTS and were fearful of our real thoughts that tried to creep up on us. As a result we never got to know ourselves and have paid the price in many ways. Bad marriages, bad work relationships, bad relationships with ourselves - low self esteem, depression, etc. They also never gave us the time to get to know ourselves - service, meetings, assemblies, clean homes, clean service case, clean car for service . . . ad nauseum!

26

Why Are Jehovah's Witnesses Considered by Many to Be a Cult?

by Cold Steel in

in a world thats growing increasingly profligate and vile, im concerned so much vitriol is aimed at churches like the jehovahs witnesses.

im not one, and i have theological differences with it; however other religions and former members of the religion seem to be unusually bitter and critical.

i admit to being unfamiliar with many of the social aspects of the church, but all churches have a hierarchal structure and its not unusual for many churches to also be dogmatic in relation to the scriptures.

Hadit

“The Jehovah Witness Watchtower is a big money (billion a year) mind control operation that steals the hearts, minds and ultimately the lives of it’s followers. The cult uses mind control tools to keep members in line such as: milieu control, loaded language, demand for purity, confession, mystical manipulation, doctrine over person, sacred science, dispensing of existence, control of environment, closed logic, and most of all fear.” And “Cult members…aren’t allowed to read anything critical of the cult so they don’t think for themselves. [They use] mind control techniques to create a nowhere to run, nowhere to hide atmosphere for the members. Members must literally spy on other cult members to ensure that they have not violated cult rules.

As Cyberjesus said - it's in your post. Everything is correct in the above statement. Although like Agonus said - you would have to have been one to get it. The mind control is in the articles and layered in year after year, it's in the talks, in the songs, it's the repetition, the number of meetings, assemblies, personal study of their articles (your are told to read it, then re-read it and meditate and underline the answers and then you go over the SAME article at the Kingdom Hall).

Everyone who is and was a Jehovah's Witness has been a victim of mind control. THERE IS NO EXCEPTION.

In short, as long as people can just walk away from a religion and speak out against it, how much of a “cult” can it be? And how much is hype?

You CANNOT just walk away from THIS religion. You lose your friends, your family, sometimes your spouse and your children, your business contacts, your lifelines with anyone who is still in. You can try to fade, you can disassociate but that all comes with a price. A price way too high.

How much is hype? NONE of it is.

Imagine: Your child is dying in a hospital and needs blood to save them. The elders from the hall come in and give you support to DENY your child this life saving procedure. You decide to take it. The elders try to stop you. They try to kidnap your child so that no blood transfusion is given. You fight for your child's life. You are then considered disloyal to GOD for saving your child. You are disfellowshipped and your child is treated like an outcast. You are told that if Armageddon comes tomorrow YOU and YOUR CHILD will be massacred by Jehovah because you disobeyed the Watchtower's stance on blood which they deem EQUAL to God's word. You will not get a resurrection - you and your child have been doomed for all eternity. At that point you are shunned by everyone. You can try to work your way back into their good graces by repenting of your sin and attending all the meetings and grovelling at the feet of the elders in your hall for possibly years on end before THEY decide if you are repentant or not. I could go on but you must get the picture by now.

Hype? No. Cult? Yes.

The Jehovah's Witness Organization (Watchtower Society) is a Cult. It is not interested in God or truth. It is interested in power and control and will use any means to get it.

I hope that somewhat answers your question.

64

CO picked the wrong "old lady" to say this to!

by clarity in

jw
friends

is this the latest bs to pacify the multiple thousands of singles who are made veritable eunochs because of this organization?

...when i tearfully blurted out that i just couldn't carry on any longer!

i mean almost three decades, for g*ds sake!

Hadit

Welcome Clarity! I like the name and glad you found some!

All the WTS wants is slave labour for recruitment and what better way than to have ones who are single and childless and who have nothing better to do with their lives. Oh wait . . . what about actually living their life? Who is going to pay all their bills? Is the society? It is tough enough to be married and pay all the bills never mind single . . . with no education, no career. This is while they sit on their billions of dollars being served by said single people! They make their meals, clean their place, donate all their youth and their families give more donations. It's infuriating!

Wait till the new system? What about the part of those that are resurrected not marrying and having children? Most of the people from that initial generation are now dead! All they do is start the cycle over and over again. All they do is ruin people's lives. Of course the resurrection part and stuff is all speculation on their part. What do they know about any of that? They interpret what they want to interpret and they expect people to live their lives FOR THEM.

How utterly sad about the sister sitting in her car alone! I'm sure that is what God wants her to feel like. They are a sick bunch of deceitful men.

That poor lonely man with his photograph of his sweetheart! How heartbreaking.

Yes . . . Jehovah's witnesses the happiest people on earth! How deluded.