Posts by ambersun

25

Spent last few days in Hospital with our 23 yr old son

by troubled mind in

jw
friends

severe abdominal pain turned out to be pancreatitis !

very scary .... his levels of enzymes should have been 180 ,but were 4,500 .

all the tests xrays , ulta sound and mri showed no gallstones or blockages just one mother of an inflamned pancreas .

ambersun

Troubled mind, very best wishes for your son's speedy recovery.

So sorry to you and exwhyzee regarding the apparent lack of concern by your JW relatives at a time when you really needed their love and support.

If it is any comfort, I am sure it is nothing personal, as mouthy said they think they are doing the right thing and are no doubt totally unaware of the hurt they are causing by their apparent lack of concern. It is just the result of years of indoctrination, convincing them that Jah requires them to put WT interests first and foremost before their own needs and those of their loved ones.

My own relatives are wonderful, loving people who would do anything for you under normal circumstances but during the aux pioneering month of April, CO visits, Assemblies etc, I might as well be living on another planet. I am used to it now, and just grateful that they have chosen not to shun me which has happened to so many other ex JWs.

68

June 15th WT - WT Society Pressures JW Parents to Indoctrinate Children

by flipper in

jw
friends

in a non-study article in the jw only watchtower is an article titled " should youths get baptized ?

" the wt society is losing young people in very large numbers - so how else to try stemming the exodus than putting pressure on jw parents to indoctrinate and instill mind control into their children ?

in one section here in this article it almost sounds like a version of " 20 questions " that the wt society asks parents to determine if their children are making " spiritual progress " as they phrase it.

ambersun

Articles like this make me so angry. The WTS is trying to ensure that yet another generation of young children are being denied a normal childhood and being forced to take on burdens of responsibility that are totally overwhelming for them.

They are also forbidden from having normal age related recreation with their peers and being turned into middle aged bible bashers before the poor little souls have even reached double figures!

As if all that isn't enough, the WTS is clamping down even more these days because woe betide them if they don't have a permanent look of joy on their little faces to prove to the world how deliriously happy they are, and if they crack under all the strain and refuse to do it any more, it is entirely their own fault if their loving parents boot them out of the house as soon as it is legal to do so.

What a wonderful religion this is

9. Does reading the Bible and studying the publications of the faithful and discreet slave interest him ? HELL NO!

Redsoxfan, that's brilliant!!!

19

Most humiliating...

by Igot2bme in

jw
friends

i was at home this morning typing up a couple legal documents for some general contractors to sign that were going to be doing some tree removal on my property, when i get a visit from a sister in the hall i used to attend.

she usually stops by at least once a week.

i haven't been to meetings for over a year now and didn't attend memorial this year, but she was quick to remind me how i missed out.

ambersun

I think the reason for this is because many die hard JWs are totally incapable of understanding how a former JW can possibly just stop believing in the 'Truth' and therefore they treat you as if you are suffering from either severe memory loss or have somehow become completely stupid with the IQ of a toddler. This causes them to speak to you verrrrryyy slowly and patronisingly to ensure you understand the simple dumbed down 'witness' they are giving you. I can remember actually telling one particular sister that I had not lost my memory and that I knew as much about everything as she did, I just simply did not want to go to meetings any more.

Another sister was far more aggressive and yelled at me for being selfish and told me that it did not matter if I didn't believe it was the truth, I still had a duty to remain an active JW for the sake of my mother! I told her that this is exactly what I had been doing for many years, but could not do it any longer!!

I don't know which of these experiences was worse

21

Quick question, what does it mean when its announced that someone is no longer a Jehovah's witness?

by Joey Jo-Jo in

as the title asks, does this mean that the person has been disfellowship on the basis on what the wb&ts considers as a sin or would this more like the person no longer wants to be a jw?.

ambersun

Skeeter, I think you may be right, the way me and Hubby are being treated certainly does not appear to be the norm by this board's standards. I was a regular pioneer (under pressure and not choice) back in the 1970s under the Franz regime, but it was such a long time ago that most of the JWs who are still alive and kicking (apart from family of course) would probably only remember me from when I managed to stop pioneering and me and Hubby took more of a back seat until we finally faded away altogether. Also we changed congregations a few times due to moving house, so that probably helped us to fall below the radar.

Having said that, I am a bit worried about the July 15th study article and if this is going to affect the way people treat us. Is there a time limit on how long after fading that announcement can be made, that ambersun and Hubby are no longer JWs?

Time will tell I s'pose

21

Quick question, what does it mean when its announced that someone is no longer a Jehovah's witness?

by Joey Jo-Jo in

as the title asks, does this mean that the person has been disfellowship on the basis on what the wb&ts considers as a sin or would this more like the person no longer wants to be a jw?.

ambersun

This is a good question. Please forgive me if this is slightly off topic but it raises another query that never ceases to amaze me regarding the different ways people are treated by their former congregations when they D/A themselves. Some seem to manage to fade successfully (like me and Hubby) and maintain a fairly good relationship with most family members and close friends, with just a few minor problems that we can live with. This is despite that fact that we openly celebrate birthdays and Christmas, and have done for the past 20 plus years. We are quite openly no longer JWs but have not been disfellowshipped and as far as we know, no announcement has ever been made at any of the KHs we attended. A couple of years ago we were even invited to a congregation reunion at the KH we grew up in, despite it being known we had not been to the meetings for years!

Yet, I am constantly reading about other poor souls who have done nothing more than fade away but who are treated the same as if they had been DF'd. They get an announcement from the platform that they are no longer JWs and are therefore shunned by everyone. How is the decision made and why this apparent inconsistency?

26

...and then, something Amazing happened! (Don't view if you don't want to cry)

by Terry in

jw
friends

game winning homerun turns tragic - but then something amazing happenedwww.godvine.comafter this girl hit her first ever home run, she tore her acl running to first base.

just when tragedy was inevitable, something odd, yet amazing, happened.

watch this very touching video to see the inspirational outcome.

ambersun

That was great, thanks Terry. Amazing compassion and self sacrifice shown by 'worldly' people who are destined to be destroyed horribly by a loving God at armageddon unless they humour the JWs who come knocking at their doors lol.

21

Need awesome suggestions!

by the_raisin in

jw
friends

for the last four days, every morning i take donut out for her walk, i always find jw's preaching door to door across the street.

i always cross to them, and wait with dread at what i think is inevitable: they will try to preach to me.. but it never happens.

four days, seen three diifferent groups, nothing.

ambersun

The young women always grin and turn their noses up (seriously, it looks ridiculous when they attempt it) and the older people just smile patronizingly at me.

Rise above it and treat them like any other people you pass on the street. Smile politely and maybe comment on the weather as you pass them. If they ignore your pleasant greeting it will just show them up for what they are. Ignorant and selfish. Please don't let it get to you, they're really not worth it.

Take care

39

Your Age at Baptism (into JWs, not Catholics or Baptists - duh)

by undercover in

jw
friends

leavingwt mentioned on another thread the age of his wife when she was baptized.

she was a child.

how can you expect a child to make such a decision?.

ambersun

I was an immature 15 year old and was baptised along with my parents. This was in the 1960s when armageddon was soooooo close that bible studies were expected to be ready for baptism after about 6 months of studying.

We had been subjected to huge doses of love bombing by the whole congregation which I for one thought was genuine and was desperate to become a bonefide member of this wonderful new 'family'.

Needless to say, as soon as we were baptised all the love bombing stopped and the scales soon fell from my eyes.

77

How HIGH did you climb the ranks as a JW? Did you like the STATUS?

by unshackled in

jw
friends

so what were your biggest jw accomplishments as a rank & file?

curious as to what level you climbed the r&f ladder while in the org, or if you still are in.. did you regular pioneer, or auxiliary pioneer?

bethel?

ambersun

Like blondie, I was also a mere, inferior female and therefore pioneering was the limit to how high I was allowed to climb. I certainly didn't crave status enough to marry an elder or ministerial servant just in order to get it as I didn't fancy any of the ones I knew, they were all far too nerdy.

12

RIP Elizabeth Sladen AKA Sarah Jane Smith

by cantleave in

just heard she has dies of cancer.

.

loved in dr. who and our kids fell in love with her in the srah jane adventures.. i am truly saddened by this news..

ambersun

Very sad.