Posts by SweetBabyCheezits

24

A, uh, belated introduction

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

quick bio: born-in, third gen jw, devout family, dad an elder/po, mom pioneered off/on, baptized at age 10 (my elder dad asked me to wait but i didnt), had overall good childhood, toured bethel, aux pio off/on, finished hs early, reg pio for a year then pio school, met amazing jw girl (also third gen devout), spent a year in community college (paid for by fairly conservative jw parents), got a good job, married amazing jw girl, appointed as ms, delivered public talks and parts on ca/dc, wife and i had first child.

it was a near-storybook jw life (except no bethel).

i had a couple of normal issues in teenage years, but sought the assistance from the elders and ironed it out.

SweetBabyCheezits

Thanks to all of you for your comments and words of support. It's such a shame you're all out to mislead others, just to bring them to their ultimate demise.

Seriously, though, that's one thing that disturbs me greatly about the organization - the prejudice heaped on anyone who is at odds with WTBS doctrine. "Forget the true heart condition, if they disagree with our beloved Society, they're dead to us."

Again, I don't (for the most part) fault individual JWs but it's hard to separate the feelings toward the Society from those of old friends/family who are quick to drop a loved one. It's good to be part of a group (mostly) who have the ability to think independently.

Best wishes to all!

SBC

142

My letter to my aunt.

by alice.in.wonderland in

my grandparents are jehovah's witnesses and didn't raise their daughter to behave in such a manner.

i sent her this letter:.

g82 5/8 pp.

SweetBabyCheezits

[warning: plz do not read if you're easily offended]

You know, Alice, if you just changed the "a" to a "c" in the title of this thread, your letter would make more sense. Re-read it that way. Here, I'll even do some WT-style quote mining to make it clearer. For example, you refer to the subject of your letter as...

"callous and desensitized"
"hollow" (haha)
"emotionally deficient"
"your [correction: you're] grossly immoral"
"of no use to me"

Kidding aside, you label your aunt as "hollow and emotionally deficient" in the very same email in which you state that YOU will just "write her off" and that she's "of no use to me"? May I take some liberties and "parodize" this?

You: Dear Auntie, you're hollow and emotionally deficient. Because you're such a whore, I'm going to write you off. You're of no use to me.

Dictionary: "Hollow" means devoid of significance or point. "Emotionally deficient" means lacking a normal degree emotions.

Normal people: Awww, Alice doesn't get it.

16

Works of Nietzsche, Paine, Wilde

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

in the past, i was hardly keen on reading for pleasure but i have been cracking open some of the more, uh, classic(?

) writings lately in an attempt to broaden my limited understanding.

i'm pretty taken with thomas paine's the age of reason at the moment but i've also come across a number of quotes from nietzsche and oscar wilde that make a great deal of sense to me.

SweetBabyCheezits

@MiseryLovesElders.... is this the quote you were talking about? "The sick are the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not from the strongest that harm comes to the strong, but from the weakest.”

@MadSweeny, I'm not familiar with HeinLein but I am definitely adding that quote to my list. I'll have to look into his works.

@Superpunk, I may have to start going door to door using The Age of Reason as my gospel.

Here are a few more of my favorites that I've saved over the last couple of years (some of which I probably first heard on this site):

“The religion of one seems madness unto another”

Thomas Browne, Sr.

“The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

“Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open. You're able to benefit from the unique viewpoints of others, without being crippled by your own judgment.”

Ralph Marston

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

Marcus Aurelius

“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”

Steven Weinberg

17

The guilt trip email (Should be visible to IE users now)

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

i received this from my mother on tuesday after we skipped the sunday session of the dc.

she's using guilt now and multiplying the effect by dragging my terminally ill mother-in-law (also uber-devout) into it the picture.... "sunday after the convention while we were counting the money someone came into the counting room and said there was someone outside wanting to see me.

i went out there and standing in the hallway was [your mother-in-law].

SweetBabyCheezits

BTW, ThinkAboutIt is right... Since this is all anonymous, no privacy has been broken, debator. Surely you can grasp that.

17

The guilt trip email (Should be visible to IE users now)

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

i received this from my mother on tuesday after we skipped the sunday session of the dc.

she's using guilt now and multiplying the effect by dragging my terminally ill mother-in-law (also uber-devout) into it the picture.... "sunday after the convention while we were counting the money someone came into the counting room and said there was someone outside wanting to see me.

i went out there and standing in the hallway was [your mother-in-law].

SweetBabyCheezits

@MrsJones: haha! That's an awesome graphic. Gotta save it.

@all others, excluding debator: I appreciate your comments.

@Debator: Yeah? Then what does it say to you exactly? I'm not looking for pity. I'm sharing an example of what a cult-like religion can do to an otherwise loving mother. Her precious relationship with the organization means more to her than that of her child... so much that she will block any and all negative thoughts about the Society, but does not hesitate to bestow wrong motives upon me along with guilt and shame. Currently, I'm on this website for (2) reasons: a means of personal therapy by discussion and hoping that my experience will help someone else (misery loves company).

16

Works of Nietzsche, Paine, Wilde

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

in the past, i was hardly keen on reading for pleasure but i have been cracking open some of the more, uh, classic(?

) writings lately in an attempt to broaden my limited understanding.

i'm pretty taken with thomas paine's the age of reason at the moment but i've also come across a number of quotes from nietzsche and oscar wilde that make a great deal of sense to me.

SweetBabyCheezits

In the past, I was hardly keen on reading for pleasure but I have been cracking open some of the more, uh, classic(?) writings lately in an attempt to broaden my limited understanding. I'm pretty taken with Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason at the moment but I've also come across a number of quotes from Nietzsche and Oscar Wilde that make a great deal of sense to me. Here are a few I found interesting (and I apologize if any of these have already been brought out for discussion on this forum):

Regarding a revelation from God to man... "No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a communication, if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it."
Thomas Paine (The Age of Reason)

“Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.”
Thomas Paine
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
Thomas Paine
“It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.”
Thomas Paine
“Here the ways of men part: If you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then
believe; If you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
"There are no facts, only interpretations."
Friedrich Nietzsche
“Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived”
Oscar Wilde
“Scepticism is the beginning of Faith.”
Oscar Wilde

I could probably spend a whole day just reading quotes, if given the chance. Any recommendations on which books/writings I should add to my reading queue?

17

The guilt trip email (Should be visible to IE users now)

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

i received this from my mother on tuesday after we skipped the sunday session of the dc.

she's using guilt now and multiplying the effect by dragging my terminally ill mother-in-law (also uber-devout) into it the picture.... "sunday after the convention while we were counting the money someone came into the counting room and said there was someone outside wanting to see me.

i went out there and standing in the hallway was [your mother-in-law].

SweetBabyCheezits

I received this from my mother on Tuesday after we skipped the Sunday session of the DC. She's using guilt now and multiplying the effect by dragging my terminally ill mother-in-law (also uber-devout) into it the picture...

"Sunday after the convention while we were counting the money someone came into the counting room and said there was someone outside wanting to see me. I went out there and standing in the hallway was [your mother-in-law]. She looked so sad that it brought tears to my eyes and I've cried many times since then. The look she had was of serious pain....No, not the pain of life threatening cancer but the pain of disappointment that I know all too well. Love, Mom"

5

The guilt trip email

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

i received this from my mother on tuesday after we skipped the sunday session of the dc.

she's using guilt now and multiplying the effect by dragging my terminally ill mother-in-law (also uber-devout) into it the picture.... [if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><!

/* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .

SweetBabyCheezits

Dang, I forgot to post that from Chrome instead of Firefox. IE users won't be able to see it so I'm going to repost and consider this one closed.

Sorry!

5

The guilt trip email

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

i received this from my mother on tuesday after we skipped the sunday session of the dc.

she's using guilt now and multiplying the effect by dragging my terminally ill mother-in-law (also uber-devout) into it the picture.... [if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><!

/* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .

SweetBabyCheezits

I received this from my mother on Tuesday after we skipped the Sunday session of the DC. She's using guilt now and multiplying the effect by dragging my terminally ill mother-in-law (also uber-devout) into it the picture...

Sunday after the convention while we were counting the money someone came into the counting room and said there was someone outside wanting to see me. I went out there and standing in the hallway was [your mother-in-law]. She looked so sad that it brought tears to my eyes and I've cried many times since then. The look she had was of serious pain....No, not the pain of life threatening cancer but the pain of disappointment that I know all too well. Love, Mom

143

Thought Control (A simple test for JW's)

by TD in

jw
friends

in george orwell's novel 'nineteen eighty-four' the capitulation of the principal protagonist is portrayed in his willingness to assent to the proposition that two and two make five.

once he had denied objective reality, his mental conquest was complete and he was no longer truly the master of his own mind.

nineteen eighty-four is in many ways, a very depressing read.. a charge commonly leveled at jehovah's witnesses is that the type of mind control envisioned by orwell has been and continues to be used on them.

SweetBabyCheezits

Which fallacy would you like him to point out then?