Posts by EmergedAsMe

65

Things in the past that show you that your doubts started earlier than you thought

by sabastious in

i was just talking to my wife this morning about underlining or highlighting the wt paragraphs.. when i was 13 years old i would fight with my dad because i refused to highlight the answers.. the reason was because i wanted my comment to be genuine.

i felt that highlighting the "answer" made me lean on just using that as a crutch and not truly putting it in my own words.. i still hold that argument now, and i am 26. the only reason you would ever have to highlight something in a study book would be if you needed to remember it, maybe it is fairly complicated or subtle information that could be easily forgotten.. so many times in the wt the "question" has the same phrase that's in the paragraph!

it's literally like playing connect the dots.. so what i would do is not highlight during the family study.

EmergedAsMe

I have had many, many repressed memories (for want of a better phrase) that showed I had my misgivings about the WT and the organization for a long time. Some of these I had actually forgotten about until I started my exit from the JWs.

I remember being confused as to who ran the congregation - people kept saying Jesus did. But where was he and why did I only see the elders? (As my dad never became a JW I didn't understand the elder arrangement very well).

I remember finding out the JW had not been around "forever" and I could not reconcile how they "sprung up out of nowhere" - I chose not to think about it.

I remember being really confused when my friends mother got disfellowshipped and they moved away, and we didn't play anymore. This never seemed right that us kids should be "punished" for what their mother did (at the time I didn't understand the situation - but this poor women had an affair to escape an physically abusive relationship, she came back to the JWs years later sadly).

I remember wondering why God cared what I did personally, if I wasn't out to hurt anyone. This in regards to having to go to all the meetings, field service etc.

I remember feeling like it was unfair that I was born into "the true religion" and I had no choice, and no chance to discover what I really wanted, or have a life - because I knew jehovah and to do my own thing would be tantamount to slapping jehovah and would earn me a sure death at Armagedon.

I remember feeling really scared of the great tribulation - I thought it would be like what happened with the Nazis. As a little girl I was scared of being tortured, raped and all the rest and having to "stand firm" otherwise I would die right before the new system.

I remember being upset that my father was going to die at Armagedon. Apparently I told my father at 3 years old he needs to be a JW otherwise he wont be in Paradise

I remember really giving "spirituality" (my misunderstood view of the term) a go - I pioneered for several years straight out of school. Why did I just feel broke, tired and used up? Where was the joy? Why did I not feel close to God? Why was I still really bad at praying (never found it easy to do what feels like talking to myself)?

I remember at school some christian kids who were very excited about their God, and very zealous and enthusiastic about it all. I wondered if the JWs were the true religion why did none of them (JW) seem to be very zealous? JWs seemed to just "go through the motions".

And lots more...

22

Recomend movies for ex JWs?

by highdose in

jw
friends

i would be interested, these might be inspiring movies or maybe movies that we were never allowed to watch as jws?.

EmergedAsMe

Also interested in movies that would resonate with an ex-jw...

Any good JW parallel movies?

32

Do you think you have an accent?

by highdose in

jw
friends

apparently people ( like me) from the home counties of england don't have an accent, its just english...?.

for the record i would say my accent is rather like kira knightly.

EmergedAsMe

I don't have an accent in my home country... but everywhere else my accent preceeds me...

Doesn't everyone have an accent?

30

Horrifying Demon Attack: My Experience

by laverite in

jw
friends

on a warm summer day when i was about 12 years old (early 1980s), i was home alone for a brief time (family had gone to the grocery store).

i had always been terrified of the demons and was constantly worried about a possible demon attack.

being born in, growing up a dub, the devil and his demons were always either on my mind or not too far from conscious thought.

EmergedAsMe

"Not too many people will hold on to a stupid belief harder than a skeptic who has convinced himself that it's true. Lesson learned, moving on."

I have to whole-heartedly agree with this statement.

As to the OP "demonic attack" I understand how you would have been terrified. It really is insane about how the indoctrintion gets people convinced normal things are satans demons out to get you personally.

I don't like scary movies (demons or no demons) but on one occasion I happened to see "the ring". I had no idea what it was about so when it was slipped into the dvd player - I had no idea what would happen. I was so terror-struck (the house was dark, and everyone in in was watching the dvd) that I convinced myself that there was no way I could move from the sofa. Went home and to bed, finally drifted off to sleep only to awaken feeling like I was being crushed and that I can't speak. Naturally I interpret this as my watching "the ring" invited demons into my life. I keep trying to call to jehovah but his name is stuck in my throat... Finally manage it and the feeling goes away. I was absolutely terrified!!

16

Has being a JW turned you into a doormat?

by highdose in

jw
friends

i confess it has for me.

when people are nasty to me and agressive i tend to freeze and have no idea what to say!.

all those years of being brainwashed into "turn the other cheek" etc etc kick in.

EmergedAsMe

I always felt like I was a strong person - until these last few months I have been exiting the WTS. I find myself apologizing for stupied things that aren't my fault. I think my self-confidence has taken a hard hit, due to losing my identity and it is manifesting itself in the form of the word "sorry". My nerves are just worn excessively thin, and I can't take anyone getting on them - even if they are in the wrong I would rather just say sorry and move on if I can. It drives me nuts (always has) when someone apoligizes for everything, I fear I have become a little like that myself.

For example: A woman was putting on her jacket in a shop and hit me, and I apoligized. She was a lovely older lady and made a joke about how she shouldn't be flapping around like a duck and said sorry to me. She gave me a little bit of a weird look that I apoligized when it was clear she had hit me not the other way around.

26

If You Were Ever An Elder...

by Henry in

what about the responsibility of being an elder did you dislike the most?

i served from september 2003 - june 2006. there were two things that bugged me the most the first was i got sick of the bickering amongst the body.

we had 7 elders and in nearly every situation, big or small, there was some division that got personal.

EmergedAsMe

Billy - would love to know more about the the elders' worst nightmares...

53

OMG They are doing commercials now!?

by flower in

jw
friends

i just finished watching martha stewart and after it went off there was a set of commercials before the news came on and i swear i just saw a commercial from the christian congregation of jehovahs' witnesses!.

it was about raising your children with knowledge and love.

it showed a teen girl on the internet in a chat room with a person who had become her best friend and wanted to meet her in person and they said something like if it seems too good to be true it is..'love builds happy familys' was the slogan or something.. .

EmergedAsMe

bkmarked for ref

51

I'm glad my children don't have to grow up being afraid of cupcakes

by Ilovebirthdays in

yesterday, i brought a batch of cupcakes to my son's school.

in passing them out, i started to give one to one of the children, who was a jw.

he immediately started freaking out and screaming "no thank you" over and over.

EmergedAsMe

Misery - I have had a few opportunities to say "Happy Birthday" since I have been out, and it has stuck in my throat every time. (I am only a few months out.)

I met a lovely older man who was showing me something he had built, and he commented it was his 80th birthday that day and I couldn't say "Happy Birthday". I did manage a congratualtions and some other small talk, like you I can handle planty of the other stuff but the "Happy Birthday" just will not come out my mouth. It really pisses me off that I (a normally logical, practical thinker) cannot do something so seemingly simple.

20

Very Shocking, Damned News: Watchtower Reports to UN Agency

by Scott77 in

dated august 26, 2009, from the watchtower through the european association of jehovahs christian witnesses, the organization shamelessly reports its contribution to the report of the u.n. high commissioner for human rights on the implementation of the new review mechanism of the human rights council, established by ga resolution 60/251 and by the human rights council in resolution 5/1 of 18 june 2007 for the 7th session 2010. please, see the full link to the report below.. http://lib.ohchr.org/hrbodies/upr/documents/session7/eg/eajcw_upr_egy_s07_2010_theeuropeanassociationofjehovahschristianwitnesses.pdf.

please, bring up new questions based on this report.

for a start, here is one question from my side.. 1) is the watchtower as a religious agency, constitutionally obliged to report to the un, the 'disgusting thing that cause desolation' and 'is under satan'?.

EmergedAsMe

Just adding my two cents - finding out that the WTS was a member of the UN (NGO business) was very powerful for me. I have recently escaped from the JWs and it kills me that I was baptized in 2002 and the WTS and UN were in bed together until 2001 ... but I never knew!! (Was a born in)

After learning more about the WTS scandals, cover ups, doctrine changes, false prophecies and everything else the UN thing started to fade into just another thing the WTS did. However - I do not think the WTS and it's involvement with the UN should be overlooked with trying to help JWs get out.

Haven't had a chance to read this attatched letter yet.

6

Hit and Run Convention Invite!

by AuntBee in

jw
friends

doorbell rings, nicely dressed young woman doesn't even look me in the eye, quickly says "we're passing these out in the neighborhood to invite you to an event at the tucson community center", and scampers off before i even knew what hit me!

she reminded me more of someone who was hired by a business to pass out flyers, rather than a deeply religious person that cares about me or my destiny.

wow, it was borderline kind of rude, i thought..

EmergedAsMe

Not that I know this young woman, but is it possible she really didn't want to be doing this all important "preaching work"?

I know that when I was on the way out (and hadn't even realized it) I hated field service so much. Especially pointless invites to our convention which was a very long way from where we lived!!