there has been many threads from various posters around the world about recent bethel layoffs.. so far i remember threads about:.
south africa.
united states.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/370130001/index-acronyms-help-new-forumers
BTT = bounce thread to the top
Scaling the business back shouldn't be a shock. Newspaper companies here have been closing up left right and centre. Everyone has an app or website to get that info from. Doesn't mean anything other than a mode of communication is becoming redundant, or in WTs case, a liability.
after a long struggle with myself, i did send a sms to my mother this morning, telling her i didn't want to go to the meeting, and that i no longer believe in the organisation, don't really believe in god any more either but i put that out.
i wrote about three things that i thought are obvious, the overlapping generation that doesn't make sense, the flood an the animals in australia- how they came there.
and jw tv that makes them look as any other religion.
freeyeah, i'm freefrom your incitingyou can't brainwash meyou've got a problemfreeyeah i'm freefrom societyyou can't control mei'm a defectoryou think you're strong and you can't be brokenbut your empire is dissolvingyou thought, you thought i was weakbut you got it wronglook into my eyesi'm a defectorfreeyeah, i'm freefrom your incitingyou can't brainwash meyou've got a problemfreeyeah i'm freefrom societyyou can't control mei'm a defectoryour blood is blue and your mind is turned greenand your belly is all yellowyou believe your throne is too high to be overthrownwe'll watch it get razedby a defectorfreeyeah, i'm freefrom your incitingyou can't brainwash meyou've got a problemfreeyeah i'm freefrom societyyou can't control mei'm a defectori'm a defectorfreeyeah, i'm freefrom your incitingyou can't brainwash meyou've got a problemfreeyeah i'm freefrom societyyou can't control mei'm a defector
weird/odd question, but with our family fading, and our daughter in school how or should one approach teachers with this?
our child is a little too young to understand why we are fading, but it proves challenging in school as they have been, well brainwashed, to say i shouldn't do that etc... .
i don't like explaining anything to teachers about the fade, etc.
something struck me last week.
i have been dealing with what i can only describe as a fear of death.
i'm not old and not in bad health.
since the move, it has been so enjoyable to not have jw's breathing down our necks asking why we didn't make the meeting, or having to pretend to be "spiritual" in front of family all the time.. 90% of my week is virtually stress free.
then, my mom calls or texts wanting to talk to her grandkids.
every dang call, she asks about the new congregation, if we went to the meeting, etc.. why can't i tell her to fk off?
Wow. Great advice from those in similar territory!
Even more disturbing : there is a common theme.... a JW toxic mother type!! Looks like we all know them / had one!
so here's my question as a newly daed person that is summarily shunned.
do you hide from family and act like you don't exist or do you let them know you're still here and seek them out?
they want you to be dead, like you no longer exist, because strict avoidance makes it easier on them.
The higher ground has no meaning to me. In that, I agree with Sabin - they will twist your contact as guilty conscience and regretful of your decision. Or those they confide in will gossip and speculate.
As long as you still send cards, you still have that negative association and link to the bOrg. Like a millstone.
If they wake up, they will soon track you down. They will accept their part in all of this and not hold a grudge, because you were allowing them the freedom to follow through with their doctrines. They will not resent you or resent the years of no cards when it was only ever going to be one way traffic.
last circuit assembly there was 700+ present and 1 baptized.. recently there was a foreign language assemble of over 500 and 1 baptized.. in the last 5-10 years i haven't been to one assembly where there has been more than a handful baptized.
at the memorial all i see are the same old faces that have been coming since the flood.. the hall complex i attend has 6 congregation and several groups-there is negative growth.
when you factor in the demographically aging folk and the many who have already passed away, i don't know where they get the 8 million.. i know that most of the growth is from the developing countries, but still i think they are fudging their numbers.
sorry for the length of this, i hope anyone stopping by to read will take the time and read it.
i haven't included any things i would consider "apostate" specifics about doctrines, or major scandals.
it's just a general layout of the path i took to becoming an exjw.
Sorry FMF, I had to dislike that post.
WHO DOES THAT!? That's bat shit crazy!
my mom especially had some go-to phrases that to this day echo in my head and piss me off.
things like, .
"don't get mad at me for enforcing the rules, because jehovah made them, so if you don't like it, you're disrespecting him.
Of old, "bad associations spoil useful habits". My worldly friends were only allowed to stay over if their parents let them come to the meeting the next day (potential for me to conduct my own home bible study... yay!) As you can imagine, I didn't have many friends.
Recently it was "just get married so you can come back to da twooof!!" Like, yaaaaay! That's a great incentive for me to stay living in sin!
