One term that always made me cringe was calling non Witnesses "worldly". You could tell by their tone of voice how derogatory they meant it.
Reopened Mind
Reopened Mind
JoinedPosts by Reopened Mind
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12
"The Brothers"
by jambon1 in.
the longer you spend away from the organisation, the more utterly cringeworthy this term sounds when you hear it.. like they are all one big happy family.
what jw phrases make you cringe?.
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Reopened Mind
TotallyADD and I send you our deepest sympathies.
Reopened Mind
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Some JWs are exhibiting signs of violence because of WT hate speech. Read the threat to me and others posted at Topix yesterday
by AndersonsInfo inyesterday, i opened a topix account so i could post the information about watch tower representatives attending the political ocse meeting in poland for two weeks and the proof that they are an ngo.
one of the posters responded with these words: .
"barbs-info," eh?
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Reopened Mind
Barb,
You are the courageous one who has put herself out there with your unflinching reporting on all things Watchtower. Unfortunately this has made you a target for the unstable element within the JW ranks.
So far these are just empty threats. However should rhetoric escalate into actual violence against ex JWs the WT Society will sit back and refuse to take responsibility for their part in whipping up the mentally unstable to action. I would truly hate to see anything bad happen to you and your husband. However I fear that some sort of violence is inevitable against former JWs. I beg you please watch your back. Don't hesitate to call the authorities should anything be suspicious. Don't let your voice be silenced. You are guaranteed the right of freedom of speech by the Constitution.
You are one of my heroes. Please don't be intimidated by morons.
Reopened Mind
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Are YOU a Believer, Atheist, Agnostic, Active JW or WHAT?
by Greybeard insorry if this has been asked before but i would love to know the current ratio on this forum.. i'm a believer/christian former jw for 45 years... born in .
what are you now and what were you?.
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Reopened Mind
I was agnostic before becoming a Witness and have returned to my agnostic beliefs. Though now I like to call myself a secular humanist because I believe in the human spirit, not any supernatural "holy spirit".
Reopened Mind
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As a JW - Did you See Meetings Continue in Spite of Medical Emergencies?
by flipper ini was talking the other day with a fellow board member about medical emergencies occuring at meetings and how we both agreed that we ( while jw's ) had never seen a meeting stop or be cancelled due to medical emergencies experienced by a fellow jw.
the wt society trains jw' s to lose their authentic human feelings or any empathy towards others physical or emotional sufferings many times.
so many times at meetings , in spite of someone suffering a serious medical emergency it was " the show must go on " type of attitude displayed by congregation elders.. my first experience at seeing a medical emergency at the kingdom hall was an older sister who had an epileptic attack.
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Reopened Mind
TotallyADD was giving a talk at a nearby hall when about ten minutes into the talk an elderly sister in the back of the hall slumped over. Naturally everyone turned to see what was going on. TotallyADD looked to the chairman desparately wanting him to stop the meeting. Instead he motioned to continue which is what my husband did. He said he never felt so foolish giving his talk to the back of heads. No one was listening, he just read verbatim from the outline. We later would say that we would never be invited back because someone died during his talk. Sad, so sad. That was back in the days when the JW indoctrination was strong in us.
Reopened Mind
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My trouble
by bushido8000 ini have been facing a small dilemma for some years now.
i have been in the truth since i was 5 years old.
after experiencing some troubles with man-made rules (non-scriptural, told me that i absolutely could not join my small school's football team) in the kingdom hall when i was about 16, i stopped going to take a step back and look at what was going on.
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Reopened Mind
I'm glad you found your way here. You still have most of your life ahead of you. So now is the best time to ask questions. Then thoroughly research the answers. The library, the internet can be a wealth of information. Many posters on here have seen the organization from the inside out, serving as elders, pioneers, and more. My husband, TotallyADD served as an elder for more than 20 years. I was a regular pioneer. Together we raised our 2 boys in the organization. Post any question here that you can think of and someone will answer or you can PM one of us if you want a more private answer. We are here to help.
Reopened Mind
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It was only a matter of time...
by MrFreeze in... until the braindead family would push the 607 magazine on me.
yeah, my stepdad stopped by the house because he locked himself out of his house and i still have a key.
so i take him over to his house and he proceeds to tell me about the article which i've heard about on here.
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Reopened Mind
I haven't read the WT magazine. If you could get your hands on the book "The Gentile Times Reconsidered" by Carl Olaf Johannsen you would have in your possession proof after proof that Jerusalem's destruction ocurred in 587/586 BC. It's a very thorough scholarly book by a former JW. It weighs in with historical, astronomical, and archaelogical evidence. I know you will enjoy it. I got my copy from www.freeminds.org.
Reopened Mind
edit: I just checked freeminds and the book is listed as out of stock. Amazon carries it. I don't understand why it is new for $25.95 but used copies are $100.00-$498.00.
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My nephew's first birthday!!!
by serenitynow! inwell, not really his first, he turned 17 yesterday.
it is his first that we have celebrated!
his mom got him a cake with candles and sang happy birthday to him.
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Reopened Mind
A hearty HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Hope he had a great day.
Reopened Mind
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Celebrate Good Times: Come On!
by headisspinning intoday marks our two years free.
my now husband was df'd on september 13, 2009 and i was officially canned on september 15, 2009!.
it has been a long road and if any of you remember, we initially came on this board looking for help to get reinstated.that is a huge laugh now, hey!
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Reopened Mind
A hearty congratulations!!! Obviously you came to the right place. You've been "reinstated" to a normal life.
Reopened Mind
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Have Attended a Small community Church
by Reopened Mind intotallyadd and i have been attending a small nondenominational community church.
it happens to be the same church that i attended as a small child.
as some of you may remember totallyadd was raised in the organization so this was his first experience going to church.
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Reopened Mind
paulnotsaul: "Conform or be cast out" should be the byline of the WT. LOL Keep your children surrounded by people who value and love them. Unfortunately we raised our boys in the cult. Now that they are adults they are having a great struggle because they are now aware of the lies they have grown up with. With children of their own and wives still indoctrinated their struggles have been compounded.
jamiebowers: Thank you for your continued support.
TimothyT: Unconditional love and acceptance is something we are not used to as JWs. I know for myself I need to learn to reciprocate that love and acceptance after 37 years of being judgemental.