Reopened Mind

Joined

• started 14 topics
• posted 453 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Reopened Mind

• 
  32

  Hello

  by ctrwtf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought it was time for a formal introduction.

  i've lurked here for literally years, sometimes posting sometimes not.

  but i've never told my story and now seems as good a time as any.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  ctrwtf,

  Thanks for sharing your story. It takes a great deal of courage to "come out of the lurking closet". We are more than happy to become your extended family.

  My husband was a second generation born-in, elder, PO, temp bethelite. I converted in my teens. Unfortunately our children were grown and married with children of their own before we began to learn TTAT. O well, what's past is past. We look ahead to making new friends, you know those who don't put any conditions on accepting you.

  When my husband temped at Bethel he came back puzzled why there were so many buildings standing empty while they were still spending money to maintain them. Why weren't they being used if the message was so urgent? Ha ha! We all know the answer to that. There is no Armageddon, hence no urgency, just old men trying to hang on to their publishing company.

  My husband too questioned the flood story. So I volunteered to research for him. What I found convinced him that not only was the religion wrong but the Bible as well.

  Keep posting and keep fading. And good luck!

  Reopened Mind
• 
  77

  What does your screen name/avatar mean and what does it stand for

  by BU2B in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and why did you choose it?

  if you have a avatar, what is it and why did you pick it?.

  ok ill start.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  I thought of myself as open minded when I was a teenager. Unfortunately I opened my mind up too much and let in this cult that controlled my mind for the next 38 years. As I learned "the truth about the truth", I reopened my mind to explore all the wonderful possibilities this world has to offer and reopened my mind to really listening to people and learning from them.

  Reopened Mind
• 
  2

  When Vulnerable...

  by LouBelle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when you are feeling down, vulnerable and your emotions a mess, many people will reach out to you.

  in my experience most mean what they say and are genuine in their desire to see you feel/get better (personaly experience from here xx).. then you get those that prey on the vulnerable.

  they see an opportunity to perhaps get you entangled emotionally and being in that delicate state you may allow it to happen....with out necessarily realising what is going on.. always tread carefully when you are in this state of mind.

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  Those were the "sighing & crying" ones we were looking for when we were JWs.

  Reopened Mind
• 
  20

  broken hearted

  by recovering in

  1. social
  2. family

  9:05am may 12i just got this facebook message from my niece.

  i had always thought she was smarter than this.

  she is a college educated woman in her 50's .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  First of all, ditto what Blondie said. A person in a vulnerable situation has no defenses against what a cult can level against them.

  I attended pioneer school back in 1986. We spent a great deal of time practicing how to talk to different kinds of people. For example from our "secret" pioneer book, "Shining as Illuminators in the World", p. 54 under the heading Choosing Bible Topics for 'All Sorts of People', it says: What Bible subjects do you find appeal to: men, women, youths, older people, religious people, agnostics, atheists. Then there are numerous sample discussions for each topic.

  Added to this are tracts, brochures, magazines, and whole books devoted appealing to a person's particular vulnerability. One that stands out for me was the brochure, "When Someone You Love Dies". I always carried a copy in case I came across a person suffering the loss of a loved one. It very powerfully gave them the (false) hope of seeing their dead loved one back here on earth. It was difficult to resist.

  I am sorry for you recovering that your niece became another victim of the cult. I myself was recruited as a teenager and spent most of my adult life in the WT clutches.

  Steve Hassan says that everyone in a cult has an authentic personality and a cult personality. Try to reach your niece's authentic personality. Although I suspect as a newly baptized Witness she has buried it deep.

  Please accept my sympathies.

  Reopened Mind
• 
  216

  My Final Goodbye

  by Lady Lee in

  1. forum
  2. announcements

  i want to start by saying i will not participate in discussion here about my resignation as a moderator at jwn.. simon please consider this as my resignation from that position.. i have been posting on this board for almost 12 years.

  i know some of you a lot, others a little and some not very well at all.

  i have remained here for those of you who have needed support as you make the transition out of the wts, who needed someone to listen to your experiences of abuse at the hands of jehovah's witnesses, and to both laugh and cry with you as you progress out of the watchtower society.. we know that we have all experienced the cruelty of abuse of one kind or another.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  Lady Lee,

  I, along with a host of others, am sad to see you leave this forum. I hope you mean as a modeator and not as a contributor.

  Yes, I am among the silent majority who usually stays out of the debates and criticisms which take place on JWN. Back when my husband TotallyADD was an elder I would make comments to him about things I would observe in the congregation. He would remind me that there were two sides to every story. Of course that always meant to let the elders handle things. Nevertheless, I think that it is still good advice to sit back and listen to both sides before making any judgments. After learning "the truth about the truth" I have seen the dark side of the Watchtower; not to mention my own personal experiences and observations. Therefore I am happy to do my part to help anyone escape the clutches of that destructive cult.

  Reopened Mind
• 
  15

  Facebook 101, Help for Faders

  by Gojira_101 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know i'm going to get bagged on for this, but i'm really just trying to help those who are fading if they have facebook or are on any social media outlets.. first off let's review.. .com stands for commercial.

  .net stands for network.

  ....etc.. so facebook.com is a commercial site, meaning they are trying to sell you something....or specialized advertising trying to get you to buy something because of your browsing history.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  Thank you for the information, gojira. For us older ones the internet can be daunting (I'm 60) and confusing.

  So the bottom line is: Whatever you don't want everyone to see, don't put on the internet especially facebook.

  Reopened Mind
• 
  17

  Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 03-31-2013 WT Study (ELDERS FELLOW WORKERS)

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fellow workers.

  we are fellow workers.

  (a) what did paul mean when he wrote: by your faith .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  Blondie,

  I look forward to reading your comments on the WT study even though I don't often comment.

  For a long time I had requested a shepherding call as I had heard about how others had been visited. I had asked more than one elder for one. Then I decided to mention it to the CO when he visited the next time. He told me I didn't get a shepherding call because my husband was an elder and he took care of me!!

  It wasn't until I had been baptised for 37 years that I received my first shepherding call from a (different) CO. However by that time I had already learned "the truth about the truth".

  Well, maybe I could count the time 2 elders came to our house after our second son was born. They had heard I had had a tubal ligation and came to counsel us on mutilating my reproductive organs. We had researched the publications which articles all ended with the thought that it was ultimately our decision. The real problem was that I had talked about having my tubes tied. I didn't think too much about it since most of the sisters around my age had also had their tubes tied. O, and the other thing I was counseled on was not to hang my clothes out on the line on Sunday as that might offend the other religions in the area. I had 2 babies in cloth diapers at the time and no clothes dryer. (My husband was not an elder at this time.)

  Reopened Mind
• 
  54

  Our family wishes to extend our sympathies to Gregg [Greybeard from JWStruggle]...

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  gregg, we are deeply sorry for your loss.

  you will be with us in our thoughts & prayers.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  Gregg,

  TotallyADD and I send our deepest sympathies.

  Reopened Mind
• 
  19

  Hello

  by apocryphal in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  [if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:trackmoves /> <w:trackformatting /> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:donotpromoteqf /> <w:lidthemeother>en-us</w:lidthemeother> <w:lidthemeasian>ja</w:lidthemeasian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>x-none</w:lidthemecomplexscript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark /> <w:enableopentypekerning /> <w:dontflipmirrorindents /> <w:overridetablestylehps /> <w:usefelayout /> </w:compatibility> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont m:val="cambria math" /> <m:brkbin m:val="before" /> <m:brkbinsub m:val="&#45;-" /> <m:smallfrac m:val="off" /> <m:dispdef /> <m:lmargin m:val="0" /> <m:rmargin m:val="0" /> <m:defjc m:val="centergroup" /> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440" /> <m:intlim m:val="subsup" /> <m:narylim m:val="undovr" /> </m:mathpr></w:worddocument> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  Hello apocryphal,

  You are in a tough spot with all of your family in the cult. Have you read any of Steve Hassan's books, namely "Combatting Cult Mind Control" and Releasing the Bonds"? He has a third one out which I have not read but is also highly recommended by others here.

  My husband, TotallyADD, was a born-in like yourself. Fortunately for us I was not and had some nonJW (I hate the term "worldly") family with whom we were able to reconnect. The point is, do you have friends on the outside of the organization? This will be most helpful as your fade progresses. Take your time. There is no Armageddon.

  Our fade will we hope soon be coming to an end as we are awaiting our boys and their families exiting the cult.

  Good luck on your fade. Come here often to vent and ask for help. There is always someone who has undergone something similar to you.

  And CONGRATULATIONS for waking up at an age when you have your whole life ahead of you. We were in our fifties when we began learning TATT.

  Reopened Mind
• 
  49

  Mouthy Protesting Against The Watchower

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  here is where i found this pic.

  bangalore.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reopened Mind

  Mouthy,

  Your courage and actions are inspirational!!

  Reopened Mind