Reopened Mind

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Posts by Reopened Mind

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  15

  I wonder if their are any parents of theses children on here now .May 22 1994

  by smiddy3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know it could be a sensitive subject however we were all once firm believers and could have very well let one of our loved ones die due to what we once believed.. and not to be judgemental on what we would have done or did do in the past ,i sometime wonder if any of the parents or even one parent of the children of the may 22nd 1994 magazine of "youths who put god first " have now regretted their decision to let their children make this decision on their own.. after all these years i find it hard to believe that not one of them have no regrets to what happened to their child.. i can also accept that it would be extremely hard to admit that you allowed your child to make a decision to die on a belief you instilled in them that you no longer now believe in.

  i think that would be very hard to live with and come to terms with.. if any of you are here my heart goes out to you because you have gone through hell and my thoughts/vibes are with you..

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  Reopened Mind

  I am not one of those parents, but I could easily have been. My youngest son was born in 1982 by an emergency caesarean. He was immediately whisked away to the pediatric intensive care unit. The doctor who headed that unit approached my husband and me and informed us that unless we agreed to let our son have a blood transfusion, he would not live the day out. Then we were threatened with a court order. Both my husband and I refused the transfusion on religious grounds. The court order never came about thanks to my sympathetic obstetrician. Long story short, he lived and thrived. For years this cemented my faith that the Jehovah's Witnesses were right. But now I look back in horror at how I was willing to let my son die for this religion.

  Reopened Mind
  
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  116

  What is behind your choice of forum user name?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just curious how we all think.. what prompted or influenced your choice of username for this forum?.

  there are some really amazing names, and it would be great to hear the stories behind them.... mine was nothing fancy.

  i just felt "stuck in a rut too" along with so many others.

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  Reopened Mind

  I began studying with Witness girls at school in my teens. I considered myself very open-minded back then. Unfortunately I was so open-minded as to let in all their propaganda. From that point on my mind shut to all but what was in Watchtower literature. Forty plus years later some cracks developed in my armor and I began opening my mind once again as I began learning "the truth about the truth". Hence, I reopened my mind.

  Reopened Mind
  
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  28

  When you were an active WT door knocker... How did you knock?

  by LoisLane looking for Superman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on the door frame, on the door, door knocker, bell.. loud, very loud, regular, soft... gentle... or just pretended and never knocked at all?

  we just had a city worker come a knocking on our front door and my responce after she left was, she should go down to the local kingdom haul and give lessons.

  her knock was so loud, she could raise the dead.

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  Reopened Mind

  Most of the time I knocked like LoveUniHateExams. In Florida there was often a screened in porch on the front of the house. Then I would knock on the screen door. If it was a mobile home I would knock on the side of the house.

  One time my partner knocked on the door. From the inside we heard "Hello". She proceeded with her introduction but no one came to the door. We had been witnessing to a talking myna bird!

  Reopened Mind
  
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  18

  Reopenmind is having a brithday tomorrow

  by Still Totally ADD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  happy brithday my dear wife.

  what a lucky man i am to have you as my life mate.

  i am so happy we are free from this damm cult.

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  Reopened Mind

  Ooooo! Champagne (thanks Stan) and cake (thanks Village Idiot, though I'm sure that's a misnomer). What more could a girl want on her birthday? But I do have more. I have a wonderful thoughtful husband and many friends, unconditional friends, here.

  carla, corruptgirl, HappyGal, thank your for your well wishes.

  Blondie and Irreverent, better late than never escaping the cult. I realize that being able to exit with my spouse is something not all were able to do. The fact that he came out with me made the process so much easier. However, we left our children and grandchildren behind. So in that sense leaving was bittersweet.

  Mr. & Mrs. Flipper, it is great to be able to celebrate something so natural as a birthday without looking over my shoulder wondering how I am being judged. Every year Still TotallyADD and I talk about coming to your apostafest and every year something comes up. Well, hope springs eternal.

  Reopened Mind
  
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  18

  Reopenmind is having a brithday tomorrow

  by Still Totally ADD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  happy brithday my dear wife.

  what a lucky man i am to have you as my life mate.

  i am so happy we are free from this damm cult.

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  Reopened Mind

  Thank all of you for your well wishes. When I was in the cult I couldn't understand why we could celebrate the ANNIVERSARY of our wedding, but not the ANNIVERSARY of our birth. To me there was no difference. Even from a Biblical standpoint the angels celebrated Jesus' birth and Jesus performed a miracle at a wedding. And nowhere is there mentioned a commemoration of either.

  OK, mini rant over. I was not raised a JW like my husband so had birthday celebrations until I converted in my teens. One of my favorite pictures is of me blowing out the candles on my fourth birthday.

  Tahoe, love the picture of the bird-of-paradise.

  Reopened Mind
  
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  18

  Reopenmind is having a brithday tomorrow

  by Still Totally ADD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  happy brithday my dear wife.

  what a lucky man i am to have you as my life mate.

  i am so happy we are free from this damm cult.

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  Reopened Mind

  Thank you my dear. I will be 64 tomorrow. I am so grateful we left the cult together and are now able to celebrate life instead of death.

  Love you so much.

  Reopened Mind
  
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  22

  ADHD Caused by Chemo

  by azor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just found out yesterday that my son who is less than a year out of treatment for leukemia has adhd caused by the chemo that saved his life.

  does anyone here have any experience with this?

  primarily looking for books or resources that helped you or your loved ones..

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  Reopened Mind

  I am Still Totally ADD's wife. As he says he has ADD, not ADHD. He works very hard but he is not hyperactive, which is what the H stand for. ADD is Attention Deficit Disorder. And yes he fades in the afternoon when his ritalin begins to wear off. We have been married for almost 43 years and I can tell you that ritalin has made a definite difference in both our lives. He has remodeled at least 20 houses. He can see in his mind exactly how he wants to transform a house and then proceeds to do it. He is working on remodeling an old farmhouse we just bought. Someday (sigh) I hope not to live in a construction zone.

  Reopened Mind
  
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  50

  Why Finding the One True Religion is Impossible

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jws like to think they have found the one true religion.

  but like so many other religious people, it's usually the religion they were born into, the only religion they know because it's the first one they found or, at the most, one of two or three (typically the second one after they left their first / born-in faith).. the trouble is, there simply isn't enough time to explore and investigate each and everyone of the many thousands of belief systems, religions and sects around the world.. think of it this way: which is the best neighbourhood to live in where you would be most happy and most successful?

  not just in the city or even the country you are in, but the entire world.. how would you ever know?

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  Reopened Mind

  LOL Outlaw!

  When we walked into a Unitarian Universalist church for the first time, it had a KITCHEN! And in that kitchen was a refrigerator with beer and wine. We said this is our kind of church.

  Reopened MInd
  
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  35

  What age were you when you were counted as a publisher?

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the wts has always included minors and adults in the same categories - publisher and baptized.. i am interested in knowing how many minors, approximately, are included in the publisher count.

  and, at what age a person started publishing.

  what age was the youngest publisher reported?.

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  Reopened Mind

  I converted to this religion in my teens. I didn't go door to door until after I was baptized at 20. I did, however, turn in time of incidental witnessing from the time I was about 18 or 19. I believe I was counted as a publisher then.

  When my youngest son was one year old I began pioneering. The secretary suggested that since he accompanied me most of the time it would be interesting if I turned in a time slip for him. I doubt if he was actually counted as a publisher at that time. He gave his first talk at 5 and I know he was an unbaptized publisher by then.

  Reopened Mind

  ps: Still Totally ADD is my husband
  
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  84

  I COLLECT QUOTES. . . Here are some of my favorites

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please post your favorites too.

  my favorite quotations:.

  you cannot change what you refuse to confront.. sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.. don’t think of cost.

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  Reopened Mind

  One I heard from my mother (nonJW) growing up:

  The more you know the more you know you don't know.

  Reopened Mind