Posts by Reopened Mind

15

RESCUE OPERATION: What did you do to help others Wake-Up?

by 00DAD in

jw
friends

please share anything--whatever facts, methods, ideas, etc.--that you found successful in helping other family members or friends to "wake-up" and leave jws.

also, include anythings that you found didn't work or even backfired.

i'm particularly interested in how you were able to reach family members that initially shunned you out of mis-guided loyalty due to wt indoctrination.

Reopened Mind

00DAD,

I can't take all the credit for this but TotallyADD began asking if there had really ocurred a worldwide flood. So I offered to research it for him. When he was satisfied there was no evidence of such a global catastrophe, he started wondering what else might be wrong. This opened the door for me to show him the websites I had found, namely www.freeminds.org, JWN, jwfacts.com. By this time he was not afraid to read "apostate" literature. Having served as an elder for more than 25 years and having been raised a JW, he readily related to what Ray Franz wrote in "Crisis of Conscience". We followed up by reading "Combatting Cult Mind Control" and "Releasing the Bonds" by Steve Hassan. Two excellent books.

I think the most important thing is to listen closely to the concerns of the person you are trying to help. Ask leading questions a little at a time so the person sees for himself what a hokey religion the JWs is. When I visited a long time friend in the org she was spouting all the familiar catch phrases so I just left her alone. If she's happy with where she is, who am I to make an enemy of her by trying to change her? Although TotallyADD and I have left we are neither DF'd nor DA'd. I know that will make it more difficult for you to reach out to family members still in.

PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE

Reopened Mind

2

We Were Interviewed for Cult Free Radio

by Reopened Mind in

jw
friends

last evening totallyadd and i were interviewed by mad sweeney for his cult free radio.

i must admit i was nervous at first, wondering if i would make an identifying slip of the tongue.

mad sweeney is a skilled interviewer who just talked to us and put our minds at ease.

Reopened Mind

Last evening TotallyADD and I were interviewed by Mad Sweeney for his Cult Free Radio. I must admit I was nervous at first, wondering if I would make an identifying slip of the tongue. Mad Sweeney is a skilled interviewer who just talked to us and put our minds at ease. Thanks Mad Sweeney. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I know that TotallyADD did as well.

MS started out by asking us how long we had been in the organization, if we were true believers when in. Then he proceeded ask deeper questions such as "Were there any sources of cognitive dissonance that you had to place on the shelf and 'wait on Jehovah' in order to remain faithful"? We explored the trigger that started us researching the truth about the "truth", then focused on the last straw that motivated us to leave the WT.

This program concentrated on husbands and wives who exited the WT together. TotallyADD and I discussed how we let each other know what we were learning and how we helped each other escape from our prison of indoctrination.

So fellow JWNers, if you would like to hear our story tune in to Cult Free Radio on Sept. 10.

Reopened Mind

97

Wouldn't the predators on the ark have eaten everything by the time the 40 days was over?

by highdose in

let say noah did manage to get all the species into the ark... about half of them would have been predators and the other half natural prey.. are we going to belive that they went without eating for 40 days and nights?

or the ridiculous theory as the wt would have it that noah fed them nice tasty bales of straw which they happily munched on?.

and even if one of these two exhuses were true, when the animals were let out of the ark into a world now deverstated by a flood, then wouldn't they have continued eating eachother???

Reopened Mind

It rained for 40 days. According to the Biblical account Noah, his family, and the animals were all in the ark for a year. Genesis 7:6 says, "And Noah was six hundred years old when the deluge of waters ocurred on the earth." Then Genesis 8:13 shows that it was a year later when they emerged from the ark, "Now in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, it came about that the waters had drained from off the earth; and Noah proceeded to remove the covering of the ark and to look, the surface of the earth had drained dry."

This makes the story even more ridiculous.

Reopened Mind

17

Do you remember the first time your Mom or Dad cussed?

by Open mind in

jw
friends

i do.. .

how about you?.

om.

Reopened Mind

My non JW dad would use the letters BS and GD but never the words themselves in front of us kids. We weren't allowed to say "shut-up" when we were kids. However when I married my raised-in-the-cult JW husband I learned cuss words from him and his elder father I'd not heard before.

Reopened Mind

58

How old were you when...

by agent zero in

jw
friends

..when you got baptised, and when you discovered the truth about the truth?.

me: 20 and 27.

Reopened Mind

Baptised at 20. Began researching at 54. That's when my mind began to be reopened.

Reopened Mind

24

It has been a year since I started school an update

by noni1974 in

jw
friends

well this time last year i was waiting for my first semester at college to start.

i had no idea how i would do in my classes.

my first semester was a complete surprise for me because not only did i do it, but, i did it well ending up on the dean's list with a 3.57 gpa for the semester.

Reopened Mind

noni1974,

"I didn't connect my waiting for my life to be different with my experience as a JW and the old 'wait on Jehovah' thing until recently."

The indoctrination is hard to shake. Congratulations on making the break and your newfound confidence in yourself. It will serve you well.

Reopened Mind

67

Sept. 15th WT - Burdened with Earning a Living? Here! Have MORE Burdens !

by flipper in

jw
friends

as if the other sept. 15th wt thread i started weren't controlling enough - in another study article titled " run ..... that you may attain it " were you aware that just eating and wearing clothes on your body - might be a " stumbling block " to you ?

in a prior article on pg.

12 , paragraph 6 the wt society sets up what they are trying to get across by stating, " people of the world tend to seek personal interests first as " men of this system of things, whose share is this life.

Reopened Mind

WHAT! Clothes can become a burden? What about the suits, ties, white shirts, and dark socks the brothers are REQUIRED to purchase and wear if they are to reach out for position? And sisters MUST wear dresses of a certain style and length. TotallyADD and I still have clothes in our closet that we would not have bought if it hadn't been for going to meetings and out in service. And don't forget the bookbags and the gas for our cars.

The "important Theocratic activities" are the real burden. We are so glad that weight has been lifted from our shoulders.

Reopened Mind

41

A Sincere Questions for Current/Former WTBTS Elders/Pioneers...

by AGuest in

jw
friends

may you all have peace!.

i would like to know something, if you will indulge me, please - thank you!

to what extent did you, as a jw... read/know the contents of the bible?

Reopened Mind

Shortly after we were married I noticed TotallyADD did not do personal study or read the Bible. When I asked him why, he replied, "I trust what they are telling me is right." I see now he was plagued with ADD and dylexia plus past physical abuses, not to mention the constant indoctrination of a mind control cult. When he became an elder he found himself so busy with providing for a young family, meetings, field service, talks, judicial committees, helping others in the congregation that it left little time for reading the Bible. Reading the Bible was just not that important in JW Land. In the halls we were in the Bible reading on the ministry school was usually assigned to a young brother learning to read. We did not have a family study, which bothered me for a long time.

When I saw this thread I asked TotallyADD again why he hadn't read the Bible through. His answer this time was that what he did read when he was younger was so scary that it brought up too many negative feelings. The parts that were emphasized at the meetings was the total destruction of the world at the big A. He was told by his father not to make any friends at school because they were all going to die. He didn't need to worry about school because Armageddon would be here before he would graduate. Don't get married, don't have children. Well we are grandparents now with no Armageddon in sight.

Now for me. I read the New World Translation from cover to cover while I was studying at the suggestion of my non JW aunt. It wasn't too hard to apply WT thinking to what I was reading. But sorry to say that was the last time I read the Bible from cover to cover. The Bible reading in the Ministry School doesn't count. When I began pioneering we were living with Totally's parents and I had a five year old and a one year old. Needless to say that left little time for anything other than required theocratic activities. Not that the Bible mattered. I can't remember being engaged in any scriptual conversations in field service. If I were to be honest I am sure that if scriptural questions were raised I would tell them to accept the latest magazine or book and that would answer their questions. Carrying the Reasoning book and referring to it gave us the false impression that we were using the Bible.

Reopened Mind

20

Hello there everyone.

by Yr Wyddgrug in

jw
friends

i'm a long time lurker here.. i'm not and never have been a jw, but i am trying to get an understanding of what it means to be disfellowshipped for the sake of someone i know.. my husband and i pastor a small church, we're nothing special, just a group of people who get together to seek god.

we're open to everyone and people pop in as they want to.

recently a woman in her early twenties has started turning up.

Reopened Mind

Yr Wyddgrug,

You have come to the right place to find help and support for your friend. Welcome. My husband, TotallyADD, and I have recently exited the WT cult by moving 1000 miles from our old congregation. He was born into the cult while I converted before we were married. We raised two boys in the organization who now have given us four grandchildren. We were not disfellowshipped, just fading so we can still maintain contact with family. We do run the risk that if we are exposed we will be disfellowshipped. Then as you have found out we will lose all contact with family and friends we have established over the 40 years we have been Witnesses.

Your friend is very courageous to have talked let you in on her big secret. I assume from what you have said that she is disfellowshipped. Please encourage her to read on this site if she is not up to introducing herself yet. Many have lurked here for years before getting the courage to post, including myself. It really is comforting to realize others have gone through similar experiences and they are not alone.

Hugs to you and your friend. You don't know just how much she needs you at this time.

Reopened Mind

98

JW directives you thought were downright stupid

by fallen_princess in

i remember one time when i was about 17 years old, i wanted to arrange a costume party for the young brothers in the congo around my age.

i suggested it to one of my friends and was told that the elders had advised against it because it could be construed as pagan and masks have their roots in demonism.

of course, i was never shown any biblical proof of this but just that response took the wind out of my sails and i decided to just not go through with it.

Reopened Mind

Almost 30 years ago I was counseled for hanging my laundry out on a Sunday. We didn't want to offend the local Baptists who considered Sunday to be the "Lord's Day". At the time I had three children under 5 years of age, two of whom were in diapers and no dryer. Looking back we probably offended them for a lot of things like coming to their door unannounced on Saturday mornings to tell them they were wrong.

In the same congregation two elders showed up at our door to counsel us on me having my tubes tied after a second difficult birth. Besides that TotallyADD was out of work and we had had our car repossesed so they were convinced that we MUST HAVE A DEMON!!! Funny (pathetic funny) thing is many of the sisters of childbearing age had also had their tubes tied.

STUPID STUPID STUPID RULES!!!!

Reopened Mind