Posts by Reopened Mind

You were smart to mention HIPAA to the doctor. My husband was so desparate for help he would have agreed to almost anything. Besides he trusted the therapist and didn't have any df'ing offense to divulge.

Reopened Mind

20

A STRANGE thing happened on the way to the Psychiatrist...

by PaintedToeNail in

jw
friends

he's gone apostate!

as some may remember, when i started my fade, my husband freaked out and thought i was going to leave him.

he wanted to see someone about our marriage.

Reopened Mind

PaintedToeNail,

What a wonderful story!

My husband went to a witness therapist who diagnosed him with ADD (he posts here as Still TotallyADD). As a result of her diagnosis and medication he began to wake up to the TTATT. That therapist had him sign a paper that she would divulge to his elders anything that was a disfellowshipping offence. The last I heard she was still a JW and a regular pioneer.

Reopened Mind

58

If the Governing Body Told You They Love You All Very Much, What Would Your Reply Be?

by steve2 in

jw
friends

in a letter in the 2013 yearbook of jehovah's witnesses, the governing body sign off with the words, "we love you all very much".

these words were later echoed by one of the governing body in an address to french jehovah's witnesses in july this year.

these words sound so marvellously compelling and heartfelt - goosebump inducing, even.. imagine the governing body wrote these words to you or expressed them to you in person- yes to you reading these very words.

Reopened Mind

What have you done to prove it?

Reopened Mind

26

What did you do with old WT/Awake magazines?

by naazira in

jw
friends

when you were a witness, what did you do with your old watchtower (public/ study versions) and awake magazines?

i know for some throwing away a magazine is comparable to burning a quran.

i never threw them out!

Reopened Mind

I would save the older ones to leave in doors where no one was home, inconspicuously of course! After all they counted as placements. But that still left a pile at the end of the year. When I received the bound volumes, then I would clear out the ones for that year.

Reopened Mind

94

just what am I supposed to believe now??

by purrpurr in

while i'm glad i found this site, it has also crumbled to bits everything i've believed in my whole life.

i feel like the certainty, magic and wonder has gone out of my life.

this has left a huge hole in my soul.

Reopened Mind

Hello purrpurr,

I can sympathize with the journey you are on now. My husband was a born-in who, like you, had known no other belief system his whole life of 55 years when we left. I had converted in my teens. When we woke up I went back to what I had believed before for the most part. We were not in a rush to lock into another set of beliefs. We talked a lot, read a lot, explored the internet. We went to the little country church I had attended as a child and another Christian church with some friends. Neither one of us felt comfortable there but desparately wanted a sense of community. We looked up a Unitarian Universalist congregation and began going there. We immediately felt at home because there is no dogma or doctrine, just the acceptance of everyone for who they are. People of many different beliefs make up our small congregation and we find it a wonderful way to explore without the pressure of conversion.

I can tell you now it is a relief to not HAVE to believe what is spoon fed from a hierarchy. But it can be a little scary too. As Witnesses we had answers for everything. Now it is OK to say, "I don't know." Everyone here is giving you permission to explore; now give yourself permission.

Reopened Mind

30

Today is my birthday !

by mrquik in

jw
friends

after missing 63 years of birthday celebrations, i'm making up for it in spades.

cake, presents & parties.

i tell everyone i meet that today is my birthday just to hear them say "happy birthday".

Reopened Mind

HAPPY BIRTHDAY mrquik!! And many more.

Reopened Mind

46

If you had the audience of the GB, what is your #1 question you would ask them?

by Darth Fader The Sequel in

there are a million of them and mine is by no means the most important question to ask them if i only had one shot at it.

but, i have always wondered what kind of bs excuse they would give as an answer to this question: "brother goober bum, given that there are both male and female partakers here on earth who claim to be of the 'anointed' and plan on being of the 144,000 ruling with christ in heaven for eternity........ why are the female 'anointed' treated as submissive, second class citizens and why is their opinion on doctrinal matters, matters of teaching and reproving, anything at all.... why are they not recognized while here on earth even though you claim that jesus has selected them to become angels to rule with him?

".

Reopened Mind

Explain exactly how you get all the "new light" from God.

Ray Franz explained it in his book "Crisis of Conscience": Someone makes it up and they vote on it at their weekly GB meeting.

Still it would be interesting to hear how they squirm around that one.

Reopened Mind

20

What was your out of control, sobbing moment with this stupid religion?

by ctrwtf in

jw
friends

i have often laughed at public outpourings of emotion.

just google mike schmidt"s retirement speech in which he loses it and blithers on about his career.

completely douche chilling.. but to be honest, i had a moment recently when i literally balled my eyes out.

Reopened Mind

We took care of a brother with MS in our home for almost 15 years, the last year and a half he was bedridden and on a ventilator. We made sure he was always at the meetings; we even took him out in service in a wheelchair van so he could get his time in. Because of the MS his speech weakened and he became increasingly difficult to understand. I became an interpretor of sorts for him. One of his greatest joys in life was being with the brothers and especially the sisters and children at the hall. When he was no longer able to physically attend the meetings he would faithfully listen in on a phone hook-up. But no one from the hall would come to visit him and he missed this most of all. When he passed away (4 years ago yesterday, I'm starting to cry, this is difficult for me) no one from the hall came to give us moral support. You see there was a district convention the following weekend and everyone was too busy preparing for that even though it was an easy drive and most didn't stay over. On the other hand my nonJW cousin who lived in the same town was at our house almost every day, bringing food as we needed it. I am so grateful for her and her husband's support during that time.

About 3 years later our oldest son sent us a scathing letter to tell us what horrible parents we were and to affirm that the religion had nothing to do with the injustices he experienced growing up. (Yes, my son, it had almost everything to do with it. We followed WT guidelines the best we could.) He said that unless we both got psychiatric help he wanted nothing to do with us! That seemed a bit ironic to us because his dad did see a Witness therapist. When he began taking medication for his ADD his mind began to clear and that is when we started our exit from the cult. Funny thing is we had thought our oldest son was waking up with us.

Reopened Mind

25

a sense of responsibility

by Ruby456 in

do parents here feel a strong sense of responsiblity for raising their children as witnessess?

an xwitness friend was saying she and her husband feel very bad for having brought up their children as witnesses and they feel they want to make amends but are unable to do so.

what advice would you give them.

Reopened Mind

Ruby,

Your thread has really hit a nerve with me. My husband and I are xJWs who raised our 2 boys in the cult. Our boys both married in the cult and are raising their children as JWs. We didn't wake up until after our children had grown and married. We told both our boys what we were learning when we were waking up. For a while we thought they were listening and we had the hope they would follow us. But the cult (and we suspect wives & in-laws) had too strong of a pull on them. Since our oldest wrote us a scathing letter about how horrible we were as parents we have had no contact with him or his family. Sad, he has 2 lovely children we would like to be a part of their lives. We do have some contact with our youngest son but only to discuss "family business". He, too, has 2 lovely children whom I see only on facebook.

To answer your original question; yes, we do feel a great sense of responsibility for raising our boys as witnesses. One thing we keep telling ourselves is that we did the best we knew how at the time. We will bide our time and always be positive whenever we do have that rare contact with them.

Reopened Mind