Cicatrix

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Topics Started by Cicatrix

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  5

  Any Recommendations for books on Spiritual Abuse?

  by Cicatrix in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

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  i'd like to get one to read while on break from school.

  cicatrix

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  Attention Anyone Interested In Buddhism

  by Cicatrix in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on monday, some tibetan monks will be giving a presentation at our college.

  there will be a blessing ceremony and a lecture followed by a question and answer session regarding buddhism.. i plan to attend, as i would like to hear more about buddhism straight from the horse's mouth.

  if any of you have any questions that you would like me to ask for you if i get the chance, please post them before monday morning.just be aware-i will not ask the monks if they wear underwear under their robes:).

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  Some Interesting Thoughts From Mark Twain

  by Cicatrix in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm working on a lesson plan that i have to teach this week, and came across these thought provoking quotes from mark twain at hannibal.net ( a great site for anyone who is a twainophile).

  "a man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.

  "concentration of power in a political machine is bad: and an established church is only a political machine; it was invented for that; it is nursed, cradled, preserved for that; it is an enemy to human liberty, and does no good which it could do better in split-up scattered conditions.

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  Speech on high control groups-any suggestions?

  by Cicatrix in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm considering doing a speech on high control groups for my communications class.

  i have five minutes, so was wondering what angle might be the most appropriate to reach my audience (a mixture of young people just out of high school and people in their mid thirties and forties who are training for career changes).i can't use any specific groups as an example.

  cicatrix

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  34

  King Solomon

  by Cicatrix in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  okay, maybe i'm ignorant, but i can't stop thinking about this.. it's recorded in the bible that jehovah gave solomon great wisdom.

  so why did he eventually turn away from jehovah and start serving the gods of his foreign born wives?it would seem to me that that increased wisdom from jehovah would make him more likely to continue to serve jehovah faithfully.. this also brings to mind the account of adam and eve and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.. i considered this from the angle that solomon used his free will and chose to oppose jehovah.

  but is free will really "free" if you are punished with death for disobeying the creator???.

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  Anyone's take on Donnie Darko?

  by Cicatrix in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i saw the movie awhile back.i watched it twice and was left feeling?????

  yet, somehow i'm still wondering why do i have an emotional connection-what is this reminding me of(no, i have not travelled back in time lol).. when i was a kid, i used to have nightmares about a huge rabbit(i think i watched too many episodes of dark shadows and too many harvey re-runs).maybe that's the connection.i don't know.the movie doesn't scare me, on one level i think it's kind of lame.

  still,it made sit up and take notice, but i'm still not sure what i'm reacting to.. anyone else have a take on how it made you feel?

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  5

  Helping children deal with leaving

  by Cicatrix in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i think it just really hit home with my nine year-old son that this time we are not going to go back to meetings.

  he's been asking a lot of questions, and reminiscing about past events nostalgically, yet he is really looking forward to celebrating holidays this year and playing organised soccer next summer.i try to answer his questions to his satisfaction, yet i can sense the confusion he feels and i'm not quite sure how to make him understand ( he seems to think that he shouldn't believe in god because he's not going to meetings anymore,although i've told him that he of course can believe in god).

  i imagine all of my kids are going through a similar process as myself right now-good days and bad.some of them wanted to leave before i did, and are handling it pretty well.one of my teenage sons was reluctant about my decision, but i explained to him that my decision to da was my own, and that if he wanted to continue going, i wasn't going to stop him.my daughter, however, discussed the whole silent lambs issue with him, and he was shocked, to say the least,and not so keen on continuing when she told him about this(he told me this himself).. so, for you parents who have been there-do you have any tips for easing their transistion?did you do anything that seem to help your kids?how do you handle kid's questions about religion, when you're not sure of the answers yourself anymore?.

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  18

  Sent my DA letters out

  by Cicatrix in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  finally got up the nerve to send my da letters out yesterday.i sent them in lovely scarlet envelopes(in homage to nathaniel hawthorne's "the scarlet letter")with american flag stamps hehe.i wrote the letters on my hound dog stationary.thought it was fitting, having heard the old "dog returning to its vomit" speech a few gazillion times(hey, my lab and dal eat lots of vomit and they love horse manure-vet says they're the healthiest doggies around:)).. then i went out and bought a little christmas tree and some teeny tiny ornaments.yeah, i know, i'm rushing it a bit.but i really really missed celebrating christmas, and i didn't even admit that to myself until just recently.my kids were absolutely thrilled!

  !this year will be their first everything.i'm going to buy them all "my first christmas" ornaments.. but first we have halloween and a few birthdays to do.my sons already got their first invitations to a birthday party.

  my kids want me to go trick-or-treating with them.maybe i'll dress up as cruella deville and take my dalmatian puppy,sidhe, with me.. my,my, i'm running on and on like a kid at christmas...and halloween...and ..... it's good to be free.i don't care what the org boogeymen try now.i've said my piece to them,now i'm done with them.i don't have to sneak around and worry about whose seeing me do this or that.i'm the one who has chosen to leave-and you bet your boots i will hold certain ones to their own rules about not speaking to me lol.in this case, what comes around, goes around.i'm just glad to be off the org carousel.i'm a little dizzy yet, but still standing.. hehe-i'm getting punchy.i'm going to go to bed and sleep in on a sunday morning!!!

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  14

  Hollywood Therapy

  by Cicatrix in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  okay,hittin the wall now.the downs are more common than the up days at this early point.i read about post cult trauma syndrome, so i understand now why i feel numb, then angry,then weepy all in a nanosecond, like i'm gazing out of a fishbowl at a distorted world,why i'm having nightmares about congregation members.why my brain feels like a fried egg.why i want to run back to the only life i've known for 20 years, even though the thought of stepping foot inside of a kingdom hall causes me to panic.. sooo, can anyone recommend any good movies to rent to help me process some of this?.

  i watched matrix twice,after i saw it mentioned on the discussion board.wow!how chilling.it's funny-i watched this movie while still a wavering dub and it disturbed me.now i know why.. i also like chocolat, the scarlet letter (i'm sending my da letter in a red envelope hehe), and the wall(plan to rent this again ).. i'm reading 1984.. i know i probably shouldn't be so focused on this-i need to start getting out there and finding the positive,and some days i manage to do that, but right now i seem to have a need to try and make sense of it all.. any more suggestions?.

  cicatrix.

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  25

  Any advice on DA process?

  by Cicatrix in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

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  hello all,.

  i'm a newbie that's been lurking here for a couple of weeks, trying to get up the nerve to post.i've made the decision to da myself after months of thought and research.i'm not familiar with the procedure,though.is there anything that any of you feel is particularly important for me to know?do i have to go before a jc to da?if i refuse to,will they just df me?i prefer to make it clear that i am the one who is voluntarily leaving, but having been a victim of the kangaroo court proceedings on other occasions, i just can't bring myself to put myself in the elder's "loving" hands again (a story for another day).i'm fortunate that none of my family members are baptised or even active witnesses at this point.. any input would be much appreciated.. cicatrix

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