Posts by ABibleStudent

16

Past couple years of being awake might be catching up with me

by noonehome in

i was a little too honest with a super close friend who is one of the most important people in my life.

my mistake.

she talked to an elder about my doubts...i know she had my best interests in mind and i hold nothing against her.

ABibleStudent

Hi noonehome, I understand that you feel that your viable options are limited and very undesirable. Since you are attending a university/college go to the campus health care services and inquiry about counseling services that may help you to more clearly assess your options. If the campus services' counselors are not familiar with the WTBTS and other dangerous cults, give them links to www.freedomofmind.com so that they can provide you with better service.

The elders have no power of you unless you give them that power. Just thank them for expressing their concerns to you, tell them that you are very busy and will contact them when you need their help.

Make your plans to enjoy the rest of your life. Your plan should include making more non-JW friends and doing more non-WTBTS activities that give you opportunities to make more none JW friends, so that when your JW friends start to shun and avoid you, you will have a good support network of unconditional, non-JW friends.

As far as your friend is concerned, why give conditional friends power over your life? Unhealthy relationships will remain unhealthy for you as long as you allow them to continue. Please watch Steve Hassan's video How Big is the Phenomenon of Undue Influence? (2:01) about what consitutes unhealthy influence in relationships.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

20

Some JW on the street, my reaction...

by sp74bb in

jw
friends

today i had some of my worst experiences.

i saw a jw group walking on preaching.

one of them knows me well, we share a lot of week-end on rbc.. my first reaction was rage and nerves.

ABibleStudent

Welcome sp74bb, Keep on venting about your feelings on JWN. In time your anger and emotions will subside and you will be able to enjoy life more.

I liked your plan to hold your head high and not look down when you met the JWs. You should be proud to be a "(Dangerous) Cult Survivor".

What other plans do you have to achieve your full potential? Do you plan to obtain additonal education/training to qualify for a well-paying career?

What kind of emotional/psycholoical help do you want to obtain to help you heal faster and better? Have you read any information by cult-exit counselors like Steve Hassan's books (i.e., "Combatting Cult Mind Control", "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves", and (his latest book) "Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Belieffs"), visited his website www.freedomofmind.com, and/or watched his FREE videos on his website?

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

75

FORGIVENESS ... You owe it to your health

by ABibleStudent in

i'm cleaning up my home of unnecessary magazines/newsletters that i have accumulated over the years.

while i was working as an employee i did not feel like i had the time to read them.

now that i'm not working as an employee but work as a volunteer to network and maintain workplace skills, i seem to have more time to read.. after reading many threads by former jws, i thought that the following article might help some to heal.

ABibleStudent

I'm cleaning up my home of unnecessary magazines/newsletters that I have accumulated over the years. While I was working as an employee I did not feel like I had the time to read them. Now that I'm not working as an employee but work as a volunteer to network and maintain workplace skills, I seem to have more time to read.

After reading many threads by former JWs, I thought that the following article might help some to heal. The point of the article is simple. Let go of your anger: it is only hurting you and you can only control your behavior.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

FORGIVENESS ... You owe it to your health

Hanging on to anger and resentment because you feel someone has wronged you can do more than make your emotional life miserable.

It could make you sick.

In a recent study, those who learned to forgive saw not only stress and anger subside, but also psychosomatic symptoms like headaches and stomach upsets go way down.

HOW TO FORGIVE:

• First, realize that forgiving does not mean that you condone or forget offenses. And it doesn't necessarily mean you need to reconcile with the offender. The act of forgiveness simply means moving beyond feeling aggravated and angry. It means giving up the desire for revenge.

• Accept that you cannot control other people's behavior.

• Look at the hurtful incident in perspective. It isn't always possible, but if you can, try to see what happened from the other person's point of view - or at least from a neutral viewpoint.

• Gradually move away from blame to accepting that what happened, happened, and that it is in the past. You can't do anything about the past.

• Try writing your thoughts down in a letter (that you don't intend to send). It's a non-hurtful way to vent your feelings.

Source of Study: Stanford University research presented at the American Psychological Association meeting, August 2001

16

wt.org store , Rouen, France

by LogCon in

jwsurvey posted a pic of the wt.org store in france.

that building looks like something you would find in the vancouver,b.c.

eastend.

ABibleStudent

Damm! I was in Rouen, France in September 2012. It is a very beautiful city with a lot of historical/religous/cultural sites to visit instead of entering that store. I hope no one but JWs visit that store.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

94

Avoid Going back to the JW's - Educate Yourself about Mind Control

by flipper in

jw
friends

i've talked with some good friends on the board about this before and we seem to be in agreement : one reason ( among many ) that some disfellowshipped jw's go back and return to the wt organization is because they are full of uneeded guilt or uneeded fear because they haven't educated themselves about how the wt society uses mind control tactics to deceive them into thinking they have " nowhere else to go " .

i understand that some dfed ones may go back to the organization for family and friends- however- it's an exrecise in futility because once you learn the truth about the truth you cannot undo what you heard.

so some may just go back and live a fake jw life to appease family- but just think of how that can damage a person's emotional and mental health playing the fake jw game the rest of their lives !

ABibleStudent

flipper - However- that being said- statistics still show that 66 % of JW kids raised up in the cult eventually leave and exit the JW cult. So that's promising. While there's life there's still hope for freedom of mind for these young people.

JWfacts created many stistical charts of publisher measurements in the Jehovah's Witness Statistics article to illustrate WTBTS histroical performance using 1% of JWs annually fading/DF'ed/DA'ed and 0.33% are reinstated within a year. To me it is disheartening that 0.33% of JWs (~23,000 JWs) return to the WTBTS annually and an unknown number may leave the WTBTS but the WTBTS's BITE control still "unduly influences" them and limits their potential and enjoyment of life.

Becaue every year there are tens of thousands of JWs worldwide healing/suffering from the WTBTS's BITE control, I hope that anyone reading this thread will take the time to send a DF'ed/DA'ed/fading JW a simple note such as "I finally started healing emotionally after visiting www.jwfacts.com or www.freedomofmind.com" or "I have no more doubts about Jehovah's Organization after reading information on www.jwfacts.com or www.freedomofmind.com."

From personal experience I know of a man who still does not critically think for himself about the WTBTS. He still uses WTBTS thought-stopping platitudes. He was recruited as a teenager and has not been a JW for over 20 years. After leaving the WTBTS he has lived a very fun and full life, but I doubt that he would encourage anyone contemplting joining the WTBTS to critically think for themselves.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

44

I went to one of my previous halls remodel today and they did not recognize me...

by confusedandalone in

i definitely look like a worldly person by jw standards... however i went to my old hall because they are remodelling and they are in the final p[hase.

it was not on purpose.

i had bnusiness on the street and happened to drive past.

ABibleStudent

You are very 'mpotant, confusedandalone!! You can make JWs jump higher and run faster than the GB.

I hope that your father was resting comfortably in his car.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

15

Who is the mediator for the R&F now?

by nonjwspouse in

jw
friends

has this been changed?

i thought this might need a new thread.. the memorials i have heard about multiple ones noted the prayer ending with something like "jesus our mediator".. sams on another thread :.

nonjwspouse: sahs, so has it now been stated that jesus is only the mediator for the fds, not all the anointed as was previously?.

ABibleStudent

Hi nonjwspouse, I would guess that most JWs do not realize that according to the Watchtower's latest publications Jesus Christ is the mediator for annointed Christians and therefore would not be the mediator for most R&F, who are not annointed. Because of the WTBTS's flip flopping, this can be confusing for JWs and not-JWs.

I do know that when two JWs confronted me while I was picking up Memorial invitations after they left them jammed in doors and under door mats in my posted non-soliciting townhome community, they did not realize that Jesus Christ was not their mediator according to the WTBTS. I even advised them to read the Watchtower more carefully to learn that the GB was their mediator and not Jesus Christ.

Asking a JW who is their mediator with God, could cause them to do usually mental/emotional gymnastics.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

13

My mother is losing her old personality

by Faithful Witness in

i have been trying to engage and talk to my mother and her "natural" personality as much as possible.

she has obvious concerns about the jw's, and we do discuss issues almost every time she visits.

we didn't see her for long stretches (months at at time, and suddenly a year had gone by...) we have now both committed to a minimum of a monthly visit, and we will work toward more.

ABibleStudent

Hi Faithful Witness, Be patient and compassionate with your mother. Wait for moments when your mother's cult persona is weakest and her authentica persona is strongest to help you mother critically think for herself. If it helps you to control your emotions, remember that your mother is being "unduly influenced" by the WTBTS's BITE control. Sickness, working too much, not eating right, and getting too little sleep will reduce your mother's critcal thinking.

The cult persona will be strongest after WTBTS conventions/assemblies, Memorial, and meetings. The authentic persona will be strongest after sharing fun times with your mother. Help your mother remember how witty she was before she become involved with the WTBTS by talking about how much you admired some poignant story of her wit.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

34

I am DF'd now... Decisions, decisions...

by Comatose in

so i was df'd a couple weeks ago.

i live in a place where i didn't really have new friends at the kh, so my day to day life isn't changing.

i'm just me living life like i was 2 weeks ago and 2 years ago.

ABibleStudent

Hi Comatose, I'm sorry that your parents' cult personas are behaving so unloving and that your parents' authentic personas are not strong enough to critically think for themselves.

You have more power than you may feel that you have right now. Either your parents accept you for who you are, for what you believe, and include you in all activities with your daughter, or they can follow the WTBTS's unloving shunning practises towatds you and your daughter. Under no circumstances allow your daughter to be left alone with JWs unless they can critically think for themselves, are not "unduly influenced" by the WTBTS, and follow your rules about not indoctrinating your daugther with the WTBTS's BITE control techniques. Child abuse can be mental and emotional as well as physical.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

55

THE GRAND APOSTATE "WALKOUT" - January 1, 2015

by RagingBull in

jw
friends

after knowing ttatt for many years now...i had made up my mind long ago that after 2014, i would no-longer subject myself to the boredom, pain, and frustration of following this cult...the wt...the borg.. so...i made up my mind that since the wtbts/gb makes such a big deal as to the "significance" of the year 1914 and this year 2014, there can be no greater time for me to leave it all behind.

i daydreamed of how awesome and telling it would be if everyone that could ( because i do know that some have personal circumstances of their own, as i did too) would just .... walkout...never to attend/step foot in a kingdom hall from that moment on.. independence day of sorts?

there is too much evidence, too many videos, blogs, books, news reports and lawsuits for me to keep lying to myself.

ABibleStudent

Congratulations at being at peace with your decision, RagingBull!

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert