On advising an active witness on how to handle his conflicted emotions: "Being a faithful JW is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made."
Giordano
JoinedPosts by Giordano
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Awesome quotes from JWN posters
by jay88 ini will start it off with-thetrueone.
"postulating religionists are really illusionists by using suggestive words to accomplish a state of believability.
".
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Once the Spell is Broken - Leave Mind Control Behind .............
by flipper in.
..... you may find what you were looking for right from the start.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7pq1mg5xn4 .
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Giordano
When my wife and I walked out, back in the late 1960's, it was a pretty rough time information wise, as in none,so to change your mind and your life a lot of thinking had to be done. And a lot of it came down to a gut feeling that the Society was flat out wrong. It was the best decision we made including starting a family JW free.
Fast forward to last Oct. and while doing a little research I stumbled on to this site and discovered that things had gotten much worse in the JW world, Elder abuse, obsessive shunning, more lies and flip flops etc.
I think I read everything I could here and on freeminds. During that process I discovered a large group of good people that I had a whole world in common with. I was no longer the lone apostate (family description). I now belong to a very large community that went through the same changes my wife and I did.
From this shared commonality I glean insights into a variety of subjects. And I can speak with complete honesty since I don't have to filter my thoughts or excuse my past (being in a cult and lacking higher education). My simple opinion on that last point is that when you have walked yourself out of this cult and your ready to start your life anew you have earned a higher degree............. in life studies.
I wish I had found this site years ago .
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new to your hellbound apostate site
by lil princess ini recently came to my senses and disassociated myself.
i am in a wierd place mentally.
i am a bit dissillusioned with what i have been taught and common sense.
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Giordano
Welcome! What Mad just said.
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State your "epiphany moment " for leaving the WT
by caliber ini have found some powerful reinforcements when people have stated their " epiphany moment "... please share some.. my turning pointing began when i was badly hurt by a person i had always viewed as a literal brother.
i realized that if his.
love was conditional.... if it was the case with him , then how about those i had less affection for and trust in ?.
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Giordano
Sorry the above got posted on the wrong thread
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State your "epiphany moment " for leaving the WT
by caliber ini have found some powerful reinforcements when people have stated their " epiphany moment "... please share some.. my turning pointing began when i was badly hurt by a person i had always viewed as a literal brother.
i realized that if his.
love was conditional.... if it was the case with him , then how about those i had less affection for and trust in ?.
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Giordano
Totaly tragic and senseless!
VISALIA -- Stunned friends and co-workers on Friday mourned the loss of a family who died after an ex-convict ran a red light and crashed into their car during a high-speed chase.
Meanwhile, Tulare County sheriff's authorities said Friday they have opened an investigation into whether department policy was followed during the pursuit of motorist Erick Joel Head prior to the crash.
The collision at Akers Street and Caldwell Avenue took the lives of Ruben Mendoza, 52, his wife Gloria Mendoza, 54, and their son Ruben Mendoza Jr., 17, of Visalia, police said.
Head, 32, of Visalia is being held at the Tulare County Main Jail on charges of evading arrest and a parole violation. He suffered minor injuries in the crash.
Head was sentenced to two years in prison in 2007 for methamphetamine and marijuana possession, and has a felony record for burglary, car theft and drug possession going back several years, according to court records.
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Theism or Atheism? If you awoke with amnesia tomorrow...
by unshackled in...and therefore had to start from scratch, do you think you'd arrive at your same current stance on belief or non-belief in god?
why or why not?.
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Giordano
I was raised a Catholic until my slightly deranged mother decided that being a JW was the way to go. Now it should be noted I was as was my mother already indoctrinated in Christian beliefs just as my Jewish friends in their beliefs. There was one road for a born in and that is a predisposition to follow the religion of ones parents. Now you might become a true believer or a half baked believer but the dye was set.
Fast forward I am now married , my wife and I have left the JW and decide we can live comfortably without a belief in a god. A few years later our son is born. We do not discuss god other then in a comprehensive discussion about religion, history etc. He grows up with out any interest in a personal god. Doesn't attend a church. While growing up we decided that church attendance and belief was going to be his choice. He is a decent moral person and a wonderful father. My JW sister give us her ultimate compliment "I have no idea how you raised such a wonderful person without the bible and the 'truth'"........and she didn't.
Our son and his wife are raising their children without church or god.
So my answer would be that if we simply forgot that we were in a religion or not but were otherwise educated we would not be inclined to become believers as that leap of faith is basically unnatural. Without being predisposed our natural intelligence fills in the gaps. That we have to be led there as children for it to stick or be highly influenced by a loving wonderful person who had the gift of persuasion or a dominating Ahole who had the 'gift of terror.
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The futility of political debate on an ex-JW forum
by willyloman inthis is a forum for fomer jehovah's witnesses.
that is a cult that drills into its members the concept that the political process is evil, delusional, selfish, greedy, and satanic.
it's fascinating to hear so many political naifs express themselves with such certainty and fervor.
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Giordano
I am not interested in reading other political forums where people have absorbed without question the dishonest arguments of those who have private, corporate or religious agendas. How an ex witness can leave a religion dominated by approved talking points only to blindly accept another set of approved talking points is beyond me.
I am on this site to hear the ex witness perspective about a number of issues. Why? Because I am confident that I can gleam special insights from people who were once true believers. People who sacrificed their time and resources in the hope of saving others. People who then had to turn their lives, their beliefs and their thinking upside down to escape something they deemed as wrong.
When we stop believing as JW's and become part of the world we have to start on a new journey............ a learning process about how this 'old system' really works and what, if any, our role in it will be. Politics is a big part of this system because it can be tool that can be used to manipulate us for good or evil. Like it or not we have to pay attention less we get seriously fooled again.
Having left the 'truth' I vowed to question everything I was told. That takes time and energy. On a forum like this one can expect many helping hands who will each provide a small piece of the puzzle, who will help speed up the learning curve......... except on the political thread where it becomes my facts versus your facts. My bias versus your bias.
Political discussions are a means to question and discover but not if they are hijacked by people who don't question their 'facts', who have traded one screwed up belief system for another. Who fail to bring honesty to the debate. It is at that point I no longer have a reason to read it or participate and that's a loss.
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The futility of political debate on an ex-JW forum
by willyloman inthis is a forum for fomer jehovah's witnesses.
that is a cult that drills into its members the concept that the political process is evil, delusional, selfish, greedy, and satanic.
it's fascinating to hear so many political naifs express themselves with such certainty and fervor.
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Giordano
I am going to agree with James. I found that I no longer care to even read the political threads because my connection to my fellow ex JW's is immediately broken under the weight of nasty rebukes by a handful of people who do not demonstrate any growth what so ever. They sound like what they were and apparently still are........... brain washed JW's smug in their ignorance.
I also agree with Band on the Run........I am interested in what my fellow JW's have to say about politics. But for now We are about five losers away from being able to have a meaningful discussion about what this country needs or can be. Untill civility enters into the discussion I'll pass.
Hopefully a few more will be banned at least for the vile language that too often shows up. Nor am I particually happy that they change their names and show back up again.
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New Believers, Studying.
by cupcakekourtney88 inhey y'all!
my name is kourtney and i am new to this form and jehovah witnesses.
right now i am studying the book "what does the bible really teach".
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Giordano
CupCake thanks for wandering by even if this isn't exactly the kind of forum you thought it was.
My wife and I are non believers, I guess we are closer to being secular humanists........meaning we care about people and always try to make things a little better.
When we left the witness world decades ago my wife told me somthing interesting she said "if we ever joined another church again there had better be a women delivering the sermon/talk!" Only the most clear thinking religions encourage the Full participation of women in their organization and services. As a young women don't you feel/think that god would value you equaly? Don't you have somthing to contribute to the congregation?
On just that basis alone doesn't it seem unnatural to prevent women from being able to completly express their worship? The JW world is a man's world........you deserve somthing better.
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So i'm gay and i'm damn PROUD of it! :)
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