From the time I stopped accompanying my wife to the meetings it took one year for my "best friend" elder to contact me. I told him I knew where the hall was and had his phone number...I never heard from the elders since.
Posts by NVR2L8
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20Need some encouragemant
by LogansRun inits been awhile since i've commented but i come by and read your posts about once a week.
so why do i need a pep talk ?
after almost 2 years into my fade these bastards won't give it a rest constant hang ups on my answering machine and today for the first time in about 6 months they come to my apartment complex but thankfully couldn't get in they did keep buzzing me so they were here looking for me.
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24
Are you better off as a worldly person or a JW?
by Jules Saturn ini was having a conversation with a relative who has been inactive for several decades (part of the ‘75 generation) and he argued that a person that is a born in is better off staying in the organization rather than someone like him who lived as a “worldly” person but then became a witness later in life.
he argues that when you’re born in, all you know nothing outside of the organization, so you’re better off in than out, that’s why when born ins leave the org, they always come back.
i agree that as a born in, your social circle is composed of witnesses but i do feel that even born ins would be happier outside of the org than being in.
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NVR2L8
The key word in the OP question is "person". As a JW I was a brainwashed robot...now I am my own person.
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33
Why do so many that leave wind up coming back?!
by nowwhat? ini have seen so many that have left.
and their life turned into a dumpster fire.
most do not live the average life of living in suburbs, raising a family.
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NVR2L8
When you left someone else drive your car your whole life, there's a good chance you may crash when you take the wheel for the first time...Living life outside of the cult is not easy for a brainwashed and gullible person. For others their new freedom is just too much to handle. It's like someone extremely dehydrated that drinks too fast despite knowing that it may kill him.
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133
What Is The Most Ridiculous Thing You Have Heard From A Witness?
by minimus ini remember an elder questioning a woman who had admitted to giving and receiving oral sex from her unbelieving mate.
he asked her the most intimate questions which clearly flustered her.
interestingly, she “confessed “ to the elders because her conscience bothered her.
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NVR2L8
My dad... they're building this huge stadium for nothing because Armageddon will come long before (1976 Olympic Game). Ironically there were several international conventions in that stadium.
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20
How is life better?
by Freedom rocks ini know this thread has probably been covered in the past but i thought it would be nice for newbies and lurkers and just a reminder to those that left a while ago.. how has your life improved since leaving the cult?
are you happy?
have you made some amazing friends or maybe met an amazing partner in the world?.
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NVR2L8
I am free to use MY time the way I want. I just took early retirement and I can only imagine the pressure to evangelize and to reach out for service privileges I would have been under if I hadn't left the cult.
I am free to think and reason to reach my OWN conclusions. I can freely speak out when something doesn't add up and I don't have to go along just to please others.
I have a much more positive outlook on life. I no longer focus on what's wrong in the world or expect that it's all going to blow up. Instead I focus on the positive things and I look for the good in people. I no longer condemn or criticize others for not being like me.
I have come to terms with the fact that I have only this life, that I will grow old and die. It's much easier than living in hope that I have done enough to make it in the new system. There's no stick and carrot enticing me to exist to please others. Because life is short, I spend each day doing what makes me happy...and it works.
I no longer have faith or a need to believe. Gravity, wind and electricity have been proven - you need zero faith or need to believe - they're facts that can't be questioned. God, his kingdom, the bible can only make sense if you have faith. Often faith trumps facts and truth. In this day and age a growing number of people believe that the earth is flat...
I am free to help others in the way I see fit. The WT mags I handed to the homeless may have only served as toilet paper. The food and small change I give fulfill a real need and gets immediate results. My donations no longer support a rich printing corporation that just built their paradise on earth headquarters.
My friends love me for who I am, not for religious affiliation. Many times my closest JW friends moved to the neighboring congregation and I would no longer hear from them unless I initiated the contact. Now that I am inactive none of these friends ever call. They tell my wife to say Hi to NVR2L8. On the other hand the only reason they would befriend me again would be to lure me back in their cult.
Leaving the cult comes with a price. My wife is still a believer. When I was a devout JW ministerial servant she followed me, but now she's had to do things on her own which emboldened her in the cult. We no longer have discussions on religion and the simplest comments on the WT triggers threats to our marriage from her part. At this time I have no hope that she will ever wake up. It's all not bad since my younger brother who is a long time elder and my sister know where I stand and they both said that it would never change our relationship. My sister just retired and said that we were not supposed to grow old in this system...maybe there's a crack in the dam.
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9
"Do not hold back good if it is in the power of your hand" Prov 3:27
by stuckinarut2 ini was musing over this scripture at proverbs 3:27.
"do not hold back good from those to whom it is due , if it is in the power of your hand to do so".
this passage has often been used to show that if we have the means, or opportunity to do good, or to assist others in need, we should act.
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NVR2L8
I was thinking of using this reasoning with my JW family: would a loving parent watch his child drown in a lake just to prove he believes in the resurrection? I know god is going to resurrect little Dany...what's the big deal? Likewise, god's power to resurrect does not excuse him from letting people suffer and die.
I find it much easier to believe there's no god than trying to justify how such a loving god can watch all this suffering from the sidelines.
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May 1969 :on a highway, somewhere this side of a life unlived
by TerryWalstrom inmay 1969. i didn't know i was in trouble.now, years later, i suddenly do see it.. we're not talking drugs.
i never did drugs.
ever.nothing is worse than stone cold sober.what i did was more destructive: i had mainlined on god.a weird brand of god: jehovah god.. i was shredded and unaware.
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NVR2L8
Thank you my friend for such a poignant account of your life experiences. I am from Canada and we never had to go to jail for refusing military service but I met several young brothers at the 1969 international convention in Montreal that were in that predicament. I remember having this feeling of helplessness in the pit of my stomach thinking that one day all JWs would have to face persecution and prison. That was almost 50 years ago...decades of living in fear and uncertainty, the real prison being the cult! I started escaping 10 years ago but I still feel the effects of living in captivity. Today I try to make up for lost time by living my life the way you drove that Plymouth Fury!
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76
In one sentence, can you pinpoint a single event that woke you up?
by Brian J inmy turning point: serving on a child abuse judicial case.
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NVR2L8
Watching the old timers bobbing their head in agreement with the explanation of the overlapping generation at the 2010 district convention made me realize I had to escape the cult. -
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Personal opinions spouted from the platform?
by purrpurr inhave you ever heard some brothers own ideas and opinions spouted from the platform?
perhaps off brand or crazy ones?
some that i've heard is:.
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NVR2L8
I worked at a technology company and always had the latest communication devices so I was targeted after there was a circuit assembly part calling modern devices a waste of time. I clearly remember how they used a thick instruction manual to emphasize how learning how to use a personal assistant device would have you waste time that could be used in the ministry...Today the WT expect my 84 year old mother to learn how to use a tablet...that's a waste of time! -
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2018 Convention videos leaked by brave insiders
by Room 215 inanopther coup for cedars: http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/leaked-2018-convention-videos-celebrate-anti-lgbtq-bigotry-unquestioning-obedience-doomsday-fear-mongering
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NVR2L8
I just can't watch these video to the end...but it's amazing how they picture LGBTs persecuting them...the situation in the shop is unrealistic and when asked for a donation a "no, thank you" is usually the end of it.