One of the things I have enjoyed about leaving the JW's is being able to view society on a more positive note. I have spent my life looking for the bad in society to validate our belief that things are getting worse and the end is getting closer. I decided one day to start noticing the good in people and I saw people doing things for one another that I never saw within the JW cong. Yeah, there are assholes everywhere. But there is also a lot of good, if you just look for it.
Lunatic Faith
JoinedPosts by Lunatic Faith
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79
Have you given up on humanity?
by d ini was thinking to myself today,people suck humans suck.i know that when i was younger i used to see myself helpng people.but now i could care less.the reason is because in reality things will never get better.i am not saying god is going to help us.i do not believe in god.i feel that no mattr what charity you give to an organization in the end it is all futile and pointless.this life we live is hard and can seem pointless.does anybody else feel that way..
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21
I'm an HBH
by Lunatic Faith ini have received two visits from car-groups this week and am trying not to freak out.
i think it is because the co's visit is coming up.
i have been home-but-hiding both times.
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Lunatic Faith
I have been thinking of investing in a no trespassing sign, but I am afraid that may seem a bit obvious. I am trying for subtlety!
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21
I'm an HBH
by Lunatic Faith ini have received two visits from car-groups this week and am trying not to freak out.
i think it is because the co's visit is coming up.
i have been home-but-hiding both times.
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Lunatic Faith
Thanks everyone! Appreciate all the helpful advice.
HBH does mean "Home-But-Hiding". I used to write it on my territory record slip when I knew someone was at home and not responding.
Baltar447--I am baptized and have been since 1988. I have always been one of those super reliable, very knowledgeable JW's and I think people are confused as to why I have just fallen off the face of the earth. What I am finding surprising about people is that they have no concept that there are two ways about it. In talking to my brothers (who are still in-step with the celestial chariot;) it never enters anyones mind that it's not the truth. So it never enters their mind that someone would choose to leave.
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50
Don't you DARE to get up!!
by stillin9 ininteresting points from this week's wt study (dec 15 2010 study edition):.
par 12: "do i encourage my children not to view the song between the theocratic ministry school and the service meeting or the one between the public talk and the watchtower study as a sort of intermission,an opportunity for them to leave their seats unnecessarily, perhaps just to stretch their legs?".
why do they have to make such a big deal out of everything?
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Lunatic Faith
It's not actually the first time they have encouraged JW's to memorize the lyrics of songs. I remember reading that in a yearbook in 2002. I actually memorized a few songs because of it. I always thought I would be able to repeat them while I was in prison.
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21
I'm an HBH
by Lunatic Faith ini have received two visits from car-groups this week and am trying not to freak out.
i think it is because the co's visit is coming up.
i have been home-but-hiding both times.
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Lunatic Faith
I have received two visits from car-groups this week and am trying not to freak out. I think it is because the CO's visit is coming up. I have been home-but-hiding both times. Can I keep this up? What if they call to ask if they can bring by the CO? How many phone-calls and doorbell rings can be ignored before they either leave us alone or get more persistent?
I wish I could say this was the first time in my life I have been HBH when the JW's call, but it's not. Even though I am a 4th generation JW, I actually hid from them when I was a kid. My mother was an invalid, my father was a removed elder. The elders in the congregation would call to "encourage" my mother whenever my dad would ask for privileges for him or his sons. The elders would call to find out if our house was still a mess. When they would find the inevitable clutter because my dad worked full time, my mom was bed-ridden, and us kids were trying to take care of her and didn't know any better, they would call a meeting with my dad and his sons, tell them they were pigs and unworthy of Jehovah's love, and dismiss their requests to handle the mikes or answer at the meetings.
So, one day, I was about 12 and considering suicide because of the way we were always treated at the KH, when an elder showed up with some flowers for my mother. I looked out the curtains to see him standing on the porch and, God help me, I didn't let him in. Even though he had flowers for my mom, all I could think was how he would use the condition of our house to pummel my dad and brothers. At 12 I decided the lesser of the two evils was to pretend no one was there to let him in.
I have felt guilty about that ever since. Now I have come full circle and am HBH because I don't want their help, or their condemnation. I just want to be left alone.
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New ex-JW memoir coming out...
by brizzzy ini don't post a ton here because i'm kinda shy.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0373892357?tag=thegirsguitoh-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkcode=as1&creativeasin=0373892357&adid=038ez4bjpam7bcsze5mq&.
that's the amazon link (which is currently the most affordable, i believe, but it's also available for preorder at b&n, borders, indiebound, and indigo-chapters if you're in canada, if you prefer one of those retailers).. .
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Lunatic Faith
I have pre-ordered my copy! As a fourth generation JW I look forward to reading your experiences. Congratulations on your first book!!
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179
Were you 'alive in '75' and how was that year for you?
by punkofnice ini was a junior borgite in 1975. i remeber looking at the calendar at work in october and thinking: 'armageddon isn't here yet.....and it doesn't feel like it will be here anytime soon either!'.
i was surprised that jehovah hadn't obeyed the superior command to bring the big 'a' as instructed to him by fred franz.
how dare god disobey the jw leader!!!!!.
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Lunatic Faith
I was three years old, but my dad would tell how he (being an elder) had to fight the other elders to keep from announcing from the stage that A would be arriving in 1975. He always claimed the society never said that. Years later, when I was in my 20's, a friend who remembered that time said the society was more guilty of misleading people than they ever let on. That was news to me. I am looking forward to that part in CoC.
I do remember people whose houses we would spend time at, because they had lots of kids, who left right after that. I grew up with the kids in school, and always remembered them once coming to the KH, but they stopped when I was too young to really know what was going on or why we couldn't go visit them any more. Now I wonder what they think of the rest of us that hung on so long.
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Elder Missing 24 hours...
by sleepingbeauty ina brother i know of was made up as an elder only some mere 6 weeks ago.
out the blue he has gone total awol and has now been missing over 24 hours.
i wonder if the stress of becoming an elder at 27 yrs old got to him !!!
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Lunatic Faith
Hmmm, 27 seems about to normal to me. I had a cousin training as substitute CO at 26, and my Presiding Overseer in the Spanish Hall I attended was 28.
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It might be better to not even have the Internet. April 15th WT
by life is to short inok i was just blown away when i heard this today while driving, at first i thought it was the some old same old but then it went on and it seems like it is on a different level.. the subheading is "guard your heart by exercising self-control.
on page 27 par 17 it says "one way a person could wonder into the foolish course of the "young man in want of heart" is by aimlessly flipping though television channels or surfing the internet.
whether intentionally or not, he might chance upon sexually stimulating scenes.
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Lunatic Faith
On the subject of porn: When my hubby and I were married I was a 29 year old virgin whose only knowledge of sex came from my Cosmo subscription (that's not exactly reality). Figuring out how to make sex work was frustrating to say the least. We decided to pick up a porn video for our own personal use (Jenna Jamison, Asia Carrera and pirates). My hubbies friend, an elder, was talking about porn and we admitted we had a video. He told us we could get DF'd for having it so we destroyed the video.
Not too long afterward I am talking to the elders wife and she is complaining that their satellite has been cancelled. I ask why. She says her hubby sat up one night and ran up a two hundred dollar bill on porn pay-per-view. What a freakin' hypocrite!
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What is it with all the men waking up but the wives stay in? Why is it the opposite for me?
by Cadellin inthis is something i've thought about for a while now.
it seems like the same story on this board over and over--the husband, who also might be an elder, ms, etc.--starts having doubts and researching, aka miseryloveselders and franklin massey and others.
he starts to smell the coffee and realizes that this organization isn't what it claims to be.
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Lunatic Faith
I was raised in a strongly patriarchal household, so even though I always thought I had a mind of my own I never once considered I had any choice as to faith. There was only one path!
Then I got married to a man who had a more 50-50 approach to life. He listened to me and valued my opinions and didn't shoot me down whenever I expressed an unpopular opinion. His validation and reinforcement gave me the permission to start thinking for myself. It reminds me of something I read in my psych book recently:
"When we feel prized as worthwhile human beings, just for being ourselves, with no conditions or strings attached, we are likely to move toward our ideal selves. Few of us receive this validation from our parents, but we can move toward our ideal selves if we receive affirmation and support from a close partner."
Maybe the first step toward freedom for any of us is permission to think freely.