Posts by Millions

65

Hi, new to this forum. Figured I'd let everyone know about my story before I got involved.

by JonathanH in

if you just want the juicy details where i leave, i'll make disclaimer where it begins, if you just want to know what happened with the elders and organization after i realized it wasn't true, i'll mark that seperately.

we didn't do jack shit in service, or in the congregation.

maybe this was how jehovah came about?

Millions

Dude! That was a great read! I know you are left in this shitty place in your life right now, but you have taken a stand and provided a soft landing for when your wife is ready to jump. I really hope she does, life outside is so much better than life inside. I do feel for you both, being caught between these two polar opposites of social status. Hope you can resolve it soon.

I wish more than anything that I had read as much and as widely as you did in your younger years. I was also of above average intelligence (not sure anymore since my JW lobotomy!) and yet I was so obedient and submissive to the Society that I wouldn't have dared read anything that challenged my beliefs, and if I had I would simply have put it down as the rambling product of this system of things. Eventually though, logic and reason won the day, mainly via my own thought processes and the doubts I had accumulated in over three decades of JW life.

Some of your experiences within your own family are truly heartbreaking, but by no means isolated in ex-JW communities as we all know, such is the tragedy of our former faith system. I know it reaffirms my own decision to leave when I read experiences like yours, I really appreciate the detail you went into. Especially the stuff about ecology and the animal kingdom etc, this was a pivotal subject for me in the process of rejecting the indoctrination, without really even doing any research on it. The natural world is based on survival, whatever it takes, be it violence, procreating with multiple partners, cannibalism, etc. I found the water canopy arguments fascinating, not something I have ever looked into, but then again I did decide I wouldn't spend any more of my life researching Watchtower doctrine after I left the organisation. I look in here regularly to see what's going down in the witness world and to offer encouragement to people that spill their guts like you have, and like I did myself.

I wish you every happiness in your life out here in the real world, you clearly have the ability to do great things, and wherever that takes you and your wife I am sure it will turn out well. Sending out positive vibes to you!

Millions

38

Stopping my bible study with the JW's

by salsa girl in

this is my first post after lurking for months.

hopefully i won't make any mistakes while typing and trying to post this so please bear with me!.

i had a bible study with jehovah's witnesses and i stopped the studies with them a couple of years back.

Millions

Good for you salsa girl, you have wised up and saved yourself many years of hardship in getting baptised into the organisation and then trying to get out again!

I also stopped going before I started looking online, it is such a relief to find places like this and to realise that you aren't some evil satanist but in fact thousands of other people have gone through a similar experience of waking up to the reality of the religion.

Some of my best friends in the JWs lived in South London, I used to visit them quite regularly. I really do miss them, but I fear they will never wise up themselves and leave. Then again, I did ;)

Enjoy having a clear mind again :)

25

The Effects of JW Child Abuse into Adulthood

by PublishingCult in

my two oldest brothers, jim and ron, were coerced into baptism when they were but 10 and 11 years old.. .

they were indoctrinated heavily, of course, and they tried to toe the line and be good little jw boys as best two unruly fatherless boys could.

the nature of a boy won out and they both got into some mischief about a year later.

Millions

Really sorry to hear that, what a sad story. I'm certain that the account will touch other people who read here though, and in its own way maybe help them, if they recognise similarities to their own experience.

How wonderful that he had met someone who clearly cared about him so much, and that they were able to have five kids. I'm sure he must have been a great dad, and tried to make sure that his children never ended up experiencing something as damaging as he had.

31

I will return to the borg because.....

by cyberjesus in

jw
friends

i was just reading of a dude who is going back to the matrix.... to save his wife?

to meet a wife?

to divorce scripturally his wife?

Millions

I am going back in order to:

- wait until the prayer begins and then strip off and dance down the aisles shakin' ma junk, with a quick change back at my seat before the 'amen'. Deny anything vigorously if questioned by the elders afterwards, saying, 'But how could you have seen anything anyway? Weren't your eyes closed?'

- set up my drumkit in the second school during the public talk and then jam along to the middle song.

- bring some cheese, pickles, butter and a knife to the memorial, so I can properly enjoy partaking of the emblems.

- casually mention to an elder before the meeting that I have developed Tourette's Syndrome, then answer up frequently in the Watchtower study.

- sing the songs one word ahead of everyone else, and in falsetto.

- wear mascara and lipstick and get my ears pierced. If the sisters can, why can't I?

- take my dogs on field service, wearing coats with 'John 3:16' printed on.

- dress in exactly the same manner as Charlie T. Russell, long frock coat, long beard etc. Just payin' ma dues bro!

- get there real early, hide behind the curtain on the platform, and periodically cough throughout the public talk.

- make every comment a well-known yet relevant song lyric. Eg "Wo-ohhh, we're half way there now, wo-ohhh, living on a prayer." "Umm... yes indeed thankyou brother, prayer is vital for us in these times. *cough* Paragraph three please."

- after every scripture the speaker reads, call out, 'Praise the Lord!', and nod vigorously and triumphantly while fanning myself with my Watchtower.

- go to the convention in fancy dress, but still having a name badge. Maybe as a big yellow chicken, or as a lady. Might need to lose the beard.

- learn Bible truth. Oh no, wait... oxymoron.

86

They really are pooping their pants over these latest "signs"...

by undercover in

jw
friends

i've seen a few threads/posts where some of y'all have heard from jw contacts and how they've stepped up their 'the end is close' rhetoric because of the earthquake/tsunami in japan.

i usually take those things with a grain of salt.

there's always some jw whose cheese has slipped that reads prophecy into every little thing that happens.

Millions

Nice thread, been thinking about this a lot lately, naturally!

I agree with this idea that it's the only time JWs can get genuinely excited. I'm amazed they don't burst into glossolalia as well whenever some major event goes down.

I have had an idea for a new JW festival:

Disasterstock 2011

Headliners:

Japan Earthquake/Tsunami

supporting acts:

Egyptian/Libyan/Bahrain Riots

Paedophile ring uncovered

New songbook (a disaster if ever there was one)

special guest appearance:

9/11 Twin Towers - reformed for this one-off show as part of the 10 year anniversary

Can you imagine the scenes of joy and euphoria among the masses of JW festival goers, as they pump the air watching these acts? Oh the tears of joy that will flow! Good times!

I think this is one festival that will run and run... $$$ ka-chingggg $$$

P.S. have you seen this article on the official site, classic example of if you throw enough crap at people, some of it will hit the target.

http://www.watchtower.org/e/200709/article_01.htm

Basically, it's not God's fault for designing the planet like he did, it's your own damn fault for living in Japan, for living in high rise buildings, for using concrete to make roads, and for not being a JW because the elders would look after you if you were. Now it all makes sense.

So I guess the new Watchtower complex in Ramapo will have mud tracks for roads and be constructed out of bamboo and be one storey only.

68

"Something in the congregation is hindering the flow of Jehovah's holy spirit" - witch hunt JW style?

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

has anyone else experienced something like this?.

in my mother-in-law's congregation a special pioneer was recently moved to the congregation and he gave a talk where he said he and the other elders felt there was a bad spirit in the congregation and there must be something going on that is preventing jehovah's holy spirit from operating properly.

but he didn't state explicity what the problem might be and now gossip is rife in the congregation about whether there might be a sinner or a traitor in their midst.. for many this is just the excuse they need to gossip and bad mouth others.

Millions

The only people I ever heard talking about something blocking the flow of holy spirit to the congregation, were people who were up to no good themselves.

I remember one elder I knew asking a few of us ministerial servants if we had any ideas as to whether something could be blocking the spirit, when I personally knew he had a terrible relationship with his wife, was jerking off to teen porn, and was spending increasing amounts of time with his bible study's baptised sister whom he eventually ended up marrying after faking a scriptural divorce from his then wife. Not that she minded, it was the best thing that could have happened to her in all honesty.

It's usually an admission of guilt, however the dream ticket is to find some other sucker to pin it all on, then you can get on with normal life again and noone suspects a thing. As long as there's a sacrifice on the altar of wrongdoing, any old sacrifice, atonement can be obtained. Amen.

8

Girl prays to CAUSE Japanese earthquake

by whereami in

jw
friends

faith... the ultimate excuse to justify anything!!!!.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucikncsilhk.

Millions

wow... just wow.

Lental season? More like mental season O_o

172

The impossible delusion of evolution

by brotherdan in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1icjkwzeee.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azmgkrkj5la.

Millions

What I always find slightly amusing is that people who believe in God, end up scratching around for facts to back up their beliefs, or at least to stick in the face of the non-believers.

The inherent nature of belief is surely that it is something one is so certain of that it doesn't matter what anyone or anything seems to indicate to the contrary, you still believe it.

I like apples and I don't like oranges, but it doesn't make me want to smash all oranges into pulp. I just don't buy them.

46

Pray for our Brothers in Japan

by doubtful in

this is my first post.

the first portion is my story, and toward the end, you will find the section pertinent to the title of this thread.

(starting with the portion in bold print).

Millions

Welcome doubtful, hopefully you won't be doubtful for much longer, instead you will be convinced! Convinced that it's all a load of crap ;)

How many pit props need to give way before you get the hell out of the mineshaft...

Praying for the brothers.... god, nothing would get my goat more when I was a JW than prayers for our brothers in war-torn or disaster-stricken lands. 'What about the other thousands of people affected?' I would think. Such sectarian judgemental attitudes prevail within the brotherhood. Save us and screw the rest please Father. Of course the real point of prayer is self-reinforcement of your beliefs. If you constantly read about something, pray about it, talk to fellow believers about it, try to convince other people of it, give talks and comments about it, you will have no time at all left to think about whether you actually believe it deep down. In fact you will end up convincing yourself of it.

Prayers, in essence, are a way of getting you to relinquish control over your own life and hand it over to a deity, and therein possibly to the person or people who claim to represent that deity. You put all your burdens upon that deity, you hand everything over to them, and give up your own volition. You become a far more accessible tool for your religion to use.

When I ceased believing JW doctrine, it took me a good year or so to stop that feeling of wanting to pray every time I came up against some obstacle or challenging circumstance in life. Eventually though you realise that noone is going to get you through this but you yourself, prayer is like a security blanket or a dummy, it makes you feel better even though it has zero practical function.

Something from an employment training course I attended:

No-one is coming to do it for you.

- There is no knight in shining armour.

- There are no fairy godmothers.

- There is no genie of the lamp.

- There was no Wizard of Oz.

BUT there are lots of people who will help you, as long as you help yourself.

92

Wanted to get reinstated... Almost ready to give up

by headisspinning in

jw
friends

i'd like to hear from anyone who was disfellowshipped but fully intended to go back as soon as possible and how that worked out or didn't.

i'd like to hear how soon you went back to meetings, how many letters requesting reinstatement you wrote, how you were treated, and how long it took you to get bitter and jaded.... or in the off chance you had a positive experience, what exactly happened.. really struggling here... thanks!.

Millions

Take some deep breaths, skip a few meetings if you haven't already, and just...

...think.

I'm sure your head is spinning, but remember one thing: you are not in a rush here. Don't believe the hype about the end coming, don't feel pressured to jump back in, let yourself think about your experiences in the cong, your doubts, your anxieties. Normally everything gets plastered over with talks and prayers and songs - don't let that happen this time, take some time out and have a good hard look at some of the cracks in the religion you may have been ignoring.

For your own sake and especially for the sake of your sons, don't run back with your tail between your legs and do something you or they may regret for decades to come.

There is life outside the JWs, more than you can ever imagine. There is also faith for those who want to retain it, very personal and genuine faith, not hemmed in by rules and elders and governing bodies. Instead of doing what they want and shelving all your dreams and aspirations and abilities until 'the new system', you can lead a fulfilling and rewarding life with the years you have on this earth, and your sons can utilise their talents to the max as well.

As a young man I bought into the Watchtower in a big way, following the lead of my mother. After over 15 years as a baptised brother and many privileges of service, I left the organisation to try and start my life over again, and to make up for all the lost time I had spent working for the society for free. You might be about to save your boys precious precious years of their lives, during which they can get an education, have fun, pursue their dreams, and develop their personalities opinions and interests. Not to mention the improvements in your own life, freedom, peace, relief, tranquility.

Just think about it :) I wish you well whichever way you end up going!