Posts by LovesDubs

36

Did Being A Witness Make You Feel Better About Yourself?

by minimus in

jw
friends

some persons need to feel they are validated because they don't have much going for them otherwise.

being a part of jehovah's organization makes them feel special.

being different from other religions makes them feel recognized,.

LovesDubs

Oh yeah I did. I came off a divorce with a very physically, mentally and emotionally abusive man who left me feeling empty and down on myself and the JWs gave me a ton of friends, a social life, a "cause" and it was something I was "good at" in that I was a studier, a researcher, a great answerer at all meetings, I did great talks...every G was like a kudos from God to me. I went out is service a lot and was a logical organized preacher and used my tools well. Yeah...it made me feel superior to everybody else including my family. It wasnt until my sister told me that as long as I was a JW I was no longer welcome in her home and cut me off from her and her children, that I really started to analyze what a religious SNOB I had become.

I know being MSs and Elders gave those otherwise plumbers, window washers and landscapers a sense of superiority and an opportunity for respect and admiration they probably otherwise wouldnt have gotten in their lives. Some of em realllllly abused the position.

29

No one else fulfills the preaching of Matt 24:14

by passwordprotected in

as explained to me recently, only jehovah's witnesses are actively fulfilling matt 24:14, thus showing them alone to be the true religion.

sidestepping the glaring issue of jesus stating that love would mark the identity of true christians, let's examine that notion.. .

i have personally rebutted that opinion by stating, with accuracy, that many christians have a gospel ministry and manage to reach hundreds of millions of people across the planet with their message.. .

LovesDubs

They dont want to hear that they arent the only ones preaching. We were told that over and over and over and WANTED to believe it because it gave us some kind of superiority. Never mind that other religions do what Jesus himself did, gathering large groups on hillsides and in towns to preach to them all at once (churches...what a concept! ) and then continuing to teach those who wanted to hear more. (and also not condemning those who walked away NOT wanting to hear more). 2000 years later we HAVE improved our means of communicating worldwide and to imply that one to one, house to house, (which doesnt happen at ALL...we all know this) is to say that God doesnt approve of any of the other means of communication out there. The days of sandwich boards, 78rpm records, megaphones and soap boxing are gone.

Its the God card..."well WE do it the way the APOSTLES did it so OURS is BETTER!" ok...so where is the proof? And no its NOT the fastest growing religion in the world.

29

No one else fulfills the preaching of Matt 24:14

by passwordprotected in

as explained to me recently, only jehovah's witnesses are actively fulfilling matt 24:14, thus showing them alone to be the true religion.

sidestepping the glaring issue of jesus stating that love would mark the identity of true christians, let's examine that notion.. .

i have personally rebutted that opinion by stating, with accuracy, that many christians have a gospel ministry and manage to reach hundreds of millions of people across the planet with their message.. .

LovesDubs

They dont want to hear that they arent the only ones preaching. We were told that over and over and over and WANTED to believe it because it gave us some kind of superiority. Never mind that other religions do what Jesus himself did, gathering large groups on hillsides and in towns to preach to them all at once (churches...what a concept! ) and then continuing to teach those who wanted to hear more. (and also not condemning those who walked away NOT wanting to hear more). 2000 years later we HAVE improved our means of communicating worldwide and to imply that one to one, house to house, (which doesnt happen at ALL...we all know this) is to say that God doesnt approve of any of the other means of communication out there. The days of sandwich boards, 78rpm records, megaphones and soap boxing are gone.

Its the God card..."well WE do it the way the APOSTLES did it so OURS is BETTER!" ok...so where is the proof? And no its NOT the fastest growing religion in the world.

24

Emotionally drained

by heybaby in

we got into another "discussion" about the validity of the wts and whether or not they teach the truth....i expected that, so it wasn't a big deal.

what i didn't expect is the interesting turn that the conversation took.

we actually discussed getting a divorce.

LovesDubs

First of all ignore Satanus... he has obvious issues and probably suffers from Oedipus Syndrome. :)

You know when you marry and you are both JWs you really think hey...we both have the "truth" we both love Jehovah we both have the same values and want the same things in life and have the same expectations...what could go wrong? Then when that one thing, the religion, is removed from the mix, you look at each other and ask what else is there to keep us together? Did I love that person for who they were or who they were in the Kingdom Hall? Yknow? I think thats true of many many JW couples.

My best friend in the Borg married a man who was "safe" because he was a JW. He was shorter than her. Older by 10 years. Quiet to her vivaciousness. Preferred solitude to her love of people. Was introverted to her extroverted self....and they had two children soon after marriage. She tried and tried and tried for many years to make this marriage work and became lonlier and lonlier and more hungry for the life she had as a single person surrounded by friends. And it eventually drove her into the arms of another man. An ELDER no less. But outside of the JWism, they had nothing in common at all when it came down to it.

I left the Borg in 1997 after being in it 13 years. I was married 10 of those years to another JW. When I left, I thought we were done. But because we had three children I stayed and stayed and stayed. Now at 53 and after dealing with some horrible things, we are still together but we have this weird room mate like relationship and just happen to sleep in the same bed. I am not looking forward to when my kids are gone because he and I have nothing really in common. So if you have time now and think there could be someone out there to fill your soul and your life and be your companion, and that is true for him too, then out of love release each other. You can remain friends if this is a mutual agreement. No reason you cant and be happy for each others happiness.

Yeah its scary and sad. Whenever a relationship ends, marriages or friends. But you cant change the other person, and really...who wants to do that?

hugs, LD

4

What do you do if someone you care about dies...

by LovesDubs in

....and you and their family dont speak?

do you go to the funeral and have to deal with the living in order to pay respects to the dead?

my sister and i havent spoken to our father and his wife for a few years now because the intrusive, overbearing wife wont let our father speak to us, write to us or even have lunch with us...without her.

LovesDubs

....and you and their family dont speak? Do you go to the funeral and have to deal with the living in order to pay respects to the dead? My sister and I havent spoken to our father and his wife for a few years now because the intrusive, overbearing wife wont let our father speak to us, write to us or even have lunch with us...WITHOUT HER. When we call him, she is ALWAYS on the phone. When I send emails SHE answers them. When they send cards to my kids, SHE signs them. She has reemed out both my sister and I for various things that she wanted done her way that we refused to do and for not calling enough or not asking about HER kids and HER grandkids or for sending thank you notes to them in a timely manner when SHE sends cards to our children. God there is a whole litany of things...and my p*whipped father just lets her run all over us. The result of which is we have stopped trying to communicate with our father because we cant get by the pitbull. And he told us he refuses to do anything without her and thats that. So...last week our step sister's (her daughter whom we have known since 1979) husband died at age 45 of lung cancer. He was the UPS man who would come to the school where my sister worked every day for several years and they had a great relationship. Then when we fell out with step sisters mother...all th step siblings stopped talking to us as well. So when he fell ill a year ago, we only found out about it by accident and didnt know he had passed away until my sisters husband READ IT IN THE PAPER two days ago! The funeral is this Saturday. Im 1200 miles away and cant go, but my sister is torn whether to go or not because she doesnt want to deal with my father, step mother and the step siblings and their glares. I told her to go last minute and stay in the back of the large Catholic church, then just leave after it is over and avoid confrontation but to go out of her friendship for this man.

So should she go?

45

Google, Apple & how Next Gen INTERNET will DECIMATE the Watchtower Society

by jwfacts in

think the early 80's.

one of the most important events in watchtower history was the release of crisis of conscience by former governing body member f. franz.

slow distribution of this "apostate" book lead to a minor loss of members.

LovesDubs

Thank you for that overview! And I agree, information is the bane of their existence. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!! IIIIII I am the Great and Powerful Wizard of Ozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" They keep booming from Brooklyn...hoping people will still be scared into submission by that. There will never be a time when there is an option to view the meetings from your home computer or on cable or something. You think meeting attendance is down NOW? LOL! Hell if I had an option to sit in my jammies on my couch with cocoa and watch the meetings from there instead of dressing three young kids and myself to the 9's and driving through snow and cold on school nights to sit in the next town...well the choice is obvious. And then try to find people who would have to be the ones going to the hall and doing ALL those parts every week to an empty hall. Plus like all cults they like to keep their little closed meetings secret shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Dont want worldly people hearing what they REALLY think of them LOL!

Yep...soon. Not soon enough.

20

Saw my dad last night...

by tall penguin in

jw
friends

a few weeks ago i had a conversation with my mother (still a jw).

she told me that one of my fave elders, who was disfellowshipped a few months before i disassociated three years ago, just got reinstated.

now, to know my mother is to know that she doesn't give you information unless she has an underlying motive.

LovesDubs

This religions destroys lives, families, souls. God is NOT with this religion. My mother in law raised her 5 kids hauling them to meetings until their teens. Two of them became three of them became JWs and she continued in the organization until 1999 praying PRAYING that her own children who didnt become JWs would DIE before Armageddon came so she would see them in the ressurection!! I was ....stunned by that.

Then in 1999 she had done enough research to realize it was all bogus and she disassociated herself trying valiantly to convince her JW kids that they were being mislead but the damage had been done already. Now she was trying to get them OUT with the same motherly love and conviction she had had trying to get them IN. It was a no win situation for her. She tried going back to the Borg in 02 thinking it would be worth it to have her children back but her love of Christ would not let her stay in what she knew was a cult and so she again DAd in 05. Her JW children now shun her and she has no access at all to 5 of her grandchildren and her marriage to her 2nd husband a JW elder...is constantly on the rocks and she is miserable. There is no winning any more.

Please believe that your mother loves you. She is up against the wall and stuck between what she believes in and her own daughter, a painful destructive place to be. Until she sees the reality herself, that is where she will be.

We do what we know, and when we know better we do better. Like Myah Angeloo (sp) says.

hugs, LD

23

The JW Police need to be ticketed!!!!

by wings in

jw
friends

i knew this would happen.

i moved into a neighborhood where i knew some former "friends" and now they are patrolling my house and discovering gross sins on my behalf.

bs, for one, but no need to go there.

LovesDubs

Never a bigger bunch of busy bodies on the planet. They DO stake out homes and watch. They DO follow your vehicle to see where you go. They DO watch for signs of holiday decorations, gifts, overnight stays, kids joining activities at school etc. They are like little kids trying to get the other kid in trouble on the playground and reveling in it when it happens. They take perverse joy in it.

I was party to such a thing, and Im not proud of it...in 90 there was a guy my husband was studying with. He said he was studying because he was in love with his housekeeper who is a JW and she said she couldnt be involved with HIM unless he got baptized. So he was doing this rapid fire, two studies a week thing to get dunked quick so he could get with this chick. What it was was...this man and his sister had lost both of their parents within a month of each other tragically, and had inherited the house and so decided to move into it themselves. They hired a housekeeper...this JW. Turns out the JW was a sister in our hall who was divorced but not free to remarry. And she was spending a great deal of time at that house when the female owner was not home so we would sit down the street after service, a whole car full of gossipping cows that we were, and watch to see if we could spot any ilicit activities. Pretty soon this guy gets dunked and soon after that this JW sister comes prancing into the hall with a RING on her finger! She came up to me with it because my husband was studying with her new husband and she was soooo grateful we had helped him become a JW and she like gushing about this ring and I said..."Did your ex remarry or something? Did I miss something?" but she was off to show someone else and didnt answer. About a month after the happy nuptials....BOTH of them were disfellowshipped for adultery/fornication. And this poor schlub...nobody had told him that she was not free to remarry nor did SHE tell him she was not free to remarry! She also thought at age 30 that she was one of the annointed. um...clue?? But having said all that...yeah....they are gossippy busy bodies with miserable lives who have no qualms about trying to ruin YOURS.

Send them a DA letter and tell them to quit invading both your privacy and your property and CC the local police departement.

You are way above them...the sooner they are out of your life the bettter. IMO

LD

15

this mornings beach trip

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

i got up at six am, and immediately had baby duty.

apollo, my seven month nephew.

i usually ride the bike to the beach in the early morning.. this morning stroller, diapers, bottles, binky, baby and i head off for the mile walk to the ocean.. i was going to eat breakfast at the beach diner, but decided to go to mcdonald's instead.

LovesDubs

Thats a prime example of stopping your crazy life to "smell the roses" Purp :) Thanks

I took my two youngest to a little water park with a slide and diving board and stuff yesterday and even though we were only there an hour before a storm moved in...we had just as good a time sitting under the eaves there talking and laughing, then hitting Burger King and coming home in the rain to change into comfy clothes and curl up on the couch together to watch a movie in the afternoon.

Its the little things. :)

33

I'm not good association......

by Switch in

i've been away from jwd for a month or so.

i've just been busy in life and am trying to rebuild, or should i say, make new friendships but it is slow-going.

missinglink and i haven't been to any meetings since april and have no plans in going back.

LovesDubs

It will get better. It will. I think we can all attest to the shallowness of the friendships we THOUGHT we had with the "friends" and the minute we dont toe the line...boom Jekyll and Hyde. You know you ALWAYS had to be careful what you said and how you expressed things even to the friends you were closest to. You could never say what doubts you had or what was on your heart. Not ever.

So...there are 6 billion people on the planet. There are wonderful loving accepting folks out there waiting for the two of you to come into their lives. Dont grieve the loss of the JWs. They would only continue to bug you to come back and you wouldnt be able to move forward.

hugs, LD