Posts by OneDayillBeFree

48

a list of good movies/tv shows to get a JW to think

by nonjwspouse in

ones that have themes that come uncomfortabllly close to the cult dynamic.. i already got him to watch the obsolete man on twilight zone.

he sauggested watching some old tz again tonight so i wioll pick where is everybody, and escape clause.. i have heard oters say the movie truman show was a good movie as is the matrix ( though i detest violence).

any more suggestions for my personal handy dandy list?.

OneDayillBeFree

Words Apart (2008 Danish film based on the true story of an ex-JW named Tabita, starting from when she was a JW to falling in love with a non jw and the events that lead up to her losing her religion and becoming an atheist).

223

Comprehensive NWT Comparison Project (calling all technically skilled members)

by Apognophos in

is anyone aware if this project is already being done by someone?

if not, perhaps we can brainstorm how to go about this, now that the pdf for the revised nwt is out.

a couple initial impressions:.

OneDayillBeFree

I just read this entire thread and holy crap!!! That was a freaking awesome read! Even though I don't know diddly squat about code, I was amazed at seeing MMM's work and progress. Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen!

Also, I'd love to have a copy if possible.

Thanks again,

OneDay

37

Help me...!

by OneDayillBeFree in

jw
friends

lost my job, just a week before making the final arrangements to move into my very own apartment.. got a speeding ticket on the following sunday for trying to make it to the meeting "on time", (never made it to the hall, just parked in the back of a shopping center for 2 hours in silence).. marked by the elders for quitting pioneering, no more commenting and "failing to adhere to bible counsel".. jw family sees me as a disappointment.

non-jw family is too far away to care.. found out ex-girlfriend got df'ed and is now pregnant.

puts some of the blame on me for how things turned out.. realizing that she's not entirely wrong as i was still an ignorant, kiss-ass, die hard jwdub when we started dating, always putting the "kingdom interests first" never having time for her since "the end was so freaking close" and then warping her up in the mess of me learning ttatt.. dwelling night after night in "what could have been" if i had never been a jw.. alternating between being a theist, atheist and agnostic on a daily basis to the point where i don't care anymore yet getting creeped the f*ck out when facing my own mortality and the thought of me dying alone.. always coming to the same conclusion, when i find myself alone on friday nights and weekends, that i have no actual friends, only two conditional jw "friends" which are both currently out of town for about a month and 0 real, non-jw friends.. haven't been able to sleep well in literally weeks now.

OneDayillBeFree

Also KateWild, check your PMs!

37

Help me...!

by OneDayillBeFree in

jw
friends

lost my job, just a week before making the final arrangements to move into my very own apartment.. got a speeding ticket on the following sunday for trying to make it to the meeting "on time", (never made it to the hall, just parked in the back of a shopping center for 2 hours in silence).. marked by the elders for quitting pioneering, no more commenting and "failing to adhere to bible counsel".. jw family sees me as a disappointment.

non-jw family is too far away to care.. found out ex-girlfriend got df'ed and is now pregnant.

puts some of the blame on me for how things turned out.. realizing that she's not entirely wrong as i was still an ignorant, kiss-ass, die hard jwdub when we started dating, always putting the "kingdom interests first" never having time for her since "the end was so freaking close" and then warping her up in the mess of me learning ttatt.. dwelling night after night in "what could have been" if i had never been a jw.. alternating between being a theist, atheist and agnostic on a daily basis to the point where i don't care anymore yet getting creeped the f*ck out when facing my own mortality and the thought of me dying alone.. always coming to the same conclusion, when i find myself alone on friday nights and weekends, that i have no actual friends, only two conditional jw "friends" which are both currently out of town for about a month and 0 real, non-jw friends.. haven't been able to sleep well in literally weeks now.

OneDayillBeFree

Sorry for the late responses but I've been at the hospital since last night because my aunt went into labor and her husband was out of town. It's a girl if anyone was wondering. Also sorry for any typos, I'm posting on my phone.

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your responses! They all really mean a lot to me, and they've helped me so much.

Secondly, I wanted to clarify a few things.

I did not get my ex-gf pregnant. I found out about it when we randomly met at a store in the mall. It did still makes me feel a bit bad for what happened. It's like a mixture of sadness and anger if that explains anything. But like many of you have said, the past is the past and there's nothing I can do but move on.

Also, I paid the ticket the day after, but the fact that for a moment I believed that maybe I should return to the meetings and just deal with all the watchtower's BS, and then getting a ticket for trying, idk it kind of felt like a sign, although I'm not the kind of person that thinks about occurrences in that way. It also troubles me because my insurance might go up and with the jobless situation I'm currently in, it has stressed me out a lot.

Speaking of jobs, I've been submitting resumes and cover letters like crazy. And there's some options that have come up that I didn't know I had thanks to a poster in this forum.

I'm also located in the southeastern part of the USA. I know some of you were wondering. I can't give out my exact location for obvious reasons but I will once I'm out.

I also checked out the therapist section of this hospital I've been in. Got a few brochures on therapy and treatment. I guess it's rather obvious I suffer from depression. I'll give them a call tomorrow and set up an appt.

I'm not sure if I covered everything but I just want to thank you all once more for being there for me! No matter the differences you all might have, you guys are all great!

OneDay

37

Help me...!

by OneDayillBeFree in

jw
friends

lost my job, just a week before making the final arrangements to move into my very own apartment.. got a speeding ticket on the following sunday for trying to make it to the meeting "on time", (never made it to the hall, just parked in the back of a shopping center for 2 hours in silence).. marked by the elders for quitting pioneering, no more commenting and "failing to adhere to bible counsel".. jw family sees me as a disappointment.

non-jw family is too far away to care.. found out ex-girlfriend got df'ed and is now pregnant.

puts some of the blame on me for how things turned out.. realizing that she's not entirely wrong as i was still an ignorant, kiss-ass, die hard jwdub when we started dating, always putting the "kingdom interests first" never having time for her since "the end was so freaking close" and then warping her up in the mess of me learning ttatt.. dwelling night after night in "what could have been" if i had never been a jw.. alternating between being a theist, atheist and agnostic on a daily basis to the point where i don't care anymore yet getting creeped the f*ck out when facing my own mortality and the thought of me dying alone.. always coming to the same conclusion, when i find myself alone on friday nights and weekends, that i have no actual friends, only two conditional jw "friends" which are both currently out of town for about a month and 0 real, non-jw friends.. haven't been able to sleep well in literally weeks now.

OneDayillBeFree

Lost my job, just a week before making the final arrangements to move into my very own apartment.

Got a speeding ticket on the following Sunday for trying to make it to the meeting "on time", (never made it to the hall, just parked in the back of a shopping center for 2 hours in silence).

Marked by the elders for quitting pioneering, no more commenting and "failing to adhere to bible counsel".

JW family sees me as a disappointment. Non-JW family is too far away to care.

Found out ex-girlfriend got df'ed and is now pregnant. Puts some of the blame on me for how things turned out.

Realizing that she's not entirely wrong as I was still an ignorant, kiss-ass, die hard JWdub when we started dating, always putting the "kingdom interests first" never having time for her since "the end was so freaking close" and then warping her up in the mess of me learning TTATT.

Dwelling night after night in "what could have been" if I had never been a JW.

Alternating between being a theist, atheist and agnostic on a daily basis to the point where I don't care anymore yet getting creeped the f*ck out when facing my own mortality and the thought of me dying alone.

Always coming to the same conclusion, when I find myself alone on Friday nights and weekends, that I have no actual friends, only two conditional JW "friends" which are both currently out of town for about a month and 0 real, non-JW friends.

Haven't been able to sleep well in literally weeks now. (It's currently 4:30am as I type this).

Got an email while typing this post, decided to open it, trashed it, came back to this post, found out everything I wrote got deleted. So this is my second time typing this.

I don't know what to do anymore. Sleeping only helps so much and now I barely even get any of it.

I've thought about just taking all my life savings and moving somewhere else. Somewhere far away from here. I mean, at this point, I've got nothing to lose really. But I don't know anyone I could go to nor do I know where to go.

I hate sounding self obsessed, I know that there's so many other people out there who are going through much, much worse than me but I just can't help it tonight.

I used to be able to hide the pain behind fake laughter or a fake smile, even being considered the funny one when I was hurting inside but theres no one to even be fake around at this point, if that makes sense.

If there is a god, he better have a good excuse.

I know "it gets better" but damn is it hard to see a bright side tonight.

OneDayillBeFree

139

Ever consider joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

by rawe in

has anyone here left jehovah's witnesses to join the churuch of jesus christ of latter-day saints?

what was your motivation for doing so and how has it worked out?.

if you haven't joined the lds or considered it, as an ex-jw, what is your general view of the lds faith?.

OneDayillBeFree

Nope.

OneDayillBeFree

18

How would you respond?

by MsGrowingGirl20 in

ok so this is a conversation that i am having with a friend that i really love.

i have some points that i want to say but tell me, how would you respond to this email?.

not gonna try to defend anyone i can really only speak for myself.

OneDayillBeFree

Thanks Fernando!

I read it again this morning and I think it's not too bad myself, for 3am anyway lol.

I hope it's of some use to Msgrowingirl20 though...

Maybe I'll write more when I'm awake haha!

OneDay

18

How would you respond?

by MsGrowingGirl20 in

ok so this is a conversation that i am having with a friend that i really love.

i have some points that i want to say but tell me, how would you respond to this email?.

not gonna try to defend anyone i can really only speak for myself.

OneDayillBeFree

I'm not gonna lie, but I had to read this more than once (about 5 times to be exact) just to get my thoughts together and be as unbiased as possible with regards to how I would personally respond if this email had been sent to me. Sorry if I seem to go all over the place but it's 3am here right now and I'm having trouble sleeping anyway...(:

Dear friend,

I'm glad that you want be open and honest with me. Those are truly some of the best qualities that every human being shares with one another in a long lasting friendship. While I understand why the brothers and sisters acted the way they did with me, I can't deny that they're actions didn't hurt me pretty deeply. I hope you can understand. But I prefer that we just leave that alone, as you mentioned in the beginning, you were not going to try to defend anyone but only speak for yourself, and I think that's what matters most anyway.

I want to thank you for your sympathy, and for wanting to help me in one of my lowest points. It really means a lot to me that you wished you could've "carried some of the weight". And although I don't believe condemned was the right word to describe it, I don't really think that it's something that could easily be put into words anyway. Condemned, rejected, damned even, it's almost all the same to me.

Also, who's to say how Asa or that other sister really feel about the choices they made? Although I agree that she might not necessarily have felt judged, who can say, with utmost certainty, how they really feel deep down? Many times at the hall or in service, you may smile and laugh and act all happy but only God knows how you really feel inside. I'm sure you've felt this way sometime or another. But again, as you stating in the beginning, you were only going to speak for yourself so it's best not to get into that.

I'm sorry if I didn't explain myself correctly when I mentioned that I didn't believe that there was only one true religion. Firstly, I don't believe that there's any list I could make that could constitute a true religion. I mean, if you take Christianity in its entire form, you could probably gather a list of common beliefs and doctrines from the thousands of denominations, since they all revolve around the Bible as their source of Devine authority. But if you take the eastern hemisphere and add Judaism or Hinduism, even Buddhism to the equation, you would just wind up with a mess of conflicting beliefs, since they base their fundamental structure on the Torah, the Koran and other forms of Devine ancient writings, not to mention them being polytheistic or pantheistic. You see, I believe that their is no single true religion in this world.

I believe that all religions have their flaws. But their messages are all positive for the most part. If your willing to open yourself up a bit, you'll see that Jehovah's Witnesses are just a tiny, little fish in an enormous ocean filled with other fish, both big and small. I really wish you could see that that way, if only for a second.

I understand if you don't though, so it's okay! The reason why I use the word God instead of Jehovah is a personal one. The best way I think you could understand it is by reading Matthew through John completely and counting how many times Jesus actually called God by that name. Also I wanted to just remind you of the complete definition of the world religion; the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, exp. a personal god or gods. A particular system of faith and worship. Again, there's more to it than just what we pick and choose.

It's also good to note that Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, David, the 12 apostles, Paul etc. and all the others mentioned in the bible we're chosen by God to direct his people or to fulfill his purpose. He did not just sit back and let imperfect humans self appoint ourselves changing and flip flopping beliefs, changing what's true all the time. So it makes you wonder how and when JW's were chosen without a shadow of a doubt by God.

Like you said in the end everyone must decide for himself which group is the true one, and I couldn't agree more. But anyway, I just wanted to let you know that no matter what it is you believe in, or what it is you choose to do with your life, I will always be there for you, whether you need me or not! I hope you can see this the way I see it and don't judge me just like I've never judger you. Just take this as me being open and honest with you. I want you to know that you'll always be one of my dearest friends.

Sincerely,

OneDay

27

Interesting changes for the 2014 service meeting...

by OneDayillBeFree in

if you look at the first page of the kingdom ministry for december (link here), read the talk entitled: "the theocratic ministry school for 2014".

here is a copy of what it says (bold & red mine).

talk by the school overseer.

OneDayillBeFree

Interesting points being brought up. And it makes sense that they'd update their literature and whatnot. But I mean, that in itself is a problem.

If truth can withstand anything, If it never changes, then why does the watchtower's truth change so much??

Like the Bible. It's been what, 2000 years since it was written, and all through its plethora of translations, it's stayed relatively the same.

If the truth continuously changes, sometimes reverting back to a previous truth, and then back again just to have it dropped completely, then was it ever true to begin with?

Silly human organizations.

27

Interesting changes for the 2014 service meeting...

by OneDayillBeFree in

if you look at the first page of the kingdom ministry for december (link here), read the talk entitled: "the theocratic ministry school for 2014".

here is a copy of what it says (bold & red mine).

talk by the school overseer.

OneDayillBeFree

@KateWild: Check your PM's!! lol