Posts by Matty

23

i have been seeing a jw

by chineseprincess in

for about 2 months i have been seeing a jw male.

he is as sweet as can be.

he just makes my heart melt.

Matty

Princess

There has been some damn good advice on this thread, so please give it all a good read! This situation has also come up many times before so please have a look at some past posts too.

When I was a staunch Jehovah's Witness about six or seven years ago I fell in love with a non-JW and her name was Gill. It was very painful experience for me to fall for someone "in the world", I was very inexperienced and so I was very bewildered about it all. But I had to do what was "right", and so I never took the relationship any further than a close friendship. She was a very very good friend, and I had this dumb fantasy that she might come in "the truth" one day, so that I could go out with her properly, but of course it never happened.

I look back now and think what an idiot I was for letting her go, knowing what I know now – I’m filling up with tears just thinking about it. She of course eventually found a guy that didn't have any baggage, and when she told me about him, I pretended that I was so happy for her, when instead I just wanted to die. She is now blissfully happy somewhere down in the southeast of England, having a darned better life than I am having right now.

So my advice is, give the guy a plain, stark choice; and try and be firm about it: it’s you, or “the Witnesses”. And for god’s sake don’t ever become a Jehovah’s Witness just to make him happy – and don’t fool yourself that it could be just a “temporary” thing just to keep him happy. He’ll be a damn fool for letting you go, just like I was all those years ago for letting that girl go. I know it’s easier said than done, but if he truly loves you then he will make the right decision. Perhaps if I were given such an ultimatum I would have got out of this darned religion a bit sooner!

Best of luck

2

Scientology

by StinkyPantz in

l. ron hubbard once said: "if you want to make a million bucks, start a religion.

how true.

stinkyp.

Matty

I love that signature too Stinky by the way!

I would be interested to hear from anyone who is both an ex-Jehovah's Witness and an ex Scientologist. Are there any out there? If so, you must be doubly f**ked up! Jehovah’s Witnesses are often quite vocal in their condemnation of Scientology, although what they criticise is often what they do themselves! Scientology pressurises members into spending ridiculous amounts of money on courses, in a similar way as Jehovah’s Witnesses pressurise their members into “reaching out”. Their disconnection policy destroys families in the same way as Jehovah’s Witnesses policies do. Scientology claims to have all the answers to save the entire world, and guess what, so do JWs! They also both have some pretty good lawyers that stamp on anything that puts their church in a bad light.

14

Bethel Coach Tours

by Simon in

jw
friends

i'm sure many have seen these at some time:.

http://www.bethelcoachtours.com/english.htm.

i just noticed on their site that they claim:.

Matty

Oh, the thought of it sends shivers down my spine. And to think I've just done another one recently! Wandering around Mill Hill bethel looking at printers all day, and then to cap it all you just see a load of crummy videos most of the time you are there - like you don't have a VCR at home?!

9

I Gave Blood...

by mikepence in

jw
friends

i just gave blood at work.

another big bad horrible thing that i was taught was evil, debunked.. peace,.

mike pence.

Matty

Good on yer! You are a star! This is something I have yet to do, but I promise I will do it! Because I have been so indoctrinated I am a real haemophobic, so it will be a big scary thing for me.

11

the distance thing

by wonderwoman77 in

well i have not posted this on here yet, but i went and met that girl and we had the best weekend.

it was so amazing.

everything felt right about it.

Matty

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=28070&site=3

Just go for it, what does distance matter. It's just a question of whether you want to move if it gets more serious. Hell, if I fell in love with a martian I would move to Mars.

6

UK posters - pedophile documentary tonight

by home_and_dry in

this isn't in any way jw related, but will anyone be watching 'the hunt for britains pedophiles' which starts tonight?

from what i have heard about it, it supposed to be extremly shocking and disturbing, as the bbc got to shadow the scotland yard pedophile unit for two years and this documentary is the end result.

it is supposed to be no holds barred and designed to shock, but in an effort to make more people aware of how huge the issue is here in the uk.

Matty

The programme is still on now, but I found it literally unbearable to watch, so I had to quit before the end, not that I'm criticizing the show; in fact if I was a parent I would certainly force myself to watch it. It's just that I couldn’t put myself through it – it was the most shocking thing I have ever seen in my life, and I thought I was pretty much unshockable.

31

The friends, the truth and loaded language

by detective in

jw
friends

as many people already know, using the term "the truth" to describe an organization's teachings is a brilliant way to constantly reaffirm it's validity subconsciously.

it's a great use of repetition to establish as fact that which is only opinion.. i keep hearing the phrase "the friends".

aside from the fact that i really don't like the terminology, i couldn't help but wonder if this isn't just another use of repetition and loaded language to enforce the belief that all of the people who share the same religion actually are your friends.. in some ways, i think it would be beneficial for some folks to drop "the truth" and "the friends" from their vocabulary so that they aren't continuing to immerse themselves in group-lingo that's intended to elicit certain emotional responses and associations.. what other loaded language can you come up with that is quasi-specific to jehovah's witnesses?

Matty

Thank you writerpen. And I didn’t mention, “The wild beast will turn on the harlot culminating in the grand climax”. Which as far as I'm concerned now means the worlds political systems going against religion, which will end with armageddon, but to some this would sound like something quite different...

31

The friends, the truth and loaded language

by detective in

jw
friends

as many people already know, using the term "the truth" to describe an organization's teachings is a brilliant way to constantly reaffirm it's validity subconsciously.

it's a great use of repetition to establish as fact that which is only opinion.. i keep hearing the phrase "the friends".

aside from the fact that i really don't like the terminology, i couldn't help but wonder if this isn't just another use of repetition and loaded language to enforce the belief that all of the people who share the same religion actually are your friends.. in some ways, i think it would be beneficial for some folks to drop "the truth" and "the friends" from their vocabulary so that they aren't continuing to immerse themselves in group-lingo that's intended to elicit certain emotional responses and associations.. what other loaded language can you come up with that is quasi-specific to jehovah's witnesses?

Matty

Yes, I heard that too. I’m looking forward to the time when I’ll be able to associate words and phrases without thinking of a Jehovah’s Witness context! “Pioneer” will just mean a Japanese electronics company, “Remnant” will just mean the last piece of carpet on the roll, “Fine shepherd” will just mean just a skilful sheep farmer and “Without spot” will mean that I’m just missing my dog!

31

The friends, the truth and loaded language

by detective in

jw
friends

as many people already know, using the term "the truth" to describe an organization's teachings is a brilliant way to constantly reaffirm it's validity subconsciously.

it's a great use of repetition to establish as fact that which is only opinion.. i keep hearing the phrase "the friends".

aside from the fact that i really don't like the terminology, i couldn't help but wonder if this isn't just another use of repetition and loaded language to enforce the belief that all of the people who share the same religion actually are your friends.. in some ways, i think it would be beneficial for some folks to drop "the truth" and "the friends" from their vocabulary so that they aren't continuing to immerse themselves in group-lingo that's intended to elicit certain emotional responses and associations.. what other loaded language can you come up with that is quasi-specific to jehovah's witnesses?

Matty

Many ex witnesses still use the term "Brother" and "Sister" when referring to JWs. "Is he a brother?", sort of thing. This propagates the solidarity and camaraderie of the witnesses. It's difficult to shed the language.

12

Elder School and trained to believe about c.1980

by thewiz in

i have only suspicions about this, and an elder at the hall over 2 -1/2 years ago tipped me off to this and kind of semi-verified my long held suspicions.

i never did get to elder school or even ms school because i never kissed enough ass, so i can't emphatically prove it myself.. he basically inferred or implied that nearly all the wtb&ts late 20th century problems had something to do with the "great" apostacy (witch hunt) of c.1980.. i have also talked to my brother-in-law about this matter a couple of times and he seems to be of the same bend or thinking.

it's kind of like the borginazational culture that everyone "believes" or it's "known" that the troubles were rooted out when ray franz and friends were booted.. .

Matty

This is an interesting period, and as I was very young at the time I just accepted what I was told. I do remember some odd changes in the book study schedule in the early eighties that I would appreciate a little clarity on. I remember asking why we had to study the “Gods kingdom of a thousand years” book again all of a sudden and also the “Mans Salvation” book, and halfway through too, and I was told that we needed to “study them again for clarification, because there had been some apostasy at Bethel.”. Was this the correct reason? And if so, what was specifically in the books that we all needed to know?