Posts by maxwell

53

Thoughts about Depression and Anxiety

by flower in

this is mostly directed to others that were born/raised in the cult.

more specifically those raised in the cult who also suffered from severe depression and/or social anxiety disorder or any other mental illness (other than the normal probs that come with being in the borg).

sometimes i wonder if its just me that doesnt feel like a person now.

maxwell

flower,

I was raised a JW. I've just left. Actually I expect that they will announce my DF tonight. But I've felt some of the exact same things. I felt like an outsider to the world and an outsider even in the congregation during my later teens and onward. I had a few good friends growing up, but they all faded out of my life. Not only do I feel like an outsider because of those circumstances, but I was shy and I was pretty much a nerd in high school and college. Still somewhat of a nerd, I guess . Like Matty said, we have to try and cultivate friends that will like us for who we are. Hopefully you have some resources for finding some people to get to know and make friends with. I'm in a big city, and although I may have some learning to go through with making true friends, I think I'll make it.

Fortunately, I do have a few hobbies and things that I like to do. Museums, bicycling, basektball, playing music are a few of them. If you don't know what you like, then maybe that's a good thing. You can be open to trying a lot of new stuff, which isn't a bad idea for anyone. You'll probably run into something that you like. And depending on what you try, maybe it'll be somewhere where you can meet some people. I go bicycling on the trails here and sometimes people will stop and talk at water fountain on the trail. Maybe I'll try to hook up with a bicycling club I've heard that people join a gym and they meet people there. If people ask my opinion on things I haven't done, I just say, I haven't done that before. Maybe they'll invite you to try it with them. If it doesn't scare you try it. On the other hand, if it does scare you, maybe you should still try it. Maybe one day I'll try snowboarding. I've never even seen a ski slope, but I'd try it if I had the right circumstances. Maybe I'll try ballroom dancing. I've never been a good dancer of any kind. But I'd try it.

I'm simply suggesting to be open to doing things you've never done before. You might find something you like, and you might meet some other people who like it too, who may develop into friends.

Maxwell

28

Mark my words.....Time is short.....

by LDH in

jw
friends

the society will not and can not allow current levels of defection without sanction.

shunning is their hallmark and what allows members to live in their hypnotic dream-like state, away from the evil informative apostates.. soon they will have to either change their baptism questions again, with the phrasing something like &"only by doing all the things jw in good standing do can we be considered as jw" blah blah blah.

they will then use that as a springboard to da or df members who don't attend meetings.. either that, or they will adopt another one of their stunning resolutions [8>]like they've resolved in the past.

maxwell

While I don't deny the mindlessness and zombie like state people get into for the resolutions and votes at the KH, I did observe my father voting in the negative for a few resolutions that we had at the hall I grew up at. It was for something like money to do a renovation or something. Nothing doctrinal or religious. But most of the time its as you say, everyone just raises their hand yes along with everyone else without really understanding what's going on. I remember on some money resolutions at my hall, they'd do the resolution after they had already spent the money. Funny stuff. They'd try to say it as if we still had a say in it. "We had to buy or are going to buy this for the hall. We made up this resolution for what we needed to buy"

Maxwell

61

Were you a virgin on your wedding night?

by montag in

if you were a good little 'raised in the truth' jw then the answer should be 'yes'.. so let's here from you.. [stands up] my name is montag and i was a 22 year old virgin on my wedding night.. .

-m-

maxwell

Elsewhere said.

Maxwell and wife:
Ok, ok, I think I've got it figured out this time...
[pause, rustling]
ACK!
[Face Slap]
Ok, ok, lets back up and try this again...

Well not quite like that, but she probably did want to slap me a few times.

61

Were you a virgin on your wedding night?

by montag in

if you were a good little 'raised in the truth' jw then the answer should be 'yes'.. so let's here from you.. [stands up] my name is montag and i was a 22 year old virgin on my wedding night.. .

-m-

maxwell

Yes, a 23 y/o virgin on my wedding night and wife was a 25 y/o virgin and we were still a virgins the next day.
Her period happened to be going on the wedding night, so we didn't get around to figuring it all out and consumating the marriage till a few days later.
I did have several close encounters with my wife and one close encounter with worldly girl before the marriage. I.E. we were naked or near naked. But no intercourse or oral sex.

Maxwell

15

My story

by ConnieLynn in

i have actually been on this board for a few months and never really posted how i ended up here.

maybe it would be healthy,,.

i was raised as a witness, my dad was an elder and my mom vacation pioneered, eventually she was an auxiliary pioneer, so witness activities were always going on.

maxwell

Nice to hear your story, Connie

I grew up in TN near Memphis and went to the U of Memphis from 1995-1999. You started UT in 1994? Sounds like you might have been there that one freak year when U of Memphis beat UT in football.

Maxwell

21

Find your IDEAL religion!

by Sirona in

so if you are not jw, perhaps you would like to know what religion is most in-line with your beliefs?.

heres a simple quiz:.

http://www.selectsmart.com/religion/ .

maxwell

My results:

1. Secular Humanism (100%) Click here for info
2. Unitarian Universalism (97%) Click here for info
3. Nontheist (89%) Click here for info
4. Theravada Buddhism (76%) Click here for info
5. Liberal Quakers (62%) Click here for info
6. Neo-Pagan (47%) Click here for info
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (32%) Click here for info
8. Taoism (27%) Click here for info
9. Hinduism (26%) Click here for info
10. Jainism (26%) Click here for info
11. Mahayana Buddhism (26%) Click here for info
12. Sikhism (26%) Click here for info
13. New Age (18%) Click here for info
14. Bahá'í Faith (10%) Click here for info
15. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (10%) Click here for info
16. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (10%) Click here for info
17. Eastern Orthodox (10%) Click here for info
18. Islam (10%) Click here for info
19. Jehovah's Witness (10%) Click here for info
20. New Thought (10%) Click here for info
21. Orthodox Judaism (10%) Click here for info
22. Orthodox Quaker (10%) Click here for info
23. Reform Judaism (10%) Click here for info
24. Roman Catholic (10%) Click here for info
25. Scientology (10%) Click here for info
26. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (7%) Click here for info
27. Seventh Day Adventist (5%) Click here for info

16

Does JWs hate the Military?

by AjaxMan in

jw
friends

based on what i read from yadirf's thread on alternative service, it does give me the impression that the wts and the jehovah's witnesses hate the military, and that any jw who joins the military will be df'd.. therefore, i post the questions if jws hate the military?

i'd like to see all your views and explanations.. btw rrmayer or rick, thanks for posting the "soldier's creed".

maxwell

aTHINKING1,

That's a good question. It would seem so since the UN is called a "disgusting thing" and said to be the fulfillment of one of those bad beasts in Revelation. The UN situation is at least puzzling and perhaps blatantly hypocritical as many posters have said.

Maxwell

16

Does JWs hate the Military?

by AjaxMan in

jw
friends

based on what i read from yadirf's thread on alternative service, it does give me the impression that the wts and the jehovah's witnesses hate the military, and that any jw who joins the military will be df'd.. therefore, i post the questions if jws hate the military?

i'd like to see all your views and explanations.. btw rrmayer or rick, thanks for posting the "soldier's creed".

maxwell

Wow, lots of people posted while I was typing up my reply. I'd just like to say that here in the DC metropolitan area, many JW work for the federal government. I work for an agency that is under the Department of Commerce, and I was a JW when I started the job. All of these positions require that you take an oath, although I don't think you could describe it as an oath of allegiance. If I remember correctly, you just say you'll do your best on your job and you won't try to hurt the US with the civil service position you have. I had no problem with the oath, although I remember that day I was nervous because of my first day and I accidentally had my left hand up instead of my right hand while taking the oath. I guess they didn't notice; there were about 20 of us in the room. I did later hear of an incident where a studying person or new JW was a bit worried about taking the oath and went and called an elder before going through with it.

Maxwell

16

Does JWs hate the Military?

by AjaxMan in

jw
friends

based on what i read from yadirf's thread on alternative service, it does give me the impression that the wts and the jehovah's witnesses hate the military, and that any jw who joins the military will be df'd.. therefore, i post the questions if jws hate the military?

i'd like to see all your views and explanations.. btw rrmayer or rick, thanks for posting the "soldier's creed".

maxwell

I just left the JW, so my thinking is probably still biased, so keep that in mind.

I agree with what Elsewhere said. JW believe they are "no part of the world". Of course they are still on the earth, but part of being no part of the world means they have to be strictly neutral in regards to clashes between governments of the world, although they are supposed to respect the government of whatever land they live in. The WTS actually regrets statements it made during WWII expressing a hope that Hitler would be defeated. That along with the fact that they believe a Christian isn't supposed to kill, would keep them from having anything to do with the military. So yes if a Witness joined the military they would be DF'd or it would be considered an act of disassociation. In fact, the Organized to Accomplish our Ministry Book in chapter 12 under the subheading Disassociation says

"a person might renounce his place in the Christian congregation by his actions, such as by becoming part of a secular organization the objective of which is contrary to the Bible and, hence, is under judgment by Jehovah God."

Of course this means any organization that the WTS says is bad. Those organizations include the military, political parties, any other religious groups, and jobs in companies that only produce weapon for war or that make cigarettes, etc. Do JW hate the military? I didn't personally feel I hated them. We were supposed to be neutral. Does the WTS hate them? We were supposed to hate what is bad. And I think the military as a whole is considered bad. So maybe so.

Maxwell

12

Confession.

by detective in

it occurred to me that perhaps one of the differences between a catholic confession(s) and a jw confession before an elder(s)is that the priest tries to figure out what's appropriate for forgiveness, whereas the elder(s) try to figure out what's appropriate for punishment.

forgiveness versus punishment.

would you say that's a relatively accurate assessment?.

maxwell

I confessed in order for my wife to be scriptually free to remarry. I didn't have any interest in remaining a JW. In my letter, I stated that I did not want to discuss details of the incident and that I expected to be disfellowshipped. That cut them off if they had intended to grill me. So I don't know if it is common for them to grill down to specific details. I declined to even attend the first meeting they had, but came to a second meeting where they told me their decision. During the last meeting, they tried one last time to see if I'd change my mind by saying that they weren't voyeurs, but they did say they would have to find out what led up to the event in order to "help" me. So they didn't deny that they would want to know details, if I had wanted to stay in the organization.

Maxwell