snare&racket

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Posts by snare&racket

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  12

  Guilt as Motivator

  by LifesNotOver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've just come across this idea: i've been feeling guilty about not contributing more to this forum, given all the help i've received here.

  i feel guilty that i haven't had it as bad as so many of you.

  i feel guilty that i didn't have any jw family/friends that shunned me when i left.

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  snare&racket

  It's a huge element to being a JW.

  I remember consciously remember the relief of letting go of the perpetual, inescapable guilt that is unhealthy.

  Those hormones responses and and sensitivities remain even when we leave, as a JW that guilt was purposefully cultivates as it was a strong motivator for WT's wants.

  With time it dissipates but even now I will have moments where I have to fight the feeling of inexplicable guilt and it is, in my opinion, a remenant of the JW past.

  btw; it gets so much better/easier as time passes and the letting go of perpetual guilt is one of the significant & rewarding benefits of leaving the JW cult.
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  19

  Cyprus JW's Military Service

  by snare&racket in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i work with a nurse who served for 2 years in the army of cyprus as is compulsory in that country.

  i happened to ask about jw's and their consequential punishment for not doing it.

  he laughed and stated that since 2009 they have to do it and that he personally knew several that 'served.

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  snare&racket

  I spoke to my colleague and he said the law changed in 2009 and that's when they started participating in the conscripted service.

  i just googled Cyprus 2009 Jehovah military ..... and indeed there seems to be evidence he was being truthful.

  Obviously it's just anecdotal, but I do believe my colleague as he had no motive to lie.

  https://www.wri-irg.org/programmes/world_survey/country_report/en/Cyprus

  "25 Sep 2009 — warresisters

  Issues

  • Cyprus still maintains conscription. The recognition of the right to conscientious objection does not meet international standards.
  • The right to conscientious objection is not recognised for professional soldiers, nor for serving conscripts."
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  19

  Cyprus JW's Military Service

  by snare&racket in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i work with a nurse who served for 2 years in the army of cyprus as is compulsory in that country.

  i happened to ask about jw's and their consequential punishment for not doing it.

  he laughed and stated that since 2009 they have to do it and that he personally knew several that 'served.

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  snare&racket

  I work with a nurse who served for 2 years in the army of Cyprus as is compulsory in that country. I happened to ask about JW's and their consequential punishment for not doing it. He laughed and stated that since 2009 they HAVE to do it and that he personally knew several that 'served.' This included full weapons training and live fire exercises.

  When I asked why he laughed, he said that there was a JW in his unit that LOVED shooting, lobbing grenades and being first in line ..."on point"... during training and exercises. The phrase he kept saying whilst laughing was "He loved it."

  It really is a very different belief system to the one I grew up in. I knew people that had to leave their home countries and families and learn a new language to avoid imprisonment for refusing military service.

  i support necessary military interventions now as any sensible person would. I'm neither happy or sad at their change in position for military service. I am simply sad for the hypocrisy and lack of true authority the Watchtower have over and had over so many people and their lives.
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  78

  The handling of child abuse allegations

  by Landy in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  there's a lot of criticism surrounding the jw's handling of chiild abuse within their ranks with a lot of it being well deserved.

  but i'm interested to know how people on here think child abuse allegations should be handled.

  there's a few scenarios below, the first couple are easy then it gets a bit more complex.

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  snare&racket

  There is nothing to debate. Call the police and social services to protect the child and potentially other children.

  Let's not leave uneducated, untrained, unqualified men managing criminal sexual abuse.

  On hearing of it they should dial 999 and then do their job, providing pastoral support
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  31

  Occupations that will disappear

  by joker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  while growing up in the cult one thing that always bothered me was the way witnesses could forecast jobs/occupations that we're going to vanish in their new world.. for example, we would usually discuss at saturday night wt studies how doctors, nurses, funeral directors, and soldiers would go the way of the dodo.

  i always found discussions like that just so strange.. in hs, i mounted an unsuccessful effort to enter veterinary sciences, the big answer was always "why" it won't be needed after armageddon 😝😜.

  does anyone have their own story about professions that the witnesses believe will not be needed after the big a ?.

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  snare&racket

  I left to study medicine, an elder at my last ever meeting mocked me in the car park as I was leaving, there were a few people around and laughing aloud he said .... "What a waste of time, do you think we will need doctors in paradise?"

  I didn't even answer, I just shook my head and left.

  As for his profession..... I wonder if double glazing will be a thing in 'paradise'?

  in the meantime I'll keep doctoring and treating sick & dying people.
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  12

  It's weird to look back at old family stories about our beliefs.

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my parents had a story that the first time my dad ever met my mom's father, he opened the door and immediately asked dad, "what are you gonna do if my grandson needs a blood transfusion?!".

  grampa was a ww2 vet, an airplane mechanic, a methodist and freemason.

  he and my grandmother were pictured all my life as these ogres who opposed my mother's jw conversion and her marriage to my father.

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  snare&racket

  Really?

  What do you do when your child needs life saving treatment?

  Really?

  i hope you know the answer for your child's sake. There should be nothing more valuable to you than their life especially now you know it's all predicated on lies.
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  39

  In praise of Randall Watters

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  exjw's of a certain age will remember randy's site well.

  freeminds was instrumental in waking me up along with ray franz's books.

  if net soup and armageddon okies mean nothing to you you're probably under 30.. whatever caused randy to post what he did recently is something i can only guess at but it won't be what i remember him for.. randy, i wish you well and thank you for all you've done over the years .

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  snare&racket

  Net soup was the first JW info I got outside of the organisation and the quality of the news and info was significant.

  ironic that the most moving story for me was that of Barbara Anderson. It changed my life!

  Everyone here is doing a great job and to the founders of these sites ....we really are all indebted to you and your efforts.
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  201

  I am glad to have found the true religion

  by A Believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it really is great.

  i remember browsing this forum the day after i had joined it, and their was a knock on the door.

  i thought it was one of my package from ups but instead it was two sisters.

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  snare&racket

  A believer ...... be happy, go enjoy your life.

  You are feee to go door to door disseminating a message you are not allowed to question.

  The rest of the world will get on with being free and informed.

  bye x

  p.s. For the sake of everyone you love that isn't a JW and every good human being who does not agree with you, I hope the genocide you pray for every day doesn't take place and if it does I'm so glad I stopped asking/hoping/praying for it because it disgusts me.

  We all await the next new light on what a "generation" refers to.....because Armageddon isn't coming.

  🙄
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  18

  Aron-Ra: Meteorology and the Flood

  by schnell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a few days ago, aron-ra posted a new video commencing what he promises to be a new series debunking the noachian flood.

  he did this despite the fact that every adult should know it didn't happen, and yet many do.. i'd like to remind everyone what the insight book says: .

  the genesis account of creation tells how on the second “day” jehovah made an expanse about the earth, and this expanse (called “heaven”) formed a division between the waters below it, that is, the oceans, and the waters above it.

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  snare&racket

  Animals need grass and vegetation, they congregate near rivers for said foods. Humans eat animals and drink water and die within days of an absence ....and so likewise established communities near rivers and water.

  Sea levels and water levels adjust constantly from drought to floods.

  What a surprise....... all human civilisations have stories of FLOODS.

  Not of A FLOOD but of FLOODS.

  🙄
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  15

  To love Jehovah more than friends and family.

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was a believer, i endorsed this idea too.

  i commented with things like "love jehovah more than your mate" or "love jehovah more than your friends".. it didn't occur to me as i was saying it that jehovah is an idea.

  this god concept is an idea that should really pass scrutiny if you're supposed to love it more than anything else.. at best, this means that jehovah is real and you have to love jehovah more than the people in your life, no matter the despicable things he is said to have done, condoned and endorsed in his holy writ.

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  snare&racket

  The irony is....it was a lie.

  I do love my partner more than anyone in the world. I miss her when I can't be with her. Yet when I was a JW I would say I loved Jehovah and I would have defended that statement to the death. But I didn't ever really FEEL love for 'Jehovah'...... he was an invisible, confusing combination of emotions and contradictory actions that was hard to pin down into a tangible personality. It is simply not possible to LOVE such a concept. It is irrational to expect someone to.

  Its like when the people of N.Korea all say they love their leader. We all know you can't really love even a real being, you have never met and don't personally know. But it's expected and comes with risks if you don't say it, likewise as in the JW's.... and it very easily becomes 'normality'.

  Sad...... confusing love with fear.