just wanted to say hi and thanks to everyone that has posted their stories and comments.
i was df'ed a few months ago now and reading this forum has helped out heaps.
based on that i wanted to contribute in the hope that my experiences resonate with someone and help with the healing proccess the way it's helped me.
Hello,
Thanks for sharing your story with us. I hope it helps you on your path to healing. Repressed memories hit people like a sledgehammer when they re-surface. I too was fed the WTBT$ lies about repressed memories but I have experienced them myself. It is the one of very few ways of coping with abuse by blocking them out. Do you have some professional assistance to help you to deal with those and the depression? I am finding counselling and CBT exercises are helpful.
so, i'm new to the site lurked around for a week or so now before signing up.
i'll try to keep this first post short.
just looking to make some connections with others that have been thru similar life experiences and help out anyone that feels empty and alone after leaving the "organization".
Hey there! A warm welcome to you.
Just looking to make some connections with others that have been thru similar life experiences and help out anyone that feels empty and alone after leaving the "organization"
There's quite a few of us who have been through similar experiences to what you've mentioned. I myself have suffered at the hands of a short-tempered and abusive parent.
I'm looking forward to sharing the things that have been bottled up all these years... but I think I should pace myself. I think that's why I finally started looking around on the internet for groups of people such as this. It's time to complete the healing process after all those years of wasted youth.
You will find it very healing. I've been out for almost 12 years (officially DA'd for 10 years) and am finally able to let go of my hurts. Just letting it all out on here in my opening post was very cathartic and has helped me to move on from years of mind-control and guilt.
Looking forward to hearing more from you.
can be mushy ... .
or can be craaazyyy ... .
okay, i'll start :).
V665, that Mike & the Mechanics song has touched me for a very different reason. It reminds me of a (non JW) friend who suddenly, and unexpectedly, committed suicide 2 years ago. Mike & the Mechanics were his favourite. Always had their CD playing in his car. Still don't have any answers as to why he did it...
this is my very first post to this forum.
i am begging for some much needed encouragment and support by those who are kind hearted and know exactly the pain shunning causes.
i am a 30 year old former jehovah's witness and a mother of two beautiful girls.
Hi there! Big welcome to you.
having been a born in for 44 years i can say yes to this question.
my 2 sisters and 1 brother and my dad have nothing to do with my family now we have made our stand against the jw's.
i was always downtrodden at school for been a jw.
Thank you HHG...and no I'm not from the Midlands, I'm Welsh but I do have family in that district. That particular year I just happened to be working in the same place as a brother and we couldn't both have the full 3 days off for our DC, so I arranged to go to Coventry whilst he went to Bristol a few weeks later.
why can't people in jw congregations see just how utterly creepy this whole arrangement is?.
a girl about 20 years old commits an indescretion of a sexual nature.
three middle aged/old men 'interview' her in a room.
((Violia))
I was in a situation as a teen where I was sexually assaulted by a gang of teenage boys. I was very lucky in that I was able to escape before they were able to rape me. It is not something I like to talk about and I found it incredibly humiliating just dealing with the Police. I'm glad the elders weren't involved. I cannot begin to imagine what you went through.
This has made me realise why there was all the counsel during the service meetings in the early to mid 90's regarding repressed memories. The WTBT$ were claiming that the R&F needed to avoid "Worldly" therapists who may encourage "false" memories by the use of suggestive language and questioning methods, and that these methods were one of Satan's tools for bringing reproach upon Jehovah's good name! How I wish I realised at the time why they were saying these things. I feel sick, ashamed and disgusted that we were made to swallow this trash.
My cousin's JC which ended in her being DF'd for lying was incredibly perverse. She was 17 and was talked into sleeping with her UBP studying boyfriend by him at his house one day. It was premeditated as he'd bought condoms in anticipation. She was overcome with guilt and confessed to the elders. They believed his word over hers when he denied it. As she wasn't pregnant they wanted proof that it had actually happened so were going to make her have a gynaecological examination to prove whether or not she'd lost her virginity. My uncle put a stop to it, only because he himself was an elder and was able to influence the JC, and thus my cousin was DF'd for spreading lies and defaming the "good name" of said UBP.
having been a born in for 44 years i can say yes to this question.
my 2 sisters and 1 brother and my dad have nothing to do with my family now we have made our stand against the jw's.
i was always downtrodden at school for been a jw.
Hell no! They may have taken my childhood and my teens but they certainly haven't taken the best years of my life. My life is so much better without the guilt, unscriptural restrictions and double-standards of the bOrg. I was initially a bit angry about it in my early twenties but my perspective was very much skewed at the time by my ex-husband who was a very angry and controlling person. Yes, I missed out on having a typical childhood. We were poor and life revolved around meetings and FS. I was probably the only kid in my primary school classes who was tired on a Wednesday morning from being kept up 'til 10pm on a Tuesday night because bookstudy was held at our house. My first birthday was my 20th. I have yet to attend a Guy Fawkes Night or New Year party but I have a list to things to do and am slowly ticking them off. A few months ago I tried a medium rare steak and black pudding for the first time in my entire life and couldn't believe I'd missed out on such delicious food over such a tenuous modern day interpretation of a scripture written for Israelites living a nomadic, and somewhat unsanitary, existence in the wilderness, thousands of years ago!
I have spent my twenties living and am continuing this trend now I'm in my 30's. Despite the fact that life has had some major hiccups for me along the way, I have done all kinds of things that I'd never have done had I still been stuck in.
I've camped at music and biker festivals, I did ladies soccer training on a Tuesday evening, I've worked shifts, I've enjoyed a few bevvies on a Friday or Saturday night and had long lie-ins on a Saturday and Sunday. I ran 5K on a Sunday and raised money for Cancer charities whilst the JWs were doing their WT study. I've investigated Wicca and Buddhism and drawn my own conclusions. I've learned not to judge people by their appearance or allegiance - I've become acquainted with (and made friends with many of) the kinds of people we were taught to avoid - Hells Angels, Muslims, Sikhs, gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and even a transgendered person (that person had a beautiful soul, I'm so glad she got the surgery and can now be herself). Not to mention those evil apostates... I was able to give birth to two very precious little characters without fear of the blood issue and the risks to my life had I experienced a post partum haemorrhage. Those two little people are able to grow up in a household practising peaceful parenting, and not the WTBT$'s interpretation of "the rod". I have known true and lasting friendship that has overcome some serious problems thanks to forgiveness and humility - something I was told could never happen. I have found that for every vile "Worldly" person there are two or three more that are decent, kind, just, charitable and loving.
To quote Bono...
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?
P.S. I went to Coventry DC one year. I worked it and was severly distracted from the programme by the particularly scary painting of Gordon Strachan in the Press Room!
last night i was watching this movie and during the last scene it hit me how much the jw thought process hinders honest emotion with family members.. yes,,,, i know that there are hundreds of reasons as to why families do not get along / together, but being a witness for several decades showed me how much this religion makes an effort to "throw a wrench in the works" of family relationships.. there is no sound in this link, but just watching the interactions between everyone says volumes, imagine how different it would be if someone was "bad association or df'ed .
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ojgl2ubj-i.
I really do love that film. Especially how the late Jason Robards's grandpa character gets a second chance with his grandson, Cool.
www.ru-crazy.com.
like the robert palmer song says: "she's so fine there's no telling where the money went!'.
burning thru the 110 million settlement may seem like small potatoes now... .
Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger, but she ain't messin' wit no broke, broke...
i have smoked, i quit, but now enjoy alternatives such as e-cigs, snus, and even the gum.
i find that nicotine has a nice mental enhancement, has several medical benefits and actually may help individuals to relax and focus.
now the question is this, why does the wts have such a fetish with nicotine?
IMO I think it has a lot to do with money. What the average smoker spends a week on cartons of cigarettes (and other banned items, e.g. lotto tickets) is a similar figure to a weekly donation into the KH contribution box. By controlling this aspect of the R&F's lifestyle, the WTBT$ ensures a small disposable income compared with that of your typical non-JW smoking window cleaner/caretaker/carpenter etc.
In my old congo the elders would deliver service meeting talks actively trying to discourage us from buying non-essentials such as a daily newspapers to ensure we'd make regular contributions!
