Posts by Searril

133

What Is The Most Ridiculous Thing You Have Heard From A Witness?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i remember an elder questioning a woman who had admitted to giving and receiving oral sex from her unbelieving mate.

he asked her the most intimate questions which clearly flustered her.

interestingly, she “confessed “ to the elders because her conscience bothered her.

Searril

This thread is very therapeutic. Cathartic also.

With the way these things can stick with you into adulthood it's good to see others were fed the exact same BS and can understand.

133

What Is The Most Ridiculous Thing You Have Heard From A Witness?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i remember an elder questioning a woman who had admitted to giving and receiving oral sex from her unbelieving mate.

he asked her the most intimate questions which clearly flustered her.

interestingly, she “confessed “ to the elders because her conscience bothered her.

The big thing when I was growing up was all the demon stories. One I distinctly recall is my mother telling me how another couple at the hall had some items in their attic that had gotten demon possessed. So they took the aforementioned items outside to burn them, but the demons were preventing the items from burning (items made from wood, cardboard, paper, clothing, etc). They even doused all the items with gasoline and yet the demons prevented them all from ever catching flame. Eventually they hauled the items away to a dump since they were permanently demonically inflammable.

Of course, my mother conveniently remembers nothing of the story now and swears she never said it.

My grandmother told me a story as a kid about this doll she had bought at a garage sale. She noticed how the perfectly fixed eyes would follow her as she walked past it so she knew it was demon-possessed. The first night she took it out to the laundry room, but during the night it got up and walked into the dining room. The next day she took it out to the detached garage (being about 50 feet away from the house) but during the night it got up and came back in the house. Finally it was trash pick-up day so she put it out to the curb when the guys were picking up so it never came back.

I have no doubt that she would conveniently not remember, and deny, this story if she were alive today to ask.

This is but two of the many demon stories I heard as a kid. There were plenty more. Big shock that I was so terrified of demons getting me in bed when I was a kid. Nighttime uneasiness followed me well into my 30s and even to this day I sometimes find myself getting nervous just going downstairs to the living room in the dark as a grown man. It's embarrassing to say it, and I've actually never told anyone about it before, but this stuff from when you are a kid really can stick with you.

Side note: Reading that story about ET really brings back the memories of how badly I loathed this religion. I swear this stupid cult can take any teeny tiny bit of fun and crap all over it.

9

My search for religion.

by joe134cd in

since leaving the jws i have become more interested in finding out about other faiths.

here are a few of my findings.. lds: i just couldnt get my head around the mental gymnastics i would have to do to understand their doctrines and theology.

i attended their services twice.

Searril

My unsolicited advice to you is to spend less time concerning yourself with the denomination name on the building and believing "this is how this denomination operates" and spend more time examining each individual church group.

There are two churches that have the same exact name as mine in my town. The other one should just change their name to "The Grumpy Old Pharisees Group".

21

The map of ex Jehovah's-Witnesses and their friends

by Roxie in

jw
friends

i am an ex-jw and a member of this forum (not so active lately ;)).

in poland, we created a map of ex-jws (and their friends ;)) to find former friends from the organization or to contact someone living close to them.

many people found each other after many years outside of the organization thanks to this tool.

Searril

Brilliant.

I see there are quite a number in the USA on the map. I just might put myself on this thing. I'd hate to think someone near me needed an ear on their journey out of the Watchtower and I hadn't made myself available to talk.

21

Zeb's Memorial Experience

by HiddlesWife in

jw
friends

i just saw zeb's ("i'm worldly") video entitled: "black mass mayhem" a few minutes ago.

no doubt this was what he experienced at a memorial he attended last night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xz1eb63iry .

Searril

No idea who the guy is who made the video, but it wasn't a very bright thing to do.

All he did was reinforce all the crap that the Watchtower spews. If anything, he more firmly entrenched all those people into buying whatever the Watchtower says.

13

JW dating sites

by Formerbrother in

jw
friends

my marriage is ending.

its been over for a long time to tell the truth.. im not completely out of the borg and dont want to be dfed.. i want to keep contact with fam and friends, but im very lonely now.. which are the best jw dating sites which have free options?.

im not going to pay a lot, just want to meet some single sisters or ex sisters.. any help would be much appreciated..

Searril

Not trying to be a jerk here, and I know it's off topic, but reading this:

"Still Trying to find an alternative to JW's. After many years, I still can not find any other option that comes as close to ALL the Bible as JWs do. If there is an option that I have missed please tell me here, I would like to look into it deeply."

Tells me that you haven't really spent much time at all researching Watchtower teachings, because they unravel very quickly once examined with scriptures in context without Watchtower spin. So, if you're looking for a Christian association, which I support, I would suggest doing some real research on, dare I say it, what the bible really teaches, before trying to figure out WHERE the thing you're looking for exists.

31

What is this "religion"?

by Kom 197 in

jw
friends

for a long time, i was convinced jehovah witnesses were just people preaching the word of god in a different way than other christians.

i was shown the real truth over the past few months.

i've been friends with this guy for over 5 years.

Searril

I knew he was a Jehovah witness when I agreed to be his girlfriend

As soon as I read this line I knew pretty much how the rest of the story would go. That's not an insult to you, it's just that those of us who've had personal experience with this religion know how these things work.

Unfortunately, you didn't know, and so you got hurt. You were collateral damage in the Watchtower's war against anyone who refuses to bow to its leaders.

I know your feelings are raw right now, you're confused, and you're frustrated. You have every right to feel this way. But there are a couple things you need to know.

This may sound odd to hear it, but in all honesty you don't want him to just up today and decide to quit the religion and be with you. The problem with this cult, or any cult, is the indoctrination runs deep. And if he quits "for you" he WILL end up holding it against you in his mind somewhere, and it WILL come to the surface at some point and cause problems. If he is to leave, it absolutely must be because he has come to terms with the true sadistic, nefarious, damaging, and insidious nature of this religion and has made up his own mind that he must leave.

Unfortunately there is no way to predict whether that will be soon, years from now, or never. Depending on how closed-minded he is it may be possible at some point to share information you have learned, but only if he's able to hear and never being pushy. If you attempt to push it will backfire. Period. It absolutely will backfire.

It would be difficult for you, but your only real option (if you want a relationship of any kind with him) at this point is to make sure he understands you are available as a friend. Be someone who is a safe place for him to talk to. Listen if he expresses doubts and support him in researching those doubts. But refrain from "putting your two cents in". Just be the safe place where his mind knows it can try to crunch through the things that deep in his psyche he knows are wrong but his religion has trained him to suppress. In time he may wake up.

But you may very well never be together as a couple again, and if you're going to go through with all this then you need to be ok with that or you're only setting yourself up for more hurt.

If you're not ok with that, then you should cut your losses and move on with life.

My intention is not to be harsh, but to just be realistic with you.

40

After leaving the JWs - Has anyone stayed with Christianity?

by rulehayl in

i recently made the decision to stop studying with my study conductor, due to a situation i found myself in that led to a high possibility of my unbaptized publisher "rights" being taken away from me.

i have since told my study conductor i have joined a new church (to which she dropped me like a hot rock, of course).... last time i posted on here, i was progressing nicely towards baptism, and was well into it.anyhoo, i like my new church, very hillsong-esqe.

so just wondering if anyone else has stayed the course of christianity after leaving the jws, and if so - where did you go?

Searril

I was completely away from religion for the better part of two decades, but have been now attending church since 2011.

9

Once bitten, twice shy

by UnshackleTheChains in

ok. having experienced the jdubs over 27 years.

i have come to the conclusion that sincere people have been 'conned' into the troof, into a 'system' of beliefs that immerses them into an organisation that holds them captive ie no honourble way out without being shunned by friends and family.. having gone through this horrible experience, many are afraid to join another christian group.

it's a bit like someone who trusted someone most of their life only to find that person was a devious lying individual.

Searril

As someone who firmly believes in God and Christ, I am now cautious. I love God's word, I love God, I love the Messiah.......but am extra careful who and what I believe.
Is this something you personally feel?

I had no use for the bible or anything relating to God for many years after leaving the Watchtower cult. I've mentioned to others that the Watchtower does an amazing job of creating atheists.

I did consider atheism for a time, but I found it to be too irrational. I'm not interested in arguing about it with anyone, but after a lot of reading and thinking that was the conclusion I came to. I do 100% believe in evolution, fyi.

But back to your question, in time I decided I wanted to look into a couple churches, and although it was a nervous experience at first it did not take long at all to find out that a real Christian church is NOTHING like the Watchtower claims. My closest friends in the entire world are a few people I met at church. Like, the kind of friends I could literally tell them anything and know that they wouldn't condemn me and wouldn't go spreading it. There is seriously no comparison between a good Christian church and the Watchtower Kingdom of Hell garbage.

Interestingly enough, another thing that made the entire experience easier was that I actually started studying the New Testament, both on my own and in various classes at the church. It did not take long at all to start noticing that the Watchtower churches are not even vaguely similar to how the NT churches operated.

I would say I had some lingering issues about whether or not the Watchtower was "the truth" for many years, but once I started to actually read in context and do serious study it became apparent very quickly that the Watchtower was nothing but a purveyor of insidious lies.

But the key really is to be willing to try different churches until you find one that feels right, because there are definitely churches out there that are unwelcoming and stuffy. If by some bit of odd luck you happen to be near north central Ohio you could come visit mine :)

22

Disfellowshipped/disassociated – How did your parents handle it?

by Richard_I in

to those who were disfellowshipped/disassociated – how did your still-in parents handle it?.

i don’t want to fade, so i am thinking about disassociating soon – i don’t care if i’m playing by the org’s rules, i just want out.. however, i am concerned about how my parents will react.

i don’t want them to become super depressed or whatever due to me leaving the org.. i don’t want them to be hurt by my decision to leave the org, but i feel like there is no way of avoiding this..

Searril

I don’t want to fade, so I am thinking about disassociating soon – I don’t care if I’m playing by the org’s rules, I just want out.

I don't understand why you necessarily have to do either. I don't know anything about your parents, but what would happen if you just stopped going and if an elder asks you said "I find myself suffering from extreme depression when I attend meetings or go out in field service"?

I'm not minimizing your issues, so don't think that way. I'm just speaking from personal experience. I just stopped going (although I did end up moving about a half a year later, but not because of elders tracking me down).