Mum

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Posts by Mum

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  52

  A question for those that have been around this board for a long time

  by JeffT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my wife and i stopped going to meetings in 1988 and da'd in 1989. for a few years we both actively participated in the xjw world, she quit doing that a long time ago, and has pretty much completely moved on.

  the other night i told her about my planned blog (which will probably launch this weekend) it will mostly be about my writing, a lot of which is mostly about jw related issues.

  she asked why i am still so drawn to this subject.

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  Mum

  Each individual case is different. I know there are those who wish to move on and try to forget ever having been a JW. They choose not to participate here. Some participate here for a while, then go away. Some of them come back.

  If you served in Vietnam, you are part of a group that no one else can entirely relate to. You served, did what you thought was right, then were persecuted and treated wrongly by your fellow countrymen. One doesn't just get up, walk away, and start a new life. There are scars. There is PTSD. There is trauma, anger, and a need for peace within.

  We have been through a unique kind of experience as well. It is useful and beneficial to talk about it and help ourselves and others recover. People who were never JW's do not quite understand why we did the stupid things we did. They don't know what one goes through in escaping the Watchtower and facing shunning and, after years of faithful service, being regarded as nothing by the very people we were serving. We need validation from others who have been through the same thing.

  Regards,

  SandraC
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  27

  Is trying to awaken a JW tantamount to "robbing him of his bliss"??

  by never a jw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  last thursday i was propmpted by a recent thread to read the daily text (feb 28, 2013).

  i then had the audacity to send a text message to all four jw's nephews/nieces (in their mid 20's).

  i offered my opinion by summarizing it "put and shut up".

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  Mum

  Interesting thoughts.

  When I first became a JW at age 15, I remember my Aunt Ruth sitting down with me and asking why the local Baptist Church wasn't good enough. I was at the "know-it-all" age, not to mention brainwashed, naive, and uninformed.

  Another time, one of the people I was studying with referred to the U.S. government with the question, "It's 200 years old, but it's the best?" I'm pretty sure this was a veiled reference to the fact that the WTS was even younger than the U.S., so how could they be "the best?"

  Once a lady at the door told me I was "more wrong than a Russian spy leader."

  It may be better to frame your questions indirectly and not specificially about the WT, like the example above about the newest philosophy being the best.
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  5

  thinking of using Matt. 18 with still in JW

  by gma-tired2 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i have a sister-in-law that has hurt me deeply with her jw attitudes and decisions.

  she does not shun me or her brother but shuns one of our children.

  i am suffering from depression taking anti depressants to cope and i have fibromagiya with intensifies with stress.

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  Mum

  Do you have a minister or other professional who can give you some pointers?

  I agree that you need to cut down on the "internalizing" of this stuff. You are making this person more important than they deserve.

  Regards,

  SandraC
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  41

  It is Saturday morning. How many are thrilled that they are Not going d2d today?

  by LoisLane looking for Superman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  me - me - me!!!.

  just lois.

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  Mum

  Oh, yeah. I live in Vegas, and there are soooo many much-more-fun things to do! I think I'll go out and have a nice breakfast!
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  32

  Whatever happened to the "Fall of Babylon the Great" and the "drying up of the churches?

  by villagegirl in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am from the era of the babylon book, and all the wt predictions that the churches of christendom would "dry up".

  the book babylone the great has fallen god's kingdom rules, said people would leave the churches of christendom, in droves and the ministers would have no more people in their churches while "god's organization" would see a tremendous increase, a huge overflowing great crowd, all streaming into the watchtower and coming to the "faithful and discreet slave" for instructions.

  thirty years ago there were six million jw's , today after the "great increase", and " great crowd" is now ?

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  Mum

  I remember "studying" the Babylon book, as we called it. It was during the 1975 frenzy, and we thought the world would be ending soon. To think, I could have spent my time learning a language, taking music lessons, studying trig, but NOOOOOO!
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  42

  DUI Defendant Tries to Place Awake With My Prosecutor Daughter

  by Justitia Themis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yep.

  you read the title correctly.. my daughter is a prosecutor who right this moment is prosecuting a dui crash with major injuries.

  the defendant--the drunk driver--just tried to place an awake magazine with her while both of them were in the courtroom.. .

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  Mum

  This is a great story. I have had many experiences as an "apostate" in which I was working with or otherwise around JW's who had no idea. They are supposed to "hate" us, but they would be shocked if they realized they sat down next to me at McDonald's and struck up a conversation.

  I worked for an attorney who had a JW client. That client called me one day to introduce herself. I had already seen from her medical records that she was a JW. I was very professional, of course, and said nothing. Oh, if she only knew that I was one she had been instructed to hate!

  In 2003, I went to London, England and met up with another ex-JW to go to the Watchtower House (as they call it over there) and leave a couple of stuffed lambs. On the plane on the way over, I sat next to two JW's who had been to Patterson to their daughter's Gilead graduation or something like that. They were very solicitous of my well being. I was laughing inside the whole time.

  We should take the attitude of, "Go ahead, hate me. But I might be the one you have to ask for help some time, and you won't know you're being served by an 'apostate.'"

  Regards,

  SandraC
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  12

  companions and carers.

  by zeb in

  1. social
  2. family

  yesterday i had the duty of care to take our feline companion of 20 years to the vet to be euthanized.. i took a tin of his fav tuna and gave him a last meal at the vets to settle him as the needle and medication did its work.. he died peacefully and in no pain.

  my wife and i buried him in the garden next to a another older moggie.. i had the duty to email this sad news to the family who have largely grown up with him.. i sat in my back room and cried bitterly.

  i will miss him terribley and his head rubbs him checking on me once i was in bed and all his ways.. sleep well..... time for another cry..

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  Mum

  So sorry . . .
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  57

  What is the most powerful album that you have ever listened to?

  by zed is dead in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Mum

  Barbra Streisand Superman. Wow, that was a long time ago!
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  24

  Depressing Census Statistics on Religion

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ... depressing if you are the governing body that is.. the australian census figures from 2011 are available.

  this is taken every 5 years, and i have been doing a comparison over the last 15 year period.

  for 2001 and 2006 the number of jw's fell in australia, but this time it has risen, which jws may find encouraging.

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  Mum

  clarity: The atheists don't have to pedal or peddle.
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  22

  The door bell rang today

  by ABibleStudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just before i started undressing to take a shower to go to an appointment, the door bell rang.

  i thought about not answering the door, but then thought what the hell it could be my neighbor, who is a widow and in her 70's, needing some help.. at the door was a frail man about 85+ years old dressed in a shabby sport coat, shirt, tie, and slacks, and a skinny woman about 75+ years old in a long dress that needed to be ironed.

  as i grabbed my dog to prevent him from jumping at the screen door, which was partially open, and beating the couple with his tail and making them fall, i thought what am i going to do.

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  Mum

  They might not have been ignoring you. I think it is more likely that they couldn't hear you. I feel so sad for elderly people who make themselves suffer by approaching strangers with stuff the strangers don't want to hear. If they came to my door, I'd offer them a cup of tea and a snack. I remember people doing that for me even though they had no interest in the garbage I was trying to get them to listen to.