Posts by Mum

36

?? Question for those that have successfully faded/are out:

by Darth Fader The Sequel in

question: can any of you that have successfully faded out of the jw world without being df'd or da'd relate to me/us how you were able to maintain at least one or a few of your "still in" friends or family?

(and even if you were df'd or da'd and still maintained some relationships, how did that go?).

obviously, the truly demented, sick and twisted (and highly effective) policies and structure of the wtbt$ to set up a system by which anyone that chooses to no longer believe or participate must be treated as "mentally diseased" and a pariah by their own friends and family is the hands down, numero uno reason why many hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of jw's do not leave.

Mum

My fade was actually unintentional. I simply had to get away for the sake of my mental health, so I moved to the other end of the country where I had a DF'd cousin (the only other JW in our family at that time). When I got to my new home, my first priority was to get a job and find day care for my daughter. Then I went to an attorney and made a deposit on a divorce.

My then-husband called my cousin and told him that I needed to go the "the brothers" locally where I was and advise them of my "intentions." It occurred to me that he wanted me to go to three or so strange men who knew nothing about me or my mental condition and try to explain something I didn't want to talk about, particularly with strangers. It also occurred to me that I didn't have to obey my soon-to-be-ex or play by his rules. That was Step One.

I was living in a place where it was very easy to get a job at that time, and I was getting by.

It was also fortunate for me that a young, probably unbaptized sister in the congregation aided and abetted my escape.

It seems to be true that if you determine to do something, the means to do it will often appear. I feel very lucky!

37

Watchtower Tells Us "Employers Seek JWs Only" Yet Most JW Employers Avoid Hiring JWs, Why?

by BucketShopBill in

here's a thought: we're told over and over how employers sing the praises of their jw employees, sometimes with a vague quote about how 'if we could only hire jws, we would as they are so honest'.

however, while some jw employers themselves may hire jw employees (usually cheap entry level positions), most don't.

in fact, many jw's in general who have businesses have a rule not to do work with jws, even those in their congregation.

Mum

Apropos to nonjwspouse's comment, in the Bottings' book entitled The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, there is an account of a JW working in a medical facility who reported a fellow JW who had an abortion.

Maybe prospective employers can't ask about religious beliefs, but they certainly need to make the need or confidentiality crystal clear!

16

Watchtower Victims Memorial Day July 26

by Londo111 in

jw
friends

i see this is two days away...i don't have anything planned, but im open to ideas.. anybody participating in this?

if so, what are you doing?.

.

Mum

It would be wonderful if we could gather a list of names we all know personally and do a wall similar to the Vietnam Vets' Memorial as a tribute to those who had such strong belief they made the ultimate sacrifice. It would be great if it could be duplicated and displayed near as many JW properties as possible.

At the bottom we could list various reasons why JW's meet an untimely death: suicide, refusing a medical procedure, ill health stemming from constant harassment, etc.

I have a couple of names if we have a volunteer.

8

My Witness friends are excited

by exWTslave in

my witnesses friends are excited as they sense emergence of a north king in putin.

many witnesses feel that ukrain crisis will lead into a 3rd world war that will climax in armageddon, and people like me are lost forever!.

Mum

I recall in the early '70's when Nixon went to China., Our CO's pioneer wife was all happy and full of glee. She also said Nixon had already "cried peace." I don't know when the latter allegedly took place.

Same sh**, different day. . . . . . .

More to come.

37

Watchtower Tells Us "Employers Seek JWs Only" Yet Most JW Employers Avoid Hiring JWs, Why?

by BucketShopBill in

here's a thought: we're told over and over how employers sing the praises of their jw employees, sometimes with a vague quote about how 'if we could only hire jws, we would as they are so honest'.

however, while some jw employers themselves may hire jw employees (usually cheap entry level positions), most don't.

in fact, many jw's in general who have businesses have a rule not to do work with jws, even those in their congregation.

Mum

In the '70's, a couple of pioneer sisters from a neighboring town worked part-time at a restaurant not far from my home. They would stay at my house overnight when they worked. One of the sisters told me that her boss told her that she was the only person he knew who would come in to work 2-4 hours and ask for one hour off.

JW's are no different from other people when it comes to work. Some are great. Some are shiftless and lazy. Even JW's are individuals to some degree.

43

When You See A Witness What's Your Reaction?

by minimus in

jw
friends

is it a feeling of---oh no!!?.

are you happy to see them?.

do you have a feeling of consternation?.

Mum

I don't know they're dubs unless they're in field service. I feel a combination of annoyance and pity. I would like to set them straight, but I have better things to do than spend time arguing with a smug know-it-all. I might just say something in an attempt to get them thinking or to be sarcastic, such as where they learned Hebrew and Greek.

Mum, of the sarcasm class

61

Pixar the production company is jealous of Caleb and Sophia video's

by life is to short in

so said the co last night.. apparently a jw was on a flight and just happend to sit next to some big wig from pixar and when the man from pixar heard that he was a jw the pixar man just gushed over what great work that the watchtower has done in producing the caleb video's.

he siad he only wished pixar could do such great work.

the co said we are able to do it because we have free labor and jehovah behind us.. my husband stayed home from the meeting but wanted to tie in by phone and that is what the co said in his talk.. the co also talked about all the changes that have happened in the last ten years and how if some of the friends did not like it they needed and to quote him "they just needed to get over it" these changes are going to happned period.

Mum

life, thanks for that belly laugh! Please get over what others might think of what you do. It doesn't matter. No one of us is any better than you and have no standing to look down our nose at you because you have things to overcome. I believe that not caring is actually magical in some mysterious way. If you don't care, people don't bother you about things that don't matter.

Be happy and keep looking forward to freedom!

40

Athiests: Do you ever wonder... what if?

by toweragent in

jw
friends

i'll start by saying, i'm a ministerial servant who is trapped in the religion.

my wife is hardcore...but i've slowly been getting her to lighten up, so i'll take it!

all my friends and family are jw's, and i am employed by a jw (who is actually a great boss).

Mum

toweragent, I like this quotation from Dr. Laura: I don't live in the land of "what if;" I live in the land of what IS! So, whether or not there is a God or gods, it makes little difference to us. When was the last time you saw God rescue someone who was being harmed? I understand that it is allegedly beneficial for children to believe in God. Adults, however, have to think for themselves.

What matters to me and everyone else (I consider myself an agnostic individualist) is what we want out of life, the life that we have, right here, right now. As Christopher Morley said, There is only one success - to live your life the way you choose to live it. All of us on this board are trying to do that. We all have limitations in terms of finances and family matters, but we all can improve our lives in various ways.

So, no, I don't waste my time on "what ifs" about divinity. Very little that happens is under our control. If there is an afterlife, so be it, but if there is, that doesn't mean God made it that way. Rather, it's part of the cycle of life.

I started living again at age 32. It was a struggle at first, and the road was not always smooth. But it has been worth every bit of it.

26

Obama Calls For Collectivized New World Order

by Dis-Member in

obama calls for collectivized new world order"people are anxious.... the old order isnt holding"during a fundraiser in seattle this week, president barack obama called for a new order based around a collectivized system in order to quell peoples concerns about geopolitical strife and the economy.. people are anxious.

now, some of that has to do with some big challenges overseas, said obama, adding, but whether people see whats happening in ukraine, and russias aggression towards its neighbors in the manner in which its financing and arming separatists; to whats happened in syria ... to the failure in iraq for sunni and shia and kurd to compromise ... to whats happening in israel and gaza..... part of peoples concern is just the sense that around the world the old order isnt holding and were not quite yet to where we need to be in terms of a new order thats based on a different set of principles, thats based on a sense of common humanity, thats based on economies that work for all people.

... but here in the united states, what people are also concerned about is the fact that although the economy has done well in the aggregate, for the average person it feels as if incomes, wages just havent gone up; that people, no matter how hard they work, they feel stuck.. .

Mum

I agree that Obama is a breath of fresh air! He has behaved naively many times, actually believing he could reason and compromise with other politicians who have no idea what being a decent human being is.

He has fought the good fight as best he could, but usually was too willing to concede to his opponents. He did get us healthcare to some degree. I think that will be his legacy.

He and his wife grew up very differently from the babified, rich politicians they are surrounded by. It's good to have a president who knows how the real world works. It sucks that he is surrounded by infantile narcissists who are used to getting their own way and constantly throw tantrums.

38

Did you ever actually believe the JW fantasy version of "Paradise"?

by Darth Fader The Sequel in

i am sure this topic has probably been discussed many times before but,......... i would like reassurance that i am not the only one who gagged every time i heard a jw pontificating on their fantasy version of what "paradise" will be like.

particularly when it comes to the animals.

more specifically, that the animals will all become vegetarians.

Mum

Like marmot, I was first introduced to the concept of the JW paradise as a child, and was greatly enamored by it. But I love to read, go to restaurants, and do a lot of things that I never saw depicted in the Paradise drawings. I was also a drama queen, and, at some point, had to face the fact that life would be pretty bland in that food-and-festivity paradise. There weren't even any gourmet chefs. Everything grew on trees and induced goofy grins.

There was a TV commercial (perhaps a public service message) that started out with a picture of someone relaxing in a natural setting while a voice in the background was narrating an account of how peaceful and serene this place was. Then, a more strident voice chimed in with "but REAL worlds are different!" Then there was a spiel about some kind of health problem or other problem that needed to be solved. This TV blurb set me to thinking. I was a closet reader, and I read The Women's Room, which I call "The Feminist Manifesto" by Marilyn French. There was a group of college women in this book who would get together and try to imagine perfect worlds. In the end, there was always a hidden flaw that they uncovered, so they gave up on the idea of a perfect world. Wow! The book that helped me to muster the courage to just leave was Your Erroneous Zones, by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I was struck especially be a description of a scene from the Russian book, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (sp?) in which Ivan is asking himself whether his whole life might be a lie, and musing on what he needed to do to get a real, authentic life. Powerful!