Posts by Mum

9

JWs everywhere!

by NVR2L8 in

jw
friends

i'm traveling through the us on my motorcycle and yesterday i tried to get a hotel room in indianapolis.

the first 3 hotels were sold out and when i finally found a room i realized that everyone in the hotel were hispanic and wearing lapel id cards for the convention.

the other rider accompanying me is the only active jw i'm friends with so i had to be careful how i handled myself with the brothers...of course he engaged some of them but i managed to keep my conversation to a simple introduction.

Mum

Hi, Listener. I see it the opposite way. I feel I'm getting over on them because they doin't know thery're being nice to an apostate. In a business suituation, I believe your employer would take a dim view of telling a JW you're an apostate and and possibly losing a client or customer because said client or customer doesn't want to speak to you.

As far as I'm concerned, if I saw a JW I knew in a public place, I would give them a hearty hello and start a conversation. I would let him/her/them show themselves to be a**holes!

9

JWs everywhere!

by NVR2L8 in

jw
friends

i'm traveling through the us on my motorcycle and yesterday i tried to get a hotel room in indianapolis.

the first 3 hotels were sold out and when i finally found a room i realized that everyone in the hotel were hispanic and wearing lapel id cards for the convention.

the other rider accompanying me is the only active jw i'm friends with so i had to be careful how i handled myself with the brothers...of course he engaged some of them but i managed to keep my conversation to a simple introduction.

Mum

Funny you should mention places you can meet JDubs. In 2003, I went to London to participate in a Silentlambs march. There was no march, and if there had been one, the impact would not have been nearly as strong as having the mrch in Brooklyn. The Brits did not participate in the "march." In fact, there was no march. What it boiled down to was that another apostate and I, just the two of us, went to the Watchtower House and spoke with the people at the reception desk and left a stuffed lamb.

Now, how this story relates to your post: On the flight to London, I sat with a middle-aged couple who were Jehovah's Witnesses! They had been to Patterson for their daughter's Gilead graduation. I did not tell them I was on my way to their country to partifcipate in an anti-Watchtower-policy protest. I acted completely unflustered, though I was a bit uncomfortable for some unknown reason. They wsre very nice to me and very solicitous of my comfort. I was bemused that they were unknowingly being kind to a "mentally diseased apostate!" If only they knew!

A few years earlier, I took court reporting classes at a community college. The teacher had two assistants, both JW's as it turned out.

I have also dealt with JW clients on the job.

Its fun for me to know that they can't look at me and know I'm an "apostate." I'm getting over on them.

NOTE TO JW'S: You don't know who you're dealing with in your everyday business. Apostates are often at your service or somewhere nearby. Get over it! We will speak to you, and you won't know who you're dealing with. Oh, no, so many JW's have been deceived into not hating me and, I am sujre, many other "apostates." Suck it up!

14

Do you ever get frustrated and feel dirty after sharing experiences on JWN?

by BucketShopBill in

it's a giant boil on my butt, thinking how long we all were tricked by a cult.

reading so many of our fellows threads, it help's reinforce we made the correct choice in mentally or physically leaving the watchtower's path to truth, they never had it and nobody can prove they did!

ray franz jr. came to that conclusion, even he had to accept "this is not the best of all relgions, in fact, it's on the bad side!

Mum

No, I don't feel "dirty." I have been out for 36 years, so most of my issues are resolved. Life is a learning experience, and I feel I had to do the "Watchtower thing" to learn what I did. People tried to stop me, but I wouldn't listen because the brainwashing took so well. While I wish I had spent those years more productively, I know it could have been worse. After all, there are worse cults.

What I learned inside the cult was not all useless. As a teenager, when I first began "publishing," being a JW actually opened up my world and possibilities for travel and meeting other people. The experience started out very positive and went downhill after a time.

I am grateful that I escaped relatively unscathed and young enough to start over.

20

A peek in to future of transportation

by jgnat in

trends include self-driving clean vehicles and temporary leasing rather than buying vehicles (the driverless vehicle arrives to pick you up, and you drop it off at your destination).

the result?

1/8 the traffic on existing roads!

Mum

My goal is to live without a car. Even an old car that is paid for is quite an expense, with gas and oil, maintenance and repairs, and high insurance rates.

Thanks for the hope imparted by your post.

50

thinking of leaving

by justme67 in

i am 46 and have been a jw for only 6 years.

i was doing ok until about a month ago.

we were having an international convention and i heard the brother that had to pick up 2 of the members of the governing body had to get a background check done on him and his wife.

Mum

You had a pre-JW life of 40 years, so you're one of the lucky ones. I also had a (much shorter) pre-JW life and had no other JW family members. It's easier for you than it was for me because I was married to a JW and had achild. I moved to another state on the other end of the country. I moved back to the town of the congregation I had attended for a short time, and I'm glad I did because they called me in for a JC meeting. I went begrudgingly. They were such asses that I could see clearly that they were full of themselves and arrogant bastards. They had nothing on me but tried to harass me into "confessing" to something so they could DF me.

All you have to do is stop attending and change your e-mail address and phone number. You also might want to move to a new location. If you don't have a great job, you might want to launch a nationwide job search and go elsewhere so they can't be bothered to hunt you down.

Don't let them get to you. They have no power over you other than what you give them. Don't give them ANY!

Best wishes!

33

What Would It Take To Prove......

by metatron in

jw
friends

a hypothetical question.. at a minimum, what evidence would it take to prove that the society is trying to quietly shed publishers?.

now, i don't think we have evidence of this yet but that doesn't mean it could never happen.

we must consider where the trends of magazine/literature cuts, branch office sales, coerced contributions, bethel/do layoffs, and emphasis on jw.org lead us.. otoh, you might argue that there would never be a deliberate move to get rid of them, just moves that discreetly abandon them.

Mum

Most recent converts are coming from the Third World. Europe is a wash. The U.S. may be a wash as well, except for immigrants from poor countries. I don't know where these facts fit into the speculation that they're trying to reduce numbers, but it must have some relevance.

If they really wanted to reduce the number of publishers, it seems like they might just pull out of the poorest nations.

48

Florida' s Gold Coast-- Latest WatchTower REAL ESTATE

by rip van winkle in

http://gotoby.com/news/article/2245/watchtower-buys-former-faa-training-facility-in-palm-coast-for-$7025000.

watchtower buys former faa training facility in palm coast for $7,025,000the facility was owned by embry riddle and had been leased to the faa.

watchtower plans to use the facility in much the same manner as did the faa.by toby tobinadd a comment palm coast, fl june 30, 2014 watchtower, an entity ofjehovahs witnesses, purchased the former faa training facility in palm coast from embry riddle aeronautical university for $7,025,000.

Mum

AndDontCallMeShirley pointed out that JW's are cheap. The fact is that they are also poor and uneducated, not the sort of people who want to acquire a taste for fine food and fine wine or buy great books or classical music. Mind you, I am generalizing here. I'm sure some JW's are well off and highly cultured (?) and will contribute to the local economy in the manner befitting their station in life.

29

Are you interested in dropping your southern accent?

by jam in

well you are in luck, oak ridge national laboratory in.

tn offered a class for their 4000 employees from 90. different countries, get this,a class that teaches how to.

minimice a southern accent.

Mum

This is a thread I have to chime in on. I am originally from the heart of Appalachia, Tennessee on the Kentucky and Virginia border. My grandparents spoke a strong Appalachian dialect, and I lived with the for the first 10 years of my life. Then, when I was about to go into 6th grade, I had to go live with my parents in Ohio. It was torture. I was already shy and withdrawn, but being around all of those northern city folks made me want to be swallowed up by the ground. I had spent my life among simple people with simple ways.

We lived in what were considered slums then or now. My teacher had an attitude toward me because I don't think she believed I was really at the level I tested at. My sister felt the same way, as she had gone through the first three years of school with me in Tennessee and Kentucky, attending 2-room and 4-room schools with kids from families like ours - uneducated and backward.

Eventually, I learned to speak with a midwestern accent and still do to this day. When I went back home, however, I lapsed back into my old drawl so my friends wouldn't think I felt superior because I was "talkin' proper."

Appalachian Americans ("hillbillies") speak much more like colonial Americans. My linguistics professor in college said that it was "the purest form of the English language." A paper sack was a "poke," and sitting on my grandma's lap was being "nussed." I do not regret having the hillbilly experience in my early life. It helped me understand where food comes from, appreciate what animals do for us all, and understand how relatively wealthy I have become. Our ancestors in the hills had to be resourceful and clever to survive. I am honored to call them my kin.

24

What Happens if...

by bafh in

what happens if someone returns to the congregation but stays inactive?

.

what happens if someone returns to the congregation and does not meet with the elders to "confess" their sins while away?.

Mum

What happens is not so cut-and-dried. It depends on a lot of factors, such as (1) are you from a prominent family in the borg? (2) is there anyone on the body of elders or elder's wife or wives who do not like you? (3) do you believe the borg has the truth, but no one else does?

I agree with Honesty. Why would you put yourself through that kangaroo court drama just so you can be their slave again?

I hope you find the answers to your questions but without the mental lashing of a committee meeting.

26

Have you reconnected with ex-JW's after you have left the Borg?

by EdenOne in

jw
friends

after reading from another thread, i felt it was worth asking this question.. if you left the borg on your own, have you attempted to meet others whom you used to be connected with while you were "in", but who have also become ex-jw's before or after you have left the wts?

if that's the case, has it remained a friendship, or the connection grew cold?

just curious as to what keeps friendships "stick" [or not] once you no longer have the borg's doctrinal glue.. your experiences are welcome.. eden.

Mum

The last congregation I was associated with is far away from where I live now. However, thanks to Facebook, I am in touch with one former "sister" in particular who I'm very fond of. A young man, who was only a child when I left, has also friended me on Facebook. Locally, I have LV101 and flyingfreefaerie. I have had a couple of phone conversations with a former elder I met on this board who lives not too far away.

I find comfort in having these people to talk to from time to time. I think it's similar to men (and women perhaps) who have been in combat together in a war. There's a cameraderie that outsiders can't relate to.

I have also been to several apostafests, but never met anyone at any of them that I had known as JW's. Still hoping.