Posts by Mum

43

Dumb Elders

by minimus in

jw
friends

i knew a few pretty intelligent elders .

sometimes i would wonder why they remained as elders or even witnesses because they were successful men who made a good living and were highly respected because of their qualities.. that is a rather small group.

most elders that i know of aren’t the brightest bulbs in the sky.

Mum

Back when I was a JW, I married an elder whom I would describe as dull normal. He had a tremendous ego, and he was the theocratic ministry school servant,

On one occasion, I was assigned a talk on the school. We had to provide the school servant a theme for our talk. I wrote out my theme and gave it to my husband at home.

Fast forward to the KH and time for me to give my talk. The other sister and I got on the stage and sat at the table, ready to go. My husband went to the podium, turned to me, and asked if he had my theme. I replied, "I gave it to you." The congregation laughed. I gave my talk, and the meeting proceeded. Everybody went home at the end, of course.

When we got home, I was given a dressing down because the congregation laughed. I tried to get "him" to see that the laughter was normal under the circumstances. "He" would not accept it as normal, and kept on at me. I started crying profoundly, and pleaded my innocence by reminding him that all I had said was, "i gave it to you." "He" slapped me in the face.

He wasn't about to apologize or acknowledge that I had not harmed him in any way.

That night, I started planning how I would get away.

I never cursed at him or did anything but build up his pathetic ego. I partly blame myself for helping to create this monster because of my constant efforts to make him feel special.

10

Understanding a family member that’s A witness

by understandingjehovah in

i need some advise or understanding.. my brother became jehovah witness because of his wife.

our dad is dying and over the last two months he’s done some very weird stuff.. my family knows he’s not a real witness because he sells corn liquor and pills, drinks daily, let us have our moms birthday at their house.

he’s also committed adultery, it’s rumored that he molested our cousin when he was younger, done fraud to my dying dad, lied about being our dads poa for greed only to find out he’s not, lied to the family about his estranged daughters, called his oldest daughter a b*tch because she doesn’t want anything to do with him, lied on our dads life to her to get her to talk to him, he has the name nympho tattooed on his neck, has slandered his immediate family and abandoned two of his daughters for over 20 years to start a family with his new wife.

Mum

Mental illness and self delusion are at the heart of being a Jehovah's Witness. I'm sorry that all of this is going on in your family.

Your brother is supposed to confess his sins to the elders. I think he has the skills to convince them he is "repentant" and get away with whatever he wants to do.

Buck up. I wouldn't expect things to improve.

14

Questions for Jehovahs Witness's (From a Christian)

by QuestionsforJehovahWitness in

hey all!just to start i want to let you know the reason i'm here is for a school project.the project is very simple.

the goal is to learn about other religions.

this information will only be used to inform not to spread hate, deceit, or insult.i have three general questions.

Mum

Good luck with your research. As you may have guessed by now, the people on this forum are former Jehovah's Witnesses who have seen through their bogus theology and escaped from their brainwashing nonsense.

Personally, I am an agnostic. Believing wholeheartedly in a god who uses 8 men in New York USA to dominate the lives of the most vulnerable among us has lost its sheen. The 8 men are called the "governing body," and they have far more power over their followers than the pope has over Catholics.

Jehovah's Witnesses see themselves as Christians, in fact, as the only "true" Christians. They prefer the Old Testament version of God to the loving, accepting Jesus of the New Testament. Some of the beliefs that distinguish them from Christians is that they don't believe in the Trinity, won't sing traditional hymns (They have their own songs and songbook.), have their own translation of the Bible that emphasizes mind control, and refuse blood transfusions. They told their followers that the end of the world would come in 1975, or near that year. They had set previous dates for the end as well - 1914, 1918, 1925 to name a few. Yet, their followers are so brainwashed and fearful that they ignore the fact that the end did not occur and continue to put full faith and trust in the organization. If a JW displeases their local "elders," he or she may be "disfellowshipped," and then no active JW (including their own family - parents, siblings, children - i.e., any JW) is allowed to speak to them or associate with them in any way.

They believe in "new light," the idea that their god/the governing body continues to receive new perspectives on belief. So, doctrine changes happen fairly regularly. It's hard to keep up with the latest directives from the governing body/god.

They are essentially a publishing company, printing books and other literature written at a 4th-grade level. JW's are required to sell ("place" is their term) this literature door to door.

They are against education past high school. They know that college can induce thought, and thinking leads to "apostasy" (their word for waking up and smelling the s**t). "Independent thinking" (the only real kind of thought) is deeply discouraged. It's fundamentally believing that God gave you a brain and commanded you not to use it because the governing body knows everything you need to hear.

I could go on and on, of course, but those are the basics and most of the reasons we are no longer JW's. I hope I've given you enough to get an A.

30

If You Have A Choice To Listen To Any Music, Any Artist —what would you like??

by minimus in

jw
friends

i love rhythm and blues and soul music.

i love funk but i also enjoy music of the 60s and 70s.

just not really into classical or country western although some country is pretty good..

Mum

Etta James is the best! The '50's doo-wop and rock 'n' roll are also some of my favorites. You can't beat Mozart either. Yes, I have eclectic tastes.

10

Why couldn't I stop laughing?

by Vanderhoven7 in

help me understand why i could not stop laughing watching this apparently serious video?.

https://youtu.be/xluj6cpznw4.

Mum

His earnest and emotional tone and some facial expressions amused me when he was talking about such mundane, boring realities of being a JW.

I don't know if anyone without experience being a JW or being closely associated with JW's would really quite understand all he was talking about. I like him. I agree that he's a really nice person and am glad he's freed himself.

17

Thunderous Applause Around The Stadium

by Number 6 in

growing up in the 70's and 80's in the jw religion who remembers the massive stadium gigs the watchtower used to hold?.

we used to denounce false religion in the starkest of terms.

we were right and by god we were letting anyone who listened know it.

Mum

I started "publishing" in 1963, at the age of 15. I got to go to an international convention in New York with JW's who were strangers to me. I was the only one in my family they were able to fool at that time. I had never been anywhere except Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, so going to New York was the most exciting event in my life!

The JW's took me to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes, a ride on the Staten Island ferry, Rockefeller Center, and to some nice restaurants. The assembly talks and dramas really got me pumped. I was well-behaved, so the JW's liked me and made it a point to be extra nice to me.

Since I was the lone wolf JW in my family, I didn't experience the harshness at the KH that some kids did. The congregation I attended (not the one in my territory, but in the territory of those who studied with me) was in the wealthiest neighborhood in town.

I loved the circuit assemblies, too. I got to stay in a motel (something else I'd never done before) and talk to other JW's about their problems, and listen to the adults gossip about the ones in the congregation who they did not approve of.

I stayed in until 1979, at which time I had married a controlling elder, and the whole experience and disappointment about 1975 turned the whole experience sour. I realized that I had been a better person before I became a JW.

I'm glad I don't have to deal with their sad fantasies anymore.

14

terrified but waking up, child abuse, suicide etc.

by anon1028 in

jw
friends

im new to this forum, i dont know where else to post my story, sorry if im wrong for posting this on this subject.

as i begin to wake up from being in the org i thought id introduce myself to this forum with how i was raised in the org..., ive been beginning to look at everyones stories from being raised as one and how they left, and i find comfort in knowing im not alone, so maybe another young person like me will find the same comfort reading my story.

as you can tell by my username, i am posting this on an anonymous account because of fear of what the elders would do to me and my parents if they found out who i was.

Mum

I'm so sorry! Congratulations on having lived through all this pain and rejection. Do you know of others in your area who have chosen the "apostate path" so you might have someone who understands because they've been through it, too? Do you have a job that pays enough for you to live on? Did you graduate from high school?

I'm sorry about all the questions, but I am trying to assure myself that you will be able to get out of your situation and start a real life. I am lucky that I had a pre-JW life, so it was not as hard for me to function in the real world.

At your age, all I knew how to do was obey. I recommend that you read Dr. Wayne Dyer's book "Your Erroneous Zones." I read it just before I exited the org, and it helped me to let go of guilt and fear and begin to think for myself without having to ask someone else what I should do every time I had to make a decision.

It sounds like you have learned enough to get started. I hope you will take one day at a time and be patient with yourself and kind to yourself (hard to do when you've rarely heard anything good about yourself).

Best wishes for a happy future. Keep us posted on your progress.

5

Having trouble with parents staying home?

by Steel in

my parents are in there late 60s, they have a net worth of 2 to 3 million dollars and a 2500 sq ft home.

my dad works a hobby job at a service station for boredom reasons.

it’s a kiosk type between glass but it does require some contact with the public.

Mum

I notice that there are certain types of people who need busy work to feel comfortable and useful. I am not one of them. If I had a lot of money, I would be traveling the world, getting better educated, and working with charities. However, I wouldn't be doing any of these things if I wanted to just hang out on the beach or stay in bed watching a good movie and eating bon bons.

Let me say I envy you if you stand to inherit a substantial portion of that money.

21

Notable Watchtower Quotations

by Vanderhoven7 in

let's share some notable wts quotations that demonstrate the arrogance, ignorance, hypocrisy etc.

of the watchtower leadership.

“‘zion’s watch tower’ has, we believe jehovah for its backer, and while this is the case it will never beg nor petition men for support.

Mum

I have been free of the WT since 1979, so my memory of their bizarre prognostications has faded. I do remember, "Stay alive 'til '75!" Hilarious!

14

The Cry of Peace And Security

by jwfacts in

a bit late in coming, but i have a new article on the cry of peace and security at https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/peace-and-security.php.

this was prompted by trump using the term peace and security a few times in 2017 and 2018, and the excitement this generated amongst jehovah's witnesses.

i would love to see other quotes you like on this topic, or texts and experiences..

Mum

Back in the '70's, I used to go out in service often with a fellow wife of an elder. She was also a regular pioneer. She told me that Nixon had "already cried peace," but I'm not sure of which occasion she was referring to. Personally, I do not recall Nixon's saying anything about peace and security. Her assertion might have had something with China coming out of the shadows and joining the UN, which prompted a lot of speculation among the witnesses of that time.