Cofty, I think your S. Weinberg quote is spot on. My parents would have been selfish narcissits whether or not they belonged to a religion. However, being JWs gave them implied permission to be abusive to "further Kingdom interests". OTOH, I shudder to remember the time I prayed to "have the strength to refuse blood" for my little boy when we were in the ambulance. I am pretty sure I would have been "faithful". Remember that the JW belief is that to give your child blood would cost him (and me) everlasting life but to refuse blood would assure him a chance to live forever . It was always stressed that he could die despite receiving blood whereas he might live without it now and forever. FEAR drives the religious and causes it's adhearents (often good, sincere people) to do things that otherwise would NEVER come to mind.
Posts by 3rdgen
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54Would Your Family Stone You to Death?
by cofty inot law required jews to take the lead in stoning a family member who became apostate.. the watchtower has lamented the fact that the law of the land now forbids them from doing so.. if the law permitted it, as it does in some musim countries, and if the watchtower required it, would your family obey?.
my parents are good people and i believe their love for me is genuine, but i think they would follow orders.. what about yours?.
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28
Am I a judgmental bastard or just one of the last sane persons on this planet?
by skeeter1 inso, i happened to see a young lady.
she's about 13 or 14, can't be more than 16 years old.
fresh faced, rosy cheeks, and a little pudgy.
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3rdgen
Skeeter, I'm not sure- maybe a little of both. I get what you are saying about growing up a certain way and not thinking it is anything glamourous. As an example, my father grew up on a cattle ranch where he was required (as the eldest son) to be a REAL cowboy. He hated it. He said driving cattle was the lonelist, dirtiest job on the planet. When he left home he NEVER put on a pair of cowboy boots or hat etc. again. His best friend (a JW) always wore cowboy boots to the meetings (and everywhere else) as well as the hat, shirt etc. My father said it was obvious Jimmy had never worked a real ranch. The young lady you are referring to may have trouble fitting in with kids at school and may be using the piercings to try to seem cool or rebellious. Remember how hard it was to navigate your teens? If I were her mom I would try to see what is troubling her or if it is just harmless self- expression.
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54
Would Your Family Stone You to Death?
by cofty inot law required jews to take the lead in stoning a family member who became apostate.. the watchtower has lamented the fact that the law of the land now forbids them from doing so.. if the law permitted it, as it does in some musim countries, and if the watchtower required it, would your family obey?.
my parents are good people and i believe their love for me is genuine, but i think they would follow orders.. what about yours?.
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3rdgen
Giordano, excellent point. The difference for me is the sick entheusiasm that my parents exhibited while telling me they would turn me in and lead in the stoning. I don't know of any JW who witheld blood from their diying child who seemed happy about it. For those of us who were verbally abused in this way, it left us with emotional scars as real as the physical abuse did-possibly worse.
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54
Would Your Family Stone You to Death?
by cofty inot law required jews to take the lead in stoning a family member who became apostate.. the watchtower has lamented the fact that the law of the land now forbids them from doing so.. if the law permitted it, as it does in some musim countries, and if the watchtower required it, would your family obey?.
my parents are good people and i believe their love for me is genuine, but i think they would follow orders.. what about yours?.
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3rdgen
What makes a parent cheerfully tell a preschool aged child stories of she-bears ripping young boys apart who supposedly called Elijah a "Baldhead"? What makes these same parents angrily tell their young daughter "If we were living in the Isrealite times you would be stoned and we would cast the first one!" simply because she argued with her mother. My parents were card carring CULT members who made it painfully clear that their love was conditional upon my unquestioning obedience to them and the WTBT$......PERIOD. Guess What!? It worked! I fearfully overlooked the errors and hypocracy for nearly 60 years.
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179
Were you 'alive in '75' and how was that year for you?
by punkofnice ini was a junior borgite in 1975. i remeber looking at the calendar at work in october and thinking: 'armageddon isn't here yet.....and it doesn't feel like it will be here anytime soon either!'.
i was surprised that jehovah hadn't obeyed the superior command to bring the big 'a' as instructed to him by fred franz.
how dare god disobey the jw leader!!!!!.
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3rdgen
Like Blondie, I was 23 in 1975. Her post on page 1 of this thread brought back memories of that time for me. I was married very young in 1969. Our JW wedding vows ended with "in accordance with the Divine will as set forth in the Holy Scriptures for Christian husbands/wives or until the Devine TERMINATION of the marital arrangement." Young Jdubs were anxious not to miss out on sex so my marriage was one of 10 in 1969 in our immediate area. By 75 I was a good little Pious-sneer hoping to offset God's wrath in the next few months. Our cong was having huge #'s baptized at every assembly and the enthusiasm was contagious. I made my share of converts too. By '78 many of these newbys left. I stupidly held to the belief that those that left were selfish (rice Christians). I must admit i didn't want '75 to be the "End" because I was afraid I wasn't good enough to be saved. (Thanks parents and WTBT$ for my crummy self-esteem!)
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26
Do you feel guilty?
by Justmenthedogs inso while i was out hiking with the dogs today i got to thinking about this forum and was wondering how many of you still feel guilty from time to time for leaving?
i do, i miss my family at times but then i think about the life that i have created and i have a good one, i have good friends and i am happy, happier then i ever was as a jw.
i was just wondering if others feel the same way sometimes..
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3rdgen
Hi justme, No, it is quite the opposite. I felt constant guilt when i was in. Never enough service time, never enough meetings, never enough study, never enough prayer etc. Once hubby and I learned TTATT the guilt began to evaporate. We realized the deficiency was not with us but was with the WTBT$! I feel like a giant weight has been lifted and I no longer fear Armageddon. Some in our disfunctional family shun us but they critized us while we were still in so no loss there either.
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26
I want to grow my hair back out!
by onlyastory ina few months prior to baptism i had shoulder length hair which i loved and had wanted ever since i was a child.
i remember sitting with an elder during a bible study and asking him point blank if i 'had' to cut my hair.
whilst the answer was given slightly awkwardly the answer was a no, "there are no rules that say you have to cut your hair".
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3rdgen
More than half of the Witnesses who are in good standing have long hair. They just happen to be females!
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24
What if the GB hired you as the new CEO of Jehovah's Witnesses?
by kneehighmiah ini'm pretending the gb decided to hire a ceo to combat dwindling membership and overall apathy.
here is a list of the changes i would make to the organization if i were hired as ceo.
feel free to list your ideas (serious and humorous)!.
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3rdgen
Make programs for children in age divisions similar to Sunday school and youth groups. Children shouldn't have to sit through 2 hrs of material that is often NOT appropriate. For example: Little ones could have pictures of the GB to color. It would be so fun to draw beards and funny hats on them. Older ones could play pin the tail on the 8 donkeys in Brooklyn or make up new Kindom songs. I'm sure they could do better than molesting bees!
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Will this Memorial be our last?
by pixel inthey just put up the march km 2014 on the private website.
most of it is same-old-same-old, with info here and there about the memorial.. somebody here might post the march km for all to see, i wont.. i just wanted to share the paragraph from page 2 q&a anticle: will you seize the opportunity?
upcoming memorial enables us to show gratitude .
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3rdgen
2010 was my last Memorial. Let's hope 2014 is the last for many more.
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55
Do You Own A Firearm? Would You??
by minimus in2013 was a record breaking year for firearm purchases.
2014 is supposed to be a record breaker for ammunition.. do you own a firearm?
but i support that right for others---if they are qualified..
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3rdgen
My crazy first husband had many guns. I tolerated it because we lived in the country on over 50 acres and had the same issues as Label Licker mentioned. I insisted the guns be unloaded and locked. The ammo was locked in a separate room. When i remarried we lived in town and saw no need for firearms UNTIL first hubby started stalking, making threatening calls, then vandelizing our property. We did everything we could to protect ourselves including an alarm system and a large watch dog. These measures did not deter my ex. His attacks escalated to death threats. When he poisioned the dog we bought guns and made sure my ex knew it. Fortunately, the ex died soon after. Once we knew we were rid of him we sold the guns. BTW, mine was the cutest little S&W airweight 38.