Posts by obiefernandez

I am happy to announce the opening of my own apostate shopping site. I believe it's the first of its kind on the Internet. (Guess that makes me a pioneer once again! LOL)

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=apostates

6

Underage Membership - Legal Defense Against DF

by obiefernandez in

jw
friends

this topic was inspired by the can you sue the watchtower... http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=21122&site=3.

it appears that the legal defense of the society is based on voluntary association, and based on that membership a person is by law subject to the eclessiastical tribunals (judicial committees) of jehovah's witnesses.

it immediately brings to mind the fact that many of us began association or were baptized while still minors.

obiefernandez

This topic was inspired by the Can You Sue the Watchtower... http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=21122&site=3

It appears that the legal defense of the Society is based on voluntary association, and based on that membership a person is by law subject to the eclessiastical tribunals (Judicial committees) of Jehovah's Witnesses. It immediately brings to mind the fact that many of us began association or were baptized while still minors. It seems to me that one could argue whether the membership is valid or not if we baptized early or were coerced into baptism.

For instance, I got baptized at 16 due to pressure from my parents. If I was to be charged with wrongdoing and the congregation wanted to disfellowship or disassociate me, could I claim defamation based on the fact that my membership was invalid. That I did not voluntarily submit myself to the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. I imagine this defense would be even easier for those of you that got baptized earlier, especially younger than 10-12 years old.

What do you think? Is it a loophole?

4

Serving Faithfully at Work

by obiefernandez in

jw
friends

i have interesting news.

early this week i found out that the husband of our beloved office manager is an long inactive jw, but that his parents are pressuring him to become active again.

apparently he wants his worldly wife to convert so they can return together.

obiefernandez

I have interesting news. Early this week I found out that the husband of our beloved office manager is an long inactive JW, but that his parents are pressuring him to become active again. Apparently he wants his worldly wife to convert so they can return together. I've met him a few times and he seems like a perfectly nice guy. I figured I couldn't let this opportunity slip by.

So I pull out a copy of CofC and bring in to work with me. I mozy over to the office manager's cube and tell her that I had heard about her husband's situation. I ask her what she thinks of all of it. In a nutshell, she had been to one meeting and thought JWs were weird. So I tell her about my being raised in JWs and how I left when I realized what they were all about. I offered her the book and told her to give it to her husband. That it had helped me get over the indoctrination and that it might help him also. She gladly accepted.

A little bit later I run into her again and let her know that there is a possibility that her husband would "recoil in horror" when he saw the book or realized that it was apostate.

Well this morning I finally caught up with her again and asked her about her hubby's reaction. It wasn't very good. He was dreadfully upset. He said he didn't even want the book in the house. He said it was a lie, that no member of the governing body had ever left Bethel. Haha! Well, they had a quote/unquote discussion about it, which I think was probably more of an argument. (She is a sassy lady!) She's keeping the book and told him that if he won't read it then she will. And I guess she really is going to read it.

So I offer this up as a message of encouragement to all you apostates out there. If you keep aware of your surroundings, there are many great opportunities to "serve faithfully at work".

I'll keep everybody updated.

obiefernandez

5

My Daughter and Jehovah

by obiefernandez in

i have a five-year old daughter and i've been fully inactive for about 3 years.

so she got a limited degree of jw exposure as an infant.

most of my immediate family are still witnesses, but we don't have dealings with them on any regular basis.

obiefernandez

I have a five-year old daughter and I've been fully inactive for about 3 years. So she got a limited degree of JW exposure as an infant. Most of my immediate family are still Witnesses, but we don't have dealings with them on any regular basis. So imagine my surprise a couple of months ago when she brings up Jehovah during a lunch conversation.

As far as I can tell she has no concept of God, or Jehovah as a spiritual entity or what that would entail. She thought Jehovah was a person, or a person in a story (???). She's kind of hard to understand sometimes. Anyway, I found it amusing, but I had no qualms telling her that I thought Jehovah was part of an ugly story. That he doesn't exist. (Guess that makes me a true apostate, eh?) That the people that talk about Jehovah don't like birthdays or Christmas. That was about the extent of the conversation.

I wonder if you other exJW parents have experiences with young children and exiting the Witnesses. Do you fear, as I do, that our JW relatives will try to indoctrinate them behind our backs? I have told my parents straight-out on a couple of occasions that I don't want them to talk JW stuff to my children. Of course, that is probably of limited effect or they will rationalize ignoring my directives once the kids are old enough to start thinking for themselves.

I have thought long and hard about the supposed "spiritual need" that many people talk about. Do you think it's an actual innate need like the JWs teach? Cause if so, it is futile, even unwise to not give our kids some sense of spiritual direction. There must be a good strategy for immunizing them against the dub bullshit that they will inevitably be exposed to. One of the options that my wife and I discussed briefly was to associate loosely with a church, particularly the Unitarian-Universalists, whose teachings are diametrically opposed to JWs.

33

fading away quietly

by DIM in

jw
friends

my wife and i are moving 3000 miles away so that we can fade away as jehovah's witnesses.

i am looking for suggestions as to what i should do about our publisher record cards (keep them in pa?, get them forwarded to seattle?

) so that we can start our lives on the west coast with a fresh start and so we'll just be left alone...any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

obiefernandez

Actually, I moved 900 miles and did not attend any meetings after moving. I specifically told my family not to distribute my new address or phone number and I certainly didn't tell the congregation where I was going. We simply disappeared. I wish I could do the letter from new congregation scam now, just to see what the file would contain, but my father is the secretary, so I don't think it would work.

Somebody gave a local congregation my contact information which led to elders trying to visit my home a couple of times. Unfortunately, I didn't get to speak to them in person. Eventually a local elder called (my unlisted number) while I was home. I demanded that he tell me how he got my contact info, but he refused to give me any specifics. He said he had gotten it from another local congregation. For all I know they simply wanted to do a shepherding call. Anyway, I didn't want to bother with it so I told him very emphatically NEVER, EVER to contact me or my family again. Like really, NEVER! Hehehe. He started to protest my tone but then I think he realized it wasn't going to get him anywhere.

Obed

18

Gossip: Crit and Kelly Van Tuyl DFd

by obiefernandez in

jw
friends

crit and kelly (kats) van tuyl were disfellowshipped last weekend.

they met on witnesses.net and married shortly thereafter.

very well known in the jw internet community and moderators of online friends network.. as some of you know crit was my archenemy for a long time and worked tirelessly to expose me for the apostate that i am!

obiefernandez

Crit and Kelly (Kats) Van Tuyl were disfellowshipped last weekend. They met on witnesses.net and married shortly thereafter. Very well known in the JW internet community and moderators of Online Friends Network.

As some of you know Crit was my archenemy for a long time and worked tirelessly to expose me for the apostate that I am! So I got quite a laugh this morning to find out that the borg kicked them out. If anyone from the area has details I would love to find out more.

Obie

20

How many have you helped 'out?'

by LDH in

jw
friends

after last week's post regarding how many people you helped become a jw, i thought it would be fun to see how many people you've helped become apostate.. i received a phone call from norway about an hour ago, ( a poster on this board) who tells me that i influenced his decision to leave the jws.

(thanks, i)we've never met, only been email buddies.

the written word is powerful, and many do read these forums.. hopefully, i'll be able to speak to his dyed in the wool jdub girlfriend, but for now i'm satan incarnate as far as she's concerned.[8>].

obiefernandez

Hi Lisa,

(You never contact me anymore!! What's up?)

Great topic. I have personally helped a handful of people 'out' although I'm not sure I can really count how many very accurately. I think there are at least 5 people that I could name that left directly as a result of my influence. (When I say that it is because I question whether they would have left otherwise.) There are many others on their way out with whom I've made friendships along the way. You probably fall into that category, right?

Witnesses.net *must* have helped at least some people out, even though I don't know for sure and never will.