Posts by out4good3

17

Were you always guilt-ridden?

by MoeJoJoJo in

jw
friends

did you ever stop feeling constantly guilty while you were in the org?

i never did, no matter how much i was doing as far as field service & meeting attendance it never felt like enough.

i never felt like i was doing enough, ever; even though we were at all of the meetings faithfully, with three young children, which was no easy task.. .

I think that the guilt induced trauma that comes from being a dub will always stay with youu. Someone at work today handed me a Birthday card they wanted me to sign. I did take it and sign it with a little note but even then, in the back of my mind was a twinge of guilt.

Too many times I've heard from dubs that that twinge of guilt is what you get when you know you're doing something you're not supposed to as defined by the Organization. But, I found that when I was a dub, I was always feeling guilty about something even when I was trying to do what was right and just in JW circles. Even that good feeling you were supposed to have by sucessfully making all the meetings and assemblies was replaced by guilt having to always listen too "can you do more". I used to sit in meetings thinking "I'm already flat broke wasting time trying to peddle your magazines from door to door...what more do you want?"

It's tough, but I'm working to eradicate all the JW induced guilt trips about doing anything from my life.

31

Ex JW Down and Outs.

by refiners fire in

jw
friends

a large proportion of the ex jws i know and stay in contact with are pretty much down and out.. i stay in contact with 4 from my past.. out of the 4:.

3 of them are long term unemployed.. 3 of those have psychiatric problems.. 2 of them dont have a stable relationship.. only 1 of them is a reasonable financial success.. my perception of the ex dub world is one of destroyed lives and, too a large degree, hopelessness.i base this perception on those ex dubs i know.

course, they are all hard core apostates.

out4good3

Let's see......

When I was a dub spending ooogles amount of time preparing for meetings and peddling magazines I was broke, stuck in a dead end job, renting an apartment, living check to check, barely high school educated, and driving a POS car with no auto or health insurance.

What a difference one smart decision can make?

Since I freed myself from the spiritual, emotional, and financial slavery of the borg, I've educated myself, got a computer job with a real future, a FAT mortgage, money in the bank, and driving my dream car. I'm able to provide for my family better than I ever have.

All the while maintaining a 20 year successful relationship with my still somewhat believing wife.

I'd say I'm part of that successful 25%.

51

Modesty in Dress and Grooming - May KM

by expatbrit in

jw
friends

ok you slutty and independent slobs, pay attention.

how many instances of loaded language and mind-control techniques can you spot in the following article from the may 2002 km?

whoever gets the most wins a brown suit from goodwill.. modesty in dress and grooming- km may 2002.

out4good3

i am NOT a witness!!! my ex-girlfriend is ... thats why i met with these people a couple of times. i thought i could just get baptized for her

I suggest you seriously think about getting a new girlfriend. Take it from some of the people on this board, if you have to go through that much just to have her, she's probably not worth it and will drop you in a heartbeat if you fall out of line.

12

Running into JWS

by WildTurkey in

jw
friends

i ran into a jw couple last night at wal-mart, when i saw them i thought damn, i wish i would have seen them before they saw me.

but anyway we talked for a few minutes, and i was trying real hard to think of a reason to get out of there.

as i talked to him, i could tell he was dying to ask me, why i stopped going to the kingdom hall.

out4good3

If we happen to be crossing paths I'll talk to them. Usually they'll start asking me about how work is going and if my circumstances have changed, looking for an opening as to why I'm not back at the meetings. When I feel they're getting too nosy I'll give them "the look" and they'll usually back off and change the subject.

When the wife is with me, she usually does all the talking. She knows how I feel and that I'm subject to "letting them have it" at any time.

26

leave me alooone.....PLEASE!!!!

by Angst in

jw
friends

i was born and raised a witness.

baptized at 14. pioneered after high school and was accepted to bethel when i was 19. got booted from bethel on my 21st b-day because someone exposed me for underage drinking prior to my 21st b-day.

after i left bethel, nothing was ever the same, and my eyes began to be opened and i started seeing more clearly.

out4good3

Eventually I just had to out and out yell at my mom to finally make her understand that I was fed up and not coming back.

After one of those marathon "encouragement" sessions with my wife which lasted to such a point that I literally started throwing up, I had to do the same. She got the message and rarely broaches that subject with me anymore.

13

Subject: Jehovah's Witnesses Under Fire Around the

by myself in

i received this in my e-mail today and thought i'd pass it along .

sent: saturday, march 30, 2002 12:15 pm.

eritrea, georgia, greece, kazakhstan, romania, russia, rwanda, singapore,.

out4good3

What a shame...

So many people suffering because of the decrees of a "few old geezers in Brooklyn."

61

Signing Off on "The NET THANG"

by JT in

jw
friends

i would just like to thank everyone for the excellent posts that have appeared here on this site.

i esp would like to thank simon for making this possible.

i sincerely believe that the "net thang" will continue to play a role in helping jw who are sincerely searching for a confirmation that all their doubts and wondering over the years was not the result of them being spiritually weak.

out4good3

I'll really miss you JT. I only wish I knew you when I was coming into the WT. My family tried to warn me but they just didn't have the knowledge base.

Take Care......

15

she won't stop

by apostate woman in

where do i start?

my mom and dad had gotten into the jw religion about 23 years ago.

about 5 years ago, my mom fell away from the religon and then eventually ended up divorcing my dad.

out4good3

She is using the brainwash tactics (which I am very aware of the mind game she has been taught to do thru the religion) by asking me "are you going to meeting this weekend"? "you do want to go, don't you"?

Those words...those words...you don't know how many times I've had to listen to those very same words over and over from my wife on my way out of the Borg. I still have to hear them occasionally and she knows what the answer is almost as soon as she ask them.

Her: "are you going to meeting this weekend","you do want to go, don't you"?

Me: "No I won't be going to anymore meetings."

Her: " You still believe, don't you?"

Me: "Do not ask me leading questions. I have already made my intentions about the WT clear to you, I will not hypocrit and pretend to believe and practice what I don't feel in my heart for appearances sake. If this happens to stumble others that's their problem for paying too much attention to me and not enough attention to their own business. Do not try and guilt trip me".

At this point there are very few conversations between us about the WT and when we do have them I'm accused of only being negative and nitpicking. This is understandable since they are trained that if you're not talking about the WT in a positive manner, something is wrong with you. They're very good at ignoring proven facts that fly in the face of what they're being told by those "old geezers in Brooklyn."

18

Dwindling attendance and other trends

by Leander in

jw
friends

i've noticed in my congregation that attendance does not have the priority that it once did.

it seems like on any given theocratic ministry school meeting there will be at least one or two subsitutions.

some of the younger elders and ministerial servants tend to miss quite a few meetings and others have the habit of arriving 30 minutes after the meeting has started.

out4good3

Hence the all important "special talk" given out this past weekend to keep the R\F in line. From what I've heard it was all about the mantra of Armageddon just around the corner......yet again. I think the implications of this new understanding of what a "generation" means has finally filtered down to the average joe and it just no longer reconciles with the Armageddon just around the corner crap the WT has gotten so much mileage out of.

Personally this does'nt bother me at all because I've always felt that it showed a severe lack of concern for the congregation members to constantly have them running back and forth every other day to the kingdom hall.

You've just said what I'll bet almost every JW, except the hardcore ones, feel but are afraid to publicly express. Maybe that is fine for the Bethelites, DO's, CO's and the GB since they don't have to deal with the day to day details of living and all their bills are paid. Couple that along with the heavy handed way some Nazi Elders deal with people's problem and it's no wonder why people are disappearing from the seats in the congregations without a trace. Why go through a confessional with one of those clowns only to have what you said being used against you as an warning to the congregation under the guise of "keeping Jehovahs organization clean."

What I see happening in a few years is the WT putting the spin on this negative growth as being a "cleansing" of those in the truth serving only for a specific date and blaming the R/F for "running ahead" thereby shifting responsibility just as they did 25 years ago during the 1975 fiasco.

20

Pioneering slips Again

by metatron in

jw
friends

april 2001 - lists number of regular pioneers.

for january 90,477. april 2002 - lists number of regular pioneers.

for january 89,007 (u.s.).

out4good3

Jourles

That's some classic stuff there. It's hard for them to believe that there are some things that are just as important as making their loony meetings and their social hour field service.

Her response to that was, "Whaaaat? Oh, so you don't think that my going in service means anything? Is that what you think? Well, it means a lot to me!

Classic emotion driven guilt trip drivel there. Been there, done that, tore up the T-shirt and threw it away.