i am sure we have all thought of this before, but it struck me again today:.
why does the society promote such vitriolic hate toward, and about those who have left "the truth" ?.
surely it is obvious that such critical attitudes towards ones like us who have left, only serves to proove that they do not have "the truth"?.
The more they hate what is "bad" (especially apostates) the more they prove themselves to be "good". JW's must always be proving themselves righteous and better than others.
I think it's completely self serving.
Personally, I never hated apostates, but I was scared of them. I probably already had a strong intuition that we weren't that different and it wasn't going to take much to take me to the "dark side".
what simple pleasures do you enjoy since leaving watchtower?
here's some of mine, in no particular order:.
a cigar: i dont smoke cigarettes at all, but i do enjoy a good cigar from time to time.
I love Christmas traditions and all of the holidays really. I like the apple cinnamon smell and decorating the tree- putting lights on the house/yard and the Christmas eve dinner. The whole 9 yards! Halloween comes a close second as far as holidays go. The fact that I do all these things with people I Iove and cherish makes me even happier.
dont worry, this is safe for work... :).
remember when we were jws and we were told not to "model ourselves after the world"?
meaning no tattoos, no non-approved hairstyles, clothing to be not too tight, not too short etc etc etc?
Saying "passed away" instead of died.
Eating fortune cookies...because, ya know, demons....
meditation - anything where your mind would be blank would be another opportunity for spirit possession.
Reading your horoscope -
dont worry, this is safe for work... :).
remember when we were jws and we were told not to "model ourselves after the world"?
meaning no tattoos, no non-approved hairstyles, clothing to be not too tight, not too short etc etc etc?
I used to be attracted to the whole tattoo, piercing, anti-establishment thing- not so much anymore. I find myself attracted to personal integrity- in whatever form its packaged in. I personally found alot of people trying so hard to be different were actually just parroting someone else's trendy views - not so attractive.
I can see it's appeal though- it's kind of the forbidden fruit in JWism. The cool thing is that you can decide for yourself what you like so enjoy the ride.....
trying not to type swearwords as i write this so bare with me.. my little 3yo attends meetings with her jw mum (who doesn't believe watchtower anymore but is stuck in because she relies on her family for help).
my mum (the one who tells people im dead) had a party for her grandchildren.
that's my 4 nieces and 1 nephew aged from 3yo-11yo.
I wonder if this will push your ex over the edge....let it fester...there might be a silver lining in this horrible incident.
So sad your daughter had to endure that type of behavior- but hopefully it will also be etched in her brain so that she NEVER ever becomes a witness.
This is what I tell my family whenever they snub me - "Keep showing yourselves to be the loveless crew you are so that my children never want to become witnesses. Your behavior will help much more than my words ever could. They LOVE that! hahaha and then I tell them they'll have blood on their hands because of it- just an ex jw using jw mind games.
Can't even imagine your rage - It's one thing to treat an adult like that, but just a small child??? That's terrible.
bbc news website has this linked on front page.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40704990.
so unstuck and myself have decided to attend a different kind of yearly convention!.
it should be fun!.
just think, anything that helps us using our "powers of reason" (romans 12:1) is approved by the bible isn't it??
Looks interesting! Enjoy!
just though i'd start a thread devoted to languages, dialects/sociolects and accents, with the idea being that posters can comment on any language, or dialect or accent of any language, on this thread.. any phrases, expressions or idioms that you find interesting are also welcome.
first, the subject of english accents came up on another thread.. the british isles have many different types of accent (although many of the dialects may be dying out), and if i start to take a closer look, i can't help but see 'patterns' .... in received pronunciation of standard english, the letter r is pronounced initially, between vowels, and after consonants, e.g.
red, arrow, break.
In the US there are regional and social English variations - it's pretty fascinating.
A lot of the regional variations came about because of the immigrants who colonized a specific area and spoke Dutch/German/French/etc.
If you're interested in sociolinguistics/ english variation you should read William Labov's studies. He is the pioneer of English variation studies in the US.
so i've been thinking a lot about why i stayed a jw for so long even though i had always had doubts about the doctrines.
i was born into the religion, left and came back as an adult for another decade.
some of the things that come to mind (besides the threat of shunning-and this isn't to minimize that very real threat) was:.
@Ding - all good points. Especially about it being Satan try to mislead you. It's like a weird jedi-mind trick.
@tepidpoultry Agreed. Placing the blame on yourself for not researching enough. My family still thinks I never studied enough to "convince" myself of the "truth" and have it reach my heart.
so i've been thinking a lot about why i stayed a jw for so long even though i had always had doubts about the doctrines.
i was born into the religion, left and came back as an adult for another decade.
some of the things that come to mind (besides the threat of shunning-and this isn't to minimize that very real threat) was:.
There are all circles of people- it's more about finding the ones that you click with. I know young people like the ones described but I also know of some great people who are involved in helping their communities, studying, taking care of their families and genuinely nice. Just keep looking if you haven't found your "people" yet.
